Fourth of July fun fun fun

So over the years we have sold soda at the Ridgefield parade, and have never been terribly successful...no need for long details but we've never made a dime on the soda sales when all is said and done. This year, we tried a couple of different marketing techniques. First, we used a fancy lemonade stand, decked out with flags and advertisements. Perhaps more effectively we charged half the price of our competitors...50cents a can. The kids couldn't get the soda out fast enough. They made (after paying all the fairly substantial overhead fees) almost $70! AND, Levi made it into the Reflector for his soda stand. Overall, total success.
After adding baby soap and boogie boards, the slip and slide has been perfected. (Spencer was having fun here, I promise!)





Darn the strangle hold on Levi, b/c it would be such a cute picture otherwise!!
I made a beast of a fruit pizza, super yummy (if I do say so myself) but spent most of the afternoon preparing it so probably only be made on special occasions. Or not ever again (more likely scenario).
I never anticipated being one of those people who takes pictures of flowers, but I technically am one of those people now. Maybe I am officially aging...
Emma picking strawberries in Boppa's garden.
Emma...being Emma.
My dad has cherry trees, and even though they aren't all the way ripe (still down right sour...) the kids were eating them like crazy. Such a perfect summer evening!
It wouldn't be right if I didn't post a few pictures of the girls' hair???

The girls got their fingernails painted red and blue to match their face paint, and hair accessories, and patriotic outfits (I DO love the 4th of July).
Caders outside playing with Ashley and Ella's dog Zoey. He LOVES that dog. Pretty sure the dog suffers night terrors from being carried, poked, chased, and prodded by this adoring 3 year old!

Summer: Not quite, but almost

Jogathon at school. Emma with two of her favorite friends, Rainey and Sam. She was a great little runner, I was impressed!
Poor Caden is phasing out of his naps, but gets to stay up late with the big kids playing outside with friends. Finally took its toll when we were just finishing up dinner to notice Caders out cold sitting upright! So funny.

Disneyland

We have been planning this trip for almost a year now, and have been anxiously looking forward to it. We decided we wanted to surprise the kids with the news. So after school, I told them we had to pick up dad from work. When Spencer got into the car, we put the DVD in and it was "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" and after the intro song, I popped onto the screen and said a few words and then Spencer zoomed in on pieces of paper that said "We are..." "Going to..." "Disneyland..." "Right Now..." you could have heard the screams from another state! They were soo excited. The flight over went smooth, and our hotel was beautiful. The first picture is our view from our balcony of the swimming pools.

We went with our friends the Guse's, and their cute cute kiddos.

The kids each got a pair of sunglasses in their plane bags (we don't need things like SUN glasses in Oregon haha), and Levi was apparently pretty happy about these...
Caden's sunglasses were "Batman" and I am pretty sure he didn't take them off the whole trip. Inside, outside, awake or asleep he had them on!!

California screaming...yes, I screamed the whole time. This ride was definitely one of our favorites!!
We got two early entries as part of our hotel package, and Disneyland closed at midnight...needless to say, Caden was beyond exhausted. He was a really good sport though and his lack of height was an advantage b/c we didn't have to wait in very many lines for the bigger rides b/c of the stroller pass. Nice!

The most amazing balloon expert (hmmm...not sure the official title for this!) came to our restaurant and our sweet friends got the kids some balloons. They were amazing! Spiderman, aliens, crazy hats, pirate swords, you name it. We had a bit of an audience with all of the balloon dancing we did after dinner.
One of the highlights for me was seeing our good friends the Lauper's while we were there. Not only did the beautiful weather we enjoyed the whole trip make me miss California, but seeing Ryan and Arlene and their adorable boys made me miss it even more! We got to catch up for a bit, but it was definitely too short a visit!!


Imagine waiting in a 40 minute line to take a 30 second picture with Aladdin and Jasmine. I don't have to imagine such things...I got to experience it first hand. But, I did get to admire Jasmine's abs and Aladdin's eyebrows, which was sort of exciting. :)



Same long line, only this time no abs or eyebrows to admire, only Pluto.





Our flight home did NOT go smooth. We flew Alaska on our way home and they charged us for each checked bag (which we weren't aware of, and JetBlue on the way there did NOT charge for bags) so we last minute started consolidating and trying to carry on additional bags...which would have been annoying but tolerable except it ended up having all my toiletries, sunblock, and additional food items that we had to throw away. So $40 for bags, and probably $50+ worth of thrown away food/sunblock/etc. I was not happy. Then the flight was nearly two hours delayed, and we got home after midnight. Kiddos were tuckered out, but we made it. We definitely had the full Disneyland experience! Such a fun family trip!

Sisters Retreat

This year I was finally able to make it happen and visit with my SIL's for their annual Sisters Retreat. It was on an island near Seattle, called Vashon Island. It was stunningly beautiful with the view of the mountains and the greenery and the water, very picturesque. We brought books and had a book review, did some crafty fun projects, ate lots of yummy food, did lots of shopping, played some games, and had uninterrupted adult chat time! WOW! It was super fun to get away, but I was definitely excited to see my familia when it was over. Here is just a small snippet of the pictures that were taken, but the only ones I have had time to edit/post.

Spencer's sisters Valerie and Gaylene.

Nora, Valerie, Gaylene, Jen, Roselyn at the lighthouse.

Nora and Gaylene

Group pictures taken with remote, while my camera was balanced on an ironing board and three books. :)

The Good Woman Part 2

It is another rainy day here in the lovely land of Oregon. In my efforts to not slip into the pit of despair, I whipped up some play dough and withstood the temptation to turn on the TV. E and C played with play dough for over an HOUR! It was much better than "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" b/c I didn't feel guilty afterwards. :) I did have to spend 10 minutes on my knees plunking up play dough droppings, but I think it was still worth it. They made bugs and pizza, over and over, like 100 times. Childhood bliss and a happy mom!

Work From Home? E-book review

My college degree sits dormant in a box somewhere in the garage. I don't regret or even mourn over the "lost" years staying at home raising my kids. I do, however, on occasion look forward to the day I can use some of my suppressed skills. I started several years ago doing a little freelance PR work and have absolutely enjoyed the chance to use some pent up brainpower and have a little budget-less spending money (oh how I adore having a little cash in my wallet!).

I am finding myself approaching a day where I might have FOUR children in school (Caden starts preK next fall. Eeek!) for a few hours during the week, and I can't help but daydream about all the possibilities!

I started looking into adding some more freelance work to my meager arsenal and came across an e-book titled "You Can Work in Your PJ's" by Sylvie Charrier. I asked if I could read the book and review it on my blog, and they kindly obliged.

I just finished this very lengthy book and will give my review below:

You Can Work in Your PJ's has a lot of great points. Sylvie didn't sugarcoat the amount of work required to start up your own business online, and she really broke down every detail required to do so.

Some good points:

• The e-book has a money back guarantee, if you don't find yourself on board for starting an online business after reading her book, you can get your money back.
• Upon ordering the e-book, you receive several other interesting articles, customer support, one on one online consulting, access to their member website, and quite a bit of additional material.
• This book is HUGE, there is a ton of information. Really, it covers everything you need to know about telecommuting.
• I finished feeling excited and having several good ideas on what I can do to expand my freelance business.
• Straight forward, doesn't appear to beat around the bush about what is involved (tells you what you will like and not like about working from home, etc.)

Some not so good points:

• Well, I mentioned previously, it is HUGE. I am not a fan of reading on the computer, but didn't want to print out a million pages, so that was a downfall for me. Though one can hardly complain about receiving too many tips and too much info about a topic you are interested in.
• I wished there had been a little more focus on what to do for small time businesses (like mine), for instance a chapter titled "If You Don't Want to Work Full Time From Home, but Just Want to Make a Little Extra Cash" (maybe abbreviated a bit... :)). Designing my own website, and getting massive amounts of traffic, and customers and everything sounds awesome, but it is way bigger scale than I really ever intend to take my freelance biz.

Overall, if you are interested in starting a successful, full-time career from home, then I highly recommend this e-book. Click here to order.

Am I a good woman?

Day 189,765 of non-stop rain seems to have put me in a funk. I am desperately trying to pull myself out of it, but by evening (or mid-morning as the day may be) I am right back in! I always joke about how funny (sad) it is, that I don't need Satan to tempt me or beat me down, b/c I do a right good job myself!

Let's count the ways I am falling short....hmmm...that always brings a smile to a mother's face!? Why do I do this to myself?

I started last week writing one thing each night in my journal that I am grateful for. While looking for things to be grateful for, it definitely helps my attitude and gives me an excuse to take more pictures! Going to do the age old ad em of looking for the positive. So, today I made homemade honey wheat bread, and the sight and smell instantly put everyone in a better mood. Not sure what it is about homemade bread that makes me feel like a good woman, but it did the job. AND, just as I was pulling the bread out of the oven, the sun peeked out of the seemingly endless and very dismal clouds! A little sunshine never hurts either...

Will it be a bad sign if all my gratitude picture posts are about food? Hmmm....