happy happy birthday christi dear!

it's my darling friend's birthday today!!! i am so excited because she's takin' the red eye (i believe she called it the rojo ojo) to buffalo tonite!! i will see her in the morning and then we're gonna be playing! it's been a while since we've had a good vacation together. i believe the last time was when i accompanied her on a house hunting trip to seattle. we had some great laughs at the realtor's expense, unfortunately for him. christi is the most fun and i get the worst smile pains on my face from my continuous laughing. have a great day today, christi!

also, ella found her crocs. she put them away in a safe place...

we've got crocs

ella has fallen in love with her crocs. we just picked up a pair for her on saturday. aftie needed a new pair and i finally gave in as well. they really are great. so, ella has been calling them her "sleeping crocs" and has slept in them two nights in a row! however, she left them outside last night and i think some birds or rabbits or something carried them away! we cannot find them anywhere. afton thinks it's wonderful that a bird family might have them for a new home. seriously.
sunday i attempted a recipe for pizza dough. it looks so simple, but i fail every single time. poor ryan has to fix my disastrous bread attempts once or twice a year. (that's all i'm willing to work at it) we were going to the hot air balloon show at the state park for the evening and i thought it would be lovely to fix a picnic. my vision was something out of a tourist ad for france. the reality was a blue cooler filled with a bunch of stuff out of the fridge. i did try to use the dough last night for a little pizza pre-dinner snack on the grill, but it turned out more like deliciousness on a wafer. mamma mia.
afton had her first asthma attack in a very, very long time yesterday. poor little thing. we've doubled up all of her medication and she's doing much better. it's so sad for me to watch her struggle, because i understand completely how it feels. but i'm glad to be able to know 1st hand how to help her. she's such a sweetie.
surprise ryan! i took the pantry door off all by myself and i'm painting it. usually when ryan is traveling, i sit on the couch and wait for him to return. i usually don't even attempt a light bulb change, so this is big news. i've finally reached a point where i care what our house looks like. the other day we went to look at flooring. apparently cork is out (ryan says) because you have to apply polyurethane once a year. i don't see what the big deal is about that...just one more project for ry. so, maybe some bamboo. i have to keep my eyes above floor level, because they may be blinded by the hideous-ness of our flooring. remember phoebe on friends, when she saw ross and rachel kissing, and yelled "MY EYES!"? that is how i feel.
tomorrow is coming shortly...an early tennis match, salsa to school for teacher appreciation week, and a delicious dinner at my friend eliza's home. she feeds us everytime ryan is gone. seriously i can make dinner, it's just that why would i want to when i can have an amazing meal made for me? frankly, it's getting embarassing that i keep accepting her dinner invitations. i guess it would be more embarrassing if i just showed up on the doorstep with two hungry children. she's so wonderful, she'd probably just smile and say come on in! God bless eliza.

wiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

well, big news at the hulse home...ryan picked up the new wii on wednesday night. the girls (including me) and ryan have been wii-ing nonstop! we love it! afton is a whiz at tennis, ella is a future annika sorenstam, ryan is a nice mike tyson, and i'm pretty fantastic on tennis as well.

ella has officially been accepted to the universal pre-k program! i am really excited because it is a lottery and she was chosen. also, it's free (funded by our tax dollars, all bazillion of them). she is really excited to go to school "just like my afton".

i am procrastinating the housework. ryan is helping our friends with their roofing project, aftie is at a friend's home playing and ella is happily eating pudding and watching scooby doo. oh, wait...never mind, scooby's over. okay, back to work.

okay a quick recap of our week...

amy-one cavity filled
afton-new webkin, polly and littlest pet shop stuff (birthday money)
ella-new polly stuff (mom's a sucker)
ryan-golf, basketball, conducted training at work with a few frustrations
amy-cleaning, organizing, getting rid of stuff

also, hooray for david cook, the new american idol. he was great!

ella-bella

here's our littlest sweetheart. isn't she darling? she was so tired yesterday and finally fell asleep in the playroom.

today we had a little preschool time, since she is due to start in the fall. she barely makes the deadline, but we thought we'd give it a try. she is soooooo "essited" for preschool. so, we colored orange and pink things. we traced a capital a and a lower case a. we circled things that began with the letter a. we cut pictures of vegetables and animals and glued them to a paper for a farm collage. then we worked on a sticker book. whew! hard work.

here are some other things ella loves:

*dressing up

*watching movies

*jumping on the trampoline

*playing outside

*the idea of playing tennis

*her pink tennis racquet

*doing whatever aftie is doing

*playing with her girls (webkins)

*helping mom & dad cook

we love our sweet elle!

happy birthday to my ry!

is this the cutest boy you've ever seen? well, he is to me. today ryan is 32 years old. he is the most wonderful husband and dad, seriously. his wants are always put last, behind 3 girls. we love him so much.

ryan was given the following:

from afton...a round of miniature golf and a bucket of balls for the driving range (with all of us)

from ella...dad's choice of where to eat lunch today with no complaining from the girls (me included)

from me...a card with larry the cable guy on the front that says "when it comes to being a great dad, you sure know how to...(open card) 'get 'er done!'" the card actually says get 'er done. ryan has a little bit of a comedy crush on larry the cable guy. he thinks larry is pretty funny. frankly, i felt a little embarassed purchasing the card, but i knew ryan would die laughing. he did. the girls have been coming up with things to say and then open the card for larry's line. who knew a $5 card would be such a huge hit?

from anne, kev, jan, jim and me...a wii gaming system. should be fun. thanks moms and dads.

we love you ry and hope you had a great birthday!

rockstar scientist!!

today ryan and 5 other honeywell employees took their show on the road. they went to afton's school and set up 3 learning stations.

the first is shown above...the children were shown all kinds of safety clothing and were then able to try it all on. they loved it!

the second, was an experiment with separating color. they used their markers to color on coffee filters (i think) cut into a butterfly shape. then they put them in water and watched the color being pulled into the water. it was very cool. the result was tie-dyed like butterflies. the third, was mixing color. the two scientists helped the kids drop color into beakers and then spun the color together with a magnetic spinner thing (sorry, but i'm not the scientist in the family). they also loved this one!

we stayed for lunch with aftie and ryan was the celebrity of the lunchroom. besides being really tall, he was easily recognizable with his lab jacket on. all the kids were pointing and whispering, "there's the scientist!" it was seriously cute! afton felt like the queen of lunch because her dad was THE scientist.

the best day of the year, from a mother's viewpoint

today was a very nice day...breakfast in bed, ryan got the girls ready for church, took a nap after church, had dinner at our friend's home, etc. i always like to see what ry and the girls will come up with. they always outdo the previous year. this year i got my new tennis racquet for mother's day and was surprised when the girls and ry woke me up from my afternoon slumber with a small, wrapped present. i opened it to find an armband for my ipod to use when i go running. i was so excited and afton said "now you won't have to stick your ipod in your pants when you run!" (i seriously just tuck it into the waistband, seriously)

i was thinking back on some of my favorite mother's day memories and i will torture you with them now.

of course, my most favorite was the year afton was born. i like to tell her that she was my very best mother's day gift. she was born hours before mother's day and i will never forget waking up the next morning to that beautiful tiny girl. ryan gave me a beautiful bracelet that year for mother's day and i like to wear it on mother's day as a sweet remembrance.

one year i remember finding a cute shirt for my mom at the mall. i told my dad that i needed some money. he sent me back to the mall with a blank check (you think he'd have known better) and said spend around $20. well, i got a little carried away and came home with an outfit for her! my dad said, how much did you write that check for? i honestly said, $50. he seemed a little bothered by that, for some crazy reason i couldn't understand. couldn't he see those super-cute, hot-pink stirrup pants with the matching hawaiian floral print camp shirt? my mom was going to be sooooo surprised and thrilled, i was sure. (i am cracking up while i remember this) i think i might have even splurged for the pink plastic hoop earrings. it's weird, but i don't remember her being that excited when she opened her gift.

well, i'll stop there. it's time to whip up another batch of muffins. i'm making muffins for afton's birthday treat for school tomorrow, as any truly loving, devoted, crazy mother would. did i mention it's 11pm? also, did i mention i am making three varieties of muffins? you'd be surprised by a 1st grader's sophisticated palette. they are not falling for any plain old blueberry, bought at the bakery, and certainly not Hostess muffins from the box. did i mention that once again i've gone completely overboard on a simple request? all she wanted was a birthday treat for her class. sigh...

it's the hot-pink mother's day outfit all over again.

party #1

last night we had afton's birthday party with friends. we had a "late-over", which is apparently a very popular thing out west. i've always been known as a trendsetter (safety pins, etc) and thought we oughta bring the trend east!

we had four friends, went to Build-a-Bear, ate dinner, ate cake, opened presents, changed into jammies, soaked hands and feet, got manicures and pedicures, watched the Bee Movie, ate lots and lots of treats!

The Cake

the cake was a giant chocolate chip cookie cake (http://www.marthastewart.com/)

aftie wasn't thrilled with the cream cheese frosting, but the cookie part was yum!

forgot the camera for build-a-bear.

present time!

aftie was given mostly animal presents...webkins, littlest pet shops, puppies in my pocket, not to mention the build-a-bear stuff!


pizza making...



spa time...


thanks to my friend, stacie for helping me out in the salon!


The End (for tonite, more to come on monday)

my dad!

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above is ella's message for GG. it says happy birthday gg! i miss you and i love you. i love it when you hold me and when we sing together. you are the best gg in the world!

happy birthday dad! i love you and hope you have a really great birthday. i love so many things about you. here are a couple:

1. i think you are very, very funny (especially when there are bees nearby!)

2. i like that we both love music, all kinds

3. i like that you know the important things in life and have tried to teach them to me

4. i like how you are so sweet with your grandchildren

5. i like how you spoil us

6. i like it when you squeeze my hand

7. i like it when you cry when we leave each other

8. i like it when you give talks in church and include golf jokes

9. i like it when you understand what i'm trying to say

10. i like that i know you love me

i hope you have a great day and year. you are my favorite dad, out of all of them!

here's afton's message:

Happy birthday GG! I miss you. Love, Afton

ryan's not here, but i know he wishes you a happy birthday also!

we love you!!!!

insomnia

don't tell ryan, but i'm still awake at 4:30am. i have been planning my new business while tossing and turning. i usually come up with super good ideas for a fun new business at 2am. then i finally fall asleep and it doesn't sound nearly as fantastic when i wake up in the morning.

it has been a week of sickness at our home. aftie had strep and ella has had a wicked cough. last night i slept on the trundle with ella because she would cry out everytime she coughed. it was awful and i got this much sleep: 0

so, elle and i skipped church and slept in. i also had a sore throat and was sure i was coming down with strep, so i went back to bed and slept most of the day. bad decision, now i'm awake. well the good news is, i won't be late waking afton up for school! i'm always looking on the bright side.

the next couple of weeks we will be celebrating birthdays around here. aftie and ry both have birthdays coming up. afton has BIG plans that have not been completely confirmed by the parents. so far, we're doing build-a-bear (at least it's not chuck e cheese) with a small group and a sleepover with a smaller group. ryan's one request is that the birthday celebration doesn't last the entire weekend. (every party has a pooper...)

afton is hoping for a webkins horse, new clothes, an ipod...let me stop right there...i thought a nice little shuffle or something would be fine, but was informed that she would like one like mine so she can watch movies. oh. sorry you don't get fancy stuff like that til you're at least eight. am i right? it took me 34 years to get one.

as for ryan, he would just like the day to go by. i'm not buying it. so i have a few little things up my sleeve.

as for my special day: mother's day, i would like a good dinner and a nap and also no one throwing up on me. that's happened 3 too many times this week, including once earlier this evening.

also, let us not forget my dad's birthday on tuesday. hope he enjoys those new socks we're sending!