Congratulations To My Sisters

I'm a proud aunt of one new nephew and one new niece, both born this month.

Congratulations to my sister Alex, her boyfriend Matt and her son Owen who is finally a big brother!















Octavian Matthew
Born March 17th (St. Patty's baby!)


Congratulations to my sister Ashley and her husband Russell on their first baby!















Jordyn Alexis
Born March 29th

I think they both look just like their daddies. And I can't wait to meet, hold, squeeze, smell, pinch and play with them both!

Vintage Motocross Racing

This was our second year going to vintage motocross races. Last year Walt's friend Ken raced and I got some great pictures of him. I was going to take photos of him again but he ended up not racing because of bike problems.

(Ken last year. March 15th, 2008)

We still had a great family day out watching motorcycle races. Vintage bikes are pretty cool and it's mostly older racers. This year there were even some participants from other countries and old champions racers too. The weather felt like summer and shade was scarce.


(I have no idea who these guys are but it's fun to take motocross pictures.)








Carley isn't into watching motocross races. She was always whining and bored.




We hung out at a buddy's RV. It was about the only place we could get shade.


The kids aren't used to RVs. They had fun climbing in and out of the top bed.




We got race shirts and Josh got a few autographs from the Pros who were there.


(One of the past champions.)


Sand Hill from the RV (left) to the track (right). See slightly bigger.

Lesson Learned

The lesson I've learned over the last month or more is that kids really don't care whether their room is a disaster. I grew tired of always reminding the kids to put away their things throughout the house so I decided to pick my battles in the main rooms only. What paid the price is their bedrooms, Carley's in particular. Josh is older and quite a bit neater. After a two month strike against bedroom duty, I've caved. Carley apparently has more staying power than me when it comes to messy bedrooms.


I'm completely embarrassed to admit it (obviously not so much that I won't post about it!) but this is what Carley's room looked like for the last month.


Please don't judge me harshly. I hated this view so much that I often kicked things out of the way to close the door. I really hoped that she would get to a point of possibly picking up something on her own. She used to clean her own room as a three-year-old. Why can't she do it now?


After our bit of Spring cleaning yesterday, I kept the motion going. Carley, with my guidance and assistance, tackled her room today.


And we finished. Completely.

My new strategy is to set my phone alarm to go off every evening at 6:00 for a quick clean-up rather than waiting until bedtime when we're all tired and crabby. Hopefully the new plan will work. We'll see.

Spring Cleaning

This is Spring cleaning Niki style.


(This is picture 11 of my 52 week project.)

Actually, I put the kids to work so they can feel accomplished and earn a trip to the playground. Recently I've slacked at giving them chores but I want them to learn that they need to contribute to the household. I want them to learn young that they can't just drift through life and expect everything to be done for them. I want them to learn that sometimes we all have to deep clean.

There is something about washing windows that they both love. They'll fight over who gets to do it. Today I side-tracked Josh by getting him to wash window sills and base boards instead. The house feels just a little brighter now. Aaahh. Now just to get them to do the grocery shopping and pay the bills.

Also note that Carely's hair is straight. I took the straightening iron to it today. Just for fun. Josh told her she should keep it that way.



Did you notice she's in the princess dress again? Any time she's not at school she's in a princess dress. With lipstick on. Such a girl.

Learning to Sew

Carley, who wears dress-up dresses everywhere lately, has been asking begging demanding that I teach her how to sew for about a month. Today I procrastinated household duties (nothing new) to sit down with her and show her how to sew by hand. We sat outside to enjoy the warm sun on this first day of Spring.


Initially she made a small bag for Josh as a birthday present. Shhhh, don't say anything.


Then she started on a sleeping bag with a purple heart for her toy bear.


She really enjoyed sewing.


She was really happy with her handy work and her bear was happy with the new sleeping bag. Tomorrow Carley is going to sew a little pillow to match.

Happy Spring!

Academy of Sciences

Walt took Josh and our niece, Kiele, to San Francisco on Saturday to visit the California Academny of Sciences. I sent him with the camera and he got a few pretty cool shots.






A type of jelly fish that lays upside down on the bottom of the ocean so their tenicles, if that's what you call those, can catch food. I think they're the lazy jelly fish.




Having lunch.


My favorite picture that he got.


This pendulum knocks down all of those pegs on the floor over the coarse of the day because of the Earth's spin. It's little but in large (even larger than that link) you can spy Walt and Kiele in the pendulum.


The T-Rex skeleton is what I was most looking forward to seeing. I've never seen one in person before.

Because the Academy is such a popular spot and recently renovated, they were unable to get into the planetarium or rain forest. I look forward to going there with them again soon.

What a Friday the 13th!

Technically this all didn't happen on Friday the 13th but between the 11th and 14th. Here is what has been happening around our house.

I woke up this morning at 3am because I heard a puking kid and RAN to Carley’s room. I managed to grab her and run her to the bathroom but she was done by the time we reached the toilet leaving a wake of vomit behind us... including in the middle of the mirror on the bathroom door that proceeded to drip down into a puddle on the floor. She was so covered that I had to shower her. Walt stipped the sheets and most of what was hit. What a mess. We have tickets to California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco today. Walt is still taking Josh and our niece, Kiele, while Carley and I stay at home. Carley just had the stomach flu two weeks ago when I headed to Colorado. Not sure what it is this time because she seems pretty chipper (no temperature) yet continues to puke.

So the stomach flu is just one thing added to what’s already been happening in the house.

Wednesday our main drain line under the house plugged again. It happens often. Walt tried to clear it but found (or created) a hole in the pipe. We couldn't do dishes or wash laundry until the hole was fixed because the water would run out under the house. Walt patched the hole last night and I ran the dishwasher before we went to bed. After the puking incident, I ran the sheets in the wash. Turns out that the line is still plugged so now the garage sink is full of water.

Also, last night Josh was getting ready to shower in my bathroom. Walt and I heard a big bang so Walt went to investigate. Turns out Josh had been hanging upside down from the edge of my pedestal sink “doing exercises” and completely ripped the sink off the wall. Super funny and thankfully he wasn’t hurt. Walt put it back in place but never checked the plumbing. This morning Walt was running the sink water to warm it up but he hadn’t noticed the stopper was down... sink filled up... he went to drain it and realized that the plumbing isn’t attached and all the water was going to run onto the floor.

Now he’s off to get Kiele for the trip today (will be back before he leaves) and I’m in a house with a puking kid, a kitchen I can’t use the sink in, a garage sink full of water and a broken sink full of water in my bathroom. I’m scared to touch anything! At least we’re all still laughing about it.

Invitation

Josh's birthday is coming up fast. We gave him the choice of a birthday party somewhere else with lots of friends or a slumber party at home with a few friends. He opted for the slumber party.

Josh and his friends are very into camouflage and playing war with toy guns, usually Nerf. I went with that theme when I decided to make his birthday card.

Here's what I came up with:


Lieutenant sister of mine, don't make fun of the wording.

Gone Digital

Walt figured out how to plug the 8mm Video Camcorder into the computer and record the movie to digital. I've been stuck to the computer all weekend converting all of our old movies!

It's great to be able to edit them, save them as movies, and play them back on the TV through the DVD player. So much easier than VHS. Of course in a few years the DVD may be extinct. I'm willing to take my chances.

Here's a little video I put together with clips of my babies. Seeing them this young makes me want more babies. Thankfully my sisters are having babies instead. They just need to move closer.

Carley Dances Again

While I was in Colorado, Carley had her "dance show". Walt videotaped it so I could see how great she did. I clipped it to share with you.


(Sorry for the jiggly camera. Josh was the videographer.)

She starts Level III today because she's mastered the Level II steps.

Stuck!

Carley decided to wear her teddy bear's sweater last night. Once she got it on she couldn't it off. Of course I had to take pictures before I cut it off of her.

Colorado

I was in Colorado over the weekend to visit my littlest sister and be there for her first baby shower.


Of course I had to go to Sonic, my favorite Drive In burger joint. Mmmm, those cherry limeades are my favorite! I wish Sonic would hurry up and build some closer to me.


Russell's neice, Chloe, hung out with us. His mom, Grandma, and neice came out from Missouri to throw Ashley's shower. Russell is currently in Iraq as a civilian contractor. I really enjoyed getting to know some of his family.


It snowed there like it would drizzle here. It wasn't much and didn't really stick but was fun to watch. I'm not used to snow.


The baby shower was fun. This is Ashley's doula who will be there for her during the delivery since Russell won't be able to. I absolutely loved Desiree, the doula. I wanted to bring her home with me.


Sunday morning after Russell's family left, Ashley and I took some goofy pictures of ourselves. I'd realized we didn't have many of me and her since I was the designated photographer for the weekend.


I had such a great time hanging out with her over the weekend it was hard to leave.


On my way to the airport I stopped in Denver to have lunch with my brother and his wife, Corey and Whitney. I'm so happy that we were able to hook up and spend some time catching up. They're both such great people and was nice to see them.

A Couple Links

Shame on me. It's been a week since I've posted!

Last week was a long one. Early on I was feeling the effects of losing someone I love, my dear Grandma (Gramma, I used to write when I was little) Tandy. Here is a link to her Memorial Guestbook. http://www.fausettmortuary.com/sitemaker/sites/Fauset1/obit.cgi?user=norma-tandy# I've never seen one before but this and the comments are sure nice to read. The picture is from a family photo taken at Shelly's wedding in October.

There was nothing better to pull me out of my funk than a trip to Colorado Springs for my youngest sister's baby shower. Ashley is due the middle of April. It was so enjoyable to be there with her and her big, baby belly. Here is a link to her blog, http://teammclaughlin.blogspot.com/ , where you can see pictures of the baby shower. I'll post some myself as soon as I can. For now I've hit the ground running. Lots to do to makeup for my weekend away.