Mommy's morning off

What does a mommy do when her husband has gone fishing and the kids are at the grandparents?

Go to the coffee shop and read of course. And maybe a little shopping.

Saturday morning I had the luxury of waking up on my own time. I headed to downtown Portland to check out the changed (and not for the better) Sip & Kranz. The coffee is still delicious, the decor and atmosphere is lacking. I ordered my favorite coconut soy latte and a scone, and read, and read, and read . . . for almost three hours. It was great. I got well into the book, which I had been meaning to pick up for at least three weeks. My book club gals will be happy I can participate in the discussion. After my reading time I hit a few stores that I prefer to visit without the kids. It was a great day.

Good thing because since then I have been dealing with vomit, diarrhea, coughing, fever, and headache, from three out of four family members . . . poor Mike.

Surprise

Molly knows how to navigate the computer. I knew this to a certain extent. She has been watching home movies on the computer. I get them set up for her and she can push stop and play on them as she wishes. She plays on Starfall.com and pbskids.com all the time. Today she asked for help getting to her games. We have an account for the kids so they don't bother the desktop files and settings on the laptop. I told her it would be a minute until I was done folding laundry. I walked over to her. Don't worry. She had logged out of my account and logged into the kid account and started playing Roller Monkey (A Curious George game). Wow. 2 years 7 months. What is next? I'm not sure I want to know!

Listening in

I am working on processing pictures at the computer. Molly is napping. Gavin is having some imaginative play time. He has a two dolls and his beloved puppy. Puppy runs away.
Doll A to Doll B: My puppy ran away. I am sooooooo sad.
Doll B to A: I'll help you find it.
Doll A to B: We can't find it anywhere
Doll B: Maybe you can buy a new one.
Doll A: Puppies are very expensive. I will have to save a lot of money.
Doll B: Maybe you can just put it on your birthday list.
Doll A: Then I have to wait a long, long time. We should look some more.
They find puppy.
Doll A: Oh puppy. I love you. Don't ever run away. I don't want to wait a long, long time for another puppy.

Guess he is learning about money, saving, and waiting. All good lessons for a four year old.

A couple stories

Gavin has started a basketball class. This is not a team, but just a class on some beginning skills. Both dates we have coincidentally had Isabelle and Athena with us. Today we were a little early (Crazy I know!). The "coach" gave Gavin a ball to shoot around. Isabelle was running around with him wanting to play too. He bravely went up to "coach" tugged on his shirt and asked if "my friend Izzy can have a ball too." I was so proud of him looking out for his "best friend". I have some news for Gavin about Izzy. I can't wait until Monday (a preschool day - hint, hint), to share the surprise with him!!!


Sorry it is a little dark.


Gavin and Molly have been showing some promising moments of playing together. Seems like I have been waiting FOREVER! Tuesday we were on a mission to find some special paint pens. After trekking all over our last stop was slightly successful. Gavin wanted to share his umbrella with his sister. The cutest was on the way in with his arm around her shoulder. This was on the way out. Still cute!

Bowling

I know spring is on everyone's mind. However, for those cold, rainy days we might have left, or a thought to get you through next winter, bowling is great activity for the kiddos. Most bowling alleys have open bowl during the day. I would like to give a shout out to Mt. Hood Lanes here in Gresham. Super kid friendly. They have shoes down to size little six and ramps and bumpers that they will set up for you. They even accept competitors coupons. The other mom and I just borrowed shoes to help the kids because they do need monitoring.

So here are a few pictures from our bowling playdate.

More Valentines

The kids painted canvas pictures for Mike for Valentine's Day. Here they are working on their masterpieces. Too bad I didn't take a picture of the final products ;)




And here are a couple of Gavin's party at school. He worked so hard on his Valentine's for his friends. He put stickers on each one, signed his name, and wrote the friend's name on the envelope.

Valentine's Day

Usually the post is about the kids, but Mike and I had too good of a Valentine's Day not to speak about it.

The kid's attended Parent's Night Out at the preschool, conveniently planned for v-day. After a little research of what we could fit into our 4 hours of free time we headed for the revived area of Stark St. We headed to a great Mexican joint called Romo's. Got the last table in the place that wasn't reserved. Had a great meal. I highly recommend the Fajitas! Then were pleasantly surprised to see that they were offering complimentary desserts for the special occasion. After a nice quiet meal we walked across the street to the Academy theater to catch the perfectly-timed showing of Marley & Me. Mike graciously agreed to see the sappy movie :) The movie ended we headed to the car. As we got close Mike picked up the pace toward the passenger side door. This could only mean one thing . . . he was making me drive. I kicked into high gear and beat him to the door. Actually he just wanted to get the door for me :) Yikes.

Picked up the kids with 10 minutes to spare. They were well behaved and had a fabulous time! The night was great for ALL!