Hiya!

It's been close to a year now since I've posted anything, so I figured it's about time for a shakedown on where we're all at currently. I don't have my camera at the moment to upload any fun pics, but they will come later on.

Phew, where to start?

So currently, JT and I are embarking into the unknown with our first vegetable garden expedition. When we first moved into our house last August, our property was totally invaded with blackberries. Being the canner/jam maker I am, I didn't really mind because I was all about the berries! However, things were kinda out of control. So throw together some dedicated friends, a bobcat/tractor thingy and bit by bit we cleared out behind the detached shop/garage to make way for our upcoming garden! (Imagine picture here....Yeah try real hard)
Of course, just clearing out the area and leveling it was just the beginning. We then (with the use of our neighbors tiller) tore up the ground and removed somewhere around a pickup load amount of rocks, some close to the size of our head. Needless to say, it's been a grueling two to three months, but it's finally paid off. This past weekend we got peas (two varieties), corn, onions, green beans, and squash in the ground; with tomatoes, bell peppers (red, green, yellow, and purple!) cucumbers and cayenne peppers (yeah, that's all husband right there) waiting to go in this week. We also have a trellis of raspberry bushes and a strawberry patch of over fifty plants in the works. I can't tell you how absolutely overjoyed I am to finally be able to garden! Now if only I had the same motivation with the flowerbeds...

To be succenct, Mother's Day absolutely rocked. For many that know me, I always struggle with Mother's Day. I get myself all hyped up with silly ideas of how the day will go and my poor husband can't get close to my unattainable ideals (though he tries, trust me) and it just never works out. Well, this year I finally succeeded in an attitude adjustment and everything fell into place. First of all, it was an absolutely gorgeous day. That in itself was good enough for me, being one living in the Northwest. I didn't have to change a single diaper, had a great brunch at my aunt's house with my grandparents (in-law) that returned from their winter trip to Arizona, my kids were absolute saints, my husband treated me to his signature dish of Fettucini Di Mare (he hasn't made it in over five years!) and the gift of Wii Fit. I felt like a million bucks and am incredibly grateful for the wonderful family I'm involved in.

Speaking of pride and joys, my dream of the past five years was to have my own craft room where I could have my sewing machine set up, and room for my beading hobby. The house we moved into is a two bedroom, but the detached shop has an office I have effectively taken over as my craft studio. Not only do I have my sewing machine set up and a table for my beadwork, but it's also outfitted with an additional table for cutting fabric, my ironing board (a MUST for quilting!) and storage cupboards topped off with a stereo loud enough for me to effectively rock out and block the outside world when I deem it necessary. On evenings after the kids go to bed and my husband is out you can find me there until the wee hours of the morning letting the creative juices flow. And when I'm done, I just shut everything off and leave it all where it is, since the kids can't get into the shop I don't have to worry about leaving out sewing pins, sharp items, or chemicals that can be dangerous to little ones. It's great!

Okay, so it's getting a little hard to post because I need to show pictures. I'll get them up as soon as I can!

Catching Up

Wow, I feel guilty for ignoring this for soooooo long. I hardly know where to pick back up! I apologize ahead of time for bouncing all over the place. :)

I guess I'll start with the kids! Rachael (AKA Ray-Ray) turned one back in June, and in the past week she's decided that walking is the way to go! As soon as I get some footage, I'll get it up here. Her 'spiderwalk' crawling days are numbered. (As hilarious as they are)

Celesta is growing into a very responsible big sister. She's good at letting me know when Rachael is getting into or doing something she shouldn't. Celesta also likes to take Rachael's bottles and finish them, though we're getting more watchful now that Rachael is drinking cow's milk and Celesta is lactose sensitive.

Overall, we're all hanging in there and LOVING Summer! Celesta inherited my 'waterbug' gene and spends time playing in the sprinkler/kids pool whenever she can. Rachael is more on the timid side and likes to sit and splash in the puddles Celesta leaves in her wake. JT and I are still gainfully employed, working all week and playing on the weekends.

Speaking of Summer, canning season is upon us once again! After all the pears we did last year (and the peaches and pears we did the year before) we were shocked to discover that we went through our ENTIRE stockpile and ran out last week! So this year we're planning to do even more boxes of peaches and pears. We're holding off on applesauce and apple pie filling, as we're pretty set up from last years adventures. Jam season is upon us currently, and we took full advantage of strawberries while they were available. I believe we ended up somewhere around 36 pints of jam after everything was said and done. We're planning to make blackberry and blueberry jam once the berries become available as well. Eastern Washington is experiencing an amazing year of cherries, and this past weekend we picked up 25 lbs. for $20 while coming home from visiting family. My husband canned them while I was at work just today, and ended up with 14 quart jars. This is our first year canning cherries (we didn't make them into pie filling) so I hope they turn out well! Last year we decided to try canning spaghetti sauce and salsa, and we might do it again this year.

In April I took the gutsy step and took my beading hobby to a whole new level by acquiring a business license and registering for a craft fair in November. So you can guess where all my spare time (all 5 minutes of it, it seems) has been going! If I'm not actively doing something, I'm off in dreamland coming up with new designs, display plans, logo/stationary design, and all the other business stuff that comes with owning your own business. (And you'd be shocked at how much there is to do!) I attended the Tacoma Bead Show just a couple weeks ago, my first time as a 'wholesale buyer' and though I didn't take a huge advantage of it, I still learned loads of stuff (and brought home a few goodies!). I'm intending to have a blog and online store set up once I get an inventory established and pics taken. Since the fair is in November, I've got a whole line-up of Christmas themed pendants, earrings, and beaded ornaments slated for display. Watch for upcoming details!

Mall Excursion

I decided to get out of the house and take the kids someplace fun. Rach is going through an enormous growth spurt (we're spending more on food for her than my husband, it seems) and all of her clothing is too small. Instead of waiting to go to storage to dig out the next size in clothes (last time I did that I pulled out sundresses and shorts in mid-December) I cashed in Rach's gift card to Baby Gap. We hit the mall, cleaned off the card and hit up the play area on the way out. I was shocked at how much Rachael crused around the place! She was not afraid to explore! She's also started pulling herself up onto things (including strangers, lol).






I mentioned lunch


Celesta wanted my phone and to take a picture. She did, and it's hilarious!

Picture Update

It's been too long since I've posted some pics! Enjoy!




I didn't quite get the angle right, it looked hilarious when I came outside to see Rach in JT's coat to keep warm.


Celesta and her buddy Kay right before she went home to New Mexico...*sniff*

Big Snow

January was such a demanding month I never got these pics posted! They've been sitting on my photobucket account for a while now, oops. :) Just refer to my December postings about the crazy snow we had when viewing these. :)




My cat, Cumulonimbus, (aka Nimbus, Nim, Nimrod, Nimbecile, and any other silly reference we can come up with) enjoying the snow.


Rachael joined us for a short time.







Celesta's first snowman...er bear!




And of course, the lesson in snowball throwing...Rachael doesn't have a chance!

Static Electricity

I spent the last weekend in Eastern WA with my parents. The climate is slightly drier than my current residence, 110 miles away. Celesta was playing on the couch, and well, the following pics ensued. I was giggling too hard to pay attention to her face so the pics aren't the best, but it wasn't the smile I was going for. :)

PS-Cici got her first haircut the day before, explaining the evenness of the do. :)

Personality

I haven't done one of these in YEARS!

I was bloghopping on my break at work, when I came across a blog about a personality test and how close it was to this individual's traits. So out of curiosity, I gave it a try. I was pleasantly surprised as well.

Apparently, I'm what you call an ISFJ.

I was interrupted before I could get the details, but later I googled it and got this. I saw descriptions like Loyal, Responsible, Nurturing, unable to delegate, etc. through a bunch of other sites. I thought it explained a LOT. :)

Go here and give it a whirl, I'd love to hear your results. :)

January Attacks!

I guess there's some explanation due here.

On second thought, see the title if you need an explanation. :)

I hate sounding like a broken record, but sheesh, LIFE IS CRAZY!

January is always a challenging month to get through. I try to view it as a time to catch my breath after the holidays, but it simply doesn't work that way. Especially at work. And this time around wasn't any different!

The struggle at work with the end of the year is that I have the month of January to close out 2008, meaning that I have to make sure the payroll book is all filled in and correct, (No, I don't have a computer program to do it for me, it's all about the graph paper and calculator!) patient files are all up to date...Essentially what I have to do at the end of each month, quarter, etc with the inclusion of end of the year taxes (as well as 4th quarter taxes) W-2's, W-3's, 1099's and all sorts of other ABC soup tax forms I'm under a great deal of pressure to complete (and complete CORRECTLY) by the end of the month.

The even more complicating factors: We had a price increase for services, and my program won't update the total on each individual patient file--I had to go through and do it MANUALLY--PLUS I was also behind to start with because I was out of work for two weeks in December from the abnormal snow. So I was behind, overwhelmed and frustrated trying to update everything before I could even get started on the legal things that were due by the end of the month. Oh, and of course the CURRENT workload that kept getting shoveled onto my desk that sat for about three weeks before I could get to it... Needless to say it looked like they were testing A-Bombs in my office, and I was under pretty exorbitant amounts of stress to catch up, get things done and take care of all the current and oncoming stuff. Not my idea of a pleasant work environment.

So I've been more than slammed (and overstressed--I'm too much of a perfectionist) at work, buried in housework at home,(I FINALLY got laundry done last weekend) husband working 14 hours a day, the house OVERLOADED with stuff that needs to go to storage (hah, big joke trying to can two boxes of apples into applesauce while this is all going on) and two young kids both demanding 26 hours of attention a day. (I'm not kidding, they're both demanding more hours than possible in a day)

However, I've had my moments. My husband bought me a copy of 'Twilight' and I spent my lunch breaks escaping to Forks (not a long trip for me, living near Seattle and all!) chasing after vampires. The following weekend, my husband was camping (yes, snow camping, absolutely nuts) so my weekend was spent staying up wayyyyy past my bedtime devouring the following three books. Needless to say, I utilized my rusty skill of reading 1400 wpm (I was clocked in high school) and by the time my husband returned from camping at the end of the weekend he not only had 'Twilight' waiting for him, but 'New Moon' and 'Eclipse' as well. I was also about 250 pages into 'Breaking Dawn'.

*imagins herself standing in front of a support group*
'Hello, my name is Becky'
'Hello Becky'
'And I'm officially a Twilighter'

Anyways, where was I? Oh yes, weekends. This upcoming weekend my husband and I are cashing in our Christmas present from my Mom in law and embarking on a weekend...*gasp*...

Without the kids!

This will be our first overnight stay without kids in...Lets see, how old is Celesta? Yup, that long. We have our favorite Bed and Breakfast booked on Whidbey island, tickets to go see 'Twilight' one more time in the theater (Husband also loved the books and wants to go see the movie again now that we've both read the books) dinner at a NICE restaurant on the water, a round of two of disc golf, sleeping in, and probably anything else we can think to do that we normally can't with two kids in tow. Yup, looking forward to it, BIG TIME.

However, the end of January doesn't bring all that much celebration. My good friend that's been up here from New Mexico since October is returning home at the end of the month. Which means no more playmate for Celesta, and no more beading and catching up with my friend. I knew this was coming, but it still stinks. I'm tempted to stash my cash intended for the Anime Convention I go to every year and invest in some plane tickets...

Which reminds me... Sakura-Con 2009 is only two months away! HOORAY!!!! *does her happy anime dance*

And another way I've kept my sanity this month: Investing in some new tunes for my Mp3 player and cranking them as loud as I can while hitting the gym. There is NOTHING like turning on my 'protective bubble of noise' (as I call it) and burning off stress the 'healthy' way (I dunno how healthy it is sacrificing my precious hearing, but oh well.)

So yeah, that's where we're at: Focusing on the light points as life grinds us through the month. I just hope February is less polarized. :)

Retail Therapy

This may seem so random, but I just have to share!

I had to go pick up the pictures taken with Santa, and I had a few minutes during lunch so I ducked into the new bead store located in the same complex as the photography place...

WOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

I've been challenged trying to get the specialty items I've wanted because the bigger craft stores (JoAnn's, Michaels, Ben Franklin) don't have them. I've been pretty successful with Shipwreck Beads and feeling pretty good since they're in state and I'm helping the local economy, but I consolidate orders to save shipping (plus they have a $25 minimum order requirement) and I can't always make big orders. SO ANYWAYS, I was pleasantly surprised when I walked into this place to find out they have WigJigs (the brand of wire jig I use/own, all the other stores have what's called 'Thing-a-ma-jig' because it's cheaper) and accessories in stock, the Swarovski crystals I've been searching high and low for (yes, I needed them for Christmas, but I can always start for next year!) and a bunch of other GREAT STUFF that no other beading store I'd been to had! Needless to say, my Christmas bonus disappeared FAST, and I'm doing a 'Happy Beader's Dance' (Not to be mixed up with my 'Happy Anime Dance', lol)

I talked to the owner manning the store, and found out she has three other stores in Montana, and if there's anything I need and the other stores in MT have it, she can get it here in about four days (and was more than happy to do so!). Her prices were pretty darn good (which for the complex she's located in is kinda a surprise because I know it's expensive to be located there) and her selection was GREAT! Yay me! A store I can satisfy my 'Gotta have it NOW' urge I suffer from occasionally! :)

Anyways, the place is called Garden of Beadin' and it's located in the Country Village in Bothell. (Where I got married, and where I take my kids to get their Santa pics taken every year because Chapters Photography takes APPOINTMENTS!)

It's amazing what a little retail therapy can do sometimes! :)

Snowed In!

I'm beginning to think we've been transported to some snowy mountain range! (Wasn't that the storyline of a Star Trek movie or something?)

I officially have not worked a full day in over a week and a half, there's over a foot of snow STILL on the ground, and more is coming down!

I wanted Christmas Eve off to spend the day baking and whatnot, but this isn't exactly what I meant! I'm home for the day because my car is STUCK where I parked it on the side of the road and after rocking back and forth and having good samaritans help push, we couldn't even get the car out into the road far enough to worry about someone hitting it. CRAZY!

We're stocked up on supplies, as last weekend they were predicting high winds and snow with the possibility of power outages. At that point my husband and I stocked up on diapers, enough formula to last two months (and Rachael is on cereal now and LOVING IT! Hooray!) full gas tanks, 4 gallons of gas for the generator, and the alternative heat source on hand. Which is a good thing because the roads have been so bad that gas trucks can't get to the gas stations, and three days ago when my husband ventured out to the store the shelves were nearly empty. (We're out of milk, he is SO BUMMED!)

Luckily, husband and I got our Christmas shopping done last Saturday when the weather broke for a short time (and he used his expertise in winter driving, trust me!) so we know for sure that Santa Claus will be arriving on schedule and in full force to our two year old that doesn't exactly understand the whole idea, but knows that Santa is something to be excited over. And of course, Rachael wasn't forgotten either. :)

I've got some FUN pictures of Celesta helping Dad make her first snowman, and as soon as Photobucket behaves, I'll post them up here! The computer is FIXED, and my camera is cleaned off and the pics are on the hard drive! WOOHOO!!! :)

Picture and Video Overload!

Okay, I got my camera cleaned off and uploaded a BUNCH of stuff!

Yes it's random, yes there's lots, but seriously: How else would it be with two young children? :)

I'll start with Cici's 2nd birthday on the 9th. I took her and her playmate to a place called Pump it Up to play for a drop in session and it was INSANE!!! It's a huge inflated gym and the three of us absolutely played our hearts out! I got videos and pics, enjoy!








(I have more pics, I'll get them up later!)

On our way home from my parents on Sunday I was finally able to capure Cici singing her rendition of 'Jingle Bells' on film. It's dark, we're in the car, so there's not much to see on the video, but the sound is absolutely hilarious.



Speaking of silly, we discovered that Rachael loves the rhyme, 'Pop Goes the Wease.' The following video is my mom in law entertaining Rachael with the rhyme and Rachael is really hamming it up. It was the first time we'd ever heard her laugh like that!

(*oops, problems uploading, I'll fix it later*)

And here she is through Celesta eating cake at my parents place:



A couple weeks ago, I heard Cici giggling in her bedroom and when I went to see what was so funny, I found out she'd figured out how to climb onto the changing table and 'play' with my cat Nimbus. Guess his safe place isn't so safe anymore!









I tried to get some pics with the girls in their matching pajamas, and the following pics ensued. Guess Cici just wasn't feeling like getting a pic taken with her sis. Oh well.





And Rachael playing with her toes again. :)

Upcoming this weekend: Cici's birthday party and Santa pictures! Did I mention I got them the CUTEST matching dresses this year? Yeah, I'm not excited. *sarcasm* :)

Weekend Over the Mountains!

FINALLY! After nearly two months and a cancelled Thanksgiving visit, we all made it over to my parents place for a weekend of fun! Our plans included shopping for my birthday present in Wenatchee, celebrating Cici's 2nd birthday, and just plain hanging out! I snagged some pics off my mom's camera (my card wouldn't read because I have video files on my SD card--including the CUTEST video of Cici's rendition of Jingle Bells--so this is all I have to work with for now) and onto my jump drive.


Cici trying to put a vest coat on by herself (much more funny from behind with the hood by her tail end, trust me)

Grandma made an EXCELLENT Elmo cake for Cici's birthday, and as you can see below, she TOTALLY ENJOYED IT!







And of course, Rachael loved the new concept of playing in the high chair while I helped get dinner on and stuff.


Hooray for pics!

Pictures!

I had my camera at a friends house and had the opportunity to upload what was on my card. Enjoy!


Celesta showing her love to Grover




Celesta playing on the counter--No, this isn't a usual thing! :)


Rachael's graduated to the Jumperoo, she totally digs it!


Rachael is *this close* to crawling!

We're eventually going to get our computer fixed, it's been a long process with my husband working such long hours and our next couple weekends are jammed. We're worried about getting our Christmas shopping done before Christmas at this point!

*Poke*

I promise, I'm not dead.

Neglecting, perhaps, but not dead.

I think I sound like a broken record when I say, life's just crazy. It's just a fact of life I have to get used to, don't you think?

Once again, down and dirty: Working full time, computer still broken (or moody, whatever), when not working: at gym or making Christmas presents. Husband is currently working 16-18 hour days, and unable to talk on the phone during those hours because he's running through his day like a madman. Which leaves EVERYTHING at home to my doing.

I thought I was 'doing most of it' at home, (laundry, dishes, cleaning, cooking, getting kids up and out the door with me, etc.) but with husband gone until 8-10 at night (after leaving at 4 am--yes ppl I'm not overexaggerating, SIXTEEN TO EIGHTEEN HOUR DAYS) I'm realizing that just having another person there makes a huge difference. I'm missing my gym classes at night because I can't get there in time after picking up the kids. The old washer and dryer are sitting on the back porch in the rain because I haven't had time to find someone who hauls away old washers and dryers. I don't have backup when I'm cooking dinner, Cici wants up and Rachael is bawling because she's hungry and needs a bottle. Granted, we're not complaining over the hours (in this economy, who can?) it's just been a hard change in the household I've noticed.

Oh--Speaking of gym classes, Mom-in-Law and I hit up the Belly Dancing class last week and and a great time! We're adding it to our itenerary of gym activities during the week. It's pretty basic and I don't feel totally uncoordinated while in the class (maybe because everyone else isn't perfect either).

I'm also in the process of putting together Cici's birthday party, scheduled tentatively in a couple weeks. Can we say, Sesame Street Extravaganza? :)

We're looking to get an external HD so we can officially wipe our computer at home and start over. We're so sick of the Dell version of Windows that fills over half your hard drive with advertisements, we're just going to upgrade to Vista. Don't know how yet, but we're looking into it.

Oh, and did someone say CHRISTMAS?! I'm getting antsy, I have all my decorations centrally located (and accessable) in storage and come Black Friday, my place is going to be SCREAMING for Santa Claus! Woohoo!

And on a final note: I saw Twilight on Saturday (Mom-in-Law took the kids and kicked myself and husband out for an evening of essentially re-introducing ourselves, we haven't had a chance to spend time together lately) and coming from someone who hasn't read the books: I LOVED IT!!!!! I was able to pick up on some subtleties that readers would only know (like the biology class issue with Bella's scent, etc.) and followed the story just fine. Needless to say, I gotta read the books now! :) (err, when I have time that is....hmmm)

Longest...Post...Ever!

Well, it should be at least!

Things have been going at the speed of light lately, and I don't think I'll ever catch up. So here's a quick and dirty run down of things to note that have happened recently:

I got a new camera for my birthday (among other great things) so I should be able to upload pics from work. :)

Celesta decided to climb out of her crib last week, so we transitioned the crib into a 'big girl bed' and the transition was easier than I thought. All we need to do now is organize her room so Rachael can sleep downstairs.

Husband and I dressed up for a Halloween party we went to (I gotta post the pics when I get them, they're HILARIOUS) and got runner up in the costume contest.

Speaking of Halloween, Celesta dressed up as a SeaGal (it worked out GREAT!) and Rachael was Eeyore. We all went to the mall for Trick or Treating and it was so packed it was a joke. After standing in a line that wrapped around the interior of the mall, and collecting a piece of candy every 3-4 minutes, we gave up and went home. Cici still got more candy than she needs, of course. :)

It seems that I was so busy focusing on Halloween, that I forgot the month that followed! I'm looking forward to having the week of Thanksgiving off, getting through EVEN MORE doctor's appointments, and worrying about how the heck I'm going to throw together a two-year old's birthday party with zero idea on where to hold it or how to host it. Suggestions welcomed!

And as for the Election? Everything I voted for went the other direction (WHY are people voting down the idea of taking the profits from the Red Light Cameras?!?! You SERIOUSLY like getting ticketed for making a free right turn?!) but I guess that's just the way things go. I'm not too bummed about the presidential election, it's the govenor's race that burned me up. So here's to four more years of messed up transportation, failed foster children, raised taxes that didn't improve anything, and a deficit in the budget!! Hooray!! *sarcasm*

(okay, don't send me any hate mail, pls? :) )

Busted!

Yep, it's official.

The computer bit it.

Hubby is trying to get things straightened out so we can just reinstall Windows, but it's not going well. He wants to get an external HD to see if that will let us at least transfer the pic files (oh, he located them, but Windows is SO corrupted we can't get them transfered onto CD/DVD and I only have a 2 GB jumpdrive) but that won't happen for at LEAST a week.

So, for now all I can do is anticipate getting my stinking adorable video of my daughter counting uploaded eventually so I can share (okay, brag).

Dell Ate My Pics!

I restarted my comp a couple days ago, and when it rebooted it told me (ha, it told me) the profile was corrupt. Huh? So it continued to boot...

And there was nothing.

Nothing in my program files, nothing in MY PICTURE FILES, my music folder, NOTHING!

I had most (I think close to all) my pics uploaded onto my Kodak website, but I'm not sure. Husband says everything might still be on the HD somewhere...

So I'm out of a computer until it gets ironed out, which could be a long time. :( The Wii works to surf, but it just takes a little longer and uploading pics are going to have to wait. I can't upload at work either, because my camera is so old Windows threatens all Hades to break loose if I try to connect it via USB. (Something about an uncertified driver...lame)

So until everything is up and running again, no pic posts. :(

I Luv the Mailman!

I don't know WHAT it is with getting things through mail order, but it's fun!

I just got notification from UPS that my order from Shipwreck Beads will be at my place by the time I get home tonight. Oh the anticipation! What that basically equates out to is that I can officially begin making Christmas presents this weekend. :)

Ordering from the huge suppliers is cheaper than just hitting the bead store. Especially when you know what you want, and you need it in bulk. Shipwreck Beads is actually headquartered like 1.5 hours south from my place, and is HUGE! I got to peruse through there when I was about 6ish months pregnant with Celesta and I got totally overwhelmed (I made the mistake of not having any projects in mind, and only about 30 minutes to shop before they closed. Talk about pressure!).

My friend orders from Fire Mountain Gems and they have a really extensive selection as well. Coolest part about both of them is that they do gift certificates! (*HINT HINT*)

Either way, with my catalog order I'm getting a $15 card to use toward my next order, and trust me I already know what I'm getting! So here's to loving the postal carrier again! :)

Grape Picking!

Our first day of our grape juice canning weekend was fun! I stayed up a little too late Thursday night with a friend and didn't get home in time to prepare for the next day. So Friday morning I got up early enough to pack and get the car loaded before taking off. I had to spend a couple hours at work before meeting my mom in Eastern Washington so when I left the house Friday morning, I wasn't coming back until Sunday.


Front Seat


Passenger Side Rear


Trunk


Driver Side Rear

As you can see, I had my car absolutely packed to the gills! I brought 65 quart mason jars, 12 half-pint mason jars, 10 lbs of sugar, 7 empty banana boxes, the double stroller, two packed diaper bags, a duffel bag for myself, and I even had enough room leftover for some miscellaneous canning stuff! My husband thought I was going to need the hitch rack for more cargo room, but to my amazement, I proved him wrong! (That RARELY happens!)

After meeting my mom for lunch in Ellensburg, we all piled into her minivan and trekked out to Yakima. Our first stop was my Aunt's neighbors house. They had a small supply of grapes we picked for free. It was there that Celesta fell out of the van and chipped her tooth. I was so preoccupied with handling that, I didn't take any pics there.

Our next stop was a nearby fruit stand my mom loves to visit when she has the opportunity to do so. There I picked up two boxes of tomatoes, a bag of peppers and a bag of onions to bring home for making more spaghetti sauce. Since it's the end of the season, prices rocked!

From there we finally traveled to a cute little vineyard my mom goes to for her grapes.




There were LOADS of concord grapes!


Celesta 'helping' pick grapes




A very wet Celesta, can you see her tooth chipped?

It began raining as soon as we got there, so the picking wasn't exactly fun. After an hour of getting rained on, Celesta whining/crying because she was cold and her teeth hurt, and Rachael fussing because I didn't take her out of the car, we finally called it a day and left without filling all our boxes with grapes. We were kinda dissapointed we didn't fill all our boxes, but we figured we did the best we could.

After retrieving my car in Ellensburg, Mom and I pulled in to my parents place after 9:00pm with a van full of fruit and a car full of tired kids. We left the fruit in the van overnight and got Celesta and Rachael bathed and in bed before we finally retired for the day. I was wiped!

As soon as I get the pics from our day of canning, I'll post them! Until then!

In a Blur

I'm so glad this week is finally over! It's been nuts! I haven't even had a chance to post pics of my excursion last weekend!

I'll get some up as soon as I can, but for now you'll have to deal with some spoilers. I promise to fill in details when I get the pics up.

I ended up taking the kids with me last weekend to Yakima and my parents place in Leavenworth for our grape juice canning event. Friday was a loooooong day of picking grapes and driving. Celesta fell out of the car at our first stop, scuffed her chin and broke one of her front teeth! I was so upset. So this week we've been dealing with a toddler not only going through some 'terrible two' meltdowns, but struggling with eating/drinking because her front two teeth hurt. I talked to my dentist and he said we don't have anything to worry about (it's a baby tooth, it's not loose or knocked out, it's not discolored) but I'm still not convinced. If this keeps up, I'm gonna look for a pediatric dentist.

Since we spent the entire weekend canning juice, I brought home all the ingredients for pepper jam, salsa, and spaghetti sauce. Which equivilates out to two boxes of RIPE tomatoes (end of the season), a bag of candy sweet onions and a box full of peppers. So this week we've been working like crazy in the kitchen! On Monday JT canned over 50 pint jars of salsa and spaghetti sauce, Tuesday, I did 16 more of spaghetti sauce, and tonight we're taking care of the peppers. My poor mother in law is curious to know when she's going to get her kitchen back, luckily after this week we will be DONE for the year!

This week we had some complicating factors with my husband getting his Class A CDL. After a night of nearly tearing my hair out, I found out today that there's a school nearby that will do training by the hour and rents trucks for the test. I have to talk to someone about it on Monday to get details, but I'm just HOPING this avenue will work! $4500 for schooling is not exactly possible at the moment, and we HAVE to get moving on this opportunity.

I also got to go visit my friend who had her twins this week. Everything went fine, the twins are absolutely ADORABLE (and so small compared to Rachael!) I might be able to sneak a couple pics and post them, we will see! I'll see them again next week when I go over to help. Twins and a C-section, what a mix!