I can't wait for vacation

Even if we are only getting away for 2 days, it works for me.

Ahhhhhh.............vacation!

As soon as Clancy gets home from work, we are outta here! We are staying at my parents house tonight, then getting up early to make the trek over to the Woodland Park Zoo. I have never been and can't wait. I know the girls are going to love it! The best part? Groupon had an awesome deal on admittance tickets early this week. Save us $27! Plus we used our debit reward points from our debit card at Spokane Federal Credit Union to get a hotel for Friday night!

Now we are trying to decide if we should hit up the Mariner's game on Saturday. Something about taking 3 little girls who aren't as obsessed with baseball as their daddy to a 3+ hour game....just isn't appealing.

Did I mention I can't wait?

Birthday fun!

(Notice the 6?)

I know this is a little overdue, but my little baby girl turned 6 on the 6th! Haha, 6 on the 6th! Anyway, for her actual birthday we just had a low key day. For dinner, she requested pancakes and the works for breakfast. So we decided to invite the Maasen's over to eat and celebrate!

Gracie and Kaelyn eating their breakfast for dinner
The kids played dress up for a majority of the night
Dagan even got in on the fun!
Birthday cupcakes were also requested by the birthday girl!

The following week, Gracie had her 6 year check up and had fun showing off the nifty gown she had to wear. No shots! Woot!!

Finally, we were able to have a birthday party! We had decided not to do one, because there was so much going on around her birthday. She finally talked us into it and we invited friends from her class and church. She was even surprised to see her buddy Nolan made it over from Spokane! Nana, Papa and Uncle Chad also came.

How do you keep kids entertained? Make them run!

Okay, they didn't run the whole time! We had some fun!

Stella thought the horse balloons were the perfect size for her to ride!


Then it was time for cupcakes (again)! I need a bigger kitchen...

Opened some fun presents!

And the finale.......

...a new bike!!!

Someone (Birthday Girl) had the bright idea to dance around to Justin Bieber the rest of the party until parents arrived for pick up.

I still can't believe she's 6!

Livia did so well with the whole day. I was really worried that she would be very jealous that the attention wasn't on her, because she's like that. Thankfully, after a morning pep talk, she was pretty good!
After dinner at Time Out Pizza in Othello with my parents and the Crawfords, we ended the night by roasting s'mores in the back yard. This is something I have been dying to do since we have the perfect fire pit out back.
Thanks to all who came and made her day extra special!

Happy Birthday Gracie!!

Happy Birthday Gracie girl!!

I can't believe how fast time flies.

Gracie's Kindergarten Graduation

It's official.

We have a Kindergarten graduate in our house.

That means we have a 1st grader now.

HOLY COW.

Our little graduate!
Receiving her diploma! (I took the picture a little late)
Her teacher, Mrs. Mueller. I can't explain what an awesome teacher she is! It amazes me how she keeps her patience through out the day when she has 18 energetic kids trying to talk when she's talking. Gracie just loved Mrs. Mueller!

This is Mrs. Vasquez, she helped out in the classroom! Everyday when I came to pick up Gracie, Mrs. Vasquez would be reading a book to her and the other kids waiting. Gracie is going to miss her!

Kaelyn, Gracie and Livia

Somehow, we got a family picture.....with Livia doing her own thing again.

Happy Wednesday!

Quiet

I know, it's been quiet here.

Do I have a good excuse? Not really. We've just been having fun!

I just watched an hour of "Jerseylicious" (Don't judge), when I should be blogging about:

Gracie playing soccer this spring, or....

how we had an awesome day up at my Grandma Peggy's up on the hill on Memorial Day, or...


Gracie's Kindergarten concert, or....

Livia stealing my camera again....wait, what??? Where did this come from??
Or.....
how we finally got a patio poured in the backyard and the girls where glued to their bedroom window watching it be poured and smoothed over.


We also had Gracie's Kindergarten Graduation, but I can't find my stinkin' camera! Did I leave it at your house, Ryanne????

Just found this pic of Gracie. Where has the time gone? She will be 6 here in a week and a half!

Oh, I almost forgot! I didn't blog about the awesome Bieber concert my cousins put on for the girls.

Stella can sure boogie!
(If anyone is interested in my handsome cousins, they are both single and ready to mingle! Drop your info!)

Could it be?

If you know me, you know that I have one inner demon that I have in my life.

It haunted me every day.

Staring at me every time I opened the refrigerator.

Tempting me in commercials.

Seducing me every time I got a taste.

Mocking me every time I had a thirst.








PEPSI.


That's right, a soda. A caffeinated beverage that I hating feeling dependent on to make it through the day.

5 weeks ago, I said "That's IT!"
No more Pepsi will be stocked in the fridge.
No more downing 4 cans a day.
(Told ya it was bad)
No more emergency runs to the local gas station for a "fix".


NO MORE!

This was something I had previously attempted to do. And failed. BADLY.
And now I am proud to say, proclaim, yell:


I AM NO LONGER A PEPSI ADDICT.



Or is it:

I AM A RECOVERING PEPSI ADDICT. (?)

Anyway, you get it.

Now, I am not going to lie, I allow myself one a week. That is a huge decrease from 4 or sometime 5 a day. The cravings are gone! I have done waaaaay better than I expected. And you know what? I feel so much better! Water has become my new best friend and I am currently obsessed with Propel Zero, Berry flavor. I was hoping to lose weight, but the Oreos I bought at Costco didn't help that task.

Dumb Oreos.

Easter!

We had a great Easter this year. We woke up Saturday and planned on taking the girls to an Easter egg hunt close to town, but we didn't really pay attention to the time so we missed it. Oh well, better luck next year!

So we packed and headed over to Cashmere to stay with my parents. Half way there, we realized we forgot all the Easter stuff at home. At least now I am all ready for next year!
We took the girls to Smallwood's and let them run around and check out all the animals!

Stella was fasinated by all the animals. She was yelling at this goat for 5 minutes trying to get his attention. It was adorable!

Getting them to all look at the camera is proving harder and harder to accomplish.

A trip to Smallwoods wouldn't be complete with out a ride on the cow train!

Stella was lucky that Papa volunteered to take her!

And I present to you the only family picture we got.....Starring Livia.
Haha, think she had to go potty??
That night we went up to Leavenworth and ate at Rudloof's Pizza to celebrate my mom's upcoming birthday! YUM!!

Easter morning we woke up and did the usual. Plus we colored eggs! (The Easter Bunny forgot about those...)
Then the Easter Bunny hid them. This year was especially fun because all 3 girls were very in to egg hunting. Stella thought it was a fun game!


If you notice that the girls are wearing the same clothes as they were the day before, it's because mommy also forgot to pack PJ's so they slept in their clothes. Whoops!
It was a relaxed Easter, just the way I like it.