Update

Well I FINALLY got my car back Sunday morning. I waited up until 11:30 Sat. night for him to bring it to me but then gave up and went to bed. When I got up Sun. my car was in the driveway. Jim talked to him and he said he didn't finish it until 1:30 am! He took about $350 off our bill because it took him so long to get it fixed. It still ended up costing us $800 to get it fixed. We still have to get the oxygen sensor replaced so the check engine light will go off but that doesn't cost that much and only takes a few minutes to fix.

Jordan and I put her goodie bags together today for her party. We used zoo animal foamy stickers to decorate plain lunch sacks. We also put the necklace making materials into individual bags. I had 7 kids RSVP for the party. I have enough hats, necklaces and goodie bags for 12 so hopefully we will have enough. I know how people don't RSVP and then just show up.

Jordan is really excited about her birthday. She got up this morning and came running to me saying "Only 2 more sleeps!!!" My mom taught her "sleeps" instead of "days". My dad sent money for our birthdays so I think I'm going to take her to see the My Little Pony Live show that's going on this weekend.

Jeanne told me the kids will only be here until the end of May. I was going to have them on Tues. and Thurs. in June but she found out they are having a special ed preschool this summer that Parker can go to and it is on Tues. and Thurs. Oh well, I can just pick up extr hours at Marriott.

That's about it from here. Hope everyone is well.

Will my car ever be done?

For the last couple of days we've been getting the "hopefully tomorrow" story from our neighbor who is working on my car. I'm so tired of not having a vehicle. I think I have shin splints from walking to and from Jordan's school for the last two weeks. I know the walking is good for me but up and down hills pushing a stroller with two children in it is a killer. He told me today to plan on it being done by noon tomorrow. That doesn't do me much good though because Jim will be at work so we can't pick it up until 4:00 tomorrow. OH well, guess I'm stuck at home cleaning again all day :) I need to get deep cleaning done so the house is ready for Jordie's party next weekend anyway. I have to say I have failed miserably with my new years resolution to keep the house cleaner.

Birthday plannings

We are in the process of planning Jordan's 5th birthday party. I can't believe my baby is going to be 5 in 2 weeks! She has decided on a zoo theme for her party. We went to Nobbies and got a blow up tiger, giraffe, elephant and monkey that we will put around the livingroom and dining room. I got a parrot decoration that we will hang from a hook in the dining room. I got green streamers to make "vines" from the ceiling. I got color your own zoo hats to use as the party hats. The kids will decorate lunch bags with animal stickers for their goodie bags. I bought Zoo Pals plates, silverware and napkins. We are having the party from 4-6 so we will be serving dinner. We are having hotdogs, carrots sticks, jello jigglers cut in animal shapes and jungle punch (lemon lime pop and lime sherbert). For the games we are going to play giraffe stretch. We will take a jump rope and string pretzels on it and hold it a little bit above their heads and they have to stretch like a giraffe without using their hands to get the pretzels. We are also going to have a zoo parade and every child will get a mask that I got from Oriental Trading company. I have a zoo music CD that we will play while they march around in their masks. We will also play Lion, Lion, Hyena (instead of duck duck goose). I have animal shapes and beads to make necklaces with. Then after the presents we will have cupcakes and ice cream.

I have invited all of the kids from her class (11 total) plus Jacob, Danny and Micheal from our old daycare. I'm counting on not everyone coming because I only bought enough goodie bag stuff and hats for 12 kids. I didn't want anyone in her class to feel left out and that's why I decided to invite them all.

I hope everyone has fun and that kids do come. So far I've only heard back from one kid from her school and from Micheal.

Updated itenerary

Courtney and I decided we don't want our first day to be over a 12 hour drive so we are going to leave a day earlier (well rather just an evening earlier) we are going to just drive 3 hours the first night and stay in Sioux Falls, SD. We are staying at Marriott locations so it is at a discounted rate. Anyway, here is our updated itenerary:

7/13—Home to Sioux Falls, SD (Residence Inn)= 174 miles approx 2 hours and 43 min
7/14—Sioux Falls to Billings, MT (Springhill Suites) = 722 miles approx. 9 hours and 52 min
7/15—Billings to dad’s = 520 miles approx 7 hours and 15 min.
7/16—Dad’s during day. Go to Grandma King’s in evening = 175 miles approx. 2 hours 50 min
7/17—Grandma King’s until 5pm drive to Bremerton = 263 miles approx. 4 hours 15 min.
7/18—Seattle—take ferry over to Seattle waterfront and Pike Place Market
7/19—Bremerton
7/20—Drive back to Dad’s (stop in Fox Island and see Tammy)= 355 miles approx. 5 hours and 40 min
7/21—Ali’s Wedding
7/22—Spokane and Dad’s (visit with Renee and Dina)
7/23—Dad’s to Spearfish, SD (Fairfiled Inn) = 850 miles approx 11 hours and 45 min
7/24—Spearfish to Mt. Rushmore = 67 miles approx 1 hour and 15 min
Mt. Rushmore to home= 542 miles approx 8 hours

New bike

Helping daddy adjust the bike.

Jordan finally got to ride her new bike yesterday that she got for Christmas. It was so beautiful out that we spent about 3 hours outside. She rode her bike, colored with sidewalk chalk, blew bubbles and played in the back yard. It's supposed to be 77 degrees today so hopefully we will make it out after Parker and Erica's naps to play some more. Jordan may even take a nap today too. She was up late, woke up early and we had to walk to school today because my car is in the shop. Jim worked out a deal with our neighbor guy who has a car shop to get my car fixed. The only bad thing is he may have it all week so we will be walking to school each day. It's only 7/10 of a mile but it's up and down hills and pushing a double stroller on uneven sidewalks is not fun.She was so proud of herself.

Finally warming up

It is finally warming up here and the snow is melting away. I am so glad. I really do hate winter. It's supposed to be in the 60's this weekend and they are saying 70 on Tuesday. Yippee!!! Of course who knows how long it will last. As they say in Nebraska if you don't like the weather just wait one day. Courtney has been down all this week. She is on her spring break. I took her shopping today to find her prom dress. She ended up with a really pretty one and some shoes too since they were on sale and so was the dress.

I'm working until 3 am tonight but when I finally do get up tomorrow I'm taking the girls to the zoo. It's going to be so nice I just can't imagine not going.

Jordan has Kindergarden Round Up on Thurs. Of course we have to go to our neighborhood school to do all the paper work but I have applied for her to go to a different school that's about 4 miles from here. I'm not sure when we find out if we got our choices or not. I picked 2 other schools before our neighborhood school. It's just too rough here and I also don't want to put her in a school that has 650 kids. The school I'm trying to get her into only has 150.

That's about all the new stuff from here. Sorry I haven't posted anything for a while. I've been dealing with a VERY fussy baby and not getting much sleep either. I talked with Jeanne about when the kids will be done here. They will be here full time through May and then on Tues. and Thurs. through June.

Snow has stopped but it's still blowing

It's 4:30 now and the snow has finally stopped. The wind is still blowing really bad. I spent 2 hours getting the front of our driveway cleared so Jim could get in when he came home from work today. Here are some pictures I took around 2:00.


The middle of our driveway looking out toward the street.


The drift out by my car


The drift on my back porch


The back porch


Our back deck

Major winter storm

We are in the midst of a major winter storm today. It's been complete white out conditions. There is a blizzard warning until 7:00 tonight. When I left work at 2:30 last night the wet snow was just starting. When I woke up at 5:45 this morning it was a full fledged storm including lightening. I went back to sleep until around 8:00 when Jordan woke me back up. Now it's 11:00 and the snow is so deep and the wind blowing so bad it is awful. I can't even see out my windows. The snow has blown all against them and stuck. They have the news interrupting all the local programing right now and the news anchors are saying this is the worst they've seen it in a very long time.

I took a few pictures when I took the dogs out a little bit ago.

This is a view of my back porch.

A view of my scrapbook room window. I tried knocking the snow off the screens so I could watch the birds who are desperately trying to eat.


My driveway with my car nearly buried. You can see the snow drift next to it


I had to push my front door open to get this picture. You can see Lucy sticking her nose out into it on the left side of the picture. :)



11 inches on my front porch

I called into work and they are excusing absences for today, thank goodness because I'm out of personal days until this summer. Jim left for work an hour early this morning just to make sure he got there (it normally only takes him 15 minutes to get there). He may have to work a double shift if the relief crew doesn't get in this afternoon. He told my just to stay inside for today. I guess since I'm not going anywhere today that means I better get my house cleaned up. :)