Tah Mahal of Dog Pens

This is the progress we made on our new dog pen. Thursday, the Giant Man Child rented a compactor. Renting tools is such a man thing. I think that was his favorite part of the entire day was using that. I know for certain it wasn't moving those giant pavers salvaged from the other pen. This pen is never going to be entirely level because the main chunk of the pavers are seconds so they aren't at all uniform at all. Thank goodness, Nonna's hubby came up and help move the pavers. The above picture is of the pen at the end of the day Friday. We will work on the fence part tomorrow. I will be so happy that I don't have to keep the dogs inside .

Art

My nephew,13, during Spring Break got the opportunity to paint a window in Loveland Museum in the new annex to the museum. I just got pictures of the finished product. I can't believe how talented he is. The boy has mad skills. Thank goodness, you don't have your Aunt's art skills. You rock Sasquatch! These pictures don't do the window justice. Sorry about the glare, it is hard to get a great picture of a reflective surface.Pictures are courtesy of my sis.

Tom Sawyer

It feels like summer may have arrived. I started to stain the fence last fall when the weather turned cruddy. I was spurred on by Mr Lawn (aka Mr Lawn Perfection). So today, the Two Man Wrecking Crew and I completed the side of the fence we can see from our back windows. I was hesitant to let them help at first but I decided what could they really wreck doing this. These guys have mad painting skills. It is nice to see these skills used in the pursuit of good rather than evil. No fence was harmed in the painting. It is nice to have such eager help.

Ski to Sea Parade

Ski to Sea is a race with seven-legs that spans 85 miles. It starts at Mt Baker Ski Area and ends in Marine Park in Fairhaven. The race will be going on today. Yesterday, Mrs Epi and family took us to the parade for Ski to Sea. We were both single Moms for the day. It was the first time I was ever been to this parade. We were able to get awesome seats right on a corner. My favorite parts of the parade were the bands and the horses. Here are a few of the pictures I took.

The parade started at noon but we were at the end of the parade route and the last thing rolled by us at a little after 2. The kids did great so we took them for ice cream and then to a park to run off some energy. The park was not to far from Whatcom Falls so of course we walked some of the flat trails(ha, ha!) around there. We also watched the crazy people jump from the falls. The day ended with an awesome sunset.

The song in my head

Do you ever get a song stuck in your head? This seems to be a constant thing for me. It is all about the voices in my head. This is what the voice in my head is singing.

Welcome To Wherever You Are By Bon Jovi

"Maybe we're different, but we're still the same

We all got the blood of Eden, running through our veins

I know sometimes it's hard for you to see

You come between just who you are and who you wanna be

If you feel alone, and lost and need a friend

Remember every new beginning, is some beginning's end

[Chorus]

Welcome to wherever you are

This is your life, you made it this far

Welcome, you gotta believe

That right here right now, you're exactly where you're supposed to be

Welcome, to wherever you are

When everybody's in, and you're left out

And you feel your drowning, in a shadow of a doubt

Everyones a miracle in their own way

Just listen to yourself, not what other people say

When it seems you're lost, alone and feeling down

Remember everybody's different

Just take a look around

[Chorus]

Be who you want to, be who you are

Everyones a hero, everyones a star

When you wanna give up, and your hearts about to break

Remember that you're perfect, God makes no mistakes

[Chorus]

Walking

I just laugh each time I see this sign. Mrs Epi and Mrs Respiratory Therapist have been walking me to death. Doesn't that sound like they are my medical team. They have been trying to kill me by finding the steepest hills to walk up. They always start by saying we are going to take it easy and then we climb Mt Baker. I have been doing a lot of praying that we make it to the top of the hill without emergency assistance. All kidding aside, they are two best walking partners because they put up with me.

Preschool Graduation

This week has been all about Chuckles. Tonight, he graduated from Preschool. He spent a lot of time on stage playing with his hat. He was clearly the tallest graduate there. He was asked what he wanted to be when he grew up and he said, "A police." The funniest one was a little boy who said he wanted to be a Motorcycling Paleontologist. There were quite a few police officers, firemen, and ballerina's. There even was 1 princess. I like the girl who said she wanted to be the babysitter. There also was a boy that said he wanted to be the computer guy.

Chuckles' Birthday

Yesterday was Chuckles 6th Birthday! He had a fabulous day. He went to our last MOPS (mother of preschooler) meeting of the year and it was also our last MOPS as we are both graduating. We took some good friends to the Golden Arches and came back to our house for present opening and cake.

Crazy Decorations Mom put on your Bike Helmet

New Bike!

tooth

I have an amazing and awesome friend who generously allowed me to photograph his treasure. He found the tooth at the beach. Look at that giant tooth. Whale tooth? My friend is very gifted at finding bones at the beach. Both his mom and I hope he never finds human bones.

Mr Golden Sun

Oh, Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun,

Please shine down on me.

Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun,Hiding behind a tree

These little children are asking you

To please come out so we can play with you.

Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun,

Please shine down on, please shine down on,

Please shine down on me.

We are enjoying a beautiful day here in the Pacific Northwest. There is actually SUN with heat. I have had the Golden Sun song stuck in my head all day. Today, Charlie brought home a sun he made at preschool. I hope the sun sticks around for a few days.

Sad Revelation

I have decided I will just about do anything to avoid cleaning. It is kinda a sad revelation. I have the Giant Man Child's Mom and Pappy coming tomorrow. Here is the short list of the things I have done in the last couple of days to avoid cleaning.
1. read 2 books
2. moved gravel- physical demanding labor is way better than cleaning - LOL
3. rode a scooter - I suppose that looked really funny - overweight woman on scooter
4. made cookies - I should of just strapped those babies to my thighs
5 grocery shopped
6. washed a bazillion loads of laundry BUT never folded any of it.
7. blogged
I don't think Fly Lady can help me. If don't blog for a few days,you will know the laundry mountain fell on me.

Child Labor

Yesterday was a very expensive day. We had an area of yard leveled and 10 yards of gravel dumped. Yes, that is what 10 yards of gravel looks like. So, we had to resort to child labor to get our gravel moved. They work so much cheaper. On top of that, the Giant Man Child had to have a root canal. We basically spent our stimulus check in one day, nice.

Notes and Mindless Fun

I have enabled the comment section for anyone. You should be able to leave a comment even if you don't have a blogger account. Here is a mindless but entertaining game Type Racer. It will improve your typing while you play. It is a little addicting.

Jump Around Fun Zone

For Mother's day, Mrs Epi and I took our children here. Do you know how hard it is to get an actual picture of a child down one of these slides with a digital camera? Well let me tell you, it is quite a feat. I have about 10 attempts at actually trying to get a photo of a child on the slide and they all look empty like the one above so per Mrs Epi's suggestion I have just inserted where the child should be in this picture. Here is my review: Jump Around Fun Zone in Bellingham has 4 jumps. It is clean and well supervised. My kids ran and jumped their little hearts out. Because they have so few jumps this isn't probably somewhere my kids would like go every month but definitely good for few hours every once in a while. The cost is $5.95 per child with a discount for groups over 4. They also have two party rooms. This place is definitely an improvement over the old tube time. There are tables and Wi-Fi for adults. You got to love that! They also have a limited concession stand with coffee and snacks.

Duggar Fascination

I just mentioned my odd fascination with the Duggar Family and on Friday they announced they are expecting their 18th child on New Year's Day. Their series on TLC will have all new episodes starting in September.

Happy Mother's Day

To my Mom

You are the Greatest

Love you

Giant Man Child

Yesterday was the Giant Man Child's Birthday. He has reached the ripe old age of 36. I thought I should post some pictures from various periods of his life. The 1st photo is the nut period. Yes, he is standing by a person dressed as a nut. The other picture is him with a hairy caterpillar on his upper lip. This is the moustache period. He is currently in his Shrek period of his life.
Happy Birthday, Honey! We love you.

Everything is better with

BACON!!!!

There is something so wrong but so right about a maple bar with bacon on it. The Giant Man Child just had to try one of these from Rocket Donuts this past week.

What $23 gets you

Yes, I am one of those crazy couponing ladies. I knew some of you would need photographic proof of my couponing greatness. Look at that haul. I had a great trip to Albie's(Albertson's). I got all this for $23. That included a pork roast, 10 cereals, Kleenex, fruit snacks, carrots, and granola bars.
This is what Chuckles thought of my $23 pile of groceries. It was a perfect staging ground for transformers.

New Fun Place

There is a new place to play in Bellingham. Check it out.

Things that fascinate me

As some of you know, there are just some things that are highly fascinating to me. Some are in the category of being fascinating and horrifying. The first belongs in the fascinating but horrified category is the Polygamist sect in Texas. I just finished reading the Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer. The book was good. It explained basically the birth and history of Polygamy and the birth and history of the Mormon Church. Interesting it was the only book available for check out of the library on polygamy. Obviously, quite a lot of people are also secretly fascinated and visibly horrified by the polygamy situation. I am interested in reading the book Escape by Carolyn Jessup, too. I live right by a Church of Latter Day Saints. I realize that FLDS is the backwards stepchild of the Church of Latter Day Saints and 99.5% of mainstream Mormons don't even claim the FLDS and the church 100% disowns the FLDS. The whole situation in Texas is like a car wreck you just can't help but look at.

Secondly, I have found the Amish interesting, too. On our many trips to Ohio to visit my Grandma, we have seen the Amish. The way they conduct their life is interesting besides just their clothing and shunning of modern conveniences.

Lastly, I am fascinated by large families. I don't come from a large family and I really don't want a large family but the dynamics are interesting to me. I watch Jon and Kate plus 8 on TLC and I am in awe of their organization. I really like how real they are with each other. I attend MOPS with a lady that has 12+ kids and I am seriously in awe of her parenting, organization, and faith. Quite frankly, she scares me. The Duggar family is another interesting one too.