Weekend activities.....

OK so I don't seem to be great about blogging in a timely matter, so here is what has been happening the past couple of weekends.

Aaron's parent were married 50 years on September 14th. All the boy and I took them to Seattle for the weekend, ate dinner at the Space Needle (Sky City). Aaron & I
Shawn & Mike
Mom and Dad Crittenden
Our special dessert....the Lunar Orbiter....so cool!

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For lunch the nest day we went to the Crab Pot, and had the SeaFest.....this is where they cover your table in paper, and dump your food on the table. A little messy but really fun! Take note of the soooo cute bibs we all wore :)

Dominick tried out for the "competitive" soccer team (MVSC) earlier this summer, he made the Keizer league, and they have been practicing since July, and just started their games. Much tougher, stricter rules, etc. But he LOVES it! Go SCORPIONS!!

7 random things

1. refuse to compromise my values for others

2. only a few more days until the weekend

3. feel sad when I realize how quickly my kids are growing up

4. listened to Savannah's Ipo (need to get my own)

5. suddenly obsessed with CSI (doesn't matter which one anymore NY, Miami, etc.)

6. afraid my kids will have to grow up in a violent, cruel world if things continue the way they are headed

7. lost without my cell phone and laptop

abc questions

A. Attached or single? Married and glad to be

B. Best friend? I have many best friends....Aaron, Angie, Amanda, Julie, etc.

C. Cake or Pie? Neither, I could live without eating either

D. Day of Choice? Any day my husband isn’t deployed

E. Essential item? Laptop

F. Favorite color? Yellow

G. Gummy bears or worms? Mini gummy bears

H. Hometown? Lebanon

I. Indulgence? Getting nails done

J. January or July? July

K. Kids? Two wonderfully great ones (Savannah & Dominick)

L. Life isn’t complete without? Diet Dr Pepper

M. Marriage date? 8 September 1990

N. Number of brothers and sisters? 1 sister and 0 brothers

O. Oranges or apples? Granny smith apples

P. Phobias? Driving over bridges

Q. Quotes? "Never say more than is necessary."

R. Reasons to smile? Because I have a husband who loves me, and two awesome kids

S. Season of Choice? Summer

T. Tag some peeps: Hmmm….how about Amanda, Karen, and Angie

U. Unknown fact about me? I keep secrets, they ruin lives

V. Vegetable? Salads please

W. Worst habit? Being on the computer when I should be doing housework

X. X-ray or Ultrasound? What a weird question. depends what for, X-ray I guess

Y. Your favorite food? Seafood

Z. Zodiac sign? Gemini

Countdown List

Countdown List

10 Things I Want to Do Before I Die
-Lose weight
-Take another great family vacation
-Go on a cruise
-See my kids grow up, get married & be happy
-Get caught up on scrapping
-Travel with my husband
-Add on to our house
-Retire
-Go to DisneyWorld
-See my grandchildren

9 Places I Last Spent Money
-Shell gas station (gas)
-Alaskan Sourdough Bread Company (sourdough bread)
-The Crap Pot (lunch)
-The Daily Grill Lounge (drinks)
-Sky City (dinner)
-Space Needle gift shop (sweatshirt)
-the Daily Grill Coffee Shop (hot chocolate)
- Ivar's (lunch)
- Millersburg Store (milk)

8 Sounds I Routinely Hear Around My House
-Laughing
-Oboe prctice (Savannah)
-"Thank you"
-"Excuse me"
-Snoring (Aaron)
-"May I please be excused"
-Don't touch me
-TV
-"I love you!"

7 Real Restaurants Where I Last Ate Out
-The Crap Pot
-SkyCity (at the Space Needle)
-Ivar's
-Subway
-Applebee's
-Mongolian Grill

6 Things I've Recently Scratched Off My To-Do List:
-Laundry
-Finish planning trip to Las Vegas
-Organized trip to Seattle
-Bought wedding present
-Make an eye dr appt
-Made Dominick's ortho appt




5 People I Don't Know by would Like to Hang Out With
-Cowtown Stacy
-Goodie
-Meg Y'all
-Nancy D
-Sue

4 Songs That Make Me Happy
-Miss New Booty by Bubba Sparxxx
-Drift Away by Uncle Kracker
-All I Want to Do by Sugarland
-You Can't Stop The Beat from the Hairspray soundtrack

3 Things I Hate To Do
-Scrubbing the bathrooms
-Confrontation
-Public speaking

2 Things I'm Really Good At:
-Organizing
-Supporting my kids

1 Bad Habit
-Not living a healthier lifestyle

About me...

Outside my Window... It's sunny with a hint of dust. The farmers are plowing up the fields, getting ready for fall. The birds are feeding on the worms in our freshly watered yard.

I am thinking...that I don't know what I am making for lunch, how nice it is to have Mimi potty trained, and why do kid's always fight over the people in the lego box, because there is tons of them.

From the learning room...well our kids go to public school, so there are learning there.

I am thankful for...my family & friends, that me and my husband have stable jobs, and that we do not live in a state full of natrual disasters. All in all........LIFE IS GOOD!

From the kitchen... YOYO, Your on your own........Savannah and Aaron will be at gymanstics, Dominick and I home. Who knows what he wants, think I will have taco salad.

I am wearing...Navy athletic shorts, navy t-shirt That's all the detail you want, right? heehee!

I am reading...Nothing at the moment, life has been so busy since school started.

I am hoping...That I can find rest for my mind. I'm prone to worry and anxiety. Life is so busy between now and March. Not much down time, or time to rest & relax.

I am creating... A costume for Dominick for his part in the Grammer Island.

I am hearing...The today show, and the sound of my daycare kids playing with the Legos and Peyton's little man voice as he talks to the animals.

One of my favorite things...Wathcing my favorite TV shows in the evenings without having to think about anything for that brief period of time. I also love driving alone in the car with the windows down and my music blasting, singing at the top of my lungs! Especially now that Savannah is to cool for me to do that in front of her. :(

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...Prepare minutes from the meeting last night, pack for Seattle, wash and vacuum car since we are taking everyone in it to Seattle, get kids packed for their weekend plans, wash soccer uniform, buy Kacie's birthday present, oh the list goes on and on.

Foods

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.

1. Game from an animal that someone in your family killed. Daddy used to hunt.

2. Ice cream from a dairy farm that makes their ice cream on the premises. Bonus points if you can eat your ice cream and see the herd of cows that it came from.

3. Wild berries that you find, pick and eat yourself. We have blackberries in the backyard.

4. Something deep-fried that was never meant to be deep-fried.

5. Pizza from a NY City pizzeria that's at least 40 years old.

6. Bread made from scratch, still warm from the oven.

7. Food from a street vendor. Bonus points if you and that vendor don't share a language in common. Those Churro things in Mexico.

8. Fish you have caught and cleaned yourself.

9. Birthday cake (and frosting!) from scratch.

10. Salad from someone's garden. We have tomatoes in our garden, and Talley gave me lettuce from her's this year.

11. Homemade salad dressing.

12. Baseball park food. Bonus points for a Fenway Frank. Beer doesn't count. Went to 3 Volcanoes games this year.

13. Homebrewed beer. I don't drink beer.

14. Something baked in an EZ-Bake Oven. Oh what we do for our kids!

15. Slab bacon from a butcher shop or meat market.

16. Real maple syrup.

17. Astronaut ice cream (purchased from a gift shop on a school field trip, if possible).

18. Something you didn't think you would like, but you tried anyway. Hate to try new stuff.

19. Yuengling beer. I still don't like beer.

20. Mastroianni Brothers bread

21. Bueon Y Sano burrito

22. Guiness draft. That still goes under the I don't like beer section.

23. Haggis (not for taste, for bragging rights!) What in the heck is this?

24. Beets

25. Avocado

26. At least 10 different kinds of sushi

27. Something you've grown from seed

28. Something with the head still attached when it was served. Ewww gross!

29. Crawdads/Crayfish (Bonus points if you caught/cleaned them yourself). Though not in many years.

30. Alcohol that was older than you were. I doubt it.

I guess I am a pretty boring eater/drinker. But that is ok with me :)

What is your favorite color.....

A blog challenge from Sarah..........

What is your favorite color and why.....Add a picture so we can get the "feel" for your favorite color.

My favorite color is not so much a color but a set of colors.......

RED / WHITE / BLUE

I love the look of these colors together, an what they mean. I am patriotic, I am an American, and I am proud.

What's yours?

18th Anniversary

We decided to head out to the Grand Lodge for our anniversary this year. Angie/Eric kept the kids and dog for us (thank you again!).



It is an old Masonic Lodge/Orphanage that now is a McMenamins hotel. It was strange, eerie, but fun. We saw a live performance by Kate Mann and caught the 9:30pm movie (Wanted) at the Compass Room Theater. It was not not to have to leave to do anything once we got there. Especially because Aaron enjoys their beer so much :)

We saw 2 different weddings happening on the grounds that day, it was fun to think back to the days before our wedding, and what we were doing 18 years ago. ahhhh......the memories!



OK, so self portraits our not or specialty, especially after a few drinks, but this was the best of the bunch..... :(

We are headed to Seattle in 2 weeks (to celebrate my in-laws 50th anniversary), maybe we will try for a great picture from the top of the Space Needle then when we have someone else to take one.

1st day of school 2008

September 2nd, 2008

Dominick the 5th grader at his last year at Clover Ridge. They are building a new school so he will go to Timber Ridge for middle school (as long as they get it done). He will not attend the same school as Savannah until he is a freshman and she a junior.

September 3rd, 2008

Savannah the 7th grader at NAMS ( I am no longer allowed to take pictures except for at home, so in front of the Magnolia tree it is.)

Summer of 2008

Gee......summer is over and I have posted NOTHING of worth about it. Seems like we were running, running, running all summer. So here is a brief overlook.

Early June: School ended, Savannah fractured her foot, but you should have read all about that.
It did not heal well, and they wanted to re-x-ray it, that still showed a fracture, so 2 more weeks of no tumbling, and when summer finally ended. She was cleared to tumble........what a waste of summer gymnastics tuition. Oh well, she got lots of condition in.

Savannah marched in the Strawberry Festival parade with her band (Her with the Oboe, and Mackie (her best friend) playing the clarinet.

Dominick tried out for the U11 competitive soccer team in late June, and he didn't make the team. BUT he made the U12 team :) So he has been practicing 2x a week most of the summer (his first game is this weekend 9/13) Though I don't have any pictures yet, because a friend of his takes him and Dad picks him up.


Aaron washed the dog :)

The Dominick broke out the slip and slided a lot!

Savannah received a trophy for the Most Improved gymnast from her coaches at their end of the year banquet.


June 30th : Carey, Brianna & Austin fly in from New Hampshire for 3 weeks.....we had so much fun! We were sad to see them go!
We took group pictures.

We lit lots and lots of fireworks........these are just a few of them :)

Scarlett showed how patriotic she was
Glow stick fashions.
We attended the newly revamped Timber Carnival (which Aaron and I attended at kids) and saw some great sawing, and log rolling in addition to the new Timberman (to be named someday hopefully)

We attended 3 Keizer Volcanoes baseball games over the summer.

We went to OMSI and saw the dinosaur exhibit (way to get fierce Dominick!)

We went to OMSI and even went on the submarine tour.....kinda dark, damp and really smelly!

We rented a house in Pacific City for 4 days with our great friends the Harter family!

We watched the sunset in Pacific City

We too the Tillamook Cheese Factory Tour.
Seaside Promenade



We took a 4 person bike ride along the eugene waterfront park.



We quietly (per his request) celebrated Aaron;s 40th birthday.

Aaron took the kids camping at Yellowbottom. And they actually got along wonderfully! : )

They also got to go to Wunderland (the nickle arcade, and Dominck's favorite hang out)My mother came in August for 3 weeks.

She took the kids (and Savannah's friend Dani) to the Enchanted forest.

Leave it to the two gymnasts to do handstands in the crooked mans house .

The kids and their friends swam and swam and swam!

We went camping........believe it or not. But there were showers there :) (My firend Angie, Mimi )her daughter) and me by the campfire)

The kids loved floating down the rapids near the campground.
I enjoyed sitting with my feet in the water, reading a book and soaking up the sun :)

Well, long story short, that was our summer. Hope you all had a great one!