age 2 1/2 to 3 years updates

Wednesday, May 28th- I need to go all the way back to May 10th to start this entry. I've been lazy. Let's see...

On the 10th, Tessa and I went up to Federal Way and had lunch with Beth, Shellie, Roni and her new baby, Colin, and Shellie's sister Donna and her son, Matthew. It was great to meet the new little guy but Tessa was in rare form and made it hard to socialize with all of her whining. She got a balloon which was fine but she didn't want it attached to her wrist or her chair so I was constantly retrieving it when she would let go of it. She wanted me to hold it but I finally tied it to her chair. She threw a fit and was trying to yank it off which made the knot so tight I couldn't untie it. She just had to wait until it was time to leave when I could cut it off the chair. :) Justice. But anyway, it was good to see everyone and I think our next luncheon I will be leaving Tessa at home.

After lunch we went over to Mom and Dad's place so I could drop off our Mother's Day present for Mom. I had decorated a flower pot at my MOPS meeting a few nights before and Tessa made a Mother's Day card in class on Friday.

The 11th was Mother's Day and Tessa was officially 2 and a half. I got to sleep in until 9:30! Best Mother's Day gift ever. :) We didn't do much else the rest of the day except play in the yard and relax. The 13th we had lunch with Cyndi at Burger King, on the 14th Mia and Ashley came over to our house to play (Erin's cat had kittens the night before so she and Anna couldn't come), and the 16th was another one of Tessa's classes. She made a cute little mouse puppet. I keep having to take her projects away from her because she loves to tear them all apart. I still need to glue the eyes back on her little chick windsock.

Sunday the 18th, Tessa and I went to hear Martha play bells in the Spring Ring. It was a short concert which was perfect for Tessa. After every song she would say, "Tessa's turn!" Maybe she'll be in the Bell Buddies group in a few years.

May 20th was Casey's birthday but he was in Pismo Beach so Brian and I watched the Buffy Series Finale without him. I was kind of glad it was just the two of us though because I sobbed through most of the episode. At least they renewed Angel for next season. The next day we went to Erin's house for playgroup. I got to see the new kittens. They were so little! The 22nd was our very last MOPS meeting until September. :( I'm going to be on the steering committee for next year so I will get to go to a few meetings this summer so we can plan next year's activities. The steering committee put together a nice farewell tea for us and we had a good guest speaker.

Tessa had another class last Friday. She's becoming more at ease and will go off and play without me having to be right there all the time. Yeah! On Sunday, Mom and Dad came down to visit. They brought down the tent trailer with them and it is now happily living in the backyard. We are not sure if either of our cars will tow it but we should have a new vehicle by next summer and will definitely be looking at towing capacity when picking something out. For now we can go camping in the backyard and get Tessa used to it. While they were here we went on a walk around the neighborhood, had ice cream at Bill & Bea's, bought Mom some more Left Behind books at the used book store, and had a big dinner. Barbecued steak, corn on the cob, sautéed mushrooms, biscuits, cantaloupe, and cherry pie for dessert. It was all very yummy. Tessa fell asleep about 5:00 on Grandma's lap. She was pooped. As they were leaving I keep feeling like I was forgetting something. I finally figured it out two days later when I was in the attic and realized we didn't give them the rest of the baby stuff to take to my cousin Alicia. Oh well. There's lots of time before November.

Today we met at Mia's house for playgroup. Everyone will be here next Wednesday and then we will be playing it by ear for awhile because Mia is having surgery on the 9th. I'll have to plan something special for next week when they are here.

Sunday, June 15th- I let this get way behind again. I really should take a few minutes every evening to sit down and do a quick update. :( Oh well. My intentions are good. Is that enough to quell my feelings of guilt. Not really.

Anyway, let's get to this. Back on May 29th, Tessa and I went up to Lacey to visit Mary and her new baby, Breanna. I used to work with Mary at Tutor Time. Breanna was born on April 13th so she was about 6 weeks old when we saw her. She looks just like her Daddy! I had forgotten how light a newborn is. Holding her was nice but luckily it didn't produce any pangs of longing. :) Tessa did pretty well. Mary has lots of toys so Tessa kept busy and she even got to hold the baby (kind of). I need to call Mary and see if she wants to meet us at the park this week.

Tessa had another class on the 30th. Only one more class to go after that one. I will have to take her to play at the museum every so often once class is over. Our member ship is good through January. I may as well use it as much as possible. The 31st we were supposed to go to Annalisa's wedding but I wasn't feeling well and Tessa was not in a good mood. I worked with Annalisa at Tutor Time too. I need to stop by where she works in the next few weeks and drop of their wedding gifts. We did manage to play outside for awhile that day and Tessa got her first splinter. I was able to get most of it out without torturing her too badly but a section of it was too deep and had to work its way out on its own.

On June 1st we got a phone call out of the blue from my Aunt Barbara and Uncle Gary. Gary is now doing long haul trucking and Barbara rides with him when she can. They were about an hour north of us and wanted to know if they could stop by. We hadn't seen them since last summer when we went to Spokane for Cecil's funeral so I was thrilled. I scurried around the house getting everything all cleaned up. I keep the house neat anyway but there were little things that needed to be done- make the bed, put the breakfast dishes in the dishwasher, rinse the toothpaste out of the sink, etc. They parked the truck across the street in the old Mobil plant lot and stayed for 2 hours. It was great to have a chance to catch up with them. They seem to be having a good time seeing the country from the cab of a semi truck. Not quite as leisurely as their motor home but seeing the country and getting paid to do it isn't so bad.

On the 3rd Tessa and I met Mia & Ashley and Tia & Macy at Tumwater Historical Park. The girls had fun playing on the various big toys, especially the slides. Some buses arrived with school kids on field trips so we moved to the other side of the park where the smaller play equipment is but it turned out they had more fun over there because they could get up and down to the slides without help. After the park we met Cyndi for our weekly lunch date. The weather was beautiful and was supposed to get even warmer so we got out Tessa's pool and filled it up so it could sit overnight and warm up the water a little bit.

The next day Tessa was ready at 7 am to go out and swim in her pool. I managed to get her into the car so we could run some errands before spending time swimming. We went to the dollar store for some new crayons and coloring books, the shoe store to get Tessa some sandals, and Wal-mart to check out their new expansion into a Super Center. I did a little bit of grocery shopping there but Tessa was hot and tired. They seemed to have pretty good prices so I'll have to go back and check it out more thoroughly. Once we got home and had some lunch, we spent about 3 hours outside in the little pool. I had to get her inside with a promise of a bath. Even after being in the water all that time, she was still up for a bath.

On the 5th we had playgroup here at our house. Mia and Erin brought extra clothes for Ashley and Anna so the girls could all play in the pool. While the girls splashed around, the mommies dangled their feet in the pool. It felt so nice in the 87 degree heat. I didn't even realize until later how badly sunburned my legs were. :( That evening they just kept getting redder and redder and hurting more and more. We were out there for a good 3 hours. I had greased Tessa up with a ton of suntan lotion but didn't put any on myself. I'm so stupid. The worst part was the top of my feet. It hurt so bad to try and wear shoes for the next few days. I was slathering my legs with cold aloe vera gel as often as I could and I think that helped quite a bit. Now almost two weeks later I am peeling a bit but not as bad as I probably should have.

The 6th was Tessa's last class at the Hands On Children's Museum. Brian flexed that day so he came with us. For art we did Tessa's handprint and my handprint on a sheet of paper. They had a huge snack because everyone was asked to bring in something special. All the kids got a certificate at the end of class. Right now I have it hanging in the hallway with a lot of her art. It will go in her baby book eventually. Her first award. :)

The weekend was quiet. We didn't go anywhere or do anything special. Kind of nice to just hang out and relax. Mia had her surgery on the 9th. I haven't seen her yet but she did call me this morning to let me know how everything went. I've missed seeing her. Mom called me that evening from Reno to let me know they had arrived just fine the day before and were having a blast. They'd be back in town on Wednesday evening. Tessa and I went up to Tumwater on the 10th and had lunch with Cyndi.

The 11th was a very interesting day. First, it was the 1 year anniversary of when we moved into our house. It sure doesn't seem that long ago. Tessa and I saw Brian off to his dentist appointment and then headed up to Erin's house for playgroup at about 9:30. Erin and Joe have to move because their landlady wants to move back into the house. Luckily Joe's Mom who lived across the street just bought a house so Erin and Joe will just have to move across the street. We got to go over and take a look while the guy was there replacing the linoleum in the kitchen. We left about 11:15, stopped and got gas and then headed for the freeway to go home. Well, my car picks this moment to act up again. The light changed to green and the clutch seized up again and the car wouldn't move.

I tried to call Brian but both of his cell phones were going immediately to voice mail. I figured he must have forgotten to turn them back on when he left the dentist or he was in a big meeting at work and had them turned off. I was in the left hand turn lane but luckily there are two left hand turn lanes at that intersection so I wasn't completely blocking traffic. I called the road side assistance we have through Texaco and they said they would have a tow truck to me in "60 minutes or less". Great. Tessa was in the backseat starting to complain about having a wet diaper and I still couldn't get in touch with Brian. Thank goodness I had snacks and water for her. Those kept her pretty happy.

Brian's friend at work, Louis goes to the same dentist as Brian because his wife, Anne, is the head receptionist there. I knew if anyone knew where Brian was, Louis would. I didn't have his cell phone number but I knew Anne would have it. I called information and got Dr. Walker's phone number and called Anne. I told her I needed Louis' cell phone number because I was stuck on an overpass and needed him to find Brian for me. Anne says, "Brian's here. He's still in the chair." I didn't realize his dentist appointment was 2 hours long. They stopped working on his teeth long enough for him to call and make sure we were alright. He had about 10 minutes left to go and then he would come rescue us. Still no sign of the tow truck and most of the other drivers were being pretty nice (lots of jerks out there though) so I decided we'd just sit tight.

Finally an hour and a half after first getting stuck, Brian arrived and got us going. He decided to take the rest of the day off work (well, the whole day since he hadn't actually made it to work yet) and followed me home. I cried. Thank goodness for cell phones. Later that day Tessa slipped and fell in the rocks out back and skinned her elbow pretty good. More trauma. I think I cried again. My nerves were pretty frayed by that point.

Thursday the 12th had some exciting moments in it too. Tessa actually asked to go potty and went pee in her little potty. I was thrilled. She got a sticker for a job well done. Of course that was almost a week ago and she hasn't shown any more interest in using the toilet. Oh well. She'll get it eventually. Later in the day I could hear a dog barking pretty close by and went out the back door to see what was going on. I found myself face to face with the new neighbor's pit bull that had escaped it's kennel. Luckily it was in the yard of the neighbors behind us and there was a fence between us because the way he looked at me and lunged forward made it pretty clear he would have come straight for me. However, since the fence between us wasn't any taller than the one around his kennel that he had just escaped from, I made a hasty retreat back inside. I had the number for Animal Control posted on the side of my fridge (it's been there ever since I learned we now had a pit bull in the neighborhood) and I called them right away. I saw the police down there at the house but I don't know what happened. I know the dog is still there because I hear him barking every now and then.

That evening I was sitting in the living room watching TV when I suddenly heard scratching sounds coming out of the heater vent. Something was under the house! Brian and I took flashlights outside and found one of the foundation vents was uncovered. We had a piece of wood across it and it either got pushed aside while we were mowing or one of the neighbor kids moved it. Brian took the cover off of the access to under the house but we couldn't see anything under the house. A little while later when I went to bed I heard it under the bedroom. Brian was in the bathroom getting ready for bed when he heard it. The under house access is right under the bathroom window so he went out and took off the cover. A small possum came running out. Thank goodness he decided to come out instead of dying under the house.

Today was Father's Day. For Brian's Father's Day gift, we gave him a day to himself to do whatever he wanted so Tessa and I headed up to Mom and Dad's house. We arrived a little after 9am. Tessa got to play with castle doll house they had found for her at a garage sale. They also got her a little tea set with actual ceramic plates and cups and teapots. She didn't really understand that she needed to be very careful and ended up breaking one of the little plates while dumping things from one basket to another. :( We tried to go out and find some garage sales but we didn't have much luck. We had lunch at Taco Time while we were out and then headed back to Mom and Dad's to blow bubbles in the backyard. I got a really great picture of Tessa surrounded by bubbles. I'm trying to find a picture I can enter in the fair this year and that one just might be it. I'll have to have Brian off load it from the camera for me soon.

Tessa ended up taking a short nap in Grandma's lap (Grandma slept too) while I read and watched TV. It was a nice break. We had sourdough bread and homemade soup for dinner. As always, I left Mom and Dad's with more than I arrived with. We brought the castle home since we have more room for toys but they kept the tea set there as part of the toy box toys they are accumulating. They got Tessa a WSU Cougars t-shirt and shorts set I can't wait to put her in. We didn't get home until about 7:30 tonight.

Wednesday, June 18th- Monday was quiet. Tessa and I hung around the house and colored in her coloring books and played with her new castle. She has little Fisher Price people that came with the zoo Aunt Martha gave her for her birthday and they fit perfectly in to the castle. Yesterday we went up to have lunch with Cyndi. Later in the evening Tessa and I were out in the backyard playing. The train tracks right across the street from us are rarely used but when a train is coming we can hear it easily. There are flashing lights but no cross bars on the crossing at Main Street so the trains blow their whistle almost constantly coming through this section of town.

I lifted Tessa up so she could see over the gate when the train came out from behind the Whitney's house across the way. The engine of the train had barely rumbled by when I noticed FLAMES in the grass next to the tracks. I grabbed my cell phone and called 9-1-1 to report the fire. Our house is about 50 yards from the track but I really didn't want Whitney's garage to go up. Come to find out, the train had been sparking fires all along the track as it made it's way north. The fire crews were kept pretty busy getting to all the flare ups. They had to come back and douse this section a second time because it was still smoldering quite a bit when they raced off to the next fire up the tracks. We could see smoke north and south for several miles. No major damage, just a few scorched fences here and there according to the paper today.

Today we were supposed to go up and meet Erin and Anna at the park but it was raining. I called Erin but they just moved and won't have a phone again until tomorrow. I went ahead and drove up to Olympia with some other errands in mind. I stopped at the park first just in case Erin had decided to brave the rain but she wasn't there. Tessa and I headed over to the mall so I could have my wedding ring cleaned. After dropping off my ring we borrowed one of the little car shaped strollers the mall provides. Tessa loves to "drive" us down the mall. We went down to the other end of the mall where the book store is. I bought all five of the books in the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. I had already read the first four books by borrowing them from Erin but I plan to re-read the series when I finish with the fifth book. These are some of the best books I've ever read. I can't wait until the sixth book in the series comes out.

Anyway, after we returned the stroller and picked up my ring, we headed across the street to the chiropractor's office where Annalisa is the receptionist. Since we didn't make it to the wedding I still had her gifts. She and Jacob had returned from their honeymoon in Hawaii just a few days before so I was glad I caught her at work. Tessa and I stayed for a few minutes before we got back into the car and went two blocks up the hill to Erin's house. I wanted to check and see how the move went. When I drove by she wasn't there but by the time I had gone around the block so I could head back to the freeway, she had arrived home. Tessa and I went in to visit for a few minutes. Tessa just loved playing with the new kittens Erin's cat had but she wanted to pick them up and couldn't figure out why she kept getting scratched. I figured we better leave before any blood was drawn.

Tuesday, July 1st- Back on June 21st, Brian stayed home and watched Tessa so Cyndi and I could wander through the antique stores downtown. We've lived here for over a year now and I still hadn't taken the opportunity to really explore all the neat little shops down on Tower Avenue. Including a stop for lunch at the Berry Fields Cafe, it took us about 5 hours to explore both sides of the street in a 5 block long section. We kept coming across a portrait of a young boy dressed in what looked like a blue silk suit. We finally asked one of the store owners about it. Come to find out the painting is Blue Boy and is usually paired with a painting of a girl called Pinkie. For the rest of the day we kept an eye out for Pinkie and I got so excited when we finally spotted her. They are not the kind of art I'm usually interested in but I thought of ordering some small prints of Blue Boy and Pinkie just as a memento of our day. There also seemed to be lots and lots of John F. Kennedy items too. I think we managed to find 7 different Presidents on various collectibles. I only bought one thing and it was for Brian. I found a Centralia Tigers mug for $2.00.

When we got home from the antique stores my Harry Potter book that we ordered through Amazon.com was waiting for me. I would have liked to have sat down and devoured it cover to cover in one evening but alas, I couldn't forget to be a Mommy too. I finally finished it just a few nights ago.

On June 24th I took Tessa up to the Hands On Museum. We hadn't been there since her class ended. It was kind of nice to just go and let her play. I made a few phone calls while she poured lentils from one bowl to another. Brian wasn't feeling well and called in sick so it also gave him a couple of hours to sleep in. I bought Meconi's sandwiches and brought them home for lunch. We were out of propane for the barbecue so we went far and wide looking for a place to get propane and finally ended up at the Texaco down the street. Oh well. It was an adventure. The lawn needed mowing and since Brian was sick, I did the whole thing. Not a lot of fun in 80+ degree weather but it was great exercise.

Thursday the 26th we headed up to Tumwater Historical Park. MUCH better weather than when we got rained out last week. Erin came with Anna and Michelle brought Megan. Megan was in Tessa and Ashley's class at the Hands On Museum. We had been trying to coordinate our schedules for weeks and were finally able to get together. Tessa and I left about 11:00 to stop by work for a few minutes to give Ruby some mail. We then headed over for lunch with Cyndi.

Friday, Stacey brought over her girls (Ashley, and the twins, Megan and Lindsay) for lunch. I got a pizza from Papa Murphy's the night before to bake and had made some cookies. Stacey brought chips and grapes. I hadn't seen Stacey in months and it was nice to catch up on everything going on. They just live a few miles up the freeway so she knows the area and I like to quiz her on things to do and see. We didn't talk much about our days at Tutor Time. Too many angry feeling still. On my part at least. We both got a raw deal from management. Times are happier now. :)

Saturday we had Casey and Amanda over for T-bones, baked potatoes and salad. Sunday we went to the lumber store and bought wood and supplies for a few projects in the backyard. We need to replace the little ramp that goes up into the shed. On of the boards is broken and even though we try to keep Tessa off of there, one of these times her foot is going to go right through it. An easy fix with a few 1X4's and a saw. We also got some 2X4's to repair the fence between us and Casey. Back on my birthday, Joe tried to get over the fence to retrieve a ball he had kicked into Casey's yard and managed to snap the horizontal 2X4 on his way over. We also got some 2X8's to build a raised planting bed out by the back retaining wall. Once we get the form built we are going to start by using it for compost and will eventually get topsoil to fill it up. It won't be ready to plant anything in it this year but by next spring it should be perfect.

Yesterday we went out to Mia's house to visit. We hadn't seen her since the day of our last Hands On Museum class since she had her surgery that next Monday. She's doing good and it was great to see her and Ashley again. We'll have playgroup at her house again next week to give her a little more time to recover. We should be able to entice her out to the park by the middle week of July.

Tessa and I didn't go anywhere today. The lumber we had bought on Sunday was finally delivered just before 2 pm. We spent a lot of time playing in the yard and I even got started on the planting beds I want to dig out on either side of the front walkway. I had to give up halfway through the first one because Tessa was bored in the front yard and kept wandering away out of my line of sight. I'll try to get some more done on it tomorrow after we get home from the grocery store. I need to go buy all the things we'll need for the holiday weekend.

Another big thing happening tomorrow is that Vancouver, BC finds out if they will be hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics. I hope they get it. Tessa will be 9 and I think a trip to the Olympics to see some of the ice skating competitions would be a blast! Go Vancouver!!

Saturday, July 19th- Vancouver got it! In February 2010, we'll be at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver BC! I already know what arena the figure skating competition will be held in so I can start looking for nearby hotels. Yippee! I watched the announcement from Prague, live in CBC. At first when he said "Vancouver" it didn't register, but then I was dancing around the living room, crying. Brian thinks I've gone insane. Well, more insane than he already thinks I am. :)

Tessa got stung for the first time on the 2nd while playing in the backyard. The area around it got a little red but I didn't even have a chance to put anything on it before she declared her leg "All better" and ran off to play again. She loves to find the dandelions that have gone to seed so she can blow them all over. She calls them "wishes" and before she blows the fuzz off she says, "I wish with all my heart". It's so precious. She also says "all-body" instead of "everybody". "Allbody gone!"

4th of July was a jam packed day. We started the morning working in the yard. Brian and Casey got my raised planting bed put together and moved to the back of the yard. Tessa and I worked out front a little on the two flower beds I'm making on either side of the walkway up to the front door. Mom and Dad arrived in their motorhome about 11am. We had BLT sandwiches, potato salad and watermelon for lunch. Casey and Brian went to get fireworks and the rest of us ate in the motorhome. Mom's cat Missy wasn't quite sure what to make of Tessa. She hid in the bedroom most of the time. After lunch, Dad and I went to the craft store to look for some red, white and blue items we could use to decorate Tessa's stroller. Mom had brought some flag theme bows that we put on there and then Dad and I got some red, white and blue streamers and put some of tat on her stroller as well. I really wanted to get her looking patriotic so she would have a better chance of getting her picture taken for the local newspaper.

At about 3:30, Mom, Dad, Tessa and I met Martha, David, Joy, Travis, Heather, Esme and Jennifer out front so we could all walk down to the parade route. We got a great spot on the shady side of the street and only had to wait a few minutes for the 4:00 parade to begin. We were about a half a block from the announcer booth so we could hear the announcements about who all the entries were. We all had out American flags to wave and Tessa looked so cute in her "All American Kid" t-shirt and sandals. My goal was to get her picture in The Chronicle. Well, one of the photographers from the newspaper did indeed take her picture, but it wasn't one of the ones that made it into the Saturday paper. :( Oh well.

The parade was a lot of fun and only about an hour long. After it was done we headed home and got the corn on the cob cooking. Cyndi arrived about 5:30 and we all headed across the street to Martha's for the potluck. Alex had come down and came over with Casey and Amanda. Tessa had a great time playing on all the toys Martha has in her backyard for the daycare while we ate. She'd stop by her plate once in awhile to grab another baby carrot or a grape, but most of her dinner went uneaten. She was much too busy. Once the sun had gone down enough, everyone gathered in the front yard for the fireworks display. Brian had spent about $150 on a huge box of nothing but mortars. Brian, Casey, David and Josh got out there and would set off 6 or 8 mortars all at once. It was pretty spectacular. Mom and Tessa retreated to the motorhome not long after dinner was over and while Tessa slept through all the fireworks (just like last year), Mom watched from the window.

It was after midnight when we went to bed and although I'm sure some of the neighbors shot off fireworks until the wee hours of the morning, I was so tired I didn't hear any of them. Saturday morning, Mom, Dad, Tessa and I went out looking for garage sales before they headed for home around noon.

Brian stayed home on the 7th because he wasn't feeling well. I mowed the lawn and he got out later and edged all along the front. With this being a corner lot and having the parking strips to maintain as well, it is quite a big job. Tessa got filthy but had a blast helping us fill the garbage with all of the grass we swept up off the sidewalk after the edging.

Saturday the 12th started with a trip to Costco for Tessa and I. I found her a new Dora the Explorer DVD. She loves that show. After we were done shopping we headed right across the freeway to meet Cyndi for lunch. Tessa and I were finally home about 12:30 but Brian was still up in Tumwater at work. He had to work both Saturday and Sunday because the new building was finally ready for move in. Brian and his group had to get all the servers set up and running during non business hours.

I put Tessa in the stroller and went down to the Farmer's Market to pick up some corn on the cob. I would have driven to Safeway but I knew the Farmer's Market would have better prices and with all of the Seattle to Portland (STP) bicycle racers in town, the roads were a mess. The first racers were just coming into town as I was leaving for Costco at 9:30 am and coming home we had to stop while police stopped traffic to let riders out of Riverside Park and back onto the race route. We stopped a few blocks down from here and bought lemonade from two little girls selling it on the sidewalk before continuing down to the Farmer's Market. They had nice corn at 5 for a $1.00 so I got 10. After Brian got home around 3:30, Casey and Amanda came over for steak and corn on the cob.

The 15th we were back up in Olympia. I needed to go to Target to see if I could find Tessa a new bunny. She is already on bunny #2 but she sits and pulls all of his fur out and needs another one. They don't seem to make them anymore. Like Brian said, we'll probably find it on a recall list because children are able to pull out the fur. I got her a very cute puppy instead. She likes him but when she is cranky and tired, she still wants bunny first. I guess mange bunny will be around for a little while at least. We had lunch with Cyndi again after out Target trip.

July 15th was also Jacob's 2nd birthday. WooHoo! He's come a long way from his first days as a preemie. We haven't seen him since last summer but you would never have known he came into the world at only 3 pounds, 5 ounces. Tessa seemed to instantly bond with him. She just loves to look at pictures of Jacob.

This past Wednesday, Brian had to leave early for his 2nd of 3 dentists appointments. Mia and Ashley arrived about 10:30 for playgroup. I had hoped they could play in the yard but the weather was kind of cold. It warmed up quite a bit in the afternoon but playgroup was spent mostly inside. Mia brought a pizza so I cooked that and put out some grapes and baby carrots and chips. Amanda came over for awhile to visit and Brian came home early because his mouth hurt from his appointment. Casey came over after Brian got home and we all spent some time outside again before Mia had to get back into town to pick up Andrew.

Thursday Tessa and I drove up to Tenino and met Mia and Ashley at their place. We all piled into Mia's SUV and drove up to Enumclaw to go to the King County Fair. Mom had given me a pass for free parking and a ticket to get in free. I still ended up spending $24 ($9 for burger, curly fries, large lemonade, $6 for 2 bags of cotton candy, $1 for a shot at the 4-H dunk tank, $8 for various fair trinkets). My Mom was there doing all the jobs she does at the fair and my sister was running the dunk tank. Mom wandered around with us to see the animals. The barns were amazingly cool considering how hot it was outside. We were lucky to find a spot in the shade to eat lunch. I think we were there for a little over 3 hours. Both of the girls fell asleep on the way home.

We heard on the radio about a huge accident right near Centralia that had both north and southbound lanes blocked and 8 to 10 mile back-ups each way. Luckily there is a back way home from Mia's and I had no trouble at all getting home. There were lots of people passing me in the other direction who had be re-routed off the freeway but the direction I was going was smooth sailing. For dinner, Brian fired up the BBQ and we had hot dogs with Amanda and Casey.

Yesterday Erin's sister, Liz, came to our house to do a presentation for Cutco Knives. She hasn't been selling them for very long but she did an excellent presentation. The knives really are amazing. So much better than what we have right now. We ended up spending $411 on knives! I hadn't planned on doing that but the kitchen shears that I wanted anyway were thrown in for free with our purchase. You can cut pennies with these shears! Liz had done her presentation for Mia on Wednesday afternoon and she bought knives she hadn't planned on getting too. The funny thing was, at the fair on Thursday, there was a booth for Cutco Knives. Mia got to show me the ones she bought and I got to take a look at what they had to offer. They should be here a week from today.

Casey and Amanda came over for dinner again. They had bought a family pack of ground hamburger at Safeway so they made them into patties and we barbecued them. I love to entertain so it's been fun having them over. I slopped mustard on my shirt and the flies wanted our burgers almost as much as we did, but they sure were good.

After dinner Tessa fell asleep pretty early so I headed down to Washington Park for the first of four Music In The Park concerts. The Beatnik's were playing. They can pretty much play any 60's, 70's or 80's song you want to hear. I was just going to sit on the grass by myself but then I saw Camryn and knew Amy must be around there somewhere. I watched to see where Camryn went and went and sat with Amy, Brad and Amy's cousin, Christy. Amy parents, grandparents, nephews and her brother, Matt, were also there. The Althauser's were out in force! Christy spotted my sister in law, Martha, even before I did. Her son went to Martha's daycare for awhile. It's a small world when you live in a small town. I started walking home about 8:45. It was starting to get dark and I didn't want to walk alone even though the neighborhood is pretty safe. It's the neighbors dogs I don't trust and they seem to get out late in the evening. Amanda and I walked over to the Exxon station because the guys were running out of beer. Casey taught us a fun card game called "Cheat". He's really good at it.

Today Amanda, Tessa and I went down to Castle Rock for the Castle Rock Community Fair. Wow. I think that is the smallest fair I've ever been to. Tessa got to pet a horse, a bunny, a pig, a sheep and a chicken. I had a chance to talk a bit of family history with one of the women in the heritage display. She recognized the names Carnine and Tippery and got out a book that mentioned both of them. I was going to go out to the Silver Lake cemetery while we were down there but I'll do that some other time. I want to take a whole day that I can go down all by myself and hit every historical museum and Mt St Helens tourist trap there is without worrying about Tessa getting tired or bored if I want to linger at a few places.

Today was another hot and sticky day so we filled up Tessa's swimming pool when we got home. I let her play in it until she asked to go inside. She was tired and ready to go in a lot sooner than I expected but at least there wasn't a fight to get her inside.

Sunday, August 3rd- We didn't really do anything exciting for our anniversary. It was kind of nice just to hang out at home and do nothing. We ordered Chinese food for dinner, played with Tessa in the backyard, and watched TV. On the 21st, Brian was off to his third of three dentist appointments for his cleaning. Now Dr. Walker wants to do a consultation appointment with him and discuss replacing some of his silver fillings and fixing his broken tooth. Tessa is now tall enough to reach the bathroom faucet by herself when she stands on her little stool for brushing her teeth and washing her hands. She does pretty good about turning it off when she doesn't need the water during activities instead of leaving it running.

On July 23rd we went up to Lattin's Cider Mill in Tenino and met Erin, Mia and the girls there for playgroup. Along with the little shop where you can buy yummy cider and fresh fruit and veggies, they also have a mini farm. You can buy a little bag of feed to give to the animals they have. We saw chickens, goats, sheep, a calf (which Erin wanted to take home), geese, rabbits, a pig, and even a pair of peacocks. Tessa wasn't quite getting the hang of flattening out her hand when feeding the goats and got nipped a couple of times. The girls all had a great time. When we left Lattin's we drove into town and spent some time at Erin's house. Mia hadn't seen their new place yet. The girls all ran around in the backyard and played with the kittens.

Amanda got a job at a local kennel and needed some jeans to wear (most of her clothes are still in Phoenix) so I drove her up to Olympia to Old Navy. She got a couple of pairs of pants and I found some cute things to get for Alicia's baby. Her shower is not until September 14th but now I'll need to go back to Old Navy and see about getting some things for Dave and Darla's baby shower which is coming up this next weekend. Sears was having a shoe sale so on the 24th Tessa and I went to the Lewis County Mall and I bought some new Reeboks. I like them so much better than the Nike's I've been wearing. I let Tessa walk instead of making her ride in the stroller. She did pretty good. I was worried she would try and take all the shoes off the shelves but she didn't even touch them. She was more interested in looking at herself in the mirror hey have down near the floor for people to use to look at the shoes when they try them on.

On the 26th we all went up to Costco and spent our Child Tax Credit check on a new TV/VCR/DVD combo for the bedroom. Now when Brian and Casey are in the living room playing Crash Team Racing on the Playstation, I can take the laundry in the bedroom and watch TV while I fold clothes. We got the last one they had and almost had it swiped out from under us by some other people looking at it. I had planned on taking Tessa to the Chehalis Arts and Music Festival later in the day but never did. Now I wish I had gone. Ana-Keena, the band my nephew sings and plays the guitar for, won first place in the battle of the bands. In fact, the newspaper on Monday had David and my niece Joy on the same page. David for his win at the festival and Joy in a picture about the election department accepting paperwork from candidates filing for the next election. Definitely a page of the paper I will be keeping.

The rest of July was pretty standard. Monday the 28th Tessa and I went to Fort Borst and Riverside Parks to check out the playgrounds at both parks. Tuesday we had lunch with Cyndi, and Wednesday we went to Mia's house to play in the pool, swing on the swings, bounce on the trampoline, and eat lunch. We have had absolutely no rain since June and with the weather in the 90's for most of the last half of July, it's been really hot and dry around here. Our poor lawn is completely dead and we have the ceiling fans going almost 24 hours a day. Finally in the past few days it has cooled down into the mid 70's and is much more tolerable. Still no rain in sight and we could really use some of that.

On August 1st we were back down at Washington Park for another night of Music In The Park. I loaded Tessa up in the stroller, took one of our canvas folding chairs, and got down there just as the first band started playing. Casey and Amanda joined us after awhile and Tessa had fun wrestling with Amanda in the grass. Tessa and I started back about 7:45. She was getting grumpy and Saturday was going to be a long day.

Yesterday we left for Kent at 10 am and got to my parents house a little after 11:00. Everyone was gathering for a big party to help celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. Natalie and Arnold, and Captain and Reva were already there helping to set up when we arrived. I don't know how many people were there but it was a great turn-out. Renton Eagle Travel Club friends, family, co-workers, 4-H people, neighbors... I had a great time talking with some people I haven't seen in years and meeting some friends for the first time. Tessa was a huge hit, of course. Everyone wore name tags and we knew Tessa wouldn't keep one on so Brian put one on the back of her dress when she wasn't paying attention. Not that she needed a name tag for everyone to know who she was. Her proud Grandma shows off her picture to everyone she can. :) We left about 5:30 after Mom and Dad had opened their gifts. Tessa promptly fell asleep in the car as I knew she would. She took a great nap but that also meant she was up until 10 pm last night.

Today we went to a couple of stores looking for a new blow up swimming pool. Last night Amanda was chasing Casey and popped one of the rings when she slipped and fell against it. Everyone is out of pools (not surprising with the heat we've had) but Brian got a patch kit. We'll see if that works when we try to blow it up again. Today was also SeaFair Sunday. We watched the hydroplane races and the Blue Angels. I just love the Blue Angels. One day I'd love to fly in one but only a lucky few get to do that every year when they come to town. The Miss Budweiser won the General Motors Cup again this year. They win so much I root against them but at least there were no injuries or accidents this year.

Sunday, August 31st- We've been keeping pretty busy the last few weeks. On the 5th I got to see the new building that the Department of Revenue moved into. It was fun to see some of my old co-workers but I definitely don't miss data entry. While Tessa and I were up in Tumwater we stopped by the Wonder Bread Outlet to stock up on bread and also had lunch with Cyndi. That evening I got an e-mail to let me know that Tessa had won the TopBabyPages.com TOP SMILE photo contest for July. Seeing how often I voted, I'm not surprised. :) She won a Beanie Baby. We haven't received it yet and if we don't at all I won't really be upset. I'm happy just having the graphic to post on her webpage.

On the 9th Tessa and I went up to Renton to go to Dave and Darla Kennerud's baby shower. They are expecting their first child, a boy, on September 15th. They have a name picked out but are keeping it secret until he arrives. The shower was a sports theme so everyone wore a shirt connected with a sports team. Tessa and I both wore our WSU t-shirts. I got them cute little clothes from Old Navy and Tessa helped me pick out a Sesame Street toy. It was great to see Dave and Darla. They came to our house warming last year but we've missed so many of their parties in the last couple of years. The last one I went to was Dave's 30th Birthday party when I was pregnant.

After we left the baby shower we went to Grandma and Poppa's for awhile. Tessa played with the bubble wands and ended up taking a shower with Grandma to get off all of the stickiness. We were going to stay for dinner but I was tired and I was hoping to get Tessa home without her falling asleep in the car.

On the 10th I met Cyndi at Shari's in Federal Way for breakfast before we headed up to Issaquah for the Seattle Street of Dreams. There were 5 houses this year and while all of them were very nice, there was one, The Astoria, that Cyndi and I both fell in love with. It had a cherry wood paneled den, media room, fireplaces everywhere, a really neat outdoor entertainment area with a big built in BBQ and fireplace, a wrap around porch, a sport court, and a beautiful waterfall in the backyard. It's so much fun to look at those houses and imagine living in them.

On the 13th we were supposed to have lunch with Cyndi at 11 am but were delayed here at home. The pit bull that lives two doors down bit Pam across the street. I have called Animal Control about that dog twice and Lynn who lives behind us has called at least as many times. I saw the dog out in Casey's front yard so I went out on the porch so I could shoo it away if it came to our house. Pam waved from her yard and then noticed what I was looking at and came out her front gate just as I saw Amanda come out of the alley. Amanda has put the dog back in his kennel more times than I can remember. The dog went running up to Pam in a friendly way but jumped up and bit at her left elbow, leaving an abrasion. She pulled hr arm away had turned to the side and he jumped up again and bit her wrist. Amanda got hold of the dog and drug him away as I ran out to Pam. She had her thumb pressed over the puncture wound and was scared to look at it. I ran back to the house and called Animal Control. A police officer was her in just a few minutes and the whole street seemed to be out there telling him what a menace this dog is. Pam didn't want to go to court for fear of some kind of retribution from our not so stand-up neighbors so they cited them with dog at large instead of vicious dog. They said they would keep the dogs inside until they got the fence raised and as far as I know they have. Here it is 2 weeks later and no work on the fence though.

One of Tessa's favorite shows on TV is Dora The Explorer. Dora speaks Spanish a lot during her adventures so Tessa is learning a little bit of Spanish here and there. A lot of the time the "magic word" to open a door or a gate is "abre", which means "open". We were trying to get her to say "please" the other day and we said, "What's the magic word?" We of course were expecting her to say "please" since that's what we learned the magic word was but she said "abre". It was cute. One day she was playing in the yard and picked up a rock and told me, "This rock speaks Spanish." She was so matter of fact about it I just had to laugh. She's so amazing. :)

On Saturday the 16th, Amanda and Casey came over with Amanda's Chihuahuas, Tater and Tot. Tessa had a blast feeding them tiny chunks of carrot. Tater is much bolder while Tot is shy and skittish. The dogs started wrestling in the yard and when Amanda moved in to break it up, Tot zagged when she should have zigged and got stepped on. After an emergency visit to the vet on a Saturday evening and some X-rays on Monday, they found her leg was broken in two places. Poor little thing. Her leg is now in a splint with a big ace bandage wrapped around it. She's getting around pretty good though.

I had my annual check-up with Dr. McGill on the 20th. I got a new prescription for my allergies. The Claritin wasn't doing any good and made me really drowsy. The Allegra is working great. I still get stuffed up at night sometimes but if I remember to do the nasal spray that he also prescribed for me I do just fine. I haven't had to go sleep semi upright in the recliner since I started taking the Allegra. Everything else at my appointment looked pretty good. My cholesterol is all where it is supposed to be. I'm still waiting for my PAP results but I'm not worried.

That evening I had my first MOPS Steering Committee planning meeting. We had it at Regina's house, our group coordinator. Her house sits up on one of the hills west of town and they have a view of Mt Rainier, Mt Adams, and Mt St Helens. It was great watching Mt Rainier turn pink and orange in the sunset. I can't imagine being able to watch that every evening. I am the Publicity Team Leader for our group and in charge of putting out the monthly newsletter. The newsletter will be a snap and I'm really excited about that. It's the publicity part I'm not so confident about. I'm fine speaking in front of groups and everything but I have a hard time "selling" anything. MOPS isn't really a sale but it has the same feeling. Regina gave me the name and number of the lady who does publicity for the Nazarene Church MOPS group. I need to give her a call and get on track.

The 21st was playgroup at Erin's house. She has an apple tree in the backyard that is producing many more apples than she could ever use so I took home about a dozen and a half. I made a really yummy apple pie out of some of them and still have several left over that I need to use in another pie. The weekend was quiet. Tessa and Brian both were not feeling very well so we stayed close to home.

Brian had Monday the 25th off so that Cyndi and I could spend the day together. We were going to go up to Monroe for the Evergreen State Fair and a 3 Doors Down concert, but we found out that there was no free seating in the grandstands. Tickets were $23 and had to be ordered online. We decided to spend the day in downtown Seattle instead. We parked down in Pioneer Square and wandered around there for awhile. We did some shopping in a toy store, drank Starbucks coffee at Waterfall Park, looked around in the Klondike Gold Rush museum, and looked in some of the other little shops near Seahawk Stadium. We took the bus tunnel up to Westlake Mall and wandered through all of those stores before grabbing some lunch at the food court. After lunch we walked the few blocks down to Pike Place Market. I got slimed by a flying fish, bought some Market Spice tea and a pale green pull over sweatshirt, and helped Cyndi look for her grandfather's tile in the market floor. We didn't find it but with all the tiles one name would be easy to miss.

After grabbing some Tazoberry Smoothies at the original Starbucks store, we headed down the Pike Street hill climb to the waterfront and went to the Seattle Aquarium. We spent most of out time watching the sea otters. After looking at the gift shop we went across to the IMAX theater and caught the 7 pm showing of the Mt St Helens movie. We were both so sick when we came out of there we decided to skip dinner. All of the views from the helicopter as they flew through the devastated areas of the eruption made my stomach turn. The landscape was all one color and gave nothing for your eye to focus on. Walking back to the car we couldn't even look at other people who were eating. We were all the way back to Cyndi's house in Tacoma before we felt better. Overall it was a great day. We are trying to plan a trip to Leavenworth next month for Octoberfest.

I got to sleep in on the 26th but Brian woke me up about 8:30 to let me know the power was out. There was a fire in a transformer somewhere and since the PUD was working on the transfer station and had the generators off line, they didn't have a chance to kick in like they usually do. We were only without power for 45 minutes so it wasn't a really big deal. Our water heater is gas and since we have a big window in the bathroom we got our showers in while the power was still out. I ran some errands once the power was back on and made a couple of stops at Village Crafts and Crafts Galore to look at scrapbooking supplies. Regina was showing us the scrapbook she put together of her son's first two years. I'm pretty proud of my photo albums but what really impressed me about her scrapbook was the journaling. I had no idea they could be so personal and moving. I have so many great memories and a lot of them go into this online journal, but to pair the words with the photos just has so much more impact. I'm excited to get started. I sent an e-mail to Robin who was in our MOPS group last year. She sells Creative Memories products so I am going to order an album when I go to her house on September 27th for her Croptober Fest. I'll take mom's photo album to work on since I won't have my scrapbook yet.

The 27th we had playgroup at our house. Mia and Erin both made it with their girls. They played in the yard and we all had pizza for lunch. Later that day we got out the little bike that JB and Toni got her a couple of Christmases ago. She is still just a little too short to ride it but she does pretty good. She has a little helmet that we insist she wear every time she gets on her bike. I even attached a little license plate on the back that says TESSA that I found in the toy store in Pioneer Square.

This past Friday we spent some time working in the yard. Casey and Brian fixed the fence that was damaged during my birthday party and we put a soaker hose system in my planting bed. Hopefully we'll have topsoil in there on Tuesday. We also bought some large planters that I will plant tomatoes in next year and some more decorative planters to go on the front porch. I want to get a small bench to go out front as well.

Yesterday Brian stayed home and helped Casey with his garage sale while Tessa and I went up to visit Grandma and Poppa. Dad was washing his truck when we arrived so he washed my car too. I wasn't complaining, it really needed it. :( Mom, Tessa and I went out and did some shopping. I got and early Christmas present when we found a Scrapbook Companion bag that I can put all of my scrapbooking supplies in. It was on sale for half price! I'm so excited. I already have supplies in it (what few supplies I have). We also stopped at Target where Mom found some Birthday and Christmas gifts for Tessa and got a little toilet seat that fits on the big toilet. Now that we're potty training it will be nice not having to transport ours back and forth when we go visit.

We got back to Mom and Dad's and Tessa got dirty playing in the rocks so we stuck her in the tub before getting ready to head down to the Eagles to meet Captain and Reva for dinner. Tessa took a nap on the drive to Renton. It took her awhile to fully wake up and be social once we got there but at least she wasn't grumpy. The food was good and Tessa ate quite a bit. She learned a knock knock joke watching Dragon Tales that morning so she told everyone her joke. Not bad for a kid who isn't even three, eh? We got back home about 8:45pm and she was sound asleep shortly after that. It was a long day but it was nice to see Mom and Dad.

Monday, October 13th- Wow. I've never been 6 weeks behind in my updates before. I hope I can crank this out pretty quickly before I fall even further behind. Thank you Jan for writing and making sure we were all still here and doing well. :) I didn't mean to worry you.

Let's see... September started with a trip to Sears and the purchase of a new TV. They had a 32" TV for $279.00. It was too good to pass up. We had to wit until Martha got home so we could use her Explorer to go pick it up. Our old entertainment center wouldn't house a 32" TV so after about two weeks of getting cricks in our necks looking up at the new TV on top of the old entertainment center, I finally went and bought a new one.

I had lunch with Cyndi on the 2nd and when Tessa and I got home, Bruce had delivered a load of topsoil and put it in the planting box for us. The 3rd we had playgroup at Mia's house. Ashley, Anna and Tessa had a blast swinging on the swings and eating apples off the apple tree. Thursday and Friday (the 4th and 5th) were beautiful. The sun was out and the temperature warm. Both mornings I stuck Tessa in the stroller at about 8:30 in the morning and took a walk downtown. I stopped at Juggling Java and paid $4.00 for an iced latte, we dropped off some mail at the post office, we watched the local merchants get ready to open for the day. I love living in a small town. :)

Astrid was visiting from Austria and staying next door with Casey and Amanda. On Sunday we had a BBQ in her honor. First we had to get through the sudden downpour that completely flooded the street. The storm drains just couldn't keep up. A couple of the neighbors who park on the street had water to just up under their car doors. Tessa and I headed outside and crossed the street at a high point to join a group of our neighbors who had gathered around the storm drain to watch the water slowly drain away. Bruce rummaged around in the foot of water over the drain ad removed the grate so the water would have an easier time. Definitely a small town thing when you can find a half hour of entertainment watching the street drain. :)

The rest of the day went well. The sun even came out for a little bit. Mom and Dad came down for the BBQ and brought some things for Tessa that they had found at garage sales- a little desk ad a Barbie Jeep. She has a little trouble steering the Jeep and that may take awhile to master but she uses the desk all the time. She loves to color and even though we have a vinyl tablecloth I can put on the floor so she has a craft area, sometimes she wants to sit at her desk and color.

The next morning, Astrid, Amanda, Casey and I had breakfast at Papa Ray's before heading down to Mt St Helens. Brian had the day off and stayed home with Tessa for me. The weather wasn't very cooperative so Astrid and Amanda never did get to see the mountain in person. I took a lot of good pictures of them though. I even got a picture of Amanda being bitten by a chipmunk. Not something you see everyday.

September 10th was our first official MOPS steering committee meeting for the year. On the 11th I attended the first meeting of the year for the MOPS at the Nazarene church. We decided not to start out the year on September 11th but our sister group did. It was a lot of fun. Our Cooks Hill group usually has about 18 women. Nazarene has 70! We are all in little pre-assigned groups. In some ways that is nice because you get to know a few women really well, but it can be a disadvantage because you don't have very many opportunities to meet women from other groups.

September 11th was also Callie's 3rd Birthday. On the 12th I got an e-mail from Dave's sister that Dave and Darla's baby boy, Daniel, was born in the wee hours of the morning. He missed sharing Callie's birthday by 51 minutes.

Saturday the 13th Tessa and I went up and had lunch with Cyndi. We had to postpone a lunch date from earlier in the week but since she was going to be at work on Saturday, it worked out. The 13th was Amanda's 23rd birthday so we went next door to have cake with Amanda and Casey.

On Sunday Tessa and I headed up for Alicia's baby shower. We stopped at Safeway and picked up the cake Mom had ordered and then went up to Mom and Dad's house. We took two cars over to my Aunt Merilee's place so Tessa and I could leave from there. The doctor's can't really agree when Alicia is due but it looks like the middle of October. She's already really big but since she and her two brother's were big babies, they are expecting this little guy to be pretty big too. We had the shower out on the deck since the weather was nice. We played games, ate cake, and watched Alicia and Derek open more baby stuff than I've ever seen! They got lots of great stuff.

On the 17th we had playgroup up at Erin's house, the 18th was lunch with Cyndi again and the premier of Survivor: Pearl Islands. :) On Friday the 19th the new entertainment center that I ordered was delivered. It's a corner cabinet and sure fits into the space a lot better than the old monstrosity did. We moved that one into the bedroom and put the TV/VCR/DVD combo in it. The area on the side that used to hold all of the other components I am now using for storage. My shoes fit nicely on the shelves where the DVD and VCR used to be.

The 20th was a pretty busy day. Joy had a Stampin' Up! party at 1:00 so I went to that. As part of the workshop we got to make 5 different cards. That was lots of fun. I bought some stamps and booked a party of my own for January 10th. After I got home from Martha's, I headed up to Mia's for her annual Girl Party. We ate, drank, talked, tried to play some board games (people were too drunk for that) and generally had a good time. I had planned on staying the night but at about 1:00 am I decided to go home. When I got here about 1:30, our street was filled with fire trucks and police cars. I was in a hurry to get inside and find out hat was going on and didn't hit all of the right buttons to deactivate the security system so as Brian and I are standing there talking about the commotion outside, our alarm goes off. Luckily, Brian was able to shut off the alarm quickly and call the company to let them know it was an accident.

Anyway, the house two doors down had a fire. Everyone got out alright except for one of the new kittens. According to the newspaper it is still under investigation but there were a couple of neighbors who saw two strangers in the area just before the fire started. One said she saw them throwing something in a bedroom window. We may never know how the fire started.

On Sunday I was finishing up mowing the lawn when Amanda came over and asked me to go to the Olympic Club with her. I hadn't been there since May. We had a beer and I had stew for dinner. It gave us a chance to catch up and talk for awhile.

The next week was pretty quiet. Lunch with Cyndi on Tuesday, playgroup at Mia's house on Wednesday, and MOPS on Thursday. It was the first meeting of the year for our Cooks Hill MOPS group. It was a small group but I kind of like the more intimate setting.

On Saturday the 27th we got up a little early to be ready for a 9 am delivery of 2 cords of firewood. The guy dumped it in the driveway and Case came over to help us stack it after he dropped Amanda off at work. We carried some of it across the lawn and dropped it over the fence into Casey's yard for him. We will probably need to do another load of wood before the winter is over but it's pretty impressive to see the back wall of the patio piled high with firewood for now.

Later in the day I went to Robin's house for a Creative Memories Open House and a scrapbooking crop. After looking at Regina's album that she is working on, I've decided to move all of my photos out of the albums they are in now and into scrapbooks. It's an addicting hobby. I've almost finished Tessa's first year and am anxious to meet with Robin again so I can order another album. I met some new people at the crop and had a chance to visit with some people I knew from MOPS but didn't know scrapbooked. Now I get to bore everyone all over again with my pictures since they are all in a new format. :)

Sunday the 28th we went to Anna's Birthday party. Erin made her cake again this year and Anna got lots of nice presents. It was a beautiful day so the party spilled out onto the front lawn and the girls had a chance to run around for awhile and work off some of the sugar.

On Wednesday, October 1st, we had playgroup here at our house. I had picked up some pizzas from Buckaroo's take and bake the day before and we took a lunch break during the playgroup. At about 5:30 I got the car all loaded up and Tessa and I drove up to Mom and Dad's. We were leaving early the next morning in the motorhome and decided it would be easier to already be there instead of driving in traffic in the morning. Mom didn't get home from her 4-H meeting until 9:30 but Tessa was still up. Tessa and I slept in the guest room and we were all up and on the road by 7:15 on Thursday morning. After a quick stop at Fred Meyer for donuts we met the rest of the caravan on the freeway and were headed for Quincy. I took my scrapbooking stuff with me (I couldn't help it!) and actually got 5 or 6 pages done on the trip.

After we got settled at the RV park, Tessa made a b-line for the playground. We drug her away long enough to go into town for dinner at a Mexican restaurant for Islah's birthday. Dad and I had their blackberry margaritas to drink. Yum! When we got back to the motorhome, Mom surprised Tessa with some Dora the Explorer pajamas. They settled in for bed while I went next door to Captain and Reva's trailer to watch CSI with a bunch of people. It was cozy with 7 people in there but not too bad.

Friday we took a trip into Ephrata to buy some things for dinner at Wal-Mart. It was hobo stew night where everyone contributes something to the stew. You end up with quite a concoction but it was very good. Natalie arrived just before dinner.

Saturday was gleaning day. Dad and some of the other people had already been out to get onions and a few boxes of apples but today the group was split into two and half went to the apple orchards while the rest of us were out in the potato fields. Tessa had a ball picking up potatoes (and rocks) to put in the bucket. She didn't get nearly as dirty as I thought she would.

Before dinner that evening we held the Potato Olympics. I didn't want to be on a team so I was the judge for the potato peeling contest. The longest peel was 35 inches. Everyone seemed to have a good time and work up a big appetite for the potluck dinner.

Sunday everyone had breakfast together and we did the presentations for the Potato Olympics winners and for everyone who entered something in the centerpiece contest. The centerpiece had to be made completely out of natural things they found in the fields or around the RV park. There were some cute ones. After breakfast most people start to pack up and go. We left around 1:00 and were back at Mom and Dad's around 4:30. Tessa and I didn't stick around long. We got home just before 6 pm. It was a long 4 days but a lot of fun.

On Monday the 6th we had lunch with Cyndi and met with Regina so I could find out what I missed at the steering committee meeting last Wednesday. Regina would be gone for the Thursday MOPS meeting so I needed to know what we were doing. Wednesday was playgroup at Erin's house and Thursday was morning and evening MOPS meetings. I taped Diana Williams who came to speak about family traditions at our evening meeting so Regina could watch it when she gets back.

Sunday, October 26th- coming really soon, I promise! :)

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