Easter

When I think back on Easter as a little girl, I remember new Easter dresses with white gloves, an Easter hat, and tiny fancy purses. I'm sure there were Sunday school lessons about the crucifixion and the empty tomb, but for me, Easter was all about the new clothes. I always felt fresh and clean on Easter. Looking back as an adult, I am thankful for those Easter Sundays and the feelings I had in my new clothes. The atonement of our Savior truly does help us feel fresh and clean. It's something I felt as a child and understand as an adult. I am grateful that my mother helped me feel the spirit of Easter in a way that made sense to me as a child. Since those early days as a child, I've believed that Jesus Christ knew and loved me.

me, my brother Matthew, my dad

I'm in yellow, my best friend Stephanie Kay is beside me,

then her sister Leanne, then my brother Matthew

Easter 2011

We did our annual night egg hunt on Saturday night.  While Dode was delivering the Oak Harbor Dickson cousins to Mount Vernon to meet Randy, I got busy hiding the eggs.  It's kind of tough when you've lived somewhere six years to keep finding new clever spots.  I did find a crack in the tree house where the kids had a hard time finding the egg even when I told them it was right there!  I told the kids they could each find 25 eggs and then once everyone had their 25, they could find any remaining eggs.  Everyone got their minimum and then some.  I'm lazy so for the night hunt, I don't even put candy in the eggs.  Each egg they find is worth 25 cents.  We also didn't just find Easter eggs.  Anastaya found kittens in the stump under the tree house.  They are about a month old.  They were first found by the children when they were living in the room over the garage.  When the mom realized the humans had found her precious babies, she moved them.  Well, we're onto her new hiding spot so she'll probably move them again!

Easter Sunday we had dinner here.  Since the cousins were coming to join us for dinner, we re-hid the eggs, this time with candy inside.  We also hid one egg for each child with their initial on it.  Inside was a dollar bill.  Everyone wanted to hunt, even Jacob and his friend Mohonri.  (Apparently you're never too old to run around the yard looking for candy!)  Seth was our most unhappy participant.  He'd been looking out the window during dinner and had spied a blue egg in the grass that he really wanted.  Once we said it was time for hunting, Elizabeth picked up the egg before Seth got there.  Seth could NOT handle it.  He cried, screamed and refused to participate in the hunt.  William tried to give him some of his eggs but Seth picked them out of his basket and threw them on the ground.  By the time Seth was able to get himself under control, the hunt was over.  We hid a few eggs again so he could find them.

Vote for me!

One of my mom's friends nominated me for a Super Mom contest our local tv station is putting on. 

Here is the bio she submitted:

Stephanie is a mother of six who has devoted her life to raising well rounded, independent, strong, family-centered children. Stephanie married her high school sweetheart 15 years ago. They have 4 children of their own and adopted 2 children after the tragic death of their mother. One of those children has special needs and they accepted him ready and willing with "eyes wide open." Stephanie has a teaching degree and home schools her children. Stephanie has been the program director for the Mt Baker Council Boy Scouts of America for 9 years. Stephanie also organizes the Arlington Produce Co-op for 200 families twice a month. A semi truck arrives at her home every other Saturday with 2 tons of produce which she organizes, with help of volunteers, into baskets of food. Stephanie also serves as a lay minister and instructor at her church.

She only had 250 words to work with so it's not quite accurate.  I'm not the program director for the Mt. Baker Council, just for Camp Mckinley Day Camp! 

Well, here's the link if you'd like to vote for me.  Voting closes Thursday afternoon.

Super Mom Contest

3rd week of April

Vacation is feeling more like a reality
Our upcoming trip to Wyoming is feeling more like a reality.  I'll be leaving with the kids on June 15th and we'll spend time in Yellowstone and central Wyoming.  Dode will fly in to Billings on June 25th and join us until we drive home on the 4th of July.  We plan to spend some quality time in the Bighorn Mountains and exploring the region where Dode's ancestors settled in the 1800's.  This week I bought Dode's plane ticket to Billings and made our camping reservations for Yellowstone and a Wyoming State Park.

Multiple Dr. Appointments
Isaac has been trying to get over an ear infection for over a month.  This time, things look good inside his ear so he's finally ready to go and get a hearing test.  If everything is normal, we can set this episode behind us.  If his hearing isn't perfect, it's on to the Ear, Nose and Throat doctor.  I went in to the doctor and had the sore on my back looked at.  I'm now on antibiotics and if that doesn't take care of it, I get to get it excised.  Fun!

Anastaya and Mom day 2011
Thursday, Anastaya and I had our special day for 2011.  We went down the the museum district of Tacoma.  We parked in the free parking garage and took their free Link train to the museums. 

Our first stop was the Tacoma Art Museum to see the Norman Rockwell exhibit.  He might be considered a sentimental artist but I must be a sentimental girl because I love his paintings.  Some are funny, some touching, and sweet.  It was really neat to stand there before the real paintings.

We also looked at the museum's other collection.  They are doing a photography experience called "Mighty Tacoma" where you can have your photo taken.  They are collecting all the photos to make a big collage.  Here is ours.

After the museum, we went to have lunch across the street at a Gyro restaurant.  Anastaya still believes the restaurant in Marysville makes the best gyros.  She was not impressed with the mango bubble tea she got.  She thought the tapioca bubbles were disgusting. 

After lunch we went across the "Bridge of Glass".  It's a 500 foot pedestrian bridge over one of the freeways in Tacoma.  It contains over 2,000 glass sculptures from local glass artist Dale Chihuly.  I can't begin to imagine how much the art is worth. 

ceiling on part of the bridge

Venetian Wall on the bridge

After the bridge of glass, we wandered through the Washington State History Museum.  It was interesting to spend some time learning more about our state's history.

Anastaya's Hook
There was a hook that Anastaya liked to hang her backpack on when she got home from school.  It was in a public area and if too many things were hung on it, I couldn't access William's or Miriam's clothes.  She liked to hang her many purses and assorted bags on it as well as her school back pack.  I'd given her a limit of two bags but she kept forgetting and I was stuck enforcing the rule.  One day I quietly went in, removed six bags from the hook, and brought everything up to her room.  I then unscrewed the hook and put it away.  When she came home from school and saw the hook was gone, she was not happy.  She wanted to know when it was coming back.  I told her that the hook was causing problems for me and I took care of it.  I explained that I was tired of arguing about the hook and found a solution that worked for me.  In amazement she said, "Well, not having the hook doesn't work for ME, I don't want to have to take things to my room!"  I had to chuckle at the assumption that it's my job as a mom is to make sure things don't cause a problem for her.  I thought I'd come up with a pretty smart solution.  She wanted to know when it was going to be reinstalled and just couldn't (wouldn't) understand when I explained that the hook was gone forever. 

Isaac builds a hovercraft
Years ago when I was a cub scout leader, Dode built me a hovercraft for the cubs to play on at a pack meeting.  We were only able to use it there because...
1.  We lived in a farm house without a square foot of cement around it. 
2.  We used some else's shop vac which had a "blow" feature to provide the air required to propel it

Isaac found it in the garage and decided he wanted to get it going.  He used the hose from our shop vac and attached it to the leaf blower to provide the air boost.  He had a fun time playing around on the carport.  Luckily he doesn't care that the leaf blower is covering him with exhaust fumes, but I sure do when he comes inside!

Cousins play day
Saturday, Randy and Dode went out to Cascade Park (a campground owned by the church) to help with a service project.  Randy dropped four of his kids off to play at our house.  Everyone had a great time.  There was jeep riding, trampolining, fancy fingernail painting, motorbike rides, and lots of talking.

Miriam was sure to be careful while riding the jeep

We invited Seth and Ellie to come join in the fun. 

After a while, we took everyone to a park nearby. 

2nd week of April

Thinking back on what's been happening since we got home from our trip, the thing that stands out the most is I've been sick.  I don't know why, but I have been sick more than I have been healthy this winter.  Every time a virus encounters one of our family members, they're sick for a few days while I struggle on with it for a week or more.  These daily green smoothies are supposed to boost the immune system, not destroy it!  Currently, I'm battling a cold/sore throat and I have a very sore spot on my back that I suspect is MRSA.  Fun!

Kefir
In an attempt to increase the nutrition in my green smoothies, I started using Kefir last month.  Kefir is a pro-biotic drink full of healthy bacterias (30-35 different types) and yeasts.  Compared to yogurt, it's actually better for you.  Yogurt helps feed the healthy bacterias in your gut.  Kefir can actually help colonize those bacterias.  You can make milk kefir or water kefir. 

It's easily made on the counter with just a glass jar, milk (or water and sugar), and some "kefir grains".  I bought my grains from Cultures for Health.   How easy is it to make?  The water grains are idiot proof.  I just dissolve 1/4 cup of sugar in 1 quart of water, add the grains (which look like translucent pieces of rice)  and leave it on the counter for 48 hours.  The grains eat up the sugar and turn the water into a beverage with a slight fizz and yeasty flavor.  I've read that I could take that beverage, add juice, tightly cap it and make "soda pop".  I haven't gotten that fancy yet.  I just use it as the base of my green smoothies. 

The milk grains are also easy to use.  I add the grains (which look like small curd cottage cheese) to a quart of milk, leave it on the counter for 12-24 hours and the milk gets thick and tangy.  I strain out the grains through a mesh strainer and can use them right away to make a next batch.  The milk kefir isn't hard to make, the trick lies in realizing when it's ready.  If I wait too long, the kefir gets really thick and it's harder to strain out the grains.  The grains will last indefinitely as long as I keep up the process.  If I want to take a break, I can store them in the fridge and they "go to sleep". 

I was ending up with too much kefir so I started blending the milk kefir with frozen strawberries and maple syrup or stevia.  It's a thick, tasty, slightly effervescent drink.  Shockingly, Isaac loves it.  He will drink almost a quart of it at once.  Isaac is my child who loves fried food and hates both fruits and vegetables.  His idea of a perfect meal is two McChickens from McDonald's with extra mayo and no lettuce, french fries, and a shake.  Getting him to eat anything slightly healthy is a struggle.  I'm so pleased to have found something healthy that he enjoys. 

It's Raining, It's pouring
We have had a lot of rain around here lately.  We've had 17 1/2" so far this year (3" more than normal).  Rarely a day goes by without some wet stuff falling from the sky.  The poor lawn is so wet, parts of it are underwater for weeks at a time.  The stream was the highest we've ever seen it.  Dode thought it'd be a hoot to get a photo of one of the kids going down the zip line over all that water, but he couldn't think of where to stand that would be safe.

As of April 18:

•Seattle has yet to reach 60 in April. Seattle has never not reached 60 degrees in April. The record fewest are two set in 1954.
•Seattle has just two days over 55 degrees this year.
•The average high temperature this April so far (50.4 degrees) is a full degree lower than this past March's average (51.4), which was below normal in and of itself.
•March's rainfall was 6.29" -- 7th wettest on record at Sea-Tac Airport and 2.5" above normal. Of March's 31 days, 24 had measurable rain and four others had a trace.
•April's rain so far was 3.13" -- already the monthly quota. And it's rained on 15 of 18 days in April.
•The last official sunny day was Feb. 25, defined as 30% or less cloud cover through the day. The streak is at 52 days through Monday. The longest stretch in the last 15 years was 73 days, and that was in the heart of winter.
•Snoqualmie Pass had over 450 inches of snow this season -- already above the average of 431 inches with more to come. Crystal Mountain said they were 150" above average for seasonal snow fall and will be having spring skiing on select dates through June 12!
•Mountain snowpack in general is running 130-150 percent of normal, with many sites actually reporting more snow on April 15 than they did on April 1.
-Komo News Weather Blog

Geography Conference
Dode spent Tues-Sat. at the Association of American Geographers Annual Conference in Seattle.  He wasn't very excited to go because they were going to be extra long days away from home and in his experience, at these type of conferences the presenters don't teach how they do something, they are more of a show and tell "see what I've done" thing.  His feeling is always, "Great!  How do I do that?"  At this conference he'd noticed that many classes were a series of presenters with five minutes per presentation.  What could they present in five minutes that would be of value to him?  But, Dode isn't the one that gets to decide what conferences he goes to, his boss is.  And she was excited that the annual meeting was happening so close to home.  There was no way her department was going to miss it. 

One thing Dode has discovered in working for a government is that they love titles and acronyms after names.  Dode currently has two acronyms that he can add to his signature: PLS (Professional Land Surveyor) and CFedS (Certified Federal Surveyor).  There are only 400 people in the nation that carry both of those, but he is employed as a GIS Analyst.  One title he'd like to add to his name is GISP (Geographic Information System Professional).  When he does earn that one, he would most likely be the only person in the nation with all three of those acronyms.  Add on his pilot's license and he's truly a one-of-a-kind kind of guy!  One of the vendors at the conference was the CEO of the GISP certification organization.  He spent quite a bit of his free time talking with her and figuring out what he needed to do to gain his GISP.  When she learned that he was a land surveyor, she got very excited and said she needed him.  Unfortunately, she's from the Midwest and I think it's a bit too far to commute!

Dode's co-worker John, the GISP CEO, Dode

Burns large and small
Isaac built a small fire in our outdoor fire pit to ceremoniously burn a birdhouse Anastaya made in wood shop and earned an "F" on.  Miriam was sitting near it and enjoying catching the small pieces of ash that were floating away.  Unfortunately, one of the pieces still had an ember on it and she burned the tip of her finger pretty badly.  She spent most of the next two days with her finger in a cup of cool water.  We forgot the water when we went to take the kids up to speech therapy.  We weren't far from the house when she started screaming.  It was going to be an hour  until we got home and I didn't think I could deal with an hour of crying so I diverted into the McDonald's drive in at the last second and bought a hamburger so I could get an ice water.  Then, no one in the car wanted the hamburger!  As Miriam was feeling really sorry for herself, I told her that when her dad was little, he'd suffered a burn that was much worse and much bigger. 

When Dode was five years old, he suffered third degree burns to his right torso and arm. It was a warm spring day. He asked his mom if he could help burn the trash. She told him it was too hot out to burn the garbage. She was getting ready for a meeting at church and ran down to the church less than a mile away to make some copies. Dode was home with his siblings, who were watching TV. He decided he wanted to help his mom out so he went outside to set the trash on fire. As he was leaning over the barrel, he caught his polyester shirt on fire as well. He ran inside where his older brother Randy (seven years old) quickly saw the flames and rolled him on the carpet to put out the fire. Randy then ran a cold bath for Dode to get in until his mom could get home. When Sheri (4) and Janice (3) saw the bath going, they stripped down ready for some bath fun.

Sharon arrived home to find Dode in the bathtub with his shirt melted to one side of his body, Randy with burned hands, and two little girls in their undies wanting to get in the bath and play. She bundled Dode off to the hospital where he would spend the next five weeks, enduring multiple skin grafts and debridements. He bears the scars to this day but the kids don't see them very often since they're hidden by his clothes.

Arlington Times article about that day

Miriam really spent some time thinking about how much her burn hurt and realizing what it must have been like for her dad. She kept bringing it up and soon the rest of the kids got to hear the story again.  They all got a good reminder that they need to listen to their mom, and that there dad is one tough guy.

Home again!

Our last day at the beach
After clearing out of the hotel rooms, we were able to get one last play time in at the beach before starting the drive home.  The clouds had moved in and there were scattered sprinkles of rain but the kids enjoyed themselves.  Then we loaded up our toys, cinched everything down and headed for home.

Hum-Dinger Hamburgers
As we were driving to the beach, I spotted a small hamburger restaurant near the Hoquim River.  After checking reviews online, I decided to stop there on the way back home.  I can't resist a tasty burger and milkshake.  The reviews said that if you were within 50 miles, it was worth making a detour to eat here.  I don't know that I agree with that but the shake was mighty tasty!

Green Smoothies
I didn't want to be without my green smoothies so before the trip, I made extras and froze them. I had enough to have a quart each day. I noticed something our last day at the beach. After eating praline pecan ice cream, creme brule cheesecake and chocolate peanut butter milkshakes, green smoothies don't taste so good! It's time to save goodbye to the sweets and hello to natural flavors.

Recap
I don't know how we managed it, but after 40 days of rain (hello Noah!), we had two beautiful sunny days at the beach.  Saturday the weather went down hill and by Sunday we were back to the rain.   We couldn't have planned the timing of the trip better!

As we were driving away from the beach Jacob told me that he didn't really understand why I was willing to take everyone on trips.  I asked him if I seemed especially stressed or aggravated on trips.  He told me it wasn't that, but it just seemed that trips are a lot of work for me.  I told him that they are a lot of work, but it's hard to make lasting memories when all you do is spend time at home.  I told him that when we adopted the kids, I told myself I'd never let the size of our family be my excuse for not doing something.  Even though going to the Ocean for spring break is more work than staying home, it's something I look forward to each year.

We got home and everyone helped empty the van and put things away.  Although it took a fair amount of prodding, in less than an hour, the van was empty, vacuumed and washed.  The bins were emptied and the washer was going.  Then, it was finally time to relax and start to recover from vacation!

2nd full day at the beach

standing on the beach with our hotel in the background

Sleeping with Miriam
Our 2nd night at the hotel I got the joy of sleeping with Miriam.  The hotel pool water must not be balanced correctly because all the kids had rashes after swimming in it for two days.  Miriam's rash was burning like a sunburn and she wanted to cuddle with mom instead of sleep with Gabriel on the hide-a-bed.  To say she is a restless sleeper is to leave a lot out.  Her little six year old body takes up more room than a few adults!  During the night she: talked in her sleep, twined her hands through my hair, apparently ran a marathon in her sleep using my back as the pavement, ended up upside down on top of the blankets, and hogged the bed.  Not a very peaceful night.  She was still sleeping when I took Gabriel and William down to the breakfast area.  When we got back, we woke her up on accident so she went and crawled into bed with Jacob.  What a girl!

Horseback riding
My mom had given each of the kids spending money and the girls chose to use theirs on a horseback ride down the beach.  They got an hour's ride for $20 each.  They thought it was the most fun when their horses went fast.  They had a great time and plan to bring enough money next time to get to go more than once.  They might have to space their rides out though, they were pretty sore the next day!

Elizabeth with Kodiak

Anastaya with Rough

A run on the beach
Friday morning Jacob decided to go for a run.  He set off down the beach with an empty stomach and no water.  He ended up running four miles down the beach and four miles back.  He was hobbling by the time he made it back to the room.  He hasn't run since the end of cross country.  Apparently he doesn't believe in moderation.  He was sore and sick to his stomach with blisters on his feet.

Yummy Treats
We took the kids into town to Murphy's Homemade Ice Cream because no vacation is complete without ice cream.  The flavors we indulged in:  tropical sorbet (William), Vanilla (Miriam), Root beer Float (Gabriel), Chocolate Chip Mint (Boma), Praline Pecan (me), Coconut Almond Fudge (Anastaya), Rocky Road (Elizabeth).  The Isaacs and Jacob decided not to come with us.

Hey girls, leave my ice cream cone alone!

buying candy

That night, my mom and I left the kids in the room to enjoy a dinner of toasted cheese sandwiches and tomato soup made by Jacob while we went to a small Italian restaurant in town, Pasta de Vine.  It opened recently and we were very happy with everything.  The service was great, they served us Crystal Springs water in our glasses instead of yucky Ocean Shores municipal water, and the food was very tasty.

I had the seafood cioppino, it was great!

(Except the Havlick in me wanted bread to dredge through the sauce)

My mom got seafood lasagna which was also tasty.

Fun at the beach

The sun held out for our first full day at the beach!  Hooray!  We took advantage of the good weather by spending time at the beach (this time the kids put on their swim suits first) and by going to the family fun center. 

The beach play was typical of any visit.  Digging holes, making lines in the sand, getting wet.  We drove down to the breakwater where the waves were crashing over the rocks.  Elizabeth thought it was very scenic and lay down on the rocks to enjoy the view.  She plans to select one of the photos she took today as her computer wallpaper.  Once we got there, Miriam didn't want to get out of the car because she thought it was too cold and windy.   Jacob convinced her to come and play.  He even found a few pieces of driftwood on the beach to turn into a sea-saw.  She ended up really enjoying herself.  I think Jacob enjoyed himself as well.  It's so nice when he's able to engage with the family.  When everyone else was cold and ready to go, Miriam was still going strong.  It's ironic because until she was about three years old, she hated the beach.  I'd set her down on the sand and she'd hold her little feet up off the ground and cry.  She hated the texture of the sand with a passion.  You'd never know it now to look at her enjoying herself!

The kids had a great time at the fun center. First, Miriam, William, and Gabriel had a turn on the bumper boats. They were each able to quickly master the technique and had fun chasing each other's boats around and colliding. As I watched them, I looked at the boats and thought to myself, "Dode could build something like this, wouldn't they be fun in Winthrop!" After the littles had their fun, it was time for the big kids. The Isaacs loved colliding as quickly as possible while Elizabeth was content to maneuver around the pool. The Isaacs did a round of miniature golf while the rest of the kids played Chuck E. Cheese type games inside for tokens. They had a fun gumball maze game that I think Dode could build me a variation on. If all the stars align, maybe you'll be hearing more about it in the future.

My mom and I enjoyed a nice dinner at the restaurant at the hotel.  The food was OK, but at least the service was attentive.  The views from the restaurant windows were great, over looking the brushy dunes and the waves.  And, adult conversation without a child interrupting?!  Amazing! 

We took the kids swimming after dinner and stayed at the pool until around 9:30.  Usually when we're at the pool there's a lot of fighting because we don't have enough goggles to go around.  I try to keep track of the time and have them switch off every 15 minutes.  It doesn't solve the problem.  "Well, I wasn't wearing them for part of my 15 minutes because I was going to the bathroom.  I don't care, I've been waiting!"   Dode's sister Janice dropped off a bag full of goggles and masks with Dode at work so we have plenty this time.  It makes such a difference!  When we got back to the room after the pool, I debated calling Dode after 9 pm but decided to wake him up if necessary just in order to say hello.  I caught him in the middle of taking the garbage cans to the end of the driveway.  He had important news for me. 

Jacob's friend Mohonri is working on his eagle scout rank.  He turns 18 on Friday and needs everything done by them.  I'm the scout committee chair and he realized Thursday that didn't have my signature yet.  They called the scout office to see if they could fax me the form to sign but were told they needed my original signature on the original form.  So, Mohonri and his parents set off on the four hour one way drive to Ocean Shores to find me.  Dode wasn't sure what hotel I was at and needed to let Mohonri and his mom and dad know so they could get my all important, worth driving hundreds of miles for, signature.  Within 15 minutes of my phone call with Dode, they were pulling into the parking lot.  Can you believe that kind of dedication?  That's parental love! I felt bad they were so inconvenienced in order to find me but tonight at 9:30 was the first I'd heard of the need and the urgency.  When they got here, Mohonri told us he'd also earned a last minute merit badge today.  Congratulations to Mohonri, you and your parents truly have earned your Eagle rank!

We're at the beach!

We've made it to Ocean Shores for our annual days at the beach during spring break.  Washington's ocean beaches are the kind where you bundle up in lots of layers to stay warm and the kids are begging for hot chocolate and warm baths when we're done.  We do often come away from the beach with pink cheeks, but it's not sunburn it's windburn!

Washington has a long coast but there are really only three or four towns down the length of it.  Ocean Shores is the northernmost town, then Westport, Greyland and Long Beach.  Ocean Shores was built in the 60's and they were planning on some major tourism.  They laid out 25 miles of canal, created a six hole golf course, marina, and airstrip.  The roads were built and consisted of large one way streets divided by large grassy medians.  Even today they are nearly empty.  Lining those roads are a mixture of still vacant lots and small shops whose ownership changes often.  But, while it's not a tourist magnet, nor a place for sunbathing, we like it for a family vacation. 

Getting ready to leave is always frustrating.  As I was wrestling all our things into the van, the kids sat inside it and fought.  I noticed Isaac come running out of the van with someone else in hot pursuit and realized he was barefoot.  We've had the experience before of taking a long trip somewhere and showing up to discover that Isaac had no shoes.  I asked him where his shoes were and sure enough, they were in the house.  (In the interest of full disclosure I should tell you it was 35 degrees outside and my hands were burning with cold.  I was trying to wrestle the heavy awkward plastic bins onto the rack on the back of the van.  The tie down straps I was using were wet and balky.  No one was helping.  I was not at my most patient when I asked where his shoes were.)  I drove toward the beach, periodically congratulating myself on catching that one.  (I'd have to drive 30 minutes back to Aberdeen to find a place to buy shoes once we got to Ocean Shores.) 

We left Wednesday morning, stopping to finish delivering our newspapers route before leaving town.  We drove two hours to Lacey, which is just north of Olympia (the state capital).  We ate at the Main Chinese Buffet on Janice's recommendation.   As the kids started piling out, one remained behind.  Miriam started crying because she had also gotten in the car without her shoes.  I'd packed her a pair of rubber boots and gave her a scolding about getting in the car barefoot.  She didn't think the boots were very comfortable since she wears a size 12 1/2 and they were size 8.  Those rubber boots always run big don't they?  Sharing the parking lot with the restaurant was Shop-co so I went and bought her a new pair of shoes.  I found the cheapest ones I could find and think they're great for the beach.  Bright pink artificial snake skin flats! 

The kids and I enjoyed the buffet.  We were sitting right next to the banquet room and while we were eating, we watched well dressed person after well dressed person filing into that room until it was at capacity (at least 70 people).  Then, an individual who looked surprisingly like former Washington governor Gary Locke (even sporting his current hair cut) arrived and started working the banquet room.  He is now our new United States Ambassador to China.  Was it him?  Who knows!  But, I'll choose to believe that our ambassador was in town and had a hankering for Chinese Buffet!

Miriam got her traditional Chinese buffet meal

jello, breaded chicken, garlic bread, pizza, french fries, watermelon

Jacob decided to take a walk on the wild side

After eating this baby octopus in a spicy sauce, he kind of lost his appetite!

After the buffet, I dropped the boys off at the Olympia regional library where they got temporary access numbers to play games on the computers while I took the rest of the crowd to the Hands on Children's Museum in Olympia.  We have a membership to the Everett Children's Museum that gets us in free at participating children's museums around the country.  I'd planned on staying two hours and at the end of two hours, I had to pry the kids away from playing.  It was a bit sad because it appears Anastaya is growing out of the make believe stage.  In the past, she's been right beside the little kids coming up with scenarios.  This time, she sat beside me the whole time.  It was a nice museum with your standard offerings: water room, restaurant, store, stage, veterinary office, doctor office, etc.  They are building a new museum in Olympia and they need it because everything was crammed into a very small space and it was hard to move from place to place.  The museum is right on the edge of the state capital campus and the girls really wanted to look around but we needed to get to Ocean Shores to meet up with my mom and my nephew Gabriel.  Next year I'll allow for more time and we can take a tour. 

William in the ferry boat

Miriam at the dentist chair

picking apples off the "tree"

After driving through rain, snow, hail, and sunshine, we arrived at the beach to sunny skies.  As soon as we were unpacked, we went down to the beach to take advantage of the sun.  It's officially been 40 days since Seattle has had a sunny day.  The forecast is for 2-3 days of sun (just while we're at the beach) and then back to the rain.  But, forecasts can be wrong and we aren't taking any chances on missing the beach in the sun.  The small children got right to work digging holes in the sand while the big kids went out to the waves and proceeded to get drenched.  They each brought two pairs of pants so I wasn't very pleased that not an hour into the trip they already had gotten one pair so wet they'd take days to dry.  Thankfully I'd planned for emergencies and had brought along laundry detergent to use in the washer and dryer the hotel provides. 

Once we were done with the beach, we took the kids to pizza where we received Ocean Shores famous lack of service at the restaurant.  After time spent in the pool, everyone was ready to hunker down and watch movies before turning in for the night. 

My mom had a moment of panic in the night.  She's recently been fitted with a mouth guard to wear while she's sleeping, a $400 night guard.  She realized in the middle of the night that she'd forgotten to put it in.  She looked where she left it on the night stand and it wasn't there.  She proceeded to search the room as well as she could with three other people sleeping in it and gave up.  In the morning, she gave it a better search but still couldn't find it.  When we asked the little ones as a last ditch effort, we found out that Miriam and Gabriel had been playing hide and seek with it and it was still hiding.  Thankfully, Gabe knew where he'd left it last and the night guard has been safely recovered!  We're very pleased that it was Gabe that hid the mouth guard, not William because he would never have remembered where he stashed it!  I don't think Boma would have been very excited to play hide and seek with it!

Keeping one step ahead of clutter

We've lived in our home for six years.  When we moved here, we more than doubled our living space.  We went from two bedrooms to four.  From one bathroom (that shared its duties with the roll away dishwasher) to three!  I love love love our home. We have so many cool things for the children. We have lots of space inside and out. It's a true ugly duckling that I've really fallen for.  In our old house, our kitchen was so small I could stand in the center of it and touch all three walls.  Now our kitchen has cupboard space with 40 doors and 29 drawers as well as the longest island I've ever seen in a home.  In our old house, we had four closets.   We now have 17 closets scattered throughout the house.  In our old house, the washer and drier were definitely added long after the house was built and lived on an enclosed porch.  Think concrete floors, spiders and mice.  Our laundry room now has floor to ceiling cupboards on both walls.  We used to use a small room on the enclosed porch for our hot water tank and very small food storage.  We now have an pantry/storage room that is lined with shelves and dressers that is as large as most master bedrooms.  It didn't take very many months of living in our nice big home to realize that all this storage wouldn't just keep itself organized.  I know some of you living in houses with limited storage space will disagree with me, but having lots of storage equals having lots of clutter. 

All that storage space is great for putting things away but it can also become a black hole of items piled in and forgotten about. When the kids are given the task of cleaning something up, they like to just pop open a closet and start throwing things in.  They know that everything has a "home", so if they're too lazy to put it away they don't just set it in the wrong closet, they hide it there.  Library books in the shoe closet?  Sure!  Dirty socks and gum wrappers where the DVDs belong?  No problem.  Church shoes in the toy closet?  Only if the other is in the shoe drawer!  Sunday mornings are fun around here as we search the different closets looking for those shoes!

I hate clutter, even the hidden kind behind closed doors. I feel it weighing on me even when I can't see it. With eight people in our family, we have a lot of things. After about a year in our home, I came up with a system that allows me to keep the clutter down to a manageable amount.  In order to stay one step ahead of the mess, I've made a list of the different closets and cupboards in our home. Monday is the day I've set aside for organizing storage areas.  Each Monday, I check my list to see what storage area is next.  I go through that space asking myself, "Would I take this with me if I moved? When is the last time we used this? How in the world did this end up here?! Would this be better stored somewhere else?  Could I do something to help this area stay better organized?"  I am not a recreational shopper (in fact I kind of hate it!) but things seem to just flow into the house without any help from me. Each time I go through an area, I find things to throw away, things to give away, and things to put away.  It's even been a money maker because I've found lost library books we'd already paid for stuck in some pretty strange places. I'm able to get my money back as long as we still have the receipt (which are kept in a designated area).

It takes me anywhere from 15-40 minutes to go through an area and I love how neat and orderly everything is when I'm done. By tackling a little each week, we never get to the point of total chaos. Some closets (especially ones that receive heavy usage by children) definitely get messier and they are on the rotation more often. It takes me about 4 months to go through the entire house and each time I re-visit an area, I find that it really needs the help. It feels so great to start the week out with a clean closet.

toy closet, tucked under the stairs

I should have taken a before photo.  Imagine you can't see the floor and the shelves are piled high.

It SEEMS like once I've gone through a closet and cleaned things out and organized what's remaining that it should just remain that way forever.  I've learned that's just not the case.  It doesn't take long for things to deteriorate back to the "close the door quickly so nothing falls out" stage.  But, by tackling a little at a time, it's never overwhelming to me.  There are certainly closets I dread going through (the school closet, ugh!), but once it's done, life is easier for everyone.  Having an organized home reminds me of the following scripture. 

 Doctrine and Covenants 88:119 "Organize yourselves: establish every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God."

I hope we can create in our home a house of God.