Jack's 10th Birthday Party!

For each of our kids 10th birthdays we will pay to go somewhere for their party. For Owen's birthday he chose GameWorks in Seattle. Jackson chose to go to Laser Quest in Federal Way. Thankfully I found a Groupon for birthday parties for $140 for 10 kids to play 2 games. 

Have a Zappy Birthday Jack!

Jackson wanted to play one game first and then break to eat dinner and then play the last game. I think all the kids were a little beat after that first game. It was about 7pm by the time they all ate. 

Mr. Hans was our bartender for the night! :) 

Me and two of my three girls...just missing Rachael. My truest closest friends. Love you ladies!! 

Feeling better now that they have food in their bellies! 

Cute smiley boy! At first I didn't think that Zeke would want to play...he's so little! But Michael wanted him to so he did and of course he LOVED it! 

Jackson with his friend Kane from school and then Josiah and Andrew! 

Hansi...Jack's best bud from church! 

Owen with his best bud from school...Jordan! 

Ella and Caitlynn....neither of them actually played Laser tag, but that didn't stop them from having fun. 

The girls had the best time spending quarter to get fun trinkets...Ella especially loves the chokers! 

Caleb and Christina came up all the way from Graham in Friday night traffic to be there for Jack. 

Gift time...

Hansi got Jack two new BeyBlade Burst. 

Andrew & Josiah also got Jack a Beyblade Burst....even though it was the same as one Hansi got him he didn't care. He was fine with having a duplicate Bey! 

Caleb got him the Dangerous Book for Boys and a package of all the red flavored Jolly Ranchers. Cherry is his favorite so he loved that! 

Kane got him this awesome Nerf gun and Sour Cotten Candy. 

Jordan got him two BeyBlades as well. Jackson LOVES BeyBlades! 

After opening gifts it was off to play the next game. After the second game the kids got to eat their cupcakes. 

Jackson had a great time, but I will say from my point of view everything was SO rushed! We had to hurry Jack when he was opening his gifts, we had to hurry to eat the cupcakes since our time in the room was almost over. I think I'm just so used to having all the time in the world since we have parties at home that it just felt wrong. I'm so happy he had fun though, but I don't think I would recommend a birthday party at Laser Quest. 

Strawberry Picking!

On Friday, June 8th I went strawberry picking with Kim and her kiddos. We were so lucky because it was only sprinkling out when were there and just a short while later it was dumping rain! 

It was also nice that it wasn't super sunny too! 

Last year was my first year picking and the berries weren't that big at all. This year there were so many big berries. Kim even mentioned that it she felt bad making jam with such nice berries. So we bought picked one box and then we both bought a box with jam berries so we could eat the pretty ones and then make jam/fruit leather out of the funky looking berries. 

I had so much to do that day so after picking berries I went back to Kim's to eat lunch and visit for a bit. Then I had to come home and quickly puree all the jam berries so they would be ready to make into fruit leather. 

I used my food processor and then dumped the puree into a pitcher that I have. It made almost a gallon of puree. 

The berries we were going to eat I soaked in vinegar water and then took all the stems off. 

I set them on a paper towel to dry. 

I love the look of fresh berries. So bright and colorful! 

When I got home after picking the kids up from the bus stop the house smelled SO good. 

Of course afternoon snack was a big bowl of strawberries!!! 

No time for smiling, only time for eating! :) 

Jack's Actual Birthday!

Jack's actual birthday was on Tuesday, June 5th. We weren't having his birthday party until Friday so we gave him our present on his actual birthday. 

We normally let the kids pick what to have for dinner on their birthday night, but I knew that Jack would pick pizza and we were going to have pizza at his birthday party. I picked the next best thing for Jack...waffles with strawberries and powdered sugar. He loves that!!! 

Back on Black Friday I bought two games at Fred Meyer's because they have the buy one get one free deal on games. I bought the Relay Dash game for Owen that we gave him on his birthday and I bought this Forbidden Island for Jack. When we were having family game night at our house earlier this year our friend Scott introduced us to Forbidden Desert. It was fun so I was excited to know that it was similar to Forbidden Desert since I didn't really know anything about the game when I first bought it. 

Last year I also had an Usborne Book party and I bought these Bear Grylls adventure books for Jack. He loves that sort of stuffy. It was a set of 4...Blizzard Challenge, Desert Challenge, Jungle Challenge and Ocean Challenge. 

The funniest thing about the books was when Owen said, "Jack when you're done with those I want to read those books about Bare Girls". He's so phonetic when he reads! I about died!!! 

We played the game right after he opened his gift and it was fun. It was much faster than Forbidden Dessert and a bit more simple. On the next Black Friday I'm definitely going to buy Forbidden Dessert so we'll have both of them. 

Electronic Rules

It seems like whenever we get things just right it isn't long before we have to tweak the whole system again. This time it's in regards to our kids electronic time. I'm mainly writing this down to document it, but maybe it will help some other parents out there that are struggling to help their kids find balance. 

Here's our current rules: 

Everyday the kids have an alarm that goes off at 4pm reminding them to do their daily tasks. 

Daily tasks: 

Owen - Sweep and vacuum downstairs

Jack - Unload and load the dishwasher

Ella - Wash and set the table

Zeke - Feed and water the cat

Every kiddo will get 1 tally mark for their daily task each day IF they ALL do their daily task. So for instance if everyone, but Zeke does their job they don't get a tally mark for that day. We are trying to get them to work as a team and encourage each other. Thankfully this hasn't turned into pointing fingers at the person that forgets. 

What are tally marks? Each tally mark is good for 15 minutes of electronic time to be cashed in on Saturday. Tally marks do not roll over the ones that have been earned for that week must be used that Saturday. 

The kids also have weekly tasks:

Owen - Bring down all laundry and sort

Jack - Clean the bathrooms

Ella - Empty all bathroom & bedroom garbages

Zeke - Empty recycle

Weekly tasks are to be done on Mondays if the kids do their daily task and their weekly task they have the opportunity to earn 3 tally marks that day. So with 3 on Monday, and then 1 for each of the other 6 days of the week that means they have an opportunity to earn 9 tally marks. If they do earn all 9 they all get a bonus tally mark. Bringing their total to 10. 10 tally marks equals 2.5 hours. 

To us electronic time is...watching tv, going on the computer to play games or playing on their kindles. I do let the kids go on the computer to read every now and then, but not to often since we only have one computer. 

We do have electronic time on Friday for family movie night and then we usually watch America's Got Talent on Thursday night as well. 

So far this has really worked out well. We are teaching the kids responsibility with their jobs as well as team work. They are earning time that they can use, but we are giving them boundaries in which to use that time. Hopefully this works for a while and we won't have tweak things for at less a few months or better yet maybe a whole year. 

Charlie Update!

Charlie is 2 years old now!! He is such a cat! He ignores us most of the time and spends more time outside than in. But we love that furry beast so much! 

His favorite place to lay when he's inside is under the coffee table. 

I wasn't feeling good after a medical procedure and Charlie laid with me for hours. It was so sweet! 

Also since it's summer he's back at his killing game. This was his latest and greatest...a mole!!! That's Owen's foot for comparison. Charlie has now killed 8 different species...

Mouse - Rat - Shrew - Snake - Bird - Rabbit - Squirrel - Mole

He's a killing machine! The craziest thing is he kills them and brings them home of course and then we see them in the morning and then later...sometimes only an hour or so...they are gone! Charlie is most definitely feed something else in our neighborhood. 

He is our pretty puddy boy! 

Domino Fun!

This girl is so awesome!!! 

Value Village Finds / Electrical Problems!

On Sunday, May 27th the kids went home from church with Ga-Ga & Pa to spend the night. Right after church Michael and I got to go on a date....we went to lunch at Wing Stop and then we headed to Value Village. Whenever there is a holiday on a Monday Value Village has there 50% off day the day before and the day of the holiday. We had gone shopping for Michael back in February when they had 50% off due to President's day. We were mainly shopping for cold weather clothes and now it was getting warmer out and he needed short sleeve shirts. 

Here's what we got at our shopping trip on Sunday. 

Michael got 3 short sleeve shirts. 

I got Owen 2 pairs of pants, 2 t-shirts and swim trunks. 

I got Zeke 2 pairs of pants, swim trunks and a long sleeve shirt. 

I got Ella a dress, 2 short sleeve shirts, one long sleeve shirt and a pair of sandals. 

I got Jack 2 short sleeve shirts, swim trunks and a swim shirt. 

For myself I got 5 short sleeve shirts.

I got 1 pair of capris and then 2 pairs of jeans...the skinny pair can be rolled up to be capris. The most amazing thing about these 3 is that I didn't try them on at the store. I wasn't even going to look for pants, but I decided to after I had already tried on my shirts. The line to try on clothes was crazy long and I wasn't in the mood to wait again. I figured since we were going to go to a different Value Village the next day that even if they didn't fit I could return them so it wasn't a big deal. The craziest thing though...they all fit perfectly! Sometimes I might try on 10 pairs of pants at Value Village and none of them fit so the odds of all 3 fitting was pretty astronomical! 

Like I said the next day we went shopping at a different Value Village before we went to pick up the kids at Ga-Ga & Pa's house. Here's what I got from that trip. 

3 short sleeve shirts for Ella. 

1 short sleeve shirt for Zeke and a swim shirt to go with his swim trunks I got him the day before. 

I found 3 more short sleeve shirts for Jack and a Spiderman blanket. 

4 more short sleeve shirts for Owen. 

Michael got 4 more short sleeve shirts as well. One of them ended up being too big, but I had already washed it so I couldn't return it. But that's the best thing about buying from Value Village...it doesn't cost a ton so it doesn't hurt as much if something doesn't work out. 

I also found 2 more pairs of jeans for myself and one more pair for Owen. 

I also got 1 tank top, 5 short sleeve shirts and the light blue cover up is actually pajamas. I had never thought of wearing basically a light sweater to bed, but let me tell you it's the most comfy thing. 

I did buy something a bit out of my comfort zone....this is a short dress that looks super cute over skinny jeans or leggings. I'm thinking ahead towards going to Maui next year and I think this would be fun to wear there. 

So in all we bought 57 items and spent $160...making each piece cost $2.80! I love bargains! 

Of course the most ironic thing happens when you've just recently bought a ton of new clothes and need to wash them all....my dryer stopped working. 

But when you have 4 kids there is no stopping laundry...it must get done. So I went to Wal-Mart and bought a drying rack. The only thing is right around this time it wasn't very sunny at all so it was taking all day for one load of laundry to dry. Sometimes overnight! 

I almost resorted to going to the laundromat, but I really wanted to avoid that if I could. 

The whole problem had to do with our bathroom remodel that we did in 2016. We had run into a little issue with the electrical, but Michael talked with a friend who was an electrician and he found out what to do, but come to find out that obviously didn't really cut it. Thankfully Michael is awesome and put the wires in a metal junction box so it didn't burn our house down. It did however fry the wire and made it so I couldn't use my dryer. Michael had some contacts with the company that did our electrical for our jetted tub and since Michael knew the previous owner they gave us a screaming deal with only charging us $98 per hour for labor. They also fit us in earlier then they initially said so that was a plus too. We weren't going to be home when they stopped by to do the work so Michael had all these signs pointing to the places they would need to know. Right when they opened the garage door he had a sign on the floor pointing to the left where the junction box is. Then an arrow pointing to the right where the breaker box is. The junction box isn't accessible when the garage door is open though so they needed to shut it. So Michael also had signs pointing to the correct garage door opener since we have two and if they hit the wrong one they would have dropped the Lego table on the trailer. It was so funny when I walked in that evening to a sign that the electrician had made himself with the scrap wire.  

It was so nice to be able to do more than one load of laundry a day and feel safe knowing our house wasn't going to burn down. :) 

It's Official!

Michael's boss had his retirement party back on Friday, May 11th. So on Monday, May 14 Michael got to go to work for the first time in his company car. I'm so proud of this man! He is such a man of integrity and honor. He's also an extremely hard worker and I know that the District is going to thrive under his leadership. 

So proud of you babe! God has put you in this position for a reason and I know that you are going to succeed at whatever you put your hands to. 

And for kicks and giggles here he is standing in front of his name that's on the window that's in front of the district office. 

Banking!

On May 4th, I took Owen down to the BECU office in Tukwila to officially open his very own savings account. This savings account his going to be for his first car. Whatever he saves Michael said we will pay double. So if he saves $1000 we will give him $2000. Michael did say there's a cap at $3000. He'll need to save the rest. But he can certainly get a nice used car for $5000. 

Can't believe he's old enough to already be planning ahead to eventually driving. Thank goodness it's still 5 years away though. 

After his account was open we went over to the ATM to use his debit card to deposit money into his account. He was so cute because when he was typing in his special PIN number he was saying it out loud. I had to have a talk about how that number is private and we never share it. 

A week or so later Owen got his first piece of mail addressed to him! 

He was so excited to open it. It was just a notice about opening the account which was funny because it showed his account balance at zero! They had ran this report prior to him depositing any money. A few weeks later he did get another piece of mail showing his account balance with the money he had deposited. So far he's only made the one deposit, but hopefully soon he'll want to put more in.