Happy 1st Birthday Trey! I can hardly believe that our baby boy is now 1 year old. We had a mellow birthday celebration tonight that was much needed after such a busy last couple of days. Carlos and Levi opened most the presents for Trey but all the toys were played with and I can’t wait to put him in the new clothes. He loved the cake, too and enjoyed smearing it all over himself.

The 4th was really great this year, we took the boys downtown and walked around the booths in Winslow for awhile, then got our spots for the parade. Carlos slept through the whole parade…he didn’t even flinch when the fire trucks sirens sounded, the Harley veterans drove by or the high school marching band passed us. I don’t know how he slept through it. We came home and hung out awhile with friends, grilled up some burgers and dogs and ate while we waited for the fireworks. Dee and I kicked some booty in foosball but then got our booties kicked by Morgan and her dad, dang that was humbling but good for us. The neighbors put on a great fireworks display again this year and it was fun to watch the Ivars ones as well. Our boys were all outside sitting on laps during the fireworks, but all were asleep by the time it was over. It had been a long day and they were beat….all in all a great party and good times with friends!

It’s been crazy around here trying to get ready for the 4th…Dee’s been weed-eating and I’ve been mowing and the place is really looking good. We’ll pull out the bounce house in the morning, too so the kids will keep busy with that.

Went to Toys R Us and Target to try and find presents for Trey. Yes, I’m a bad mom waiting until the last minute to shop for him but with the party and all it’s been tough to find time. I still only found a couple of things, it’s hard to buy for a 1 year old.

My folks have been worried about our new loft bed for Levi, as Carlos thinks he’s a monkey and tries to get up on it every chance he gets. So, my mom found a cool small loft bed at Penneys and grandpa and grandma bought it for the boys. It’ll be quite the change for Carlos to be in a “big boy bed” but I think he’ll do alright.

We’re off to the street dance…tomorrow’s a big day! Hope to see you at our place for the BBQ and fireworks!

Today turned out to be an errand running extravaganza… the kids and I headed out to find shorts and a shirt for the 4th of July. I had 2 pairs of Old Navy flag shorts, and 2 cute flag shirts, but I went with Old Navy board-type shorts that were navy blue with a red and white stripe since they didn’t have another pair of the flags. Fred Meyer had the last Oshkosh flag shirt we needed for the guys to be all set for the parade and fireworks.

With the outfits all set, I just had to get them in to get their pictures done and I am SO glad I did, they turned out cute. Everyone smiled, imagine that. Then the photographer wanted to enter a picture of Carlos in to a contest so we got a cute one of just him for her to enter. Who knows, maybe it’ll win!? If you want to see the pictures, follow the link: http://www.picturepeople.com/viewsharedalbum.aspx?SharedPictureGroupID=1141964&ShareKey=a9f263640a46477cabcbe387a468c29a

Oh, and while we were driving to Old Navy (me and 4 kids 3 and under) I hear a weird noise in the car, and stopped and looked underneath the car and there was a big front plastic protector piece that fits just under the bumper. Well, it was 1/2 off and just hanging there and of couse I didn’t have a ratchet set in the car so I had to be the dumb woman pulling into the Jiffy Lube and asking them to take the piece off. The kid looked at me like I was an idiot, but it’s just a protector piece, nothing vital.

Got home around 3:30 and went with my mom to the Rotary Auction preview. There was so much stuff (it’s the biggest garage sale in the world basically). We’ll be there bright and early in the morning for when it opens and hang out until it ends and everything’s free. It’s great, we see so many friends and get so much stuff. My mom will be watching the boys so they will have fun with her while we are shopping. Then we’re off to an All Star game and a friend’s BBQ! Busy busy day…but fun.

Only one day until the Rotary Auction preview…then the big day! I’m always excited about it, sure hoping to find a playhouse for the boys (although I think my mom got us the Yeomalt Log Cabin Playhouse but we won’t know until August) and Dee needs some hoses and PVC pipe. I’m always into getting clothes for the guys, too and some t-shirts for us.

We decided to grab salads and a sandwich for the boys at Safway tonight. It was actually a pleasant meal sitting outside. We stopped over at the Kruse’s new place, too and it’s AMAZING. It’s basically my dream house (minus a pool) and we went down to their beach and the boys found shells and waded into the water. They had a great time and didn’t want to come home. It was tough getting them to sleep but I think they will sleep hard, they’re beat.

I’m off to finish my trashy Danielle Steel novel (crap, I know, but a quick mindless read!) and get some sleep. This starts a busy weekend with the auction and all. G’night!

What a day! First took the boys to see Robots, there are free movies in Poulsbo on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. They loved it! Then went to pizza at Central Market and home for naps (yeah right). I got the lawn mowed so it’s all looking nice for the 4th, Dee came home for a little while and then headed out for work again after dinner. She’s swamped these days.

My folks came over to eat, we christened the new grill with some yummy salmon and then grandma and grandpa stayed after Dee left for work and read to the boys and put them to bed. They are really tired and didn’t fight it much.

Tomorrow we are going to see Curious George and then come home for naps and head out to the beach with my mom. That should be really fun for the boys. They are loving the weather and just being able to be outside all the time. I can’t complain either, it’s great!

Off to bed…it’s late and tomorrow comes early.

Here’s our proud little gymnast! Camp is over (bummer) and he had so much fun. He got a t-shirt and a medal and couldn’t have been more proud.

We survived the weekend, had a garage sale on Saturday and made $230 so that was good. It was nice to sit out in the sunshine and just chat with Suzanne and Caroline. The Rotary came and picked up all that didn’t sell so we didn’t even have to haul it away, what a deal.

Saturday night we had a foster parent group meeting which was cool because we got to hang out with Jodi and her family (they had Trey for the week before he came to live with us). They are a very cool family and have two beautiful girls. We also got to meet Julio’s week old sister, Isabella. She’s adorable and just so, so tiny.

Today we went into Silverale and got a new gas grill. Should be great to fire up for the 4th. It’s big, but it was cheaper than the smaller one and we have the space. It looks good on the porch and Dee’s happy…good enough for me.

Had a nice dinner with my folks tonight to celebrate my Dad’s birthday. We didn’t have to lift a finger, my mom put on a great meal and we ate outside on the front lawn. It was beautiful. Afterward, we played a game of Sorry! I forget how fun board games are and it was a really close game where it came down to the wire. Dee won!

Tomorrow starts the Raab Park kid’s clinics on Mondays so I’m jazzed about that. I think they are making handprints in cement or something, we’ll see when we get there. It’s a great program, it’s only $1 per kid and they get to do an art project to take home.

Been a busy, busy week….I’m off to bed!

So I’m here watching Oprah while the babies are napping…the secret life of mothers. This one mom is a compulsive shoplifter, another a drug user, secret affairs, secret stippers, etc. I’m feeling pretty boring but happy in my boring life!

Levi went to gymnastics again today (ba-nastics as Alice and he call it) and had a great time again. They sure keep them busy for 2 hours. He came home and crashed but he was all smiles when I picked him up! Tomorrow is their performance, should be fun.

I took the little guys to their WIC appt, got more milk, cheese and formula coupons. Carlos has only gained 1 ounce since last December, yikes. He’s just a small guy and he eats well but his size is still a concern since he doesn’t seem to be gaining weight. Since he doesn’t do milk products (and those are the things they always suggest to bulk up calories with) it’s tough to get the calories in. Surprisingly, she said we should start deep frying foods for him (yuck) and getting him more calories. Doesn’t sound real healthy to me, but I’ll chat with Dr. Margaret about that one first. We’ve been trying to have the boys eat healthy but we will do what we need to do, maybe our idea of healthy and what they need is different.

Off to Silverdale….

Today was the first day of Preschool Gymnastics for Levi and Alice…they had a great time! There were lots of activities and they came home with a construction paper fish, sunglasses and a new t-shirt. They were very proud. It’s funny, there is a parent recital at 10:40am on Thursday and this is the first thing like this that we are going to get to do with the boys. How fun with that be. I’m sure we’ll be one of the 20 dorky parents with the video camera getting it all on film. Someday when he’s a famous gymnast we can sell the footage!

Carlos has Faith over playing today so he’s been very occupied. He was upset when the big kids left, but he got over it and he and Faith trashed the living room. That’s my next job, then laundry (again) and then trying to get things ready for the garage sale.

Dee and I pulled a lot of stuff from the cabinets upstairs to sell, and I went through the toys upstairs and am going to go through the ones in the living room. There are so many they really don’t play with them all and I can ditch the ones that don’t get the usage.

Hoping Joy stops by to see us today…fingers are crossed….I better get to work so I can take a break at that point to chat!

I can’t believe it’s Sunday night already…where did the weekend go? We worked our butts off this weekend in the garden, but it’s really looking nice. Dee’s got the soaker hoses all set out and we just have to splice together some runs to put them all together and watering the raised beds will be as easy and turning on the hose. Ahhh. Got lots of weeding done as well and the peas strung up. I can’t wait until it really starts producing. With the veggie garden and the fruit trees going nuts, we’ll have to learn how to can so it doesn’t all go to waste.

I got a Britax carseat at a sale this weekend…for those of you without kids, Britax is the Cadillac of carseats. The safest, coziest and best and I got this one for $5 (well, really $4.5o since I found 50 cents while I was cleaning it out). So I got all inspired to clean the seats we have, took them all apart and then put back together. They do look nice, they were pretty nasty.

Now the living room is piled with boxes, things to go through to get ready for a garage sale. I sure hope we can pull things together and have a good one. We have tons of baby stuff, should be good for someone.

Well…off to sort and get some shut eye. Busy week this week, Levi and Alice are going to Gymnastics Camp!

Here’s the link to the pictures…

http://www.picturepeople.com/viewsharedalbum.aspx?SharedPictureGroupID=1075727&ShareKey=42845d533d3341f3a1b7c336122e06a5

They turned out great! We only got a few, surprise, surprise with 4 kids I’m amazed we got any in at all. Enjoy!