Uncles Make Great Friends

We finished up with a fantastic Thanksgiving Holiday and are attempting to rejoin normal life. It's always the best feeling when Daddy comes home from work and we have multiple days of having him home with us to look forward to. Last Wednesday night was no exception. The only downside was that Ezra was laying on the couch lethargic with a 102 fever. Thankfully the fever went down by morning and we were able to head over the river and through the woods for the feast. Of course, I didn't get any pictures. But we still had good food and good fun.
That night we went home to the Tractor's house to spend a couple of nights and days with the grandparents and the two uncles who were home on college break.
And let me tell you, uncles are a lot of fun to small children. Especially uncles who have no children or wives to attend to : )
Grandma bought a gingerbread house kit and let Brett and Jeff put it together with the kids.
This one would eat all the candy, given the opportunity.

This one might too!
And this one just explored all the opportunities on the floor around and under the table.
Good thing we have an engineer (in his final year of schooling) and a pre-med student to handle the finer details of gingerbread housing.

Finished product.
Time to relax and watch some football. How 'bout that Boise State game?
Nora really likes her uncle Heff. She even kind of looks like him. Recently I was looking at a picture of Jeff as a baby and realized how much both Ezra and Nora look like him--those big eyes in a little baby face (not that he has a baby face now, just back then : ) ). She will put her arms out and reach for Uncle Jeff hoping that he'll take her. He usually does...and then she rewards him with this,
Yep, she's biting his nose off--her favorite trick.

These two pictures highlight daddy and his look alike boy.

Grandpa and Grandma bought some beautiful dress clothes for the kiddos and we took them into a studio to have their pictures taken on Saturday. I didn't buy the CD and the rights to the photos, so I can't put them here on my blog--but here is Ezra practicing his smile before we left for the mall.
Now we are left with the memories (in our heads and on MY hips!) of a wonderful time.

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving!

"Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift!" The gift of His precious Son sent to this world. God become man...sent to the cross to die for our sins. Paving the way for all blessings. Allowing us to sing "Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow!"

Our annual thankful lists from Ezra and Caroline. Next year, Nora will probably be adding her list to the mix!

Ezra's Thankful List 2010
1. That we have trees to climb.
2. That we have animals--birdies and robins out in the yard.
3. That we get a lot of snow since I prayed for it.
4. That we have a basketball hoop.
5. A dad who makes money.
6. A dad who saves us (from bears and what-not).
7. That we can pray for those who don't have dads...or moms or babies.
8. A backyard to play in.
9. That we can color.
10. Our house
11. Our beds
12. The Lord dying for our sins.
13. All of my friends.

Caroline's Thankful List 2010

1. Nora
2. Ezra
3. Mommy
4. Daddy
5. A house
6. Curtains (that mommy still has to make)
7. Robins
8. Food
9. Bowls to eat out of and plates to eat off of.
10. The Lord Jesus
11. Amanda and all my other friends
12. My cousin Karlie

Nine Months With Baby Nora

It's been 9 months since Nora Liv first showed us her face and leaped into our hearts. She has quickly established her place in our family and is developing at the speed of lightening these days. Once babies pass the 8 month mark or so, it seems like there are changes every day in development and personality. She's just over 20 pounds and 26 inches long, keeping her the peanut of the family by far. Her hair is starting to fill in and seems to have a real auburn tint to it. I would love if she was a red head!
She adores her siblings and they love her to pieces (and sometimes they love her to the point of injury). And these days she's crawling all over the place, getting into lots of trouble and causing Ezra and Caroline no end of frustration as she messes with elaborate car set ups, Lincoln Log construction and dollies.
Nory Boo knows just where to find the baking cupboard and goes straight for the best mess makers--flour and sugar! She is still learning to eat solid foods. It's been quite the battle. She can't seem to get the hang of swallowing. We've been working on it since just before the 6 month mark and just last week she finally seemed to swallow a little bit more than she spit out. For the first time in three kids I made a whole bunch of homemade baby food and stuck it in the freezer. Yah, anyone need some apricot or sweet potato pureed baby food? : )
She's got 6 chompers and she went through lots of grief to get each and every one of them. She also knows just how to use them--she'll bite your face if you get anywhere near to her.
We do love our little mess maker!

When Life Gives You Leaves...

...Rake them into a pile and jump in them!
Last week when we got home from Story Time the weather was chilly but not cold and not raining. I had lots of goodies to make for a Mommy Group Retreat the following day, so I suggested to Ezra and Caroline that it might be fun to take their kid rake out back and rake the leaves into a big pile. They jumped out of the van and ran to the back yard, collecting the rake as they ran. The next 3 1/2 hours were spent playing away, coming inside only long enough to grab lunch items and take them out to the back deck.
I apologize for the very poor quality of these photos. I was playing with the camera and not using "auto focus" for once in my life. Now you see why I always use auto : ) Anyhow, the option is to delete the photos from life and not post them. However, I think that the fun of the day shows through all the blurriness, and I'm sick of the last post, so here goes nothing...
If you are the one without the rake, kicking the leaves into the pile works.








After lots of raking and jumping the kids found a piece of rope, took it back into the trees and played boat. Where does the rope come in you might ask? Simple, when the rope is tied to the tree limb, the boat is docked and it is safe to jump on and off. When the rope is untied, the boat is at sea and if you jump it's at your own risk. And this game lasted with only 2 small fights for hours. That's a day for the history books!
As for the Mommy Group Retreat, I had grand visions of beautiful photo documentaries...uh huh, the below picture of an amazing quiche is all I got. Suffice it to say that a lot of fabulous food was consumed and a lot of ground was covered in a very long heart to heart. This group of gals is quite the blessing from the Lord.

When I Grow Up I Want To Be...

A CowboyAnd a ballerina

And a monkey???

Oh wait, this must have been trick or treating...not career day : )
Although this one does insist that she WILL be a ballerina when she grows up.


Hmmm...put 'em together and whaddya got? A cowgirl ballerina : )
That's all she wrote, folks.

Progress

Things around here are progressing. Work on the hutch, wall paper removal, Tadd's age to name a few. Grandpa and Grandma Idaho spent two whole weeks here and with the exception of the weekend at Whidbey Island, they were working most of the time. Grandpa wired in lights to all of our upstairs bedrooms--hurray! Houses built in the 80's didn't have lights in the center of any of the rooms--apparently all the builders had deals with floor and table lamp companies. We prefer lights where we can hit a switch when we walk in the door and have an instantly well-lit room. Now we have just that. Thanks Grandpa Idaho!
Grandpa and Grandma were also kept busy doing things like coloring, painting, reading and bike riding with the kids.

Miss Kine and I made a cake for Daddy's age progression day.


Grandpa Idaho brought his chain saw so they could remove the flowering cherry from our front yard. It is messy and not very pretty and happens to be breaking our driveway into many pieces. Around these parts it can be a big deal to remove a tree. Thankfully most of the neighbors have been supportive and not mad (you never know in the ultimate tree hugger state). Tadd wanted to just cut it down while most people were at work, but his dad convinced him to at least call. The lady at the city said that if it was on our property and it was just one tree we could have at it. We were quite glad we had called as just a few days later we learned of two people a couple cities over who were both fined for cutting down trees on their own property--one was an $8000 fine and one a $6000--yes, you read that correctly.
Grandma spent a lot of time and energy taking apart, sanding and priming the hutch. I'll post more on this particular piece of furniture later. I'm excited about having it done someday soon...I hope : )

We finished up the downstairs bathroom wallpaper...now we only have our bedroom/bathroom to go. We think. What a difference a steamer makes.
We had a little celebration on Tadd's birthday with cake and a couple presents. And then the next night Grandpa and Grandma Tractor came over to join the party for a bbq. The two Grandpas and Daddy finished up the lighting project and worked on some other tasks as well.

These pictures about sum up this year of his life--a little crazy and a lot chaotic!

Happy Birthday head of our crazy torn apart house!