He Shall Direct Our Path

Let's Do Lunch!

2012-01-25T12:11:00.000-08:00

Ever stare empty eyed and empty minded into the fridge, the back of your mind panicking because you need to make something, anything for lunch--and you can't think of one single solitary thing that sounds good? Yeah, me too. Maybe if I share some of my lunch ideas with you, then you can share some of yours with me and we'll all come away richer!
I don't have pictures for our entire lunch menu, but I do have a few.

Here goes:
1. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (duh).
Home made bread makes a big difference with sandwiches for me.
2. Meat and cheese sandwich. This is Ezra's fave and he'd eat it everyday. I use whole wheat bread, Kirkland brand deli thin sliced ham and Havarti cheese. My favorite combo is Kirkland brand turkey, cheddar, ice burg lettuce and mayo. Serve with a dill pick or cucumber slices on the side and also some sort of easy fruit--apple, orange, grapes, etc.
3. Tuna fish. Chicken of the sea. Wait, I don't get it, is it chicken or fish? Hehe. Name that blonde. My kids like tuna without the sandwich. I simply open two cans of tuna, drain, add mayo and pickle and stick it in a bowl for them. Easy as pie. I usually serve wheat thins and cheese and bell pepper slices to fill in the empty spots.
Yesterday when I mixed up our tuna, we were out of pickles. So I changed things up a bit. I added mayo to the tuna, placed it on a bed of ice burg lettuce, grated some cheddar over the top and glopped on some pineapple salsa. Delish!
4. Grilled cheese and tomato soup. I use my favorite Trader Joe's tomato soup. If it's just the kids and I, I only use cheddar cheese. If Daddy is home, or we have friends over, I try to spice it up and add some Gouda, Munster or pepper jack. This particular day I added carrot juice to the tomato soup to infuse some health value. I thought I'd get away with it since I didn't add that much. Plus, it's orange. For the first few bites I was in the clear. Then Caroline mentioned that it tasted different. I stalled for the next few bites. Ezra chimed in that it wasn't the same. Finally I admitted what I had done. They were fine with it for a while. But then the carrot juice started to get a bit overpowering. The "earthiness" sort of sneaks up on you. I guess I won't try that again because usually they love tomato soup. I also got distracted by the lateness of the hour and trying to get Ezra to school on time and burned the sandwiches. Win some, lose some.
*You can put tomato soup in a sippie cup for your messy toddler. Caroline used to love drinking it up--made lunch more of an adventure for her and clean up less of an adventure for me!
You can add carrot juice to other things with better success--like smoothies. Carrots have a lot of natural sugar and lend a real sweetness to an otherwise tart smoothie. I like the taste best in a smoothie when mixed with orange juice. The citrus overpowers the earthiness of the carrots. And when I feed my family a smoothie filled with spinach, carrot juice and flax seed I can feel like a super mom for a minute or two.

5. Not so healthy--but a BIG hit with the kids--corn dogs. If you want to enjoy the meal as an adult, you can add some Trader Joe's sweet potato fries. I like TJ's better than Costco's. I could eat the whole bag. That happens to be 5 servings. Don't ask how I know. They are that yummy. Usually we have bell pepper slices with our corn dogs.

6. Mac and cheese. Old stand-by. Kids love you for it. Any fruit or veggie as a side goes with this. Or apple sauce. Endorsed by Mr. Potato Head.

7. Bagels and cream cheese. Often we add lunch meat. The kids don't enjoy adding spinach, but I do! I buy the honey whole wheat bagels at Costco and store them in the freezer. They mold very fast. They defrost easily, though. They are not my favorite bagel, but they are the cheapest and easiest to freeze and defrost. The very best way to consume said bagels is to spread on the cream cheese, add some fresh turkey (the kind you stick in a freezer bag for later on Thanksgiving day), a thick layer of spinach and a thin layer of cranberry sauce. Home made or the jarred version that Trader Joe's sells year round. Yum!

8. Quesidillas. We usually have left over black beans in the fridge, so I generally throw some in for added protein and fiber. Serve with sour cream and pineapple salsa for dipping. These go great with a fruit smoothie or a carton of yogurt.
(You can see that Ezra's top tooth is finally growing a mate. And he lost his fifth tooth last week--down on the bottom. I paid him a dollar to pull it last Tuesday night because it was sticking straight out and disgusting me. I wanted to pin him down and twist it out even though he was screaming. And that's pretty much not allowed. So, instead I bribed him to do it himself.)
9. Dipping Day. When you don't feel like making anything, don't. Just slice up a variety of veggies: carrots, celery, cucumbers, baby tomatoes, bell pepper slices, snap peas, etc. Place them with a container of dip, such as Uncle Dan's on the table. Add some apple and pear slices and a jar of peanut butter. Put out some cheese and crackers if you're worried bellies won't fill up enough on fruit and veggies with dip. Try not to gag when your kids dip their peppers in peanut butter and their pears in Uncle Dan's. It was all going to mix together in their bellies eventually. Aunt Megan taught us another version of this that she calls "slices". She slices up apples and pears, smears peanut butter on the sides of them and then adds various toppings--nuts, dark chocolate chips, etc. It was rather nummers.

And no matter what you eat--don't let your siblings dress you--or you'll look like that!
I am fresh out of lunch ideas. Please, share some of yours with me!

This Week We Don't Have to Miss Idaho

2012-01-18T15:18:00.000-08:00

We've had snow since Saturday and the kids are overjoyed. With Monday being a holiday and school canceled Tuesday and Wednesday, it's been one long week of playing in the snow. Usually around here we have a wet snow, enjoy it for a day and then it melts. The trees don't stay coated and beautiful. But this time each branch has kept it's snow coat and it looks lovely. All the different colors of pine covered in white make a beautiful panorama. If I was a photographer, I'd have it documented for you. You'll just have to take my word for it.
My children keep their coats on, shed them indoors, put them back on, shed them again. You get the idea. I'm okay with it. Hours of outdoor play makes for good hard sleep each night. And darling rosy cheeks.
Warm fires and hot cocoa create moments to be cherished.
I leave you with a question. If your husband is out of town on business and you aren't taking your child to school...how many days is it okay to go without showering?

Play Dough

2012-01-17T14:11:00.001-08:00

Whether your child is in public, private or home school it's always fun to have home projects during the winter months. This play dough recipe has been around for a long time, but just in case you've never seen it before--here it is again.
You will need:

1 C flour
1 C water
1/2 C salt
2 T cream of tartar
2 T oil
food coloring
Yes, that is a LOT of salt. I have fond memories of making this dough with my mom often as a child. I have not so fond memories of tasting it after my mom told me NOT to. Pretty gross. I also remember molding it to look like a scoop of ice cream, placing it on a real cone and trying to get several of my aunts and uncles to try it. None of them fell for it. But dear Uncle Mikey pretended to to my great delight. I did not tell my children that story.
First, add all ingredients to a pot over medium heat.
Then cook and stir until stiff.

With our first batch I wanted two different colors, so I didn't add the food coloring until after we cooked the dough and broke it in half.
It was hard to work the food coloring into the dough and easy to stain hands and counter tops with this method. For the next batch, I simply halved the recipe and added the food coloring before I cooked the dough. That worked much better. We made two batches total and got 4 colors. This was more than enough for three kids to play with.
If you are working with a preschool child on his/her letters play dough works for "c" (clay, cooking), "d" (dough) or "p" (play dough). It can be used across several subjects--art, cooking, letter learning, coordination and spelling.
When I taught first grade we called spelling "working with words". Each week we introduced 5 new words to put on our word wall. These were high frequency words that needed to be memorized. Many of them don't work as "sound outs"--for instance "the". Each week a new word family was also introduced. A word family is a common ending that can be used for multiple words, like "at". Any word ending in "at" (cat, hat, fat, sat) would then be fair game on the weekly spelling test. The word families teach the kids to follow a pattern when learning to read and write.
Spelling can be an exceedingly frustrating subject for primary students. So can reading. To make working with words more fun we tried to involve more than the students' brains. I taught words first thing in the morning. To get everyone up on their feet and awake we started with some kinesthetic learning--we clapped, snapped, stomped and jumping jacked our words. This is a great way to help your child work on their spelling words at home. Simply say the word "cat" then say the letters with one clap per letter C (clap) A (clap) P (clap). Then say the word again. The word "cat" gets worked into the kinesthetic learner's whole body. During a spelling test, or while they are writing a story and want to remember how to spell a word they can close their eyes and quietly clap out the word to remember it.
Some other great ways to practice spelling are to spray shaving cream on a desk or a cookie sheet and have your child trace their words into the shaving cream. As a bonus, shaving cream works wonders on cleaning pencil off a desk. I usually did this project the day of open house when we wanted everything neat and clean for the parents to come visit : )
Clay, or play dough is another favorite for primary students to work with. They love the cooking process and they are especially excited to play with the dough. Ask them to practice forming letters or words before letting them have some free time to play to their hearts' content. Store dough in Tupperware or Ziploc bags.
I don't know that making your own dough saves you much money. It's more about the process. Making the dough together is a great way to spend a rainy afternoon. It's also a great time to teach safety around the stove, how to use measuring cups, taking turns, etc. And it motivates a reluctant learner to practice. Have fun!

California Dreaming

2012-01-09T13:12:00.001-08:00

On such a winter's day! Not that today can be complained about for being too wintry. But after a week of being home I'm ready for some more sunshine and 70's, please.Other than going to the beach and Sea World, we did a lot of "hanging out" at Uncle Nate Dog and Aunt Megan's party pad.
We got to have sunset fires on their cool new hillside retreat.

If you click on the above picture to enlarge it, you might be able to see the cool (er, hot) heat waves rising up in front of Lucas.

You might notice Henry the dog lurking on the right in the above photo. He was such a nice well behaved dog...and all Nora could ever say to him was "Go away, Henry!". I'm sure he's happy not to have to hear that a bazillion times a day anymore.
There were reading sessions conducted by Aunt Megan herself (Ezra informed me one random day a few months back that one reason he loooooves his Aunt Megan is because she always reads to them).

Grandpa combed out a lot of hair--boy do I miss passing that job off to him!
Bballet/piano shows were conducted several times a day.
And I got royally spoiled with some time without kids. Megan and I went shopping (the fun kind) together for several hours one morning. We went on a nice long walk another morning. And on our last morning in California we took a long hike in the early morning sunshine. Do you think I could say "morning" any more? Thanks for all the fun times, Aunt Megan.
We also drove up to Burbank for three days of a Bible Conference.
All the pictures involve cute little girls in pretty dresses....boy did they have fun together! So much giggling, so much ballet, so many races up and down the halls and a lot of chit chattering. I can't describe how fun it is for me to watch my girls play with the daughters of so many of my childhood friends. I didn't photo document it nearly enough.
To speed up the clean up of the sound system at the end of the Bible Conference, there was a contest for children under the age of ten. Whoever could gather up the most blue electrical tape would win. The tape balls were measured by weight--not size. What fun for all those little boys and girls. And they were surprised to each get a dollar at the end just for participating.
Some of Grandma's Girls.

Sea World!

2012-01-04T15:20:00.001-08:00

The very first day of our vacation we visited Sea World. We got discount tickets through my mom and thought that we'd spend the day away from the house since Lucas and Jill still had school to attend. But guess what? They skipped that day of school and came with us! What fun. We ran straight for the Shamu* show, stopping only long enough to catch a glimpse of this beautiful beast in the viewing tank. Once upon a time when marine biology classes took up a lot of my schedule in community college (chemistry--no thanks, biology--no thanks, anatomy--no thanks, study fish, whales, salt water and waves?--yes, please!) I used to think it would be amazingly fun to swim with whales and dolphins. When I visited Hawaii with my best friend and we took a snorkel tour we waited on the edge of our pontoon seats to jump in with a traveling pod--they avoided us all day. 11 years, 3 kids and a few Sea World trainer deaths later and my heart speeds up just looking at the whale on the other side of the three foot thick Plexiglas.

The Shamu show was fun. We took a chance and sat in the upper portion of the "soak zone". We were all a little nervous, but we managed to stay dry. Some of the folks in the rows in front of us were not so lucky.
The trainers no longer get in the water with Shamu during the show. I was very disappointed that my kids didn't get the thrill of seeing a whale come shooting out of the water with a human being riding high on his snout (mouth?). But I was quite happy that my children did not have to witness a human being being eaten and/or drowned by a whale. Therapy would have been ongoing, I'm sure.

Here we are settling in for the dolphin show. I would love to show you some pictures. But that little cutie in the bold striped vest fell asleep in my arms, making photo shooting a near impossibility. Plus, and more importantly, I was too busy soaking up those gorgeous rays of sunshine and reminding myself it really was only 4 days before Christmas.
The dolphin show now involves a really cool high dive/trapeze/ bird/ pseudo Disney Princess show. It was pretty cool. We also looked at the sharks, turtles, a super fun "pet show" and a few of the kiddie rides. But the attraction that took up the biggest chunk of time was the playground. The kind of playground that requires parental assistance. Thankfully one parent had to stay behind to guard the stroller, cameras, wallets, etc. And eat the snacks. And rest her feet. And giggle at the parents who are in the playground. I'm sure you can guess which parent was the wallet guarding snack eater : )

I can't figure out what order blogger is going to put my photos in for the life of me. It's a little unpredictable at the moment. Ezra and Lucas were watching whales jumping, not Aunt Megan and Mia climb through the ropes course.
Napping with one hand in the snack bag. Look at those adorable blue toes. Oh I miss her!
Tadd volunteered to risk his life and take any willing children on the Water Roller Coaster of Death, er, the Lost City of Atlantis or something. Lucas was the only taker.
The rest of us kept our feet wisely planted where they and the rest of our bodies would stay dry.
So fun to watch this little friendship, let me tell you!
Everything is more fun with a cousin along!
*Thanks to my Mother and Brothers for pointing out that Shamu is not spelled Shamoo : )

My Little Surfer

2012-01-03T14:44:00.000-08:00

We're home from our California vacation. Ahhhhh...warm air, sunshine, sand between the toes. That felt nice! AND....Ezra learned to surf. He now wishes to move to California and surf every day for the rest of his life. He wants to be cool like his cool surfing cousin...Lucas. Thank you Lucas for sharing your sport--and your wetsuits, and boards, etc.
While Ezra learned to surf, the rest of us basked in the sun, played in the sand and tested out the water (but not me, I was cold enough on land).

The second day of our trip the Dads took out the two boys for their first surfing expedition. Ezra managed to stand up on his first wave and thus wanted to continue the sport. After a few hours of pushing and catching in the shallows, Uncle Nate-Dog received his first ever sting ray wound. I knew those stingers hurt--but I had never heard that they also cut deeply. Poor Uncle Nathan had a badly bleeding (and hurting) foot. Uncle Tadd (who couldn't stop thinking about Steve Irwin) drove him to the Urgent Care and then brought the sad little boys home. Poor Lucas burst into the house surprising Aunt Megan and I with the declaration that "Dad's at the hospital and bleeding a lot." Thankfully Aunt Megan thought he was joking and didn't freak out at first. Soon Tadd joined us in the house to explain the situation. Ever wondered what they do about a sting ray sting? It wasn't what I expected. They stuck his foot in nearly boiling water to cook the protein from the poison. The hot water also eased the pain--the opposite of what I thought it would do. After half a day of cooking his foot he felt much better.
Last time we were at the above beach we had a family picture with just two kids. Now the one above has joined us...and the other two had run off.
It's really too bad Mia is so lacking in the personality department.

Daddy's girls.

Caroline really wanted to try surfing as well.
And Nora really wanted to try to eat as much sand as Caroline did at her age. She didn't even come close, thankfully.
Jilly teaching Carks the proper carrying technique.

We made the mistake of letting Caroline try boogie boarding before surfing. Two times through the spin cycle and she was done. "No more!" she declared. Her dreams of being a world famous surfer chic were over before they even got started. She didn't seem too disappointed.
Red girly toes sticking out of her wetsuit. Too cute : )

That's Ezra--riding a wave!

The closest Nora got to any ocean sport.

Lucas is quite the little "grom".

Aunt Megan gets some sweet shots and killer video. Thankfully she shot a few videos of Ezra on the board for us.

Cousin fun at the beach!
We have paid the price all families with young children seem to pay when traveling....illness. This year we decided to break from the same old (not-so) boring stomach flu route. Ear infections sounded more exciting. Exciting is probably not the word the lady sitting in front of Ezra on the flight home would use. We began our descent into Seattle at 10:00 PM New Year's Eve. All three kids were sleeping peacefully and we were just contemplating how we would carry three children and approximately 20 carry on items off the plane. Our quiet brainstorm was interrupted by Ezra's sudden screams and violent kicking of the seat in front of him. He was obviously in pain. We finally got him to take some Tylenol and by the time we landed he had calmed down. He stayed fine until the wee hours when we wished to be sleeping. Oh, how, we, wished, to, be, sleeping. But it wasn't to be. It was Sunday, January 1, 2012. Doctor's offices--closed. Urgent Cares--closed. Pharmacies--closed. And our insurance plan--the one that had kicked in exactly 7 hours earlier was about to be taken for a test drive. The most expensive kind of test drive--the Emergency Room! We spent a couple hours there while they determined it was an infection and not swimmer's ear. Oh, I forgot to mention that he had begun vomiting, either from pain or as part of the infection. So we had to wait for the anti-nausea meds to kick in so that he could keep down the antibiotics. What fun. And it took a mix of pain meds plus ear numbing drops to get him anywhere near to comfortable. Poor little guy.
Fast forward to today. Tadd is back at work. School starts tomorrow. We run to Trader Joe's and the library. And then we have to drop everything and take the trunk full of groceries to the Pediatrician's office (which is open, because the holidays are over) so that Caroline can be diagnosed with her very own ear infection. Wheeeeee!
Any bets on when Nora will have her turn? I kid you not, as I took her out of her car seat where she was sleeping after we got Caroline's prescription filled, she tugged her ear and said "hurts, mommy!" Anyone who correctly guesses the type of facility that will diagnose her along with the day it will happen gets a prize : )
P.S. We really aren't bitter and we really did have fun. And I will post more about the trip another day.

Six Years!

2011-12-18T21:35:00.000-08:00

Six years ago at this very moment it was a Sunday evening. My parents, brothers, Grandma and Aunt and Uncle had all just said good bye. My husband was asleep on a hospital cot across the room from me. And beside me in my hospital bed lay the sweetest, most precious bundle with glow in the dark orange fuzz atop his head. He was all of 4 hours old. I was exhausted. Physically warn out. Emotionally spent. And I couldn't make myself go to sleep. Who can sleep when the most delicious little boy is sleeping beside you? Why not stay awake and feel skin so soft your hand slides off of it? Why not stay awake and smell breath so sweet it can't actually be human? Why not stay awake and praise God that labor and delivery is O-V-E-R! And think about all the tomorrows? And hold the now so close and so tight you think it will never end. But it does end. And time slips by faster than a little boy racing his bike down the street to a friend's house. And before you know it....he is six. And the glow in the dark fuzz is a mop of strawberry blonde hair framing a face with teeth of alllll shapes and sizes. How does it happen? I can't answer that.
We had a little birthday celebration yesterday with family and a couple of Ezra's friends.

I will warn you that there are some disturbing and graphic shots in this post. My pictures are not uploading in the order I planned....so you never know when the disturbing photos will show up. They all involve Jacob. And Jeffrey. Two good reasons not to name your child a "J" name.

Ezra requested a figure 8 race track cake for his birthday. He could not be persuaded to let me make it in the shape of a 6. I promise, I do know how old my son is turning.

Any guesses as to what happened? Make up your own captions...I'd love to hear them!

Ezra's birthday is over Christmas break...but his teacher allowed him to celebrate at school last week. We took some cupcake treats to share with his classmates.
Standing in the place of honor between the two "singing leaders" he chose.
His lovely and energetic teacher.
I love their matching fake enthusiastic faces : ) Thanks Uncle Jake and Aunt Emily for driving all the way over to celebrate with us!
Happy Birthday to my six (six???) year old Ezra. It's so fun to see you change and grow.

Emmanuel--God With Us

2011-12-15T14:29:00.000-08:00

"God with us." What does that mean? For God to be with us--He had to come to Earth. To come to Earth He had to become a man. God, man. The Creator becoming a helpless babe.
"Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel." Isaiah 7:14
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6
Come down to earth He did. And no matter what time of year it actually happened, it is beautiful to consider. Six years ago when I was "great with child" and ready to deliver I considered it daily. I gave birth to my tiny son a week before the celebration of Christ's birth, and as I would stroke his soft little head I thought a lot about Mary and how she must have felt. The awe consuming her soul. She knew He was holy. "And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." Luke 1:35 She had a mother's love for her firstborn, but also the love of the created for her Creator. She knew He was more than her baby. The perfect baby. I've often wondered about that.
There are so many beautiful Christmas carols to listen to this time of year. The words are sacred and thought provoking. Some of my favorites include:
"O Holy Night"
"O holy night....Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices. O night, divine, O night, when Christ was born."

"Silent Night"
"Silent night, holy night/Son of God/Love's pure light/Radiant beams from thy holy face/With the dawn of redeeming grace/Jesus Lord at thy birth/Jesus Lord at thy birth"
"Hark! the Herald Angels Sing"
"Christ, by highest heav'n adored/Christ the everlasting Lord/Late in time behold him come/Offspring of the favored one/Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see/Hail th'incarnate deity/Pleased, as man with men to dwell/Jesus, our Immanuel!/Hark the herald angels sing/Glory to the newborn King.
Hail! The heav'n born prince of peace/Hail! The Son of Righteousness!/Light and Life to all He brings/Risen with healing in his wings/Mild he lays his glory by/Born that man no more may die/Born to raise the sons of earth/Born to give them second birth/Hark! the herald angels sing/Glory to the newborn king!

From "Mary's Boy Child"
"Oh My Lord
You send your Son to save us
Oh my Lord
Your very self you gave us
Oh my Lord
That sin may not enslave us
And love may reign once more."

I could quote song after song. It is wonderful to turn on the radio this time of year and hear praises being sung. Often, the singers do not know the Lord as their Saviour, but think of the testimony these holy words bear! He was born a Babe so that someday He could cry out "It is finished!" and we, His creation could have entrance to Heaven--to be with Him. Emmanuel--God with us. Wonderful.

We Were Thankful, I Promise!

2011-12-07T16:40:00.000-08:00

Especially for these three little monkeys!
I did not make thankful lists with the kids this year. I didn't do very many Thanksgiving projects with the kids either. But I did have the opportunity to go into Ezra's class and read some Thanksgiving books to them and create a turkey with them. It was really fun to get my teaching fix for a couple of hours. Some days I feel like I'm falling down on the job and not doing very many fun things with my kids. Survival mode is a very real thing! But I'm trying to be realistic and focus on the fact that most of the time they are fed(although they are always hungry), clothed (at least out in public--and I'm not saying the clothes match, but the important parts are covered) and in their right (for a 5, 4 and 1 year old--which is not very "right") minds. Fun activities and blog posts will just have to be filled in wherever I can push aside necessities and create cracks for them. Too bad mommy guilt is also a very real thing. I was considering that last night. Feeling guilty over having to say "I can't read to you right now!". The things I was busy doing were necessities. There were hardly enough hours in the day to fulfill all the obligations. I don't like being that busy. But sometimes it can't be avoided. And the guilt comes along with it. How do you battle mommy guilt?
Back to the post at hand, though...for Thanksgiving we had some fabulous guests--Grandpa and Grandma Idaho! They came the Monday before Thanksgiving and stayed a whole week. How happy were we? Immeasurably. Grandma brought along her famous gingerbread dough and spent several patient hours cutting out cookies with the kids. Oh! If the kids made gingerbread cookies with one Grandma and sugar cookies with the other Grandma, that means I don't need to make any cookie cutter Christmas cookies with the kids, right?

The day before Thanksgiving Daddy decided to attempt working from home half day. He got up early to work on some drawings while the table was clear. Nora had to work on some drawings as well.

As dawn was breaking Ezra joined the party. It's easy to see why Daddy doesn't try to work from home often.
Grandma was having an actual conversation on her real cell phone. Nora thought she was having an actual conversation on her fake cell phone. I thought I'd better document.
Our Thanksgiving morning breakfast--vanilla-cranberry scones (I LOVE them), fried eggs, bacon and juice. Priming the tummies for all the eating we have ahead of us!

Not sure what that's all about.Oooh, something else to be thankful for. New two panel white doors installed downstairs. Obviously they are not installed yet in the picture : ) Thanks to Grandpa Idaho for picking up said doors and helping Daddy install them. Thanks to Grandpa Tractor for ordering said doors and talking us through all the questions.
What's Thanksgiving without a nap?
For Thanksgiving dinner we headed out to Tadd's aunt and uncle's house. Grandpa and Grandma Idaho had brought Great Grandma Froese to Aunt Gretchen's house to spend the week with her. We were all able to be together for the holiday. There was a lot of good eatin' and fun visitin'.
Cousins P and M are amazing with the kids! P helped Ezra play Wii games for a very long time whilst M entertained my girly girls in her room by showing them all her fancy lotions and jewelry. All three kids were in heaven.

Our annual gingerbread house. Oh how I wished and wished it was last year so that Uncle Brett and Uncle Jeff could be handling this mess again. They are much better at turning a blind eye to how much candy the kids are stuffing in their faces faster than the speed of light.

I guess I don't need to worry about not reading to the kids--because Tadd does often. We are very into Bill Peet right now. Haven't read any of his stories? Check them out at your local library. I think you'll love them. Ezra especially recommends Cowardly Clyde.

All He Wants For Christmas

2011-12-04T16:47:00.000-08:00

So, he already has one adult top front tooth and the bottom two as well. But that last top front middle tooth was being stubborn and hanging in there. And you know what looks even funnier than a kid with one front tooth missing? And even funnier than a kid with two front teeth missing? A kid with one full grown adult front tooth and one baby tooth : ) It's just so skewed looking. And that stubborn tooth seemed to be getting firmer rather than looser.
But the week of Thanksgiving something interesting happened. Dead in the middle of the night--right when Mommy and Daddy were hitting the deepest darkest part of our lovely sleep cycles, Ezra wandered in and told Daddy his lip was hurting really bad. He was crying. Tadd thought he had chapped lips. I overheard and handed him some Vaseline to apply to Ezra's lips. Ezra kept crying. Tadd rubbed on some more Vaseline and told him to go back to bed. At that point Ezra turned on a light. I managed to drag my body from the bed and went to take a look at Ezra. I was rather surprised to find his face pretty well covered in blood. If I had been awake, surely this would have registered alarm. But since I was asleep it only made me perplexed. I saw that there was blood crusted around his nose. I figured he had a bloody nose but couldn't figure out why he kept crying about his lip. I tried to wash some of the blood with a tissue and led my crying child back to bed where I prayed with him and tucked him in...this time on the bottom bunk, rather than the top. I noticed two large splotches of blood on the carpet (again, WHY weren't alarms triggering????) but didn't do much more than apply some saliva so that the enzymes could do their work (that's right, you can spit on blood to break it down and make it easier to wash out of something, gross as it may be--it works). I headed back to bed, vaguely aware that I should be doing a better job as a mom. But I was too tired to do more than to ask the Lord to take care of my little boy and wonder how on earth a bloody nose could hurt a lip so bad?????
Fast forward to the next morning. I'm sitting on the couch and Ezra wanders downstairs. His lower lip is fat. As in, hanging out past his nose fat. There are still traces of blood on his face. And his top baby tooth is missing. It all came screeching together in my now awake(r) head--he fell off the top bunk in the middle of the night! That's how the tooth fell out. That's how the blood got on the carpet. That's why the lip hurt so bad! My poor boy. That's why he had bad headache...still. I hugged him, and patted his back and congratulated him on another lost tooth and tried to shove my gigantic parental failure into the back of my mind.

I Have A Problem

2011-11-15T08:57:00.001-08:00

I know what you're thinking "a problem, Brooke, a problem? Nice try!"
And you're right.
But this is one specific problem I am confessing to this morning. It has to do with Thank You notes. My problem does not regard the actual writing of thank you notes. I like to do that. And I generally do that as soon as possible after receiving a gift, spending time at some one's house, etc. I keep boxes of little thank you notes from the Michael's dollar bin on hand for just that reason. So, as the need arises, I write out my thank you notes, stick them in an envelope and then...this is where the breakdown begins.
I write the return address up in the left hand corner. I write the name of the recipient on the envelope (usually) and then I:
a.) get distracted by breaking up a bloody fight between two kids
b.) get distracted by a dirty diaper that has turned into an emergency
c.) can't find the address of the recipient in my address file that has been dumped out by my kids a few hundred times, so I leave the card on the counter planning to email or call to get the address as soon as I can. Said card gets covered by the mail five minutes later. It is moved to the "look at later" pile.
d.) I somehow manage to address the card and then realize I have no stamps. It sits on counter and gets buried in the same scenario as letter "c".
e.) I address the envelope, I put a stamp on it...I am too lazy to walk to the mailbox at that exact moment. Again, it gets buried and lost.
After scenarios a-e happen, the card often stays buried on the counter for days, weeks, months and in a couple cases (hiding deep shame) years. I find them when I pack up to move. When I clean the kitchen before having company. When my kids knock over the precarious pile. When I am searching for a recipe before Thanksgiving. And then I sometimes write a quick "oops, sorry this is so late" on the back and drop it in the mail. Sometimes I am too embarrassed to do that and I let it sit a couple more days before I get up the courage to mail it late.
If you have ever gotten me a gift, stayed at my house or helped me out in some way and are wondering where your thank you note is...please shoot me an email. Chances are I have it buried in a pile of important stuff. If I can find it, I'll send it to you. If I can't, I'll write you a new one, lose it for a while and get it to you by next year....or the next.
Above they are showing how they can look like Daddy. And in the two below, well, I think you can guess who that looks more like : )

Fall Festivities and Activities

2011-11-04T14:57:00.001-07:00

When the weather gets crisp and rainy and the great indoors starts to sound more inviting, it's time to find things to do for the little energy hoggers.

Such as:
Pumpkin painting. So much easier than carving. No crisp toasted seeds this way, though.
Making clay and tooth pick shapes and structures.

"A cross to remind us of the one the Lord Jesus died on in order to wash our sins away."
Time to pull out the cute tights and boots!
Time for Daddy to celebrate another birthday. Even if he's stuck at home on the couch with three sick kiddos.
Time for drawing and coloring at the table for loooooong periods of time.

For trying to copy Anne of Green Gable's hair braids.
Time for festivities at the school too.
Ezra's teacher bravely undertakes the project of creating Where the Wild Things Are plays each year in the fall. Instead of a Halloween Party with costumes from home, each child plays either Max or a Wild Thing wearing a costume they created at school. Families are invited in to watch. We got to see the play four times because the class was broken into groups of 5 or 6 so that each child could play a part.
Ezra is the Wild Thing with the red headdress. He was SO excited to be in the play. He had the stomach flu from Friday until Sunday and was worried he might not get better in time. It was our second round of all three kids having the stomach flu in as many weeks. Can we be done now, please?
At the conclusion of the plays, several parent volunteers set up a monster themed party complete with games, prizes and cup cake decorating and eating stations.

The girls had a blast getting to be a part of the celebration. I felt quite sorry for the teacher having to deal with the plays and party being on a Monday. Sure makes the rest of the week seem loooooooong.

That night we told the kids they could go to the ten or so doors on our street for trick or treating. Ezra borrowed a knight costume from the neighbor at the last minute and we made some quick antennae for our little butterflies. Good thing we have a dress up drawer filled with tutus and wings : )
No, neither of the girls has a black eye. That's just my ineptitude with make up!

They had fun and came home with way too much candy. Good thing they have a mom willing to sacrifice herself!

Fall is also a good time to snuggle up on the couch with the big brother you adore on dark, dark mornings. These are my two early risers. Caroline is the only one with enough sense to be a sleeper inner whilst she canner. Don't forget to fall back everyone. Next weekend the mornings won't be quite so dark--but the evenings sure will. Go enjoy one last late afternoon walk today or tomorrow!

You MIght Be a Soccer Mom if...

2011-11-02T14:32:00.001-07:00

If you have shin guards and cleats in your pantry, you might be a soccer mom.
If you have more than one child playing soccer, you might be a soccer mom.
If you drive a mini-van, you might be a soccer mom.If you yell things like "Hurry up! We paid good money to be on this team and we should be getting there on time. Plus your coach thinks I'm a loser because I can never get there on time!", you might be a soccer mom.
If you keep a giant golfing umbrella in your car for just in case, you might be a soccer mom.
If you have a collection of water bottles in the car, you might be a soccer mom.
If you buy box juice, oranges and granola bars at Costco and store them in the car for those days you forget you are the "snack mom", you might be a soccer mom.If one child does homework in the car (with a kit kept there especially for that purpose) while the other child practices, you might be a soccer mom.
If your child can ride a bike with shin guards on, you might be a soccer mom.
If you own super cute rubber rain boots bought on clearance during the off season (called Wellingtons if you paid full price during that actual season) that you have to wear mostly covered up by your mommy jeans because "skinny jeans" and your thighs don't get along very well, you might be a soccer mom.

If you have a freezer full of make ahead suppers that have the ability to cook at low temps in the oven for up to 3 hours, you might be a soccer mom.
If you have had to spray the mud off your child with a hose before you allow them in the house, you might be a soccer mom.
If you answered "yep, that's me" to six or more of these statements, you ARE a soccer mom! Or a baseball mom, or basketball...you get the idea. Let's hear it from all the soccer moms!
And thanks to my own soccer mom who was a sports mom for 20+ years (and still occasionally gets phone calls from her grown sons asking about concussion-like symptoms or whether they should go to the ER for a possible sprained ankle). And to my sports dad who was more often than not the coach. As it usually goes, now that I've reached this stage in life I do a lot of looking back and wondering how on earth you did it all those years and came out alive : )

2011-10-26T14:35:00.000-07:00

What do you do if your house is lacking a nice big colorful fall tree in front of it?
And the rest of the houses on your street happen to have big trees with acres of colorful fall leaves drifting down?
You rake them up, load them into your big red wagon and bring them to your house, of course! Much to your dad's delight : )
And then you and the neighbor kids join forces to rake dozens of leaf piles up and down the street and you all ride your bikes through them as fast as you can.

I have to admit that I tried it with my bike. The crunch of those leaves was quite satisfying. Therapy. Leaf therapy. Fall bike rides with the kids are one of the many perks of stay-at-home-mom-hood. Don't tell anyone but every time I walk down to the mailbox these days I slide my feet through the leaves and pretend I'm walking down the aisle at my wedding again.

Kid Friday

2011-10-21T13:09:00.001-07:00

In no particular order, here are some of my recent faves of my three main reasons for blogging...along with some of my recent favorites from the Psalms:
"Be still and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth." Psalm 46:10

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." Psalm 51:17
"Attend unto me, and hear me: I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise;" Psalm 55:2. Okay, so the other morning I was reading that particular chapter and I was fairly cranky. These are the words that my eyes saw "Attend unto me, and hear me: I mourn, I complain, I make noise." Seriously. I read it again and realized what it actually said. And I attempted to snap out of it.

"Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God." Psalm 43:5
"From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy." Psalm 61:2, 3
"O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come." Psalm 65:2
(The blonde is not mine. But my Nory Pory seems to think she is part of his family. She loudly proclaims him to be her "Buddy"!)
"Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me." Psalm 66:20

Caramel Swirl Hunks

2011-10-20T12:50:00.000-07:00

Did you trust me? Did you make your Dulce de Leche? If so, have you eaten it all? Given it away as gifts? Keip Looking Up, I was thinking the very same thing about using this delicious caramel as a holiday gift for neighbors. I think perhaps the small glass jam freezing jars would be a more manageable size.
If you don't have homemade Dulce de Leche, you can still make Caramel Swirl Hunks, just buy some caramel sauce at the store. This recipe is from Marcy Goldman's A Passion For Baking. I have tried many of the recipes from this oh-so-tempting baking book. She does not hold back on sugar, butter or white flour. Hers are not exactly healthy treats. She does have one short section at the back of the book on multi-grain recipes. But who can manage to bypass all the refined white sugar and flour and get to the whole wheat? Not me, not with so many beautiful desserts staring me in the face. I do highly recommend this cook book. Without further ado--the Hunks!
Let's get baking! Put your apron on, because you are going to be wiping your hands on it a lot. And put on your self control if you have such powers.The sheer amount of butter and sugar required for this recipe freaked me out. I do so love butter. It doesn't usually scare me. And I have some pretty decadent recipes. But never before have I had to use an entire box of butter for one (un-doubled) recipe. After you close your eyes and melt all the butter and then close your eyes again to dump in all that (3 1/3 C) sugar you can open them and add in one measly little cup of oats that is supposed to make you feel better about these bars.
Then you'll get squeamish again as you crack 4 eggs and pour in what seems like half a bottle of vanilla (4 t).
Then it's time for some leavening.
Dump in the white stuff when no one is looking. I didn't have the heart to sub in whole wheat flour on this recipe. I can't imagine that the sugar, chocolate and caramel would take kindly to me trying to reform them. Who ever heard of reforming something so refined?
Time for the chocolate chips. Now, Marcy calls these bars "brownies". To me a brownie should have a chocolate base. So I rebelled and added a second cup of chocolate chips. One cup of semi-sweet and one cup of milk-chocolate.
The dough is entirely too thick to be easily poured into the prepared pan. You'll build up some muscle as you wield your spatula.
Doesn't that caramel look luscious? Don't worry, I didn't lick any of it off the top.
Swirling has a sort of calming effect on a person. Time to pop these babies in the oven. I really struggled with the baking time. I could not get the brownies to stop jiggling in the middle. Maybe they saw my middle and wanted to join the celebration? While the middle was jiggling away, the edges were beginning to burn, not brown(like my brother in the sun). I finally pulled them out and not a second too soon. I think that were I to use this recipe again I would bake them in a 11 x 13 to spread them a bit thinner. I did not follow Marcy's recommendation to bake them in the pan on top of a parchment lined cookie sheet. She always wants you to use more parchment paper than necessary, in my humble opinion. I don't have a publisher paying for my supplies, so I put the brownie pan directly onto the cookie sheet. And I'm pretty sure that is not why they stayed jiggly in the center.
Um, what happened to those brownies? How weird. It couldn't possibly be that the Gluttonous baker took a sample or two or three or four from the middle before she served her family! Never!
See how gooey they are in the middle? They are awfully delicious. The jury is still out on whether I'll make them again or not. I don't often get sick from eating more than one small brownie--but these little guys are not to be taken lightly.
Sad but true fact--sampling the cooking Dulce de Leche with my piece of dark, dark chocolate was my favorite part of the whole process.

Caramel Swirl Hunks (Marcy Goldman, A Passion for Baking)
2 C unsalted butter, melted
3 C firmly packed light brown sugar
1/3 C white sugar
4 large eggs
4 t pure vanilla extract
1 C quick cook oats
4 C all-purpose flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 C semisweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
1 (13.4 ounce) can dulce de leche or half of the homemade recipe you made last weekend

Preheat the oven to 350. Generously spray 9 x 13 with nonstick cooking spray and place it on a parchment lined baking sheet.
In a mixer bowl, blend butter and both sugars. Add eggs, vanilla, and oats and blend well. Fold in flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt. Fold in chocolate chips.
Spread batter in prepared pan. Top with dollops of dulce de leche and then swirl or smear the caramel into the batter.
Bake 38 minutes or until batter is set (not wobbly and jiggly). If brownies seem browned around the edges but jiggly in the center, reduce temperature to 325 and continue baking 10 to 15 minutes longer or until set.
Refrigerate or freeze 1 hour. Cut into large hunks or blocks.
Happy Baking!

Do You Trust Me?

2011-10-14T14:04:00.000-07:00

If you do, then you need to make some of this:
Homemade Dulce de Leche!
Right now! And in a day or two I will tell you what to do with it. If you haven't eaten it all in a day or two. Because you might. I made mine yesterday and the jar is suspiciously low. There are just so many ways to enjoy it.

Ducle de Leche
2 (14 ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk

Pour milk into a double boiler. If you don't own one, balance a stainless steel mixing bowl on top of your smallest cooking pot 1/3-1/2 way with water. Set the stove at low heat and cook the milk for 3-6 hours, stirring occasionally.

While it fills your house with that delicious fall smell, you can go about your daily chores. Or go outside to mow the lawn and get distracted by your precious children playing in piles of gorgeous fall leaves.
When you come back inside you'll need to check the caramel. The best way is to use an implement so that you don't burn your fingers. You don't want to use a spoon because that would mean one more dish to wash. The disposable tool I had on hand was the one pictured above. The 72% goes perfectly with the caramel.
Oh Stars! It's getting there.
Once the milk is a deep caramel color it is ready for consumption. Let it cool and then refrigerate. It will become much thicker as it cools. The Dulce de Leche will stay good in the fridge for 2-3 weeks. But seriously, has anyone ever let it last that long?This is a double batch. You will only need half of it to make what I have planned in the next couple of days. So, go to town on tasting and testing. Let me give you some ideas in case your imagination can't get any farther than dipping your finger (or a spoon) into the jar. You could have it over ice cream for dessert, dip some more chocolate it in while reading your current literary treat, or cut up an amazing honey crisp apple for a bed time snack. If you manage to finish the jar before I get the next recipe posted...just make another : )
And yes, that is custom tile back splash behind my "retro" range. We didn't have to pay extra for it when we bought the house.

Stick it on Your Pancakes (or waffles)

2011-10-10T21:50:00.001-07:00

Getting bored with breakfast? We often do around here. Some folks can eat cold cereal day in and day out and still want more. Others live and die by oatmeal. Around here we like to change it up. We do actually eat a lot of cold cereal. And sometimes oatmeal with applesauce and cinnamon mixed in (and recently at The Tractor's we had steel cut oats with apple crisp on top--now that was to die for. Perhaps I'll post the "recipe" some other time). But several years ago I decided to have pancake morning once a week for the kids. It moves back and forth between Tuesday and Wednesday, depending on which day is story time at the library. The kids know that pancake day also means bath day (don't worry, I usually bathe them more than once a week).

Even pancakes can get a little blase week after week. Perhaps you are feeling the same. If you are--here are some of our favorite pancake topping ideas.
First off--the pancake type. When I make buttermilk pancakes, I want them to be whole wheat or multi grain. By the way, the kids call these pancakes "Aunt Megan pancakes". I suppose because they've had them at Aunt Megan's house. But the irony there is that Uncle Nathan is the one who loves to make pancakes. And I frequently hear around here that mine are not as good as Uncle Nate Dog's.
We like our Aunt Megan pancakes with: maple syrup and snow (powdered sugar) for Ezra,
Nutella and fresh blueberries for me!
Mmmmm....or applesauce and whipped cream--thanks for teaching us that trick Aunt Megan! Now, I thought I had more pictures....but after 15 minutes of searching the hard drive I can't find them. And those are 15 minutes I'll never get back.
You'll have to imagine what they look like from here on out.
The other topping I like on buttermilk pancakes is peanut butter and bananas. That can stick in the throat a bit if you don't grease it with a light amount of syrup.
The second type of pancake we use is the kids favorite. It's the first recipe I ever memorized--at the ripe old age of three. My dad and mom used to let me help them make these pancakes often. We call them Swedish pancakes. They take 3 eggs, 2 C milk and 1 1/3 C flour. Really only white flour will work. Both my sister-in-law and I have tried to use whole wheat and it just ain't happenin'. Oh yeah, they also take a couple T of sugar. The batter is blended up and poured onto the griddle. They are basically mini-crepes. They are delicious. We like to eat them plain, as fast as we can cook them. But they also make delectable "jam roll ups." Simply pour a puddle of your favorite jam in the middle, roll up and eat. Now I've never been to Europe to taste a famous crepe with Nutella. But in my own dining room I regularly eat a mini-crepe with both Nutella and homemade raspberry jam. And I didn't have to learn a foreign language, take a long plane ride or pay to stay in a hotel where I share a bathroom with everyone else on the same floor : ) Not that I'm against going to Europe.
Our third most frequent pancake is the Dutch Baby. Or the "Puffery" as my kids have taken to calling it. Some folks call them an oven pancake because they bake up in a 9x13 in the oven. They can be eaten plain with a dusting of powdered sugar, with jam, or with syrup and a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar. They fare well with fresh in season fruit. The beauty of a Dutch Baby is the high protein. One oven pancake takes five eggs.
Let's review. Your grocery list now includes:
syrup
powdered sugar
cinnamon
applesauce
heavy cream for whipping
peanut butter
Nutella
bananas
fresh jams
blueberries (or other fresh fruits)

Bonus! Below is my favorite easy recipe for a sugary, sticky, delicious fruit topping that works best on waffles.

Fruit Topping
1 T corn starch
1/3 C sugar
1 T lemon juice
3 T water
Combine in sauce pan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Add 2-3 cups fresh fruit and resume boil. Boil and stir until thick (about 2-3 minutes). Serve warm on waffles.
My favorite fruits to use are blueberries or a tropical frozen mix of mango, pineapple & papaya. You could add a sprinkle of dried sweetened coconut to the top of the waffle if you use the tropical mix. Really, any frozen fruit will do.
Happy Fast Breaking!

Beautiful

2011-09-29T13:50:00.000-07:00

This post has been kicking around in my mind for quite some time now. Bear with me, please.

I have been hearing the song "Beautiful" by Mercy Me on the radio a lot recently. A couple of weeks ago my husband said to me "What do you think he means?" And I responded that I thought he was speaking to a soul who had lost the way. Perhaps she belonged to the Lord and was walking apart from Him. Perhaps he had never known Him and was just being introduced to Him. I was thinking about the lyrics in the first verse that time. I was picturing an addict in rehab.

"Days will come when you don't have the strength
And all you hear is you're not worth anything
Wondering if you ever could be loved
And if they truly saw your heart
They'd see so much
You're beautiful, You're beautiful
You are made for so much more than all of this
You're beautiful, You're beautiful
You are treasured,
you are sacred,
you are His
You're beautiful"

But then a few days later I was listening to the song again. I was in the car on the way home from a long trip to Costco. After spending the morning cleaning. After a night of being up and down (still) with a baby. I was feeling bad I had been so cranky to my kids. And I realized that the song was talking about a stay at home Mom. The thing is we ARE so much more than all of this. Than yelling at our kids when we shouldn't. Than not being thankful for the precious gift that those tiny little bodies are. Than not loving our husbands the way we should. Than getting caught up in the chaos of the morning and forgetting (or choosing not to) spend the few moments of silence asking our Maker for help to get through the day.

"Praying that you have the heart to fight
Cuz you are more than what is hurting you tonight
For all the lies you've held inside so long
But they are nothing in the shadow of the cross
You're beautiful, You're beautiful
You are made for so much more than all of this
You're beautiful, You're beautiful
You are treasured,
ou are sacred,
you are His
You're beautiful"

The next time I listened to the song it struck me that it would have spoken to me in a whole different way as a teenager. When it's easy to get caught up in school stress, friend drama, feeling sorry for yourself. When it's easy to blame it all on the hormones, on the parents, on the popular kids at school. And it is so easy to forget that:

"Before you ever took a breath
Long before the world began
Of all the wonders He possessed
There was one more precious
Of all the earth and skies above
You're the one He madly loves
Enough to die!"

Because die He did. Knowing full well that I would let "all of this" pull me down. Knowing that I would forget to bring my problems--big and small--to the Shadow of the Cross. I just love that line "They are nothing in the shadow of the cross."
The birds who sing for Him every morning with no reminder. The Sun that shines each day at His command. The flowers that bloom all for His Glory. They are not the recipient of His dying love. Instead it's me. The one who doesn't bloom each day. The one who forgets to shine often. Who has to be reminded to sing.

"You're beautiful, You're beautiful
In His eyes You're beautiful!
You are made for so much more than all of this
You're beautiful!
You are treasured,
you are sacred,
you are His
You're beautiful!
You are made for so much more than all of this
You're beautiful!
You are treasured
You are sacred
You are His"

You are treasured, you are sacred, you are His. Remember that today.

We Made Our Escape

2011-09-22T13:36:00.001-07:00

Last Friday we went ahead and "Made Our Escape" to the Puyallup Fair. We did not go on free day this time, and that was a good call. It's much less crowded on a pay to get in day. And all three kids are still free, so it wasn't too bad. Of course, I had to have Grandpa and Grandma Tractor meet us there or the whole trip wouldn't have happened. Three kids plus one Mommy at a fair of that size is a recipe for a lost child...or three. Aren't those four day old piglets darling? Nora adored all the animals. We spent a lot of time in the cow barns and with the pigs. She couldn't get enough of the animals. But she wouldn't touch that baby pig. Later in the day she conquered her fears and had a blast in the petting zoo. She especially loved the "coot" and sooooffft" baby chickens and baby bunny.

We had a couple of shows that we wanted to catch for sure. The first was this "Big Air Mountain Boarding" show. The kids had fun watching the mountain board dudes do jumps and flips and get some gnarly, mad, wicked air, yo.
Next up was the street performing, juggling, slack line walking entertainer. Wait, is that my boy standing beside him? Yes, yes it is. He didn't even give Ezra a choice of whether he wanted to join the act or not. He just walked right up, grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him in. A few weeks ago, before kindergarten started, Ezra probably would have run back to me and hid. But now he bit his lip, stood there shaking in his boots and took it like a man. After he made eye contact with me and I have him the "it's okay" look, he calmed down and had fun.

The well balanced performer picked the right helper--Ezra threw the (unlit) torches with perfect aim right at him. Yes, he did juggle lit torches while riding a "suicycle" on a slack line. He also juggled knives up there. He gave Ezra $5 for helping him.
The lovely and talented aerobatic artist on the silks. It was soothing to watch her pose and twirl in the air. And a little overwhelming to think how much strength it takes to hold yourself on two long silk curtains.
For the end of the act those three men went about fifty feet up and juggled together. I was getting nervous at that point.Then things turned crazy. That boy there climbed up a pole eighty feet in the air without ropes or even nets below him. He swayed back and forth and held his hands up in the air. And then he did a hand stand. I nearly threw up. Ezra was on his knees in the stands with his hands over his face--but he was peeking between his fingers. Three little girls in the front row got up and left because they were too scared to watch. Wimps, I tell ya--we're all a bunch of wimps. But he lived, don't worry. He claimed he turned out the way he did because he was home schooled.
I think that show was the highlight of my day. Other than the eighty foot pole part. Oh wait, I think actually that the chocolate shake I got in the dairy barns, er the food portion of the dairy barns, was the highlight. Or the funnel cake my mom shared with me.

She wasn't too sure about the cotton candy. Ezra and Caroline were. It's the whole reason they went to the fair.
We met up with our good friend Ange and her Mama Michelle.
Who wants to be a fire fighter? At that age--who doesn't?

Going fishing in the "Get outside and Play!" tent.
Usually we go to the Fair just for Mutton' Bustin. This year the kids both said they'd rather not do it. Then Ange wanted to, so they changed their mind and decided to give it another go. However, once I had paid the non-refundable ten bucks a kid, nerves struck.
"I don't want to do it mom!" ~Caroline
"My tummy is telling me not to do this!" ~Ezra

There's Ange racing away on her sheep. Just after I snapped this shot she hit the ground and the sheep stepped on her thigh. It ripped a big hole in her brand new jeans. Bugger!
In the above shot Ezra is saying "no, no, no". The announcer guy usually says "no way, take him off" if he hears a kid saying that. Thankfully, he couldn't hear him and that nice cowboy there kept saying "You'll be fine" and let the sheep go anyway : ) Bless his cowhand heart!
Hey! He got right in the way of my shot, maybe I don't like him quite so much after all! Caroline said "NO!" loud enough for the head honcho cowboy announcer to proclaim "That child does NOT want to do this" and not allow her on a sheep.
This is how we all felt by the end of the day. I wish I could say it was still light out when the day ended, but I'm afraid we stuck around until bed time. Had to get the $9 admission worth!

The Sunrise This Morning

2011-09-20T08:24:00.001-07:00

...was very similar to the sunrise on September 20th, 2002. Nine years ago today, on a day of sunshine and blue skies...
this dapper young fellow...
wed this young lady.
In a ceremony at the Chapel on Echo Bay.
Thank you Honey for nine years of putting up with forgotten wallets, cell phone mix ups, dinner mess ups, laundry fiascoes, pregnancy woes, delivery room rantings, middle of the night tears (from the babies and me), floods, moving and so much more. Thanks for enjoying all the good times too : )
Would I go back to that day given the chance? Let's see...go back and do over the last nine years? Three labors again? No thanks--glad those are in the past. Four moves again? No thanks--happy to have that all over with. But just to go back to that day--yes, please! Everyone we love all in one room eating and smiling and laughing and celebrating our love. What could be better? Although, I would probably miss my sweet little munchkins.
Nine years and 3 kids later.
We've changed a bit, and so has our love--for the better, of course. And the God of all Creation still holds us safe in His palm. All the way He has led us, and I know He won't let us go now!

Labor Day Hike

2011-09-13T21:26:00.001-07:00

On Labor Day we had plans to visit the Evergreen State Fair. Just as we were about to head out the door we changed our minds and decided to go hiking instead. The kids were excited to go on a family hike, but a little sad about not getting to spend their little baggies of money from their piggy banks on giant bags of cotton candy--the ultimate treat in their minds.
We drove east on Highway 2 to the Barclay Lake trail. A guidebook from a friend had listed this hike as perfect for small children. And it was. Two miles in and two miles out (duh) with only 250 feet of elevation gain. It was just the right challenge for Caroline and not too terribly long for Nora to be stuck in the back pack. The trail is 4.2 miles down a forest service road, so that means that it's not too crowded--even on a three day weekend. We did run into quite a few people, but it wasn't like we were walking in an endless line of hikers.My view as I brought up the rear.
Arrived at Barclay Lake. I sure do know how to make a photo look awkward. I knew that once I got on my knees with that contraption on my back there would be no getting back up. But I should have risked it. That's just ridiculous.
All three of our kids would happily spend the rest of their lives throwing rocks and sticks into a body of water.

Sometimes they can be so loving. Trekking two miles up can knock the fight right out of ya, I guess.
Caroline couldn't figure out how to hug her brother and her sister at the same time. She kept going back and forth until she figured out this little move.

Team work! They lugged this big old tree as far as they could.
Nora the Explora.

For the first several days of Kindergarten, the class is working on their colors. So each day is assigned a color and they are supposed to wear that color if they can. So far we've done pretty well with all the colors except yellow--he only had a shirt with a yellow picture on it. Tomorrow is orange day, and unfortunately it is also school picture day. Thankfully his teacher told the kids they have to wear what Mom and Dad tell them to, and not worry about being orange : ) Below is a picture of him on "green day". He dug out my old Seattle Sonics hat to complete the outfit.Peace out (yo)!

Calendar Ideas

2011-09-08T21:42:00.000-07:00

Now that it's back to school time--how about a little calendar talk. When I taught in a public school, we loved our "calendar time" in first grade. I bought myself a nice calendar set from Lakeshore Learning that came with all the trimmings and went to town. That calendar came home with me and sat in my "classroom stuff" box in various storage sheds, basement and garages until last year. Last year I dusted it off and hung it on the wall in our makeshift playroom. And we started using it. Doing a daily calendar time is such a simple, easy and fantastic learning tool.
There are so many different levels for this daily activity. Start with your pre-schooler or even toddlers. Then, if you choose to home school you can continue into the grade school years. Even if you choose to send your child out of the home for school, you can still use the calendar at home to reinforce what is being learned in the school.
Calendar time is about much more than the date.
It's hard for me to organize how I want to talk about this : ) First of all...if you don't have the money to buy a calendar set up at a fancy teaching store, that's fine. Simply get a piece of cardboard or poster board and use a ruler to make a 5x7 grid. Label the days of the week at the top. Each month you can write on a piece of paper and hang at the top. Laminate your work if you make it fancy and want to reuse it each year. My kit came with the numbers 1-31. I don't ever use those numbers though. Instead I cut out shapes for each month.
Let me explain why I do that--it's simple, that way I can teach shapes, color and patterns during calendar time. Each month I change the shapes and the colors and put them in a different pattern. Red, purple, red, purple one month and then blue, blue, orange, blue, blue, orange the next month. The pattern can also be explained in shapes: triangle, circle, square, triangle, circle, square.
The kids love to use a pointer and play teacher. A Lincoln log can be used in a pinch : ) This is a good time to learn leadership skills--speak in a loud, clear voice. Look at who you are speaking to. It's also a great chance to learn about taking turns. Not everyone gets to be the teacher each day.
I tape the numbers to a paper that I keep hanging on the wall. If you have cork board on your wall, or a hanging bulletin board you can tack them there. You can either use a tack for each day on the calendar, or slit a line in each square on the calendar and insert a paper clip for each day to be clipped on to.
Your child might not understand what a "pattern" is at first. They might not know their shapes and colors either. And you don't even have to explain these things. As the months go by you'll be surprised at how much they pick up. This activity touches on so many math themes from the most basic to complex it's not funny: even and odd numbers, counting by ones, patterns, shapes, colors, addition, months of the year. It's a good time to talk about seasons, weather and holidays as those topics come up. "What type of weather do we usually have during June?" "What clothes do you usually wear during January?" "What holiday do we celebrate in November?"
When you first begin this activity it's important to sit down and teach the procedure. You be the teacher for the first month. Explain what month it is and what a "date" is. Place the first date on the calendar and show that it doesn't automatically go in the first square--it corresponds with a day of the week. It's often hard to get going. Sometimes you feel like you're fighting an uphill battle. That's okay. Just keep at it. Count by ones each day and then stop before you get to the missing number,
"Okay boys and girls let's find today's date. Count with me as I point to each of the numbers, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...Raise your hand if you know what number today will be." After they identify the number ask them if anyone can tell you what color or shape the date will be on. Then let a child find that date and hang it on the calendar. Count together slowly again while pointing at the numbers and include the newly posted date.
After a few months (or years, depending on how old your children are when you start) you can send the kids to the calendar and ask them to do the activity on their own for the day if you are in a hurry. It's so fun to see them progress to this point.
If you choose to do this activity with a child who goes to school it's a good idea to go into his/her classroom and see how the teacher uses her calendar so that you are not teaching your child differently than how they are learning at school.
While you are gathered together on the floor by the calendar is a great time to sing some songs or do some finger plays. Have some fun!

First Day, Hooray!

2011-08-31T21:28:00.000-07:00

Today was Ezra's first day of kindergarten. We've already discussed my sad feelings on the matter, so let's leave that behind and focus on the through the roof feelings of excitement in this house today. He's been waiting for August 31 for a looooong time, folks!

We don't have bus service to our house since we live .7 miles from the school. Today we walked to school to drop him off. Walked back home. Then walked back to school to pick him up, and back home with him. That was enough walking to convince me that maybe we don't need to do that every day. That and the fact that I was dumb enough to start a new Jillian Michaels workout video this morning. Quite frankly, I was real worried that I might burn more calories than I consumed for once in my life. To fix that little problem, Caroline and I made cookies this afternoon. Special cookies with a lot of butter, a lot of cocoa, a lot of sugar and a lot of Reece's pieces. I'm pretty sure I didn't lose any weight today. On second thought, maybe we really should walk both times every day!The above photos were actually from yesterday just before we went to the Open House to meet his teacher and see his classroom.
This photo was today just before we left for class. The book he is holding--The First Day of School--was mine as a little girl. My mom has a picture of me holding it on my first day of kindergarten. She has the same picture of at least one of my brothers as well. And when I taught first grade, I would read that book to my students on the first day.
Lined up and ready to go. This is where my eyes were watering a bit. But there were other parents with the same problem. I wanted to let loose and sob my eyes out. But I didn't want to scare Ezra...or the girls.
And he's gone. Disappeared into 13 years of formal education in the public school system.
This is how we found him at the end of the day.
After we got home from school I did a little first day interview with Ezra. Here's what we got:
Mommy: Did you have fun today at your first day of kindergarten?
Ezra: Yeah.
M: What's your teacher's name?
E: Mrs. Thomson
M: Do you like her?
E: Yeah, I had a fun time.
M: What was your favorite thing today?
E: I had fun at recess.
Caroline: Did anybody hurt you?
E: No, I didn't get hurt today.
Caroline: Did anybody in your class get hurt?
E: No, not today?
E: But you want to know something sad? There was a boy in my class who was born without a leg. So he had a metal leg!
M: Awesome! And he can run around on it?
E: Yeah, it's pretty cool.
E: There was a pretty big rug. I had a fun time.
M: Did you make any new friends?
E: Yeah. I can't remember a lot of names though. There was Diesel. And Gavin.
M: What did you like about your new teacher?
E: She's pretty nice.
E: There was a boy in my class who just cried and cried and didn't want to be there.
E: I was so happy to be there and it was super fun. I thought I would be embarrassed and shy, but I wasn't.
M: You excited to go back tomorrow?
E: Yeah!
Seems like just yesterday that Ezra was the size Nora is now! Good thing he has afternoon kindergarten so that Nora can still snuggle with her brother in the mornings.

Camping For a Wedding

2011-08-30T21:56:00.000-07:00

What? Yep, you read that correctly. Mid-August we headed up to the San Juans for a dear friend of mine to get married. She had kindly asked me to stand up with her as one of her bridesmaids, meaning that we needed to be there for both the wedding and the rehearsal. As we looked into prices of hotels on San Juan during peak season we realized that camping might be the best option. We decided to head up a night early and make a little vacation out of it.

Now, I enjoy camping. And I enjoy weddings. And both activities are fantastic separate from one another. However, my advice to you is this: don't combine them if you can avoid it.

Things started out great with us catching just the right ferry and having a gorgeous sunny ride up to the islands. We took a bunch of fun pictures inside and out of the boat. We managed to offload and find our campground just fine. And then the fun begins.
Let me provide you with a mini-camping-dictionary:
tent: devise to make grown men want to swear.
tent directions: words written in an order specifically to confuse grown man who wants to swear.
hammer: tool most often forgotten by infrequent campers.
hatchet: tool second most often forgotten by said infrequent campers.
camp ground: place where people go when they want hundreds of other people to hear their children misbehave, throw tantrums and beat each other up.
blow up mattress: sound system for inside of tent.
fishing pole: something your son will use to try to hook one of your daughters every morning while you try to cook breakfast over a Coleman stove.
dirt: an item of clothing for 18 month old girls.
You get the picture.

Now, all of this can be shrugged off and laughed at and dealt with when you are just camping. But when you have to look civilized and even attempt to look cute for a rehearsal dinner. Oih! We managed an embarrassing family shower in the campground bathrooms where we tossed shampoo over the shower stalls, shouted at kids not to bump up against the nasty shower curtains, hopped up and down to keep dirt off our "clean" feet and struggled to put shower tokens into the machine before the hot water turned off. Phew! When that was all done we quickly donned dress clothes inside our tent and ran to the van to drive around the island until it was time for rehearsal.

Doing dishes outside is sort of relaxing.

Friday morning we rented a row boat and (Daddy) rowed us around the little lake we camped next to. Ezra brought his fishing pole along and drowned some worms. After we returned the boat he spent most of the rest of the day drowning more worms from shore while we tried to catch some of the sleep we had lost the night before.
The kids crashed hard in the car on the way to Roche Harbour for rehearsal.
Looking up into Canada.

This dragonfly flew right into Caroline's hot cocoa. We fished him out and tried to dry him off. Alas, his wing was injured beyond repair and he um, got squashed to save him some suffering. Anyone knows how much Tadd loves his coffee can really appreciate this photo.
The next day we upped the stress level a bit. Mommy had to do her hair and nails and don a bridesmaid dress. Daddy had to kill time with the kids and manage to shower them (and himself) and get everyone into wedding finery. Mommy ended up taking Baby to the house where the Bride was getting ready. Said Bride is very patient, very sweet, very beautiful and happens to love my kids. Well, we managed to get it all done with a few sweaty moments.
Tadd and the kids walked around the docks of Roche before the wedding. Lots of money represented in lots of ways on those docks.
I'm afraid that I don't have many pictures of the wedding because one parent was busy walking down the aisle and the other was busy keeping three kids quiet during the wedding. Bless his ever lovin' heart, he did manage to snap a few shots with one hand while he held a sleeping (praise the Lord!) Nora with the other.
The ceremony was held in the gorgeous gardens.

The lovely bride and her doctor husband
The cake made by the bride's little brother. Isn't it pretty? And her two Grandmothers made those table cloths for all the tables. I just loved them.
Ezra had the camera much of the night. He took a lot of close ups of the cake. He took pictures of the other folks seated at our table, but he only got from their chins down, so I'll spare you. They were the nicest folks. Two gals (and one of their husbands) who had been in the residency program at Children's Hospital with the groom. He seated them by us on purpose, obviously. Only children of the wedding party were invited, so other than the groom's 5 nieces and nephews, ours were the only kids. We were so thankful to have kid lovers at the table with us for the delicious meal!

And after our final night in our tent we loaded up the van and headed into Friday Harbor to kill three hours while we waited in line for the ferry.

And that is how you camp for a wedding. Next time we go to a wedding I'd like to stay in a house or hotel. And next time we go camping I'd like to stay in a hotel, er, I mean, I'd like to not be going to a wedding.

Partying it Up For Caroline

2011-08-24T22:19:00.000-07:00

Miss Caroline had a coupla birthday parties last month and if I don't post about them now...they'll forever be ancient history.

First off--this little girl stayed adamant all summer long that the one thing she really, really, really wanted for her birthday was a "deck chair". She had dreams of sitting out in the sun with mommy and lounging on the deck at night and watching the stars with daddy. Her Grandpa and Grandma Idaho granted her wish and got her this darling chair. Thank you, Grandpa and Grandma Idaho. Now you need to come visit so you can sit out on the deck with her : )
Caroline requested a pony cake for her birthday. I showed her several online and she picked the most elaborate one (of course). It involved rolled fondant and I was determined to try making my own instead of buying it. However, finding glycerin involves more stops at more specialty stores than I had time to make and in the end I went the butter cream route.
I simply used a pony that Caroline already had. I followed the general idea of the cake picture she had chosen. Since I wasn't using rolled fondant, I couldn't create the flowers and then stick them on the cake. I had to pipe them with frosting tips. And I am not very good at that. So, after piping away and not being happy with the results, I went out to the yard and picked a whole bunch of edible flowers to add to the cake. Real flowers fix anything, in my mind. Taste matters more than appearance to me so I made the cake chocolate with a lemon filling between the layers and then flavored the frosting with orange instead of vanilla. It was rather tasty.
Making the fence around the cake was actually kind of fun. Since I had only made orange flavored butter cream frosting and did not want to whip up another batch of chocolate just for the fence, I improvised. I have a Costco sized jar of Nutella in the cupboard and I used that. The consistency was perfect for piping. And it had kind of a shiny finish that made it stand out against the butter cream. Plus, who doesn't like the taste of Nutella???
We had a few little giggling Gerties over to enjoy lunch, cake and games together. They had such fun. And so did all of us mommies.
They did some coloring and painting and necklace making. And then they headed out for some pin the tail on the pony and gunny sack races.
Is there anything cuter???

Ezra didn't complain too much about being the only thorn at a table full of roses.
A couple days after Miss Kine's actual birthday, we met up with several family members at a park for a birthday bbq. Now that Grandma Idaho's baby sister and her family live in our area our family parties have grown--it's super fun.

Uncle Heffay and Uncle Brettskis went shopping for the birthday girl this year, so very sweet of them.

I did not have the energy to recreate yet another pony cake. We stuck with simple polka dots.

Back when Ezra turned three, he got a trip to "Build a Bear" with Grandpa and Grandma Tractor. Caroline decided she wanted a trip to "Build a Bear" as well...so off we all went to watch her build her bear with Grandpa and Grandma.
We tried mighty hard to talk her out of the pink fluffy bear. But it was her first choice and she clung to it. Never mind the cute soft brown bear. Or the nice neutral tan bear. She wanted pink!

Here everyone is rubbing the hearts that they put into Caroline's bear. It was fuuuullll of love (or something), let me tell you! We even got a couple of strays joining our group at this point.

Build a Bear Workshop goes all out. The new "mommy" gets to bathe her bear just like a real newborn. Don't worry, water doesn't actually come out and soak the poor stuffed animal.
I'll spare you all the painful clothing choices we went through. She passed up a lot of cute classy clothes and went straight for (more) pink and yellow. The blingy shoes are my favorite, though. And the sunglasses. At Build a Bear, the new owner creates a birth certificate for their stuffed animal, complete with a name. Caroline chose to name her bear Mella. Mella is getting along quite well with Petunia (Ezra's bear) here at home. Unfortunately for Mella, Nora decided the sunglasses look better on her and stole them.
Thanks for Mella, Grandpa and Grandma Tractor!

One and a Half and Full of Sass!

2011-08-22T22:15:00.001-07:00

Nora Liv officially turned 18 months a week or so ago. She went in for her check up last week and we found out that she's in the 25% for height, weight and head size. We knew she was a peanut--but that's uncharted territory for our family! My back is oh-so-thankful she did not follow in her brother and sister's growth patterns.

She calls all shoes "boots" and boots are, indeed, her favorite kind of footwear. She especially loves to wear her pink cowboy boots with shorts--she knows more about what's in style than her Mama does!
Taking dollies for a stroller ride is one of Nora's favorite early morning activities. The more babies she can fit in the stroller, the better.

We do love our little Tiny . What she lacks in size, she makes up for in attitude. With all that colic, I suppose we should have known what was coming. She started talking a couple months ago and now she says just about everything. No, don't, stop it, mine, hi, bye, Zezra, Daddy, Car-kine, Mommy and Grandma are her favorite words. I love listening to her little voice. I know that someday it will disappear and she'll sound like a grown up kid. For now we just drink it in.

Don't grow up too fast Nory Pory Puddin' Pie!

15 Days

2011-08-15T09:34:00.000-07:00

Fifteen more days until I send my baby off to kindergarten. Fifteen more days that I can keep him all to myself. Hold him whenever I want. Squeeze him whenever I want. And then we begin the slow release. Five and a half years have rushed past in the flutter of an eyelash, so I know these 15 days will be gone before I can take a breath. I'll walk him to school and wave good bye as he walks through the door. And then I have to turn and walk away. I've done school before. I've been a student. I've been a teacher. Now I enter the final frontier as--the parent. Eek!
When you are first expecting a baby they tell you it will be wonderful and scary and beautiful and ugly and amazing and terrifying and fun and awful. And you listen and nod. But they can't tell you just how much love is injected into your veins the second that slippery baby is flopped on your belly and you catch a fleeting glimpse of the Love of God towards His own. And you sit up at night nursing that tiny bit of silky soft sweetness watching him breathe and listening to him grunt and you stand at the edge of the ocean of comprehension. But you still don't get it. You hurt when he hurts. Your heart breaks at his failures and soars with his successes. You start to understand what your mother and father feel for you. You cry at weddings now--because someday--you finally realize--you will be the Mother or Father of the bride/groom and you'll have to let go.
Still you hold on to that tiny baby, that wobbly toddler, that confident pre-schooler. And then the day comes when you have to begin the apron string cutting process.
My Ezra could not be more excited for his first day of kindergarten. He's been counting down the days for the past year. I'm glad. But it won't make it any easier to watch him walk away. When you are expecting your first child they can tell you how much you'll love your baby. But they can't make you understand.

It's Probably Summer Time If

2011-08-03T16:00:00.001-07:00

...You are doing leg lifts to look nice in your swim suit.

...You are being eaten by a dinosaur?
Oh wait...If you are making frequent trips to the zoo (where they have a temporary dinosaur exhibit that costs $3 a person...which I didn't know about when I promised the kids we'd go in).

...There are pretty flowers on the front porch to be picked and sniffed.

...You are wearing a cute sundress.
...You are eating a hot dog and watching Major League Baseball.

...Your Mom sets up the slip 'n slide with some dish soap on it in the back yard.

...You are eating a red, white and blue firecracker Popsicle while standing by an American flag.
If you are doing any one of those things (even if it is cloudy)...it's probably Summer Time!

A Little Vacation

2011-08-01T17:11:00.000-07:00

If you like pictures--this is the post for you. I could not figure out a slide show. Thank you for your help, Heidi : ) I have been putting off this post for a week thinking maybe I could figure it out. Rather than break this up into four posts like I should--I'm just going for it! Here's the south-eastern Idaho vacation comin' at ya.
The kids and I left Coeur D'Alene the 5th of July and headed south and east. Tadd, on the other hand, stayed in the CDA/Spokane area for a day of work and then headed home to make the money to support his family while we vacationed. What a man. I thought I would be making the 8 hour drive through the beautiful, yet middle-of-no-where-Montana alone with the kids. However, I ended up having some help in the form of Mrs. Brown--praise the Lord. She climbed all over the van giving kids snacks, cleaning up spilled yogurt and reading. She also did some driving for me. We were able to make the trip with only one stop.
We spent our first week at Uncle Alan and Aunt Heather's country estate. What fun we had.
The kids slept late, got up, ran to the sand box and played the day away in the yard on bikes and stayed up late then repeated the whole process.

Boy did we enjoy having another taste of country life. We sure do miss it.
I don't know if I've ever seen such a striking mix of coloring as that there boy has. Those eyes--oh those eyes. And then you add the white blonde curls. Guard your daughters, Mamas--this boys gonna be a heart breaker!
The Night Gown Ladies had a girls only slumber party. It involved nail polish. A lot of it. And remover. Even more of that. Fun was had by all. How could they not have fun? They were high on fumes for twenty four hours!

They even set up shop. When a customer commented that $20 seemed a little steep, they changed it to .20 and added a free back massage and back scratch to the end of the pedicure process. I can honestly say it was the most unique mani-pedi I've ever had.

My fabulous and fun hair dresser lives in Idaho. I drive all the way there for a hair cut. Because no one knows my hair like she does. Okay, so I don't care that much about my hair. But she is a friend. A good friend. The kind of friend who goes way back. And our girls are friends. And I can sit on a chair in her kitchen and have a great gabfest while she cuts. And she doesn't care if I have to feed the baby while she cuts. And she doesn't care if I have a newborn on my lap who screamed for an hour and a half straight while she cut my hair, not that that ever happened. And she does happen to be very good at cutting hair. Styling too--she did my most favorite hair style ever on my hair when I was in my brother's wedding. One night my sister-in-law invited The Hair Dresser's family over for dinner. The kids lined up all the adults after dinner and made us have a race around all the farm equipment. What does it say about us if our kids are worried enough to force exercise????

Doesn't The Hair Dresser have beautiful girls?
Friday night of our first week, the Daddy Man arrived. Saturday morning we headed up to the hills for a fishing trip. It only took half the day to load up kids and gear.

We brought bait. The kids thought it was lunch.

Cool clouds, eh? I would love to tell you what lens I used and how long I exposed it and what filter was used. But I can't. I can tell you that my sunglasses were involved. And the camera was set on automatic : ) Aren't I talented?

That's a whole lot of grandkids. Nine to be exact. Nine grandkids all within 6.25 years to be exacter.
We were even on the boy to girl ratio until Nora was born and tilted the scales in favor of the females. The boys are pretty good at making their presence known, though. I'm sure you didn't notice.

We caught enough fish to make a supper out of them. Well, after we added in a few pieces of chicken. And a couple hamburgers. Okay, there were enough fish for each of us to have a taste.

What's up? We're just going for a drive. No need to worry.
This picture was taken half a millisecond before that fish wriggled and writhed in his death dance and Ella and Lucas squealed like little girls.
That there picture makes my heart squeeze in my chest.

Uncle Alan kindly snapped a family photo for us. That might be the only photo I'm in out of all 250. I'll have to go back and check on that.
The second week of our little vacay we moved over to stay at the Grandparents Idaho's house. Aunt Megan and her small fry were there as well. We were quite the merry crew. I'm not sure if Grandpa and Grandma have yet recovered. I'm hopeful.
One blistering hot day Aunt Megan and I loaded up the kiddos and went swimming at Indian Springs. What fun it was. We swam and swam and sat in the hot sun and delighted in the wind. That's the beauty of not living in Idaho anymore. I can actually delight in the wind again.
Don't worry, Lucas did not enter the ladies room. I just thought it was a funny picture. Ezra did enter the ladies room. But he didn't know it wasn't the men's room until after he went about his business and exited. No one was harmed. Can someone tell me why it's spelled "ladies" and not "lady's"? Now is not the time to remind me what I majored in, by the way.

Mia is quite the little swimmer. She's quite the little everything. I'm just in love with that little thing quite frankly. If her mom ever gets sick of her she has a home here! Just kidding, Megan. I know you'd never give up one of your kids.
We chose not to pack a lunch that morning--mostly because when I say "morning" I mean around noon. And if we had taken the time to pack a lunch it would have been about two before we got out of the house. We were on vacation time for sure. Anyhow...we ordered lunch from the swim-up window and it was pretty fun. Hot dogs and soda on the side of a pool in the hot sun makes for--well, crampy tummies and sun-burned shoulders. But it's fun.

Back at Grandma's we raided her landscaping to make some floral arrangements.

And rode Grandpa's motorcycles.
And the above picture was a little picnic for two. The ladies and I were the only ones left home that day and we simply relaxed and enjoyed a quiet afternoon together. It was delightful, I tell you. And as soon as I snapped that shot my camera died. And since I was on vacation, I never got around to digging out my charger (would have involved work, and I was not working). Therefore--no more pictures were taken. And aren't you glad! I cut out a lot of photos from this post--lucky for you. But I left a lot in too, as you can tell.
And now--big breath of relief--I finished blogging the south eastern Idaho vacation pictures!

The Face of Four

2011-07-28T08:42:00.001-07:00

Four is funny.
Four is ferocious.
Four is fantastic.
Four is fabulous.
FOUR is what our Caroline Avy is today. Four very short years ago she was a tiny dark bundle with coal black hair sleeping in my arms in a hospital bed.

Now she's a bike riding, nail painting, artistic, friendly, loving little person.
Fear is not something she shows often when on wheels. She does appear to have hit a shy stage--but I'm certain it won't last long.
She'll talk both ears off ya if you'll let her. And she can wrestle with the best of 'em. And if you're sick or sad, she's sure to paint you a picture, write a note to go with it and deliver it to you. She's our girl--and we love her! Happy Birthday Caroline.

Coeur D'Alene

2011-07-22T15:39:00.000-07:00

I really wanted to just throw up a few of those rotating photo boxes and call it good. But guess what? I don't know how. If you ever wonder why I don't have a banner and my format stays the same forever and ever--now you know : ) When it comes to blogger, I can type and I can upload photos--and that IS IT. I don't have the patience to sit and fiddle. So, if you're one of those smart bloggers who knows how to make a little rotating photo box--let me know how to do it and I'll have a way out for the rest of my vacation photos.

For now, here's a little glimpse of the first leg of our trip in the pan handle of Idaho where Uncle Jake and Aunt Emily reside. Grandparents Tractor met us there and the whole fam had a glorious 4th of July 3-day weekend. We enjoyed both Lake Coeur D'Alene and Hayden Lake to take the edge off the heat.
The kind fire fighters let the kids hop up and explore the fire boat. They told my dad that two years ago during the Hayden Lake fireworks display, something went wrong and the firework barge started on fire. Yikes! Workers were bailing off the sides all over the place. That's a little more of a show than folks had bargained for. Everyone was fine and the fire fighters put the fire out to keep the barge from sinking.

After baking at Hayden Lake we treated ourselves to frozen yogurt for lunch. And, oh, the food. We got meat hangovers at the Brazilian grill in down town Coeur D'Alene and then stuffed ourselves with Aunt Emmy's bbq ribs the next night. Uncle Brett dazzled us with his very own fire works display--complete with smooth moves by he and Uncle Jake, hehe. Both Ezra and Caroline learned that Mom and Dad aren't kidding when they say "be careful with sparklers".

The Tractors had to go home late afternoon on the 4th--but our family was able to stay and enjoy the amazing firework display over Lake Coeur D'Alene. Nora does not enjoy fireworks. She covered her ears and willed herself to sleep. I could almost here her saying "Go to sleep. This isn't happening. GO to sleep" over and over with her eyes tightly screwed shut. Poor baby.

On the morning of the 5th we woke up, said good bye to Daddy for the rest of the week and settled in for the long drive to southeastern Idaho. And in case you're wondering...nope, I haven't finished that long list of things to do from that last post!

We're Ba-ack

2011-07-20T14:38:00.000-07:00

We arrived home from our 2 1/2 weeks in Idaho safely last evening. Now if I can ever unpack the suitcases, finish the laundry, get some groceries in the house, bathe the kids (don't worry I did give them a bath at least twice, I'm almost positive, while we were gone), mow the lawn, pick the raspberries, pay the neighbor boy for watering our plants, do the ironing, charge the camera, find the camera cord, upload the 250 pictures to the computer ( I know, I know, any self respecting blogger would have at least 1000 photos in that amount of time. But I feel lucky to have any photos) and otherwise unbury myself--perhaps I will post some pictures of our trip : ) We really had a lot of fun! Until then....

Still back in May--but almost done now!

2011-06-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

Uncle Brett came to stay with us for the YP weekend at the end of May. He was treated to early morning wake up calls including a bucket of cars being dumped on him. Rise and shine Uncle Brett! Nora adores her Uncle "Bet" and was always very sad when he left the house. She'd stand by the door calling "Bet" and crying.
Landon has taught Nora the joy of looking quietly at books. Thanks, Landon! I have a feeling you will be the calming influence in her childhood.
And guess who came to visit for Memorial Day weekend plus a few extra days? Yep--Uncle Alan, Aunt Heather and the kids. Whoo hoo! We headed downtown and basically did all the same things we did with the last cousins who visited.

These three climbing on the ropes and peeking down into the water had Ella quite nervous.
Last time we were at the flying fish stand Ezra was with his other cousins and they were scared by a fish head that wasn't "quite dead". This time they were freaked out by a monk fish--those things are a little creepy dead OR alive. And they weren't sure which was the case here.

The sign says "Wassup? I'm a monkfish, yo."

The fish are flying!

We watched some cheese being made.
You know you are from the country when you have to carry your car top carrier down through the parking garage because its too tall for the low ceilings : )

The only 2 of Grandpa and Grandma Idaho's 9 grandkids to have Idaho birth certificates.

This is what cousins do best--wrasslin'!

Can't wait to see all of our cousins again. Next stop...Idaho. I suppose what will happen is that we'll live life at a fast pace all through July and it will take me until the end of August to catch up again. And folks, I'm trying my hardest to think up a good give away. But I don't really make anything fun to give as a prize. Hmmmm...maybe that should be my give away. You can comment about what you want for a prize and I'll pick the best (er, most affordable). Haha. I'll keep thinking and try to come up with something soon. Because quite frankly I'm feeling like a non-giving blogger.

A Thank You Request

2011-06-22T14:29:00.001-07:00

The following is a message from Rebecca over at "MyWhitsEnd.

"A LASSEN PINES PASS ALONG--copy this to your post to spread the news of a card shower. Read more in the note.

by Rebecca on Friday, June 10, 2011 at 7:47pm

IN THANKS FOR ALL THE WEAVERS DID. A CARD SHOWER IS PLANNED. DROP THEM A LINE TO SAY "THANKS."

There are two people that ensured I had many happy summers. They also helped me to survive college, and ultimately allowed me to meet my future Hunni. Their names are Mr. and Mrs. Weaver, and I for one just want to say thanks.

After running Lassen Pines camp for many, many years, the Weavers have finally decided to actually have a summer vacation without 100-300 energy-filled, not always the best behaved, kids. Now I know that I am not the only person who feels this way, so I thought it would be nice if we all thanked Mr. and Mrs. Weaver for so many years of giving. I think in some cases maybe up to three generations attended Lassen Pines Christian Camp. So if you attended camp 40 years ago, 14 years ago, or attended last year for the first time, why not send a thank you note to them.

Maybe you met your best friend at Lassen Pines, maybe there was something said in a meeting that you still enjoy, maybe you need to apologize for lighting off some fireworks :) , or maybe you just want to thank Mrs. Weaver for her healthy AND DELICIOUS meals. So why not join me in sending them a note. If you could include a current picture of yourself, I'm sure that they would get a kick out of the fact that you finally grew-up. You might want to add your maiden name, just as they probably remember you by the name you used at Camp.

I have permission from their daughter to include their mailing address:

Wally and Delores

215 Highlawn Place

Altadena, CA 91001

If you prefer email, you can reach them at wallyanddolores@att.net

And if you would rather just leave them a message right now, I have set a page aside for comments on my blog www.mywhitsend.org Just click on the page entitled LASSEN PINES, and leave your note. I will print up all the comments at the end of July and send them to Mr. and Mrs. Weaver.

To help pass this on, you can copy and save this on your profile. Or you can just call up your friend, reminisce about Lassen Pines and tell him/her about the planned card shower.

Thanks,

a Lassen Pines camper"

I happen to have been a Lassen Pines Camp frequenter as well and promised Rebecca I would pass along the message to please send a Thank You to Uncle Wally and Aunt Delores this year. Going to Camp Lassen was the highlight of my year from the time I was twelve until I was sixteen. After that it was simply one of the highlights of my year : ) The first time I went to Lassen I caught a ride with my best friend and her family. We rode the ten hours in the back of her mini-van in antsy anticipation. Finally--Lassen--the signal we had reached the best days of our lives. Our chance to meet and fall in love with the man of our dreams. Time to meet other girls who would become pillars in our lives. Ohhhhh, were we excited. After that first camp experience was over and we were back in our respective homes (3 hours apart) we wrote letters back and forth (before email, of course) and always ended with "only 357 more days until Lassen!" or "only 289 days until Lassen" or "only 32 days until Lassen...three more outfits to buy!!!"...you get the idea. We may even have co-authored a song (a very spiritual song) titled "I Need a Guy, the Perfect Guy" to the tune of "Amazing Grace".
Of course, as we grew older we did meet young women who became pillars in our lives. We met a little-older-than-us-women who became role models for us (Rebecca being one of them) and we met counselors who taught us a lot along the way. We listened to Bible meetings that helped to shape and change us and bring us closer to the Lord. And we also pulled many a prank and learned to deal with the consequences. Dressing up as a boy is all fun and games until the adults are actually fooled and send you to the boys' cabins instead of your own. And if you're going to put a rotten egg in the bottom of a young man's sleeping bag, try to do it in a cabin where your dad is not the counselor. Words of wisdom.
My own parents have been working with the Weavers for the past 16 years to help put on the camp. I have seen through their hard work just how much is put into such a camp. Without Uncle Wally and Aunt Delores and their years of emotional and physical sacrifice these times and lessons could not have happened. Please do take time to send a thank you, a memory, a verse or a kind word to Uncle Wally and Aunt Delores. Knowing them, each and every word will be savored.
~Brooke
*Interesting update: My best friend and Lassen partner, who we'll just call Amanda for sake of not having to make up a name, and myself both married men who attended Lassen as well. However, neither of us met or dated our mate at Lassen.

I May...

2011-06-20T13:21:00.000-07:00

...finish posting about May before June is over. Or, I may not at the rate I'm going.
I thought about skipping over these pictures, but they were on my list of "things to blog" and if you know anything about me you know that I tend to be a slave to my lists. It's a side effect of being a teacher. You learn to live your life in tiny 2 inch squares and lists.
The first weekend in May we spent in Gig Harbor so that I could go see my girls at a gab-fest session of Mommy Group at a playground. (Yes, I did just refer to my past life as a teacher and then write a run-on sentence). It was rainy and I didn't want to take my camera. Let me tell you why the ladies of Mommy Group like to meet at the playground on a rainy Friday: it's empty. As in, we're the only ones there. And with no one watching us we can let our kids run wild. And we ignore them. Yep, almost completely. You'll hear any one of us say things like "well, is there blood? No? Okay then, he'll be fine" or "work it out yourselves" or "shoot, I guess I need to put down this food I'm stuffing my face with and go take my child off the monkey bars in case she actually does a triple-Gainer like she's threatening" and "go use the woods so that I don't have to walk you to that nasty outhouse". No joke.
And then we mommies eat as much food as we can and cover as much gabbing ground as we possibly can in a short few hours. And then we all groan when the rain lets up and other moms pull into the parking lot. And I have not a single incriminating photo.
Isn't my little Nory Pory puddin' pie sweet with that little flower behind her ear?

The kids spent Saturday roaming around Grandpa and Grandma's huge backyard. They sure miss having this yard at their daily disposal. I don't think Ranger misses sharing it with them.

Mother's Day happened to be the Sunday of that weekend and my poor Mama had to work at the hospital. But the rest of us went to Grandma's for pizza and cupcakes after meeting and she joined us there later in the afternoon.
Aunt Cindi and Cousin Ally knelt down to be closer to Caroline and she thought she should kneel too which got us all giggling.
Take Two.
I wanted a picture of my children with me for Mother's Day. But the sun was in our eyes in a violent way. And when you see the sun once every two months and then suddenly it's in your eyes--it's bad!

We hope to see more of the sun soon.

Uncle Brettski's Graduation

2011-06-13T09:10:00.000-07:00

This one has a lot of pictures--beware! The second weekend in May saw us driving over the mountains to go watch Brett graduate from the University of Idaho as a chemical engineer/chemistry major. We left on a Friday and drove to Hayden to Uncle Jake and Aunt Emily's place. We had a relaxed evening with an amazing meal cooked by the Auntie and then frozen yogurt eaten by Lake Coeur d'Alene just after sunset. Later Ezra reported that was his favorite part of the whole weekend.
Saturday morning we got up too early for a Saturday morning, threw on some dress clothes and hopped in the van to drive the winding road to Moscow for the 9:30 AM graduation ceremony.
Don't they look like a cute little family? The Kibbie Dome where the graduation is usually held is currently under construction. So they took the ceremony outside. The forecast was for high wind, thundershowers and possible funnel clouds. Yikes!
Instead of the rain we had beautiful blue skies. We didn't need any of the umbrellas we hauled out there--but we did need sunscreen! Thankfully I had some in my purse for the kids' faces. But our arms didn't fare so well. And the poor graduates baking up front in their hot caps and gowns got burned to a red glowing crisp.
Being outside all on one level means that you can't see a blessed thing. Thankfully they set up screens--Brett is walking across the platform to receive his diploma there on the left side of that screen.
Nora finally sacked out as the ceremony ended.
Here he comes!
No family pictorials because half the family was hiding around the corner in the shade. But there's the graduate with his supporting dad and mom.
Then it was back to the condo where Brett lived with Jeff and another roommate.

Time to pack up alllllll five years' worth of stuff.
Heffay kissing his mini-giraffe good bye while lifting de weights.
Mama cleaned out the fridge (and that's quite the job with a condo full of college boys)
The girls had fun playing out on the front steps while the boys and Grandpa loaded up all their worldly goods to take back to Gig Harbor.

A little Guitar Hero for father and son...
After we were packed up it was back to Coeur d'Alene's famous Wolf Lodge for a celebration steak dinner.

Now that was a steak.
One dinner. We did a lot of sharing. Between the plate full of red meat and the fully loaded baked potatoes we were all groaning and holding our tummies.

Food is one thing Brett has always been serious about.

After dinner we went back to Jake and Em's to party some more. Ezra and Caroline cried "shy" and hid behind the blow up mattress in our bedroom when the other guests showed up.

Aunt Emmy made chocolate pudding cake at Brett's request and I can tell you that it was a good choice.

Nora thought so too.
Ezra wrapped up a paper plate to give to Brett as a gift. It IS the thought that counts, right?
A Kindle--that's more like it : )
Dad with his two UI graduates--one more to go.
The boys' friend Matt spent a lot of time playing with the kids and letting them play with his electronics.
Sunday after meeting we all had a nice 5 Guys lunch together and then headed back west for home.
An update to this story is that Brett has been hired to be a chemical engineer at a glass factory south of Olympia. He's currently living in a motel while he looks for apartments. We are excited that he lives close enough to come home on weekends and it will be an easy drive down to visit him!

Father's Day Idea

2011-06-09T14:40:00.000-07:00

Please don't read this if you are a Father--even if your kiddos are all grown up.

Sunday, June 19th is Father's Day. A day to say "thank you" and "I love you" to the Dads in our lives. Our own dads, our dads by marriage, the fathers of our children and any other father-figures who may be in our lives. Making dad a special meal, giving a great gift or going on a fun outing together are all lovely Father's Day treats. This idea might not seem like the most generous gift--but it should be the kind that makes the giver stop and think. It might be mom who truly believes that it's the thought that counts...but just in case dad feels that way too, here ya go.
A week before Father's Day start leaving Dad secret notes around the house, in his car, at the office, in his clothing--anywhere you can think of. You can do one note a day or more if you'd like. Each note should be a "thank you" or an "I appreciate it when" note. Make the thank you specific. Let him know just exactly what he does that impacts your life. For instance "Thank you for coming to all of my basketball games. It shows me that you care about what is important in my life." Kids can each do this activity on their own if they are old enough to write. Or this can be an activity that mom does with the kids or that she does alone.
An alternate to leaving a note each day is to leave the notes scavenger hunt style all on the actual date of Father's Day. Each thank you note could have a clue in word, photo or sketch form leading him to the next clue and eventually to a prize/gift/breakfast.

This activity may seem simple--and it is. But I feel that it is an important way to build up our fathers/husbands. For myself I realize how seldom I thank my husband for the million and one important things he does for the kids and I. The Proverbs 31 woman builds her husband up rather than tears him down. Her praise helps him to be the man God has called him to be. And if he gets that praise from the right source he'll never need to go looking for it from the world.
Thank you Lord for blessing me with such a wonderful Daddy, a supportive Father-in-law and a loving husband who amazes me each day as a Father.

May Review Part II: Ballerina Diaries--the Recital

2011-06-08T10:35:00.000-07:00

The long months of ballet class culminated in a May 21 Dance Recital for our little ballerina. The Recital was a big deal with all the different classes performing making it about an hour long gig. The day before we had to take her out for dress rehearsal and formal pictures. Her class danced to a song called "Butterfly Fly Away" (specifically designed to make the parents bawl their eyes out) meaning that they were dressed as fancy, colorful butterflies.
I had an easier time than some getting my butterfly's hair into a bun--all those curls and all that length made it easy to goop and glop and bobby pin to her head.

The teacher had recommended that we put make up on the girls because of the stage lights. I couldn't bear the thought of putting make up on my little three year old--so for dress rehearsal I just didn't. Then I felt bad because she was the only pale child there.

The day of the Recital, I caved to the pressure and painted up her face.

The above picture is some of the older ballerinas. The very front right young lady was once a precious little first grader in my classroom--the year Ezra was born. She is now a tall, graceful dancer. Frightening to think how fast that happened!
Flash photography was prohibited the day of the Recital and my skills are greatly lacking--so excuse all the blurriness, please.
The whole group of 150 dancers involved in the program. Some of these girls are in more than one class and were running around between programs changing costumes and getting ready to do their next dance. My ex-student was in four different performances!!!
After the show there was a cookie and juice reception in the lobby. Caroline was able to greet all her adoring fans. Both sets of Grandparents along with Uncle Brett and Uncle Jeff were kind enough to come watch.
In case you are wondering, I didn't bawl like a baby during the performance. I think this was due to the fact that I had cried most weeks as I watched her practice. I kept thinking that some day when she's walking down some aisle (as a graduate, as a bride) THIS is how I'll be picturing her.

May Review Part I

2011-06-06T16:25:00.001-07:00

Hang on, it's going to be a long and bumpy ride as we review the month of May. It's been Busy! Too busy to take pictures of many of the happenings--but I did snap a few here and there.
Ezra kept us running from games to home and back again. Well, he should have anyhow--if the rain hadn't canceled so many practices and games.
Nora is quite a patient little audience member. She eats her daily quota of sand, dirt, rocks and anything else she finds. Her specific role is to make all the other Little League parents question my parenting abilities : )
Grandpa and Grandma Idaho came for a visit.
They were during a string of three--count them--three sunny days in a row! That was a big record around these here rainy parts.
We broke out the hose and let the kids spray each other. We're really into fancy water toys around here.

Grandma brought Caroline a nice pair of dress up heels. They match her "zebra in high heels" pj's quite nicely.
Nora's cute little buddy brought his parents and grandparents over for dinner one night so they could visit with Grandpa and Grandma Idaho. Nora really does love to play with Landon. And he is a very patient little man. He didn't even complain when she mashed herself into the car built for one and shut the door :)

The big Number Four getting suited up for the role all the boys wait all season for: Catcher!

Get to touch the ball on every play--whoo hoo!

It was fun to have Grandpa and Grandma Idaho in town for a couple of Ezra's games.
Nora the fancy riding buckaroo!

Get that thing outta yer mouth, pardner!

Two Things

2011-05-13T10:03:00.000-07:00

Okay I admit that it's two headings with a few other little things embedded.1.) Last night I went to Target...wait for it...alone! I don't do much alone. But in the past week I've been alone two times. Once on my way to and from a bridal shower I helped to throw last Saturday night. That was a ton of fun. I even got to dress up and make yummy food and gab with other gals for a good five hours (thanks Tadd, Dad and Mom!). And then again last night while I ran to Target. That's not "the thing" though. The "thing" is that while I was getting into the super long line two women shopping together were walking towards me. A young child darted in front of one of them and she exclaimed "I swear the next kid that runs out in front of me...." Her friend kindly supplied "stick your foot out and send them flying". I must say that if someone sent my kid flying, I'd more than likely be a little upset. But I did find that funny. I was very glad I was alone--because I'm pretty certain that one of my little helpers would have been the next kid to dart out in front of her. The said woman ended up in line right in front of me. Her shopping list included a sports bra and kitty litter. It's Target--ya never know what will end up in a cart together. But the funny part is that the cashier chatted away while ringing up the kitty litter and sports bra and as she handed her the receipt she said "Enjoy!" I almost laughed out loud. BTW, she told me to "enjoy" as well : ) I had no kitty litter and no sports bra in my cart.

2.) When Caroline comes into our room in the middle of the night after having a bad dream (which is about 5 nights out of 7) she always walks right up to my ear and whispers "Excuse me, Mommy?" And even though I am usually very annoyed because I generally have Nora in my arms, or else I just put Nora down after having had her in my arms and I really, really, really don't want to get up with another child....I have to laugh. Because such politeness in the dark of the night is just too funny.
The above bowls and bracelets were gifts picked out for me by my kiddos. I will always love wearing that bracelet and thinking about them choosing it : )
I know Easter is over...but I wanted to show the cake plate that my lovely husband chose for me...cute, eh?
I do love tea....
And now we are off for Moscow, ID for yet another family member to graduate from the University of Idaho. I-D-A-H-O, Idaho, Idaho, go, Go, GO! And go Uncle Brettskis! Congratulations on completing your education!

Easter Weekend

2011-04-28T17:37:00.000-07:00

The day before Easter I was able to help put on a shower for a special Mama-to-be who is residing in our area for a few months. Now she's just waiting for her little Miss to make an appearance. We had a good old time enjoying a brunch, playing lots of creative games and chatting. Aren't those little favors darling (I was not the creative genius who spent her time and energy making them).

The little girls had a blast playing dollies, eating yummies and soaking up the sunshine.

After remembering the Lord in His death and celebrating His Risen state Sunday morning, we drove south to Great-Grandma Kilcup's house for Easter dinner with my Dad's extended family. The kids had a blast (as usual) sitting at the "kids' table". Most of the kids are in their late teens and 20's...and then there's Ezra and Caroline keeping 'em young.

Aunt Cindi sweetly brought some plastic eggs with yummy chocolate and jingling change to hide out in Grandma's front yard for the kiddos. They had a blast finding all the eggs.

Nora opened her first egg, found chocolate and started stuffing. Following you'll see a lot of pictures...I just couldn't pick a couple, they tell the story so well all together : )

Couldn't miss an opportunity with all three kids in dress clothes! Unfortunately, just as I went to snap the first photo--Nora opened her mouth and a river of chocolate poured out.

The kids' favorite toy at my Grandma's house is her treadmill. They make it run by their own leg power. Nora kept trying to do a headstand on it for some reason. Then she climbed under to get Grandma's hot pink hand weights.
And promptly crashed. Sugar's a great thing--makes 'em all hyper for a while, then crashes 'em down into a hard sleep : )

No Girls Allowed

2011-04-25T11:05:00.001-07:00

The girls were not actually told that we weren't "allowed" : ) These are just some activities that only the boys participated in. All of the following photos were taken with Tadd's blackberry.

Last weekend the Supercross tour made its stop in Seattle at Qwest Field. Tadd and Ezra got their tickets and spent half the day watching. They got pit passes and wandered around checking out the bikes. They caught a few qualifying and practice rounds. Then they stayed to watch the "Main Event" (the final races).

The girls and I had a nice quiet time without our men. The girls napped while I read. Then we went and looked at some ducks on a pond...doesn't that sound peaceful? We went on a little dinner date. And boy were my little ladies well behaved! I didn't even feel frazzled while eating out alone with them. It really was fun. After we got home we had a little toe nail painting fest and went to bed. Hey boys, thanks for going out and leaving us to our own devices!
When The Millers were here visiting the Dads took the two boys out to North Bend to hike up Rattlesnake Ridge. It was rainy and cold on the way up.

And it was snowy and cold at the top! And Lucas was only in his "everyday coat and shoes" as he explained it to me.
But I hear that these two little guys were real troopers and stayed upbeat and energetic the whole time. What fun they must have had! It would have been fun to be out getting some exercise, but I must say that when I think of carrying Nora in a back pack and dragging Caroline along by the hand...I'm not too sad that I missed out this time.

What fun to be a boy!

Fun Outings

2011-04-18T09:38:00.000-07:00

Thursday afternoon we drove into downtown Seattle with plans of a waterfront supper. As I drove past Pike Street I realized what a dork I was for not planning to take them to the Market. Sometimes Locals can't see past the end of our nose. So, we parked as quickly as we could and headed down to look around at Pike Place.
All of our kids sitting on the famous Pike's Pig.

This fish was "not all the way dead" as Ezra described him. Of course, he really was dead...just attached to a string that various workers would pull whenever a child got close to him. It is kind of scary, even when you know what is happening.
Nora watched from a safe distance.
After the market we hiked down the stairs and off to the waterfront.

Standing in age order...if not orderly.
I wanted to keep Mia at my house for always. She is just too cute for her own good--and she does a great job of trying to keep Nora in order. I was impressed that she could pick her up all the way!
Yum! Fish and chips at Steamers. At this point in the evening Tadd got off work and walked down the hill to join us.
After we finished up with supper we drove south to the Boeing Museum of Flight. The first Thursday of the month in Seattle is "Museum Walk" with different museums participating in different ways. The Museum of Flight stays open an extra hour and is free from 5-9 PM. It was jam packed, of course, and I was worried of a repeat of the Science Center. But it was not to be. For one thing, we had the Dads with us this time, making the adult to child ratio much more manageable. And since entrance was free there was no standing in line to get into the museum. The rooms are so huge that it's not nearly as noisy or crowded feeling as it could have been. We looked at what we could fit into a couple of hours and then went home. It's so nice when you don't pay to go somewhere--then you can walk away from all the unseen exhibits without that sense of panic over not getting your money's worth : )

Our little astronauts.

Friday morning dawned sunny and beautiful. There is no where prettier that out on the water on a sunny day in Seattle. We drove down the the ferry docks and hopped on boat to Bremerton.

Mr. Landon brought his Mommy and Daddy along with us for the day's adventure.
Thankfully ferries have huge decks for energetic boys to run around on.

Aren't they just the picture of a loving sweet couple? Can you believe that this coming summer will mark 15 years of marriage for them???
They look sweet and innocent. But shortly after I snapped this shot, they ran away from me and I circled the boat a couple of times before managing to catch up with them.
Once in Bremerton Uncle Nathan treated us to a yummy lunch at a BBQ stand. And the weather was nice enough to take off our coats and eat out in the sunshine while watching the boats on the water. Can't think of a nicer way to spend the afternoon, quite frankly. There were lots of stairs and fountains to keep the kids busy too.
And with the day over our time was coming to an end. Half a day left and then the Miller5 had to fly back to their natural habitat. Hopefully by now the California sunshine has dried them out!

Scenes From Six

2011-04-13T15:49:00.000-07:00

We were faced with a week of mostly gray skies and rain...and six little bodies filled with the energy of the ages.
Our first week-day Megan and I decided to brave the rain and the crowds and head to the Pacific Science Center. We didn't realize just how crowded and rainy it would be. We had quite the adventure just in finding parking. When we finally unstrapped six kids from car seats and re-strapped a couple into various back packs and strollers, oh yeah, and loaded up the lunch and snacks and diapers and wipes and wallets and cameras (am I forgetting anything?) we strode confidently off to pay for our parking spot. And found, to our great dismay, that the lot was reserved for the week and only used for public parking on weekends. Crud. Aunt Megan kept her cool (and all six kids) while I dashed off to find a legal parking lot.
Then we waited in line for a good half hour or so. It was the perfect time to feed all the kids their lunch under the cover of a huge golf-umbrella my folks just loaned us.
Once in the crowded buildings we managed to stay dry--and quite warm.The "tot play ground" was heart attack central for any mother trying to keep track of more than one child.

About the time we exited the IMAX theater and started climbing in the giant instruments our parking was getting ready to expire. And so were Megan and I. So, we huffed and puffed and pushed and hauled all six down the many streets and back to the van where we pushed and heaved and got all six damp little boogers stuffed back into the van for the drive home.
She might be a Cali-gal, but she sure can rock the huge umbrella!
Tuesday we stayed much closer to home and took the kids to a local bounce house. Even there we encountered a lengthy wait to pay and get in. A rainy spring break left everyone scrambling for indoor activities and energy-outlets.

You should have heard this little one chortle and squeal each time she went down one of the giant inflatable slides (and it was many times, believe you me!)

Hey there, cheesy ladies...
Whatcha mixin' up?
Ahhh, Dino-cupcakes just in time for a tea party!

Hostess Jilly was kept busy refilling tea cups. And these pictures are deceiving--there were little boys at this particular tea party--they just weren't photographed.

Mia was a good little mama to Nora. They had fun jumping in the crib together.
And that is probably more than you wanted to know about what we did for indoor activities last week! Ezra and Lucas used any and every break in the rain to go out in the back yard and shoot hoops or go out front and ride bikes. Boy was it fun to watch those two-peas-in-a-pod play together!

What???? A New Post????

2011-04-11T15:53:00.000-07:00

I didn't dive off the edge of the earth, I just sort of imploded into the sea of activities we are currently swimming in.
I decided to take the very few photos off my camera (few in ratio to the fun things that have happened, that is) and put them on the computer today. Now I will try my best to post once or twice.
I might start and then forget to finish though. You see, since I last posted, I've tiptoed into a new decade. Yep, I entered my 30's. I don't really feel old. Having a husband 6.5 years older than me will always prevent that. I feel more like turning 3o is a "been there done that" experience for most people in my life. The comment I heard most was "You are ONLY turning 30???" Good thing I'm not feeling sensitive : ) My greatest goal of my birthday was to get a picture of me with my three kiddos...didn't happen. Not one single picture was taken. On the actual day I drove Caroline out to ballet and then we had a mid-morning donut treat at Krispy Kreme. Yum.
And the day after my birthday Uncle Nathan, Aunt Megan and their herd of three arrived for a week's sojourn. Whoo hoo! Those pictures will have to be saved for another day. Nathan and Megan arrived mid-afternoon and that evening Tadd had invited a couple more friends and my parents to come over dinner and birthday cake. No pictures of that event were taken either. So I guess I'm still 29. I did get royally spoiled, though. I'll have to post pictures of some of the awesome gifts in another post.

St. Paddy's day race in Snoqualmie that Ezra ran in with some of his friends.
Nora still sporting her black eye from her high chair swan dive. Since then I've been back to the ER with her after she cut her finger on a piece of glass at bed time. We hope to stay away from the ER for a few weeks now.
Ezra lost a second tooth.
And Nora loves anything to do with throwing or kicking a ball.
We've had an abundance of rain around these parts. But a few weeks ago we had a week of days that refused to obey the forecasters and beamed down glorious sunshine instead of showers.
Lettuce and spinach planted in February--almost ready to be harvested now.
His first time in his full uniform "I'm a REAL baseball player now!!!!"
Running the bases at the league fund raising "base-a-thon" with his teammates. He's number 4.
Now, I'm off for one last t-ball practice before the first game on Wednesday! This is the last week of having t-ball, ballet and soccer...after Friday soccer is over and I'll have one more activity-free day.

(Never)Plain and (Never) Simple Life

2011-03-10T15:20:00.000-08:00

We've been trucking along here with nothing too terribly exciting going on. Something sad has happened and that is that we've kissed good bye forever the simplicity of being at home with our kids all the time. Caroline now has ballet and Ezra is beginning soccer and t-ball within the next week. Yikes, huh? We knew this day would come. We are torn between excitement to see them blossom. Excitement to see them love these activities they've been waiting and waiting to take part in. And sadness that babyhood is over for two of our little ones. We have to start cutting those apron ties bit by bit from here on out. Sniff, sniff.

The below photo is out of focus and Ezra is picking his nose (sorry) but it shows how Nora is now perpetual motion. She is fully walking and wants to do everything her way right away. She is an instant replay of Ezra only in the girl flavor. In this photo Tadd is playing the guitar, Ezra is on the key board and Nora is the back up singer/dancer.

This is their stage coach. They are "Con and Maggie". Anyone else watch the Five Mile Creek series?

Nora discovered the washing machine one day. If only it could hold her interest for more than two minutes.
She does love to climb into these kids chairs and sit there looking pleased with herself and feeling quite grown up. Yes, she does have a black eye. It actually looks a lot worse now than it does in these photos. She took a head first dive out of her high chair about a week and a half ago. She didn't cry much at all (because she was nearly passed out) and got real lethargic. While I was waiting for the doctor's office to open again from their lunch break (weekends and lunch hour are the ONLY times kids get sick or have accidents) she started vomiting violently. So, we stopped waiting and loaded into the van to head for the ER. I wasn't gonna mess around with a head injury. They did a CT and determined she didn't have any brain bleeds. Probably a concussion. Praise the Lord, Tadd jumped into a company vehicle and met us at the hospital, because I had to hold Nora down to get the scan and someone had to stay and watch the other kids in the exam room. They let us go home and we had to wake her up every two hours to make sure she was still okay. And you guessed it, she slept for longer than two hours for her nap that day--and for more than two hours in a row that night. It's pretty hard to wake up a baby who never sleeps. Better safe than sorry, though.
About a month and a half ago, Ezra was thrilled to discover that he had his first loose tooth. He wiggled it with his tongue and played with it with his fingers, but nothing as aggressive as yanking it or twisting it. Then last week I heard him shout "Awesome" and he came running to me with the tooth in his fingers.

We've arrived at the awkward photo years. Cheesy smiles, missing teeth, too big for the face adult teeth growing in...
So, this is Ezra's impression of how Daddy starts his mornings--reading his Bible under a cozy blanket. The sunglasses are supposed to be reading glasses.
And that's about it. Now I need to rush off to finish cleaning the bathrooms while Perpetual Motion is gaining back her energy (aka: napping).