Great day for the princess!

It was a great morning for the princess! Not only did she get the "red car" shopping cart at Fred Meyer this morning, but the Starbucks barista topped the lid with whipped cream! She's in heaven!

Another busy weekend!

On Saturday, Tori's dance team competed in the Oregon State Dance Competition. This was their first year competing as a Performance Company and the girls did great...coming in 4th place! That was the good news.

The bad news is the girls had to arrive at 9:30am, the competition started at 11am (so the dance team, as well as the spectators were in the stands) and after a 2 minute performance by our team, the competition ended after 3:45pm. That was a whole lot of sitting, without any food, etc.

After we left the performance Tori and I headed to Quiznos for a quick meal and then to the Nail Salon for Pedicures in their amazing massage chairs. Upon leaving Tori and I both decided we need to talk Matt into buying us one of those chairs for home use!

With baseball season starting, and Tyler on one team (which I will be attending practices) and the twins on another team (practicing the same nights/times as Tyler...so Matt will be attending as assistant coach), Matt and I decided to take a "date day". We probably won't get to see much of each other once the games/tournaments begin..and that doesn't include juggling the rest of the kids activities into the mix.

Matt and I went to see the movie "Knowing" in the early afternoon (liked the movie until the end which we thought was cheesy), and then headed to PF Changs restaurant for a great lunch.

This evening we headed to the Shirrell farm for the basketball teams end of season BBQ! It was a gorgeous day....all blue sky and in the 70s!

Ryan getting his reward for "top field goal percentage, most points scored, and most assists"

The basketball team and coaches! What a great year they had!!!

April Fools Day!!!!

On Monday I received Family Fun Magazine in the mail, and they had a great section on April Fools Day pranks!!!

To set the stage, Tuesday afternoon, I had a talk with the kids about how "bad" I felt about having them make their lunches every morning, and that I was going to make it up to them by making their lunch for them that evening. They had no clue that Wednesday was April Fools day!

After they were in bed, I made their sandwhiches -- Frosting, chocolate chips and marshmallows!

Then, I emptied individual potato chip bags, and replaced the chips with baby carrots and perfectly resealed the bags with double sided tape!

The school lunch production line.....
Wish I could have been at school to see their reaction!

Our next prank was to put food coloring at the bottom of the cereal bowls, then top it with cereal!

They didn't have a clue!!!

Until they poured their milk in the morning and all of a sudden it turned green!

Sarah and Tyler really got a kick out of it!

I made Sarah a bagged lunch, just like the older kids.

When she got the sandwich out she started looking at the side because some of the colored frosting was squeezing out. Then she asked "Why is there candy in my sandwich?"

Taking a bite......

Hmmmm....There is A LOT of candy in there!!!!

Thumbs up on the "candy sandwich"

Then she opened her chip bag....found the carrots.....she was NOT happy about that. Really not happy and demanded "THERE ARE SUPPPOSED TO BE CHIPS IN THERE" She wanted REAL chips and carried on for quite some time. Finally she agreed to eat the carrots with ranch. (All of the kids had the same reaction about the carrots-- they weren't super surprised about the candy sandwich since I have been known to make grilled PB&J sprinkled with Cinnamon sugar on occasion!)

Next prank was for dinner. I filled the glasses with jello and stuck a straw in it!

Made "Fish Sticks" -- Sugar wafer cookies, covered in peanut butter and then dipped in crushed corn flakes.

The finished fish sticks that I had to hide in the freezer until dinner time.

Made peas from green Laffy Taffy

To pull off the prank, the "peas" went into the microwave

The "fish sticks" went into the oven

When dinner was ready, everything was plated for the kids

Filled the "catsup" bottle

and fed the family!

Ryley realzing he could turn his cup upside down!

Ryan thought that was so funny. I wish I would have taken a picture of Sarah, who was the first to try and take a drink and I thought she was going to die sucking on the straw. Poor girl was trying so hard to get her straw to work...

In the end...it was a great day of making memories to last a lifetime!

Out and about in Portland today!

With the cold weather (it is in the 40s) and the rain, we opted to go to Portland today, rather than take a road trip out exploring! We have seen Doug Fir Restaurant on Food TV a few times, so rather than have our traditional "doughnut day", we drove into Portland for a breakfast for 8!

A friend warned me (via Facebook) to be "prepared for a lot of hungover people", so we went with a "We are not in Canby (think Norman Rockwell town) anymore" outlook. There was one guy in dreadlocks, back in the "adults only" lounge, taking a "rest" on one of the sectionals, and another 50+ year old with dark sunglasses drinking his "scotch on ice" (at 9am -- party like a rock star!!!!), but the atmosphere was really kid friendly!

The kids in the foyer of Doug Fir Restaurant

The lounge, which is where they usually shoot the TV shows

My breakfast -- LaLuna Scramble which was really good. Brandon ordered the same and was not thrilled with the amount of onion (too much for him). I want to know how they make their Rosemary potatoes!

The atmosphere at the restaurant was pretty eclectic. Behind our table was a wall with mirrors that thrilled Sarah and a lady at a near by table asked if I'd taken the girls to the bathroom. She said it was a "must see", so while waiting for our orders, I took the girls. I didn't bring my camera, so the photo above was taken with my iPhone. The photo is of Sarah, inside the bathroom, near the door. That is the only light that comes into the bathroom. The whole room is covered with the 70 style, 12 by 12 glass mirrors (you are literally in a mirrored room). Considering the bathrooms are in the lounge, this could be quite confusing for their patrons after consuming several beverages. The funniest part was when other people came in for the same reason we did...to see what the the rave was about.

Outside Doug Fir, on the sidewalk on 9th Avenue.

Our next stop after breakfast was the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry! This is the view from the second story of OMSI, looking out to the city of Portland and the Columbia River!

We went to the IMAX theater and watched Adrenaline Rush. Matt said he would definitely go skydiving, and possibly even base jumping. I'm vetoing the whole base jumping idea.

At OMSI the exhibit was Da Vinci and they wouldn't allow any cameras or cell phones at the exhibit, so the best we could offer for the blog was our own personal Mona Lisa portraits (note here, the older boys had no desire to be Mona)

Sarah Lisa

Tyler Lisa

Tori Lisa

Tina Lisa

Matt Lisa

Tyler in front of a Saber tooth Cat skeleton in the live science hall

On the way home we stopped at Jack in the box for milk shakes. Took the picture above because I want a tree like this one. I think it is a "Japanese plum", Matt thinks it is a "Japanese maple". Whatever it is...I want it!!!! Gorgeous in the spring!

It is all about Trains on Spring Break!!!

In 2007, my Grandma and Grandpa Jack sent the kids a train set. Because we knew this was a very special gift, and our house was on the market (and we were really hoping we would be moving!!), we didn't allow the kids to open the boxes. We stored them in a safe place, and planned to set them up once we moved. It is now Spring Break 2009, and there is no plans to move in the near future with the economy the way it is, so today we got out the boxes, and the kids were able to see what was inside!!!! We wish Grandpa Jack could be here to help us build our train table and set up the train station, but for now pictures will have to do!!!

It is good to be a princess.......

A friend of ours in Colorado surprised Sarah by sending her a Princess party package! It is so good to be a princess!