"Say You Say Me"

On a whim I bought some tickets to see Lionel Richie at Key Arena for Kyle's birthday gift. I never do that. We always discuss bigger items like that before buying them, but I wanted to be creative. Kyle likes Lionel and knows all his songs and I like him too and it's hard to figure out what to buy him for his birthday so I thought why not. Probably not my best purchase, but oh well. Kyle was a little perplexed when he opened his gift. haha. We went and had fun. I admit I did try to resell them on Craigslist, but there were lots of other tickets on there too so no luck. It was hilarious being at the concert with a lot of older people standing up and swaying and singing with their eyes closed to the music. They were really getting into it. People watching is the best. We had headaches when we left. I think we are getting too old for concerts. :)

We went to the beach on a nice Saturday to enjoy the sun. We like Howarth Beach in Everett the best so far. It's sandy and not rocky like the other beaches we have been too along the Puget Sound. The kids have fun and they all stay entertained. Hopefully, we keep having nice weather this summer. 

Kate's 9th Birthday!

Happy 9th Birthday Kate!!!

She was super excited to open presents in the morning. She got an art drawing/tracing fashion kit, itunes gift card and then a boombox with kidz pop cd from Dee Ann. 

Kate wanted Subway for lunch so we went and ate with her. She also wanted to give out the soft sugar cookies so we brought those to hand out to her class during lunch. 

While I was off taking kids to school in the morning, my Mom was driving over here! She came over to surprise Kate and paint her room for her while she was at school. I had found some bedding from Target and got some paint to match the aqua blue color since that's what color Kate wanted. Kate had no idea I bought her bedding so this was all going to be a surprise! Well, the paint I got didn't match once we painted it on the wall and it dried. It matched when it was wet. I had them color match using the bedding. I was bummed. I had to leave to go back to the school to eat lunch with Kate so my Mom went to Lowe's to find a better color of paint. I was picking up Preston when my Mom called asking me if I could come by to see the color she found, but I wasn't close to home so I told her I trusted her and if she thought it matched then go for it. She did. I came home after eating lunch with Kate at school and the color my Mom picked was perfect! It matched so much better and it was exactly what Kate wanted. I was so excited for her. Also, side note, Preston and Lindsey didn't say one thing about Grandma Vicki being here. They were so good about keeping it a surprise. I was shocked. I had to tell them many times not to say anything to Kate when we saw her at lunchtime or after school. 

Kate wanted a Frozen birthday party so I made some Olaf goody bags and I found a knock off Elsa pinata at Winco of all places. 

My friend, Ashley, had cut out all these snowflakes and made the Olaf drawing for 'pin the carrot nose on Olaf' game for her daughter's birthday party (her daughter is Ellie who was in the co-op preschool with Lindsey). Well, she was just going to throw them away so I asked if I could have them because I knew one of my girls would want a Frozen party. I was so glad she gave them to me. It was fabulous having them. I decorated during naps (well, except Chelsea wouldn't nap today since she got a 10 min nap on the way to pick up Preston from school, grrrr). 

My Mom had finished painting in the afternoon and I helped clean up the bedroom before I had to go pick up Kate from school. When we got home my Mom wanted Kate to go upstairs and knock on her bedroom door like Anna does in Frozen and say "wanna build a snowman?" When I told Kate what to do she was confused as to who would be on the other side of her door and why. Once she did it she quickly found out why. It was so cute to see Kate's reaction and expressions after seeing her room all painted and new. She hugged my Mom and then jumped up into my Mom's arms. It was adorable. Tears were shed by both of them. Kate loves her new room even more know! 

L-R: front row- Alyssa (friend), Severa (school friend), Kate, Lee Ann (neighbor), Amelia (church friend) and Kate (neighbor)

L-R: back row- Catherine (neighbor), Grace (neighbor), Audrey (school friend) and Kate (neighbor) (yes, lots of Kate's in the neighborhood!)

Kate invited friends from our new neighborhood, her school and our old ward. We played some Frozen clips and music. 

We had a snowball fight with socks

Played pin the carrot nose on Olaf

Thawed the frozen heart by pairing up and rubbing the ice cube until the red heart came out.

Whacked the pinata and then I had to eventually rip it open. I tripped over a girl as I got out of their way and scraped up my arm and leg pretty good and tweaked my neck as I landed on my shoulder/arm. Ouch. Another tip is don't ever put hard jolly ranchers in a pinata. Worst idea ever because it fell to the cement floor and shattered into a million tiny sticky candy pieces. I'm still finding sticky spots in the garage and in the house. Ugh. 

Pizza for dinner and Frozen mini mud pies for dessert 

(Arya is the 2nd from the left and came after I took the first picture)

Kate's new room! She got new pillows, a lamp and a mirror to dance in front of from my Mom for her birthday. She had a fun birthday!

Concerts, Parks and Missionaries

Kate had an American Anthology concert at her school. She was chosen to be a narrator (along with a few other students) so she had a speaking part. She had it memorized and did a great job. They sang some classic American songs (some I never heard of, so much for being "classic"! ha). 

Melanie, her kids and Dee Ann came over on the 17th because Jared Fuller got home from his mission and was reporting in Church on the 18th. It was fun to have them come visit and to take them around to different parks and beaches. We went to Cougar Park, the mall for the lego store and American Girl doll store then went to another park to eat dinner then off to Mukilteo Beach. If we had more time we would have ridden a ferry, but we'll do that next time they come. 

Preston LOVED playing with Craig and Jill's dog Maverick. He still talks about him and how he likes to fetch. It was adorable watching Preston throw the ball over and over to Maverick. That dog was so good with Preston and waited patiently for him to throw the ball and then would bring it right back to him. Preston thought it was pretty cool. Jill kept telling me we need to get a dog because it's good therapy for Preston. :) I don't know about that...ha. 

Jared Fuller is home from Brazil! He looks so good and did a great job speaking in Church. He bore his testimony at the end in Portuguese which is cool. He came home a month earlier than planned because he had to have emergency appendectomy in Brazil while on his mission. Luckily, he was in an area at the time with a good hospital. He came home early to recover and he was pretty much done anyway. :) He'll be going off to school soon and we are so happy for him. Kyle's Dad, Lynn, even came over for it so it was good to see a bunch of family.

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day Tea Party in Preston's Kindergarten Class was held on the Friday before Mother's Day. It was fun to be in there with him. They sang us moms a few songs, introduced themselves along with their Mom and we ate fruit, cookies and punch. He was cute when he gave me a flower and a purse filled with "facts" about me. 

My Mom really likes to "shop at the mall."

My Mom always forgets to "take her phone to the beach." (I must have forgotten it one time!)

My mom is happy when "I have a prezzint for her."

My Mom's favorite color is "brown." (not really. haha)

I love when my Mom "hugs me."

My favorite thing about my Mom is "when she relaxes." haha!

My favorite things to do with my mom are "do my hair." (well I do fix his hair most days. :))

My Mother's hair is "tan", eyes are "blue"

She is as tall as a "mom."

My Mom looks the best when she wears "church dresses." (awww)

My Mom had come over again on Sunday night on May 4th after we had moved in (she had come Thursday-Saturday then went home then turned around and came back on Sunday night!). She painted all week and then left Thursday night and took Chelsea and Lindsey back with her. I had Preston's Mother's Day tea party on Friday morning and then Kyle and I got stuff done on Friday and ran a bunch of errands. We headed over to my parent's house on Friday night. It was nice not to have the younger kids and my Mom had to convince me to let her take them. I'm glad I let her. :) This picture of my Dad cutting the grass while Lindsey dressed in a princess dress rides on the lawn mower with him is cute. Kate was hauling away the grass clippings and dumping them. She likes to drive the four wheeler by herself. 

Chelsea and Zane chilling on the dirt pile. They sat out there for a long time doing random stuff. It was pretty funny. 

Happy Mother's Day!

The best part of Mother's Day for my Mom was when Jared called home around 2pm our time. He looked great and was so smiley and happy. Jeff and Sadie face timed while we were skyping with Jared. Jared comes home at the end of October. He didn't want to hang up, it was cute. He is a zone leader and is working hard at being a leader and getting the members involved in the missionary work. We are proud of him and excited for him to come home. :)

Transitioning

The kids have transitioned to our move really well. We have driven by the old house a few times (it's close to the kids' school) and whenever we do Lindsey cries out and starts saying she doesn't want to move back and doesn't want to go by the old house. I think it's pretty funny. I tell her we can't move back because we don't own it anymore, but she still cries. The grass at our old house was super tall for a while and the new buyers took forever to move in. Finally, they cut the lawn, but a neighbor, Madeleine, who still lives there told me she was thinking "it never looked like that when Heidi and Kyle lived there." haha. 

I'm driving the kids back and forth to their old school because they only have 6 weeks left so it was worth it instead of transferring them to a new school. It's a pain though to drive back and forth because I have to go 3 times each day. We leave here around 8:30am, then I go back at 11:30 to get Preston then back again at 3:30 to get Kate. On half days I have to go at 8:30, 10:30 and 12:45. It takes about 10 minutes in the morning to get over there and about 15 minutes in the afternoon. We will miss that school. We have loved our teachers and the principal is fabulous. The principal is Cheryl Boze and she came up to me at a school activity telling me she was mad at our family for moving away. She told me she will miss our kids and our family. I thought that was very nice of her to say that. 

We moved Chelsea into a big bed after coming back from Mother's Day Weekend. She transitioned fine. She was crawling out of her crib A LOT anyway. We actually noticed she got out less from her big girl bed. 

Lindsey loves her bed, but didn't want her room purple. She wanted us to paint it rainbow colors so she was pretty upset when we painted it purple like in the old house. She doesn't understand purple is much more practical since we are keeping the same bedding. :) She likes the new house and doesn't want to move back to the old house. 

We painted Preston's room the same blue as the old house since he likes blue and kept the same bedding. We painted 2 walls blue and 2 walls the same beige color as downstairs. He loves his room and the new house. He had no problem moving and tells me he likes this house and doesn't want to move again. He says it's much better because it's much bigger. I love that he has done well with the move and likes it. 

Kate's favorite thing about the new house...her own room! She is loving it. I've already threatened her that she will have to share rooms if she's going to have an attitude (she was acting up one day). I'm sure that threat will be used more as she gets older. haha. My parent's got a new queen bed for a room at their house so we got the old queen bed. It worked out great. Since she got a queen bed I need to buy new bedding for it. She wants an aqua room.

This is the bonus room before we unpacked all the toys and organized it. Deciding on how to organize toys was overwhelming to me!

The bonus room after organizing the toys. 

I found some 9 cube closet maid organizers on clearance at Target and bought their bins to fit in it. I wish they had labels or tags so you could tell what was in each bin. I might have to come up with something like velcro tags. But it's sooo nice having a play room where all the toys can go in. The kids still drag toys out of it, but at least they can play with toys while Chelsea is napping because before the toys would be in the bedroom and Lindsey couldn't play with them. 

Moved Out!

I got to put the "sold" sign back up once we were under mutual agreement with our cash buyer. 

My Mom came over on Thursday May 1st to help me clean our old and new houses. Me and the kids had dental appointments the morning of the 1st, but after that we got busy and started cleaning the new house. On Friday, my friend Kayla watched all my kids all day long (so nice of her!!!) so we could clean, have carpets cleaned at the new house and a fridge delivered at the new house. Kyle got off work early to help get stuff done. The new house has been vacant for 3 years so it had lots of cobwebs and needed cleaned. We scrubbed and moved in the kitchen on Friday. My Mom had to leave early Saturday to get back for a baby shower she was hosting at her house and family that was coming. She was nice to come over with her busy life! I was glad we got the kitchen all organized before she left. I liked having her help with that. 

Saturday, we woke up early and Kyle got the U Haul truck. Another friend, Erin, watched my kids in the morning during the move. It was fabulous not having to worry about them. I'm thankful for my friends! We had lots of friends come help us load up the truck. I wasn't as prepared and packed as I should have been. All the miscellaneous and odd shaped things are hard to pack up. Kyle and some guys were taking down beds before most of the helpers came. It was busy. Colleen Fullmer had offered to help me clean, but I hadn't responded, but she showed up anyway and cleaned my bathrooms. I was very grateful. Mark and Linda Watson also helped and I told them we had enough guys, but they could come for donuts and chocolate milk. Well, they came and we ended up using their car to pack fragile pictures and mirrors and stuff. So grateful for their help!

When my mom and I went to clean the house this is what I found in the master bedroom where there was water damage! I was freaked out! Yuck!!! We had a mushroom growing in our house!

This is what my Mom found in the garbage disposal. Gross! She dug this out with her bare hands. She's a wonder woman. We found out from neighbors that the fire alarm went off in the house a while ago so someone called 911 and they came in and found a bunch of trash in the house along with the back sliding glass door open. So people had been in the house partying and making a mess. They probably were doing drugs or something. Gross. My Dad got the garbage disposal working once he got a metal pop bottle lid out that was jammed. 

The office carpet before...

and after professional carpet cleaning! 

We were amazed. The master bedroom closet was really bad and the carpet cleaner dude was not hopeful it would come out, but both rooms came clean along with most of the house. Since we've been in the house for a bit, the stains have come back, faded, but you can see where stains were. Bummer. 

Busy cleaning!

Moved out of the old house and into the new house. Phew! What a process. We had to go back to the old house later in the evening to get all the random stuff out. We needed to be out by 9pm. We stuffed our car full of the leftover things at the old house and I swept and mopped. As I finished mopping the kitchen floor and realized that would be my last time I cried as I said good bye to the house. It was a good house for us. We had lots of good memories there. 

Of course, you can't have a huge move without a kid getting sick and throwing up all over. This is one way for me to clean the kitchen floors!

Our first meal in the new house was chicken parmigiana. Chelsea chowed down her food then threw up again later that night in her bed. She didn't throw up again the next day though so that was good. 

Living amongst chaos and stuff. :) Our new fridge. Much bigger than our old one so I'm excited.

My Mom and Dee Ann came back on Sunday and Monday after we moved in. My Mom helped me paint almost the entire downstairs and upstairs. We picked out a neutral beige color and went with it. I bought 10 gallons and we painted everywhere. Upstairs in the younger girls room we painted it the light purple we had before since their bedding wasn't getting changed. Then Preston got the same navy blue as he had before. It was fun to paint over dirty walls. They look so much better. It was nice having my Mom's help. Dee Ann watched the kids and took care of them while we painted and I ran kids back and forth from school. I'm taking kids to school in the morning around 8:30am then back to get Preston at 11:30 then back to get Kate at 3:30. It's a lot of back and forth. It takes about 10-15 minutes depending on the time of day I go. I'm just glad it's only 6 weeks of doing this. 

Hopsack from Valspar at Lowes. We tried a color from Sherwin Williams, but it was way too pink so we went with this and liked it. 

Our friend, Chris Nelson, has a business of cleaning siding and roofs. We had him come out and clean our house. It was very dirty and the roof was awful. Chris said you know it's bad when stuff is growing in your gutters, which was happening in ours. Yuck. I love the before and after pictures though. The above pictures show all the moss and debris he got off the roof and gutters. Then the picture shows the upper roof already cleaned and pretty looking and then the little roof above the garage still dirty. Amazing difference! Love it. The moss and stuff was raining and falling off the roof and I was in shock. It was crazy to watch from inside. 

Our driveway was packed and I had to laugh at the chaos. It was a lot to handle and juggle at once. We were told that we can't get dish network because of the giant trees in our backyard. Another reason to get those dumb trees down! We ended up getting frontier tv a month later, but haven't been totally happy with it either. 

Happy 36th Birthday to Kyle! We had our 14th Wedding Anniversary on the Sunday after we moved in and his birthday on the following Wednesday after moving in. He wanted hamburgers and fries with cheesecake for dessert. It was nice to have his Mom here for his birthday. 

The family room is coming together. It's painted and the huge holes from the boards above the fireplace are patched up. We tried spackling the holes, but that didn't work because they were giant holes from big bolts. You can see the boards the picture below. I should have taken a picture of the holes. We had to patch, mud and spackle the holes. It was a learning process, but looks like new again.