the royal wedding



Did you watch the Royal Wedding this morning? I did not. Well I didn't get up at the crack of dawn to watch in my time zone. This week my 'mommy germ shield' had malfunctioned and I came down with another cold. That makes two in about three weeks time. So while William and Kate were sealing the deal, I was sufficiently knocked out with a bit of NyQuil trying to sleep off this congestion and scratchy throat.

I did, however, wake up at a normal time, sent the big kids and husband off, pour myself a spot of tea and watched the recap of all the hub-hub. It looked lovely I must admit. Her dress was fantastic. The fashions and hats were fun and funny. It all made me want to hop across the pond to visit.

I've always dreamt of trips to Ireland, Scotland, England and France. I suppose I should get a passport first though, huh. And, maybe winning the lottery would help as well. Since all that awesome travel takes a bit of coin to make happen.

Sigh.

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In other news, I must announce that at this very moment here in the Pacific Northwest, it is NOT raining. Spring has not been fun this year. It's been cold, grey and wet. I need some vitamin D to perk up my mood. I am really over it.

The good news is it's Friday. My day off. I don't have to be anywhere or do anything. I tend to lounge around in my jammies on Fridays and clean house. Which probably doesn't sound like a blasty blast, but it is enjoyable to laze about and tootle around the house. Lately a gigantic purge mood has come across me. I want to sell and toss everything that is not being actively used. I want my garage cleaned out and my house clutter free.

I just pulled all the outgrown kid clothes I have been storing into the living room pooling it all together. My jaw literally hit the floor when I saw everything in one room. I've been storing a lot of stuff y'all!! Like, it shocked me. And, I am surprised at how much boy stuff I still have. Amazing!!

My plan of attack (because the reason I hung onto these items is they are name brand clothing items and I didn't want to just drop them off at a donation site) is have a kid clothing sale. I'm going to organize everything. And, invite everyone I know to my 'once in a lifetime, semi annual, everything must go' 2 dollar sale. That is everything is just two dollars. I've got girl sizes and boy sizes and baby sizes too. Summer, Fall, Spring and Winter items. Shoes galore too.

So how did this post go from wedding talk to kid clothes? Good question. I guess that's where weddings end up in long run don't they. Kids! I wonder when the talk will turn from Royal Wedding to Royal Baby news?

Until then, Happy Friday!

new adventures

El Fuego has a tooth (or teeth) with a mind of it's own. It is coming in sideways and ready to party all the way in the back. I took him to his first orthodontist appointment this morning and a treatment plan was discussed. The good news, although not so good if you are El Fuego, is we have to wait until September to really get going on this "plan" because he needs to have a baby tooth pulled first. Fun times!

confetti invites

I came across this photo on Pinterest and fell head over heels. What an adorable idea, right!! You can read all about the how-to on oh happy day which happens to be one of my faves.

softball girl

Miss Divine plays a good game of softball! And, she is pretty darn cute in her uniform too.

In a recent game she got to play catcher and rocked it out!!

Good thing she is has all that head gear on because she's been known to get hit in the face....

But it hasn't slowed her down.

Look at her go!!

 

what a way to make a living

I was lucky enough to be gifted two tickets to see 9 to 5, the musical this last Saturday evening. I do enjoy musical theater, I just am not able to take part in viewing musical theater very often. Plus I'm not a huge fan of driving in the city. With that said, I took my mom, and we were able to float on into the big city with ease. 

My mom took me along to see 9 to 5 the movie. I was six. Which is sort of funny but describes our relationship. So I only thought it fitting to take my mom to see the musical.

The cast was great. The woman playing Roz as my favorite. Diana DeGarmo (from American Idol) played Doralee, the Dolly Parton character. She was fabulous at singing with a squeaky, southern drawl.

We enjoyed the evening and I hope if you get a chance to see the musical, you must. Lots of fun!

Now, I must see if I can scrounge up the original movie.

weekend wrap up

photo

I don't know why but I always feel like I need to apologize at the beginning of every post lately. Not that you are waiting with bated breath for my next jumble of rambled words, but because I've managed to let a good chunk of time lapse between every post. I want to blog and have interesting things to say, however, I must admit I've just been too pooped. I've been logging in a lot of couch time recently.

Easter weekend was a blur. Very low key and mellow, but full of activities. Which was why it was blurry and went by way too quick.

Saturday woke us up with the most beautiful weather. (A very unusual occurrence in the Pacific Northwest.) Birthday parties, baseball games, egg coloring and a night out on the town kept us busy.

(More on the night out soon.)

On Sunday, we were back to the cold, rainy darkness. Mr. Hawthorne and I laid in bed while the kids dug into and compared their Easter baskets while consuming chocolate around us. We finally got ourselves up and took the kids to a matinee showing of Hop.

Then I went grocery shopping while Mr. Hawthorne and the kids did yard work. Exciting huh?! But I'll let you in on a little secret.....Easter is a perfect time to see a movie and go grocery shopping!! (pssst, no crowds)

I hope your holiday was full of family and friends!!

barkoff

If you know me in real life, you know I have been having a hard time with my dogs and their love of barking.

Let me say this, I LOVE my dogs! And, I'm an owner for life. I'm not one to adopt a pet and if something happens I don't like, for example: barking, ship the poor pooches off lickety split. However, I must admit, this whole business of barking has had me climbing the walls. I like it when my dog barks at someone threatening. I enjoy my two Scotties barking at the door-to-door solicitor. (A little too much probably) But their habit of making noise at every little thing that moves or patrolling the boundaries of the backyard with incessant barking is too much.

I've tried every collar, every positive reward, every negative discipline and every command possible. Nothing has worked. Mavis, on the left, is the worst offender. She's little and scrappy and the loudest. She currently wears a bark collar when she is outside and for the most part it works. However, she is smart enough to know that when she doesn't have the collar on, she can bark up a storm without consequence.

Franklin, on the right, is a slow, scaredy-cat and pretty much will do whatever Mavis does. His bark is deep and low so not as annoying as his sister's high pitched shrill, but loud none the less.

Besides the barking when out in the backyard, the pups like to watch the happenings go past the front of the house through our front door that happens to be glass. Our street is a hot spot for walkers, joggers and bikers since it's flat and quiet. So you can imagine the noise inside our house. Yesterday I was strolling around Target and happened to pass this little gadget.

I didn't have high hopes for this ten dollar device that claimed such peace and quiet. I always questioned the integrity of products that bear the "as seen on tv" sticker. Usually "as seen on tv" means you are a big sucker for giving us your money for this piece of crap. But for ten bucks, I thought I would give it a try. I set BarkOff by the front door and turned it on. Then I quickly forgot about it. Until, Franklin started barking at a crow in the front yard this morning. To my amazement, BarkOff worked. He instantly stopped the noise and backed away from the front door. I couldn't be more happy!!

no belly itcher

This season has been a brand new experience for El Fuego in the world of baseball. He is now on a AAA team which means kids play all positions and the coaches simply coach. It also means there are wins and losses, not to mention all the league rules about playing the sport. Which I think is actually harder on the parents than the kids. I think it's a fabulous way to learn some valuable life skills. We can't all win all the time. Sometimes we have to sit on the bench. Being a good sport and a team player and learning from our fumbles is how we grow and mature.

El Fuego has tried out his pitching arm a few times and with each time on the mound he gets a little better. One of the dads from the team took some great action shots of our guy doing his thing. This picture is my favorite. I'm going to save it so I can remind El Fuego how he can earn himself a college scholarship.

every girl needs a cottage

You know that PB bed I have been drooling over?

Well leave it to Ms. Ana White to design some plans to whip up such a bed.

And do you think I printed those babies out to give to Mr. Hawthorne?

You bet your sweet booty I did!!

birds and bees

I recently found myself at an Usborne book party and I spied these two books. The older kids are getting older and hormones have quietly slipped into our homestead. All the sudden we have smelly body parts and weird emotional outbursts. It's been a shock to my system I must admit.

I ordered a boy book and a girl book. At first I had a slight reaction to just how forward and graphic these books are. It's out there...all of it. But I'm firm believer that education is power. And I very much want my children to be educated on all things including what the heck their bodies are doing. I think they can deal with all the changes and mood swings if they can understand why. My plan is to ease into it. Go through the books together and then let them digest all the information.

I really do think these books are good tools to have on hand when your children start asking questions. Up to this point I've been very science experiment about it all. Giving the basics in terms my kids could understand. However, the time has come we stop skimming the surface and talk about the facts. Wish me luck.

kids' rooms

I drool over this bed every time it comes out in the Pottery Barn Kids catalog. Sigh.

happy day

Okay, okay....I know I promised some more blog action and then I fell off the wagon...again. My apologies. Truth is, I've not been all that exciting. I'm still laying low and trying to squeeze in as much sleep as possible. However, I got some super duper news this afternoon. I've reached the 3 week mark after surgery. I visited with my surgeon and he gave me the green light to start solid foods. I came straight home and ate a piece of peanut butter toast and 1/2 of a banana....and it was the best toast and fruit I've eaten in a long time!!

Just because I have been sitting around the house sulking over the foods I can't eat, doesn't mean a little action hasn't found me....

When I woke up this morning I saw a mess of sticks and whatnot on the front porch. I knew the robins were out in full swing lately, banging their little heads on the front windows of the house and snatching up worms from the lawn. So I quickly realized the mess on my porch was made by a bird. Sure enough, right on top of the porch light is the start of a nest some wee mama robin is making herself. Sadly, I don't want the nest there because, well, because of all the bird poop I'm picturing on my furniture below. I took the start of a nest down and swept the debris off the porch.

Looks like I've got a little war on my hands though as that bird has been giving me the stink eye for most the morning. And, when I came downstairs after getting ready for the day, wouldn't you know it....a new nest was being built. And Ms. Smarty pants used all of her supplies from what I took down the first time. Then she sat on the railing and stared at me through the window.

Other exciting news involves Miss Divine. She lost yet another tooth two night ago....annnnddddd, she swallowed it in her sleep. Poor girl. She has lost more of her teeth down the ole pipes than have actually fallen out of her head. She is a pro at writing the tooth fairy a note in place of a tooth. When she woke up the next day after leaving a note she told Mr. Hawthorne that the tooth fairy didn't like her note because she only left a dollar. Wha?!

Speaking of kids: El Fuego and Miss Divine went back to school today after spending their Spring break at baseball camp. But because Miss Petite's preschool is in a different school district, she is on Spring break this week. And just in time....she came down with a cold. Ah well...I can't wait until next year when all the kids are on the same schedule.

We've been watching lots of movies lately. The weather has been nasty so we occupy out time indoors watching flicks. We did take the kids to the theater to see the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie, which was fun. I love the cast. So cute! Mr. Hawthorne and I recently watched Fair Game which was also a great movie. It sort of made me mad though. But I enjoyed it none the less.

My mother came up to visit last week too. She mopped my floor and my dogs chewed up her glasses. And that concludes my week wrap up. Good times, good times.