Mark took the kids to the beach this morning to show Ellie the ocean. They found hermit crabs (Ellies is in the bottom picture) and leaches and all sorts of 'beach' type things! You can see in the top picture the beautiful mountains of WA state. The second picture shows Ellie and Paige hugging on the beach. All the white shells you see on the beach are oyster shells. This beach is right on a major oyster bed and when the tide goes out the birds go crazy feasting on all the oysters. They grab the oysters and fly up high and then drop them onto the beach to crack them open, eating the 'meat' on the inside and leaving the shells all over the beach. Neat hey? Although, if you read back to last summer, it wasn't so neat when Paige sliced her toe wide open on an oyster shell (they are razor sharp)....but that was an adventure from another day.

Hugs
Mark, Jaye and Gang

Here are a few 'highlights' from Shelbys birthday celebration. The top picture is obviously her cake! As mentioned in an earlier post, it was an Ice-Cream cake..yummers. The second picture was taken just after the last candle was blown out, and for whatever reason, there was quite alot of smoke! I guess that's what happens when you start to get older, too many candles on the cake! :) The last three pictures are of Shelby opening various 'gifts' from the Greene side of the family. She recieved money from Uncle Dan and Auntie Laura, Gramma and Grampa Greene and Great Gramma Ruth. She also recieved 'the worlds longest sodoku puzzle' from her Dad and I along with a Visa gift card for her to go shopping with (it can be used anywhere Visa is accepted, quite a neat alternative to the regular 'store' gift card!). Shelby and her Dad and Ellie want to go shopping at the mall sometime, so perhaps this weekend will see the three of them er, four of them (they won't get away without Paige!) off to shop.

The three girls are having such a wonderful time. And I was right, there definately IS a gigglefest going on in our home!

Of course, Mark is having a wonderful time scaring the girls! He showed them some horse poop and told them it was fresh bear poop! Later on when we were all outside and it was getting dark, he threw a rock into the bush and you could hear three highpitched screams! hehehe.....Once they found out it was him and not a bear they thought it was quite funny! I can tell this is going to be a fun filled week!

As I type this, the house is quiet and everyone is still asleep. We have our party to attend this afternoon and we were wanting to take the kids to the beach. Ellie said she has never seen the ocean, so we need to make sure she not only sees it but touches it!

Hugs to all,

Jaye

TaDa! Shelby and Ellie arrive in WA! This was Ellies first airplane ride, so it was nice for her to have Shelby the seasoned pro flying with her! They said there was a fair amount of turbulance over Montana but they had a fairly good landing (always nice to have a good landing!). Shelby and Ellie and Paige have launched a giggle-a-thon that I imagine will last the next ten days!

We will be celebrating Shelby's birthday this evening as we like to do that when she is out here for spring break (her b'day is March 2). She requested steaks and broccoli for her birthday dinner (we are also making baked potatoes and an Italian salad-tomatoes, fresh basil, fresh mozzarella and proscuitto) and we have an ice-cream cake in Shelbys favorite flavor (Oreo cookies and cream) from Cold Stone Creamery- the worlds BEST place for ice-cream! We have a few gifts from 'us' for Shelby and Gramma and Grampa Greene and Great Gramma Ruth have also sent Shelby a little something for her birthday! We will take and post pictures a little later tonight!

Tomorrow we are going to a boat party and might be going to check out some new little duckies! Sunday is church and then pizza and movie night as we need to save our energy for our vacation to Leavenworth (the town NOT the prison! hahaha) for spring break. We will be taking the laptop on vacation so will be able to post pictures on a daily basis...

Hugs to you all

Mark, Jaye and Gang

Here is Ben at his first T-ball practice. In this picture they were doing their warm up. After this they went through three rotations of batting/hitting practice, running bases and throwing. Then they played a 'mock game' to give the kids a feel of what a real game would be like. If practice is anything like what the real game is going to be like, it should be very entertaining! When the ball was hit ALL the kids ran for it, even if they were on bases. The kids had NO CLUE where the bases were and would randomly run around the field. Of course, all the boys had to 'slide' no matter what it was they were supposed to be doing! All in all it was fun. Ben has two practices a week and we will be sure to take pictures on 'opening day'.

Hugs to you all,
Mark,Jaye and Gang

Ta Da! Here it is! Marks new car! It is a 2007 Saturn Ion 2. It is going to be alot easier on our gas bill compared with his hog of a truck. We are keeping the truck as it is great for taking loads to the dump and hauling stuff from one end of the property to another. Mark really LOVES his car and I thought he'd sleep in it the first night he had it home! :)

We drove the new car to T-ball practice tonight but the list of 'rules for driving in daddy's new car' was a little much, not sure how often we'll do THAT! hahahaha....

We are now dedicated Saturn owners and will trade in our mini van just before we move back to WI for something a little more 'snow weather' friendly!

Hugs to you all

Mark, Jaye and Gang

Well the wisdom teeth are out! And boy, let me tell you, what a nice experience! Seriously...not a minute of pain or discomfort...they put me in this lovely barca lounger type chair, gave me an IV with some lovely drugs and off to sleep I went. I woke up and they gave me flowers (the adult version of getting a sticker when you are a good kid!) and sent me on my way. Mark took the day off and so was there to drive me as I cannot drive for a few days on my 'happy pills' as they are nicknamed around here! So...teeth are out...no pain or swelling...all is good...

Mark is on duty today, so Sam has been pressed into 'mom patrol' which really just means he makes sure I don't fall over when I walk (see the happy pills info above! haha). Some dear friends of ours, Paul and Jodi (you all may recognize the name, they were friends of Mark and Marys when they were married....now they are friends with us. Does this mean he got them in the divorce? ) are bringing dinner over to us tonight so that I don't have to get up and cook.

Tomorrow we will attempt to go to Church. I will be off my meds by then and so I am hoping I am not in pain so that we can go. After church, we are headed to Puyallup to buy Mark a new car! His pickup is just a gas hog and with gas prices the way they are, his commuting back and forth to PSNS is not nice to the pocket book. And of course, now that I am working, buying a new car is more than feasable (that fact combined with the fact that our other two vehicles are paid for helps as well!). We will keep the pick up as every boy needs to have one and there's just something women like about a pick up man (so the country song goes! hehehe) but Mark has choosen a brand new Saturn to buzz around in. He wanted a Porche, but I said that will have to wait until I finish my Law degree and am an attorney. I have this feeling that Mark is going to adjust quite well to being a 'kept man'! I said it doesn't bother me if he stays home and goes fishing every day, just have dinner on the table when I get home! Given that Mark is an awesome cook, I don't see any problems with our long term plans!

Hope you all have a great weekend. I know I will (see the Happy Pills info above!)....
Hugs
Mark, Jaye and Gang

I had a leprechaun clean my dining room floor on Saturday! :) Ben and Paige each had a special hat to wear on St. Patricks Day and Ben woke up and put his on first thing! We did alot of running around Saturday so they had plenty of chances to show them off!

Paige and I started out the day at Starbucks having a cup of joe (she had hot chocolate) and then we sold Girl Scout Cookies outside the exchange for two hours. We then went to Old Navy and did some 'girl shopping' and then met Mark and Ben for lunch before we headed to Home Depot to get some lumber to finish up the outside play area. I need a fenced in area for my daycare kids and Mark is doing a super job of it. I will post pics when it is all done!

Yesterday (Sunday) found me spending nine hours at the Red Cross office doing my Adult/Child/Infant CPR and basic first aid class. I had five tests and scored 100% on all five! I even impressed myself when I beat out a RN who had been a nurse for 24 years! hehehe....so I am now all qualified to save lives..so go ahead...have a heart attack/stroke/accident...I will save you! :)

Today I am in Bens class ( I go each Monday morning), Wednesday I am in Paiges class, Tuesday and Thursday I spend the day doing my own homework and Friday I have two wisdom teeth pulled...yikes!

Next Weekend SHELBY will be here! YAY!!!! We are so excited! We have a nice little trip planned over spring break and I will be taking my laptop so I can blog and post pics each day....that should make you happy Dad! hehehe...

Hugs and Love,
Jaye

On Tuesday night, the second graders put on a play entitled 'Bugz'. As you can see, Paige was a ladybug (yes, that's Ben in behind her making silly faces)! The play was complete with speaking parts, songs and dances! Paige did a dance along the lines of a chorus revue with all the other ladybugs while they sang a song about 'Being A Lady'. I am sure this could go to broadway and be a smash hit! :) We have it on video and are going to attempt to transfer it to dvd. If we can manage this then we will send a copy to WI for all of you there to see. The rest of you will just have to come and visit us to see it! :)

I have just started the last class of my third (of four) semesters. I plan on being finished with my classes and have my degree by this summer! I am sooooo excited about this! This is a huge thing for me to do and I plan on doing a happy dance when it's done!

Lots going on over the next while. This weekend I am taking my infant/child/adult CPR and basic first aid course. I am also having two wisdom teeth pulled (does this mean I will lose half my smarts? hehe) which means I will spend next weekend eating milk shakes! Ben starts T-ball next week and then the kids have spring break- which means only two weeks and Shelby and her friend Ellie will be here! We are so excited!! We haven't seen Shelby since the summer so it will be nice to see her again. It will be SOOO much nicer once we move to WI, that way we can see Shelby on a weekly basis and be alot more involved in her school activities etc.

So I am off now to do some errands. Hope all of you are having a great day and have a great weekend!!

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

Hugs
Mark, Jaye and Gang

What a lot can happen in just one week! WHEW!!

Let me start by going back a FEW weeks! We took Ben and signed him up for T-ball as he was really wanting to join. Mark and I both signed up to volunteer (me to work the concession stands, and Mark saw the ride on lawn mower so wanted to mow the ball field!). In doing this, we authorized the Little League Association to do background checks on both of us (which we are GLAD they do as we don't want some nasty pervert with our kid!). The company which Little League used to do this was a company based out of Georgia who ran a national check. Unfortunately for all concerned, the brilliant state of Pennsylvania decided to change their laws recently, and so when you do a check there, you can run a persons NAME ONLY through the system and nothing else. Do you KNOW how common the name Greene is? Mark Greene? VERY! Anywho...Marks background check came back with a NINE PAGE rap sheet! His crimes? Terroristic threats, assault with a deadly weapon, drug use and possesion of drug paraphanalia, and the list runs on! When I contacted the company about this, they pretty much had a 'who cares' attitude. I then contacted the Little League Association who had just become aware of the problem (turns out anyone with a common name came back with a rap sheet out of Pennsylvania!) were so apologetic and yet could do nothing to change it. So me being me, I called the news! King 5 (a local channel) did a 2 minute spot on Monday, with plenty of footage of Mark and Ben playing catch and hitting the ball. So Mark has had his 15 minutes of fame...we got quite the laugh out of it! Ben took the whole thing TOTALLY serious and practiced playing T-ball for two days! hehehe.....

Paige then got sick on Tuesday. She had a fever of 102 degrees for the better part of two days. It is something that seems to be going through the school, lasts a few days and then goes. She was feeling much better by Friday, although she didn't go back to school as she was still sleeping alot and recovering!

Today (Saturday) Mark and Ben and I headed into town to run a bunch of errands. We are putting up a set of cupboards in the laundry room above the washer and dryer to store all our 'poisons' (bleach, soap, cleaners etc) to get them up and out of reach for my final daycare inspection (yes, I have started yet another project...an after school care program!). We are also putting in a storage unit in the laundry room to make it look neat and tidy by keeping all the craft items and other things I will need for my program and put them behind a set of closing doors!

And last but not least...DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!!!!! My mom became officially engaged yesterday! She met this man a month ago (you read that right!) and since they are madly in love they are getting married! I figure that with Mom being 60 and Jack being 77, they aught to know what they are doing! At this age, they can actually do whatever the hell they want and the rest of us can take a flying leap I figure! SO congrats to Mom and Jack....If I know my mom, Jacks life will never be the same! :P

Hugs to you all!!
Jaye