Spring Fever

Yesterday was such a great day out. We worked outside on the front yard and Hans(Mario) cut some beautiful flowers for me. Too bad there were from the neighbors yard. I think I will really love this town come summer. This was across the street after school yesterday. That's not even the full crowd. What a difference from 700 East in SLC. We had people just walk by and say hi and Pete even had someone stop and chat with him about the bus.
Here is our house in all its glory. First time out with the lawn mower. I cannot wait for summer.

Weekend

This weekend was kind of a strange one. Oscar had a sleepover at someone elses house for the first time. Siobhan was actually home without a friend. Olive spent the weekend playing on her own. Much to my pleasure she has become very interested in her dolls. All of the kids have their own walk in closet that they have put all their toys in and Olive has had a lot of fun in hers.
Cinderella had no time for play because she had work to do. Sanding and scrubbing, her mean stepfather taught her a lesson about investing in your future. But what results! Only four more years until she will be able to enjoy the fruits of her labor. It should be mentioned that Siobhan worked for about an hour and that was appreciated. Pete on the other hand spent about 4 on Saturday night and 8 yesterday. He did an awesome job.
Working on the bus should drive up stock on Rainier Ale and Olympia.

Also, as an afterthought. I love to see what I can find when I google our names. My favorite is when I find Magstatic stuff. This is what I love to read. Makes me feel special.

Capitol City

Part of moving here was my plan to "Discover Washington". So far we have been too busy with buying a house and moving and all that business. So Sunday we went to our states capitol, Olympia. I really like it. The capitol is beautiful and the town is really cute. I am looking forward to when mom gets here to explore it (i.e. shop). Pete was wise and said it would be more fun without four kids, also, there was a Volkswagen just waiting for him to tinker with. It is nice to be back by the water and makes me feel right at home. It's fun to introduce Hans and Olive to things that I grew up with. Like barnacles, (a little much Spongebob?)

I think Hans feels right at home as well. Seems they alerted the town to his presence.
On an additional note, did I mention that my mom will be here in two weeks for Easter and spring break. No, I hadn't? Well, did I also mention that both of my sisters will be here as well? How about my mother in-law? Last count I figure that at 16 people here for Easter. The Easter miracle is that Pete is not stressed about it at all and is really excited to have our mothers here. So am I. Dad and Sharon, you should get in on this action. Bill Murray will be here.......

Drivers Wanted.

I don't know when I last saw Pete so excited for something. Luisa happened to mention, a month or so ago, that her landlady had a bus in her backyard. She had already gotten rid of one and was looking to unload the other. I mentioned it to Pete and we have not stopped pestering Luisa since. Last night all his wildest dreams came true and he waited on the front porch until he saw his next years worth of frustration and joy coming down the street on the flatbed. He absolutely cannot wait to pimp this ride. We are all excited to ride in this baby once it's done. It's funny that Pete and I are both nostalgic having grown up with this car in our families ourselves. The kids however think it's cool that it's like the car in Little Miss Sunshine. I hope we someday have the chance to drive our own Olive to California to compete. I think I will pull out my Superfreak album today.
So this is it. A new Volkswagen in our family. We could not be more delighted.

A little sewing

I have missed all my sewing projects and have been kind of lost without projects to obsess over. Olive and Hans have missed the buttons. I used to love to go through my mothers buttons and apparently this has been passed on to my kids. So today we took out a couple of jars. I wanted to make this hat for Christmas but during packing one piece went missing so I never was able to start it. During the last week I found all the pieces and today I made this hat. I started it for Olive but Hans really liked it. I think it looks good on both of them. I think I'll try one in corduroy. Now I guess I should start on Easter projects.

A Sheppard kind of weekend

This weekend my sister Alexandra and my brother in- law David came for a visit from Portland. I think it was the first time since Alex and Davids wedding that we were all together. It was also the first time I have had both my sisters over at MY house. It was kind of a different feel to be here together without one of our parents but Pete said that there was a definite Sheppard feel to the evening and that it felt like being at my moms. That made me happy. I had a really good time together and it was so nice to be with my family. I hope that Luisa and Alex felt the same. After all my planning to be closer to my sisters it has finally come to fruition. Now the only thing left is for my mom to get here. We miss you mom.

Coming up Daffodils

It has been so fun to see what is coming up in the garden now that spring is getting near. Our neighbor said that we have a lot of great roses and some really nice shrubs that will bloom. As we were talking along the side of my house Hans brought me these. My first two flowers! Daffodils are my favorite and I also noticed we have quite a few Crocus coming up.

On another subject I want to talk about one of the best commercials I have ever seen. I LOVE commercials. Pete is always amazed at how easily I am amused by them. This is one of my favorites. Pete just bought me the CD with this song on it and I am so excited for it to get here. You may have heard that there is a sitcom in the works for the cavemen and I am glad that we now have cable. Anyway this commercial amused even Pete. The best part is when they are at church. If there are people that actually use these at church even I might start going.

Steppin' into the garden

Sunday was a pretty nice day out so we started working in the garden. The kids are so excited about it. Last year Siobhan and Oscar weren't with us until we had already planted and they are happy to be in at the ground level. They worked really hard and have spent all their extra time outside. Hans has collected a massive amount of worms ,which they are looking at in this photo. Olive has eaten a large amount of the worms and I am considering sending in her application for Fear Factor except I don't think they make skimpy outfits for kids her age.

Pete has ordered seeds and we are excited to get planting and to see what grows for us this year in our new climate. I am hoping we can grow some these "mom and dad" carrots. I don't know what's better. That we noticed this or that we actually took the time to photograph them. Either way I sure do love this blog.

I love you Craigslist

Since I met Pete we have sat down at the table to eat our dinner every night. Since we have moved we have been without a table and it has felt really unsettled and I have missed sitting down as a family every night. Kim had kindly given us our last table but we had kind of outgrown it so we decided to look for a new one. I was a little worried about finding something we would like and could afford. So, I turned to my old friend Craigslist (not to be confused with Craiglist which deals solely in more adult matters). A week later we have a large table, an extra leaf and 8 chairs!! $150.00!! The best part is that they were drop seats so I was able to indulge in my longing to recover some chairs (Pete was a huge help thanks to his past in furniture repair). I am really happy with it. I also finished our curtains for our bedroom (don't mind the messy bed)......

One last thing to add to this weeks accomplishments. Luisa bought Olive this darling outfit. You can't tell in the picture but there is an apron front with pockets that ties around the back. Olive has refused to put it on until yesterday. So here is a picture for you Luisa. See how happy she is, she's thinking of Auntie.

Pete and his shadow.

It's been kind of a rough few days for me so I want to post something that has brought me endless enjoyment. A few months back I was working on a new sewing project and I wanted to get the kids profiles. I had them sit on the floor in front of the wall when the sun was shining. I thought Oscars was a little off but thought "Well, he has a Roche nose."

Then I had Hans sit for me. Could he really be that slack jawed?
After alerting Pete to these odd silhouttes he took mine. I know my nose could not be that pointy! Could it? Pete said that because the sun was coming from the side and behind us it was just distorting our profiles. I still was not sold on the theory so I had to take Petes.

If he was wrong we have some serious problems. How did the wicked witch swap her profile for Petes? And why is she so happy! Look at those glasses! They are HUGE. Kind of like the wicked witch with a twist of Elton John. Anyway, this picture never fails to amuse me, hope you enjoy it as much as I do.