InstaSaturday {Life Lately}

Here's the quick rundown of life lately, according to the pics on instagram and my cell phone

 (aka, the highlights!)

Kendall went to a Valentine's progressive dinner. She wore my wedges and was as tall as a baby giraffe. And as equally graceful in them. Hehe. 

Max husband points were awarded for this sweet Valentine's gift: sugar cookies instead of flowers. He knows the way to my heart, that guy. 

Kendall does too. She left these paper roses she made and some little treats in my bed while I was showering one morning. I'm a lucky mama.

"Mom, come see! I'm window fishing!" (with a pool stick.)

Last Saturday night... district champs and league coach of the year! Yeah Cougs!

Late night fro-yo run because Russ was feeling the cravings. School night bedtimes suffered. 

Temps reached the seventies for the first time this year and I celebrated by putting on my CAPRI length yogas instead of my full length ones, because I'm classy like that. 

Kendall and I got to attend a local paint night on Thursday with some friends and we had so much fun! I am not a natural artist, but give me step-by-step instructions with a side of pizza and I'm in!

Realizing you have 3 blue gingham shirts in your closet. Justifying it with the fact that one's cotton, one's flannel, and one's clearly a different shade. Yep. Keeping them all. 

Ordered my first pair of leather earrings from Nickel & Suede. WON'T be my last. 

I love them! They are so light you can't really feel them. Next up, silver. And then ALL the colors.

And the very best part of our week... last night Russ's team won their 2nd round state playoff game and made it to the state finals in Baker City for the 3rd year in a row! WOOOHOOOO, ROAD TRIP!

Monday Sunshine

The signs:
- Today, and off and on for the past week, we have finally had some real & glorious sunshine around here.
- My kids all finished their basketball seasons and currently have no practices or games they need to be driven to.
- We set the trampoline back up after a good 3 month break due to windstorms, and I may have briefly seen my boys yesterday.
- Our outdoor basketball court is also experiencing some high traffic and we've had to re-pump up 3 balls already.

Prognosis: SPRING, BABY!

First of all, to my family, I would like to say this.

I'm simply a happier person in the sunshine. Yes, I take vitamin D. It's just not the same. 

I'm also a happier person when my people, the beloved children I birthed, aren't all up in my bizzness ALL THE TIME. 

Yay for the dry outdoors!

 Blake! Hahaha. 

Nice Boys. Can't Cook.

Oh my sweet, sweet boys. They have the best intentions, God bless them.

Exhibit A: 
Blake (age 7) and I were home alone one evening last week when, after turning down my suggestion of stir-fry for dinner, Blake decided he wanted to make me an "english muffin dinner" without any help. I gave him the go-ahead, and didn't really start to get nervous until he was still banging around in the kitchen after 20 minutes. He finally came out with a sandwich with the crusts cut off (cute), because there weren't enough english muffins for the both of us, and a side of nutrigrain bar.

The problem was what was in the sandwich.

Umm, that would be butter, honey, nutella, and GRATED CHEESE.

I'm afraid to say that I COULD NOT. After two of the smallest nibbles humanly possible. I gave him all the points for effort but told him I was going to have to break his heart and eat a bowl of cereal. He didn't seem phased by that so... phew. 

Exhibit B:

Russ and I went out on a Valentine's date Sunday night and left the kids home with Kendall in charge. She sent me this picture after we'd been gone a couple of hours, telling us that her sweet brother Cooper (age 12) had decided to fix her a special Valentine's dinner to share with him. 

(I guess Blake got the shaft?) 

The problem was Kendall had no idea what it was exactly, and after studying the picture, I couldn't tell either. Burnt taco shells? Burnt lettuce leaves? 

Nope. Cooper explained it to me the next morning... "charbroiled" roast beef deli meat slices, seasoned with paprika, garlic powder, and steak seasoning, and stuffed with cilantro and cheese. With a classy side of cheese for garnish. 

I gave him 10 points for fancy presentation, all the points for sweet intentions, and negative 20 points for forgetting that his sister is seriously lactose intolerant and can't eat cheese. (He highly enjoyed his creation all by himself.)

And now to work with my boys on "foods that compliment each other". 

Awkward & Awesome

Awkward
- when you remember to send your 2nd grader off to school with the drinks for his class Valentine's party but forget to send him with his valentine's cards/treats to hand out. (Which is kind of the whole point of the party to begin with.)

- when you not only forget to send the valentines, you forget to even DO his valentines with him. Even though you bought the stuff for it a solid three weeks ago.

- when you're chatting with a girlfriend at school pick up and your 12-year-old son notices he has a slightly loose molar tooth, points out this fact to you, and then to your horror reaches in and wrenches it out and the scene pretty much looks like this...

- unrelatedly, in case you were wondering if it's possible... the answer is yes, apparently you can get strep throat three times in a row.

and it's the pits.

Awesome

- when your husband has the day after Valentine's Day off work so you can actually go out and celebrate on a Sunday night! Date night ahead... woo to the hoo!

- when you finally decide to investigate goodreads late one night, create an account, and then spend two hours finding all your favorite books and rating them 5 stars so it will give you good book recommendations, something you've been wanting for at least five years. Always on the ball, this girl.

- blue skies, coffee, and taco trucks. In that order.

Blake-isms

Stats: 

age 7

2nd grader

family hooligan

baller

weirdly into fashion

ladies man

good at cuddling

(Quoted lately)

While holding his thigh and limping: "Mom, I really hurt my palm."

Out of the blue while playing with legos: "You know why I wouldn't want to be a giraffe? What if you got a rash on your neck? How would you itch it???" Ok Mr. Randompants. 

Climbing into bed with me in the morning: "mom I just had the BEST dream. We were driving all over the country getting candy from everywhere we went! We had so much candy!!!"

"Mom, my tummy's exhausted, because it needs food."

While singing the national anthem to himself as he unloads the dishwasher: "...Oh say does the star banner, to the Lord our God, we sing..." Nailed it.

Love this fella.

Weekend in Lincoln City

Devil's Lake, Lincoln City

I arrived home yesterday from an awesome team-bonding weekend trip to the Coast with Russ, his assistant, Lisa, and her husband, Jay, and their basketball teams (varsity and JV). No ball games were on the agenda, just fun and relaxation, in the most amazing house we've stayed at yet, Laurel Haven, on Devil's Lake. 

Activities included a LOT of shopping and eating out, going to the movies, relaxing at the house while watching movies/napping/singing in impromptu acapella arrangements/what have you, daily trips to get coffee, and many, many group photo sessions ;)

I can't tell you how fun it was. These girls are a hoot and easy to hang out with and so... good! There was no drama at all, and with 17 girls together for 3 days that's saying something ;) 

Russ and I have done these trips before but this year was a new experience, having Kendall along as part of the group! I tried my best to leave her alone and let her just be part of the group, and failed pretty miserably if I do say so myself. 

,

MOMS. There's no taking us anywhere! 

(Except when we're needed for photo-taking. We're pretty useful then.)