Ahh, the lake...Yes I know it's April in Spokane

Today we took our first trip of the year to the lake. The weather man promised us warm weather and by golly, we just had to go! It was a bit chilly, but we had a blast. And yes, that is a winter hat on Katie's and Sammy's heads :)

Happy Birthday Katie!

Today my little baby turned 5 years old. I can't believe how quickly she's grown and what a sweet girl we have been blessed with. We celebrated birthdays all week in our family, so these pictures were taken over a one week span.
Today, we started off the day with a donut breakfast. After opening a few presents it was off to Starbucks for some drinks! Back at home we had a very enjoyable time decorating cupcakes for Katie's class then off to McDonald's for lunch. After school Daddy took us to the bike shop and Katie was able to get a new bike, yay!! (pictures later) and then we had Uncle Danny, Auntie Mindy, Annsley and Seth over for waffles for dinner. It was a great day and once again we find ourselves being so grateful for Katie and what a wonderful blessing she is to our family. We love her dearly and I have a feeling life would be very boring if it weren't for her!

Beauty Night!

Tonight Katie decided she needed a beauty night. This is something she decides every time Loren is out of town for work. It's pretty fun and we have a great time! Here are a few pictures of Katie becoming "beautiful".

Our trip to Pomeroy

Today we took a little day trip to a place called Pomeroy. For those of you who are like me and need further explanation, Pomeroy is about 30 miles West of Lewiston Idaho. We were there so my brother Rex could do an el switcho chango on the back of Loren's truck. We got to see Rex's family as well as Grandpa Roger (who treated us to some very yummy milkshakes). Thanks Dad!! On our way to Pomeroy, we stopped in Colfax to have lunch and visit Tick Klock drugs. This is a drugstore that Loren's Grandpa Tick used to own years ago, but they have kept the name. Very fun!
We were also able to see Tyler, Clayton and Dylan's two cows who were not at all excited to see us and were glad when we left. And I don't want to forget Buddy, their very large, happy dog. He loved the kids and the feeling was mutual! Anyway, here are the pics.

Erica's Top 5

5 things I couldn't live without under $5
1. Chapstick, blistik to be specific
2. I'll agree with Pam and say a Soy Chai from Starbucks
3. A senior froggy's bean and cheese burrito (with hot sauce)
4. Hand sanitizer
5. Coke

5 favorite movies
1. Sound of Music
2. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
3. The Jerk
4. Planes, Trains and Automobiles
5. The Trouble with Angels

5 baby names I love, but won't use (I'm not sure if I can take this one seriously)
1. Ada Klock
2. Nina Klock
3. Tina Klock
4. Peyton
5. Elsie

5 songs I could listen to over and over again
1. Sam's song (not at all related to the fact that it's my son's name)
2. What a friend we have in Jesus
3. The Christmas song
4. Barbara Manity ( silly I know, it's Veggie Tales)
5. Gorgeous

5 people who have influenced my life in a positive way
1. Jesus
2. Loren
3. Karol
4. Kelli
5. Katie and Sammy (I know that's two, but oh well)

5 things that stay in my purse at all times
1. Hand sanitizer
2. Chapstick
3. Gum
4. Advil
5. Katie's sunglasses (weird I know)

5 moments that changed my life forever
1. Giving my life to the Lord
2. Marrying Loren
3. Having Katie
4. Having Sammy
5. hmmm...not sure

5 obsessions I have right now
1. Vacuuming....I love to vacuum
2. being on the computer
3. Green tea (cold with honey)
4. getting the kid's bathroom done
5. teaching Sammy how to buckle his own carseat

5 places I would like to go
1. New York
2. Rome
3. The Carribean
4. Hawaii
5. Disneyland

5 people I would like to see their top 5
1. Mindy
2. Sarah
3. Alicia
4. Wendy
5. Stacy

Bathroom Project...What day am I on? Day 4

Ok, I am finally DONE!! The last coat of paint was applied, then dried. All the hardware is back in their proper places (I think) and whew! I'm done. So here is the before picture. Remember this?? Now scroll down to see the after picture. I think you'll be as pleased as I am.

.......after.

Not terribly wonderful, but definitely better than it was!

And here is the bathroom after adding our new rug, towels and shower curtain from Ikea.

Ahhhh...Now I can breathe a sigh of relief!

Bathroom Project Day 3

Ok, there have not been any more unforseen disasters, so....I'm ready to paint!! This is drawer # 1 and doors # , hmmm....I hope I numbered them. Oh yes! Doors numbers 3 and 4. Get ready, get set, here we go!!

Here is the can of paint I will be using. I'm very sure you'll all run out this minute and buy some. Rodda paint # 8406 in case you were wondering.

These are drawers numbers 2, 3 and 4 with 1 coat of paint. Very exciting huh? They will get 1 more coat tomorrow and then, hopefully I will be done, hooray!!

Bathroom Project Day 2

You might be wondering what this ugly pile of wood has to do with the kid's bathroom. These are two cabinet doors and some other pieces that I don't know the correct names of. I will be sanding these very soon. Then they will be wood colored, then they will be kinda white. Let's get started!!

Things quickly take a turn for the worse and here is what we have. I sanded for about 30 seconds and it stops working. I've decided it's necessary to take apart the sander to see what might be happening. If you know anything about me, once I've taken something apart, that means never again will it be functional. Ugh!! This means yet another trip to the hardware store.....I'm not happy......

Ok, so I'm a little ticked that the sander is having "problems" so I'll make myself feel better with a delicious iced green tea from Starbucks...yumm!! Now I'll go to the store and try to find some parts that will make this thing work, which unfortunately does not happen. Loren says we will all go to Lowe's later.

So after dinner, we pile into the car and drive to Lowe's where (hopefully) we will purchase a new sander. Maybe now I can get started with the sanding after 5 hours of not sanding.

This is when we carefully debate which one is the one.

...... I think this is the one, wouldn't you agree?

Sammy proudly carries our much needed sander to the check out line. He's so pleased that he actually can carry it!

And here it is, our sparkling new sander! It only looks like this for 2 seconds, then is completely covered in green sawdust.

And after all that.....here is what has been accomplished. It's pretty ugly, huh?

Bathroom Project Day 1

The time has come for Katie and Sammy's bathroom to get a little attention. I have decided to do this on my own, and perhaps a little help from the kids. Here is what it looks like right now. I will be attempting to paint these green things and make them into kind of white things. There are quite a few pictures so bear with me....it's been a very eventful day.

We got the first door off, hooray!!!!

Sammy is happily working with me blissfully unaware that I am about to put his ill fitting goggles on and accidentally snap him in the eye with the bright orange plastic part...OUCH!!

Poor kid! His mother hits him in the eye and now boo boo bunny has to make the pain go away.

Here we go....candy will help ease my guilt, I mean, make Sammy feel much better.

This is easing my guilt a lot more than I thought! It's hard when you're looking at such a sad face.

Here we are at Home Depot. Hopefully we'll be able to find something to protect my son's other eye. Although I don't think they sell anything for user error.

After searching for the latest in eye protection, Sammy tries the goggles on and then tries to wrap the tape measure around his head as many times as he can.

Katie is demonstrating her new found knowledge of her new tape measure.

Here we are....the girls with our masks getting ready for sanding!

This is what I ended up with before I called it quits for the day. Lovely isn't it?