Apricots

My best friend and I have been dealing with LOTS of apricots for a week now. We have a mutual friend who has trees of apricots that they just use for themselves but can never use all of them. She told us we could go pick all we wanted. Well, if you have never picked apricots, it is easy and goes very fast. That is a good and a bad thing. The good is you have what you need (and more) in less than an hour. The bad is that it is hard to stop as it doesn't seem like you have picked long enough.

Between the two of us, we have made nearly 70 pints of freezer jam (thankfully she has a clean nearly empty freezer to keep it in). I made 4 quarts of apricot syrup. I dried a dehydrator full of them. We have eaten lots as well.

We will remember these apricots well into the winter when we are covered in snow and wishing for sunshine!

Busy, busy, busy week

Just when I think things are going to slow down, another week is upon me and the calendar is again FULL! We had a nice Easter and got to see Megan & Josh and their families for a while that afternoon. The kids and I were dressed up for church even though the temperature was quite cool.

Monday this week was to be my only "slow" day in that I just had to get Chase to and from school. This morning started with a bang as I dropped of Mackenzie to Daddy at 7:45 am so that Chast and I could make it to school for his kindergarten screening by 8 am. That lasted till 9 am at which time I thought I would run home quickly before dropping Chase off but alas, they have closed the road early today up to our house which necessitates a detour of twice the distance to get back to town and there was no time for that so off to Starbucks for coffee and muffin we went. Dropped Chase off to school, bought tickets for his play Friday night and headed to work for the day. After work today, I am to meet the kids and Dave at the school for our first T-ball practice. Dave was to be the asst coach but they had three teams and only 2 coaches so he got volunteered. The kids are excited about T-ball. Technically Kenzie is not playing but I am sure she will "help" since Dave and I will both be there with Chase and his team. Chase is very excited and both of them went home with Daddy this afternoon for naps so they are rested.

Tomorrow starts with Kenzie at school and I am in her class tomorrow so Daddy will take Chase to school. After school for Kenzie and I we will go visit Jill and Rylee for a bit and then home to get ready for brother's play. He is in the CVIS spring musical called "Honk Jr". He has practice tomorrow morning then PlayEd tomorrow afternoon. Have to pick him up at 4, get him home, fed and dressed and back to theater by 6:15 for the play - in which he is a froglet. Play starts at 7 so likely we won't be home till 9ish.

Thursday starts off early with speech therapy for Chase at 8:25 then he is off to school while Kenzie goes to the dentist again for another filling. Then a quick run home to change for dance class. Pick up brother at noon. Go home and NAP! T-ball practice at 5 pm again. Then home for dinner and bed!

Friday Kenzie to school, Chase to school, Mommy to work - all by 10 am! Daddy to pick up Kenzie at 11:30. Mommy to pick up Chase at 4 pm to go home eat, change clothes and head for Wenatchee to be to the PAC by 6:15 pm for the play down there. Megan and her family will meet us there to see him. Home late that night.

Mommy works on Saturday and Daddy is alone as the babysitter is out of town for the first weekend of Spring Break. We are home till mid-week - I have my last follow-up regarding my neck on the 1st - then we plan to go see my mother-in-law and take in the tulips in Mt Vernon for a few days while the kids are out of school, have no T-ball and no dance.

I did notify my boss today that I will no longer be able to work regular 2-3 days a week after April as the kids are so busy and I do not like to miss their activities. She was very nice about it and understands totally so I will return to very part time work and be a full time Mom again! :)

Don't know if posts will fit in the schedule this week so if not - catch up again next week hopefully!

Girls Weekend

OK, now to explain the Smilebox I posted this morning. Megan, Jill, Heather and I went to Seattle on Friday to see Mamma Mia at the Paramount Theater. Fabulous show!!! Enroute, we stopped at my sister's in Bothell so I got to hug and kiss on the nieces (much to my mother's dismay :)). We also went to Lasting Memories (scrapbook store) in Lynnwood and hit Alderwood Mall for a few minutes too. I was glad that they needed to hit the mall as I realized while at the mall that I had left my slacks for the show laying on the ironing board at home where I started to (but never finished) ironing them to pack that morning. So, I got a new pair of slacks as I only had jeans to go with my blouse.

From there, we fought the traffic to get to Seattle and follow the AWFUL Mapquest directions to the Edgewater Hotel. It is such a beautiful hotel once you get to it. We then did a quick change in order to make to for dinner reservations at The Melting Pot - a wonderful fondue restaurant in Seattle. We stuffed ourselves to death but loved every bite of it!!

Then off to the Paramount for the Mamma Mia show. We all loved it and I would go again tomorrow. My family is already sick of the soundtrack that I bought :) but Kenzie sings them with me while we cook.

We hit the North Bend Factory Stores on the way home and got everyone delivered I got home about 6:45 Saturday night.

A great Girls Weekend Out!!

More Holiday Fun

Yesterday was spent running around playing Santa Claus to the last few people we had gifts to deliver to. It was fun for the kids and they got to wade through our 6 inches or so of snow that has accumulated most everywhere. Today appears to be a very sunny day so maybe the snow won't be soooo deep today.



One of our stops took us to the Hendricks' house where the kids had a blast. We ended up invading their home for over 3 hours. Jill was gracious enough to feed us all dinner while we were there. DAddy was busy announcing Basketball games at the high school Christmas tournament. He has two more today at 3:30 and 7:00 on golakechelan.com and then he is done for about a week. He loves to do this and is having a lot of fun. Now, back to Jill's where the kids played with Logan for a good deal of the time we were there and they loved it. He is so good with the kids even though he is several years older than Chase, he plays right at their level and lets them win when necessary. Rylee slept for quite a while after our arrival but when she awoke she was happy to see us and get her gift from us. Logan picked out a Superman bat for Chase and a magnet dress-up book for Kenzie and they both were thrilled. We got Logan the Tommy Hawk Wii game and he was equally thrilled with it. Rylee is saying more words every day and can call the kids by name now and calls my Chell. She is so cute and has become such an active part of our lives that Kenzie wants to go see "her Rylee and her Jill" whenever we go out. She has started stamping with Jill when we are there. She is starting early (at 3 yrs old) but she loves it and is hard to redirect when we are done stamping.



We have recently cleaned out the playroom (it needed it bad and I got a bee in my bonnet the day after Xmas to get the tree down and clean). It is nearly u nrecognizable to most who have seen it before. I forgot to take a before and after pics but the kids like to have the room and we are moving the computer out of our room and into that room so they can play games online at playhousedisney.com and nickjr.com and we can use the webcam out there where lighting is good. I hope to get that moved today.



Megan and her crew are coming tomorrow for Christmas with them and that will be fun for all as Janson's kids are here too so we are managing to drag out Christmas for a while around here.



Mom is flying over from Seattle (they are visiting my sister and family in Bothell) on New Years Day to be here till Monday the 7th when she will fly home. She will be a lot of help after my surgery as the Seahawk playoff game will be either the 5th or 6th in Seattle and he will go to that and not have to feel too guilty about leaving me here if Mom is here to help me.



Well, that is about all for today. Have a great weekend all. I have to get back to getting my class stuff ready for church tomorrow.