A New Deck!!

Oh, the trials of owning a home.... The deck on our house was in ok condition 3 years ago - except for the fact that it was PAINTED. Who would do that? So last summer we spent an entire week sanding and staining the entire deck with what Home Depot employees said was "the best" and warrented for 3-5 years. We applied exactly as the directions said, perfect - right? WRONG. After all the snow melted away from this past winter, we discovered our deck to be in worst condition that ever! Most of the stain in front of the slider door was GONE, and it was also peeling off the top of the railing, etc.

So we decided it was time for an investment: composite decking with an aluminum powder coated railing. Brian did his research, found a local supply store that had an excellant price that delivered, and did all the labor himself (with only the help of Hunter and Shianne). Here are a few pics I took to document this latest project. Enjoy!

Donuts with Mom

I got the honor of having donuts and juice at school with the kids a few weeks ago. It was a beautiful Friday morning before school, and all the kids and moms sat in the cafeteria. It was quite crowded, but special just the same. After we finished our sprinkled donuts, we walked to the library court, where we got our picture taken on a bench. We then headed out to the playground and played around until the bell ring for school to start. It was so much fun to see my kids "in their element" on their playground, showing me all the stuff they usually do during recess, and introducing all their friends.

I love you both SO MUCH, and can't hardly believe that you're almost done with Kindergarten and 3rd grade!!!

(Note: It was also "80's Spirit Day", so most of the girls had their 80's looks on - note Shianne's hair, etc....) :D

Great Wolf Lodge

Last weekend we had a chance to stay at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound, Washington (Centralia). It is an awesome place to take your kids - Brian calls it "Vegas for Kids". It crazy. There are kids walking around with drinks in hand (and parents with their beers!), heading off to the arcade, the Sweet Shop, Fort McKenzie water park, or the tech room (with kareoke, Wii, xBox, etc...). I have to admit that I was a little exhuasted by it all, but the kids had a BLAST!!

Here are a "few" pictures from our stay....

This the clock tower behind the main lobby. They have Story Time here 3 times a day. The little kids love it. The trees talk, and little animals pop out everywhere!

The fireplace in the Clock Tower room. It was HUGE!!

Hunter is getting ready for Storytime...

Shianne with some of her dance friends...

Hunter getting settled in with some of his new friends for Storytime...

Pool time!!! Their favorite thing to do was to float in the Wave Pool. Mostly when there were no waves... go figure...!!

Day 2: One extremely exhuasted little boy. We finally woke him up at 10am!!

Fort McKenzie Water Park. The highlight of the park...

Thank you, Great Wolf Lodge!! We had a great family weekend! Until next time....

5678 Showtime Competition

Shianne and the Starz Performing Company attended a competition last weekend in Centralia, Washington at the Great Wolf Lodge (pictures of the lodge to come later). For being a small, family-owned competition, it was put on pretty well. It wasn't the normal stage and lights that the girls are used to, which threw a few of them off, but there were a lot of other great studios there too, so the competition was fierce! =) I wasn't able to get many pictures of the girls dancing but got a few getting ready to go on stage, accepting awards, etc...

Here's how they did:
"Soul Army" (hip-hop): 2nd place

"Let 'er Rip" (tap): 1st place

"Crazy in the Classroom" (production): 1st place, Team USA qualifier

Good Job Ladies!! Just one more competition left this season....

Olympia, Washington

This past weekend we had to drive over to the west side of the state for one of Shianne's dance competitions. We had Friday free, so we took the kids to the state capitol for some sight-seeing.... *WARNING: Picture Heavy...

A Day with Boris

Last week our family got the priviledge of having Boris the Bear in our home for a day. Boris the Bear is Hunter's kindergarten class bear, and he travels home with the kids twice during the year. He gets to go on all sorts of adventures - trips across the country, soccer practices, easter egg hunts, doctor and dentist appointments. Then we fill out a page in his journal so the rest of the class knows what he's been up.

Hunter LOVES when Boris comes - he's a bear lover anyway. He's had his own Mr. Bear since his 1st birthday. We knew a few days in advance, and the anticipation was killing him.

That Wednesday Hunter came running off the bus - with Boris' head peeking out of his backpack - YEAH! He was so happy to finally have him home. Boris ate lunch with Hunter - they had chicken nuggets with LOTS of ketchup. Then Hunter got Mr. Bear up from his "nap", and Boris and Mr. Bear got to play together, and watched SpongeBob Squarepants with Hunter. It was soon time to pick up Shianne and take her to dance, and Boris got to go with us. He loved looking at all the trophies. Then he got to go with us to Big 5 and pick out all of Hunter's baseball gear: mitt, bat, balls, shoes, socks and pants. After picking up Shianne after dance, Boris headed out with the family to China Dragon for dinner - but he stayed in the car so as not to get any sticky sweet'n'sour sause on him.

By bedtime, Boris, Mr. Bear, and Hunter were exhuasted. I think it's safe to say that they all slept well. Good Night Boris! Thanks for visiting our family!!