TIME WITH TESSA- and other fun things!

First I have to say Tessa is a sweet girl, and we love her. I thought it would be fun to spend the day with her Saturday, her mom was ok with that, and my family had shifts to work at the fair so it worked out!

After we dropped Jeromy, Jade and Kent off at the fair, Tessa and I went to Barnes N Noble to get raspberry smoothies- they were so good!

Then we walked around the mall (neither one of our favorite things to do- but we were on a mission!). We were trying to find one of those photo booths. And we found one. I wanted to do it at the fair, but Jeromy said he hadn't seen one. So we found one at the mall- come oooon... how cute are we?? It actually made 2 copies that you tare into 2, so Tessa and I each have this same strip of pictures- mine is on my fridge...

Then I got her a new outfit. She is such a nice girl that it's easy to do fun things for her. And you are so welcome Tessa! You are a beautiful girl inside and out! Her shirts says "Love last forever"- isn't that right Tessa??

We stopped at the post office so Tessa could send off a package, then we went out to lunch at Fiesta... here's Tessa...

And me... with NACHOS... OH NO!!!

After our fun afternoon together, we thought we'd go hang out at the fair. Jade and Kent's shifts were over so I thought all the kids would have some fair fun (I wonder how much longer I can get away with calling Jade a kid??). I guessed we missed Laura and her family by about an hour- we miss you Laura! Jeromy still had to work... if you call this work. Here he is J3- with J2, I could not get these 2 to pose nice for a picture so this is what you get- TURKEYS!

One last hug for Jeromy before we headed out... well, Kent gave him bunny ears- that's love right?

I had to hug him, too... Tessa, Jade and Kent... and Kent's tongue, I noticed he was doing that in the pictures... anther turkey...

Made him give me a regular smile...

Tessa wanted to get her face painted. Jade and Kent have very sensitive skin so they can't do it. And Jeromy told Tessa there was no way I would do it. Which is true, don't like people touching my face. But I thought to myself: "Self- you have to break out of your comfort zone sometime and do some thing you wouldn't normally do." I know I know- you're thinking face painting- that's really a crazy move, calm down there Katie your going to freak some one out... LOL I make my self laugh! Here's Tessa in the painter's chair...

Her COOL turtle...Here we both are, see how daring I was? I got a small heart on my face with J3 on it...

Ok, we got some tickets- gotta share kids! We went over to the big kid rides... there's Kent's tongue again- turkeyWith all those tickets, each kid could only go in 2 rides. Better make 'em good! Kent went on his own rides. But Jade and Tessa chose the same rides. Here they are in line for their first ride... called the hammer head I think... could be wrong, thought it had the word hammer in it somewhere...Here they are getting strapped in.... looks like they may be going upside down in this ride...

Here's the girls' other ride... they went flyin'...Ok onto ice-cream... the vanilla cone is mine, I shoved it in the picture as I snapped it...Now, I thought this was the coolest part of the fair. They had this huge pool full of water, and then they'd fill up these huge balls of air and put YOU inside of it then thro you into the water! How fun does that look? You didn't get wet, but you rolled around in the water in this huge bubble thing. Here's Kent just chillin' floatin' in his bubble...

Here's a video of the balls in the water!

We stayed until 10pm until it closed which just happened to be the end of Jeromy's shift!

We had alot of fun yesterday! And I had a great day with you Tessa, hope you had fun, too!

Today I picked up our family pictures that were back in. They are a little blurry here, but at least you can see them... this year we chose shades of brown to wear. Ok- time for dinner. Hope you had a great weekend!

Determined.

I haven't run in about 10 days, and this cold hasn't helped matters.

But I was feeling better today, so I got on the treadmil and jogged 2 miles, show that cold who's boss.

Good news.

Well it's not strep. Went to the doctor yesterday, paid the $25 to have them do a throat culture and tell me it's not strep. So that is good news.

I am actually feeling better today. But I sound worse. Weird how that is. I got almost 10 hours sleep last night which helped. And my nose has finally stopped dripping like a faucet, that makes me feel almost human again right there. Just feeling really spacey, light headed and my voice sounds funny. But I am on the mend!

Just thought the public ought to know :o)

One more thing checked off-

On the list of things to do.

This morning Jade and I went to the DMV to get her drivers permit renewed, it expired and she still needs to practice some more before getting her official license. But she NEEDS to get that license so she can drive herself and her brother to college, that would make life so much easier for Jeromy and I.

So we got there at 8:45, 15 minutes after it opened, and waited 2 hours till our number was called. Lame. But now she's got her permit again and can start practicing driving. She's already gone thru drivers ed. last year but not quite ready for the test. She has alot of money saved to get a car as soon as she gets the license. Then she can drive herself and Kent to school. Man that will be soooo nice!

So while there, I got a call from GHC saying Kent's due for his annual check up. So I scheduled that. And I have come down with a bad cold, possibly strep/bronchitis, so I was able to make an appt with them for myself this afternoon which was pretty convenient.

Poor Jeromy came home from Mexico with this cold. And I rarely catch his colds, so a week later I catch it, and I can tell it's not a regular cold. So I'll find out this afternoon if I need antibiotics. If I do, I'll feel so bad knowing Jeromy has been suffering for over a week! I'll have to get him in also. He hates going to the doctors. But that's what he's got me for, I ain't afraid of nothing or asking the questions that need to asked. Such a mom- I know.

OK, later people!

Getting into the swing of things.

I brought Jade and Kent to OC to get their classes all paid for and get their books. Most of their books were in, but we have to go back and get another book for each of them when it comes in. Here are my college kids!Jade and Kent also got new laptops from their dad while in California. They love them.... they don't normally sit this close together, they did it for my picture. But they are usually sitting across from each other on the couches, it cracks me up.

Cute kids....We had Aurora these last 4 days which is always awesome, which means we had some awesome Trig girls over to hang out... and Magoo (Megan)... The girls played out side for a while with the guns Jeromy and Aurora made the last time she was here...

Beriah... and I think Nadia... I can't tell if it's Tae' or Nadia from the side...Pyramid... First row: Tessa, Megan and Jade. Second row: Nadia and Tae'. And top is Beriah. Aurora is taking the picture.

They entertained themselves for a while up there while Jeromy was going over school curriculum with Michelle.That's a bunch of great girls right there!Ok, going into work early. Have some mandatory training... a re-qual test to be exact- my favorite... ignore the sarcasm.

Have a great day, seems like summer's holding on a little bit longer!

A few more b-day pictures!

We had pizza for dinner, and I made Jade blow out one candle on her piece of pizza, I think she thought it was kinda lame... but this is my blog people- I do what I want, like make my 18 year old daughter stick a candle in her pizza and blow it out- thanks for playing along Jade! I wanted to make Jade a birthday cake, and we were going to my parents later on today to pick up a file cabinet.... so I thought I'd combine the 2 and bring Jade's birthday cake over to share with my parents.

Aurora helped me with the recess peanut butter cups and candle placement...

Yummy...

Now at Grandma and Grandpa's... that's 18 candles on that birthday cake...

My mom took a picture of the 5 of us... we're getting our family pictures taken this Monday morning.

My mom also finished my amazing quilt! Here it is on our bed mom! It's perfect!Jade said she had to test it out...Thanks again mom, it is gorgeous!

If you haven't seen my blog in the last day or so, scroll down to check out Jade's cool birthday in Seattle!

Jade is 18!!

We got up early yesterday, and caught the 9:45 ferry to Seattle. Our plan was to take Jade out to dinner up in the Space Needle! But it also worked out that we could meet my old friend during her lunch break who works at the Seattle Public Library.

The library was amazing. I'm pretty sure we were up to the 7th floor some how.... this was the 4th floor and it was all red... really weird- but we thought it was pretty cool...

There were several areas that were open over other floors... the kids and Jeromy getting some serious vertigo...

My friend, Misha and I have known each other since 3rd grade, that would make us about 8 years old, which would have been about 1983... wow- I feel OLD! I found this picture of us at age 16...

and here we are now...

After exploring the library for a while, we all went to a sandwich shop for lunch and to visit. Misha bought Jade a birthday cookie... and Kent one, too!

After lunch we walked back to Misha's work before heading over to Pike Place Market.
This place was crowded! How would you like to be here mom? It was crazy!
Finally the crowds of people thinned out a bit, so we could actually see the stuff. There were so many pretty flowers, and cheap! Onto the space needle. We still had some time to kill, so we hung out at the fountain for a bit...

Here's Jade and I laying down in the grass... Jeromy and I actually both fell asleep for a bit...

We made it to the space needle! Our reservations were at5 5:15. Just before we rode up the long elevator ride, we checked out the gift shop below which was pretty cool! Dropped over $80 there before we even went to dinner. Jade and Kent both got a cool T-shirt and we all got some nick-knacks... just what we don't need I know!Here we are! Check out that view! I also forgot that the restaurant revolves in a circle, it takes about 47 minutes to make a full circle. Jade's appetizer she shared with her brother... cold prawns.... YUCK-O! But they liked it!The waiter took a picture of all of us... the back ground looks fake it's so weird!Kimmy, this picture is for you. They had different breads with different kinds of butter... this one was called "Lavender Butter", can you believe that? It had little pieces of lavender in it, and it smelled like lavender and it tasted wonderful...Here's my baby girl with her dinner... she got short ribs, Kent got the same thing....Jeromy got a steak dinner, and I got yummy baked halibut with some kind of duck meat in it with several different flavors... it was pretty good...Now some views of Seattle... see Mt. Rainier...How about now???After dinner, we went up one more level to the observation deck to get some more cool pictures, and we were outside... it was pretty amazing...After leaving the space needle, we headed back to the ferry, but not before stopping for dessert!We had a great day. I still can't believe Jade is 18, I'm still trying to let it sink in that she's a high school graduate!

I truly thank GOD for blessing me with this girl.... young adult. Jade has been an absolute joy to raise and I love her so much. Happy Birthday baby girl!