"birthday weekend in Newport"

We stayed in an amazing beach house last weekend for Nicole's birthday with her friends. Spring break started on Thursday and after the girls softball game we headed out. Grandma and Grandpa Mary and Tyler drove over with some of the girls because I couldn't fit them, their stuff and all the food in my car! Thankfully they offered and dropped them off and then they drove back home!
Me and 9 teenage girls. I was the only adult.............................. The weather was gorgeous on Friday and we headed down to Nye Beach. We stopped by the dollar store and bought sand buckets, bat and ball, kites, bunny ears! and bubbles.
We brought blankets. An ice chest full of food and sandwiches and snacks.
Everyone was barefoot and the sun was shining.
What a perfect day.........
Nicole had the time of her life. Everyone had so much fun.
No drama. No gossiping. The girls were lovely............................................................

They laughed and giggled (and farted!) all night. I finally went to bed at 2 am and they were still up talking and laughing. The best part was the NO DRAMA......
Hard to believe you get 9 teenage girls together for a weekend and NONE. Such a great group. I love these girls. I kind of hung back a little and just observed! And cooked! They loved it. I made them homemade bread, granola,pasta, tacos/burritos. I really could live in this house. And the kitchen was to die for, as you can see.

This is the view out the front.............................................amazing. On the bay side on the waterfront. Great view of the boats, bay and the bridge.

This little spot was my morning happy place. Made coffee before all the sleepy heads woke up. Toasted half a bagel and enjoyed the fabulous view. So enjoyable.

I didn't really "relax". Probably because I was totally responsible for all those girls. But was very fun.

I really hope all of these girls continue to stay friends thru high school and beyond. Can't really ask for a better group :)

I messed with my camera a little. I changed the setting to "beach" and the pics really are clearer. I'm starting to figure it out. Got some great pics....

We walked down on the boardwalk right in front of the house. It was almost dusk and they all were in their jammie pants. So cute.

There was a lot of picture taking going on..................... funny............

My "dusk" setting on my camera. So amazing...........

I am so happy my daughter lets me in her "teenage" life and wants me around. She bonded with her girlfriends. Bonded with her mom. Had a great experience and had a birthday weekend to remember. After I dropped the girls off on Saturday I picked up LeRoy and Tyler and Gma and Gpa Mary and we all went back to the house for 2 more days. Hope we can do it again.

Right now I am sitting in a hotel room in Coos Bay with the laptop. The softball team has (had) a doubleheader planned for tomorrow. The weather is terrible. Windy. Rainy. Cold.

Will probably get rained out :( The teams (J.V and Varsity) are staying at Motel 6. ummmm....no thanks! I'm next door at the Red Lion (and they have free WiFi). I've stayed in my share of crappy motels. It was only $30 more for the Red Lion. I just did an extra haircut this week to make up the difference! ha ha! All the players and parents just got back from dinner. LeRoy and Tyler and I are all cozy in our jammies. Tyler's watching TV. LeRoy is reading and I'm bloggin. (finally).

I really want to watch the girls play. I worked part of the week (way too many hours!) but am happy to be able to take a few days to be with my kids over spring break.

I haven't forgotten about the Sadie Hawkins pictures yet! Just figured out my camera transfer. I got the coast pics done! Hope to have some pics from softball this weekend................

"Happy 15th birthday Nicole!!!!"

Am I really saying that? 15? Today?
Last night I was laying in bed thinking "it's really been 15 years since I gave birth to her?". Not sure why this one hit me so hard?
Maybe because this morning, 1st thing I took her down to the DMV to take her drivers permit? And she passed with a 90%?
And I let her drive to school?
She was a little nervous to take the test because most of her friends have failed it at least once. She 'kind of' read the book. Last night about 10:30 (she was supposed to be sleeping, but she was in bed reading!) she was feverishly looking thru/reading the manual. I told her that if she got stuck on a question to stop and think of what she would do if she was behind the wheel of a car? Mostly common sense. She was taking practice quiz on-line last night and I got a few wrong! Wonder if I would pass it? Had some strange questions. And today she said their was a question about "what would you do if their was a guy on a horse and he put his right hand up?" ha hahahahah.
Honk? No, but she said it was on the test today and she just read it in the manual last night. And she got it correct. So funny. She is a good driver but I told her she needs some experience. I will let her drive to the high school but not in town yet. She needs experience to change lanes etc when their is alot of traffic. But she can legaly drive......yikes........
She has been texting me all day asking if we can get keys made to both cars tonight. ha!

I told her I would bring/make her anything she wanted for lunch.

Anything.

She is so funny. Her request was a homemade fruit parfait. Cut up fresh fruit (strawberries, pineapple and oranges), topped with yogurt, granola and walnuts. So that is what I made her. And some trail mix. She is pretty easy to please....................dropped it off at school..............she is having a good day..................

Tonight we are going to dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Mary. She didn't want a big fuss. She has softball practice after school and homework and said it's just another day. (and we are planning a coast weekend with her friends in the next couple of weeks). I did buy her a mini cake. And decorated the table with balloons, streamers, cake, gifts. More pics to come after tonight. All she cared about was getting her permit :)

Oh, and she wanted me to put some red streaks in her hair. 1st pic of this post is the "after". This is "before". She said she was tired of her hair and it was boring. ha ha! I told her people pay good money to have the beautiful-silky-blonde hair that she (naturally) has.

I guess if hair color is the worst I have to worry about........I'm in pretty good shape. I think it looks cute and she had me cut 3" off too. Like I said, easy to please.

I'm home with Tyler today. He has had a nasty cough for about 2 weeks. Yesterday morning I dropped him off at school and before I even got back home, the school was calling saying he was throwing up.

Great.

And it was field trip day......So I turned right back around and go back to the school. He had coughed so hard he was puking. (sorry Kela, and thanks for taking care of my puking kid)......

It was so sad because the bus was loading up out in front of the school for the field trip to the state capitol and he couldn't go. We walked past all of his friends and he was sad. So I was at work off and on yesterday. LeRoy came home so I went back to work until late. LeRoy took Tyler to the doctor and he has bronchitus. Poor boy. I'm letting him rest today and his meds are kicking in and there is much less coughing today.

I need to go cater to my sick boy.......................................

"mom, why don't you just stay in your jammies all day like me?"

says my 10 year old son................................
Well son................mommy has lots of things to do and I have to get dressed and get stuff done. So cute. Too bad I can't stay in my jammies all day :)
It was a gorgeous day today. The sun was shining and the birds were singing.
I took this picture this morning (out of my sunroof, not while driving, I did stop in the middle of the road!) after I dropped Nicole off at softball practice at 9:30 am..(on a Saturday??)
I took the same exact picture yesterday morning at 7:15 am but it wasn't as sunny! I drive down this street several times a day. It is the road that connects us to the high school. I seem to go there at least 6 to 25 times a day. Everyday.......
Yesterday I saw a cute little daffodil stand with flowers for sale. I saw it again this morning. I wanted to stop and buy some for a friend and figured I would have time after I dropped the girls off at the high school for the 2nd time today (varsity boys basketball made playoff and they rode the rooter bus to Portland. fun!!). So I drive down Columbus (this street) slowly looking for the flower stand.
Turn around.
Look harder.
Turn around.
Now mind you, I drive down this street EVERY SINGLE DAY. Sometimes I do take Geary Street depending on which side of the high school we are going. So I thought, hmmmm, maybe the flower stand was on Geary??? I did go that way this morning and back home on Columbus? Sure enough. Right on Geary St. was my little flower stand. If I wouldn't have felt so embarrassed with myself I would have thought to take a picture of it with my phone. I payed for my flowers and got out of there.
Because,, I was thinking I was going to have to steal some out of the neighbors yard! But the neighbors across the street were outside and it would have been obvious......I guess I could have knocked on their door and offered them a couple of bucks to steal their flowers???? Anyways................I got the purchased flowers delivered!
And I am enjoying this gorgeous view everyday with the beautiful cherry blossoms blooming like it is spring.............................., This is my friend Kela. She is amazing. But I think she was stalking me yesterday. Wait.........I think I was stalking her????
Yesterday morning we met for coffee and just visited. So lovely. Very rarely do I get to do that with a friend. She is so wise (sometimes wise-ass, ha ha!) but always enjoyable..........love her...
Then I saw her again at the kids school when we picked them up. Somehow I ended up at her house. I'm starting to be familiar with the same barstool in her kitchen. We visited again while she cooked dinner ( I think we did the same thing last week!). Kids played and were in and out.
Then we met again at the boys basketball game!

The boys had an amazing season.

UNDEFEATED!!!!!!

Last nights game was painful to watch. The final score was 73-11. We won, but felt really bad for the other team. They tried really hard.............

Tyler had 10 points and he was proud...............................

Thanks Jennifer for the pics! I give you all the credit!

So many exciting things going on!

Nicole had softball tryouts this week. SHE MADE VARSITY!!!!!!!!!!!!

She is only a freshman. So exciting. She is estatic and said practice this week has been so much fun and she loves it.

On the flip side of that, it has created some jealousy with some of the girls that didn't make varsity. Unfortunatly some comments have been made that are not-so-nice and rude. Luckily Nicole knows she earned that spot and has the confidence to let it go. I told her to take the high road and if it comes up again to tell the girls that she wishes they would be happy for her and support her just like she would if they had made it and she didn't. Sad....and what annoys me the most is that the "girls" are close friends of hers. It will all pass, but makes me a little sad that girls are discounting that she made varsity when it is such and honor and privilage and she is really excited about it.

I still have pics to post from the Sadie Hawkins dance. I need to figure out how to transfer them from my (scary) new camera. A little disappointed cause alot of them were "yellow-ish" and I thought I had it on the correct setting? I will figure it out eventually. Would have been nice before a big event! Hope to post them tomorrow. They had a great time and I have amazing pics of them. Was fun having them all here.......

And a random "shout out" to my sister Donna.....I LOVE YOU........................... :)