Rumpshakers and Dancing Queens

Tonight was the Geneva Elementary School's first school dance,AKA "Gnomes in Paradise". I'm sorry, I am unashamed when I say I LOVE the Gnome mascot. If it's good enough for Travelocity, it's good enough for the Yarsleys.

We loaded into the car and were driving towards the school, not even out of our neighborhood yet, Thatcher says out loud "I just can't believe we're doing this. <Dramatic Pause> Dancing is not my talent, Mom."  Insert Coopie's adorable squeaky voice here "It's my talent. I love to dance." We're going to work with him on being reassuring and comforting, it's not his talent I guess.

We rolled into the dance all Ganster and ready to get our groove on. I mean, like seriously...Thatcher skipped in and Harpie hopped. I said my hellos to my fellow PTA Moms, grabbed our glow in the dark necklaces (Geneva Party Theory: Go big or go home) and we were dancing!

Here's the thing. Thatcher is a straight up liar. Dancing IS his thing. He had no fear or inhibition. Literally, he was off and shaking his groove thing. Harper, found a balloon and was in HEAVEN and Cooper found a bunch of his pre-school possy so he was stoked too. I found a sassy mom friend to hang out with and we settled in for a good time.

In general, Friday nights for us are all Tino's pizza, loose fitting jammies and a movie. You wouldn't have thought it though, the Yarsleys partied hard tonight. Pictorial Evidence supports this statement, see below.

Exhibit 1:

I'd be lying, like Thatcher, to say that walking in didn't catch me off guard and I caught a little lump in my throat. You know, like "Wow, we're doing this already?" But then it got fun and my little people started dancing together.

Exhibit 2:

Here is Harper dancing with Thatcher's 1st grade teacher Mrs. Peterson. Dear Lord, please let her by H's teacher too!

Exhibit 3:

Here's Coopie the Rumpshaker. He was right, dancing is his talent. :)

Exhibit 4:

See, I have Mom friends. Well, maybe you can't see but trust me, they're real.

Exhibit 5:

And here's our photo booth strip. Yes, our school is that epic.

Video Evidence:

And here's a ditty with Harper being the Dancing Queen she is. Oh man, you should have seen her when they played Let It Go. It was like a firework went off in her brain and exploded as an expression on her little face.

Afterwards we cleaned up, as is only respectful to do and we came home. The kids were on a twitterpated high, they all said it was the best night of their lives (so we don't have to ever go to Disneyland again I suppose). And then they were out...like fast. Like so fast I was able to blog the actual night of an event. We should go clubbing every Friday night!

I hope you enjoyed :D I "plan" to keep up with the shenanigans in the blog but you know how I roll. I'm just Gansta like that.

XOXO,
S

P.S. There is a definite downside to this dance though. I don't want to move schools, we LOVE it at Geneva! This makes house buying a bit more complicated. Sigh.

CHRISTMAS Fails...Plural

Wow, it's January 10th and I just took the Christmas tree down. I am so off the ball that it just ran me over. But hey, I'm writing a blog post so that's showing the universe a thing or two, right?

And now it's Feburary 14th. Touché, Universe.

Christmas Fail #1: My phone was out of storage space Christmas morning so I have like, maybe 3 pictures? Nice work, Sabrina.

 And then it was full....sigh.

Christmas Fail #2: So here's the thing. I'm not going to get those Christmas Cards out, that is blaringly obvious.  I'll tell ya what I'm gonna do though...

My absolute favorite part of this picture is the bottom interaction between Harper and Thatcher.

BWHAHAHAHA! Take that USPS! And...here's our Christmas Letter!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Friends! I hope all is well and happy in your world and that you are enjoying this wonderful season of giving and happiness. Formalities aside, let’s get to the meat and potatoes of this letter.

Jonathan is doing fantastic. Since my last letter his beloved Red Soxs AND Seahawks won their respective championships which means he, by virtue of wearing their t-shirts, is also a champion. Don’t worry, he’s not walking around singing Queen or anything but he is pretty giddy. He really likes his job at BP and just passed his 1 year mark. It’s absurd, and cliché, how quickly time flies now.

Thatcher is in the 2^nd grade and turned 8 this past August. For his birthday we went to Seahawks’ training camp and he chit chatted with some big dudes and Russell Wilson signed his football. It was kind of a big deal. Me giving him life? Meh, that was old news apparently. Anyhoo, he’s doing great in school and he’s started taking piano lessons. He has a great ear for music (just like his Dad) and I expect we’ll be singing Queen around the piano this February when his Seahawks win the Super Bowl again.

Cooper is in his second year of Pre-School and is a fantastic student. I honestly didn’t expect him to be so because he’s a bit…squirrely. Apparently that enthusiasm for life is transferable to learning so that works out well! He’s writing his name, doing great at his alphabet sounds and numbers. Oh, and he loves dancing now too. I’m not talking Ballet, I’m talking like MC Hammer/Gangnam Style. It’s ridiculously funny. He’s ridiculously funny. Watch out world!

Harper. Goodness, what is there to say about little Harper Evelyn? Well, she has been called Feral by perfect strangers this past year. That is not a joke, and is the God’s honest truth. It was in a pumpkin patch and when she heard this she stopped, standing there in her sparkly tennis shoes, a diaper, disheveled hair and apple juiced face (it was organic at least?) and waved at them. She is positively primal. But also adorable, smart, and terrifyingly strong willed. She’s 2, and really quite good at it. As with all 2 year olds we’re into Elsa, Anna and Olaf as well as Fancy Nancy, tea parties and making her brothers play dress up with her. I’m telling you people, she’s a force to be reckoned with.

Me? What am I up to? Laundry, still. That was in the last letter too, huh? I’ve made a lot of great friends here so I spend time (avoiding laundry) with them and a Moms group or two. I spend a ton of time with my heated seats in my car, driving people to and from schools and lessons. Confession: We got Netflix this year so that’s honestly what I’m doing. Oh the shame…but yay for all of the Pop Culture knowledge I have stored in my brain now! Fear not though, I read a ton also. I’m going to be so awesome when I finally go on Jeopardy.

This past February our little dog Tahoe went to Heaven to eat Jesus’ butter off his counter instead of mine so that hit our little family hard. We still have our 3 legged Chevy with us, keeping us safe on those wretched night shifts when Jonathan is gone. Chevy’s gained quite a bit of weight this past year (no judgment from me, you know people who live in glass houses and all that) since there isn’t competition at the dinner table for kid scraps anymore but we’re planning on keeping him around for quite a bit longer. In other big news we’re going to seriously start house shopping this next year and find the perfect house. We know the ‘hoods around Bham now and we’re ready to commit. (You know Jonathan and I dated for 6 years before we married, we’re not quick movers.) We hate moving so we’re planning on living in our next house forever.  FOORREEVVEERRR. Hopefully you’ll get that news in the next letter!

Until then I bid you ado Friends. Have a wonderful 2015 and know you’re in our thoughts.

So there we have it Friends, I have completed another New Year's Resolution. Christmas Cards/Letter out into the world. 

We have a Romantical evening planned for tonight...as romantic as one can be when celelebraing Love with 3 people under 9. :)

And I bid ado to you, I shall post again...someday.

S

Bee-utiful Day

We've been taking it easy lately as we headed into the throes of the school year. Honestly, I'm quite please with how we toned it down. But the honey crisp apples are ready, and when the apples are ready it's time to rev it back up.

Grammy is in town to take care of Meemaw after her knee replacement so we dragged her along with us! It was all going great, the kids played, they ran, they jumped. Most importantly, they picked. 

Thatch showing that birdseed activity table who's boss.

Grammy and her fellas on the apple train.

Thatch taking a bite of an apple, forgetting that he had a loose tooth. Key word, HAD.

Coopster, nibbling like a little mouse.

He was seriously bothered by his tooth at this point. It fell out at lunch, about an hour later. 

These are cool blocks, I'm thinking adults would make it like Jenga. Kids, however, build awesomely unstable structures. 

A bee ended up stinging Harpie in the mouth while she was eating an apple. It was okay, for a while...

Auntie Lorny and Meemaw came to the farm too! Here's a very rare picture of Grammy and Lorny together :)

 And then we went to lunch, which was fun. Until we looked at Harpie and then it was like "OH CRAP". Her lip had swelled to this heinous state, very quickly. I called the nurse line, grabbed some benadryl (which I will be keeping a bottle in my car now) and headed over to urgent care. Traffic was a nightmare because the only way to the hospital was through the Costco area. On a Saturday. It was an effing nightmare.

  When we finally got there they whisked us back and checked her blood oxygen levels to make sure she wasn't having an allergic reaction. She ended up being okay and we kept an close eye on her to make sure the swelling didn't move to her tongue or airway. After a few hours it calmed down and my nerves were put to rest. If you are keeping track of bee stings this year the current stats are:

Thatch: 1

Cooper: 3

Harper: 1

Coopster wins...or loses, depending on your view.

Here's my sweet little Harpie, doped up on Benadryl and with some crazy sugar lips. Poor little Heathen.

I have a feeling this is one of the last beautiful summer days as the official start of Fall is just around the corner. Harpie's lip made it memorable...as did our 30 lbs of honey crisp apples! :)

XOXO,

S

A Labor (Day) Of Love

The past two days have been...hectic...to say the least.

 I, being delusional about early morning wake ups, decided that we should totally do the NFL Play 60 Kid's run. It was the Seahawks 1/2 mile race around CenturyLink field that ended inside the stadium at the 50 yard line. Boom- you had me at Seahawks.

I signed the boys up (H was too young) back in June and it seemed like an awesome idea. The race was at 11 AM so if we left here at 9-ish we'd get there just fine. And then, they moved the start time to 10 AM. And then Jonathan freaked out about the "holiday" traffic. And then we were up at 5:30 AM leaving by 6:30 AM. My plans were foiled.

But alas, I was up at 5:30 (even though I went to bed at 1AM) and even though my blow-dryer stopped working (turns out I was so tired that I was changing the heat setting, not the on/off setting) we were out of the door by 6:45. Jonathan was a hot mess because we were leaving "so late". Anyhoo, turns out people don't actually have to go to work on Labor Day so there was NO traffic. Absolutely none. We probably saw maybe 50 cars total, obviously savvy shoppers on their way to sales. So we rolled up to CenturyLink at 8:15. Oh, did I mention he didn't want to stop for coffee because we might hit traffic? He wasn't the only hot mess in the car.

Harper just looked like a hot mess. I actually was one though.

Once we were there though, the Seahawk adrenaline kicked in. I LOVE CenturyLink field, it's like my own version of blue meth. It's addicting and I'm willing to spend all of our money to get there. Jonathan gets it too. We're junkies.

Seriously cute little SeaGal. 

Yeah, we were THIS early that we took pictures with no one around. 

Speaking of Blue Meth, we found our own Walt. Walter Jones...NFL Hall of Famer WALTER JONES. Jonathan practically peed his pants. Thatcher, not so much. Coopie was terrified of the giant. Harper though, she lost her shoe she was so excited to meet him.

And then I managed to get a picture with all of the kids! I ran the race with H on my back, just like this. 

And Jonathan, still high from his Jones encounter, even allowed for a picture.

Someone was starting to get impatient and grumpy though. 

This guy was too, but his was from excitement. Thatch went up to the 8 year old section while Coop, Harps and I hung back in the 4 year old section. Coop was pissed about that. 

And here's us post race. I literally ran the 1/2 mile with H on my back. Stupid. Not doing that again.

Cooper showing off his medal.

And some post race refreshments. 

After the race we all went and had lunch with our favorite server at Redhook, Auntie B! But I forgot to take a picture. Jonathan had one too many with lunch and I had to drive home. while he napped in the passenger seat. I don't know how I made it, there was a brief nap at a rest stop but when we pulled into the driveway I got out of the car, opened the front door and went up to bed. Rip Van Winkle managed the kids while I recouped from "Labor" Day.

The next morning was the 1st day of school!! Thank God, after Monday I needed a break.

H needed in on the action too.

2nd Grade. How is that possible?

Coopie is calling this year Pre-Garten. 

Running to get Thatch to school.

And then thwarted by Mom's attempt to take pictures outside of the school.

Thatcher's school mascot is the Gnomes. And this is the new Principal. He's a keeper. Enough said.

I caught this when he thought I wasn't looking. Hello, old friends :)

Thatcher and his new teacher, Mrs. Young.

 And then it was Coopie's turn! It was a short, get to know you, kind of day for pre-school. He's the upper- class man this year so he showed everyone how to roll.

Making our hand print for the Kissing Hand lesson. 

Teacher Charlene and all the Kid/Mom combos.

Rug time :)

 Right, like I'd get a day off. I woke up at 6 AM, painted these chalkboard numbers/letters, made breakfast, made lunches, drove everyone around, did the photo shoot and made it home in time to do the dishes, eat lunch for myself and then pick T up. I need to get a job, this Homemaker gig is rough.

I'm sending the computer away this afternoon so there won't be any blogs for a while until we get it back or possibly get a new one. Either way, you guys are used to it since I often forget to do posts! See, I was just preparing you.

See ya later alligators,
S

As usual...

As usual, I've been keeping these little people busy. Thank God that school starts tomorrow because I am EXHAUSTED. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I had fun also but I'm totally ready for a schedule. And quiet. Three days of three glorious hours of only girl noise. Not so much for the alarm clock though.

Here's what we've been up to, as presented by visual evidence:

We went to the library's Frozen extravaganza. Thatch was too cool to be in the picture but H totally "Let It Go."

Then we went to the BP picnic, which was AWESOME. There was a zipline, a mechanical bull, unlimited free ice cream trucks, trains, and bouncy houses...but no booze for the exhausted parents/employees. Oh, and J had to work so I made Grandma Jonesie and Papa come with us.

There were pony rides too. This is the "unicorn" Coopie wanted to ride :)

And then he found a Papa to ride :)

Here's Thatch freaking out about going on the zipline and Grandma Jonesie restraining encouraging him :) 

This is just cute. I don't know why, in general I'd not be happy about this rough housing but they're boys and it was 3 weeks ago so I'm over it.

Here's a cute video of Coopie pre-zipline. Turns out he weighed enough but his little waist was too small for the harness so he couldn't go. Sadness ensued.

Coopie was able ride the mechanical bull. He wasn't impressed at all. 

But Thatch rode the bull and let me just say, that kid rocked it's face off. Actually, it didn't have a face, but he did awesome! You can see on his face where he goes from "Oh, this is fun" to "Oh.My.Gosh.". 

Okay, so this is just a picture of kids in blankets but here's the back story: I saw a "thing" about a free drive in movie that a neighborhood puts on drive-in movie so I loaded us all up and headed out. When I pulled up though it looked oddly like a grocery store and not like a drive in...word on the street is I'm not really great at keeping up with dates during the Summer. The drive in was the night before! So we came home and rented Back to the Future on Amazon. 

I, feeling badly about the mix up, let them have soda, popcorn, and (GASP) even candy! I'm giving guilty pleasures a new meaning I suppose.

So...then I got a text from my favorite teacher from High School. Good Lord, I must have been an uber Goodie Two Shoes, or was I this cool even that far back? Anyhoo, Mrs. Holmberg was visiting her sister, who lives in Bellingham, and I was able to see her for a bit and she was able to meet the Heathens. Fair warning: I'm in a swimsuit. I apologize in advance.

This vessel is referred to as "the booger". It was seriously fun though :)

Harper has no fear of the water. Life vest it is then.

And then she got tired. Like, really tired.

But Thatch was having so much fun paddle boarding so we toughed it out!

And then the crabs showed up. We played with them, smelled them and then left them to fulfill their purpose in life, dinner. Mrs. Holmberg provided us with an awesomely exhausting day :)

And then we took them to the Fair. And it was dark. And warm. We were confused, that's not how we are used to experiencing the Fair :)

This picture is kind of cool. The trains though, left something to be desired.

Coopie thought they were just fine the way they are though!

Actually, Coopie was into it all. He's not terribly discerning when it comes to a good time. This worries me.

Thatch dug the Dragon Lady too though, so it's all good.

But then we found the real rides...

...and I was terrified we were going to end up buying a $200K tractor and have to live in it. Luckily, we didn't manage to break anything...well no one chased us as we left so that's what I assume.

Then we saw this. Jonathan and Thatcher insisted that we needed it for our front yard. Maybe finding a house can wait a little longer.

We managed to survive the Fair, even though our bank account didn't fair as well. Nor did our waists.

Then we had MORE visitors! My Mom and my Grandma came to stay with us. So what does Harper do to prepare for them? Pee on the couch, of course. I'm really wondering what I was thinking when we decided to not go with the leather couch.

This is me, in case you forgot what I looked like. This is my "I should be cleaning but I'm going to procrastinate and take pictures of myself" face. 

And here they are! I made them pick apples. And then I made a pie, so they weren't mad.

Here's my little Ladybug in a pumpkin patch. 

I'm getting kind of decent with a camera. This isn't even edited. :)

I'm maybe not so great with the angles though. Sorry about my double chin. It's clearly not genetic. My Mom looks great though.

And here we have 4 generations.

Thanks to a flipped cement truck in the middle of I-5 we missed my Grandma's flight. It was rescheduled though and then we had time to head over to Pikes for a bit! 

Cuteness :)

Cutting of the Cheese at Beacher's. Har. Har.

And there you have it...August. Whew. 

Get back to school now little people, Mommy is going to need at least until October to stop twitching. 

Peace out Peeps.

S