Blah.

February 27...It's for sure my least favorite day of the year.

Balancing Act

This girl gets CRAZY WILD right before bedtime! No, I don't mean Tayler. Haha.

 We often all sit on my bed and just visit and laugh at Havensong. Tonight she was being so silly with Autumn's jawbreaker. She is turning out to be quite the little comedian. The only thing she loves more than having us laugh at her, is watching herself on video. She must have watched the video of herself balancing the jawbreaker twenty times. Then she would yell for everybody in the whole house to come and watch it. Even though we were here to witness the real thing.

I LOVE this girl!!!!!!!!!!

Piping Mom Fail

     Beau and I got up early today so we could catch a ferry to a wedding he was going to pipe at. I was very careful to check the ferry schedule, get directions and leave in plenty of time. I never give myself enough time to get anywhere...unless a bride is involved. We were going to Guemes Island and the ferry runs on the hour, the wedding was at 11:00 so we left our house at 8:30.

     Of course, Beau looked smashing in his kilt and he was all ready to pipe this bride down the aisle. I was so proud we were third in the ferry line. The bad part was I had five miles left in my gas tank. I do not know why I let it get so low. Maybe it was my to do list that was propped up in front of my gas gauge obstructing my view. Or maybe I like the excitement of living on the edge. No worries, I told Beau. The resort was right off the ferry so we would be able to go, get back on the ferry, and have two miles to find a gas station. Perfect. Here is a really strange picture I took from the van looking through the indoor seating area and out another window.

     We found the resort tucked down by the water. It was beautiful with the misty rain falling on the shoreline. It looked kind of empty though. I knew it was a smaller wedding, but I was pretty sure we weren't the only people attending. I knocked on the office door. Locked. I stood there trying to decide what to do. I saw what looked like an employee carrying a stack of wood into a shed. I asked her if there was a wedding party running around anywhere. She pointed upstairs to a large cabin. As I was walking up the steps with Beau she said,

"Ya, I am pretty sure the wedding is tomorrow."

    See, this is the great thing about Beau. He didn't even get mad at me. He didn't miss a beat. He knows his mom too well to get upset over such a small matter. I mean, this was going to needlessly take up half his day and he was now freezing his little knee caps off in that kilt for nothing. But he just smiled at me as I grimaced. We walked inside to find a lovely family enjoying the peaceful setting. Just enjoying their day. And now there were three total strangers standing in their living room. One looking ready for battle. I decided it was best to be positive. So I said,

"Hi! Well yes...I must have written the date down wrong but NOW you can hear the tunes for yourself and choose which ones you would like played for tomorrow. It's sort of like a dress rehearsal!"

 Then I joked that Beau could sleep over on the wood pile until tomorrow.

     They were so nice. They made me tea and played with Havensong and gave her snacks. Beau played so well it made me get all teary eyed. They loved everything he played and decided Beau would walk with the Bride to her place the next day. The bride's Grandpa was especially sweet and he even took time to pray for Havensong. It was so sweet hearing his soft voice ask God to bless her and keep her. She looked up at him with her pretty little eyes, still munching on her orange slice and softly gave him a fist bump!

     We said goodbye and then raced back to the ferry, realizing we had about four minutes until it left. There would have been a two hour break if we missed it. And it's not like we could have driven around the island sightseeing. But we made it. We got lunch, had coffee, and met Tayler and Molly at the bridal shops to choose the bridesmaids dresses. Beau was all decked out so he handed out cards to the bridal shops. One lady asked him if he was a store model, which he much appreciated. It turned out to be a great day. I wasn't going to get all upset over my mistake. Those are not the kinds of things that stress me out. Any time I get to spend with my kids is good, no matter where we are. Now we just have something to look back on and laugh about.

     I better hit the hay...I have a wedding in the morning! Again.

Ariums

Ok, here are our tiny glass gardens. So cute....Autumn and Chase had fun. Now maybe we can move on to a bucket garden! :)

Flower and Garden Show

         I went to the Flower and Garden Show in Seattle with my in-laws yesterday. My father-in-law is a Master Gardener and is active in the local group here in Whatcom County. He asked me to go along in the bus they chartered and spend the day looking at flowers. It sounded like a fun time but there was one little thing. I don't really garden. It's not that I don't like to garden, it's just that a million other things occupy my time and I feel like I've no time left over to weed, plant, water, arrange and beautify the earth outside my door. BUT...I appreciate those that do. It's a wonderful hobby. I just don't think I have much of a green thumb. I feel intimidated over making a wrong choice and weeding a flower, or worse yet...watering a weed. But I went along with some hopes of being inspired.

     I sat with a nice lady in the back of the bus. It felt a little odd being so close to a stranger and she remarked that she imagined the seats would be further apart then they were. It was gong to be a long ride. It didn't take long though before she started chatting. The ice breaker was my chicken purse, of course....

  Where on earth did I get it, was it real rubber, and do I have chickens?

As always, my answers were, "My husband", "Yes", and "Sort of."

     Then the inevitable topic arose...gardening. I told her I couldn't recall having ever planted anything worth mentioning.

"Then why exactly are you on this bus?' she asked.

     I pointed to my in-laws sleeping peacefully in front of me. I explained I was invited. I told her I have five kids, so a day out alone would be nice, even if I was not inclined to mulch or fertilize. We then talked about her snow shoeing hobby, and that sounded like a blast to me. I made a mental note to check into it. I told her about my chickens, and showed her pictures of my kids and forgot to ask to see pictures of hers. When we got there I told her to have a ball and made my way into the Convention Center.


     I must say, it was quite impressive! Each display was beautiful. The theme for the show was, A Floral Symphony. It was hard to imagine the work involved in creating twenty five full scale yard displays. It takes well over a million dollars just to create it. I was amazed at the detail involved. I tried to remember to take some pictures so I could blog about it. I will show you all the pictures I took. HA.

    There were people there who were so serious about their photos, tripods and all.....and I leave with this?

     We had a nice lunch after looking at the displays then walked through the vendor area. I saw a display of miniature plants on a pallet. They were so cute! The lady working there told me those plants never grow any bigger and they are perfect to plant in glass ariums. Now THAT I could handle.

      Besides, I love miniature things, and a miniature garden sounded adorable. So I bought some flowers for Autumn and an air plant for Chase. I knew he would love it because it  looked like it was from outer space.


     At the end of the day we hauled our treasures back to the bus and thankfully sat down for the ride home. I was tired. But those ladies coming onto that bus were pretty hyped up. They must have had lots of coffee, because they were talking a mile a minute about all of the things they bought. My seat mate asked me what I purchased. I happily pulled out my two inch plant and told them I was going to plant it inside a glass ball!
Scott's mom cracked up across the aisle. Here I was, in the middle of a bunch of MASTER GARDENERS, and I was all proud of my scrappy little pot of flowers. I keep laughing every time I think of it.

Tomorrow I will post the kids creations.

I am telling you, it's gonna be EPIC.

Talent Show

I love listening to my kids practice music together. It is so nice to hear while I am doing dishes. I am sure you would all agree the best part of having your child learn an instrument are the ongoing mini concerts that occur in your home.  I sang in school but never had my own accompanist!  I would have loved to have a brother to play all of my music for me. It would have been priceless to be able to say,

 "Hey can you learn this song and play it for me in the talent show?"

Beau played tonight for Autumn. It was so great. I felt so proud of her, and also of him for being such a good big brother!