I missed the bus and somehow found my way back on....

Man, yesterday was a hard day for me. It was supposed to be Porter's first day of riding the bus, but we completely missed it in the morning. We walked out of our house at 8:10 a.m. and looked down the street at the stop and saw the bus already there, the bus was not supposed to come until 8:15 a.m. We started to run down the street, which I can only imagine what that looked like (me and four kids, two of which were still in their pj's and Tessa was sporting her amazing morning hair). I immediately checked in with reality and decided we should turn around and head back home and just get in the van to drive to school. Porter was such a great sport and never complained about missing the bus, he understood that the bus was early and there was no way we could make it on time.

This little incident affected my whole day, as soon as we walked in the door from dropping him off at school I broke down crying. I felt like I had let him down and that I had failed him. I know that is not what happened at all, but at the moment, that is how I felt. It was also one of those moments where having four kids and just one parent home affected me, I was truly out-numbered. Had I not had to wake Tessa up and change her diaper, wake Marin up and put her in the car seat and get out the stroller, if I didn't have to get every ones jackets on them maybe I would have made it and we could have been early. But my life is what it is, have four children, 3 of which are girls who like to sleep in and get their beauty rest. So I have been asking myself, is riding the bus worth it? The answer is yes, of course, because Porter has always wanted to be a "bus rider".

I eventually got out of my funk and was ready to change the way the day was going. I picked up the house, did the laundry, picked up the kids rooms for them, and made the beds. While I was sitting on the floor of the girls room I got to thinking about my grandmother who lives in Cali, she has stage three cancer of the bladder. I have not seen my grandma in over two years and I miss her so much and have wished everyday since Marin Ruth was born that she could come and meet her. I decided to go to the computer and check to see how much it would cost to fly her out here. And what do you know Southwest was having a sale, and not just a sale, but a super duper sale!! I called grandma right away and sent a e-mail to my grandpa telling them my amazing find. I didn't really think anything of it. I mean my grandma is 79 years old...with cancer, yeah right she is going to come. But....a few hours later I got the call, she said "I think I can do that." And that was all it took, well, that and an American Express credit card. It is official, in December I will be having one of the most important visitors of my life and it will be a time I will forever cherish. My grandma thanked me on the phone for doing this for her, for finding the ticket, and while she was saying that I was just speechless. Was she really thanking me? I have no words for how I feel about her coming, maybe just one, JOY.

So, by the end of the day, I managed, to find my own way back on the bus. My ride was crazy for the day, I think there were some serious wrong turns, but it worked out, which things always do. And I am happy to report that Porter also got on the bus to ride home and I was there with the girls 10 minutes early to pick him up, oh, and this morning, we did not miss the bus.

The Sweetest Lemons....

This is my friend Lauralee and her new baby Rosalie...



She is married to Barak and they also have a little boy named Caleb...



He is all boy and loves sticks...



Lauralee is a great mother and amazing at all she does...



And I loved taking their family pictures today...



because they are all about having fun...

Caleb and La La part 2....

We wrapped up the trip with a treat night from Fragapanne, sleepover, apple picking and toe nail painting....


Caleb went to the bakery and chose almost one of everything as a surprise for the kids, it was so good!!


At the orchard.


Tessa loved looking out over the side, it was so beautiful!!


Only Caleb could lift someone to the top of the apple tree.


My girls


These scarecrows were pretty funky looking and Caleb could not resist.


Clearly we were all exhausted.


La La doing glitter toes, who knew there was a glitter fairy.


Caleb and some last minute snuggles.

So, I think it is pretty clear how much fun we had with our visitors. It just means so much that they would come all this way and spend their break time with us. Caleb and La La, I love you so much. You are so fun to be around, our kids are so lucky to have you as their aunt and uncle, thanks for some great memories.

La La and Caleb, part 1....

We have been having so much fun with Lauren and Caleb since they got here on Tuesday night. We have been playing games, bowling, shopping, sleeping, laughing, and EATING!


As soon as La La got to our house, she went right for Marin, and Marin was ready for her, full of smiles.


Caleb and Tessa watching P and C play Wii. Caleb made the mistake of petting Molly so now she follows him everywhere, he can't say I didn't warn him.


La La has been doing a lot of this, in fact, that is what is happening right now.


Caleb has been non stop playing with the kids. Porter found himself in quite the predicament here.


Playing outside with Caleb is too fun.


We took them for their first Malley's experience and it was amazing and very memorable. The waiter brought Porter his own sundae jar sized portion of fudge, it was hilarious, oh, and La La discovered their peanut butter cups.


The buds, yeah, and the U rocks.


Carlee got her birthday present from La La and Caleb, a charm bracelet.


We had to make a trip to Buffalo Wild Wings, here are the girls waiting for the food.


We were all very hungry (even though we had desert just minutes before).


I think they were a little full.


Carlee has been asking for a year to go bowling, we were going to take her for her b-day, but she wanted to wait for L and C so we went last night.


Tessa kept running back and forth behind the bench trying to scare us.


Tessa's first time bowling.


Marin has been watching her hands.

Today has been so much fun too. Lauren and I went to H & M just us and I got two super cute sweaters. It was so weird to be able to browse all the clothes for an hour. I made a BBQ chicken braid for dinner and now we are getting ready for the sleepover. We are all really tired, but I just can't stop, I want to be having fun all the time.

Her Dream Come True....

Andy made Carlee's dream come true today when he took her horseback riding. A doctor he works with offered for her to come and ride for her birthday and Andy jumped on that right away. He took her this afternoon after church and surprised her. She had the best time of her life and did not want to get off "Story". Andy was told that we are in trouble, that most kids her age ride and are tired and want to go home. Not Carlee girl, she just wanted to get on the next horse.

Updated....

Our most recent family picture is now up to date, with baby Marin we are complete.

K Family....

This is such a cute family and I was so excited to take their pictures. Andy has a history with the hubby and wifey, he was best friends with their younger brothers and it is so weird that they now live in the same city as us. So anyway, headed down the park on the beach and snapped away. Here are some results....

Andy is 32 and Carlee is 5....

Andy is feeling old because he has a first grader, I have been hearing him say that a lot lately. He should be feeling old because he is 32 now which is almost forty (just kidding, it is an inside joke). Anyway, I think Andy had a good b-day, it included getting a deer tag, getting some great b-day cards in the mail, and dinner at the Olive Garden.

Carlee is five today and I cannot beleive it. This is the first year that I did not have a b-day party for her, but she still had a ton of fun. She started out her day going to "pre-school" and Sara had written 5's all over her front window and had a birthday sign hanging, it was so cute. Then her friend Ella took her for ice cream (thanks Kim), and then she came home and opened her big present....a big girl Barbie bike!! Andy hurried and put it together so we could walk and pick P up from school. On our way home we stopped at the new skate park which is so fun and Porter has been dying to use his Razor there. I immediately got on making dinner so that we could have cake and celebrate. Carlee wanted a Barbie cake so I surprised her with this....



needless to say she loved it. Here she is on her bike, it is such a cute bike and deserves a blog post of it's own.



We had a great past couple of days. I love my little family. Dinner was so fun tonight when we were talking to Carlee asking her all of her favorite things (movie, dinner, place, etc.) Then I was reminded by KayLee of this funny video that I posted forever of Carlee, it is one of my favorites of her, she is so little and cute. Where does the time go?