Last night was Mykayla's first grade play, "Who Stole the Tarts?" In the play, Princess Claire is celebrating her 16th birthday with a huge birthday ball and she would like for the Knave of Hearts to come but her father, Old King Cole would not have the "thief and scoundrel" in his palace. Throughout the play there was several choruses reciting different nursery rhymes. Mykayla played the Queen of Hearts along side her buddy Teddy who played Old King Cole.  The two of them were so cute together!  She brought home the script about 6 weeks ago and pretty much had her parts memorized that first week (I had the king's parts memorized shortly too). On Monday evening, she recited the entire play to me! They practiced every day in the morning for about an hour and all of their hard work definitely payed off!  Mykayla was very excited because her Papa Barry made the queen and king's costumes. I was so impressed with the 1st grade teaching team and the students. They did an amazing job! I can't imagine it would be very easy to coordinate a play with around 90 first graders in it and yet they pulled it off amazingly.  They did not have microphones so the kids had to really shout and they all did so well.  You could hear every word very clearly.  My favorite line of the whole play was during the Little Miss Muffett chorus, she says "Beat it Arachnid!" :  ) Love it!! At one point, my sister asked me if Mykayla was also the director : ) Yeah, she was a little bossy up there, making sure her friends were doing what they were supposed to be. (Guess she comes by that honestly huh?) I was so proud of her and was beaming the entire time during the play. I had several other parents tell me how well she did too. Yeah, proud mama here! My little Queen of Hearts was awesome! (Does it help that she is a bit of a drama queen? Again, not sure who she gets that from?)

Quick weekend recap

I feel so accomplished this weekend!! I love weekends that I actually stay home (meaning in Tacoma) and get stuff done. My poor house gets neglected for weekends on end because I also love to go up north and see my family especially when Adam is working all weekend. I had a list of several missions in my head and am proud to say that I accomplished several of them!!

Let's see...
* Moved all my scrapbooks to one location upstairs (All 30 of them!! Have I really been scrapping that long?)
* In turn, moved the books from those bookshelves to the downstairs bookshelf.
* Rearranged the living room furniture
* Then swept and mopped the living/dining room. (I am still completely amazed at how often I do this and yet it is still always so dirty!)
* Washed all the couch and love seat cushion covers
* Cleaned Kayla's room once twice. The first time she helped, kind of : ) (I know, she should be doing this herself, but in the time it takes me to argue with her I can have it done! Somethings are just not worth arguing over at this stage and plus I have a system!)
* Grocery shopped with both children in tow and saved $43 in coupons and store savings! Pretty proud of myself for that.
* Folded and partly put away about 6 loads of laundry.
* Plus, I squeezed in an hour and a half of swimming with the kids yesterday, making a shower gift for my sister in law last night and was able to get away for a couple hours by myself today to attend the shower. Thanks to an awesome Ms. Sheila whom my kids love!!

WOW! Now that I have typed it all out, I am exhausted!! Off to bed!!

18 months old!!

Yesterday was Michael's 18 month birthday. I cannot believe he has been in our lives for 18 months already. I still remember very clearly the day I found out I was pregnant and the day he was born. On the other hand, I can't really remember what life was like without him.  I have decided to steal an idea from a couple blogs that I have seen and list 18 things about Michael at 18 months... (And of course show off some pictures!)

1. Michael weighs 26 lbs. 
2. He started walking about 2 months ago and has not stopped since! I was a tad bit worried when he wasn't
    walking at 1 year and now I wonder why I ever wanted him to start.
3. Michael is severely allergic to peanuts. He is also allergic to soy, wheat, eggs, beef, seafood and dogs.
4. He has the best belly giggle ever! And if he laughs too much, he gets the hiccups : )
5. Michael knows a few words including mama, dada, dissa (sister), cracker and his favorite is ball. (He
    actually says "Oh, ball!" whenever he sees one)
6. We may have to start calling him Linus as he loves LOVES his blankets. He drags them everywhere and if
     he can't find one, he will pick up something from the dirty clothes pile and drag it around.
7. He (knock on wood) sleeps through the night almost 12 hours.
8. He loves Pirate Booty! This is the best snack for a kid with allergies!
9. He will walk into the kitchen, grab a snack cup from the lower cupboard and walk over and point it to the
    fridge. (The Pirate Booty is on top of the fridge)
10. To get downstairs, he will high center himself on his tummy and basically "fly" down the stairs usually
      faster than any of us can get down them.
11. He will sit with a book in his lap and "read" it.  This is very cute to listen to!
12. He dislikes getting greased up (as we call it). He becomes a squirmy, slippery fish.
13. Favorite breakfast food: Oatmeal
14. Michael likes to play Minute to Win it with the Costco packages of wipes. Let me see how many wipes I
      can get out of here before mom catches me.
15. He is a climber!! (Enough said!)
16. Busy, busy, busy!! (Again, enough said!)
17. He loves to play eat mommy's cell phone.
18. He is the biggest joy in our lives and we couldn't imagine life without him!!

I took these pictures this morning on the stairs while Michael was playing with daddy's CWU hat.

A crafty Saturday afternoon

Yesterday my friend Maria came over to scrap for the afternoon and while she worked on her wedding album, I did some "scrapbook home decor" I made this Family canvas to put up in my newly painted living room.  Unfortunately my husband is missing from our family picture because they were taken on Easter and he was working.  I wanted to keep it uniform with the same setting of the picture so he will not be on it : (

I also made this cookie sheet for my sister Celia, better known as Auntie Cookie to her nieces and nephews. I blogged about my mega bargains from Michael's awhile back and this set was one of them (30 cents). It is a child's kitchen toy but I attached the kid's pictures to the cookies and then glued the cookies to the cookie sheet. I love how it turned out and think it will make a great addition to her cookie theme kitchen.

I have been enjoying having my mom here for the weekend too!

Just keep swimming

You would never know by looking at this picture that 3 months ago, this girl was very frightened of the water and would not let you leave her side when in the water.



Mykayla started swim lessons in March and I am completely amazed at how well she has done.  I was watching her on Monday in the 5 foot deep end of the pool, thinking she would have never done that just 3 months ago.  She is now on level 5, working on her freestyle with breathing as she swims. She swims at a local pool here with the Swim America program. 

Every summer, we go to Yakima for the Pawlak family camp out for 4 days and every year, Mykayla waits till the last day to brave the pool and then is totally upset when I drag her out of the pool for the last time. This year, I am sure I will be spending a good amount of time (more than usual) at the pool watching her turn into a little prune and will again have to drag her out screaming. Swim lessons has proven to be one of the best investments and Mykayla looks forward to them every Monday and Wednesday. I am convinced when she is done, she will be a better swimmer than me : )

This picture is from Great Wolf Lodge in March, just 4 weeks into Mykayla's lessons. Last year, she would not even think about going on the slides. She would run if you even slightly mentioned it to her. This year, she was all about the slides!! : ) I am so proud of her!

Weekend fun & fellowship with family & friends!

Yesterday we had a yard sale at our house and despite the very indecisive weather (obviously we live in Washington), we had a great turn out and did fairly well. We had furniture, antiques, some a ton of scrapbook stuff, clothes and kid and baby stuff. We have been doing yard sales since I was a kid (They funded several vacations growing up) and we have gotten to be pretty good at them. Everything I know about yard sales, I learned from my dad. We are training the next generation too!

Today we started the day out at New Life Center in Everett for the dedication of Jordan and Brooks. Jordan got bored by about the fifth dedication so she decided to do some twirling on stage. Pretty cute!!

After church, we all headed to Kattrina and Kevin's to celebrate the dedication, Kevin's birthday and Mother's Day. And yes, the "candle" is a fake votive candle, pretty funny when he took it off the cupcake to "blow" it out. 

  

Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's day!



Playing "Stay at home mom"

I had the day off today for dentist appointments and a Mother's Day tea in Kayla's class. I love to have "stay at home mom" days every once in a while.  Helps to fulfill my wanting to be at home all the time.  Also makes me wonder which is more work; my seven 5 year olds during the day or my one 18 month old all day : ) We started the day off with teeth cleanings.  Then I went and picked up Michael from school to head up town for a bit. We then headed to Kayla's school for tea punch and cream puffs. Her class read some poems and then presented us with the best gifts!

* We of course hit up our favorite store! I love Target!! Even bigger bonus that they were restocking the dollar spot while we were there!!

* Enjoying lunch at the (ever exciting) mall food court.

* We stopped by Michael's and raided the Easter CLEARANCE rack. I got all the stuff pictured for $3.12!! Love the clearance racks too!!

*Kayla's class reading Mother's Day poems

* The beautiful frame she made for me

* I also got a neat hand print poem and handwritten card

* My special girl and I

This is a video of Kayla reading the card she wrote to me, so sweet!

Another living/dining room transformation update!!

Time for more transformation pictures! It is coming along so well and so fast!!

 I am so impressed with my husband, he has done a great job!!

Pictures of the trim painting and attaching removing, that piece was a tad bit too tight. There was trim all over the garage last night. It was funny watching Adam try and move around the garage without getting paint on himself.

Finished product with paint, trim and chair rail! It looks so good! I will post again once all the decor is done with a final, FINAL transformation picture : ) Next project-sanding and painting my scrapbook hutch. For now, this is my temporary scrap storage...

ABC's of Me!

So I have seen this on a couple different blogs lately and thought it would be a fun post and a great way to learn all about me!

Age:30

Bed Size: Queen

Chore you hate:  Cleaning the bathroom (with a passion!!!)

Dogs:  Nope! and recently found out our son is allergic, so probably never will. 

Essential start of your day:  Chocolate chip granola bar

Favorite Color:  Purple

Gold or silver:  Silver

Height: 5'6"

Instruments I play (or have played): Clarinet

Job Title: Private kindergarten teacher

Kids: 2 (7 year old girl, 17 month old boy)

Live: Tacoma, WA

Mom's Name: Christine

Nicknames:  Mae, MaeMae

Overnight hospital stays:  2 with the birth of both children

Pet Peeve:  Lately, annoying Facebook statuses

Quote from a movie:  "We'd like to get you something real nice!"

Right or left handed:  Right handed

Siblings: Twin sister,Kattrina and older sister, Celia

Time you wake up: 6:01a

Underwear: bikini (Do not like thongs!!!)

Vegetables you dislike: Cauliflower

What makes you run late: my kids, not waking up on time

X-rays you've had done: arm and chest, oh and teeth

Yummy food you make: Rice Krispy treats (Only food I am ever asked to bring to family events)

Zoo animal:  Penguin

I love a good garage sale and more than one is even better!!

Yesterday morning after only 4 1/2 hours of sleep (Don't ask, won't be doing that again!) Kattrina, Michael and I headed out to the Great Mukilteo Garage Sale. We met Kattrina's friend Heather at the Mukilteo Speedway Cafe for breakfast and then were off for some serious bargain hunting.  Heather had devised an excellent route and plan for us to get the very best deals.  She was an excellent city wide garage sale guide. So this morning I thought I would share some of my excellent finds. (Apparently today I like the word excellent!)

 I mainly scored toys for Michael and stuff for my classroom. Garage Sales are my favorite way to stock my dramatic play area in my classroom. In this picture: a fireman's costume jacket (.50), Playmobil toys ($2.50 for 4 people and a helicopter. Sounds like a lot, I know but these are super expensive toys in the store and they are in excellent condition), red baseball cap ($2) see below for why I am so excited about this baseball cap, stethoscope ($1), fold up train station ($1).

 This is the fold up train station all opened up so you can store the trains/cars inside of it.  It is that great material that can be wiped down with a rag. I am super excited about this!

 Ok, so the excitement behind the hat.  One of my favorite children's books is Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin.  This week my class will be starting a unit on life science. I have transformed my dramatic play area into worm's house from the book.  In the book, the main clothing that worm wears is a red baseball cap so I was on a mission for one to add.  We had went to Fred Meyer on Friday evening and they had one for $16, not what I was going to pay for a hat that a group of 5 year olds could potentially destroy.  So yesterday morning that was my main mission and I found one for $2, brand new with tags on it! Wee Hoo!!

And just for fun, here is two pictures of my dramatic play area : )

 Worm's house 

 Worm's bed: a giant Liptoi Tea Bag box with giant leaves.