The Wagners on Whidbey Island

The Best Way to Start a New Year

2012-01-23T19:46:00.001-08:00

Is by going on vacation. At least that is what the Wagners think. Exactly four years ago, Bert and I took the boys for the first time to Disney World.

We promised Marcus that when he was 48” tall we would try to make it back to Disney World again.

I am so happy that we were able to keep that promise.

Like the best/irresponsible parents that we are, we took our children out of school and flew down to Orlando the second week of January. The boys each had a backpack full of schoolwork to do, but they were so excited!

Hollywood Studios

Hollywood Studios was our favorite park, because…..

“Aerosmith’s Rockin’ Roller Coaster” Rocked!

“The Tower of Terror” was terror-able!

“Toy Story Midway Mania” was a blast, even though the lines were long.

“Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular” was truly epic,

“Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show” was a blast!

Lightning McQueen was adorable, but not very fast,

Star Tours was out of this world!

Hollywood Studio was the best day ever!

Epcot

Epcot was our favorite park, because…….

We pulled some serious G’s when we blasted off to Mars,

We loved being test track dummies,

We traveled around the world in only a few hours starting in England,

We started on a “Kim Possible” mission but had to quit when the boys started fighting and Marcus accused Travis of ruining his life.

The boys with Mary Poppins

France

Me rockin’ my poncho in Germany. It rained off and on that day.

Japan

Norway

Marcus as shark bait. Epcot was the best day ever!

Universal’s Islands of Adventure

On our 3rd day we took a break from Disney World and went to Universal’s Studio Island of Adventure. It was our favorite park, because……

of the “Wizarding World of Harry Potter”.

Just like everyone else, we went there first. That was a big mistake, it was so crowded!

Inside Hogwarts was so cool,

We even saw the gang! “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey” was an incredible ride. We waited an hour to go on it the first time. Later that day, we discovered the joys of the single rider line, and were able to go on it three more times.

We bought Marcus a wand and a Spiderman swimsuit. He got soaked on a ride and wouldn’t stop complaining about being wet. We were all glad when he stopped complaining, $24.99 well spent.

On the Caro-Seuss-el

Other hits for the Wagners that day were the Incredible Hulk Coaster, The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman, Butter Beer, and the “Great Feast Platter” at the Three Broomsticks.

Magic Kingdom

The Magic Kingdom was our favorite park, because……..

We loved Tomorrowland,

The Haunted Mansion,

Grandpa Marc,

Nathan finally got his driver’s license,

and Splash Mountain!

I only went on Splash Mountain twice, then I was happy to watch the boys go on it several times. It was cold that day, and I didn’t want to be wet and cold.

Nathan thought it was cool to act bored while the photo was being taken.

We also loved “Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin”….

until we got stuck on it.

Walt Disney World is building an addition to Fantasyland. We may have to go back soon!

Animal Kingdom

The Animal Kingdom was our favorite park, because…….

of the Tree of Life,

Dinoland,

“DINOSAUR”, see how Nathan is acting bored again,

tigers,

Nile crocodiles,

giraffes,

elephants,

rhinos,

and the petting yard, (I had had a bad experience in there the last time, so I stayed OUT!)

The best thing at The Animal Kingdom though was the “Expedition Everest” ride. Marcus loved it!

A Day Off

After 5 days in 5 different parks we decided to take a day off. We had to check out of our condo at Summer Bay and into a new condo. We wanted to enjoy the resort before we moved.

The beach we never got to use because it was too cold and we were too busy.

The boys played ping pong,

swam,

Marcus came in 2nd in a Mario Wii tournament and we don’t even own a Wii!

Marcus also won tickets to play put-put golf at BINGO. Can you say it was his lucky day?

Nathan tried playing golf-billiards.

“LOVE U JESUS” written in the sky. We all thought it was going to say Jessica, or Jessie, but we love that is said Jesus.

Our new condo at World Quest was even nicer than Summer Bay. I didn’t take any photos of our condo at Summer Bay because by the time I thought about it, we had already trashed the place.

Master bedroom

Master bath

Nathan’s room

the boy’s room

The Lego Store at Downtown Disney was a hit with the boys.

Too bad Woody and Buzz don’t like flash photography.

Dinner

Sea World

Sea World was our last park. It was our favorite because……..

the shows,

the rides,

bust especially SHAMU!!!!

Baby Shamu was so cute!

Best day ever!

Home

We came home to this.

The boys were thrilled to have 3 snow days, but now they are in school until June 20th. So Sad!

17 Years of Pictures With Santa

2011-12-13T09:44:00.001-08:00

Every year I jump through a lot of hoops to get a picture of the boys with Santa. I may have even bribed one of my sons one year. But it means a lot to me to be able to look at these pictures now and see how our family has grown over the years. I have hope next year that we can do it again.

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Too Cute Not to Share

2011-12-13T09:24:00.001-08:00

I found this in our ~~coffee~~ hot chocolate table the other day. It’s a good thing that Santa is able to predict the future and was one step ahead of Marcus. Let’s just hope he doesn’t change his mind again.

Because Mom Always Gets What She Wants

2011-12-03T21:42:00.001-08:00

But she paid dearly for it. She stood in the slowest line in the world in heels, in the cold for this. After being the best kid in the line, Marcus stuffed a bunch of candy in his mouth right before he got on Santa’s lap. Then he insisted on smiling like he did for his school pictures. Why do pictures have to be so hard?

Santa told him he needed to make his mom happy so he finally finished his candy and she got a good picture of Marcus and Travis.

By then Nathan was out of there. There were cute girls from school down there and he was totally embarrassed. He told his mom that she only had two more years of this with him. Mom feels kind of sad about that.

School Pictures

2011-12-01T10:47:00.001-08:00

I know they are expensive, but I have to buy them every year.

My High School Boy

My Middle School Boy

My Grade School Boy

(Hopefully he won’t smile like that next year)

Some day when they get married or something I will make a collage of all their school pictures so everyone will see how ~~dorky~~ cute they were.

The Rest of Summer and Back to School

2011-10-18T12:02:00.001-07:00

Alternative title- “Wake Me Up When ~~September~~ October Ends”

(The alternative title of this post doesn’t really have anything to do with this post, but I like it.)

I have been meaning to post on this blog for a while, but I have a good excuse.

I bought an iPhone.

I have been too busy checking Facebook, playing '”Phase 10”, “Where’s My Water?”, “Cut the Rope” and other important things to be on the computer much. I may not have the voice mail on my new phone set up, but I am always using my iPhone.

So I got some catching up to do, so here I go.

Summer finally showed up sometime in early August

We took the ferry over to Squium one day,

and we went to the Olympic Game Farm.

We fed a lot of different animals (homemade) bread.

We went to my new niece Stephanie’s blessing. We also thought about moving to South King County, but that would mean selling our house on Whidbey Island and then I would have to change my blog’s title so it’s a no go for now.

On August 10th, Travis had his cast finally removed. Happy Day!

Travis, Marcus, and I went to the Island County Fair.

We said goodbye to our 14 year old Ford Windstar and bought a new Toyota Sienna (no picture yet, but it is light grey and I love it).

I killed another houseplant.

Nathan turned 16, and had a coed party in our backyard where the lawn didn’t get watered all Summer.

I got a body transplant.

Back to School! Nathan is in 10th grade, Travis is in 6th grade, and Marcus is in 2nd grade.

We did lots of Scout stuff.

I even did two weekends of Wood Badge training. I broke down and bought Scout pants. I think that will be another post though.

Travis started playing the trombone in band.

Nathan did cross country.

Yeah! I am almost caught up!

Summer So Far

2011-08-05T01:57:00.001-07:00

It always seems like Summer goes too fast and yet so slow for me.

Travis had to have his arm reset on June 28th. He took it very well.

By the middle of July his hand was looking gross.

SCOUT CAMPS

After going to Cub Camp for all his life as a Tag-a-long, Marcus finally attended as a Cub Scout.

Nathan helped out on the BB gun range and Travis helped me with the Tiger Cubs.

Marcus loved seeing his big brother.

Marcus’ favorite stations were archery,

and BB’s of course.

The weekend after Cub Camp, Travis attended 11 year-old Scout Camp. I don’t have any pictures of it, but he had a great time.

The next week Nathan attended Scout Camp.

Every day the older Scouts got to do high adventure things like climb this vertical obstacle course.

The whole family had fun at Scout camps.

Maybe I Will Be Blogging More

2011-07-26T14:37:00.001-07:00

I am trying a new blogging program because the one on BlogSpot is painful to use. Let’s see how it goes!

Summer Bummer

2011-06-20T22:46:00.000-07:00

It all started Friday afternoon. We received a call from the boys' school that Travis had fallen off a swing and had probably broken his arm. We took him to the ER as soon as the school nurse stabilized him.

Sure enough, he had broken both his right radius and ulna.

The emergency room went well, they weren't very busy and were very nice to Travis. The doctor put Travis out so he could set his arm. It took him a while to wake up, and he was saying the funniest things. I videoed part of it, but I couldn't get it to load on this post.

Travis spent the weekend icing his arm and taking it easy. He got a lot of people to sign his bandage at church.

Today was 5th Grade graduation. Travis was happy that he was able to make it.

Congratulations Travis!

Right after his graduation, we went to the orthopedist. Hanging out for 1 1/2 hours in the cast room with Travis and Marcus almost sent me over the edge. The doctor said that almost every other boy in the area had decided to brake his arm at the beginning of Summer.

Travis had his heart set on a camouflage cast, but he settled for a green one, and we will add brown and black spots later.

Even though Travis was happy to get his cast, he started bumming about spending 4-6 weeks in it. We cheered him up by letting him burn all his school uniform pants.

That made the Summer Bummer a little bit better.

Hawaii Part 2

2011-06-20T22:38:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, May 4th

After spending the day before at the Polynesian Cultural Center, we decided to hit the beach again. Not just any beach, but one of the beaches on Oahu's North Shore. During the winter, the North Shore is famous for its wild waves with surfers.

Before going to the beach, we visited The Dole Pineapple Plantation. We entered the world's largest maze as a family and I lost everyone. I couldn't follow the maze map for anything! The boys loved it.

Marcus before he ran away from me.

After eating pineapple soft-serve ice cream, we drove up to the town of Haleiwa for lunch. Dessert is always better before lunch I think. I had Kalua pork again, I don't remember/care what anyone else ate. My lunch was delish.

We wanted to check out several of the beaches, but parking was hard to find. Bert finally dropped us off at Waimea Bay parked far from the beach (bless his heart!).

We thought that since May is almost June and June is Summer, that the surf would be calm. NOT! Travis and I were out in the water on boogie boards and it was great until we tried to get out of the water. I made it out by dodging the waves, but then I looked back just in time to see Travis be swallowed by a huge wave. I yelled his name, as he crashed onto the beach. It freaked us both out and Travis said his face hit the ground.

Nathan and Bert were the next victims. Bert got slammed and lost his wrist watch. He was done for the day. We then heard the lifeguards announce to everyone to keep their children out out the water.

The north end of the beach had the calmest surf, so we spent the rest of our time there. Though the surf was more than we could handle, it was a beautiful beach.

Just as we decided to leave the beach, the skies opened up and it poured on us. Bert had to hike back to the van (bless his heart again!).

Thursday, May 5th

We started the day with a visit to the Byodo-In Temple on the east side of Oahu. I remember visiting there when I was 11 years old, and wanted to feed the koi again.

The boys loved feeding the birds more than the koi.

They rang the gong for good luck.

It was a gorgeous day.

Our main goal of the day was snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. We had heard that the parking lot fills up fast, so we had a back-up plan to hike Diamond Head. We were happy to find a spot to park, so we were good to go!

Bert, Nathan, and Travis LOVED snorkeling.

I have a phobia of swimming with any kind of critters, so I wanted nothing to do with it. Marcus and I enjoyed swimming in the sandy areas.

Buried Treasure

Hanauma Bay was a big hit with the Wagners!

Hawaii Part 1

2011-06-16T13:53:00.000-07:00

When I talked Bert into taking the family to Hawaii on vacation this year we couldn't decide if we were the world's best parents, or the world's craziest.

Like last year, Bert's vacation was in May. Airline pilots rarely have vacation from their companies when other people do. This means family vacations at weird times. It has its pros and cons to be sure. The pros are traveling during off seasons and less crowds, and the cons are taking our kids out of school (though the boys don't see it that way).

We had the privilege of flying out of Bellingham to Honolulu. It was beyond sweet. We left around 5:00 in the evening, which was nice because we didn't have to wake up too early Sunday morning. We arrived in Honolulu around 8:00 at night, picked up our rental van (we learned our lesson last year)and drove to the Pililaau Army Recreation Center.

We were pleased with the two-bedroom cottage, though Travis had to sleep on the vinyl sofa the first night because we forgot to make arraignments for an extra bed.

Monday, May 2nd

I was the first one up at about 6:00 am. The three hour time change wouldn't allow me to sleep in. Marcus was up soon after, and insisted on going to the beach. The cottages are yards from the beach and we enjoyed a nice walk on the beach. Marcus was soaked by the time we went back to our cottage.

We had decided to take it easy the first day in Hawaii and hang out where we were staying. It was great. We ate breakfast at McDonald's and then went swimming.

We blinded the locals with our Washington skin.

The boys loved the ocean.

And the sand.

The highlight of the day was surfing lessons for Nathan and Travis.

Warning! Many, many surfing photos.

"Catch a wave and you're sitting on top of the world."

Wipe out!!!!

A big surprise

The surfing lessons were a big hit!

After the lessons were done, we drove up the west coast of Oahu, to the end of the road. We saw some beautiful beaches, and many homeless camps. We bought some groceries, the prices were high of course, $7.00 for a gallon of milk! After we got back to "our beach" the boys went swimming again. Bert was lighting our grill for dinner when it started raining. We ended up frying the burgers and watching an awesome storm. It was a great day.

Tuesday, May 3rd

Our fire alarm went off during the middle of the night, and was too high up on the wall to turn off, so we had to turn the power off to part of our cottage for the night. I still was the first one up and enjoyed breakfast on our patio.

We drove up the middle of the island to the North Shore and east to the town of Laie it was a beautiful drive.

The Hawaiian LDS Temple

We enjoyed the visitor's center at the temple.

We went to Polynesian Cultural Center as soon as it opened. Visitors can visit 6 different islands and learn more about their unique cultures.

Marcus and Travis trying not to hurt themselves long poi twirling in Aotearoa (New Zealand)

In Hawaii, the boys learned about Poi.

The Canoe Pageant was awesome, and I enjoyed the shade. It was really hot that day!

We visited all the other islands: Samoa, Fiji, Tahiti, and Tonga.

We loved the lau that evening, and no, there is not alcohol in that pineapple!

The purple poi rolls were yummy, even Marcus liked them.

They asked all the couples celebrating their anniversaries in May to go to the stage for a dance.

After dinner, we watched the show, "Ha, Breath of Life". It was stunning.

This and That

2011-04-11T10:50:00.001-07:00

What's been happening for the past month or so.

Marcus played a toothbrush-air-guitar for the "First Grade February Concert" on March 8th.

Have I mentioned before that he got glasses?

Marc and Daddy at "Math Night"

Travis received an award from the Kiwanis Club for being awesome.

Marcus and his classmate, Korban with a "K", were asked to lead the school in the Pledge of Allegiance at the Kiwanis' assembly.

My view of Marcus at piano lessons.

Total randomness- We just finished off a bottle of Bath and Body's Carmel Apple soap in our upstairs bathroom, and I am so relieved that I never gave into the temptation to taste it. It smelled so yummy!

Also posting in Html has become very painful and time consuming. Quit making changes to what I do! Why is it so hard to make the spaces between my photos now?

Bert's Change of Command

2011-03-22T12:09:00.000-07:00

This event is so last month, but it was a very important occasion for the Wagner family. My only excuse for not blogging about it earlier is that every time I sit down at the computer lately, I find myself playing "Settlers of Catan".

I got the boys out of school to see their father's last flight. Of course they were excited!

The Last Flight Ceremony, It is a tradition to have the fire department make a water arch for the out-going Skipper's to taxi through.

Some of Bert's squadron waiting for him to disembark the plane so they could..........

.......dump water on him.

Bert is soaking-wet and freezing in these pictures.

Back in Bert's office, we waited while he made his rounds in the squadron.

Friday night was the change of command dinner at the Oak Harbor Yacht Club. We watched a funny video that a bunch of the people in his squadron made. In the movie, Bert was "Darth Wagner" the shortest guy in the squadron, dressed up as "Darth Wagner" and stormed around the squadron, he even used the "Force" to move jets. It was hilarious, Bert is such a big "Star Wars" fan, so he loved it. In the end, Nathan was filmed waking Bert up from a dream so they could watch "Star Wars" together. Then we watched Bert's slide show of his childhood, Navy career, and family life. Of course, I loved it.

Bert received several gifts from the people in his squadron. One was a RC airplane kit.

Early Saturday afternoon, we gathered for a pre-change of command reception. Nathan wanted to wear his JROTC uniform to the event.

Bert's gifts

The Piping Aboard Ceremony

Bert issuing orders to the incoming executive officer.

There may have been some drama before this picture was taken. Someone in the family might of thrown a tantrum. I'm not naming names, but she is sorry that she did it, and wishes that she had been in her right mind so she would have thought of moving Travis and Marcus over just a little so her waist did not look so wide.

Bert and his mother, Margaret

After the Change of Command, we went to the Officer's Club for a reception. We were so happy that many of our family and friends were there to share this special day with us.

Bert is now the commanding officer of a small unit on base, don't ask me what he is doing, because I haven't figured that out yet. It is nice to have him home more.

I'm Sad to See January Go

2011-01-31T22:39:00.000-08:00

When I was a child, January and February were my least favorite months of the year. The build-up to Christmas was over and the winter doldrums had set it. I guess is didn't help that I spent 99% of my childhood in Alaska and Washington.

As an adult, I have come to love January. For the last few years, I start getting excited about the new projects and goals that I want to do. Life also slows down a little in January, the boys aren't involved in sports and we spend more nights at home. My new projects/goals included: Organization, meal planning, couponing, working on our food storage, and expanding my doll clothes business.

This is what I did this month:

Organization- Last year I worked on organizing and purging my whole house. Many boxes of stuff left this house, but for some reason I need to do it again. I started by tackling the biggest challenge I have, The paper tiger. I am still working on finding a system that works for me, but this is a job that needs to be done every time paper is let into the house.

I discovered several wonderful blogs and websites on organizing. One of the coolest ideas that I have adopted is the Household Notebook. I have a thing for 3-ring binders, and page protectors. I already use them to organize recipes, decorating ideas, scrapbooking ideas, fashion inspirations and other things. I bought a cool binder at Office Max and some specialized page protectors. It has a calendar, to do lists, medical information, addresses and phone numbers and many other categories. I am very excited about this project.

Meal Planning- I am in the process of organizing my recipes and trying new recipes. We had a lot of meals made in the slow cooker this month. Most of them got two thumbs up from the family.

We finished off a #10 can of wheat. We ate wheat berry casserole, blender pancakes, and I baked bread twice using my new Bosch mixer and the grain grinder that I bought two years ago and had never used.

I make hot cereal at least once a week. Nathan loves oatmeal and vanilla ice cream in the morning.

I used up a few things in the freezer that needed to get used, crab cakes, slow cooked ribs and strawberry rhubarb pie in the winter were a hit.

Couponing- I decided to try to shop the sales at the local grocery stores and use coupons with them. That lasted a whole two weeks because when I compared the sale prices at Safeway with the commissary's prices, the commissary won. I'm clipping more coupons though and found some great coupons online for things that I buy all the time, but never see coupons for. I am also expecting a $25.00 rebate check in the mail. Sweet!

My Doll Business- I finished 24 of these and sold 18 of them in two days. I kept 4 for myself. I also finished two patterns. I started working on my long list of commissions and hope to be done with them soon.

We also threw an awesome, disco rollerskating birthday party for Travis and Marcus. Never mind that their birthdays were in November. I am calling it a late/early birthday party. Shhhh don't tell them that it counts for this year too!

I didn't lose much weight this month unless I count the stuff I got rid of in the house. My house may be even messier than usual, since I started Spring cleaning the entry way of the house, but I feel good about what I got done in January.

My Negative Weekend

2011-01-17T22:08:00.000-08:00

It really wasn't as bad as my title suggests, but I dealt with a lot of negatives this past weekend. Bert's change of command is in three weeks and one of the traditions at the dinner the night before the outgoing skipper's change of command is a slide show of photos of the skipper's life. I have been thinking about this project for a long time and I finally got around to gathering up Bert's childhood, navy career, and family photos. We didn't buy a digital camera until 2003, so there are a lot of negatives to go through.

Since I am a scrapbooking geek, most of my pictures are in scrapbooks. I lifted a few photos out of the books and scanned them, but I use to crop my photos a lot. Bert bought me a scanner years ago that scans negatives, but it is very time consuming. This weekend I multi-tasked on the computer. I scanned negatives, edited photos, organized them into categories, blogged, sold doll clothes, and read blogs about organizing my house all at the same time!

Here are a few beauties I found in the archives.

1996, Bert and Nathan the day Bert came home from his six month cruise.

Bert holding my bouquet

Bert going through naval flight school

Darth Bert

Bert at about 5 years old

Christmas 2010

2011-01-04T20:12:00.001-08:00

I started this blog almost a week ago, but I was rudely kick off the computer by my 9th grader who needed to do his math homework. Whatever! What is more important? Hmmm.. Then I forgot about my unfinished Christmas post and was about to write about all my awesome ideas for the new year, but I need to finish this post first.

I spent most of Tuesday finally taking down Christmas. My kids were bummed, Travis said the house looks bare. I am usually glad to put all the Christmas decorations away each year. I love having them out, but after a month I am ready to declutter.

We had a wonderful Christmas, the best part was having Bert home. Being married to an airline pilot usually means you never know what the holidays are going to be like.

I let him put up the tree. He was so excited!

The boys didn't let us forget about St. Nick's day.

Lego's are always a hit with Travis

Travis was an elf in his school winter concert. I had to order him an elf costume, he wore it non-stop during Christmas.

Marcus at his first piano recital.

I had to work harder than usual to get my yearly photo of the boys with Santa. For the past few years I have been able to take them to the Navy Exchange for a free photo with Santa. A couple of weeks before Christmas I went into the NEX to find out when Santa would be there. I looked everywhere, I finally saw Santa working at one of the registers. I asked him about the photos and he told me that the powers that be at the NEX had decided that they didn't have room this year in the store for his chair. What!!!!!!! No room for Santa!!!!! They filled his usual spot with more shelves of those stupid gifts like tins of cookies, and body wash sets. Bah Humbug! Is what I say.

So we had to take the boys to the mall. Price of one photo- $18.00, price of Nathan's bribe to agree to be in a photo of Santa-$5.00, Mommy getting her yearly Santa photo- priceless. I haven't missed a year yet.

Our ward did something very different this year, they had a nativity play on Christmas Eve. I loved it. It was a wonderful way to spend Christmas Eve. I wish more people had attended and felt the wonderful spirit that was there. Travis played all three inn keepers, and Marcus was one of the Three Wise Men.

The Three Wise Guys.

The boys tried to get Bert and I up at 4:00 am Christmas morning. I was so mad! I put my foot down and made them all wait until 5:45.

Travis and his loot.

Santa gave everyone suckers with scorpions in them. Travis actually ate his.

Nathan was jealous of Marcus' Boba Fett helmut. Maybe next year you can get one if your very good Nathan.

2010 Christmas Letter

2010-12-20T12:22:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite family traditions is writing the Wagner Christmas letter, I love letting all my friends and family know that my kids are better than theirs. So here is our letter, Merry Christmas.

One of the blessings this time of year is the chance to connect with our family and friends and reflect on the past year. We are grateful for all the experiences we had in 2010.

Marcus is seven and in the first grade. He is living a double life at the moment. He is a delightful, eager student by day and a pesky , little brother by night. His brothers deny any role in teaching him his annoying antics and are the picture of patience with him. Marcus loves reading, math, art, and soccer. In February, he started piano lessons and is the only person in the family who can play our piano. He especially likes to play while we are on the phone or trying to sleep.

Travis is eleven and in the fifth grade. When he is not skulking around the house dressed in camouflage with his Nerf guns, he can be found playing with his huge collection of Legos. He is looking forward to attending middle school next Fall because he is sick of wearing uniforms and likes older girls. He enjoys math and science and is happy to have the same teacher he had last year. In November, he earned his "Arrow of Light" in Cub Scouts and is now an 11-year old Boy Scout. He played two seasons of soccer this year and could be seen running around on the fields in his day-glow, green cleats.

Nathan turned 15 and started High School. So far, he is having a much better experience in high school than his parents did. His favorite classes are JROTC and band. Every day he brags about how awesome he was in JROTC, how many push-ups he did, and how fast he ran. He also started attending Seminary, an early morning church class for high school students. His parents appreciate that he wakes himself up every morning at 5:00, even though he doesn't like to. He is a Life Scout and should be thinking about his Eagle project, but that is very hard to do when his phone is constantly buzzing with text messages.

Diane is ecstatic to have all the boys in school ALL day, but the time goes by so fast. Some of the highlights of Diane's year include: Attending a doll convention in Philadelphia, talking Bert out of his "Man Cave" so she could finally have a sewing room, and expanding her online business. She joined a gym for the first time ever, and works out early in the morning while Nathan attends Seminary. She was recently called as the Primary Secretary at church and is still very involved in Cub Scouts.

Bert will be finishing his time as the Commanding Officer of VR-61 in February. The Navy took him many places including a recent trip to Chile. Bert was selected to command another Reserve unit at Whidbey Island. He continues to fly with Alaska Airlines and has been flying to Hawaii quite a bit. The rest of the family is jealous, and are trying to talk him into taking us there soon.

We enjoyed a short trip to Juneau, Alaska this Summer. It was something that Diane had wanted to do for years since her family left there when she was 12 years old. We saw a glacier, a glory hole, took a tram ride up a mountain, watched spawning
salmon and ate salmon berries. The trip meant a lot to Diane.

We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year.

Love the Wagners

Trying to Catch Up

2010-12-03T14:33:00.000-08:00

What the Wagners did from Halloween through Thanksgiving

Travis was an Army guy and Marcus was Indiana Jones.

Nathan was a retired Navy SEAL.

I convinced Bert to wear his "Lederhosen" because some of my friends said that they would pay money to see him in short pants. He did attract a lot of attention.

Bert was not at all cold during Trunk or Treat.

Travis turned 11, and Marcus turned 7. Happy Birthday boys! They did not mind at all that they had to share a birthday cake.

Travis convinced Marcus that he really wanted Legos for his birthday.

The boys had a 6 day weekend over Thanksgiving because it snowed on Monday. They were thrilled, me, not so much.

Lucky for us, the snow cleared enough for the whole family to make it to our house for Thanksgiving.

The little kid table

Two turkeys

A Summer In One Blog Post

2010-11-19T09:51:00.000-08:00

Here it is, a little less than a week until Thanksgiving, and I am just getting around to blogging about the Summer of 2010.

Summer is usually not my favorite season. I know that makes me different than most people, but I find that Summer never lives up to all the expectations I put on it each year. As I went through all the pictures I took this past Summer though, I decided it was a better than average Summer.

We started Summer vacation by clearing out all of our three upstairs bedrooms in preparation for new carpet. In the Wagner house, new carpet also means scraping off the popcorn ceilings, retexturing the ceilings, and painting the rooms. The living room looked like it could be in an episode of "Hoarders" . It stayed that way for several weeks. Speaking of "Hoarders", I'm obsessed with the show. I'm ashamed to admit that I love watching it and judging.

While our house was in chaos, we enjoyed the 4th of July parade in Oak Harbor.

We all froze our buns off watching the fireworks at City Beach.

Our annual family picnic was at Fort Casey this year

Second cousins

The mess spread into the family room the day before the carpet was installed because we had to clear out our closets. I don't have any pictures of the new carpet, but it looks like the carpet in this picture. Whoever thought of putting dirt-brown carpet (that would be me!) in our house is a genius.

Travis, Marcus and Bert went crabbing on our neighbor, Mr. Phil's boat.

I discovered the perfect way to torture a 6-year-old. In April I bought this bucket playset at Costco. He loved it and wanted to open it right away. I told him he had to wait until the first day we went to the beach. Otherwise the parts would have been scattered all over the house, the yard, and the neighbor's house and yard. For a week after I bought the bucket, Marcus would lay on the floor, stare longingly at it, and moan and groan, "Ahhhh! I want to go to the beach sooooo bad!" I finally put the bucket out in garage to spare us all. He was so excited when it was finally warm enough to go to the beach.

Double Bluff Beach, Marcus used his bucket toy for probably two minutes at the beach that day. The boys always love playing in all the driftwood forts.

Travis and Cooper with the new skim boards.

Picking strawberries at Bell's Farm

Cub Scout Twilight Camp, Marcus was a Tag-a-Long.

Travis was a Webelo and loved his marshmallow gun. I loved finding dried-up little marshmallows all over the house.

Building a catapult to launch marshmallows

During the same week as Scout camp, we had our house painted (photo taken a couple of days ago after a messy windstorm, because I forgot to take one earlier)

I took the boys down to Seattle one day. Going to the Space Needle was on our bucket list.

Over $50.00 later, we can check that off our list.

Lunch on the waterfront

The Merry-go-round was so exciting!

Running off some energy at the Seattle Center before our long drive home.

Back to Double Bluff, Nathan and Brendan made this sand fortress with Marcus' sand toys only to watch the tide come in and wash it away.

Marcus and the huge fish he caught at the fishing derby

Camping at Deception Pass, Travis making our dinner

I am so proud of myself, I camped for two whole nights in a row! I realized that I forgot my toothbrush the first night and had to go home and get it the next day. I may have taken a shower while I was home, and I might have felt a little like a cheater, but I was able to stand myself the rest of the time out there so the guilt was worth it.

Travis earned his Webelo badge

At the end of August we went to Juneau, Alaska, but I already blogged about that.

Awesome Soccer Team Names

2010-10-31T16:25:00.000-07:00

Naming a soccer team "The Sharks" or "The Dragons" is so last year. Check out the names of my sons' teams.

All the other teams feared playing "The Snippers". Didn't their mothers teach them never to run with scissors? They really wanted to be called the "Snipers", but I think "Snippers" is way awesomer.

The M-16 also scared their opponents on the soccer fields, they were bullet fast!

Travis

Marcus

Update

2010-10-29T17:30:00.000-07:00

Travis just found Marcus' shoes out in the garage. He might be my favorite son, but then again he just brought a big, fat, dirty worm into the house, so I don't know now.

Au Jus Gravy Mix

2010-10-27T09:02:00.000-07:00

I have a black hole in my house that things are disappearing into. Sunday evening I wanted to make French dip sandwiches, but I couldn't find the au jus mix I had bought on Friday. I was so frustrated!

Tuesday morning, Marcus couldn't find his shoes. He had worn them the day before, but because he didn't put them away, they are gone. I made him wear his Sunday shoes to school yesterday. He hated it.

This morning I couldn't find my brand new, green, earphones that I had just bought to replace the hot pink ones that I had thrown away because I thought they were broken, because only the left ear was working when I used them at the gym the other day only to find out it was the machine's fault after I threw the pink ones away.

I just found the au jus mix package in the refrigerator.

Where do you think the shoes and earphone are?

I will have to give you an update if and ever I find them

Time Flies Like an Arrow. Fruit Flies Like a Banana.

2010-10-18T18:55:00.000-07:00

My dad just sent this to me. I think they are very punny. Read at your own risk.

1. The fattest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.

2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island; but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian .

3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.

4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class, because it was a weapon of math disruption.

5. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.

6. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.

7. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.

8. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.

9. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.

10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

11. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

12. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other: 'You stay here; I'll go on a head.'

13. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

14. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: 'Keep off the Grass.'

15. The midget fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

16. The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

17. A backward poet writes inverse.

18. In a democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism it's your count that votes.

19. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

20. If you jumped off the bridge in Paris, you'd be in Seine .

21. A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, 'I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger.'

22. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. One turns to the other and says "Dam!"

23. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.

24. Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, "I've lost my electron." The other says "Are you sure?" The first replies, "Yes, I'm positive."

25. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.

26. There was the person who sent ten puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.

Another Reason Not to Be Jealous of Me

2010-10-11T09:39:00.000-07:00

Just in case my many readers have come to the conclusion through my blog that my life is almost perfect, I wear my new leopard shoes everywhere, my kids' socks are always right-side out when they take them off, my car heater always works, I never yell at my boys, I only eat healthy food, and I love to exercises, I feel the need to get real with everyone.

We may have had a small fruit fly problem last week. At first I only noticed a few flying around, not a big deal, I thought. Then they started to really bug us. I usually leave my fruit out on the kitchen counter because I have uber sensitive teeth and eating cold fruit just about kills me. I inspected all the fruit, threw away the ripe bananas and put everything else in the fridge.

That is when the obsession started. I googled how to get rid of fruit flies, and found many different remedies. I tried apple cider vinegar in a bowl, all that did was stink up the house. I put a piece of banana in a mason jar, covered it with plastic wrap and poked a few holes in the wrap. The flies were not interested. There were also many ideas on how to trap the flies so you can release them outside. What? Who does that? My pest policy is this; if any uninvited bug, spider, animal, or child dares to come into my house, they are at my mercy. The best idea was vacuuming up the vermin.

Thursday, I sucked up a lot of them, it was fun!

Friday I started counting, 160! My kids started wondering about me. I told them, "There is nothing wrong with me! I am perfectly, wait!" as I whiped the wand out of my Dyson and turned it on, "55! 56! 57! 58! 59! 60!" I am perfectly normal!" I yelled over the sound of the vacuum. "61! 62! 63!" After I turned it off, I gave them permission to suck up as many flies as they wanted, as long as they kept count.

Saturday I only sucked up about 30, I was strangely disappointed.

Sunday I sucked up only about 20 (so sad!) and found what I think/hope was the main source of the problem, so gross!

I learned a few things during this adventure;

- Vacuuming up fruit flies is therapeutic and very normal.

- It is a good idea to just leave your vacuum in the middle of your kitchen plugged in and ready to go.

- Fruit flies like potatoes too, that's right, they like potatoes, not just fruit.

- The battle isn't over yet!

So now you don't have to be jealous of my almost perfect life, even though I have a Dyson.

Leopard Shoes

2010-09-17T11:26:00.001-07:00

I don't consider myself a shoe freak, but last week I may have crossed the line. I went shoe shopping to replace my comfortable, wear-with-almost-anything, worn-out, black shoes. I found what I wanted, and then I saw this shoe......

I needed them, never mind that I don't have much to wear with them.

When I showed Bert my new, pointy-toed, shiny, leopard-print pumps he told me they looked superficial.

I walked away with a smile on my face.

That is exactly the look I was going for. Now to find some superficial clothes to go with my superficial shoes.

A request to Macy's, I would love a pair in red too please.

Third Day of School Pictures

2010-09-10T11:33:00.000-07:00

The first day of school I forgot to take a picture.

The second day of school Marcus took too long getting dressed.

The third day of school you can see on their faces that they are still super happy and excited about school.

Nathan is a Freshman in high school.

Travis is a 5th Grader.

Marcus is a 1st Grader. Woo Hoo! No more half-day Kindergarten for me!

I have waited 15 years for this, so happy am I.

Juneau, Alaska

2010-09-01T10:11:00.000-07:00

When Bert was first hired to fly for Alaska Airlines, my first question was, "When can we go to Juneau?" Four years later, I am so happy that we were finally able to go.

My family moved up to Juneau when I was 7 years old. Most of my childhood memories are of Juneau. Life was simple then, the woods were our backyard, and the beach was our front yard. I remember hiking in the Summer and sledding in the Winter. There was nowhere else to go because Juneau is landlocked, and only accessible by boat or plane, but I didn't know the difference. There wasn't even a McDonald's up there at the time.

I was 12 when we moved back to Washington to be closer to the rest of our family. I was so excited to live near my grandparents again, but it wasn't an easy transition for me. We settled in Gig Harbor, and I had to go to a new school in the middle of 7th grade. I was very shy and never really felt like I fit in. I realized I was a geek and didn't wear the right clothes. In Juneau I had been very "fashion forward".

Here is a picture of my family circa 1977 in Juneau. Notice the daring mix of colors and textures in my beach ensemble, what awesomeness.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 26th

Bert had a few days off at the end of August, so we/I decided to visit Juneau for 5 days and 4 nights. We were able to sit together on the airplane which was a treat because that usually doesn't happen when we fly standby. My eyes may have started leaking as we approached Juneau, but then again it may have been allergies.

It was a typical Summer day in Juneau, overcast and misty. We pick up our rental car and checked into our motel. It was early afternoon, so we drove out to the Mendenhall Glacier.

Nathan fished some ice out Mendenhall Lake. Travis might have ate some of it. We decided to hike out to Nugget Falls.

Marcus and I were always out in front scaring the bears away for the family.

Bert and Nathan were always bringing up the rear. Travis would go back and forth between us.

Nugget Falls was covered in ice when I lived in Juneau I don't remember it at all. The glacier has really receded since then too.

I had forgotten our water bottles in our room. The boys were very thirsty.

We drove a Camry while we were up there, which caused much brotherly closeness and bickering. Marcus drove his brothers nuts in the car, and almost everywhere else.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 27th

Our first full day was spent in downtown Juneau. I really wanted to take the tram up to Mount Roberts. The tram was built about 14 years ago and is right by where all the cruise ships dock in Juneau. It was expensive for the whole family to do, but we loved it.

My family climbed Mount Roberts a couple of times while we lived here. Mount Roberts, Mount Juneau and downtown Juneau were our view every time we looked out our living room window.

The view of two of my former homes across the Gastineau Channel on Douglas Island.

We got a kick out of this sign. I told Travis it was a good thing he isn't a Bear in Cub Scouts anymore.

Up we go!

Downtown Juneau

At the top

Lady Baltimore was shot by poachers and is now blind on one eye. She is unable to live in the wild now, so she spends the Summers up on Mount Roberts.

We hiked up the mountain a while to get a better view.

Marcus got tired.

Mount Juneau in the background

A view of where we were going the next day, Sandy Beach.

After we got back down, we explored the shops. Downtown Juneau is really geared around the tourists and cruise ships. I couldn't believe how many jewelry stores there were all in a row. It has really changed. There were some other nice shops too, but I'm not into touristy gift shops. The only souvenirs I like to buy are Christmas ornaments. They don't take up much room, don't cost too much and it is fun to remember our vacations when we are decorating the tree.

We spent an hour in the Alaska State Museum. I wish we had had more time, but it closed earlier that we thought it would.

For dinner, we took the tram back up Mount Roberts and ate at the restaurant up there. It was really nice.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 28th

After eating an over-priced breakfast the morning before, we ate cereal and yogurt in our room. Then we drove over the bridge to Douglas Island.

Our first home at the Bo apartments

Our second home at the Admiralty Apartments

Our last home, a condo above the Admiralty Apartments

My school 2nd-6th grade

After my short trip down "memory lane" we went to Sandy Beach. The sand on the beach is actually crushed rocks from the gold mines. The miners dumped it on the beach and created "Sandy Beach".

We hiked beind the beach to see the remains of the Treadwell Mine.

At the top of the trail is a glory hole. A huge hole in the ground blasted by the miners. There was a chain link fence in front of the hole to keep dumb tourist from falling in and dumb locals from dumping their cars down the hole.

We wanted a better look, so we climbed up a hill covered with tree roots that made it easier to climb. It was just like I remember doing as a kid.

When we were all up there I suddenly TURNED INTO MY MOTHER!!!! I remembered that I am scared of heights and having my kids walking up there on the edge of a glory hole freaked me out. I had to go back down, and Bert sent Marcus down too, because he was freaking Bert out too. I didn't feel OK until everyone was back down.

Nathan likes posing for the camera.

Marcus like to copy Nathan.

The Treadwell Mine Office Building

The cave-in that eventually ended mining in the area in 1917

There was more mine artifacts to see, but Marcus was hungry and cranky. We ate lunch at a little pub on the island. The food was so good, expensive, but delicious.

After lunch we went back to the mainland and to Twin Lakes Park. Marcus and Travis loved it.

I taught Nathan how to play hopscotch.

The boys messing around

SUNDAY, AUGUST 29th

Nathan turned 15 on our last day in Juneau. We didn't have any major plans for the day, but we found some fun things to do.

We started the day at a salmon hatchery. The boys enjoyed touching small, slimy sea creatures.

All the hiking we had done for the last couple of days had done wonders for my figure.

A worker at the salmon hatchery gave us directions to a local creek where wild salmon were spawning. We followed our noses to the location. Nathan wanted to swing on the flimsy looking rope swing over the creek full of stinky, dead fish. We talked him out of it.

Some locals told us that we might be able to watch bears feeding on salmon out at the glacier, so we headed back out to the Medenhall glacier.

The creek out at the glacier had spawning coho salmon in it. They turn red when they enter fresh water. We also saw a beaver dam, but no bears.

I wish we had asked someone take a picture of the whole family on our trip, but I forgot to do it.

Our church in Juneau. My dad was the local architect for the building.

My dad also designed the downtown fire station along with many other buildings in the area.

We had a wonderful time on our little trip. I asked the boys what they had liked the most about Juneau.

Nathan- the glory hole

Travis- the glory hole

Marcus- the swimming pool at our motel

May Memories

2010-08-17T22:55:00.000-07:00

Here is a multiple choice test for you, the answer will be at the end of the post if I remember to write it.

Why is Diane so behind on her blog?

A) Her life is so glamorous and awesome that she just doesn't have the time to blog anymore.

B) Her life is too boring to blog about.

C) She has had internet and computer problems for like forever and couldn't blog even if she had had the time to.

D) A and C

E) All of the above

The month of May was a long time ago, but I was able to rely on my incredible memory and many pictures to put this post together.

Bert and I celebrated our 16th anniversary. Bert gave me flowers, I don't remember what I gave him, but that doesn't mean I didn't give him anything! What kind of wife would that make me? I'm sure I gave him something.

It rained A LOT. Marcus and Jake had so much water in their boots from splashing in the puddles.

Nathan and Bert threw axes at a Scout Camporee.

We visited the state capitol in Olympia.

Travis was asked to play "Old McDonald Had a Farm" on an antique, imported piano from Germany. His piano teacher should be proud.

After we visited the capitol, we went to The Great Wolf Lodge. We stayed for 3 days and 2 nights. It was a blast.

On the way home from The Great Wolf Lodge, we went shopping at a huge Cabelas. Now that is my kind of store!

We made it back to Oak Harbor just in time for Marcus and Travis' school concerts.

Those are all kindergartners! They performed "Stone Soup". Of course, Marcus was the cutest kid there and sang the best.

Travis was a crabby crab, and was the cutest kid in his concert too.

After the concerts, we checked out all the beautiful artwork in the lunchroom.

Marcus found three of his masterpieces on display. Travis didn't find any.

At the end of May, we attended a Cub Scout dessert auction. We bought this beauty and used it for Bert's birthday cake. It was the awesomest birthday cake ever.

Happy Birthday Bert!

*Answer to quiz (D) What did you think I was going to say, B?

Philadelphia

2010-06-11T19:23:00.000-07:00

If you are interested in reading a very long, detailed, description about my super awesome trip to Philadelphia click here. Thanks for looking!

April Awesomeness

2010-05-28T16:25:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, it is almost the end of May and I still haven't blogged about April! In my defense, I tried to do a few weeks ago, but I couldn't upload the pictures that day and then I forgot.

The boys started playing Spring sports.

Travis and Nathan played soccer.

Marcus played T-ball and after every game he had to tell me what an awesome player he is.

Bert's squadron participated in "Time and Talent" at the Officer's Club on base. VR-61 chose Germany as our country.

The whole Wagner family was in the Holland Happenings parade this year. Travis and I walked with the Island District BSA.

Nathan's band played ACDC's "Back in Black".

Marcus and Bert walked with the Little League.

I was trying to catch up on my yard work. One of my first intended projects was to plant this rhododendron that I bought last year.

I picked up the plant and this is what I found, three Junco eggs! We had Juncos nesting in a hanging flower pot last Summer. They like to nest on the ground most of the time. I carefully put the pot back where I found it.

Only two of the eggs hatched.

A week or so later they looked like this. They were gone soon after I took this picture. I still need to plant that Rhoddy!

A Blog-worthy Quote

2010-04-26T23:12:00.000-07:00

Friday night out of the blue Marcus announced, "This was the best day ever!"

"Why is that?" I asked him.

"Because I didn't have to eat anything gross today!"

Do you know what he ate that day? He ate cold cereal, 2 hot dogs, and pizza.

I felt like such an awesome mother that night.

When Nathan was around four years old, he informed me that my favorite neighbor Lori was a way better cook than I was.

"What does she cook? I asked.

"Hot dogs, chips, and kool aid."

I think I will buy hot dogs this week.

Pockets, Pens and Washers

2010-04-20T12:48:00.000-07:00

Today I had a bad experience with the three things in the title of this blog. I was almost caught up with my laundry (only three more loads to go!), when I discovered I had washed a load of jeans and my husband's flight suit with a ball-point pen. As I started pulling the jeans and pieces of the government issue pen from the washer I cursed my husband's flight suit for having way too many pockets to check, my husband for not checking his pockets, and myself for not being the last line of defense between the washer and pens.

Miraculously, I couldn't find any ink on the jeans and flight suit. I was feeling pretty lucky until I realized the inside of the pen was lost in the washing machine. I started turning the drum, and heard a scraping noise. That is when I discovered the ink filled inside of the pen was half-way stuck down one of the holes of the washing machine drum. I tried to pull it out but it was bent in half and when I tried to use pliers it broke and now I have half of the pen inside the washer.

So much for being caught up with the laundry.

THAT TOOTH!

2010-04-09T11:18:00.000-07:00

Marcus lost his first upper tooth way back in February. He was so excited at the time and I was sure he would lose the other one soon after.

But he didn't.

THAT TOOTH decided to move over to the middle of his mouth and then hang crookedly ( is crookedly a real word?) . We started calling Marcus "Snaggle Tooth". He didn't like that and wanted to be called "Mo" instead.

I kept telling "Mo" to wiggle it and twist it, he refused! I even tried reverse physiology on him, that worked for only a moment.

The night before Easter we were at my brother's house for my nephew Reiley's birthday. I put a $5.00 bounty on THAT TOOTH. Many people were interested in "helping" Marcus get it out. But he went home with it still hanging in the middle of his mouth.

Easter afternoon, the bane of my existence came out while Marcus was eating Skittles. He was so excited! He showed me right away while he was chewing his bloody Skittles. I kept telling him to spit the candy out. I'm not sure he ever did, I don't really want to know. I really love Skittles right now though.

Travis is trying to claim the bounty on THAT TOOTH. He told me Marcus' tooth fell out because he "accidentally" pushed Marcus down. Marcus denied that, until Travis had a talk with him. Now he says that is what really happened. The boys need only ten more dollars to buy a video game. I think that is why they want the money so bad.

I am so happy it is out! I just wish he had lost it before class pictures (which I just found out I forgot to order).

See how much cuter he is now, even with his demented smile.

March Madness

2010-04-05T17:06:00.000-07:00

This blog post has nothing to do with college basketball, I just felt it perfectly described the month of March at the Wagner's house.

The month started out with a visit from Grandma Peg.

We got a new dining room set, and a new mattress. I also spent the whole month organizing, cleaning and purging our living room, dining room, and kitchen. You should see all the boxes out in the garage now! And I'm still not done.

Travis and Marcus started piano lessons. I can't wait until they learn some more songs to play. The intro to "I've Got a Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas is driving me crazy!

Travis participated in his last Pinewood Derby.

So what if Travis' Army jeep was the slowest car on the track and actually popped wheelies while it was racing. If there had been a prize for awesomest looking car and most money spent on a derby car Travis would have won hands down. We also didn't want to mess up the Wagner Family 7-year loosing streak. Travis and Bert really enjoyed making the jeep too.

My nephew Finn Oliver Walton was born March 15th, on his mother Stacie's birthday. I call him Finn-Ollie sometimes. He is so cute!

Spring Break was cold and wet as usual, I missed my Nathan because he was in........

WASHINGTON DC!!!!!

Here are some awesome pictures he took with my camera of the DC area.

Lord Baden Powell at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum

Bert and I took Travis and Marcus to the Pacific Science Center during Spring break. There are no pictures because Nathan had my camera.

The "madness" in March really started when my three sons' coaches contacted us with their practice schedules. Marcus is playing T-ball and the other two are playing soccer. I think I will go crazy trying to be in three places at the same time. I already miss the boring/relaxed schedule of January.

Fantastic February

2010-03-11T11:48:00.000-08:00

I was going to blog about January, but I can't remember much about it already. Though I'm sure it was awesome and glamorous.

February was an eventful month for the Wagner boys.

Nathan

-Got contacts and loves them

-Became a Life Scout and received the "On My Honor" Award

-Made the honor role

-Received his Patriarchal Blessing

Travis

-Played volleyball at school

-Was awarded 3rd place in the science fair

-Decided he likes girls

Marcus

-Lost his upper front tooth

We got a piano.

Library Cards

2010-03-11T11:39:00.000-08:00

Last night my mother sent me an email commanding me to do a new post because she was tired of my "Christmas Oranges" story.

This is for you Mom.

Marcus went to the library yesterday for a Kindergarten field trip. He was so excited about receiving his very own, personal library card. I didn't know how truly excited he was until I check on him last night. This is what I saw.

I think I need to take this boy to the library!

Christmas Oranges

2010-01-28T12:11:00.001-08:00

Alternate title- The Irony of it All

I call them Christmas Oranges, the little easy-to-peel oranges that are in the stores in December. The smell when you first dig into the peel is Christmas to me. When I was a child they would come in a box individually wrapped in paper. I love them, I hate peeling regular oranges and usually only eat grapefruit, but I love the little Christmas oranges.

My boys love them too, or at least they love the first box of oranges. The first box lasted three days. They scarfed them down 4-5 oranges a day. They begged me to buy some more, so I did. Those oranges have been sitting on the counter moulding and turning hard at the same time. They won't touch them. The other day I asked Marcus to bring up a can of fruit for dinner from the garage. I expected peaches or pears. What does he bring up? A can of Mandarin oranges. When I asked the boys what was wrong with this picture, they all looked at me slack-jawed.

I guess I better start eating Christmas oranges.

It is So Hard!

2010-01-17T15:03:00.000-08:00

I have finally met my match. After toilet training three boys, and teaching them to ride a bike, I have finally found something that may be impossible to do.

Teaching my 6-year-old lefty to tie his shoes.

Movie Critic

2010-01-16T19:08:00.000-08:00

We have a couple of "manly" movies from Netflix in the house right now. One of them is a G.I. Joe movie. When Marcus heard the title of the movie he said,

"Tyler (a friend of Marcus') saw that movie! He said it was so bad. It has people getting their heads cut off and kissing!"

Bert and I exchange looks.

"Which is worse, the heads or the kissing?" asked Bert.

Marcus pondered for a moment. "Both are really bad! I so serious!"

I didn't realize kissing was so bad!

Rethinking Snow

2010-01-08T09:35:00.000-08:00

Everyone who knows me knows I don't like snow, because of all that dangerous driving stuff and everything. That is one of the reasons I love living in the Pacific Northwest. Give me rain any day over snow! But lately I been doing some deep thinking (I know, hard to believe) and I have decided I would love some snow. Wouldn't it be nice to have a lovely blanket of about 5" of snow covering your lawn and ugly flowerbeds for 3-4 months? I want the snow only on the yards. The roads need to stay snow/ice free.

Think about it.

Family Home Evening

2010-01-05T08:57:00.000-08:00

I will admit that FHE in the Wagner home are sometime inconsistent. So every new year I vow to try harder. Last night I decided to ask everyone what they thought would be some good goals to set as a family. Here are the answers.

Marcus- He won't pick his nose.

Nathan- Different chores, more family activities, and more bagels with cream cheese.

Travis- Take more responsibly (bless his heart!)

Dad- More camping and go to Canada.

Me- Do your chores and less fighting.

I then asked Marcus what we could do as a family to help him stop screaming all the time at his brothers. I expected him to say that he wanted them to be nicer to him or something like that.

Marcus' answer- Earplugs for everyone.

Awesome.

Our Christmas Time

2010-01-03T17:51:00.000-08:00

Last year my blog was new to me and I blogged a lot during the month of December, this year not so much, so I have a few things to catch up on.

It is Sunday afternoon and I am at the computer blogging and listening to my three boys messing around with each other upstairs. I hear laughter, screaming and yelling. It is awesome. I think I am looking forward to them all going back to school tomorrow. So now I am reflecting on our Christmas time and the good and not so great moments we experienced.

The month of December started with my husband, Bert, leaving for a 17 day long detachment to Bahrain. Bahrain is in the Middle East. We didn't expect him home until Christmas day. This left me feeling rather bah-hum buggy about Christmas again this year. I will admit that I haven't been as excited about Christmas for the last few years because of Bert's jobs. Don't get me wrong, I am grateful he has his jobs, paying bills and eating is nice, but the holidays aren't the same anymore. He is usually gone for most of the Christmas season and I can't help feeling bummed about it.

Lucky for me, I had the boys to help put me in the Christmas mood. They reminded me of the all of our traditions and we did St. Nick's day, the advent calendars and candles, decorated the house, and baked.

Christmas Eve Eve I took the boys to the movies. When we got home the lights were on in the house and the front door was unlocked. I asked the boys why they hadn't made sure all the lights were turned off and the door was locked before we had left for the movies. They were so confused! When Nathan went down to the family room he discovered Daddy was home! The boys were so excited that Dad had come home two days earlier. I knew he was coming home early, but we wanted to surprise the boys.

Christmas morning started way too early at the Wagner's house. At 3:00 am, Marcus ran into our bedroom and announced "Santa came!" Nathan, Travis, and Marcus were staring at their Santa present and looking longingly at their stockings. We told them to go back to bed for mercy sakes. They agreed too easily, and Bert and I went back to bed too. An hour later Bert got up again and said "I hear them moving around downstairs." The boys couldn't stay in their beds and were laying on the sofas looking at the Christmas tree. I rolled out of bed and we opened our gifts. An hour later I was back in bed. Bert stayed up with the boys and they played with their toys.

The boys loved their presents. Santa gave Nathan an IPod, Travis a big huge Nerf gun, and Marcus a bike that wasn't a hand-me-down.

We had our traditional Christmas breakfast of Farmer's casserole, cinnamon rolls, sausage and orange juice. Christmas dinner was delicious too, unfortunately everyone was either too tired or too full of candy, and cookies to care. I don't think I will bother making a fancy dinner on Christmas day next year.

We didn't get together with my parents, brothers and their families until New Year's Day. It turned out fun since New Year's Day is usually very boring.

Here are some of our awesome pictures.

Bert and I dressed up and on our way to VR-61's holiday party.

Marcus loves the Christmas tree.

St. Nick came by December 5th.

The boys with Santa. This was our Christmas card picture.

Christmas Eve with my nieces and Nephew.

Travis wanted to leave Santa a cheeseburger and Nathan wanted to leave him a ginormous cookie.

Christmas morning, notice how dark it is outside.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Meet Mr. December

2009-12-02T09:00:00.001-08:00

I love I love I love my calendar boy!

Every year the school district makes a calendar with a specific theme. One year it was music, one year it was art and this year it is technology in the classroom. I always go through the calendar and look for pictures of kids I know. I almost missed this picture. I freaked out when I realized it was a big picture of my Travis. Isn't he cute!

Thanksgiving Weekend

2009-12-01T09:23:00.001-08:00

This blog is about the super, awesome, 4-day weekend the Wagners had. Two Wagner boys made it a 5-day weekend because yesterday they were home from school sick.

The boys and I celebrated Thanksgiving at my brother David's house. Bert was flying for Alaska Airlines (so sad!)and spent Thanksgiving in Southern California, David and Stacie had a full house, the food was wonderful, and I didn't take any pictures.

"Black Friday" (I hate that name!) was spent decorating the house for Christmas. The most exciting thing was our brand-new, pre-lit Christmas tree. It is awesome! I have been wanting a new, fake tree for years and every year I would tell myself "I am going to buy a new tree after Christmas when they are on sale and save a bunch of money" but every year I forget to go out and buy a new tree so this year I just bought one before Christmas and paid full price for it. Nathan and I set it up in a few minutes and we shaped the branches a little, and presto! It is up.

Travis got stuck behind the tree.

It is against every moral fiber of my being to go shopping on "Black Friday". I am especially annoyed that many stores were open on Thanksgiving for shopping this year. That is why I was very unhappy when I remembered Travis needed to buy a birthday gift for a friend's party on Saturday. We waited until Friday evening to go to Walmart to buy the gift. By then the store was back to normal and I didn't feel so bad about breaking one of my rules. The only bad thing that happened was I got pulled over by a police officer because I forgot to turn my car lights on. I felt so stupid! The police officer was very nice and didn't even give me a ticket.

The highlight of the weekend was seeing the Nutcracker in Seattle. Four years ago, Bert and I took Nathan to see the Nutcracker when he was 10. Now that Travis is 10 it was his turn to go. The ballet was wonderful of course. Travis wasn't as impressed, but he enjoyed spending some alone time with his mom and dad. I asked him where he wanted to eat after the show was over. McDonald's was his answer. A real classy way to end the night!

On the way home Travis shared his Christmas wish list with us. He still believes in Santa by the way. He wants 3 different Nerf guns, new camouflage pants (his other ones became shorts after his first paintball experience), a camouflage necktie, camouflage underwear, an army helmet with netting, and a package of bacon.

I am still cracking up about the bacon.

School Pictures

2009-11-18T20:00:00.000-08:00

Soccer and Cross-Country Pictures

2009-11-18T19:57:00.001-08:00

San Diego Part III

2009-11-18T19:54:00.000-08:00

Legoland Day 2

After a crazy night, the Wagners (including Nathan) were still excited about another day at Legoland. We decided to take it easy this day and make sure we didn't over-do it.

We arrived at Legoland at about 10:15 in the morning. Pulling into the parking lot was a surreal experience. Hardly anyone was there! It was like the scene in "National Lampoon's Vacation" when the family finally gets to Wallyworld and the park was closed. We started wondering if Legoland was closed for the day, but we had paid for parking already, so it must be open.

Cool! We thought, we will have the park almost to ourselves! How fun will that be! We walked up to the front gate, and they were closed. We were so confused. All the signs said the park opened at 10:00, and it was after 10:00.

That is when we realized that it had been daylight savings the night before. Everyone had turned their clocks back an hour except us and a few other weird families from Arizona who have never heard of daylight savings time.

OK, here are pictures of the very, best, awesomest, coolest, part of Legoland. Miniland!

Daytona

Washington DC

President Obama's Inauguration

Check out the trick or treaters!

Southern California

San Fransisco (my favorite part)

Las Vegas

New Orleans

New York City

Other cool stuff we saw on our boat ride

The rest of the day

By the end of the day, Nathan was done in, so we went back to the Navy Lodge. After a rough night, Bert and I both came to the same decision, we needed to go home early. We were really bummed that we wouldn't be able to go to Sea World, but we hope to get back down to San Diego some day soon.

It has been over two weeks now since Nathan got sick, and no one else came down with the flu that Nathan had. Isn't that wierd?

San Diego Part II

2009-11-09T22:15:00.000-08:00

LEGOLAND DAY 1

The Wagners give Legoland ten big thumbs up. We highly recommend it to families with school-aged children who love Legos. We were a little worried that Nathan would find Legoland too "juvenile" for his sophisticated, teenagery sensibilities, but he really liked it too.

I really regret not putting lipstick on that morning.

We were very happy that the park was not very crowded. I hate crowded amusement parks. There were hardly any lines at the rides and we were able to see almost everything in one day. The weather was comfortable, not too hot, but warm enough that the boys enjoyed the water part of the park.

Nathan and Travis loved building and programing a working robot.

Since it was Halloween, there were a lot of children in their costumes, which was fun. Our boys didn't dress in their costumes until after they got wet. "Brick or Treat" started at 5:00.

We didn't have a lot of room in our suitcases for costumes, so we made do. Travis was an "Army Guy", Marcus was a Ninja, and Nathan was "Stuntman", though we are not in the picture, Bert was dressed as an off-duty taxi driver and I was a soccer mom. We looked awesome.

Everything was going great, and then it happened. Dum, dum, dum! The flu. About 6:00 that night, Nathan sat down next to me and said. "Mom, I don't feel good." I felt his head and he was hot. He said he felt like he had been hit by a train. We left Legoland not long after. On the way back to our hotel, I decided we needed to stop at a drugstore to pick up some medicine. Not long after that Bert realized we weren't on I-5 anymore driving south to San Diego, we were still going south but on another freeway. By the time we realized where we were, we were minutes from Mexico! We exited as soon as we could, found a store, bought a whole bunch of medicine, and found our way back to our hotel. That is how we spent our Halloween.

San Diego Part I

2009-11-04T12:41:00.000-08:00

WARNING!!! This Blog post has many, many photos and may contain some adult material.

The Wagner's vacation to San Diego can be described in four words; fun, frugal, fast and flu.

When Bert originally scheduled his yearly vacation from Alaska Airlines in November, he was planning on using his vacation to prepare for his change of command. The change of command was bumped up to October, and I started thinking about a family trip, Hawaii? (too expensive), Alaska? (too cold), how about San Diego? Bert agreed and we started making plans. The biggest consideration was school, we didn't want the boys to miss too much school. We decided on a long weekend, and the boys would only miss four days of school. Our plans included the zoo, Legoland, and Sea World.

Bert was already down in San Diego for a Navy conference. I was a little nervous about flying standby without him, but we made it into San Diego Thursday night. Bert picked us up at the airport in a rental car and drove us to the Navy Lodge on North Island. The room was great, two beds, plus a roll-a-way, and a kitchenette. Bert had done good, he had already bought us fruit, cereal, milk, and yogurt for breakfast. I was happy!

Even though it was dark, we still wanted to see the ocean. Marcus had never seen the ocean before, and Travis had been a baby when we had been down here before. The older boys loved it. Marcus wasn't impressed, he didn't like how far we had to walk to reach the water. He was also very tired and just wanted to go to bed.

The next morning we all had to see the ocean in the daylight. Marcus still didn't like all the walking he had to do on the sand.

The San Diego Zoo

We started our adventure by going to the zoo. I had been to the San Diego Zoo back in 1986, but didn't remember that much of it. It is huge, and we weren't able to see everything. I wish we had rented a stroller for Marcus to ride in once in a while and for a place to put our back packs full of water. Buy the way, don't drink the water in San Diego, it taste terrible!

Nathan loved the Meerkats.

The panda bears were super exciting.

This is the most exciting picture it took.

The Koala bears were very exciting too.

The zoo can be very educational, cover your kid's eyes!

Other cool things we saw and did.

When we got back to our room, we ate dinner that we picked up at the Commissary and then we had s'mores on the beach. We loved it!

Next post Legoland!

What is on My Mind Right Now

2009-10-21T13:57:00.000-07:00

Scouts

Do I really have to be a COW, really?

Having two kids home from school is throwing me off my groove

Scouts

They are changing the boundaries of my ward on Sunday, I don't like change.

I just want to play Big Fish Games right now

And sew

I forgot to put dinner in the crock pot this morning, so now we have to eat Friday's dinner tonight.

Scouts

Pack meeting is tomorrow night, am I ready? Nope.

We are going to San Diego next week if everyone is healthy.

I'm not crazy about flying standby, except for the price.

Housework is a waste of time.

Did They Play Water Polo or Soccer?

2009-10-21T13:09:00.000-07:00

After a beautiful, dry Summer and early Autumn, we finally got some real rain this past Saturday. Normally I would have been happy about it since I have been complaining for months about the lack of rain and that I had to water my lawn and flowers so much. But now, not so much, I was going to have to stand in the rain for two soccer games.

Marcus's game was at 9:00, so I put on my super-stylish snow boots (I hate wet feet!) and we drove to the fields. When we got there, there was hardly anyone there. Half the parking lot was underwater and the fields were soggy. Still the games must go on! We are North westerners, not wusses! Marcus played on the worst field there. Half of it was covered in a few inches of water. When they would kick the ball it would not go where they expected it to go. The players kept falling down and the boys were quickly soaked. Marcus had a blast! I was happy that his game was only 30 minutes and it wasn't windy. I wish I had had my camera with me, but I didn't want it to get wet.

I made Marcus stand out in the rain after we got home so I could run in the house and find the camera and get a picture of him standing in the rain all wet. I know that may sound cruel and mean to you, but I feel that it shows my dedication for capturing every moment of my children's lives in pictures.

A couple of hours later, I was back on the fields for Travis' game. It had stopped raining, and the fields and parking lots had drained a little. I was still wearing my super-stylish snow boots.

This is where Marcus played, half the water was gone by the time I took this picture.

Travis' game was his team's best game so far this season. The two teams were more evenly matched and it wasn't a spankin' for either team. His team won! I also am $20.00 poorer, because he scored a goal. Way to go Travis!

It started raining half-way through his game, but he was happy, wet, but happy.

We enjoyed hot chocolate and baths when we got home. I need to buy myself some duck boots.

I'm Bragging on My Blog

2009-10-05T12:39:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a very important weekend for the Wagner Family. Bert became the Commanding Officer of his squadron. I can't even put in words how proud I am of him. He joined VR-61 in 2000 as a reservist. He has worked really hard and cares about the people in the squadron. VR-61 has been there for our family too, when we really needed them.

Friday night we went to the Change of Command dinner at Hope Island Inn. We invited some of our family to join us. The food was great and we had a wonderful time. The squadron made a funny video to honor the outgoing Skipper. I am already thinking of all the embarrassing photos I have of Bert for his video when he leaves the squadron.

Saturday afternoon was the Change of Command. Many of our family and friends joined us for the ceremony. Thank you to all who came. It meant a lot to us.

The next 16 months will be challenging. I have mixed feelings about being a COW (Commanding Officer's Wife). I have been told many times that I can do as much or as little as I want to as the CO's Wife. I didn't do much as the XO's wife, but I hope to step it up a little. I don't really enjoy social events and entertaining in my home. I don't feel "Fancy" enough or like leadership positions. I know the best thing I can do is support Bert at home and keep the family going while he leads the squadron.

The boys on Daddy's plane.

Wish us luck!

The Logic of an Almost 10-Year-Old

2009-09-21T13:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Travis said something really funny during Church. I thought about writing it down for ~~blackmail~~ later use, but I was too lazy. I was positive I would remember it forever, so I put my trust in my awesome memory and totally forgot the really funny thing he said.

Fortunately for Travis, I did write down a couple of conversations that we had a few weeks ago during church. What is it about church that brings out the funny in Travis?

The back story on the first funny- Travis had to change schools a couple of years ago from Hillcrest to Oak Harbor Elementary. He still complains about it sometimes and remembers Hillcrest through rose colored glasses.

Travis "Remember when "So n so" knocked my tooth out in first grade?"

Me "See! Hillcrest had bullies too!"

Travis "Yeah, but they were nice bullies!"

Later

Travis "Did you have a good childhood growing up?"

Me "Sure, most of the time. How is yours going?"

Travis "It's good, except for taxes."

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

2009-09-10T09:58:00.000-07:00

BACK TO SCHOOL TIME!!!!!!!!!

Here is Mom's yearly "Back to School Lineup"

Yep, my two younger boys wear uniforms.

Nathan 8th Grade, look at how excited he is!!!

Travis 4th Grade, Yeah school!

Marcus Kindergarten!!!!!
Who do you think was the most excited?

Cool New Backpacks

My Baby's first day of school. I thought for sure I was going to cry, but I didn't.

Marcus was too excited, and his excitement was contagious. Actually he is very happy in this picture, I really told him not to smile and cheese everything up like he usually does.

What's Been on My Mind and Other Stuff

2009-09-06T17:06:00.000-07:00

I was a really bad Mom today. I made my boys cry by making them watch this. Well Marcus didn't cry, but the other two did. I remember listening to this song a lot has a kid.

How do my three sons to through so many pairs of socks in a week, and why do they keep wearing them outside, and why can they always be found on the floor in dirty little "sock balls"?

I have never met anyone who has lived in Delaware. I think that is the only state I can say that about.

I need to go pick me some blackberries soon.

I need a new freezer for all my berries.

My kids don't like berry pies, WEIRD!

School starts this Thursday, that is very late.

One good thing (IMHO) about school starting so late this year is the boys won't have to watch this.

Picking out a good watermelon still eludes me, but sometimes I get lucky.

I ate the last peach yesterday.

Good Intentions

2009-09-03T09:31:00.000-07:00

I bought some big, beautiful peaches last week. I was planning on making a pie. They weren't exactly ripe, so I left them on the counter. I am now down to two peaches. They are still hard, but the others went moldy on me.

So much for pie!

100th Post!

2009-08-22T14:30:00.000-07:00

Wow weee! I posted on this blog 100 times! Of course every post was a dignified and thought provoking snapshot into my glamorous life on the island.

I am behind on my blogging again. The first two weeks of August were very busy for Nathan. He was worn out by the end! He went on Trek, and the next week he went to Scout camp.

TREK

Nathan was two days shy of being too young to go on trek, I am so glad he was able to go. I was able to find his pioneer clothes at the local thrift shop for about $25.00 total. He looked so cute!

Before Trek

During Trek

After Trek

He survived! Nathan had a great time. He said it was hard, but he learned a lot and appreciates his pioneers ancestors even more now.

Note To Self

2009-08-17T14:31:00.001-07:00

When buying your boys t-shirts while on vacation, make sure they don't have girl's names on them. Sorry Guys! Mom wasn't thinking. I wanted to get you shirts like Nathan's, but I couldn't find them in the small sizes. Next time I will just get candy.

Dining Alfresco

2009-08-05T11:42:00.000-07:00

Last year we finally bought ourselves an outdoor dining set. We used it a whole two times last Summer. First we couldn't use it because there was an ant nest under the table in a crack in the patio. There were always ants all over the table and chairs. We finally got rid of the ants but last Summer was also really cold and our backyard is very shady in the evenings. It was never warm enough to eat outside.

We are having a beautiful, sunny, warm Summer this year. On Sunday, we grilled steaks and had corn on the cob, fresh green beans that I bought at my dentist's office, and watermelon. My husband, Bert, suggested we eat outside on our hardly-used-outdoor-dining set. We all thought it would be a great idea.

It didn't take long for an unwelcome, uninvited visitor to arrive. It flew around everyone and wouldn't go away. My boys have all been stung by yellowjackets and are freaked out by them. I am terrified of flying stinging bugs also. The yellowjacket kept landing on our food, especially the steaks. It didn't take long before everyone was back in the house except for Bert. He thought we were all a bunch of wusses.

Stupid Yellowjackets!

Things I Might Have Done This Month

2009-07-28T12:14:00.000-07:00

My SIL might have had a bug land on her head during our family's 4th of July picnic. She might have asked me to get it off her head and I might have accidentally knocked it into her decolletage causing her to freak out and flash our relations while trying to get it out of her shirt.

I might have had a Cub Scout hangover two weeks ago after working at twilight camp all week and two Saturdays of Scout training.

I might have bought a doll or two.

I might be letting my kids stay up really late every night and sleep in every morning.

I might have planned on picking raspberries this morning, but went I got home from berry picking, by bowls were full of blueberries.

I might be making my kids make their own lunches every day.

I might go take a shower now.