Baby Gift for Renee's Baby Girl

Here are some pictures of the baby clothes and gifts I got for the baby. I thought you might have some fun seeing them posted.

I took the little rattle and tied it onto the bag with the brown bow which was a part of the gift bag.

Here is the pantset and the blanket is below

It Is Almost Like A Song

Salsa and Chips

It is finally Friday night. Another week of hurrying here and there is in the "history books", as my father use to say.

We went out for Mexican food with the boys tonight. They like rice and beans. I had a fajita salad. I don't remember what Dave had exactly... I think a chicken enchilada. The boys have never been to California but the eat Mexican food like they were raised there.

Riley went to kindergarten round up today. He was asked to do a few things so they could tell where he was in development such as writing his name. He can write the letters but he is working on putting the word all together.

I went to SPU (Seattle Pacific University) today for a meeting. It is a Christian college in the area. The officers to the consortium met and went over our new brochure and website we have one of the students put together (because none of us on the consortium know how to do it and we needed to do it for free or for little money). Take a look at what we have for the GPSHEC at this point. I know many of you do this for a living so it may not seem like too much... it is a start. That is what we met about... what changes we need to make on it. We needed to have something for employers to find or go to read about what we offer.

The boys are playing with their trains and Dave is playing his guitar while I write this post. He is playing "It Is Almost Like A Song" and a few other tunes. He was making up a song for both Riley and Brady with their names in it. They will be getting ready for bed and heading there soon after I get off the computer.

Have a great weekend. HUGS Goodnight.

Shopping For The Baby Shower

Winnie the Pooh

Yesterday I spent most of my day at the Sea Tac Airport at a Job Fair. We don't have any jobs to hire people for but we have the training for people to learn to get a better paying job. I had the Aviation instructor with me too. He is a very energic guy of 62. He has such a lively personality that it is fun just to be around him. After talking almost for 4 hours straight, I was beat. So, I went back to the college to deal with my emails, then I went shopping for Renee's baby shower gift. Her baby shower is this Saturday. Tonight I have the boys again and during most of Saturday. So, I needed to go shopping tonight whether I had it in me or not.

Lindsey had mentioned that she was going to go shopping too tonight for Renee's gift and was going to Target. Renee has a registry there. So I decided to go to a Target too. I shopped around and then got the idea in my head to do my own thing. I just had to figure out what that was going to be. So I started to pick out outfits that I liked... pink, purple, green... pretty soon I had a big stack of clothes. I know that Renee loves the color green, so I decided to get the outfit in green. That seemed right to me because Renee isn't a "girly" girl. So all the pink clothes I put away. Then the purple.

Some of the green clothes that I liked really well has Winnie the Pooh on it. So I decided to make that a theme. I won't tell you yet what I got because she might read this post.

Next, of course, was picking out the card and paper. That was even a chore because I really didn't like anything. I tried my best to keep to the colors of my theme.

OK so now I have more things bought than I should have got. I will have to decide what to give etc. Or hang on to some things for when the baby arrives. Do you guys do this? I was exhausted.

TGIF! Have a great day!

Oh Sunny Day

Hooray, it was finally sunny yesterday and it looked like spring finally. I thought it would never happen. It seems that April has chased the bad weather from March away. Did you know that our March here was the coldest since the 40's?

I went to a Career Fair in Seattle yesterday. Today I am at the airport at another Career Fair. I am trying to take things nice and slow. That way I will not feel to tired hopefully at the end of the week.

I decided on the way home that Kari and I should find out how to Instant Message. So I went on Yahoo and joined the Messenger there. So did she, so now we can do that. We spent sometime working on what was there to use and just played. I discovered that I could use the IM on my blackberry as well. I am really getting connected now. I think Darylynn is there... she has probably thought I knew about these things. Now we are catching up with the rest of the world.

Today is an anniversary in which I feel a mixture of grief and thankfulness all at the same time. It will be 16 years today that my sister, Krista, died from a car accident at the age of 20 in LA. She would have been 21 on June 6th 1992. She left behind a daughter, Brittany, that was only 18 months at the time. On May 30th this year, Brittany graduates from high school. That is one reason I am heading to California in a month. I am thankful that I had her as a sister and that I got to know her. I know that I will see her again. She will probably be one of the first ones I see when I pass through the doors of heaven. So in that I am happy that our sisterhood and love never dies. Time heals the pain of loss but I will always remember her. She never feels like she is too far away away from me.

Well, on a higher note (taking a deep breath in), I wish for all of you a wonderful Thursday. Make it a good one ;-)

What A Difference A Day Makes

OK, you all saw the hail on the road on Monday. If not, refer to my post a couple of days ago and you will see how it was. That was then and now things have changed. Today it is sunny and warm. Plus the good news is it is getting warmer. We will be in the high 50s today. (To those of you in Cali, that is like the high 70s in comparison) I don't know what to wear. When that happens you go to layering your clothes.

Kari told me yesterday she was expecting. Before you all get excited, it was an April Fools joke.

All I could do is look at her as I took in the words. She quickly let me know it was an April Fools joke. I let her live; she's not dead.

Have a good day. HUGS

Blessings Flow

Riley had a doctors appointment today at the children's hospital in Tacoma. He saw the same doctor that saw him about three years ago that saw his developmental delays at that age. At that age, he thought he might be on the border of being autistic (on the higher end). So for a year we went to speech therapy, physical therapy, and occupational therapy. It was a couple of days a week for a while and then it was only once a week. Since then Riley's gaps have been closing but he is still acting younger than he is. So we went to have an evaluation again as we are looking to him beginning kindergarden in the fall.

The doctor was impressed with his development. He was able to see Riley joke around, how Riley would carry on a conversation with him willingly, and how Riley showed caring and love towards his mom and me. He said that those traits alone made him see that Riley isn't dealing with any major problems. He said that he could see that he is development was still a little behind but that could even change in time.

So now we have to go to the school district to have them do their testing to see if Riley should be in a prekindergarden class for a year or progress to kindergarden. We are happy about the changes and the great words that the doctor said to us regarding Riley.

Three years ago Dave proposed to me on April Fools Day. He thought that it would be funny. He has a twisted sort of humor. However, I told him that he would be a fool if he didn't marry me.
;-)

Have a great day... Hugs to all.

We Are In "Dip n Dots"

Nope we are not at McDonalds. We are having very strange weather again. What you are looking at are balls of hail that was coming down at around 6:30pm tonight in my driveway. About 10 minutes earlier I was down in the valley and I could see lightning and hear thunder but it hadn't started raining where I was driving. I received a call from Dave telling me that it was hailing where they were at home, only 3 miles away. It was hard to believe, but as I got closer to the house I entered the Twilight Zone. It was fine one second and dumping little balls of hail on me the next. Suddenly the road became white with little 1/2 inch balls (or a little bigger) so I pulled out my cell phone to take a picture of what I couldn't believe. This isn't normal here... and this Cali girl was amazed at all of it bouncing off my car and windshield. Dave is the one that said to me as I pulled in... we are in Dip N Dots!

Dave is from Kansas and before a tornado hits there is thunder and lightning then the hail begins to fall. (I should know because when I went back to Kansas I got to experience all of it. Oh and a big rainbow comes out afterwards. I saw The Wizard of Oz in a whole new light.) So I mentioned how all of this was similiar and he told me "Don't say that". I guess he felt it was too. The movie Twisters showed the same thing only in a big way.

Anyway, March isn't going out like a lamb here (reference to Darylynn's entry today). It is more like a lion, roaring it's way out. Have a good evening... Hugs

Sunday Snapshots and the Beach

Easter and Nicer Days Remind Me Of Spring!

Here are the Easter Eggs Hunters displaying some of their findings at Kids Day at the college. Brady doesn't really look like he knows what this is all about but Riley is into it.

Yesterday we went out to Des Moines at the beach. The tide was really out and we walked around looking at rocks and sea shells. Above is the seen yesterday (and look, no snow!)

Here is the same place looking out at the same pier taken at another time. Remember when I tried to link the photos together back in January? My cell phone camera on my Blackberry Pearl doesn't do it all justice. But I try.

I was holding Riley's hand the whole time because he isn't really good walking on uneven surfaces and growing up in So Cali I know barnacles are sharp. They are all over the rocks out there. As we were walking back to shore, he looked like he was doing alright. He was a little upset with me that I wouldn't let go of him. But as soon as I did, he walked a few steps and down he went and cut is little hand. Not too bad but it hurt and ruined his good time. He has been a bit moody these days too. He now is back home a little bit more but I think that he is as sensitive to "changes" as I am. I am going to ask Kari to have him once a during the week as well as having one night I have both kids on the weekend. It will probably be good for everyone; me, Riley, Brady, and Kari. She has done soooo well and at times she needs not to have the pressure especially when she will be back and school and other things. Her spring break ends this morning.

Have a great day and for that matter... a great week. April begins this week. Hooray... Spring is on the way.