YIKES! ORTHODONTIST!!

So, last week Maddie and Spence both had visits to the orthodontist. With Maddie they could jump right onboard and had a plan ASAP. She was in today getting braces. Spencer on the other hand has a second consult tomorrow morning. Nothing says $$$ like when they tell you, "Umm, I think I will need a week to look over his impressions and study his mouth a little more to figure out where we should start." hmmm....we'll see. Thankfully I have great insurance! Maddie, just before her appointment this morning.


She has 4 little brackets on the front four teeth and on June 1 they will pull her baby canine teeth so that between the shifting of the front four and the space created from the extractions that the 3 huge adult teeth coming in will come down in the right place. If we didn't do this her adult canines were on track to come through the roof of the mouth behind the other two adult teeth. She will have this phase for 1 year, then a retainer until all her adult teeth are in nicely. At that point she will get a full set of braces to straighten them all out with the crowding issues she has.

Baseball is here!

On the mound! Spencer got to pitch for the first time last night! He loved it and actually did really well. On the 2nd or 3rd batter he faced he caught a line drive back to him getting the batter out, then threw to 3rd to double up the runner that had taken off on the hit. I turned too soon but Dan said he did a very excited jump/fist pumping "YES!" He was really excited. A proud night for mom and dad/coach. Good job son! We celebrated at Dairy Queen.

His first game was last week and he got play catcher. Looks like a natural!

EARTH MOVING!

Well I must say that I owe my husband big time!! He moved pounds and pounds of dirt this weekend. Mostly all while I slept since it was my weekend on shift at the hospital. Each day I awoke to more beds moved or prepped for just enough time for me to help plant and then make dinner, spend a little time with friends in the evening and then back to work. He endured much heat and a little sunburn. Thanks baby! We moved Spencer's strawberry plants that he planted 2 years ago in a little garden bed below our deck. They were getting pretty big and sprawling and unfortunately the previous home had a layer of bark dust which brought the ants into the picture and they ate most of his harvest last year. So, Dan built this cute little raised bed (after tearing out shrubs and Iris tubers) with some old blocks we found under our deck. And of course no strawberries are safe without the Gnome watching over.
This is the bed where he had the strawberries and Dan moved dirt in and planted two little azaleas that we bought on clearance for $4.00 and then a lilac bush we picked up at Costco.
This year we did something a little different with our vegetable garden. We decided to make wide paths and mound up the dirt, similar to raised beds. We will put newspapers and grass clippings over the pathways to hold moisture and keep weeds at bay in those areas.

This is for my mom---here is the hydrangea regrowing this year...he may be tiny but he survived!! Behind are the seeds we planted last year, Columbine and Jacobs Ladder.
AND MOM...here is that bush you love so much! The Bleeding Heart came back with a vengence! I swear it is the most thriving plant I have and it is only because I dread it so much! This last year I think I cut it almost below ground level in the fall. It hates me!

GO ZIGZAGA!!!

Last Friday night we took the kids to watch the Gonzaga baseball team play against Loyola Marymount in their West Coast Conference Championship Series! It was a great game, the weather was fabulous and the kiddos even had the privilege of helping play with a little tyke in the row in front of us. She was the cutest little 2 year old girl I have seen in awhile. Was a great family place to spend the evening.



When Sophia was 3 or 4 she would call them "The Zigzaga."

Spring has Sprung

Geesh... FINALLY the warm weather is here. Also Spring soccer has come to an end so we have Saturdays back too. This was our kick off to some fun. We had our good friends Chris and Kelly come over for some dinner, campfire and a few glasses of wine...good to have some relaxing fun with friends! The boys were having a good time~!

Happy Mom's Day!

I had to work all weekend and on Mother's Day morning when I came home from work this is the greeting I got. I had told the kiddos I wanted a gnome for our garden this year and they did a fine job remembering and choosing one. I loved the HUGE heart card they made and hung for me also. thanks kiddos!

School Carnival

We finally caved and went the school carni this year! It was actually a lot of fun. They had it spread through out the school and into the outside. (carni's of the past had us all crammed in the gym) Didn't get many photos of games that they all played because we were all over the map. Of course the favorite part was the petting zoo and riding the horses. Spence was not having anything to do with horses...as he said to me "horses are for girls!!"


Maddie and her best friend Hannah

Sophia was freaked by the animal in the petting zoo but was braver than ever to get on a horse!! go figure?!
Our future vet!

Earth Day

So the we have been talking for the last few months with the kids about doing things to save money, energy and making the most of our time together. A couple of weeks ago when we were at the Library checking out books for our garden and other fun craft things, I came across a book on pioneer living. Randomly I checked it out knowing that I would read over it with the kids within our month checkout time. But we found a really great time to read it. On earth day they all decided that they wanted to turn out the lights/tv's etc for the day. So when it came to the evening we got out the candles and they were all talking about it being like "the old times" so we sat together and read through the pioneer days. They really enjoyed it. We are going to try and take 1 day a week having lights out! To play games, read etc. by candlelight as a family. Will be fun!

A Piggy Party- HAPPY 7 Sophia!!

Happy Birthday Sophia!!! Ok so my girls are making things a little tougher now that they are getting older....it isn't just a princess party...or Dora anymore...they have these wild ideas of themes and their favorite things...Sophia wanted to have a piggy party, since it is and has been her favorite animal since she was 4. SOOO...through some creative thinking by Dan and I we came up with another successful party! Although I do wonder what is next down the pipe!

Sophia singing "happy birthday to ME"


The homemade fabric gift bags that they found at the end of their hunt
Cute little card from Maddie's best friend Hannah.
Each of the girls got to decorate and then plant seeds to make a piggy pot
They did a clue by clue treasure hunt to find their goodie bags

An assortment of Sophia's pig collection!

Oh my Gosh...how funny is this.....

OK so I am trying to add some updates of current things and I ran into this and HAD to put it up. This was so funny live! Got to love the WII boxing. What a great way to keep laughter in the home. Dan and I thought we were going to die at how intense Sarah is here. Although if you know Sarah she always pretty intense with her tasks! I just wish so badly that we had The Eye of the Tiger playing in the backround. Although Dan's laugh always makes me laugh. Haha....Love you Hurley's!!! (ps. I just know this will bite me back, since they have WAY too many pics/vids of us.) It is just so funny!!!

HAPPY 10 MADDIE

So this was actually in January, but we needed to share the birthday fun! Her friends came over and had a blast. Maddie wanted to have a Chinese birthday so we ordered take out and got some fun decorations. Who knew you could get a bag of 500 fortunes cookies for like $4.99 at the restaurant supply store and oh those cute little take out boxes were 50 for $3.99 nad made really great party favor boxes and we are now the proud owners of 500 pairs of chopsticks for the bargain price of $5.99. I was very close to buying those cool paper place mats that they have at the restaurants with the year/animal (i.e. like was born in 1971 the year of the pig) but I didn't really have a need for 2500 of them since I only needed 8. So if you are throwing a Chinese themed party anytime remember Cash and Carry for all your needs. they rock! The girls (and spencer) had fun with a few made up games like who can eat jello the fastest with chopsticks, and a relay race with fortune cookies and chopsticks and then lastly pin the bow on panda's ear. Ahhhhh....can't wait to find out what Maddie has in stire for 11!

Move over Beethoven

Spencer and Sophia had their very first piano recital on Friday night the 27th. It was held at the Steinway Piano Gallery and was for their instructor's elementary age students. They both did incredible. While they were both a bit anxious, neither of them showed any nerves once their turn came (Sophia led off the evening) and both played all of their pieces really well. Tina and I were really proud of them. They each had a chance to warm up on any of a number of pianos on the showroom floor, but the recital was actually held in a small concert room built especially for music appreciation and education. Each student introduced themselves and the pieces they would be playing before performing on a Steinway 9ft grand piano. The piano they played that night was featured in a PBS special called Note by Note which chronicles the 1.5 year process of handmaking a Steinway grand. The piano (which is 5 years old) was purchased new for $118,000! Logan and Averie Hurley came along to watch their buddies perform. (Then we raced home to watch the Zags get throttled by the Tar Heels in the NCAA tournament :(