Insta Friday

Hello there. How was your week? No really, how was your week? I genuinely want to know.
Oh. Do you want to know about my week? How nice of your to ask. Well, my week was great. Really great! I got to meet up with an old friend on Friday.

That's us in the picture up there in downtown Seattle. I'm the one in yellow. She's the one who looks so happy that she's glowing. She's in a really great spot in life right now. You can read about some of that hereLinneas-quill. I couldn't be more happy for her if I tried! That lady is a gem.

After my visit with Jeni, I was then whisked away to Hawaii for a surprise Anniversary trip.

No. No I wasn't, but I had you going there for a minute didn't I?

We did however have a big birthday Luau for my May babies. Who are now 14 and 12. Well, technically Emakins isn't 14 until Monday but ya know we celebrated early.
This is only the second time that they have shared a birthday party. The last shared birthday party was when they were turning 7 and 5.

Her birthday is the 28th so this is what I said to her all week, "Emakins, Emma Lou, Emmafaifs, no more birthdays for you! I mean it! Listen to your mom. No more."
It doesn't quite have the same reaction that it did 10 years ago. She's on to all my tricks this one. Can't get anything past that very bright intelligent young lady right there.

The Luau's big hit was the bamboo structure that Moses and Dan built in our garden area. I took more pics on my regular camera, but I can't seem to download them... arghh so frustrating. It was truly beautiful, for one night only. The rains came the next day and made it all droopy. But for that one magical night, my girls felt celebrated. And I got weepy thinking that it was only yesterday that they were 5 and 7 sharing their day together. Back then it was so different. They actually stayed together and played in the same groups. This night it was very apparent who the almost High Schoolers were. It was also very apparent that birthday parties for big tweens and teens... SO NOT THE SAME as for the lils! You are rendered useless at big kid parties, other than to be a warm body that smiles and waves at the parents that come and go.

BUT all is not lost. The little boy right down there, he's 7. He's my baby and he still falls for my tricks. YES! I have one left who likes to take evening walks. One left who likes to look at slugs and snails, and puppy dog tails.

It is snail/slug season here.
Snail/Slug season = Wet. I like wet, just not wet and slime. Snails= Wet+Slime=Eww. But strangely enough, I am fascinated by these wet slime buckets, and I can't seem to get a close enough pic of one.

We caught this one taxi cabbing a lady bug. Made me think of the song "Come on and take a free ride" I wonder if this Mr. Slug was thinking these lyrics;

"All over the country, I'm seeing the same
Nobody's winning, at this kind of game
We gotta do better, it's time to begin
You know all the answers
Must come from within
So, come on and take a free ride (free ride)
Come on and take it by my side
Come on and take a free ride"

I'm thinking slugs might have those kind of thoughts, Ya never know. I mean really, who knows?

I wonder what my dog Riot, aka Briot, aka Bryan, aka Darkness is thinking about when he sleeps...Standing Up? I mean it's kinda creepy. He comes over to wherever I am sits down and falls asleep. It's also very cute. He's so cute. Standing there. Sleeping.

One of the most exciting events of the week besides seeing Jeni, the Luau, the Major Life crisis I'm having with my girls getting so big, the snails, slugs, and my dog who likes to sit up and sleep, was our Red Rhododendron Blooms. Say that five times fast Rho do den dron... Rho do... Ah heck I can't even do it twice.

Anyway they are absolutely stunning. I am ever in awe of this flower. It looks to be so tropical doesn't it? Like it belongs in Hawaii. Makes one wonder how it got all the way up here? These are thoughts that keep me up late at night.

No, No they really don't. Did I get you again?

And finally, the creme del creme. The icing on the cake. The moment captured in time. My pups looking OH so cute, Naughty because they are not EVEN supposed to be on the couch, but still so cute. I will be writing them a letter come June 1st. Don't you worry, I have some goods on them this month. Something involving a parmesan cheese can. Grab a button, and Join up here June 1st for my "Letter To My Pets" link up.



Hope every last one of you had a wonderful week. I really do. But if you didn't have a great week, next week is bright and shiney, fresh with no mistakes in it :) And YAY it's the weekend!

Thanks for joining me for this episode of Insta Friday.

Insta Friday

I really enjoy taking pictures, that's why one of the apps I got excited about when I got my Iphone a few years back was Instagram. I just really like instagram. Apparently, Mark Zuckerburg of Facebook likes IG too. It was purchased a few months back for a mere,1 BILLION DOLLARS Mwah ha ha ha!! I'm not sure if Mr.Z is trying to be like Dr. Evil in taking over the world but either way... You can follow me there @Monosco.

And with that here is My week in review via Instagram-

Flowers around here are pretty much in full bloom.

Mothers Day on Sunday was probably one of the best to date. My 2 cups of awesome, you know who you are and what you know, so Shh... you be quiet! YOU are sworn to secrecy.Shontell and Natalie I mean it.

2ND Born Spawn, Chloe had her birthday.

These were the star cupcakes and the main event; Lemon Lavender, Chocolate Chip Pancake with a Maple Frosting, and Raspberry Cheesecake cupcakes. That girl LOVES cupcakes.

I had my 15 minutes of fame in the blog world, HERE,HERE, and HERE. All great blogs.

3rd born Spawn, Solomon invented a ring that lights up.

4th born Spawn, Isaiah lives in a world where there is no sadness, no stop of motion, and only the words play and outside are recognizable.

Oldest Spawn Emma is practicing this song for her Jr High Graduation. She will be singing in front of hundreds of people. Prayers appreciated.



La La La La, La la la la la la, La la la La La la !

If you are offended by my reference to my children as Spawn, you have clearly not been paying attention and should just move along.

Linking up with these lovelies;








Hope you all have a really great weekend.

Insta Friday

The glorious flower bushes around our property have come to full bloom around here, so don't be surprised if you see a few more of these beauties in future posts.

My son Solomon came home with an early mothers day present for me. "Look mom it's a bo sox's eraser" I love him. I love it. It makes me happy. Shhh... don't you dare say it looks like a Christmas stocking eraser. Don't say it. DON'T!

Daughter Chloe and I went here;Olympic Sculpture Park this week. It was glorious. I made a wish that she wouldn't grow any taller or get any bigger or grow up and move away.

I think I will need a lot more pennies to have that wish come true, what do you think?

We saw this sculpture. When the kids were asked what it was, you should have seen their faces. When told it was a typewriter eraser, again, CRICKETS! When asked who had seen or even knew what a typewriter was a single hand went up, and sadly it was not my daughters. Sheesh... what is the world coming to people? Our kids don't know what a typewriter is.

In order to feel better about the fact that Chloe didn't raise her hand when asked if she knew what a typewriter was, I went home and put on some records. Yep, that made me feel like I was doing my part to educate my children about all things retro. That, and I am now on the hunt for an old typewriter.

I warned you that you might have to suffer through a few more flower pictures. I know, it's torture right? Why do I hurt you all so with these awful, ugly pictures?

And then of course, ground breaking news... the garden is growing. Well, at least our strawberries.

And I'm just sayin...

If you were here with me right NOW we would be sitting outside in the sun, drinking coffee, and enjoying those beautiful flower bushes.

Just sayin...

I hope everyone has a wonderful mother's day weekend.
And now
I leave you with these questions;
Do you own a typewriter?
If you have children do your children know what a typewriter is?
someone?
anyone?
Come on make me feel betta!

Insta Friday

It's Insta Friday again already. Time flies when you are having fun, and boy howdy have I been having some OF IT!! I've been having some a lot OF IT! Hope there is still some OF IT left for the rest of yous.

Last Friday night was the "Kony Cover The Night" project. If you don't know what Kony 2012 is all about you can learn more here;Kony 2012. Isaiah and I had so much fun as we acted like secret agents and sang the mission impossible song, we also remembered why we were doing what we were doing. We prayed over every poster for a better world where bad guys who abuse children would be caught. Whether they catch Kony or not I know an impression was made in my young boys heart and for that I am grateful.

I often post pictures on a phone app called Instagram. There is a whole community of picture loving people that post pics there, and it is really a lot of fun. One of the reasons I like it so much is the editing filters you can use. They really give your pictures a whole new look.

So prepare for a little blaggin' that's what I call it when I'm gonna do some bragging, but since it's on my blog... it's blaggin... ok I'm a dork I know. I have had a few moments in the spot light with my pics on instagram where a company here in seattle called igers_seattle has asked to tag my pics and the results is lots o likes! My little point and click capture of one my favorite benches in Fremont is currently up to 115 likes even as I type. That's alot of likes. I like when people like me and my pics. It makes me happy. You can follow me on instagram under monosco. I will like it. You can also follow that girl thenatalierose. She's one of my favorite people on planet earth and a really good photographer, blogger,mother,wife, friend... doing a lil blaggin about her as well today.

My week it seemed to fly by because I had another friend here to share it with. Why is it that when you have a friend life is just more fun? It's just a little sweeter, brighter, better. Agreed? We had many good chats sitting by the camp fire loving life. And we also had a lot of outings because, well... I'm kinda trying to sell Christine on moving here.

One sure fire way to get people to realize how fricken fantastic Washington is, would be to take them here. Snoqualimie Falls, it never disappoints. I think I could be a real estate agent for the state of Washington. MOVE HERE FAMILY AND FRIENDS!! Make my life complete and MOVE HERE already! Ok, I'm done.

Well and then, at some point in everyone's life there comes a time that you must kiss a troll. Now don't go talking smack and saying that I already have, because I'm married to My Giant. You know YOU can't hold a candle to this guy...

Poor Giant. One of the nights by the campfire we heard the riiiip.... and then Ker-Plunk! There went The Moses, he was stuck until like the big papa bear that he is he tore it all to bits to get out! Pretty dang funny. Should have got video of that.


Well at least now I can take kissing a Troll off my list of "to do's" and add on there getting some new lawn chairs.
Ok, you are right, kissing a troll was never on my list of "to do's" but kissing a Giant sure was, is and always will be. XOXO sorry ... got a lil twitter paited there at the end. My Giant has that affect on me.

Happy Friday everyone, I hope you have a great weekend. I'll be out and about with my brother Greg and his girlfriend Tanya.

What are your plans for the weekend?

Insta Fridays

I am trying this new blog thing out where I will link this blog to other blogs that are showing off their weeks worth of instagram pics on Fridays. Let me know what you think. This is my first Link up, so Be kind, leave some love.

On Saturday we spent the day in the city. It was sunny. It was glorious. It was practically perfect in every way.

On Sunday we got a head start on our Earth Day celebrating. It was a little early. Given the state of our piece of earth here on the property we should have started A LOT of early.

On Monday it was a typical back to school day and my dogs were ready to get out and play. After I got my Fab 4 out the door, I had some major cleaning to do and then I needed to get my butt to the gym, also known around these parts as Bootie Butt Kicker Hill-BBKH

On Tuesday beloved friend Christineey arrived. It was so good to have her here all to myself that I could hardly contain my joy. And well, why should it be contained? Sometimes you need to smile so big you can't see your eyes anymore.

Wednesday we had some fun. Some A LOT of FUN!

Thursday we went to the Chateau and enjoyed the view and the Vino. And then we came home and she helped me downsize my hat collection.

There will be more pictures from this event, soon to come. It was a somewhat painful process downsizing my beloved hat collection but it needed to be done. There was just no more room for all my hats and scarfs, and I seriously needed an intervention. Friends are good for interventions, are they not?


And now here it is Friday. Well now, that was just too easy. These Insta Fridays I think are gonna be fun.