Christmas is upon us!

How did it all sneak up on me? Christmas is knocking at the door. The toy commercials are in full swing. And for someone who uses the TV as a learning tool/babysitter it makes for a long day.
Ok ok so the real problem is this, I try to sleep for a few hours during the day (take time now to look up the local CPS number, get it ready won't be the only time u will be thinking of calling.)so I put on a show Maggie likes. Usually Clifford the big red dog or George the Monkey (AKA Curious George) The only problem is that they are only 30 mins long. So every 30 mins Mags wakes me up to start a new show. I can live with that..BUT NOW with all the toy commercials on she wakes me up saying I want THAT..really the weeble wobble tree house, can't live without that Maggie? Oh look next commerical... a baby doll!

Maggie- "OH MY GOD! I NEED THAT!"
Me- "Really Maggie do u really need another baby doll to undress and leave on the floor for Lilly to drag away and do bad things to in the other room?"
Maggie- "MOM! MOM! MOM! YES!

I am writing Maggies parts in caps because SHE IS SCREAMING THIS!!! Which, again, doesn't help my nap.

So I guess this is what the next two months has in store for me. Yeah Christmas!

Maggies first day of Preschool

Today was a big day for Mags, she had her first day at South Hill Co-op Preschool, and did fairly well. She had been pretty nervous about the entire process. I started at the beginning of summer, trying out another preschool a friend of mine goes to with her son and that went drastically WRONG! So I decided to just go back to what was comfortable and enroll her into Emma's old preschool.
It was quite a shock to both Mom and myself when we realized that Mags teacher would be the same lady that caused us to pull Emma out of the preschool 6 years ago. For once in my life thou I gave the teacher the benefit of the doubt and gave her a second shot. Maggie connected to her right away and maybe, just maybe it was me overreacting last time, maybe.
So the first day was good, she woke up early and was ready to go to school right after dropping Emma off. Trouble was I was still in PJ pants and she hadn't eaten breakfast. She didn't want to go home, she wanted to go NOW. Somehow I had to kill about 20 mins...and boy shoes can be hard to find when u need them to be.
Once we got in the parking lot and I told her PupPup wasn't allowed inside school she got a bit nervous and started to cry. I think this was her way of letting out the anxiety so I didn't make a big deal about it. I was actually hoping to be able to leave and run to the grocery store.
That idea was quickly shattered when we got inside the classroom. Not clingy as Emma was, or maybe it was that I wasn't as nervous as I was with Emma, I decided I better just stick it out for the day.
It was really fun, she never really let me out of her sight. Oh she did one time when she had to go wash her hands for snacktime. We played outside, with the sand table, a train set and sang some songs. That was about her 2 hr day in a nut shell. She never really let go and relaxed but had fun I think. It will take her a few more days and probably a rough day when the teacher tells me its time to go. I have mixed fellings about that day. Hate to make her so upset but knowing it will be ok in the long run, is a tough pill to swallow.
All in all, I call day one a success. I am so proud of her for making this new exciting new step. She grew up too fast. No longer my little baby girl or my toddler. She is now a BIG girl and ready to face the world. But is the world ready for her...I hope so. Love you Mags.

WARRIORS!!

Well that was one of the most exciting things I have done in a long time. I had so much fun running in the 2010 NW Warrior Dash. It was in North Plains, Oregon. About a 3 hr drive from Puyallup. Mom watched Maggie for the day to allow us a calm quiet ride. Emma came with us too, after a failed attempt to spend the night at Lydia's house-entirely different story.
I was in constant text message contact with a few friends that were going to run the race and had headed out to the location before me. Somewhere in our driving directions we managed to miss our turn and ended up getting lost in Hillsboro, Oregon. After a quick detour and a stop to purchase a map, we were back in the right direction.
Once we arrived it was evident that the line to get into the parking lot was going to be long. It was down a long windy road, the back up was HUGE and we had under an hour before my heat started. I got nervous and decided to make a run for it. NOT a grand idea for someone who has had 2 children and an entire bottle of water without a potty break. Needless to say I wet my pants running down the hill. A friend from work noticed me running by and joined me in the mad dash thru the backed up traffic. We passed Chad and Heather on the way to the registration and was told that check in was easy and not to worry. That helped but I still had have a bladder I needed to empyt before I ran.
Chad was right, check in was quick and the porta-potty was...not to bad. Off to the start line..where the hell is it??
Found the line pretty quick after that and found some friends from work,high school and Chad and Heather again. Yeah we can all start together...


The race itself was a blast. I tried to keep count of the obstacles so that I knew how much I had left. I lost count they came too quickly. Although I started with Chad, Heather and a few others, I quickly was left behind on the 3 HUGE hills that started the race. Me and hills don't get along. So the first few obstacles I did alone which was fine. Everyone was very helpful and nice. At one point in the "marshy bog" where u had to wade into FREAKING ICE COLD waist deep water and hurl yourself over logs, I had to hell, "Someone push my ass over this log" and someone did.
I finally caught up with my friend, Kristen and Jason, on my worst fear the cargo net climb. Jason had bolted a camera to his bike helmet and took a video of the entire race, so they were running slowly to get pics and change the batteries in his helmet came. Nonetheless, I CAUGHT THEM! So I ran most of second half with them, which was soooo much more fun. The best part about the entire race was at the obstacle that involved a ladder that led to a cargo net that u had to crawl over about 10 feet off the ground. I was laughing and prob blabbing the entire race. Someone crawling next to me said HELLO, I looked over and there was Mikaela. Behind her was Jeff and Dev. hahah Yeah more of my people!! hahah The rest of the race Mikaela and I kinda played tag. Meeting up at obstacles and then she would sprint by me.
Almost to the end I realize that I haven't seen John or Emma the entire time. I hope they are not still in line to get into the parking lot, and then a little voice sayins "Hello mom!" and I look over and there is Emma with the video camera in h and. I was so happy that they were there to see me finish and see the mayham that was the warrior dash. I will definately do this again if they come back to the NW next year. What a fun event..until next time...WARRIOR ON!

Happy Birthday frame for Bec

I always like to make something for my sister in law for her birthday. She is such a great friend of mine and one of the only ones on my husbands side that understands and, I think, likes my scrapbooking addiction.
For the second year in a row we have set up weekly playdates for our kids to hangout and find different parks or things to do over the summer. It's so fun, and for me, important for the cousins to hang out and really enjoy and have memories of them doing things together. I myself never had my cousins around, if some of them walked by me on the street I may not even recognize them..sad I know.
So anyways, I made this fun 8x8 frame for my sister in law to put in a picture of the kids at our next get together.

Happy birthday Bec!

Emma is part of history

Emma was part breaking the world record for the biggest gathering of redheads in one spot. Mom and Chad notified me a few months ago of a lady who was a photographer from Sammamish who needed 250 people to break the world record. So she contacted the Guiness Book and was going to try and break the record.

On July 17, 2010 on a high school football field in Sammamish they did just that. 901 people showed up, all proud to be redheads. Emma's best friends Mom took her onto the field for the picture. We also met my best friend in elementary school (and who I beleive started my love of red headss) Cindy (Chaplik) McCammant, there as well.

There were all kinds, shades and ages at the gathering. We saw many children- from the brightest of red haired little boys to cute little girls w/ pig tails of copper. There was one lady probably in her late 80's there in her best teal polester suit. It made me think of Auntie Alice and Grandma Magarin. How proud they both would be of Emma for embracing her red hair and being a part of this event.

I can't lie, I was a bit jealous of all of them, hair glistening in the sun. Even if I paid for it my hair would never be as beautiful and crowd pleasing as Emma's and her fellow red heads.

4th of July

Every year or neighborhood has a kids parade. Complete with Fire Dept and PD escort. This year we decorated Maggie's stroller and Emma walked her dog, Lilly, with her BFF Lydia. Emma seemed to have more fun w/ a friend to enjoy it with. They both walked at the very front and tried to get as close to the Fire Truck without actually touching it (fun I guess for a 9 year old) John walked Doba for half the route until Doba showed signs of needed a potty break and they RAN home. Mom and I pushed Maggie, and by this time carried Lilly, for the rest of the parade. Not to exciting but so fun every year. Maggie, I think, could have cared less.

Afterwards we hung out at the Manorwood clubhouse for some hot dogs and potluck goodies. The girls found some sidewalk chalk and decorated the sidewalk around the doorway.

At night we did some fireworks with the neighbors, as we usally do. All was good until about the wind kicked in and knocked over one of the fountains that John lit. It was a direct hit into the the crowd of us on the curb. It shot right between Maggie and I (I felt the heat of it as it zoomed past my face) it then hit one of my neighbors in the neck and exploded infront of him (and right behind Maggie). And then caught a blanket on fire. John hurdled over us and grabbed the blanket, by this time it also had a few glasses of wine on it from the other neighbors. It was scary but everyone seemed to be ok. My neighbor had a good burn on his neck but nothing he needed to go get looked at. We all sat back down, a little giddy about what just happened...and BINGO, happened again. This time we all scattered and no one got hit. That was it for me and the girls and we went home. Exciting as it was, we called it a night!

Lilly Duke Robertson

We would like to introduce Miss Lilly Duke Robertson. She is a 10 week old Schnauzer that Emma got on Sunday June 27. So far she is a very well behaved, fast learning puppy. She seems to have gotten over her fear of Doba but likes to chase the cats. We will see how long the cats play that game.

I have to get to doing this again..again.

I know I have said this before, but NOW I mean it!! So much has gone on and I wish I had the time and memory to come right it down on a weekly basis. Maybe I will now that its summer and my time isn't spent sleeping all the time.

In the past 5 months we have had a lot of changes. I had a birthday and turned 37 years old. It seems weird to say it, but I certainly don't feel it.

In April our beloved French Mastiff Duke passed away. It was sudden and he did it on his own terms. We love him still and think about him often. He was the BEST dog and I am not sure any dog will ever compare to him. April also brought us our first camping trip of the season. We enjoyed Belfair State Park with our camping friends Jill and Sean Patrick and family. No clams this year as the beaches on the penisula have closed for the summer to reharvest. Can't be upseat about that I suppose.

May brought us our family from Nebraska as my brother Bryan and his wife Tobie and kids all drove out to stay with the family for a week. We had a great time and made a lot of fun memories. I also ran in my first 50k relay from Mt Rainer to Ruston way. Bryan, Chad, Heather (chad's girlf), Jill, Vicki (from work) and my friend Kristin Tague were my teammates. We finished in 8:44 mins. Shew it was tough. The following week I ran in the Sound to Narrows 5k, hills suck- enough said.

June brought us a birthday girl as my baby Maggie Jane turned 3 years old. We celebrated with family and friends at Grandma and Grandpa Robertsons with a swimming party. We were lucky enough to have Bryan/Tobie and family in from Nebraska still for the party. We also welcomed a new little puppy to our family. After months of research and planning Emma got HER first dog. Lilly is a 10 week old Schnauzer puppy that we are all enjoying. Maybe not the cats but everyone else. Doba seems to be adjusting to her new SMALLER playmate after a first day near crushing! We also experienced an end of an era. My retired from Roman Meal after 31 years, it will be so nice to heve her home and being able to spend time with everyone. I am sure Dad will be happy to get out of the house more ofter.

So that brings us July...we will see what it has in store for us

Disection kit

I was lucky enought to score a disection kit- complete w/ fish,frog, worm and crawfish and all the goods to disect them, from a friend who does home schooling. Although I WAS NOT excited to take part in the disection I knew Emma and John would be. Emma thought it was pretty cool to have all the stuff infront of her and really enjoyed the entire process. Not once did I see her flinch or get grossed out. She cut, pulled, poked and peeled away most of that fish within an hour. She lost me at "hey Dad what do you think is inside his eyeball"? John replied, "I don't know lets take it out!" BARF Im out of here. I told her she was going to make some girl in High School very happy in their biology class when she doesn't have to do any work on disection day.

A very producitive weekend

What a beautiful mild winter we have had so far. No snow, bearly cold enough to even get out the heavy winter jackets. This weather combined with very little rain gives us no excuses to stay inside on the weekends. We had a busy Saturday of household chores. John cleaned out and organized the garage. I got my hair colored and cut by Mom and then came home to work in the front yard. I filled up one yard waste bin with half of the raking from the front "hill" and left overs from the front flower bed. I cleaned out and organized the storage bins in the camper, we must have left 29 pines in a hurry cause it was a mess. Maggie and Emma had a blast playing outside on their bikes and with sidewalk chalk.

I teased Emma that she was finally becoming a "real" little kids because at Grandma's she discovered how fun it was to climb a tree,(and fall out of one) and when we got home she FINALLY decided to try her bike. She must have grown a lot over the summer cause her feet can finally hit the ground. She is much more comfortable with this and decided it was time to GOOOOO! John watched her as she drove down the road to the far culd e sac. I think it was fun for her to be by herself and pretend that no one was watching that she was just out for a nice ride on her bike all by herself. Which of course will not happen!! ha

Sunday morning was still beautiful, a light rain, but nothing to stop us. Emma, still excited about her bike riding skills, asked to go on a ride. So we loaded up the bikes and Mags cart and rode down to a trail by the river in downtown Puyallup by Mama Stortini's. We rode the entire trail and then popped out in a residential area. Rode for a few more blocks and stopped at Stewart Elementary to play on the toys for awhile. After about 20 mins we loaded everyone back up and headed back to the car. Round trip about 3 miles.It was a long ride for all of us, my legs were feeling it on the way back. But I was so proud of Emma for doing the entire thing by herself with little complaining. Maggie was pretty good too, but was getting kinda bored locked up in her bike cage. All in all it was a great weekend. I hope that we continue to be active and get out of the house with the girls. Its so much fun.

No more diapers!

I have had it, I'm tired of changing poopy diapers. So Maggie wore her panties all day long, even to a birthday party at a jumpy house. No accidents. Even ran to the potty at one point and use the bathroom. Our only obstacle is pooping. She is afraid to go in the potty, not sure why. She will tell us when she is pooping and when she has to go but when its time to sit on the potty she wont go. She won't poop in her panites or if we leave her without anything on, so that was the plan. After about 4 trips back and forht to the potty in about 1 hr John had enough. He sat in there with her for about 20 mins reading her books (it is his child after all!) and finally WA LAAA! She was pretty excited about it and we all made a big deal about it dancing around and promised to go get her some big girl panties like Emma the next day.

Today we went and got some Dora panties, she was so excited and wore a pair for about 10 minutes and then had to change to a different pair. She hasn't had any accidents, even ran to the potty at one point yelling " I pee on Dora!" ahah. Haven't heard a poop report today but I am positive she won't go in her new panties!

Emma Jo's turning 9

Well Emma is officially nine years old. What a cliche' to say it but, where did the time go? I can't believe what a beautiful, funny, smart, interesting, and unique little girl she has become. The one thing that stands out about her getting older is that she really didn't want toys for christmas or her birthday. Don't get me wrong she still wanted her Webkins and stuffed animals but no little toys like last years. She wanted video games, books and clothes. What a big girl. It seems weird but we talked about it and she said that IS what she wanted. So there...no more toys for my big girl.
She is in the thrid grade and learning cursive writing and multiplications. She's having a bit of difficulty in her math but excelling with everything else. She is an above average reader and a classroom leader as well. She is on the student coucil board (voted in by her classmates) and meets with the pricipal and school president to discuss different things once a month. This really helped her convidence and I think will help her talking infront of a crowd (which she does not like) She continues to make new friends and hold onto the ones she has always gravitated to. Lydia, Austin, Nicole and Taliah are her #1's.
Last weekend she had her first multiple frnd sleepover, luckily it wasn't at my house, as they stayed up until 3am talking and watching movies. Fun to hear about the next day but I feel for the poor Dad that had to keep going out and telling them to be quiet and go to bed...hahah poor guy.
So another year in the books, hard to believe she is so big. And she is closer to driving than NOT! That is scary to realize.We have been so lucky to have her as our daughter, she is such a good kid and will make a great addition to society one day. I am very proud of her and love her will all my might.

Magi

I find it funny that no matter what I name my kids THAT name seems to all the sudden become popular! Maybe, just maybe Im a trendsetter? More likely I just notice things more because those are my kids names. For instance, there is a State Park over on the penisula name Jo Emma State Park, now that is just kinda creepy its so close. Emma thinks its funny thou, we have a picture of her with the sign when she was bout 3 but we have to get back there now that she can read it herself, she will crack up.

So this weekend we swung by the local Tacoma Boys produce stand to get some stuff for dinner, and more importantly to get some free yummy fruit samples, the kids were starving. And low and behold what is in the parking lot but THIS....

Rock on!

This was one of my sleepy days, it was acutally my first day back getting up with only a few hours of sleep to get Emma off to school. After a few hours of laundry and cleaning up the kithcen I caved and laid on the couch with Mags. She was on her 25,000th episode of Caillou (im not kidding!) and I was able to shut my eyes in between shows and catch a few z's. She must have got bored with the 25,001st episode cause she woke me up with the "rock on" symbol \m/ and got right up in my face and yelled..."MOMMOM....rock onnnn!" OK! thanks honey rock on to you too! Crazy kid!

New Years Resolution

This IS my new years resolution. I need to keep up with my blog for Maggie sake. I was so good at keeping up with the little things with Emma growing up that I need to get back on the wagon and keep a blog for Mags.

December has come and gone (and I didn't even get to decorate my page for Christmas-poo!) This is the year that Emma asked if "I was the ONLY one who put the presents under the tree" After a few minutes of dodgeing the question she said "Do u really think that there is a man who wears a red suit and flies in a sleigh with his "magical reindeers" and delivers presents to everyone one in one night?"..Uh ok ok the gig is up! But don't u ruin it for Maggie or anyone else at school. She is good keeping a secret so I am not worried. Acutally she did really well and enjoyed being part of the big secret!

All Mags wanted for Xmas was the movie Monster vs Aliens. She was very excited to go tell Santa this. The day we actually made it to our sorry ass Santa Claus she freaked out. She didn't cry but she certainly didn't want to be sitting on his lap let alone ask him for her movie. She braved out the picture with a big fake smile, but by the time we got home she realized she didn't ask santa for her movie she freaked out. She said I have to go back and started looking for her shoes..she would have started packing the car if I didn't stop her. I told her she could just leave him a note and after a few minutes of convincing she realized I was right and calmed down. Needless to say I had the movie in her pile of gifts since Black Friday and was sure she would be VERY happy when she unwrapped it. And indeed, her face lit up and she had a big smile on her face that morning. At least she still believes.

Maggie has also really started talking, making good sentences and big words. She surprises me sometimes on what she does know. She is really smart and hilarious. Just when I think I have her figured out she turns a corner and surprises me. One morning she actually woke up smarter, making big sentences and really being able to tell me what she wanted. We are all looking forward to a fun year of new adventures with her.

Emma is getting smarter and smarter as well. She really loves to read and has no problem reading every night in her bed before she falls asleep. She also started Judo at the YMCA and is very very good. For her small frame she can hold down the biggest kid in there, including me. Its hard to watch sometimes as she just sits there looking at me from the mat with this kid squirming underneath her..hahaha. She took two rounds of this but I decided to take one month off so she doesn't get burnt out.

John has been at Milam Mazda in Puyallup for about 3 months now. He seems to enjoy it, he works close enought to come home for lunch everyday and every other week can make it home so I don't have to take the kids to mom/dads house. Which is a nice treat for everyone. He has put a hold on testing for PD as he hurt his back early in December and has to recover from that. We will see if his back get strong enough to pass those sit ups for the physical test. Only time will tell.

I am still at Valley Comm working 911, for the past 10 years. This is the longest job I have had, and honestly I love it. I will be here as long as they allow me. I love the hours (believe it or not) it works for us. And I love the co-workers. It also allows me to catch up on my scrapbooking and what not. They have even set us up on the internet at each console and I enjoy chatting with Tobie online almost every night for a few hours. Makes me wish they were closer.

Thats us in a nut shell! I WILL keep this up for maggie and my mom, since she is the only other one that reads this! hahah Enjoy Mom,t hat was a long one!