deadliest catch!

Liam is an amazing fisherman! Today he's caught some sort of prehistoric fish and just got a decent sized crab. And all with a Spongebob Squarepants fishing pole!

My Sister the Mad Volunteer

And we all know I mean B-Z! This woman is tireless, and has been volunteering for some sort of civic endeavor for as long as I can remember (I think it all started when we got to ride in the Bothell 4th of July parade and throw candy). Good thing she does, it saves the rest of the family from having to get off our keisters.

This weekend, the B was "Shuttle Bus Chairman" for the Bothell Art Fair. Sounds like a pretty painless, no-brainer kind of job right? Just line up a shuttle bus service, post some signs and dunzo. NO. Not in good ole Bothell, where everyone has a 'good idea'! Poor B got herself a nemesis, some do-gooder idiot who not only complained to every person attending the fair (I swear) about how bad the signs were placed and how literally every possible route into Bothell should have had signs, she MOVED one of the signs, breaking it in the process, then complained that "there is no sign" in that spot!

Saint B-Z didn't do what I would've done (staple her to a stake and slap a directional arrow over the woman's big fat piehole), she moved signs around, repaired the broken sign, listened politely and kept a smile on her face. Volunteer of the Year!!!! Hopefully next year, she'll be smart and head to the cabin on art fair weekend.

The fair itself was charming, small but with excellent artists and in lovely surroundings at the Park at Bothell Landing. I meandered through the museum and old schoolhouse there, and had a grand time.

Getting Ready for Vacay!

Lorraine & the boys have invited me to join them on Lopez Island (in the San Juans) for their annual sanity restoration aka vacation. I will be stopping in Bothell on my way then heading to the island. Not sure what kind of blog-ability I will have but will try to keep y'all updated as to my island adventures!

Crocs-pedition

We made a trek to Nordy's today to buy the boys Crocs for summer. They have pretty much completely worn out the ones Katie bought for them last year (they don't last that well when you use them to brake on your bike). Anyway their feet have GROWN, and everyone needed new shoes. Each boy got a different color (Alex bright red, Liam black, RJ navy blue and Mikey khaki) and they got a "Jibbet" as a special treat. I think Liam took this shot of Al's foot.

Amateur Photography

Liam's self-portrait taken with my cell phone.

Yeah for Salt Water Sandals!

Logan is looking especially presh in her 'sandal waters'! Salt Water Sandals are the best! Seeing a little pair of chubby legs with SWS immediately brings me back to my days as a young mom, when my kids wore them. Nothing better!

Sleeping Beauty

Katie is home for a day or so, obvs they are working her WAY too hard at Camp Crotch, cuz this is pretty much all we've seen of her so far...

New Glasses!

No, not the eyeglasses, the beer glasses. I have been reduced to drinking my suds from a Starbucks mug, so decided it's high time to get me some new glassware.

Lo and behold, the Ravelry store has these great (for knitters) beer glasses. I just had to have them (and at 12.00 for the pair, the price was right). Soon, I'll be drinking in style!

We Heart School Lunch

Like kids everywhere, the boys worship the hot lunch. I think because 1) you get to stand in line, 2) you get to use a tray, and 3) there's crap in there your mom would NEVER let you eat at home. RJ is attending class for a couple of weeks up at the school and we took advantage of free hot lunch for any kids who drop by. Oh, reason #4: straws!!

It's Batman!

Alex found these fun Batman glasses in the bottom of the toybox. They are way cool, the dark lenses flip to the sides for the ultimate disguise (you know, the Clark Kent glasses that totally hide the fact that he's really Superman). Al and Mikey took turns wearing them:



Wish I had a pair of cool Batman shades!!

My Summer Wardrobe...

Lol, I'm afraid "Big Tops" is my next stop in search of summer shirts!

Look Out Willie Nelson

Alex loves playing his little guitar and singing his own compositions. While we aren't quite up to the level of "Crazy" or "On the Road Again" yet, his little songs are always entertaining.

I was dying to take him down to Spokane's Street Music festival last week and let him earn the big bucks, but then I remembered the creepy guy who is always planted in front of Macy's with his irritating saxaphone. I don't Allie to end up there.

This One's For You B

I googled and found the Baby Boy Born with Penis on His Back. Post suggested by the slightly twisted B-Z Davis. See what happens when you retire from the school board? Too much time on your hands!! BTW this is really kinda disturbing...

Slip N Slide!

Woot Woot! The good ole Slip n Slide is still a hit with little kids. We set one up in the yard today and the boys had a fine time, even though the hose water was about 40 degrees. I especially love Michael in his 'Speedos' (remember when we bought these undies in London, Carrie?)

Priest Lake Fun!

Mikey checking out the goody bag Alex brought home from a birthday party.

Liam the Yo-Yo Master

Angel With A Dirty Face

Our camping trip last week was great, the weather couldn't have been nicer, and best of all the place was deserted! Seems that recent crap weather put the damper on a lot of folks' camping plans, so we just about had the place to our selves.

Yeah for Beer Sweaters!

Megan just sent me this cute picture of the Beer Sweaters I knit for her and Ryan. Obvs. they went to the right couple, they look absolutely at home here.

And We're Off!

Last day of school, hip hip hooray! I picked the boys up from school this morning, and was the atmosphere ever joyous. I don't know who was looking happier, the kids or the teachers ;-) Of course, I had to teach the guys "no more pencils, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks" on the walk home.

Lorraine and RJ, Liam & Mikey took off for Priest Lake camping, while Alex is enjoying a sleepover at my house tonight. We will head up to Priest tomorrow after he attends a birthday party.

To celebrate the last day, he and I ate lunch at the Milk Bottle, yum yum (and calories galore)! He ordered a grilled cheese sandwich, milk and cherry pie ala mode. Half the sammy got eaten and all of the pie and ice cream. He was super duper well mannered, even though the place was absolutely slammed and it took forever to get our order. He loved sitting at the counter on the revolving stools, and said "This is the best day of my life". It doesn't get any better than that!

The boys had a very successful school year, with reading levels improving tremendously, along with improvements in just about all other areas. RJ grew 1/2", Liam grew 2", and Alex shot up 2 1/2" this year! I don't even want to know how much their feet have grown!

Will report on our PL adventures Sunday night!

Our Other Favorite Activity

We're also a wee bit obsessed with death and dying right now (naturally enough, since the dog died last week). The boys and I have had many long, deep conversations about death and what happens (I really need to tape a few of them, they are actually quite precious and often pretty funny). This morning, RJ found a baby bird that had fallen out of the nest Mama Robin built on their back patio. After some discussion on whether baby bird was just sleeping or was in fact dead, the boys decided to bury it. Liam donned the rubber gloves and picked it up (a hotly contested job btw -- boys are NOT LIKE GIRLS), Riveria dug a hole in the back yard, Alex carried the plastic sack with remains and Mikey was chief mourner (he wasn't about to miss out on this). Flowers were strewn and baby bird got a nice send-off. Gramma Laurie tried not to be too squeamish when the boys made her look at the little dead thing ("It's not all chopped up Laurie, you can look at it"!)

Busy Bakers

Sometimes I forget how much kids enjoy cooking and baking (since I don't love either activity and try to avoid them whenever possible) The boys helped me make a dessert the other day, and they were excellent workers!

Here's Liam mixing up a storm. He's the one who really loves to bake, I need to make him an apron!

All three guys (Liam, Alex and Mikey) got involved in the process, and gave the results two thumbs up.

Beer Sweaters are Done!

Here are the two beer sweaters I knit this week, aren't they presh? I didn't have any beer bottles on hand (our weather is too crappy to drink beer), so I've outfitted two little statues with them. Unfortunately, the statues don't have necks so the turtlenecks are covering their heads. But I'm sure they are smiling under there, because they know they look adorable!

Fancy Nancy

Here's Tatum, modelling the adorable hearts sweater her grammy knit for her. Looks like a beautiful lace skirt too!

Aren't girls grand? You can never wear too much pink!

Happy Monday!

The countdown till the last day of school begins...4 more days! I took this (bad) pix of Alex eating his oatmeal while Mikey gives him loves, just to show that Monday morning CAN have some good moments (of course, 1 second before this was taken, they were battling each other with swords).

On the knitting front, 2nd Beer Sweater is dunzo! Megs, get your bottles ready cuz you can have fun dressing them up in fancy schmancy sweaters real soon!

What's Your Favorite?

I love me some black licorice (HATE Twizzlers and the like! Would kill for a whole container of black Lic. from Costco)! I also love Callard & Bowser's Licorice Toffee, but that's no longer an option due to my fear of pulling all my crowns loose (Fear #873). What's your favorite candy??
nataliedee.com

Random Cuteness

Thursday mornings are 'late start' days at school, so we have time to goof around before we head off for our school day. Last week, the boys pulled out their old Halloween costumes:

Scary Riveria Skull Man and Alex Darth Vader pose with non-costumed (but perhaps also scary) Laurie. (Liam took this picture, through the window. He's a better photographer than I am!)

Liam prefers to wear a non-frightening costume. He squeezed himself into his old standby lion costume, probably for the last time.

Now That I Got Rid of The Mom Jeans...

nataliedee.com

Most Tragic Haircut EVER

I was adding new pattern books to my website this morning and came across this poor little thing. I'm pretty sure the Sundstrom girls all had a version of this haircut in the 60s. I completely understand why this child looks like she's going to murder the person who gave her this 'do...

Stash Enhancement

I'm still obsessed with sock knitting. Which means more sock yarn for the stash. Isn't this pretty? It's called "Mum's The Word" and it does remind me of the colors of chrysanthemums. It's from Spindle City Yarns.

I've got a kind of 'meh' yarn on the needles right now as my carry-along sock project. And I'm trying to figure out where I put my "Celtic Collection" Alice Starmore book so I can start on a sweater from it. I've had this book for at least 10 years, and now that I want it, it's nowhere to be found. Yikes. And of course I need to make the 2nd Beer Sweater for a certain suds-guzzlin' niece of mine...

What I'm Wearing...

I decided I should wear some jeans the other day, and I have to say they were the worst MOM JEANS ever! Seriously, the waistline was almost up to my boobs. Good thing I had a long t-shirt on to cover that!!

June Already!

I cannot believe that it's June! Only 9 more days of school (and trust me, the boys AND their teachers are counting down lol) We have a busy summer schedule with a couple weeks of summer school, our literacy program, taekwondo, reading program at the library, camping, and of course some kicking back at home. I will be full time nanny-ing Monday-Thursdays, so it's time to get the ole laptop repaired so I can blog on the go.

This week, I'm on duty for a couple of 'night shifts' as well, which is always an adventure. This morning, Mikey decided he wanted to paint, which was a lot of fun. Of course, I wasn't expecting him to paint his hands and arms up to the elbows, but it washed off easily ;-)

On a sadder note, Lorraine's faithful companion of 16 1/2 years died last night. Kaela was a sweet girl, a tad scruffy perhaps, but a good friend to Lorraine and the boys. They are all sad to see her go, but she went quickly and didn't suffer. We are going to have a little service for her, and plant a tree or shrub in her favorite shady spot in the backyard. Liam and I wrote a list of all the good things he remembered about her. I'll post that when I get a chance, it's very cute.

Another Pair O Socks

I finished my "Nascar" socks and they are comfy! Knit using Fancy Image Merino DK yarn in a fun colorway called "Nascar", I have a free pattern .pdf on my website if you want to knit your own pair. Any DK weight yarn will work (you'll need about 280 yds for a pair of socks in adult size 9) Knit on 4 needles, nothing flashy but a good basic sock pattern that shows off the variegated yarn.