first day of school x2

sending two kiddos off to school this year.  it's bittersweet.  i'm not a big fan of the first day of school, because it interrupts my summer. but once they go, i realize how nice it is to have things a bit less hectic at home, and very soon i am wishing my K kid would be going to school 5 days a week instead of 3.  funny how that happens. ;)

i am a bit of a dork (i blame my mother who also liked to do this) and put my girls in matching outfits.  i love picking out fresh "first day of school" outfits for them and decided that they would be ooooh sooo cute in matching plaid skirts, white knee socks and polos.  and they were. except my eldest had a complete break-down a few days before school started as she did not actually want to match her younger sister. they had been picking out matching outfits all summer, declaring each day as "monkey shirt day" or "black day" or whatever else they could find that looked similar.  apparently they did not give me the memo that matching in public is not cool.   so not wanting to start the school year off with tears i gave in to my eldest and let her pick out something else to wear.   oh well, i figure i still have a few years left of putting the younger two in matching outfits :)

yay for 2nd grade!

grandma d was even here to see them off

sigh, the oooh sooo cute outfit on my K kid :)

buddies.  in non-matching outfits.  (sniff)

haircuts

whew, done with the grand adventure, next big thing that happened in our household (that i have pictures of apparently, every day has important things though, right?)

grandma d stayed with my sis in rock valley for a week and then came to our place for a week... so we had good family time but apparently i did not take my camera out much cause there is not much from her visit (sorry mom!)  BUT i did get pictures of miss j's first haircut:

Before (big sis was getting a haircut too)

during (pretty serious stuff)

blow drying was a bit freaky

big sis all done ;)

all done! (still serious stuff apparently)

the grand adventure home

ugh, i really should not be on the computer right now, much less updating my blog.  i need to be reviewing the lesson for youth group tonight, finishing laundry, reading homework with dd#1, "30 day shredding"  and scrubbing bathrooms since babysitters will be here tonight.... oh well. priorities, right?  

so real quick, last post of vacation:

my mom rode back with us which filled every seat belt available in our nerdy cargo topped mini-van hot ride.  my husband is an AMAZING packer and managed to fit an incredible amount of stuff into the cargo topper, but still there was very little space inside the van.  we decided not to push it as hard on the way back and planned to stop two nights instead of just one. 

some highlights and memories of the trip:

apparently we were supposed to holler out each major scenic sight as my mom was too engrossed in either her book or her grand kids and stated that she had missed several on the first day ;)  WE (hubs and i) however saw each one as we were able to stay in the front seat and not have to climb to the back every 3 minutes to deal with children's needs.  YAY for having Grandma D with on the trip! : p

first stop - rest area somewhere past Stevens Pass

map reader...

"What's new Scooby Doo? We're coming after you, we're gonna solve that myster-y..."

lunch stop, Eastern WA

on both nights we went swimming at the hotel

my view of miss baby... thanks baby Ian for sharing your mirror with us! it was very much appreciated :)

aahhhh, it was so peaceful in the van during these times

more peaceful moments

bendaroos from Grandma D = fun times :)

this cookie sheet was THE best thing (i think) that i took along.  different magnet sets along with the cookie sheet were a big hit for miss J

pretty much an awesome trip! the first day was GORGEOUS weather, the second day, not so much.  it rained pretty much the whole day and that put a bit of a damper on our plans to picnic at rest areas.  our stops included a Walmart parking lot and a McDonalds.  our hotels were awesome and we met some really neat people the second night who were on a mission trip in Wyoming.  the last day through South Dakota was filled with motorcycles and RV's (hauling trailers with motorcycles) since it was Sturgis week.  i have NEVER seen so many vehicles in South Dakota at one time in my life!  craziness.  but kind of entertaining too ;)

so ends the road trip vacation posts.  looking forward to doing this many many more times!

shredded

quick update on the 30 day shred...

i finished it this morning and am a little giddy with myself for actually doing this for 30 days straight.  no days off. none. woot!

my results were pretty good... not exactly what i was hoping for but i am still happy with it.   i lost about 3-4 pounds (i was REALLY hoping to see more loss in this department).  i took my measurements each week and from start to finish i lost 11.5 inches total.  most of that was in my waist area and a little bit everywhere else.  YAY!

so the plan is... I am taking the weekend off.   THEN i am going to start the whole thing over again and am hoping to add a few days a week of doing Leslie Sansone's Walk & Jog as well.  I really think i need to add more cardio exercise into this in order to see some more pounds drop. 

okay, that is all.  ;)

still {hearting} my family

i really need to speed up these posts if i want to actually catch up to the present time. 

so on to the next vacation segment.  more family time.  we stayed at my mom's condo, the girls were spoiled rotten as is a grandma's prerogative and i would have it no other way, it was a great time.

she got her quilt! it is amazingly beautiful, thanks grandma d!

so big! the 13th grandchild to use this neeeearrrly 50 year old high chair :)

relaxing with a healthy snack.  thanks aunt yvonne.

miss baby turned 8 months while we were there... my mommy brain no longer allows me to remember milestones since this was more than one week ago ;) 

this was a saturday that the van dalen kids were avoiding chores at home.... bottoms permanently glued to the couch watching scooby doo.

beautiful sunday!

bubbles



the old trike



breakfast of champions... cap'n crunch berries and waffles (sugar anyone?)
i think my dd #1's face is showing signs of sugar overload

my beautiful sisters

ready to travel with the traveling gnome :)

I still {heart} my family

an evening at Birch Bay...

tradition is that when someone from "a far" is visiting there is a bbq at Birch Bay.  this creates an easy way for everyone to see the visitors and less "visits" to make by the visitors as well.  (win-win situation, yay!)

almost everyone was able to make it to this particular evening which was awesome.  weather was gorgeous too.  tons of yummy food and even better company.