We’ll start off with some good news. McKenzie found her tooth!! It’s presently under her pillow awaiting retrieval by the Tooth Fairy. What is the going rate for the tooth these days? I think Ashlyn’s first tooth was awarded $5.00.

David was able to take one of the kids to “Bring Your Child To Work” day at his work. This is McKenzie’s first year of being old enough to go, so he decided to take her this time. The older kids have all gotten to participate in this event in the past, so it was Kenzie’s turn. She had a great time with Daddy at work. We met for lunch at Red Robin’s which was fun.

When I got home from picking up Tanner at school, Ashlyn was riding Barney (one of the neighbor’s horses). McKenzie had already had her turn and was leading Ashlyn around the corral… so I missed getting her picture, but I thought it was cute that she was leading Barney. I would have never guessed that our neighbor would have allowed that to happen And Ashlyn is ready to graduate to a bigger horse I think… poor Barney looks a wee bit uncomfortable. Of course, Kenzie couldn’t lead a horse much bigger than him. Anyway, it was a cute sight to see and one I’ll miss when we move this Summer. Not that we can’t come back and visit and go for a ride once in awhile.

We have a 3 day show in Tacoma this weekend, so we’ll be out of town. I won’t have a chance to update the blog until Monday, so here’s an early “HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND” to you all! Wish us luck at the show this weekend.

McKenzie lost her first tooth today…. and then she lost it again and found it, but then lost it again. LOL. She woke up this morning yelling and screaming and bounced into my bedroom to let me know she lost her tooth. Held out her hand and there it was, her itty bitty baby tooth. I had her put it in a Ziploc bag. A perfect day for her to lose her tooth, she was Star of The Week this week and it was her day for show and tell at school. She took in photo collages and a paper that talked about all of her favorite things. So she begged and begged to take her Ziploc to school…. and she promised to keep it in her backpack when it wasn’t part of her show and tell. She hadn’t even gotten out the door before she lost it the first time…. and then after school she found it and pretty soon she’s in tears because it’s lost again! She thinks she may know where it is… somewhere outside, so she’ll look in the morning. She wanted to leave a IOU note to the Tooth Fairy, but we explained she needs that tooth… so we’ll have to look for it.

I had to include two pictures. Getting a good pic was quite an ordeal tonight… the first picture is clear… but she looks really goofy. The second is blurry but a better pic…. so that is why there are two of them. So McKenzie’s tooth was born on April 25th, 2007

I flip over to Food Network when there isn’t much else on TV. It’s my trusty fall back station. I know I can always catch something entertaining on that channel. Same probably goes for The Travel Channel. Last night were the Food TV Awards and I had flipped over and caught a bit of it. I decided to check the winners online this morning at http://www.foodtv.com/.
I was pleasantly surprised to see Portland OR won for Delicious Destination of The Year. Burgerville (a local fast food chain in Vancouver/Portland and outlying areas) won in the category of Fast Food Restaurant With Character. How cool! They are the best in fast food in these parts, from their milkshakes to their Tillamook bacon cheeseburger (my personal favorite) to the halibut fish & chips basket. David likes their “special sauce” they put on their regular burgers…. it’s a thousand island type sauce I think… which I don’t care for… so always request it to be left off. Burgerville sure is sounding good for lunch today. Anyway the awards repeat tomorrow at 9pm (EST). I will have to Tivo it and catch the blurbs about Portland and Burgerville.

Also a quick update on my thoughts on last night’s American Idol. I actually thought Sanjaya did a good job with “Something To Talk About”. Did I say that? The judges really knocked him down, but I really thought it was decent. LOL. Simon is right though, enough is enough. Sanjaya doesn’t belong up there with the rest of the singers…. it’s time for him to go. Blake … love ya babe, but you murdered “When The Stars Go Blue”. Ugh…. I couldn’t listen to some parts of it. Twice I disagreed with the judges… but Phil — he did AWESOME! I had a feeling he would… last night would have been a perfect chance for him to wear a cowboy hat. I’m not sure why he said country is his genre and what he wants to do… he’s never sang country before has he (in previous auditions and shows?) but if it is what he wants to do…. WHERE WAS THE HAT? Cover up that bald head LOL. And Jordin… I love her.. she was amazing. I voted for Chris about 100 times only because I thought he did a decent job of Mayberry and he got all choked up when he was talking to his friends in VA on camera. Tears in his eyes and all… I want him around another week. I did vote about 50 times for Blake as well, just to make sure I helped secure him for another week also. Hopefully. Definitely will be interesting to see who goes next! Oh and interestingly enough, when I started calling in at 9pm my time, I did not get one single busy signal. It rang through each and every time I voted. Has me a little worried!

I just finished reading a book titled “All Together In One Place” by Jane Kirkpatrick. It’s a story inspired by true events that happened along the Oregon Trail. It reminds me a little bit of a series I was fascinated by when I was younger.. Little House On The Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Well it did at first, but this story actually follows a group of settlers on the trail, who have left the East and are traveling West. So it’s a bit different than LHOTP, but it’s the same era, which I love. Now, two of my daughters Ashlyn and McKenzie have fallen in love with the LHOTP series as well. Anyway, this was book one in Jane Kirkpatrick’s series called “Kinship and Courage”. It is an excellent book. Took me quite awhile to finish it but not because I didn’t want to, just because I don’t read alot but I am really trying to incorporate that into my daily schedule. Brain food. ) I can’t wait to get the second book… the series follows the same characters that are book one and I believe she has written 3 books in this particular series, but I’m going to look up some of her other books as well. http://www.jkbooks.com/

Tonight is Country Music night on American Idol and will feature Martina McBride. I can’t wait. SANJAYA could not possibly hold his own in this genre? Or could he? LOL. I am looking forward to seeing what Blake pulls out for this one…. also looking forward to Jordin and oddly enough… Phil, who I have not been a huge fan of but I think has a voice that could pull off a nice country tune. This is, of course, my favorite AI night!

It’s funny how on weekends, my children are up and ready to start their day with breakfast and cartoons at 7am, but on school days, I have to poke, prod, pull blankets, go back in for a second round 10 minutes after the first before they will get up! Funny isn’t really the word actually I would use to describe it. Annoying. Irritating. Cumbersome. Exhausting. I would say Tanner, McKenzie and Ashlyn all enjoy school. They are always excited to go after they are awake and ready, but getting them to that point, is a trying way to start *my* day sometimes! Katelyn, she could sleep til 11am on the weekends, but is up by 6:30 so she can spend 30 minutes putting her make up on and changing her mind on what she is going to wear, even though she had something laid out 12 hours before. I think this coming weekend, I will pull my blankets over my head and make them wait for me to get up at my own pace to turn on the TV and get breakfast on the table. LOL.

Katelyn — not a pleasant morning person. She is fine when she is keeping to herself, but when she has to deal with anyone first thing in the morning, she is a total bear and can ruin a perfectly good day for some of us! Tanner — he’s okay once he’s up, but getting him up is difficult, he’s full of energy first thing in the morning too. Ready to argue, ready to harass his little sisters, etc. Not that this isn’t normal behavior for the only boy in a family of a girls, but it’s my instant reminder to remind him to take his medicine LOL. Ashlyn and McKenzie are both morning people… the first few minutes of actually GETTING them out of their beds are the worst, but they are happy for the most part, til they encounter their brother who is usually waiting downstairs like a wild animal waiting to pounce on his prey. Seriously! David…. is a morning person. If he has an errand to run on his day off, he will get it done before a lot of us are even out of bed sometimes. His new schedule has him up and out the door by 4:30am so his day offs (or is it days off? my grammar is getting rusty), he tends to keep that same schedule and he’s been awake for hours by the time we get up. I’m sure that is his favorite time of the day as well — nice and quiet! This is why I used to stay up until the wee hours of the morning - all that peace and quiet. Now I’m asleep by 9pm and boy do I miss that. I’m feeling old right now. Bailey is happy go lucky pretty much all the time, probably at her worst in the evenings when she begins to get tired, but she’s generally very cheerful and happy in the morning. Singing like a little bird NONSTOP. She’s singing right now, as I type… “Do you want me, do you want me” over and over. Not sure what song that is. LOL.

What made me think of posting about whether my family members are morning people or not… is my morning this morning. The flow of it all. Mondays are not the best, usually. Mornings are usually chaotic and can sometimes make or break my day! Today…. I woke up at around 6am and I know that if I’m not out of bed by 6:30, I’m not leaving myself enough time to get the kids moving and ready. So… I roll back over and think to myself “5 more minutes”… and my built in snooze alarm kept waking me back up every 5 minutes. Sometimes that last little stretch of rest is sooo necessary! Today… I had everyone to school early, for a change, which doesn’t happen all that often anymore. Someone is usually holding up the train by forgetting something or missing a shoe or can’t find a hair brush or a jacket or (yes I admit) can’t find her keys — you know how it goes. Even with the best of intentions of having these things all ready to go for the following morning, the night before — someone’s shoe (or keys ) has gotten up and walked away during the middle of the night or Katelyn, no Ashlyn, no McKenzie had the hairbrush last and now it is missing, must have been Tanner’s fault LOL. 100 hairbrushes in this house and we have trouble finding one. Anyone have any suggestions for this? HA!

In the midst of getting the kids ready for school, Bailey does something that I found super cute……. just a little something to start my day with a smile. Not all days start this way. This morning was a good morning and hopefully a sign of how the rest of our day will go… so that’s my post for today. I leave with you a picture of my cute lil girl and what she did to get my day started off with a smile. She was downstairs in the playroom, messy hair and jammies sitting on McKenzie’s Our Generation Horse and singing some cute little song. It’s the little things.