my tea has been re-heated in the microwave 4 times today.... and i have yet to drink any.

so yeah. its already march ... and i suppose i should also be slapped on the hand since it is now 2010... an entirely new year.

in the past couple of months i have somehow managed to buy a sweet new camera, only to drop it in my full cup of hot tea and ruin it. so yeah. im a little peeved at the fact that i have minimal christmas pictures. i am also missing photos of my sons awesome 7th birthday party at the race track. i also lack precious memorobilia of my newly born nephew, austin. he is absolutely adorable and it is really too bad that everyone is missing out on pics of him.

so here we are at round two of the battle for camera. see you soon.

jacob alan is a 1st grader...

... today's the day. jake's first day at his new school. we all spent the morning together, even daddie was here.

jake was up first -- 7 am to be exact. no alarm clock needed for this excited kiddo! summer went by fast and we had a great time together at the beaches, camping, in our OWN backyard even!!

jake is now attending robert frost elementary and his new teacher's name is mrs. hull. we hear shes a tough one, so daddie gave him the pep talk at breakfast.

here's little man... outfit picked out by himself and laid out in his room the night before. this kid's got swagger at a young age.

we love you kid! you're gonna do great!

whoa -- its august??!

so yes, i have been a bit late... we have been running around like crazy people... lets see, lets see... events that hold major importance these last few weeks:

the lovely mya papaya turned 4!! she had a great party with all of her awesome friends. we did another water party since it has been the same temperature here in seattle as it is, well, in hell. mya's party theme was an ice cream social. it was really great to get all the kiddos together and build sundaes just to run it all off in our new backyard. pictures to follow...

the good family 4 does newhalem, wa.! that right folks -- we took the challenge and succeeded. the four of us headed out camping for the fourth of july. it was our first time out and we did it big. with as little notice as possible, greg lets me know he made reservations and we need to start planning a 3 day trip (thanks dear). we packed up the house and set out on thursday the 2nd. we headed up north to a small town called newhalem. although i am not a fan of long car rides, this one in particular was rather beautiful. we did a lot of hiking through the nearby trails, took drives through the nearby 'off-road' spots and swam in the river. the river was freezing.

roasting marshmallows for the first time with the kids totally RULED. smores became an every 3 hour event. we ate a bunch of weird camping appropriate meals while the bugs ate us.

the kids each had their own disposable camera to record their memories. once the pics are returned from the photohut (jk but you get the idea) we will be able to view through their eyes. please overlook the pictures of me running at the camera lens, im really not angry, it was just a bad angle.

....all in all, it was a stellar first camping trip.

seattle caught on fire. yes, our dear, unprepared city felt the scorch of the hot, blaring UV rays of the sun. it was a rather long week in addition to being flame broiled and/or sweated to death, greg was chillin' (literally) in his air-conditioned hotel in tuscon az. greg still hit temps as high as 104 in arizona while he was there for work. however, seattle was at a whopping 56% humidity. it was not fun. lucky for us, we have friends in high places -- ones who have sweet swimming pools at there house. we are also lucky for lake washington -- denny beach in particular. the kids and i practically lived on shore for a solid 48 hours. the kids and i had a love/hate relationship with the weather that week, loved swimming, hated attempting to sleep.

greg finally got the bike of his dreams. the long awaited battle has finally been won. i was a little scared but the xanax is helping. who am i joking... im scared outta my skull. he and uncle bob set out on a motorcycle shopping spree and picked out a 1999 TLR1000... yes, 1000. its a big one -- a big LOUD one. greg is really happy about his new toy. i am happy for protective riding gear. jake thinks his dads bike is so cool -- i catch him peeking through the kitchen/garage door now and again.

its getting close the the school year and we are slowly prepping and growing more excited about jacobs new school. he will be attending robert frost elementary in kirkland. they just recently tore down the old school and have built a brand spankin', shiney and sparkly new two-story building in its place. the four of us have been walking at night to check the progress of the build. we are all stoked to see the doors open. jake has been enrolled on a soccer team with one of his best buddies - whom he will be going to his new school with next year.



so theres the update -- im working on this darn camera thing so pics to come soon. my camera is broken and i am currently shopping for new deals :)

peace&love.

hell week at the good household...

between busted faces n heads, we are ALL at our wits end with pain!

last week mya decided it would be a good idea to jump on her bed... i could hear the mattress springs boinging in the bedroom to which i immediately throttled my voicebox in that general direction down the hallway.

"MYA, get off your bed, we don't jump on beds!"

THUNK

*screaming child* (not an awesome sound, especially when you have to rinse raw chicken off of your hands before you can see the damage.)

i ran into her room where she was still screaming... rubbed her head a little bit, and noticed blood on my hand. i dug around through her hair and sure enough, a gash... about the size of my pinky nail tip. small wound, still bled like crazy.

checked her eyeballs for a concussion, nada... we were good. bloody but good.

we managed to get through most of the week full of fun and joy...

jake's friend, ho'okele visits his father in CA every summer for the WHOLE summer. its a major bummer for all of us including ho'okeles' mother. its tradition to have a little get together before he heads out.

this year, we got a hold of some $10 tickets to wildwaves, so we decided to head out on a thursday. mya and jake both loved it, and have been asking to return to the watery village of fun everyday since we went. im sure we will be returning this summer if we can find those great tickets again. it was a little tough juggling two kiddos in a giant swimming pool area, but the kids did a great job of being cautious and listening to directions.

the weekend rolled around -- it was nice to see greg for 3 whole days. hes finally getting to a steady point with his current employees which allows for more time with us. thank god he was home this weekend.

sunday sunday sunday...

kids will be kids i suppose, and they generally learn the hard way. this last sunday jake and mya both had to learn the hard way in regards to rock throwing.

wait, its gets better -- or is it worse?

sunday was beautiful outside and the kids spent most of the day in the backyard. sun was shining, we had all the doors open to create a nice breeze through the house, temperature was not too hot no too cold... it was your typical lovely day.

...and then the screaming commenced from the backyard. that pain scream and then silence that follows when the person screaming cannot make any noise nor breathe in between screams.

i look out the back deck to see mya on all fours, bleeding profusely from the face. not a pretty sight. so i run out to see up close, there is too muc blood to assess any damage.

jake was 'throwing rocks at the tree' and hit mya SQUARE in the nose. she was bleeding heavily from the inside and the outside of her nose. greg had to come assist because i, the mom who is supposed to be prepared for anything and everything, almost passed out on the ground. jake was in tears, mom was nearly in tears, mya was still screaming -- thank goodness daddie was home to handle this one.

greg assessed a broken nose. so we called her doctor immediately to get the on call physician since it was sunday.

ultimately myas faced was iced, and we gave her some ibuprofen for the swelling. the doctors said that there was nothing they could do right this instant, at least until the swelling went down. we opted against a cat scan due to 1) ridiculous health insurance 2) knowing that there was nothing anyone could do at this point in time. if any 'readjusting' needs to be done, we will have to do it later in life - (EEK!). i will still take her in to have them document the injury in case mya needs rhinoplasty at age 10. :| - this is assuming her nose doesn't heal properly or causes breathing problems in her future.

it has been three days since the actual incident. myas nose is still puffy and badly bruised, her beautiful face is now adorned with two black eyes... but shes a trooper. i am still having to hold her down a bit and keep the kids from smacking into each other so often. mya is still a little nasal-y when speaking but air is passing through each nostril. there's still some scabbing on the the outside of the nose as well.

ive had enough injures for one week - im glad we all made it out alive.

its been real, its been fun -- but it hasn't been real fun.

next adventure -- camping for the 4th! no bears please.

Snoqualmie Falls

This picture was taken Memorial Day weekend... Snoqualmie Falls is our fams sorta special place to visit. Greg asked me to marry him there, so we visit the bench with the kids when we get a chance to get out there. Anyway, the Falls looked as beautiful as it possibly could a couple weeks ago... the snow is melting in the mountains, luckily, there has been very little flooding :) Enjoy!

Jake is post kindy-kid!!

Today we had Jake Kindergarten graduation field trip... I took Jacob to school just like any other regular school day, except for today was his graduation!!

Although he is just a kindergartner, graduation is still very important. Mrs. Thomson scheduled a family picnic at the park. I packed up some sammies for the 4 of us since dad took time out of his busy day to come see Jake get his diploma. Mya, Jake and I met Greg at the school. All of the kids in Jake's class sat nicely in their chairs awaiting instruction from the teacher. We had some assigned jobs foe the parents attending and we were on our way.

The 1st stop was Mrs Huizenga's house to visit her chickens... the kids loved seeing the chicks and had a chance to throw them some feed. Then it was off to the park!

We arrived at the park and the kids went berserk! Jake, Mya, Greg and I sat down to eat real quick before playing... There were basketballs, bean bags, parachutes and an all out kindy party! Followed up with a small, personal graduation ceremony. Kids were announced one by one and a small piece was said about each. When Jake's name was called, we all clapped and cheered. Mya sat and watched like a good girl through the whole ceremony. Mrs. Thomson was delighted to have Jake as part of her class -- referring to Jake as "Mr. Cool" since he is always wearing such 'cool clothes' (which are pretty cool hand me downs from the Georges'), and having his cool chain wallet... Jake does have quite a fashion sense at such a young age ;) above and beyond being 'cool' he has been noted to have a 'good heart' and has been reading like a miracle! Greg and I just sit in awe at Jakes reading and knowing letters and their sounds. Hes a genius!

Some extra kindy 'drama' involved a baby raccoon that was stuck on the fence! Mama raccoon ended up coming back to fetch her baby after the kindy crowd ceased.

... most importantly, our family had a great time together at the park celebrating our oldest and his accomplishments thus far in life.

Next year is truly full time class hours and he will be attending a new school... we have loved his school in Bothell, and it has been a pleasure seeing Tiberius almost everyday after school since they both attended the same school.

Mrs. Thomson is amazing -- we are really blessed to have such wonderful people grace our lives.

Congrats Jake!! You amaze us everyday!

Introduction, preface, WARNING... whatever you wanna call it !

So here we are. The Goods. The majority of readers most likely already know us. I am building this site for the out of town family members that may be interested in what Greg, Rachael, Jake and Mya may be up to :)

The past couple of months have been hectic with a move into our first OWNED home (pics to come).  That's right folks, we're back in Kirkland!! We are looking forward to meeting our new neighbors and being involved with our little community.  

We're working on getting Jake signed up for Fall soccer season and prepping him for a new school this year since we are leaving Maywood. Jake will be attending Robert Frost elementary next year which just so happens to be my old elementary school -- they even remembered me when we went to register Jake!  In the meantime, Jake is looking forward to spring break just as if it were Christmas!

Mya will be staying at her current preschool through the middle of June and will also return in the Fall.  Mya has great friends, loves reading and loves learning.  Bothell Community Preschool has been wonderful. Mya isn't quite old enough for Kindergarten next year, but just as we did with Jake, Mya will be in 2 years of Preschool.... its a little trend mom and dad started.

Greg has been working HARD these last few weeks.  Lots of early morning departures followed by late evening home arrivals. Being the manager is a tough job -- his team consists of 2 markets out of 5.  Greg manages the home office team of Seattle and also the outer market in Tuscon AZ.  Needless to say, he does a lot of travelling. In his free time, we try to get out and about together, sometimes in his hobby cars that he loves to work on. 

I am in between nanny jobs right now. The economy has been pretty rough and nanny jobs are few and far between.  However, I am busy with my own two, along with a new home to make fancy and to our liking. I never thought it would be this much work!  I do a lot of driving with drop off and pick ups to school and after school activities. Sometimes its a bit mundane but I believe the payoff will be great down the road. I wouldn't trade this time with my kids for anything.  School is on hold at this moment, however, I plan to start new classes in July. I have 2 more classes until I graduate with an AAS in business management and then its off to get a BA in Human Resources Management. 

So there is your briefing, stay tuned to see pics of the new house... as soon as I get my boxes in order and find my dang camera!