Where has July gone??

That seems to be the theme on our blog lately - a month in between posts. Bad blogger. Bad. Here are some photos from our recent road trip to California. We powered through on the first day and arrived a little after midnight on Monday. We swam and enjoyed Grammie's house on Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday we took off about noon for Mendocino, with a brief stop in San Francisco. Emma really wanted to drive over the Golden Gate bridge, and we thought, "hey - we're on vacation - why not?" It turned out to be one of the most splendid days I've ever seen in SF - and I've been there a LOT! We all decided we would love to fly down for a weekend of exploration in the next year or so. Stayed in a bed-n-breakfast Thursday night that was pet-friendly, then headed through the Redwoods all day Friday. We stopped at the Eel River for a dip, watched some kayakers, and gave Coop his first dip in water. He did NOT like it. My pictures are in a bit of reverse order, but this first one of Carl holding Cooper is in Crescent City after a brief stop at the shore.

We cleaned out my mom's rafters in her garage while we were there - brought everything down, went through it all, and made a huge donation to goodwill. Along the way we found some childhood things that brought back a lot of memories. Emma of course was into everything, and decided to pair up my last pair of tap shoes with a ukelele that I got in Hawaii in 5th grade.

We had to do it. Had to go to the drive-through tree. It was $5 but it's just one of those things you gotta do, right?? Of course our truck wouldn't fit through, or at least we weren't willing to try after seeing a minivan squeek by. But we managed a picture:

Emma and Cooper outside of Mendocino in an inlet - Coop was not too sure about seeing this water come and go in front of him.

We got this same shot of Emma on the slide in my mom's pool about 5 years ago - but this time her legs are hanging off the back - lol!

Carl and Em in front of the Golden Gate - bad pic, but I sure loved the park there.

Coordinates Collections September Previews

Can you believe we're previewing September already?? I can't wait for these kits! I can practically taste a pina colada while looking at the first kit, and second kit just makes me want to scrap some timeless photos. Check out the add-ons too!

Where did June go????

June has flown by - unbelievable. There were so many activities I can't even remember. My Mac was in the shop for one week in June, so that was part of my problem with not posting. But otherwise, eh... too busy to actually sit and write. So here's a recap:

Last weekend we camped with the J's in Lincoln Rock - near Wenatchee. Where it is usually very hot (90's) we were in the 70's with tons of wind. We made it work, got to make s'mores, and got out on the boat a bit. Emma brought neighbor J along:

Both Kristy and I overlooked the fact that it was Father's Day weekend (oops!). So we ran into town and found some funky doo-rags at Fred Meyer for a joke - they actually came in handy during the spurts of sun for our balding husbands :)

Emma's class had an end of year party at Lake Tapps at a classmate's $2.4 million dollar home (yep, on the market for that price... I told them I'd take 10% of it please and I could easily live out on the dock). It was a very fun day - here's Emma and her favorite boy "friend" from class (looks like they're almost holding hands - which she squealed to me - but they really aren't!)
A friend and I threw a baby shower for friend Ellen, and this was my little lovely that day - isn't she just growing up? She's such a beauty.

Emma and A from across the street are kicking it Puyallup style here: on a sunny Saturday afternoon I found them in A's dad's truck, in a tent, watching a movie on a portable DVD. What a couple of dorks:

Finally, Emma's new soccer coach had her playing mostly Defender during practices, and I walked out with him to the car and our conversation went something like this:

"So I see Emma's been playing Defender a lot, you know she's only played Forward until now, right?"

"Yes. She is absolutely going to be developed as a Defender."

"Seriously? I don't think that's 'her' " (a bit of sarcastic parent voice going on)

"Well, she is. (he appropriately knows how to put me in my place - I like him :)) She has the height, and more importantly, she's calm."

"EMMA?!? C-A-L-M ?? You're kidding..."

"No, she doesn't get rattled by the ball, she remains calm and that's what I need".

"Okay, you're the Coach, I'm going to trust you on this one."

I bring you Exhibits A & B:

That's my girl. She ain't letting ANYONE past her. She is kicking butt at Defender.

If my marriage were defined by your marriage:

Then, I'd worry about whether you were well suited to each other. 

Do you fight a lot? 

Is one of you more attractive than the other? 

Does one of you have a much larger earning potential than the other? 

Will one of you be a much more nurturing parent than the other? 

Is it your first marriage, or your second, third or fourth? How likely is this marriage to succeed? 

How long did you know each other before you decided to marry? 

Do your parents approve? 

How committed are you to making your marriage succeed? 

But, you see, the sanctity of MY MARRIAGE does not depend upon the details of YOUR MARRIAGE. 

Whether you stay married for 78 years, or divorce in a few months, my marriage does not depend upon yours. 

Whether you are black, or white, or purple with pink polka dots, my marriage does not depend upon yours. 

Whether you are republican, or democrat, or libertarian, or green, American Independent et al, 

MY MARRIAGE DOES NOT DEPEND UPON YOURS. It's mine. 

Whether you love a person of the opposite gender, or of your same gender, it does not affect my marriage. 

My Marriage is strong. It is built on LOVE. No matter who ANYONE ELSE MARRIES, it does not make my marriage less than it was before. 

(posted originally on a message board I frequent - in response to California's Supreme Court upholding Prop. 8 - my feelings exactly.)

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop

This is my first time participating in the monthly blog hop, very exciting!  The challenge this month was to create a card using the color yellow.  Very challenging, it's not my go-to color, but I'm very pleased with what I created: (click 2nd photo to see yellow more closely)

I used Pebbles Linnie Bell patterned paper, a Prima lollipop flower and background stamp, PTI white and melon berry cardstock, PTI "Life" stamp set (my fave right now!)  Also: PTI Lemon Tart ink (for soft background on white), and PTI Summer Sunrise ink for the vertical flower stamp. 

Thanks for looking!

Sunday at the Chalet

The "J" Family invited us up for the day to their chalet (about an hour away in the mountains). I work with Tim, the Dad, - and I just adore him. He's very wise, loves to argue with me about politics, and tease me about my love of opening packages before their time. His family is lovely, they have been over twice for annual Christmas parties, and although the age spread is vast between Emma and the kids - she loves hanging out with all of them - and yesterday was no exception. It was an absolutely gorgeous day - high 60's up there, although still snow on the ground - sunny and.. well.. gorgeous. Tim barbecued a porkloin smothered in onions, sauteed garlic cloves and fresh cilantro - who knew?!? DEEE-lish! I made a buttermilk cake with fresh raspberries and blueberries, total hit with coffee after dinner. We were home by 9:30, such a great getaway with great people.


First there were the hummingbirds just feet away from me on the deck....
And then Kara (14 almost 15) carefully watching Carl with a card trick - and betting him she'd get it (she lost).
And Tim's lovely wife Diane who challenged Carl to some cribbage - I love to watch people play. It can go so quickly and I get so far behind, but they were ribbing each other the entire time.

The kids were outside ALL DAY - from 12:00 to 8:00pm - with neighbor kids, 6 in all, playing cops and robbers; tag; playing in the forest; and then Carl had to instigate a snowball fight. Once he came down from the deck the kids pummeled him - and he took our daughter hostage as a human shield.
Here's Tim giving a funny mini-lecture to Gina (17) - she and I were giggling the whole time he was so serious... I don't even remember what he was talking about :)
And here's Kara again with Emma, and Jackson their son (9)
And don't forget Bella... what a lovey. Carl and I instantly fell in love with this Goldendoodle (golden retriever/standard poodle). She's big but oh so cuddly. I'm asking for another dog...

Let's catch up, shall we?

So things have been quite busy here in Coleland... soccer, softball, soccer, soccer, Carl working late all week, soccer.  You get the picture :)  Here are some random shots of the past week or two:

I took Emma and Kennedy for girls' day out at the nail salon, we got pedicures and manicures and then they promptly came home and played on scooters and went swimming:

Bowling night with co-workers (citywide sponsored event, it was fun) - here we are:  The Court Queenpins in all of our glory - and we didn't do badly at all!  (Thank goodness for Shannon's high scores each game :)

Selected for Soccer

Emma participated in organized try-outs for a local soccer club, called "select" soccer - you can't just pay to play, like a recreational league (which she has done the past 3 years).  It was pouring down rain the last two nights, she stayed out and pushed through for 2 hours each night being evaluated - and they called tonight to offer her a spot.  She is so proud of herself.  It is a Player Development League, there will be weekend tournaments and some traveling, and then the normal Fall league from September-November.  She has to sign up this Friday and be fitted for uniforms - fingers crossed she gets her number that she's worn up until now... #4.  It's a big financial commitment too, but if she sticks with it, there's a good chance of college scholarships.  In fact the U18 girls team with the same club all got college soccer scholarships this year.  That's impressive.  Here's who she will be playing with:

http://www.washingtonpremierfc.com/

Awesome job Emma... we're so proud of you!!

Weekend activities

We watched an 11yo neighbor, Jordyn, this weekend while her parents were away.  She is a great girl and she and Emma had a wonderful weekend.  Last night we all went bowling (Kennedy came along too) and then to an early Cinco de Mayo dinner at the local Mexican restaurant.  Yummmmmy.  Carl is out shopping at Cabela's today with Raph (I should have deactivated the debit card... :) and I've been pumping out these baby shower invites for a friend I used to work with.  I'm co-hosting the shower and of course I jumped all over making the invites :)

Start of an herb garden

It turned out to be a fun project.  The growing process is completely self-contained, comes with the little peat cups, two pellets of soil (you add water and it instantly turns into moist soil - the girls though it looked like poo and I had to coax them to keep going), add the seeds and then flip the plastic top back over. Very cool!  My scrappy friends will notice that they used a Slick Writer to write the herb type on the cover :)

Ahhh, Spring.

Beautiful day today, it was only 60* but nice enough to be outside working in the yard without a coat.  Emma got home about 10:30 and then we all hit the yard work.  Freshly mowed grass, weeds pulled, new spring planters filled with chartreuse and purple.  Here's a shot of our deck, we're going to grill blue cheese burgers tonight. Yum. 

Here's a close-up of my new planters, aren't the colors just gorgeous together? The center purple budded flower is called Heliotrope.  It will grow almost 18" tall in the center of my planter, and it smells like vanilla.... delicious.  We are also starting seeds today for a planter herb garden.  Kennedy just arrived, so she and Emma and I are going to go start those.  More pictures to follow, I'm sure.

Goodbye play set... Hello fire pit!

Let's see, we got probably 6-7 years of use out of this thing?  And we got it free way back then... well, we bought the family $50 worth of Red Robin gift cards.  Today a happy family picked it up free of charge compliments of Craigslist.  Free ad and no haul-away for us, awesome!  Now we are left with the bordered gravel area, so we will be getting some outdoor furniture and possibly a pergola with a fire pit underneath.  Looking forward to summer already.  Emma's headed for a birthday sleepover tonight, Carl and I are going to dinner with a $50 gift certificate from our auction win a few months back, and then vegetable garden planning tomorrow.  Great weekend ahead of us.

If only fetching were an Olympic sport...

Coopie would have a gold!  This is not the best shot of his stretch, but he flies off that deck with his body completely stretched wider than the best splits of a gymnast - amazing!  And he adds flair with leaps and bounds like a bunny rabbit, all in the pursuit of a squeaky fabric bone.  

The saddest conversation I have ever had...

occurred on Thursday, April 16th.  We were getting ready for school and work that morning, and about 5 minutes before we needed to leave, Emma comes into the den.

"Why is there an Aeropostale receipt on the counter?  And everything on it was in my Easter basket?"

"Um...(thinking quickly in about 1.5 seconds) maybe the Easter bunny wanted to leave it in case you needed to return something...????"

"Mom (getting more serious, I can tell I'm sinking quickly) I checked that basket completely and there was no receipt there (eyes are getting misty)"

"Um... I don't know...???"

"Mom (considerably more serious than the last question and a tear in her eye) Is the Easter bunny a real person???"

"Um... yes, just not the person you think it is"

very loooooooooooong pause...

and now puddles in her eyes just getting ready to blink to big, giant, heavy tears:

"And Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy???!!!!!???"

Heavvvvvvvvy sigh.  Tears from me.  Hugs in the kitchen. 

I almost called work and school to tell them we'd be late - but we had a carpooler to pick up.

If you know Emma, you know that she is bound by an incredibly strong moral compass - and lying is just NOT an option - even in the most well-intentioned circumstances or joking around.  I just could not do it, I don't think she'd forgive me after she asked me so directly (she had never done so before, there was always an out for me).

So my sweet baby knows the truth, but still believes in the magic that surrounds all of these people, and I told her one of the greatest joys of parenthood is getting to create that magic - and she understood.

She didn't know I drove to her school at lunch to check on her - I was still feeling bad, wondering if she was in a little funk, but I found her deeply entrenched in a Capture the Flag competition and I quickly turned before she saw me.  

We're okay.

Easter fun

We went to our annual potluck/egg hunt at Brian and Tracy's today - fun as always.  There were probably 30 people there, lots of kids of all ages.  As usual, it was raining today, but a bit harder than in years past - so the egg hunt was affected.  We usually stuff hundreds of plastic eggs with candy (all the Moms stuff, the Dads hide them), but the kids were all over 10 this year so we did something different.  We stuffed all the eggs with raffle tickets - some eggs had 1, some had up to 10 - and then we had a live auction for different types of items.  Since it was so rainy we had to divvy up the eggs inside.  We put all the kids at the dining room table and then they took turns rolling a die, and got to take that many eggs from the bag for each turn until the eggs were gone.  Very smart idea Tracy!  The auction was a lot of fun - a 14yo boy got a glitter wand, Emma got a nerf football, and lots of fun stuff in between.  We all had a blast, and came home with very full tummies.  And the wontons were a HIT!

Easter Eve Festivities

Tonight we made a side dish and dessert that we will be taking to the Robo's tomorrow, here is my sous chef Carl C. Cole - making strawberry cream cheese wontons!  He was the perfect eggwhite-glue sticker-edge crimper for these creations.  The centers are a mixture of cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon, with diced strawberries, and then sandwiched between two wontons.  They are then deep fried for a minute or two and then drizzled with chocolate syrup and a dollop of whipped cream.  Can't wait to try them!

Emma loves to decorate eggs for the Easter Bunny - we only did about 14, used every color in the rainbow, and Emma used the same colors for her very personal note to Mr. Bunny himself.  I know he will get a big kick out of the last sentiment - you rock! (p.s. Mom, you can click on the photos to get an enlarged view - I just know that's been bugging you.)