"Prom 2012"

 Prom season. Always fun! Nicole is going to West Albany Prom with her boyfriend tonight. In two weeks they go to her JR/SR prom at South Albany. 2 proms in 2 weeks! I worked all day at the salon doing updo's and curling hair for all of my other girls. Made it home on time to get Nicole all glamor-ous. She looked stunning as usual. She wanted a little bit of some fun flair added into her hair. A few hot pink hair extensions! Fun!

 Of coarse she looked amazing. Her dress. Her hair. And so happy the weather was nice!

 Nicole and Tyler looked fabulous. Hope they have a fun time. They are going with some friends. Dinner in Corvallis and then off to the prom.

Be safe and be home by curfew!!!!!!!

"the Yahoo 5k"

 So my sister-in law Brandi texts me last Thursday and says "what are you doing tomorrow nite (Friday)? My response was "probably nothing, what did you have in mind?" She said "how about dinner and a movie or drinks". I said "lets get a hold of Donna and see if she is in." Brandi had already texted her too. So what to do????? Well I'm eating really healthy and no alcoholic calories (boo!). So I suggested we stay IN! They can come over after we all get off work. We can go on a walk and eat healthy dinner and watch movies. I asked Nicole if she wanted to join in our festivities and she said "not with all of you 3 Yahoos". What the heck does that mean? Oh, that she has been in public with us and knows how we act! ahahhahahah.......(but I think she had other plans with her friends and they were a better offer. oh well). So the other 2 Yahoos came over after work. We decided we didn't get to eat until we exercised. What a beautiful night for a walk. I mean 5K. We joke all the time that we pay money for organized 5k's (but they are fundraisers for a good cause!) but generally walk that far on a daily basis. But we had way more shinnanghens on this one! And were a little slower due to all the photo ops...... (I'm not really sure what Donna is doing? Is she going to jump?) She usually needs to be supervised. (love ya!)

But it looks like I do too because I thought I could catch a duck for a picture! I chased it until it took off flying. I was really running...........(if you ever see me running call the police because I am probably being chased........cause I don't run unless I have too.......)

And I thought it would be funny to take a picture of Brandi like a "senior portrait". We really did walk at a brisk pace (when we weren't being silly taking pics!) And did walk a legit 5k! Had some good laughs. Got some exercise and bonding time! Nicole missed out!

 We had to get a pic of me and Donna from our old middle school! (Nicole went there too). And since we are being healthy....................I made MOCKTAILS instead of cocktails! Faux margaritas!  I got out my real margarita glasses. And salt and limes with our "margarita" crystal lite! NO CALORIES! So we earned our dinner. Got healthy salads. I cut up fruit. We had our "drinks" and then got cozy on the couch and watched a movie. Good times.............(and funny that I blog the most normal/everyday events........because every day should be fun! an adventure! fun with family! I like to try and enjoy every day (doesn't always happen! lets get real here)......laugh and create shinnaneghans..........until next time girls!

"my sista's birthday extravaganza!"

Happy Birthday Donna!
My sister and I are very similar alot of the time. If we wait around for someone to "make us feel special" on our birthdays..................we will still be waiting and probably be disappointed! So we decided to do a "girls night" for hers this year! With no kids or husbands! It fell on the week of spring break so we just tagged it onto the last weekend. We decided to go up to Portland and stay the night at the Marriott on the Willamette River with a view!
So we booked it! Her family was gone anyways and I was still on vacation.........
So off we go! She was definately the Princess!

So to make her feel "special"..........I went all out. Made us goodies bags. Bought wine. Got pink princess decorations for the hotel room! A tiara and a magic wand. Birthday banner.Even decorated the water bottles. Everything I would want to feel "special" if it was my birthday! Got her a "D" initial wine glass and fun gifts.

I packed it all up with us!

And I special ordered her a cake. Lemon...........yum!

I bought cute plates etc....................but the cake didn't ever make it to a plate. We just ate it with forks............hahahahahahaa..............

So we worked our way up north. We were both excited to get away and just chill. Relax. Have some time to ourselves that we didn't have to do anything! We stopped in Salem and ate at this yummy restaurant in downtown. After we spotted a cute little boutique and bought jewelry and Donna treated herself to a new pair of jeans (silvers)!

Had to stop at the Wilsonville goodwill. (after we found it!)

Finally we made it to Portland (a few stops later). We were ready for our jammies. Wine. Wifi. and magazines. Seriously.....................who goes to Portland to stay in a hotel............and STAYS IN? We do!

Our plan was to order room service and drink wine and just visit.

Oh........and eat cake. And surf on our laptops.........and read magazines. I hung the birthday banner up.............and realized on our way home.............I forgot to take it down!

When she booked the room she said it was cheaper to book the "romance package". ha! It included a bottle of champagne. Free parking and free breakfast! So funny and we joked about it all night. Is that why they looked at us kinda weird when we checked in? And I remembered to take the KNOME! He is still naked tho.............

We got OJ for our champagne for mimosas!

The Princess is in the building!

And everyone will be proud that the KNOME participated in the shinnaneghens!

The cake was really good.

We can so easily entertain each other! We stayed in all night and laughed and ate and were silly!

Our view off our "spacious" balcony.

This was my "date" for the night! Magazines. Laptop.Blankie. Snacks. Lots of pillows! Yes please!

I think Princess Donna enjoyed herself! Perfect birthday!

We debated about going down to the bar in the hotel............but decided jammies and lounging sounded better~!

We slept in. Ordered room service for breakfast and finally left the hotel around 12:00 noon. So to finish off our "experience" we talked about going to get VooDoo doughnuts down by Burnside. I've been there and know they are just glorified doughnuts. Donna wanted to check it out and we had already promised to bring our kids/families some home. Of coarse the line was long! But we decided to park and brave it. Of coarse it started POURING down rain. And was cold! We sacrificed an HOUR in line in the rain for doughnuts. Was kinda fun tho watching people and we were all waiting for the same thing. And Donna was nice and gave her umbrella to a homeless kid that was using cardboard to stay dry.

It was a fun birthday extravaganza! And great sisterly bonding time! And the knome was happy to attend the party. See..................I'm not a totally bad knome-mommy!

We had invited some others but we had no takers.............................and they missed out! so we decided this should be a semi-annual event. Or birthdays? or just when we need to get away?????

"Seattle....Spring Break 2012"

We loaded up the kids and Louie and the girls and headed off to Seattle. (Sara had to work!). Weather started off a little iffy. Rain. Wind. Cold. We had a baby in a stroller so we weren't going to last too long in that kind of weather walking around. I forget that you have to PAY to park everywhere in Seattle. Hate that! Even when you park far away and walk........still have to pay! Oh well..........we wanted to take the kids down to Pike Street and show them the market. Experience downtown Seattle. And the Space Needle........

And the gum wall. We walked all over downtown. Thru the market. And then ventured down to the waterfront. It wasn't easy finding a way to get a stroller down. But we just carried it down some stairs and all was good.Even though the weather was questionable when we got there, it was packed! Rain doesn't slow down the tourists!

I love Pikes! So much to look at.

Nicole the "nanny".

We sure didn't get any crab this big when we went to the coast crabbing over the weekend!

The weather started to clear up! Saw some blue sky and it got a little warmer. So happy so we stayed out longer and walked around all afternoon. And most of the streets in Seattle are uphill! Or it seemed that they were all uphill! That's probably because of where we parked, and walked all the way down to the water front.........and then had to walk all the way back UP to the car! With all the kids and a baby stroller! Was fun tho...........

We walked down on the waterfront to look around and find somewhere to eat.

This is the only store I went into downtown. I spotted the green jadite in the window and had to pop in real quick and check it out. Way out of my price range! Really loved the cake stands. And didn't stay in the store for more than a few minutes because my group had 4 kids and 2 husbands. No exactly shopping compatible!

We ended up at the Crab Pot on the waterfront for dinner. Sara met us there after she got off work. It's like my shrimp boil that I cook in the summer! But mine is better. ha! Cool place though.

Everything looked cool at night. Was starting to rain again and the kids were getting tired. So after dinner we headed back to the base.

We headed for home on Thursday. Windy, rainy, cold and dark! Wasn't much better at home. Had a great time with our friends and their kids. Great adventures. Family bonding. Kids got to experience Seattle and the millitary base. Saturday my sister Donna and I headed up to Portland to stay at the Marriott for her birthday. She has all the pics of the shinnanghens so as soon as I get them I will have one last post from Spring Break! We had a great time. Cake, wine, wifi, room service and comfy beds with lots of pillows! Now break is over. Back to work, school and reality............but summer is coming soon!