Alas the end of the work week!

OMG! It's been one of those weeks. I worked like 60 hours, my house in shambles, I don't remember the last time I had a decent dinner, and I believe my kids grew at least a half inch since I saw them LAST weekend! Seriously! I'm so exhausted. There is nothing more that I would love to do than to sleep in tomorrow and do absolutely nothing. But my weekend is booked. We are taking Andy to see a Thomas the Train production tomorrow (which I'm so excited for him to see because I know he will LOVE it!), then there the "house in shambles" I'll need to clean, and to top it off I will need to work this weekend so I'm not slammed come Monday. Every little thing that I didn't get to during the 12-14 hrs I spent at work each day all week will need to be done by Sunday.

I hope everyone else had a much better week!

Huh??

So, just yesterday I blogged about rain and the different types of rain, etc, etc... Well, I wasn't prepared for the SNOW that is coming down right this very second. I mean I knew it was cold, but I didn't realize it was snow cold. Apparently, we have a low pressure from the north and mixed with all that rain I was gabbing about, we got snow. While I would love to sit here and get excited I believe our "snow advisory" is effective through 4am. So, well before I go to work it'll be all over an done with leaving us with either ice or slush. I'm not sure what we are expecting tonight and I've learned my lesson from banking on the weather sites/guys/or any forecast. We been there, as the night progressed the temps warmed up and we got nothing but rain.

Crazy weather!!!

Continuous rain

Well, it started to rain on Sunday and it really hasn't stopped. We have all varieties of rain from misting to down pours but it's all rain. Saturday was a beautiful day and we had close friends of the family watch the kids while Steve, myself, my mom, and Ben (kid's grandpa) went north for a little shopping therapy (well, that was for me) and dinner, plus some casino time. Steve has been hoarding his lucky $100 for the Craps table, and well, his lucky $100 is no longer lucky. We had a good time hanging out having adult time. We got home late around midnight and I was very glad to sleep in on Sunday.
Steve and Jake went paintballing on Sunday and Andy and I gardened... well, until the rain started in. I was able to get a considerable amount of weeding done and while I was doing so, I got inspired for our summer backyard projects. We have all the basics in for backyard enjoyment, but this year, I would like to kick it up a notch and actually add some visual interest (i.e. plants, yard definition, etc). So, as I sit here writing this looking out to the backyard from the office, the wheels in my head are turning, and mother nature is slapping us with thunderous rain. I love Washington!
Anyhoo... really looking forward to this weekend because we are taking Andy to see his ALL TIME FAVORITE train, Thomas in a theater production at the Key Arena in Seattle. I'm so excited to take him! We took Jake to two live productions when he was Andy's age (Blue's Clues and Dora) and nothing beats the experience of a live production. Steve and I love a great musical on stage and hope that one day the boys will have the appreciate for theater as much as we do.

Just as I suspected...

The blogging is slowing down as there doesn't seem to be much to write about. I officially started Weight Watchers again last Saturday. That was a huge milestone because that was something that I have been wanting to do over the holidays. Steve also finally got my treadmill together over the weekend. So, I no longer have an excuse not to eat right or exercise. Aside from battling weight, I've finally attempted to learn VBA... a much needed skill in my job. Thank God I have Steve. Like it or not, he has to field all my questions. It's going to be slow going as I have to be able to apply these concepts to something tangible for me. So, we talk in lots of examples. It's a good thing. Next thing will be SQL, then I'll be working on my leadership skills for my position. It's been a while since I set "acedemic" goals for myself. Speaking of acedmeics... Steve and I have been researching the potential of going back to school. The Bachelor I've always wanted and the Master that Steve wants. We'll keep you posted.

Jake is currently working on getting his Orange belt. Going through the motions of getting his tips that lead up to the next belt test. He's also doing pretty awesome in his guitar lessons. As if that wasn't enough, he was just awarded Acedemic Achievement in Math this quarter. Can you say, "Proud Mom??". :)

Andy, well, is coming into his own. He's overly observational and part sponge. He's so funny and comes up with the wittiest things to say. He contantly has Steve and I fits of laughter over what he says. I would love to write them all, but that would be one long blog. My latest and greatest is him helping me clean house over the weekend while wearing his Iron Man costume. He said he needed the extra power to get through all the cleaning. Amen to that!! A little extra power can always help get through the pains of house cleaning. When that failed him, he has his tractor beams to blast those items in our way... I'm not so hip to what tractor beams are actually for, but they are there if we need to tap into them.

Fast Forward?

Ever feel like you are living life in fast forward? Days are flying, the weekend's here before you realize Monday actually ended, the first month of the new year is practically over?? That is our life in a nut shell. I think we had a weekend. I'm pretty sure that is what those last two days were. Hard to tell when Monday came and went so quickly, I'm already making plans for the upcoming weekend, and actually our entire February is now booked every weekend. It's just craziness. About the only thing good of the days rushing by is the fact that eventually it's going to warm up around here. We were blasted with some cold air and a dusting of snow over the weekend. I'm about done with having numb toes. I'm ready for the warmth and spending time on the deck having BBQs again. Something to look forward to. :)

Just kicking around

So far, January is another ho-hum type of month for us. Everyone back into their normal routines that we took a brief vacation from in December. Work is busier than ever... funny how that never seems to quite end. New year, new goals.
Jake started guitar lessons and is loving them. He's learned a few chords and it's only been his 2nd lesson and he's strumming like a pro. I can't wait to see how far he gets at the end of 8 weeks.
Well, after all the snow, then all the rain that caused some pretty bad floods in our area, we are expecting sunshine the rest of the week and thru the weekend. Mother nature is giving us a nice little break. Jake and Steve have big plans to get out there this weekend and break in those new paintball guns they got for Christmas. While they are out, Andy and I will probably go on a bike ride this weekend.
Nothing out of the ordinary around here, just your typical everyday type of things.

Happy New Years!!

Happy New Years and welcome to 2009!! It's been a while since I've been able to blog as we have been either busy or lazy. Christmas was yet another wonderful event in the Bell household spending our time with great friends. Our Christmas season kicked off with our good friends Lynette, Charles and Nathan with dinner at our house and gifts for the little ones. Then Christmas Eve we divided our time between the Palafox family and the Lee family. However, before starting anything we allowed the kids one gift each from our house. They got to open their, yes, PJs. Jake being an ole pro that this tradition was not exactly thrilled that he got to open just clothes. Andy to his little delight, opened his gift and wondered where the toys were. Then when we were done, we left to enjoy the first of our evening with with the Palafox (to name them all would be a blog entry in itself) family. We enjoyed some munchies and the kids were able to get open their gifts (which included toys). After a short stay there, we drove to our other good friends the Lee's and had dinner and visited with their family visiting from CA. The kids got to open, yes, more gifts, and yes, which included toys. Dinner, presents, our gag gift games, drinks, more games made for an exciting night. We wrapped things up around 11:30pm and got home (they only live around the corner from us). The kids got into their new PJs and into bed for the big day. Our family isn't one to wake early, so Christmas morning excitement starts around 9:30-10am in our house. The kids made out like bandits. Jake got a plethora of Wii games, clothes, Bakugan, and a new guitar (for his upcoming lessons). Andy also did very well with adding to his Geo Trax collection, toys, and John Deere stuff. They were both very pleased (each kid has a chair in the picture above with their stuff... mind you this is only one half of our living room). Andy is just understanding the whole Christmas thing this year, and when the presents were all opened and everywhere in the living room, he looked under the tree and said, "That's it? Christmas is over?" We'll be working on the meaning of Christmas by next year. Steve and I spent the next 3 hrs after the present opening untieing twisties, separating our plastic and cardboard, filling garbage bags, and finding a home for all the great stuff the kids got. AND if that was not enough, Steve continued to put together Andy's GEO Trax town that now fills up and entire bedroom (our spare that only houses a dresser). It's so awesome! Andy just loves his new train set and we love that we have the space to allow him to leave it out at all times.

New Years - On New Years Eve we decided to start the day a little different than just getting ready for a get together. We hiked in the Cascade for a little snow tubing. It was awesome. What a great way to spend time with the boys. The thoroughly enjoyed their experience. We also say we have to do it more often, but the last time we did it was when Jake was 3 yrs old - so that goes to tell you how frequent we are.
We wrapped things up around 6:30pm and made our way back home on some pretty snowy roads. Actually, good thing we went when we did because on New Years, all the major passes were closed and we wouldn't have been able to go tubing. After getting home, and showered we made our way over to the Lee household again for some appetizers and drinks to ring in the New Year. We decided to call it quits around 2:30am when Steve fell asleep on their couch and Wendy's husband, Jarrod, decided that looked like a good idea.

Sleeping pretty much into the next day (I did mention my kids are not morning people), we jolted out of our slumber to take the kids out again. This time we spent half our day at a place called Charlie Safari - another indoor activity center that has mini golf, laser tag, an arcade, and one of the biggest climbing toys I've ever seen.
Alas, it was the end of another exhaustive day and we got home early evening as Steve had to work the next day for the first time in 2 weeks. I would love to say I spent that same day cleaning house, cooking dinner and all that good stuff, but it was a purely lazy day where the kids and I didn't get out of our PJs and read books and vegged in front of the TV. Steve came home to pretty much how he left us the previous day. :)

We both start our day jobs again on Monday full time. It's going to be difficult getting into the grind of it all... work, school, homework, after school activities, overtime, commuting, etc. Actually, it exhausts me from typing it all out.

So, far the best thing about 2009 - we can officially say we are going to Hawaii this year - 7 months and counting. 1st real vacation with the kiddos!