Welcome to the Digital World

I have been wanting a digital camera forever, almost as long as I've wanted new kitchen flooring (which we should be ordering in the next few weeks). Rick has an amazing professional type camera, which has really intimidated me, not to mention the weight of it, that thing is a beast. Anyway, after looking at them online, and holding one at Best Buy, we found it at Costco (Rick's favoritest store). It was a package deal, including 2 lenses and a camera bag. When we got home, we looked it up online and saved ourselves $30 by getting it at Costco. Not the huge deal we thought, but that's fine by me. I've been playing with it a little, and Rick took a few pictures at Abby's party. Now I need to figure out how to get the pictures from my camera to the computer.

Birthday Wishes

I mentioned in the last post that 3 of our 4 kids were having birthdays. Yesterday we celebrated Abby's 8th birthday. Tomorrow night we continue the celebration by having a party with several friends at Pietro's Pizza. Then on May 5th, Abby will be getting baptised. I can't believe that my little girl is now 8. Time goes amazingly fast! Fun presents-20 questions electronic game, an electronic tomigochi (sp?), a cute dress to wear to her Baptism and more!

Michelle turned 4 on April 4th. We had a fun family party, Michelle was so cute and her excitement was contagious. She kept telling me that I needed to take her shopping for a birthday present. Fun presents-a new tea set, a cute outfit, princess books and more!

Peter can barely wait for his birthday next week. He keeps telling me his birthday is on May seventh, sounds quite similar to second. He also keeps mentioning all his friends names as a subtle hint as to who needs to be invited to his party. I need to finish shopping for him, must buy more train tracks, Thomas is in need.

After having a small party at MacDonald's a large party at Pietro's tomorrow, I'm feeling rather birthday-ed out. Any ideas for an easy friend Party for Peter?

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Last week we went clam digging, again. Rick is planning to go again in May. We got to spend an afternoon with Anna and her cute boys. Rick's sister, Marianne, her husband Dean and one of their sons, Brady came out the next day. It is so fun to be able to see family!

Here is my to do list. I need a bit of motivation since the nap is calling to me!

1. laundry, finishing washing, fold, PUT IT AWAY!
2. straighten up
3. get kids papers sorted and put away. (it's fun when teachers send home all their work for the past quarter, but wow, that's a lot to deal with at once!)
4. Clean, cook and freeze large clams
5. take a shower (to wash off the clam smell)
6. take a nap
7. get to work on time (2pm!)
8. 6pm, rush home from work
9. make dinner
10. help Abby with homework
11. give kids a bath
12. read to kids
13. put kids to bed

YIKES too much to do. Maybe I'll take a nap first!

28 Days of Celebration

Woo hooo, let the parties begin! Tomorrow is the first of many celebrations for our family. It seems that most of our family has a birthday in the next few weeks. This is what our calendar looks like, my family (mom, sister, nieces) will be in pink, Rick's family (niece and nephew) will be in blue, our kids will be in red.

April
4-Michelle's Birthday(4), Brady's Birthday (19), Katie's Birthday (1!)
5-Iris's Birthday (2)
6-Stevanie's (16) Birthday
8-Our 13 Anniversary!!! Easter
9-Grammy McBride's Birthday
15-Erin's Birthday (19)
24-Abby's Birthday (8)
26-Emily's Birthday (6)
May
2-Peter's Birthday (6)

Hey family, if I've missed anyone or put a wrong date, let me know!

Clam Diggity

Last week we headed up to the Puget Sound to go clam digging. This is a family favorite activity. Rick really enjoys vacations where he works as hard as he does while in the orchard. Abby enjoys digging the clams, and had gotten to be a good clammer. Peter loves to dig and play in the water. Michelle likes to look for pretty shells and hold worms. I enjoy clam digging, but mostly just like being together as a family.

The day of the departure found me up early, with everything ready, ON TIME! We shoved the last of our stuff into our travel trailer only to find that we couldn't find the keys to the travel trailer. We spent many hours tearing apart our house. We looked in little worn jackets, under the washing machine, deep in the junk drawer, in sock drawers. We looked through my mother-in-laws house, the barn. Any and every place we could think of. Finally Rick looked in our van, and quickly located the missing set of keys. Rick asked my hours earlier to look there, but it was locked up, with the keys safely put away. Plus I was busy sweeping up the dust bunnies I found under the washing machine.

We made it to the campsite safely, and enjoyed several fun days filled with rain, clam digging, good food and math bingo. Rick's sister, brother-in-law and niece came over one afternoon. They helped as we shucked oysters, and gave the kids some cool flashlights.

One morning while Rick was visiting with our neighboring campers, I decided to start the propane grill. I couldn't get the long lighter to light, so I leaned in to watch a little closer and POOF. I smelled burning hair, and quickly felt to see if I still had eyebrows. I dashed inside to take a look in the mirror. Fortunately I still have eyebrows and eyelashes, they just aren't quite as long as they were. So long bushy eyebrows. The bangs that have recently grown back after having Cristine are once again short and sticking up, but I still have hair. Rick is still laughing at me.

Fortunately the lost keys and hair loss were the only mishaps. We had so much fun, we voted to return in April. Sarah and Anna do you guys want to meet us with us?

Happy Birthday Grampie

My sisters Wendy and Mary always have the funnest pictures and blogs celebrating our families birthday's.

Happy Birthday Grampie! Congratulations on being 24 again!
love you dad!
Heather

Overheard

My two big girls were playing. Abby told Michelle: We don't have to pay for anything here, because this is the FREE-dom.

What exactly are they teaching these kids in public school?

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The SuperNanny is in Portland looking for problem families. Should I volunteer my family, or nominate the scary mom who screams at her kids each time she is in the store? A co-worker and I discussed this and decided that there are at least 4 families we see on a regular basis who we'd like to nominate. Do they take anonimous tips? They make my lack of vegitable consumption seem very minor!
Heater

Bit O'Bragging

Here's a quick update on what our kids have been up too:

Abby-performed a Hula in our ward's talent show (Wendy, I think she's ready to visit-maybe your girls can give her some needed tips on moving her hips).

Her 2nd grade class gets to go swimming for the next 2 weeks (how come Sonoma School never let us use the nice indoor pool on the same property?).

Peter-threw-up on the bus yesterday, adding another fun stop on our family's puke tour. He is learning to read, and it is fun to listen to him spell, fan, pan, ran, can, rat, pat, hat etc. He loves the book Chicka-Chicka-Boom-Boom and has been re-illustrating it, pages can be found allover our house.

Michelle-gave her first talk in Primary. She was so cute, spoke loud and clear, even though the microphone was broken. I am looking for more easy, kid friendly talks that go along with this year's Primary theme, post them to the comments if you have any!

Cristine-is now folding her arms when we pray, and mumbles her own words, throws her arms up, saying 'ahhh' and claps. She is starting to talk, saying 'ashe ashe la la down' (from Ring-Around-the-Rosie).

Rick-has been out pruning the last week or so, he's almost finished with all the big cuts, then the workers will shape the trees. Since my blog name is Orchard Girl, I plan on taking a few pictures of what is happening outside my door. I think we get to help in gathering up the brush.

Me-my headaches have almost disappeared and I got over the same stomach flu Peter had. This weekend I am taking a SCUBA course. I'm excited, but worried. I keep worrying that I'm not retaining any of the stuff I'm reading about, or I'll have a major cramp in my legs that keeps me from passing the course. Yikes! Wish me luck!

Heather