Good Day Sunshine!

It was a balmy 55 degrees outside today and the sun was shining bright, so what were we to do?

We piled into the car and headed West to plunk our behinds on a log that was washed up many moons ago on the beach along the Puget Sound.

I hadn't been to the beach in a very long time. It was nice to hear the seagulls and smell the salty air. It was beautiful... hardly a breeze and the sun felt so good. For some reason I have never been more ready for Spring to arrive than I am this year. It's sooo close!

These two almost always put their arms around each other when it's picture time. I seriously don't prompt them to do this... I love that they actually like each other. :)

Just missin' dad!

Nicholas found something I've never seen on a beach before... an actual shark jaw. He was totally jazzed about this discovery, it had a few large teeth and another row of tiny teeth behind those. So cool!
Their cousins and aunt Shannon met up with us to join in the fun. Here's Jessica with my boys. I just have to say that this girl is a never ending growing machine. She's only 11 and is only 1/4" shorter than me... She shows no sign of stoppin' I think she may reach 6 ft. before the ripe old age of 14.

Here's Jessica's little sister, Nita... I don't think I have to worry about her getting taller than me, she's petite in every way. Well, except maybe in attitude... Watch out for her she's got some sass. I love her!!

My sis-in-law Shannon wouldn't let me take any photos of her. How rude. But here is proof that she was there. She's always a lot of fun and I'm glad she lives so nearby that we can do stuff like this!

I missed any shots of Ben and Jay because my camera totally died... ran out of batteries half way through our fun. They were so cute playing by the edge of the little creek that ran into the Sound. You'll just have to use your imagination. Maybe Uncle Sam's refund will be put to good use towards a new little camera in the coming month?

I am looking forward to many more days of sunshine in our future. When they are so few and far between you want to make the most of them! I think we accomplished our goal today.

Maybe I should have named him Alec...

I was warned.

By many mothers who have lived through raising boys around the age of 12-13.

I just didn't think it would happen to me. After all, my kids are perfect. :) But after a conversation with Nicholas the other night it appears that I, too, am going to have to weather the storm of smart remarks made by kids going through adolescence.

We were just sittin' around the television flippin' through the channels when "The Simpson's" came on. My boys hooted with glee in hopes that the channel surfing would stop right there. That's when I opened my big mouth and said, "Jeez, I can't believe they are still making new Simpson's episodes...that show started back when I was in high school." To this my oldest son remarked "Gosh, mom, you had TV back then? I thought you just sat around and watched fire."

Um...excuse me? When did my sweet, tenderhearted, thoughtful, and kind son turn on me? I have to admit that his smart Alec remark was quite a zinger, and I laughed out loud more than anyone in the room...but it still hurt. Just a little.

Nineteen Valentine's and counting...

Connor and I have spent 19 Valentine Days together so far... Wow, that is more than half my life. Crazy.

And most of those were celebrated at home in our own kitchen cookin' up some new recipe that sounded good to us at the time. It was always easier to stay in rather than fight the crowds at restraunts and finding a babysitter on Valentine's day was never an easy task. Cooking in the kitchen with your sweetie is so much fun especially with some good tunes and a delicious drink concoction in your hand.

This year we all had a hand in the Valentine's dinner.

Connor and I decided on bacon wrapped scallops (thank you Giada), a side of fried zuchinni, and parmesan garlic bread to boot. YUM.

Nolan LOVES to cook and wanted to help out, so we put him on zuchinni duty. They turned out divine... And Nicholas, being the artistically creative one, set off to make some Valentine's flair for our table. He made some lovely "never die" flowers and lit some candles to add to the ambiance.

The boys even started a fire in the fireplace...all by themselves! So we sat down to eat our awesome meal together and it was one of my best Valentine's Days ever. The scallops were cooked to perfection and the zuchinni was pretty much inhaled instantaneously (hence this photo shows no sign of the veggie). And the best part was having my three favorite Valentines surrounding me at the table... I love these guys.

He can be taught!

Nolan and I turned on some tunes and hunkered down to clean up his room that was being swallowed up by an endless array of meaningless stuff.

It only took two hours of sorting through junk on every surface in his room, but we did it! He was amazingly willing to part with much more than I had anticipated. I measure our success by not only how much better his room looks and feels but by the way he immediately wanted to sit down to write his cousin, Hanna, a letter on his newly found desk top!

We took Connor's advice and created a bigger "box of joy" filled with goodies his little heart could not live without... It fits nicely under his bed and even has room for future treasures.

I'm a firm believer in blaring good music while cleaning... it makes it so much easier!

Our first hike 2009

Ah... once the fog lifted this morning we saw some wonderfully blue skies and sunlight streaming through some wispy clouds. Wow, what luck! And it was Saturday too! Nothing beats a sunny day in the Northwest I tell you.

So...on went the sneakers, sweatpants, hoodies, and SUNGLASSES! We headed out for a hike in the woods. Nothing too extreme for our first outing this year... just headed to the next town where they have the best, relatively flat, well tended hiking paths to get our blood pumping. We also chose this path because after a couple of miles, it conveniently passes very near a quaint cafe that overlooks the river. We were famished after all of our tromping in the dirt and deserved a little grub of burgers and onion rings don't ya think? I just kept telling myself that I would burn the calories on our journey back. OK...maybe not enough but who cares, those were some darn fine onion rings worthy of every calorie.

It felt so good to be outside. The boys were happily discovering nature again. Sword fighting with giant branches, skipping over mud puddles, tossing rocks into the river, and hollering in the tunnels trying to make their mother cringe. It was all good. I do love living in the Northwest. I just wish we didn't have to spend so much time indoors dodging all the rain and misty gray weather. I guess I just have to remind myself that this misty gray weather is what makes everything so unbelievably green and lovely when the sun finally decides to show up!

One of my new year's "resolutions" is to spend more time hitting the trails. It's fun, free (unless you load up on lunch!), and my boys are the perfect ages for making the adventures hassle free and enjoyable. It is a great activity to share...bonding with nature and eachother!

How do you spell Nolan? P.A.C.K.R.A.T.

Ok... here is a glimpse into Nolan's world.

This boy seriously cannot throw anything away. He has absolutely no desire to purge his bedroom of useless dust collectors.

I have tried NUMEROUS times to convince him that cleaning up and tossing out old stuff makes you feel good. But he just says "nope mom, I love all this stuff". Really? Can you really love 4 tubes of lip balm, a broken Hulk action figure, a calendar that only displays July 2008, a damaged shell necklace, a geode covered in dust, piles and piles of crumpled paper, a picture of a hamburger, a birthday hat from so and so's party, a dusty pinball machine that no one ever plays with, a tiki made from wood, a green rabbits foot, a scratched up magnifying glass, a broken pez dispenser that is void of candy, a glow stick that hasn't glowed since Halloween, a nerf dart that's missing it's suction cup, a mood ring that only shows one color, stale Easter candy, blah, blah, blah.....

And this is only what is on his dresser and desk. I will spare you from seeing his closet. I just don't think anyone is ready for that. I probably couldn't even open the door all the way to get a proper photo even if I wanted to... Do you see what I'm dealing with here people?

My goal this week is to have Nolan work with me in learning how to clean and organize. Wish me luck. This is not going to be easy. I will post the after shots when our lesson is complete.