Dan

Dan went today to visit our friends Tony and Veronica. They moved back to Wisconsin last August. I can't wait to go out and see them. Hopefully we can make a trip out this summer. This is the newest edition to the clan.

Dan and Baby Melissa.

Quit Day

Day 1:  Thursday, May 20
Today was the first day of quitting smoking finally. This morning was a bit rough. I had a killer headache but as the morning progressed into early afternoon the headache went away. I am using patches as they the last time I quit they worked really well. Changing my routine is the hardest for and filling the time that I would usually be outside. As long as I am able to keep busy I should be OK though. Which with 2 kids and a dog shouldn't be all that hard. I only had a couple of urges or cravings today and I am hoping that as the days go by the cravings will go away. For now though I am optimistic as I venture forth on my path to better health.

The last of the sun...

This afternoon while the kids were at school was beautiful again. Instead of hanging out inside I decided to go out and enjoy the sun while updating the blog. All of a sudden at about 2:00 it got really windy, so I headed inside. Then it just started pouring. At 2:30 I went to pick up Phedora from her last day at preschool only to realize that I had forgotten that I left the roof open on the car! Lucky for me the wind blew the rain away from the drivers seat.

New Vacuum... Again

In the course of the last 2 years we have gone through 2 Halo's. The first one we had for about a year and then the motor burnt out so Halo sent us a refurbished replacement for it. The *new* one arrived right after we got back up here last year. Worked great and life was good. Last week the *new* one's motor burnt out. Since the *new* one didn't come with a new warranty we had the option of taking it in to see if it could be fixed or just buying a new vacuum. We went with the latter of the two options and last Thursday night we ordered a Dyson DC25 Animal. Well this beautiful purple vacuum arrived on our door step this afternoon. I am completely in love with this vacuum. It is so easy to use and switches from upright vacuum to hand held tools in a matter of seconds. The ball technology makes it virtually effortless to vacuum and the best part is it goes from carpets to hardwoods like there is no difference between the two. 40 minutes after starting it up the whole house less the bedrooms and kitchen are clean, including all the cobwebs upstairs. Now to get the bedrooms cleaned up so we vacuum them next!

All clean and pretty, ready to get busy picking up dirt and dog hair!

Normally I wouldn't show the after picture...

But seriously! This is amazing. I just vacuumed on Sunday night with our really old little red vacuum that we now use for the car. I am shocked by how much was sucked up and so happy that that layer of dog hair is now in there and off of the floor :)

Fun in the Sun!

Last weekend was another beautiful one here in the Pacific Northwest. Phedora and our neighbor Niko spent the afternoon playing in the pool. Poor Hayden was stuck inside all weekend with a fever. Hopefully this coming weekend will be just as nice or nicer than last. Though the forecast is calling for rain.

Fun with the hose in the pool.

Phedora and Niko playing in the pool.

First Blooms of Spring

Flower World

The day before Mother's Day the kids and I went to Flower World in Snohomish. I am so happy that we found out about this fabulous nursery. It is 15 acres of nursery and walking trails. We only hit the nursery on this trip, but we plan to go back this summer and explore the rest of what is available. We got a few vegetable starts and some new flowers for our yard.

In front of one of the ponds.

Another little pond, this one had fish and turtles.
The fish and if you look closely, you can see one of the turtles.

Turtle, Turtle