date days & school days

date days & school days

with some of the expander trauma (see the orthodontist post), i decided torrey could use a mommy/daughter date day. so we went out for her first ever pedicure & manicure. it was pretty dang cute. i had my fixed 50mm lens on, so i couldn't get the whole shebang from the chair next door, but i could get this one. :) we hit the scrapbook store, and picked her up some goodies, and had dinner together. i love these kind of days!

our piggies.

my second attempt at this hairdo. i was much more successful this time around. it's amazing how much easier they are the second time around. i'm trying to speedily get this post up since at midnight (in 30'ish minutes) the power to all of camano island is going out. they're building a new bridge onto the island, and have to move the main power lines. so please don't mind my hurried typing. :)

yesterday was a busy day at school. there is so much fun to be had in the last few days. friday was beach day, 1st grade graduation & summer birthdays bash. emma's teacher did a little picnic on the lawn with all of the parents & had a little ceremony where she presented their portfolios of projects from the year.


i just thought this picture was cool. disclaimer: no child was injured in the photographing of this stunt. although this running somersault looks like it would end in permanent neck injury... it surprisingly ended in a wicked cool somersault. lucky for me!

then it was up to torrey's class for the summer birthdays bash. we brought decorate your own cookie goodies to celebrate torrey's summer birthday with her class. oh yah, you could totally smell the sugar rush coming on! :)

when the girls got home from school, stan filled up his john deere trailer with water and drove the girls around the yard. apparently the water was pretty dang cold... but man-o-man they laughed so hard. those are the kinds of memories that last a lifetime. stan's such darn great daddy! :)

mommy & me day

on a whim a couple of months ago we redid the decor in the girls' rooms in hopes of them keeping their rooms cleaner... i have to admit that i didn't really have high hopes for this process. being an inherent mess myself, i figured it would last about as long as it does for me... which is usually right up until i use the space again. lol. anyway, much to my surprise, they've kept their rooms very clean. and emma's even made her bed everyday since! so in celebration of this momentous accomplishment, we went out antiquing to find a little decor reward for her room. (torrey decided to hang with daddy and do yard work.)


she had a bunch of cool stuff in the running... an old bulb style perfume bottle, a decorative bird cage, a pedestal with a glass dome, a turquoise diamond-style paper weight, a frilly pink apron (this girl's got style!). but in the end she went with a fancy vintage barbie dress and cape set. after all of that hard shopping we snapped some pictures, then ran a couple more errands. just a fun hang out sort of day. makes me miss our thursday date days of years past... i love being a mom!

and to all of the mom's out there that give and give up so much for the love of the dear ones in their lives... this little laugh is for you! happy mother's day!

tulips - one last time

smile! we made it up to the tulips one last time. they were already starting to mow the big fields when we got there, but thankfully roozengaarde always keeps their flowers till the end! so i just had to share some pics from the afternoon. so this picture isn't that amazing... i just thought it was really funny. :)

this picture looks totally fake... but i assure you we were all laying on very damp real grass.

kissing this big stone frog is an annual tradition.

if you made it this far... WOW! you have perseverance! i just had a really hard time narrowing down my favorites. (that's a constant problem of mine!) anyway, have a great day!

tulip pictures

tulip pictures

it's the start of tulip season & the tulip festival here in wa. so for thursday date day, we headed to skagit valley. (i had planned on heading to a big sale at a super cool stamp store, but ::shock:: decided maybe i have enough stuff... for today at least!)

emma found this sad little broken-off tulip on the ground... it is now "planted" in my front yard

welcome to washington
clouds & puddles & tulips... oh my!

emma & i at roozengaarde
a very cool tulip garden where they sell all of the different types of bulbs

emma & great grandma

emma totally enamored with the seeds on the tree
and completely ignoring the amazing flowers! i love it!

getting down & dirty with the tulips

i can't believe this is the last year we're going to have these
midweek date days. ::sigh::

great grandma & emma's hands

thursday - date day

almost every thursday emma and i have a date day while torrey is at school. this week we went to the daffodil field. holy amazing blocks of color. these are always the kick off to spring. they come just before all of the tulip fields come into bloom, and are such a ray of sunshine on a gloomy day.
then went to the very cool la conner, wa . i love that cool bridge! we walked bunches of cool shops and did a little photo document of our day...

i thought these buttons were so cute & clever... i picked up a bunch for giggles and scrapbook embellishments at the museum of northwest art.

then we stopped by one of my favorite shops/galleries called two moons. the lady working was so cool. she let emma play with these beautiful umbrellas. she opened every single one in the store... that is a LOT of years of bad luck! lol! she also opened several cases of jewelry so emma could try stuff on... to which emma replied, "this is the best day of my whole life ever!"

and then off to lunch at the la conner brewery... where we colored, had brewery root beer & ate artichoke and smoked cheddar dip.
next it was off to the world famous nasty jacks antique store. where we browsed through some of the cool schtuff.

our last stop was by childhood bliss to pick up a couple of goodies for some friends... and to do a little playing. she has the coolest kid stuff ever. if they had diaper bags like these when my girls were little... and the little gift notes were just too darn cute!

so that was our day... i hope yours was as fabulous!