The Grays

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-15T07:44:00.001-08:00

We had an eventful Valentine's Day this year. No flowers, or dinner and a movie. Nope, we spent 3 hours at Prosser Memorial Hospital with our youngest son instead. He decided he wanted to see if he could fly! He stood on the rail of the upper bunk bed and jumped off. The boys had their pop-up tent set up in their room and he was trying to land on it. He forgot that the toy shelf was under the tent and he landed face (nose) first onto it. Monte & I were in the living room . . heard a thunk . . . then a wail. We rushed to see what happened and saw Andrew headed out of their room with his nose gushing blood. We got it stopped enough to see the damage and saw that he needed to go to the ER. Our neighbor gave him a quick blessing and we headed out.

This is an extreme close-up of Andrews nose taken at the hospital. What appears to be a stream of blood coming out of his nostril is actually a 1/4" deep cut that starts inside his nose. they sealed it up nicely with a tube of DermaBond. Waiting for the Dr. - He was happy that we grabbed his blankie on the way out.

"I thought I could land on my feet."

.

After taking X-Rays, we discovered that his nose is broken :( So Andrew is the first of his siblings to have a broken bone. I'd say that this was a rough one to start with!

This is the morning after . . it's still very swollen but shows no sign of bruising yet. It does still bleed a little bit. He is not quite his usual self today, but it's got to hurt, so we'll let him lay low for a day or two. It's the least we can do.

Gangstas - Generation II

2009-12-19T10:48:00.000-08:00

Who Knew?!?!

2009-12-19T10:22:00.000-08:00

Who knew that filling the dog's water dish was so splashy that it required special equipment to get the job done right?

Chiawana High School Cheer Camp

2009-12-05T10:29:00.000-08:00

Our best friends daughter is a freshman a the new high school in Pasco - Chiawana. She is on the cheer squad and invited our kids to participate in their cheer camp fundraiser. Even the boys went and they had a great time. They practiced for a few hours in the morning, then came back to the school to perform at the boys varsity basketball game halftime. Here are the kids (Andrews head!) waiting in the bleachers:

Andrew with his stunt partner - Hailey:

Jessica & Andrew

Andrew's "stunt" - the pre-K kids did a cheer while sitting on the girls' shoulders - Andrew and Hailey are 3rd from the left.

Nat's cheer - she is to the right on the girl in white pants.

Kaylee & Colten's cheer - Kaylee on the right in gray pants and Colten is in the middle back doing a stunt with Jessica & Courtney.

The kids all had such a great day! Thanks to the Chiawana Cheerleaders and their coaches for a job well done!

Thanksgiving @ Fort Worden

2009-11-27T09:54:00.000-08:00

This year for Thanksgiving we drove over to my sisters house in Oak Harbor. Our friends John, Coren & Jessica came as well and Monte John & Jessica spent a good deal of the weekend SCUBA diving. They made several dives on Thursday morning at the Keystone ferry landing in Coupeville and dove off a boat near the San Juan Islands on Saturday. On Friday morning we packed up the kids and a couple of nephews (Ethan, Cayden & Keaton) and rode the Keystone ferry over to Port Townsend. We were only 100 miles from Forks, but I couldn't convince anyone to take me there for a Twilight Tour :( Party Poopers they are! We had a really great time discovering Fort Worden instead!

Here is the crew on the ferry (back to front - left to right):

Keaton, Cayden, Jessica

Natalie, Kaylee, Andrew

Ethan & Colten

The Gray, Estes & Cosper Bunch:

Stacy, Keaton, Monte, Cayden

Natalie, Andrew, Kaylee

Colten & Ethan (Are you seeing a pattern with these two?)

After playing a bit at the fort, we went into Port Townsend for some lunch. We ended up at Nifty Fifty (or something like that). It was an old fashioned soda fountain shop. There was even a big juke box and mini ones at the tables. I think we spent a good $5 alone on those. We had greasy burgers and fries and root beer. It was really good!

These two cousins were inseparable that day. They had such a great time!

After lunch we headed back to the fort to play on the beach . . . it was pretty cold out as the sun was starting to set . . but they all still had to chase the waves. Luckily no one got caught!!

I love this picture of Keaton - it was really dark in the fort and I was glad to get decent lighting for once.

Pre-school Halloween

2009-10-23T08:50:00.000-07:00

The Kiddie Korner preschool kids had an open house where they wore their Halloween costumes and sang some songs. They all were sooo cute! I had videoed Andrew on stage, but the next morning we discovered that I had taped the wrong Batman! OOPS! It seemed to be the most popular costume this year as there were about 8 of them in the bunch. So much for my being able to pick my own kid out of a crowd. Wonder how I would do as a police witness and a line-up?!? LOL

This is Andrew with his AWESOME teacher, Liz Elliot.The KK kids also went out toYellow Rose Nursery for a haunted forest, a "hay ride", games and a plant in a pumpkin activity. We invited out friend Ethan to join the trip.

The "hay ride" - Ha Ha Ha!

Andrew tossing gourds . . .

Gangsta party

2009-09-26T08:28:00.000-07:00

At the end of September my sister Sarah asked me to sing with her at church for their Primary program. We did a pretty good job, and had a really fun weekend - minus Colten getting sick. That weekend also happened to fall on her friends birthday and each year she has a themed party. She has in the past done a pirate party and a 50's/Grease party. This year she picked "gangsta" as her theme so we went to the local thrift store and purchased pants that were at least 5 sizes too big. We also bought bandannas and HUGE hoop earrings to complete the look and had a friends teenage daughter do our make-up. All-in-all I'd say we look pretty good! We only scared a few people when we had to run to the gas station for ice! Me & Sarah

Sarah and her hubby - Dan

For my 2 readers . . .

2009-09-21T05:57:00.000-07:00

I've been seriously neglecting our blog for the past few months, and this week I'm determined to get it back up to par . . or at least as close as I can get it to par ;) There will be lots of pictures and silly antics by the kids. I know, I know, you are just waiting on the egde of your seats - ha ha ha! Look back often . . .

PS I will be dating the posts as they actually took place, so scroll down to see my new posts!

Labor Day Weekend Camp-Out post 1

2009-09-08T07:09:00.000-07:00

For Labor Day weekend this year we went camping with my (Stacy's) family to the beautiful Orcas Island. It was a looong journey - 5 1/2 hours in the car (not including stops), a 2 hour wait at the docks, a 1 1/2 hour ferry ride, then another 30 minutes to the campsite! The views though were amazing, the company friendly ( Ü ) and the weather mostly cooperated.

This is the view from the highest point on Orcas. We are looking North and slighty East - the thin dark sliver of land in the middle right is Canada. Me and my sister Sarah/Cati at the top of the island. She takes good pictures - I do not.

This is Andrew waving at us from the tower at the aforementioned highest point on Orcas.

Natalie, Colten, Me and Andrew - did I mention that these pictures are all taken on the highest point of Orcas?

Natalie and Aunt Sarah/Cati - always being silly!

Monte and Kaylee did not go on our trip this year - Monte was working and Kaylee chose to stay home to try out for the volleyball team at school.

Labor Day Weekend Camp-Out - Misc. post

2009-09-07T07:57:00.000-07:00

I had just a few random pictures of our trip that didn't need their own posts, so I put them all into this one.

On our way to the ferry terminal, we stopped at a rest area that is near Smokey Point - north of Marysville. We only stopped to get pictures with this GIANT arborvitae. The tree is dead - it had a fire in the trunk some time ago but it is still standing! Someone stabilized it with beams so that tourists, like ourselves, could have our pictures taken with it. Here we are at the San Juan/Victoria Ferry Terminal in Anacortes, WA. We just sat around and waited for the ferry. This is Brady, Natalie, Andrew, my bro-in-law Jonathan and my sister Cheri.
When we finally got to our campsite it was around 4 in the afternoon. We quickly organized the campsite, set up tents, and the cooking/eating area shelters. Colten went right to work in our tent making everyone's beds and organizing it. He was quite the little housekeeper in our tent - he made our beds every day and made sure everyone's clothes were put away!

Ahhh Andrew loved the woods.

On our last full day there, we drove to this place that usually has tons of deer that are tame. We only got to see 2 because it was drizzling, and one wouldn't even come near us. But the other one ate carrots right out of our mouths! Only Natalie, Koby and I were brave enough to try it, but I only got a picture of Nat doing it. Isn't that crazy?!?!?!

Labor day Weekend Camp-Out fishing post

2009-09-07T07:37:00.000-07:00

We did some fishing while we were on our camp-out. Here is a picture of one of the lakes we went to. It was so serene and peaceful here. Brady-man caught the first fish - it was HUGE! Not! My boys' hands are covering it all up.
And poor Ethan - he fell completely into the lake. This kid had all the bad luck on this trip - he fell into this lake, fell into another one, got a fish hook caught in his neck and fell down the hill behind our campsite. He was fine after all his injuries, but was ready to go home.

My sister cut up that fish that Brady caught and had a little fun with it - enjoy!

Nickleback 2009

2009-08-29T08:38:00.000-07:00

We got to go to the Nickleback concert a the Gorge again this year! We went for the first time in 2007 and had so much fun we did it again. Playing with Nicleback was Hinder, Papa Roach and Saving Abel. We ran into our friends Annie & Devin from Prosser - they ended up sitting by us. And we also saw some of our friends (Mary & Ron) from when we lived in Othello!

The Gorge is a great place to have a concert - the view is breath taking and the natural amphitheater gives it such a great sound.

Here is the sun setting: The Hinder stage
Monte man

Our friends - the Petty's - their sign says "We miss you Dale!". It was taken for Dale while he was at boot camp in Texas.

first day of school!

2009-08-25T08:32:00.000-07:00

School started early this year for Prosser - August 25! This year Natalie is in Mrs. Rose's 4th grade class, Kaylee is in 7th grade and Colten is in Mrs. Fortune's 1st grade class. Andrew was not yet awake that morning, so he is not pictured :) but he is in Pre-school at Kiddie Korner with Liz Elliot as his teacher.

Baby shower invites

2009-08-22T08:29:00.000-07:00

My great neighbor had a shower for her daughter over labor day weekend, so I helped her make these cute invites:

Andrew's 5th Birthday

2009-08-15T07:41:00.000-07:00

It's hard for me to believe that my baby is 5!! Where did all that time go? Next year he will go to kindergarten .. I'm not really sure how I'm going to handle that day! Blowin' out the candles!

This is a bug fruit basket that Monte carved for him - he saw it in a magazine and really wanted one.

He also wanted these baseball cupcakes - I think they turned out pretty good.

Andrew got 2 pairs of goggles for his birthday (they came as a 2 pack) so he shared with Colten and they had a rockin' time with them in the tub!

Natalie's Birthday

2009-08-03T07:46:00.000-07:00

Natalie's 9th Birthday was a lot of fun this year. It fell on a Monday and since it was in the summer we surprised her by picking up her 2 best friends (Genevieve H & Eliza B) for a sleepover! We also had our friends the Giles' over and some cousins too. She chose Mud Pie for her "cake" Sooo yummy!!

Here she is with her new Webkinz pet - a monkey. she named him Funky Monkey. and a super cute picture with Kali & Jacob:

Air Force

2009-07-24T08:07:00.000-07:00

So this post is not really about us, but we were there and this family is TRULY part of our family. Our friends son, Dale invited us to attend his local swearing in to the Air Force. It was held at Bergstrom Air Field (it's a company that has small planes to rent and you can take pilot lessons there - it's on one side of the Pasco airport) Anyways, we got to look at 2 F-16 fighter planes! They were really cool. Thanks Dale for inviting us to go - it was an honor and a great experience. Thanks for choosing to serve our country!!

Monte & the kids plus Dale's sister, Jessica.The boys checking out the underside of the F -16.

Andrew thought it was so cool that the pilot of one of the F-16's name was Andrew. We had to get his picture by "his" name. Maybe someday his real name will be on an F-16!

Andrew just adores Dale!

Here is the Petty family picture from that day - Jess, Coren, Dale & John!

Mini-Family Reunion

2009-07-18T05:58:00.000-07:00

My brother and his family decided to up and move themselves to Nevada :( We are so sad that we won't get to see them as often as we like. Before they left, they threw a great shindig BBQ at their house, and I'll call it our mini reunion! We were missing 1 brother and his wife + 2 kids, 1 nephew and 2 husbands. Not too bad for a family of 23! Here's our great big group shot: (from left back row) Me, my Mom, Keaton, Craig, Andrew, Brady, Cheri, Jonathan, Sarah, & Koby. (Front row) Kaylee, Kristin, Natalie, Jackson, Ethan & Colten. Here is me with 3 of my siblings (Scott couldn't make it - we missed you!)

Me, Craig, Sarah, & Cheri
The ride home was pretty boring, so Natalie took pictures of . . . well just about everything inside and outside the car! These are the better ones ;)
Mt. Rainier just as you are dropping into Yakima.

Self portrait . . I think that's some laffy taffy hanging out of her mouth.

And me. Don't Pringles make great duck lips?

Mariners Game 2

2009-07-13T07:25:00.000-07:00

The M's won the game on Sunday against the Texas Rangers as well! 3-5!! Way to go Mariners!

The coolest part (according to my kids) about Sunday's game was that after the game all kids got to run the bases! We got in a HUGE line during the 9th inning and waited our turn to go on the field.

Here is a picture (not of us) as we are coming out from under the seats in right field. Hello!! How cool was that!!!! I'm not sure who was having more fun - me or the kids! The kiddoes waiting in line for their turn (again with the freaky finger signs):

A picture of them rounding 2nd! I should have cropped this a bit, but Andrew is the 2nd kid from the left with Kaylee, Colten and Natalie behind him.

Ahhhhh home plate - Colten was a bit disappointed that they were not allowed to slide :(
And finally a picture of me with the kids.
Moms know that this is a difficult thing to get since we are usually the ones behind the camera

We had sooo much fun. We have a lot of good memories and can't wait to plan another trip for next year.

Mariner's Game 1

2009-07-13T07:10:00.001-07:00

This past weekend Monte and I took the kids to a couple of Mariners games! We have been to quite a few games, but the kids had never been. Taking a kid to a baseball stadium like SafeCo field for the first time is so much fun. To see them truly enjoying the game and the perma-grins on their faces is priceless! The Mariner's won the first game (# 3 out of 4 in the series) 1 -4!! I only got a few pics at the first game, but we have the memories of it to last a long time!

Monte & the kids: The kids are in their "I-have-to-make-funny-faces-and-signs-with-my-fingers-in-every-picture-Mom-takes" phase.
Natalie & Me. I've really missed this girl!! She had been at Grandma's house for the 10 days prior to the games. She really makes this house full of energy and life - it was dull around here without her!

Are you ready for some T-Ball?

2009-07-09T06:56:00.001-07:00

Oh wait . . . that's the theme song for Monday Night Football isn't it? Oh well!! Colten played t-Ball for the first time this year and we loved watching him play. We also loved getting to know the parents of the other players. Colten's team was sponsored by Davey's Burger Ranch. We bought matching t-shirts, but remembered last night that we totally forgot to wear them to even one game! How lame are we?? Don't answer that.

Here's a quick picture re-cap of Colten's first t-ball season!

Colten is the pitcher and ohh wait Colten (Ripplinger) is also the runner on 2nd!

Playing 3rd base.

Up to bat . . .

With a few of his teammates eating their snacks after the game.
This is K.J.( or Riley - I'm not sure!), Ryan, Colten and (the token girl), Taylor.

Now I know this picture is really blurry but it was tooooo funny not to post. Andrew (the bat boy) is hiding out behind the ball bucket. He loved helping Coach Will. I'm not sure why he was hiding but it was super cute!

Special thanks to Will Beightol and his wife Amy for their awesomeness as coaches! We're signing you up to be Andrews coach next year!!

Happy 4th o' July

2009-07-04T06:41:00.000-07:00

The boys and I had a fun 4th this year! Monte had to work and the girls were both at separate Grandma's houses so we were on our own. Our good friends The Clifford's invited us to walk in the parade with them. So we decked out Colten's bike and Andrew's scooter and were on our way!

We also went to the Prosser fireworks display at night. We brought a big blanket to share and watched from the lawn behind church. It was totally amazing. They always seem to do a great job here. It lasted a wee bit too long for the boys though as they were both asleep 15 minutes into the 30 minute display. Thank goodness I was able to wake them up when it was over - I know I couldn't have packed them both to the car!

Pendleton Water Park

2009-06-30T06:49:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, June 30 we headed ou to the Pendleton Water Park. We had a great time! A bunch of our friends from church went on the same day, so we got to hang out with all our friends at a fun place. My sis-in-law and nephew came with us too - Here's Jakey (aka dumptruck - this is what he told me his name was when I asked him to say his name! - LOL): I didn't take too many pictures while we were there (I know, bad, bad Mom) but I did happen to get this one of Nat jumping off the high dive! I was so proud of her for taking a chance on it! She loved it!
She is the one right in the middle of the pic about to hit the water - holding her nose!

Teacher/Grad gifts

2009-06-29T08:03:00.000-07:00

Mary and I got together to make teacher gifts and graduation cards. We did it on two different days because they took sooo long! Here is the whole lot of them:

We made 6 sets of 5 cards - same card in 5 different colors for the teachers.

Then put them in these cute paper holders (they are folded 12 x 12 double sided paper)

We also made 2 graduation cards for a couple of young men in our ward.

When you open them up there is a pocket for a gift card.

Kaylee's Birthday

2009-05-29T10:37:00.000-07:00

Kaylee is 12! Can't believe that my oldest girl is 12. She has grown up so much in the past year. She now gets to go to Young Womens! She is loving it so far and I'm sure she always will.
Here she is at the party we had for her with the extended family.

And here is the fire that we had to roast marshmallows on for her Campout party with her 2 best friends - Hanna and Brinnley. I'm so thankful that Kaylee has such good friends like these 2 sweet girls. They have had so much fun together over the past year. I love seeing them together and it's also a bonus that their parents are awesome and fun to hang out with as well!

This picture was taken while Brinnley (in the red) was teaching them a fun campfire song.

Time to do laundry . . . OR wacky day at school . . . you decide!

2009-05-28T11:53:00.000-07:00

Jazz Dance Recital

2009-05-23T10:58:00.000-07:00

This spring the girls starting taking Jazz Dance from Prosser Dance Academy. The teacher, Amanda Bishop, is sooo much fun! The girls have had a blast and can't wait to start up classes again this fall. Natalie even chose it over soccer this year! They had their first recital on Saturday, May 23. Kaylee danced in 3 numbers and Natalie in 2.

Here are my sweet girls all dolled up. They look sooo grown up!

Natalie has a super short A-line haircut and the teacher wanted them all to have slicked back low ponytails. The result on Natalie is tons of gel and hairspray and alook that is much like these gals - http://onlythe80s.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/robertpalmer.jpg

Here are Kaylee and her 2 best friends - Hanna Peters & Brinnley Ashton. silly girls!

This last one is of all the girls who are attending jazz classes. They range in age from 3 to 13.

Butterfly Release Day

2009-05-14T14:38:00.000-07:00

At Colten's school, the kinders have been "raising" butterflies in their classrooms. After the butterflies have emerged they have a release party. It was yesterday. The kids all made their own headbands to look like a butterfly. As we were waiting to go outside to the park I heard Mrs. Childers (Colten's teacher ) say to one of the kids . . " Don't pull on your proboscus!" I thought to myself " Self . . what the heck is a proboscus?" Then I looked at the kid who was pulling his proboscus and figured out that it's the curled up brown thing on the front of their headbands. Colten explained it all to me later that it's how the butterfly's smell and other such features. It was then that I realized that my kinder is smarter than me. He has vast knowledge of a butterfly's life span, how to spike his own hair and knows how to re-attach the chain on his bike. I, on the other hand, can drive the lawmower. That must put me at least 5 points ahead . . right? Yeah, I'm not convinced either.

Here's my cutie:

I snuck into this picture with him!

We also had a lovely cake. It was HUGE. With lots of thick yummy frosting. This is an extreme close-up of the cake. (hehehe Laura's camera was on zoom!)

Me after cutting the cake into 80+ little pieces and serving them on the kids' plates with only a fork and my fingers for utensils. (At least we had a knife to cut it though!)

Oh and I let my friend Kari help with the cake too. Just kidding - she's the one who called me!

Mmmmmm that frosting was YUMMY!!!!

** Special thanks to Laura Ripplinger for the pictures. Apparently I only remember my camera when tragedy strikes - like when your friends son takes a header over the top of his handlebars. Check out the Clifford's blog to see Ethan's big fun day yesterday!

Happy Birthday Sarah!

2009-04-28T21:15:00.000-07:00

So, I totally spaced getting this video posted on my sister's 29th (again) birthday, but I did have my kids sing to her. It was soooo funny that I had to share it with all of you. Notice Andrew (as usual) not looking at the camera and only half singing along. Check out http://jackandjillofalltrades.blogspot.com/2009/01/prophet-said-to-plant-garden.html to see more of Andrews singing in action. Kaylee is also funny to watch because she is not really singing. She is lip syncing and not doing a very good job at it either. Thank goodness Nat & Colten carried the rest of them! Cha Cha Cha - Oo La La!

Brenden's Track Meet

2009-04-28T21:11:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, April 23, we drove to Hermiston for my nephew's jr. high track meet. It was mostly sunny, but windy and cold. We had a good time getting to see all Brendens events and visiting him and his friends. Here are the kids with their cousin!

New Layout

2009-04-18T21:30:00.000-07:00

I've made a new layout for our blog (yay!) and with that change came the loss of some of my links . . waaaaaaahhhhhh. So, if I had your blog or website listed and it is no longer there, please leave me a comment so that I can find you again! Thanks ~ Stace Ü

Everyone needs a big brother

2009-04-18T14:52:00.000-07:00

Everyone needs a big brother. Sometimes they pick on you, or tease you, or eat your dessert, but when it really counts they are there for you all the way. Colten is no exception to these big brother rules and today was one of those "there when you need 'em" days. Today Colten removed the training wheels from Andrews bicycle and taught him how to ride it! Andrew learned it so quickly! He's taken just a few spills, and as of this posting only has 1 bandaid on.

My baby is growing up too quickly :(

What's her name? (yet another Andrew funny)

2009-04-15T06:41:00.000-07:00

These 2 people are some of our family's favorite people. They are our best friend Coren's parents- Chuck and Lea. We have known them for almost 4 years and have done TONS of stuff with them. We went to Disneyland and Las Vegas with them, had holidays with them, birthdays, summer bbq's. . . just about every activity we've done with them. They are really a ton of fun and we love them lots!!

Now that you have the background of how well we know them - here's Andrews funny:

Andrew and Kaylee got to go to the movies with Coren, John, their daughter Jessica and Chuck and Lea. Here's him telling Colten about this ( I was in the room with them):

Andrew: Colten - we got to go to Race to Witch Mountain.

Colten: What's that?

Andrew: You know - the movie. We went with John and Coren and Jessie and Grandpa Chuck . . . and . . . Mom? what's Grandpa Chuck's honey's name?

OMIGOSH sooo funny! Like Lea is his girlfriend or something - not his wife of 40 years!

Our Spring break

2009-04-15T06:24:00.000-07:00

For most children, Spring Break means a week off of school. Time to play, sleep in, watch TV, play video games, or travel to some distant relatives for a week of relaxation and fun. Not so at the Gray household. I make my kids work 'round here! Here they are cleaning the kitchen table and chairs. They should be doing this task anyways right? I mean, I'm not the one who puts my sticky hands on the seats, or spills ketchup/maple syrup/milk on every surface in the kitchen anyways, right??
Oh, let's not forget the refrigerator grill! That is one nasty place!

DISCLAIMER: No children were harmed in the making of this post. They only worked for about 10 minutes then ran off to their various other fun Spring Break activities. We played outside, went to movies, some went to Grandmas. All in all they had a great week - these were just the only pics I took!

Another Andrew Funny

2009-03-14T08:27:00.001-07:00

This kid says the most funny things sometimes! Last Sunday, we were headed out the door to our nephews birthday party and Andrew was dragging his feet, so Monte told him that he was going to leave him home. Without missing a beat Andrew replies "But I don't know how to make dinner!"

Valentine Treats

2009-02-24T19:18:00.000-08:00

For Valentine's Day this year, I made the girls little tags to slip onto suckers. Some of them say "Be my Valentine" others say "So Glad We're Friends" In all I made about 115 of these buggers! They weren't the hardest things to make, but I was sure glad Colten wanted the Cars ones from the store! I thought that I was home free for Kaylee this year since she is now in middle school, but, nope! She helps out in the cafeteria at lunch time and they sent all the kids home with clean # 10 cans to decorate. Here it is before:
During:

And all finished!

I don't know if you can see it in the picture, but there is glitter all over the lettters in her name.

Where's your flowers?

2009-02-09T19:43:00.000-08:00

I had the following conversation with Andrew last Saturday morning . . I had gone to dinner and a movie with friends the night before . . .

Andrew: Morning Mommy

Me: g'morning

Andrew: where's your flowers?

Me (soooo not awake): my what?

Andrew: Your flowers.

Me: What flowers?

Andrew: The flowers that you picked last night.

Me: huh?

Andrew: You know! The flowers that you picked at the garden you went to last night.

Me: ohhhh, I didn't go to a flower garden last night, I went to a restaurant called the OLIVE GARDEN.

Sooooo cute that he thought I was getting flowers at the garden!

Family History?

2009-02-03T19:09:00.000-08:00

We all know how very important researching your family history is right? Right. Well, I just really am lazy (we've discussed this before) and don't do it. Lucky for me, my children have done some serious research on the subject and this is who they've decided we're related to. Meet Aborigine guy: Meet Andrew:
Colten:

and Natalie:

and please please PLEASE, my beautiful children, don't turn into this guy:

Thank you Grandma Colleen for the wonderful gift of Magnetics for Colten's birthday.

(Not said entirely sarcastic either!)

Prosser Heights Campout

2009-02-02T19:49:00.000-08:00

Prosser Heights Elementary held a Reading Campout on January 22. It was actually quite fun even though it was quite crowded. They had three stations set up - one each in the gym, library and one classroom. We rotated through the rooms and heard some fun stories and a couple of hilarious skits. It was a great night! Here are the kids with our friends - the Buttars girls:

Jenna, Kaylee, Colten, Natalie, Eliza and Hayley.

PTA Reflections contest

2009-02-01T19:29:00.000-08:00

Every year the PTA sponsers a contest called Reflections. They pick a theme and kids K-12 can enter artwork, poetry, essays etc that shows how they see the theme. This years theme was "Wow" and Natalie wanted to enter. She spent several lunch recesses coming up with a project and this was her final draft. Her work was call "The Artic Ocean". This is Natalie with the two ribbons she got at the awards night on January 21. One is the participation award and the other is the Honorable Mention (she says it's 4th place) for her age group 3-5 grades! She also got a pack of twistable crayons from the PTA. Way to go Nat!

Another Stationary box

2009-01-07T21:10:00.000-08:00

I made another stationary box and wanted to share it with you! I got the idea from Jackie Topa's blog. Check it out here

The box: Opened:
6 standard sized cards:

3 - 3" x 3" cards:

3 - 2" x 3" tags:

Natalie's Vest - a post for Cheri Ü

2009-01-06T18:11:00.001-08:00

There's always that one gift that one of your kids asks for that is either a) too expensive or b) hard to find. This year was no exception. Meet the vest:

This vest was the most difficult thing I've ever had to find for one of my kids. About 2 months ago we were in Sport Authority and Natalie found this vest - she wanted it soo bad. But, it was $90! There was NO way I was buying an 8 year old a $90 vest. A snowboarding jacket? Maybe, but not a vest! So I told her to ask Santa and she did. All she wanted was a white, hooded (fur lined hood) vest. I thought "No big deal it should be easy to find - I've seen them everywhere." Boy was I wrong! They were everywhere last year. I searched the internet, eBay, overstocks, amazon - everyplace online that I thought might have one. I went to Target, Costco, ShopKo, Fred Meyer, TJ Maxx, Ross, Burlington coat Factory, Old Navy, GAP kids, Gymboree, TCP, Limited Too, Sears, JC Penney, Macy's . . I even went into Value Village I was sooo desparate to have one for her. I had my friends and mom out looking for it too! I asked her, "If mommy can't find you a white one, what else do you want?" Her reply? " A brown one." UGHHH I was soo frustrated by my search and vented to Monte one day about 2 weeks before Christmas - he says "We're going to Sport Authority and just getting the darn thing then!" ACKKK Even when I explained that it was $90 and she's only 8 and blah blah blah . . he said " I don't care. It's all she's asked for." ( Yeah she's got him wrapped around her finger!) So we went to Sport Authority. And low and behold they still had one (no wonder there - who's gonna buy it for $90?) Not only did they have her size, but it was ON CLEARANCE!!! WOHOOO happy dance!!! So that is how Nat got her vest - whether you wanted to know or not:)

Funny little tree decorations

2009-01-06T11:47:00.000-08:00

Michelle had picked up some tree decorations last year on clearance (I believe that's the story on them!) anyways it was pretty funny that there were onions, artichokes and garlic bulbs in one pack and an eggplant, pickle and jalepeno in another set. Here's Andrew with the onion:

And here's the jalepeno on the tree. We could not say jalepeno without adding "on a stick" to the end of it! Kaylee decided that it wasn't really "on a stick", it was "on a string"! If you don't understand why this is soooo funny, then check out this clip of Jeff Dunham on YouTube.

the jalepeno comes in around 2 1/2 minutes into it.

Getting the tree . . .

2009-01-06T10:41:00.001-08:00

We drove about an hour and a half on Christmas Eve morning to cut down a Christmas tree. We have never done that before and it was soooo much fun! One of the requirements for choosing a tree was that it had to be at least 200 yards from the main road. This meant that we had to trek thru 2-3 feet of snow to get that far. Natalie got stuck a few times, but she had her snowboarding whistle with her and let us know where she was. Andrew was really too short for most of the drifts, so he was piggy-backed a lot :) We had taken a picnic lunch up with us including hot chocolate! After the long ride home again we set up the tree and decorated it!

Merry Christmas . . . a bit late!

2009-01-05T15:27:00.000-08:00

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas this year!!

These are the kids' pj's from this year. The shirts were designed by Aunt Cheri and the pants were made by my friend Mary's mother - MaMarne. Thanks to both of you- we love them!!!

Christmas pics

2009-01-04T11:33:00.000-08:00

Here are some snapshots that we took while the kids opened their presents from us. It was all done in a real hurry (probably 15 minutes max) as we needed to get on the road for our trip to spend Christmas with my Dad and step-Mom, Michelle in Southern Oregon. The boys each got a bean bag chair - Kaylee got a bunch of Tinkerbell stuff - and Natalie got "the vest" that she wanted. The kids also got a dvd system for the car which was a lifesaver in keeping them occupied on the long trip. The roads in Portland were also really nasty with compact snow and ice so it was great to have them distracted!

Happy Birthday Colten!!

2008-12-18T15:35:00.000-08:00

The big 6!

Ward Christmas Party

2008-12-18T07:58:00.001-08:00

Last night was the ward Christmas party. It was fun, but quite rowdy at times! We had a yummy ham dinner, singing by the young women and, of course, a visit from Santa! When we left it was snowing again - but no accumulation :( I think Prosser is the only school district in the region to NOT have had any closures/delays so far.

It would have been nice this morning to sleep in!

Baby it's cold outside!

2008-12-16T18:31:00.000-08:00

We've gotten our first snowfall of the year and it brought us 6"!! Which is a bit strange since the rest of Prosser only got 1"-2". Kaylee said it was because there's a line of longitude that runs between our house and Prosser so that's why the weather is different. Ummmmm - OK. I dunno why it's different but if anyone has any correct theories, I'd love to hear 'em.

Here's the view outside our front door this morning as the kids left for the school bus: And here's a picture of the weather station that we have - taken at 7:24 am:

The top temperature is the OUTDOOR temp! Yes, that's right it's NEGATIVE 2 degrees!! It warmed up to a whopping 16 here today and I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to get much warmer until after the weekend. YIKES!!!!!!

Stationary Box

2008-12-11T16:20:00.000-08:00

I warned you all that from time to time I would post some of my stamped creations on here. Here is my latest project . . I finished it today! It's a stationary box - here is the outside: Here it is with the lid removed . . . the part that lays flat has an address book and a pocket for postage stamps . . . then the back of it has pockets to hold different sized cards:

Here are the regular size cards - 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" - there are 6 of them.

Here are 3 - 3" x 3" cards and 3 - 2" x 3" tags:

Sugar Cookie Time

2008-12-10T16:15:00.000-08:00

We made sugar cookies tonight. I baked them and the kids helped to decorate. Our friends - the Giles' - came over to eat them with us! Some of the beautiful creations:

6th grade Band Concert

2008-12-09T16:04:00.000-08:00

Tuesday night was Kaylee's first band concert! She and the other 6th graders did a great job! As well as the 7th & 8th grade bands and several solo performers. I know this picture is a bit dark, but the lighting in the gym was horrible! Kaylee plays the flute and she is 4th from the left wearing a black and white dress. Our nephew, Jacob, REALLY loved the music. He rocked out and danced and swung his arms to the tunes and gave out VERY hearty "yay's!" at the end of every song.
There was also a silent PTA auction at the concert. We ended up with many treasures, but this was the favorite:

The boys LOVE it!

Marshmallow Creme anyone?

2008-12-03T16:13:00.000-08:00

TMNT

2008-11-15T14:30:00.000-08:00

On Friday nights 'round here we have Family Movie Night. We make appetizers for dinner and all watch a movie together. Rarely does a Friday go by without a movie night and if it does, boy do the kids give me the third degree about why it didn't happen. Anyways . . we watched the movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles last week and this is what my boys wore for the rest of the weekend . . . Andrew with Kaylee's book cover on his head and a broken piece of the bunk bed is Donatello.

Colten with a belt from Kaylee's skirt tied around his forehead and hot wheels tracks stuck in his shirt is Leonardo.

How creative is that?!?!?
I'm pretty sure that Kaylee was dressed as Raphael and Natalie was Michaelangelo, but they would not let me take their pics. I think they knew I would blog it!

Fishin' with Dad

2008-11-09T13:59:00.000-08:00

It's always a great day when it's your turn to go fishing with Dad, but even better when you land and reel in your very own fish!! Way to go Kaylee!

After Halloween Stamping

2008-11-01T14:05:00.000-07:00

Halloweeen fell on a Friday this year and combined with that fact and the fact that Monte went out of town for SCUBA diving trip, my friend Mary and I decided we wanted to stamp. All. Night. Long. So with the plan in motion, we scurried out of the church after trunk-or-treat, went to our respective homes and put the kids to bed. She then drove out to my house where we got out all the stamp stuff, made some potstickers, and stamped to our hearts delight. We ended up going to bed around 5:30 am - woke up at 7 (she had to feed Bella) and woke up for the morning again at 8:45. We were both very tired the next day, but had a ton of fun and had 17 cards to show for it! Here we are with our collection!

Halloween

2008-10-31T13:48:00.000-07:00

Every year our ward does a Trunk-or-treat party for Halloween. We have a baked potato/chili feed and then go around to everyones cars for the candy!! Here are the monkeys sitting on the stage.
Natalie and her fellow ballerinas - Sydney, Kamille and Kali.
We made the girls their skirts using 6" wide tulle and an elastic waist band - no sewing!!!
My kind of project!

Kaylee with her fellow Gryfindors - Hailey and JayDee.

This is Colten and Andrew at Colten's school party. I was in charge of the games so we used about a dozen rolls of toilet paper to turn the kids into mummies!
Thanks for the great idea Maria!

Grandma's Halloween Party

2008-10-29T20:59:00.000-07:00

Every year my Mother-in-law has a Halloween party. The kids all get dressed up and get to show their costumes off to Grandma and Grandpa. Here are all 13 grand kids (plus Mark holding Jacob). From the left is Brenden (not dressed up) Eastyn (farmer) Tyrelle (pig) Haiden (football player) Natalie (ballerina) Emily (Snow White) Colten (Spiderman) Kianna (Diva) Maeson (Spiderman) Lyndon (Power Ranger) Andrew (frog) Jacob (lion) and Kaylee (Hermione Granger)One other highlight of the Halloween party is the food. We make nasty looking food and come up with weird names for them. Here are the bug rolls:
The Skinned Rats & Bones

And a picture of the rest of the meal that included bloody popcorn, puss, vomit, dog food, monster eyes, mold, diaper dump, fungus, and blue brains. I tried everything except for the diaper dump. It looked so bad that I could not bring myself to try it and gagged when my bro-in-law did eat it.

The Halloween party is always the highlight of October and the kids look forward to it every year! Thanks to my mother-in-law for another great party!

HSM3 Opening night

2008-10-29T20:42:00.001-07:00

Friday night we had a girls night out to go see High School Musical 3: Senior Year. I'm so glad there are movies out there like this that my girls and I can enjoy together. We all had a great time. We went to the movie then out to Shari's afterwards - I know , not such a great place to eat, but it was 6:30 on a Friday night - where else were we going to be able to get a table for 7 right away? Here we are with the cast of HSM3 - Back Row: Ryan, Sharpay, Troy, Gabriella, Chad & Taylor Front Row : Jessica, Kaylee, Natalie, Stacy, Hailey, Sydney & Mary.
Hailey and her Christmas present!

You caught him Jess!

Sydney had to have her picture with Troy too!

Ahhhhhh!!!!! Look a Twilight ad! We are SO going!!

Mary looks so natural . . . as if she isn't even aware of Edward behind her . . . look at her leaving her neck all out in the open . . . doesn't she know there's a vampire right there???

PS - Do you like our doofy friend in the yellow shirt? He ruined my shot!

Belated Birthday Shout-Out!

2008-10-23T20:39:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to throw out a belated birthday shout out to my GREAT friend Mary!! We celebrated at the new Mexican restaurant in town (ummmm just go to El Cap . . trust me!)Hope you had a great day - love ya!!

Blustery Day Activity

2008-10-20T12:51:00.001-07:00

It's a nasty, blustery Monday here in Prosser, so I've been doing a bunch of house cleaning while Andrew bugs me every 5 seconds that he's bored. I checked on him a little while ago and found him stamping in the kitchen! Look - he's even using the stamp-n-scrub to clean the stamps!! What a good boy!!!

(for now)

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-18T10:43:00.000-07:00

Last night we went to the pumpkin patch that is near Toppenish. It was a blast! We got there around 5:45 pm - with plenty of sunlight left - so I thought. We started off in the hay bale maze, climbed around the hay bale pyramid, pet the animals in the petting zoo, and then walked through the corn maze. It wasn't really a "maze" just a walk on a path through the corn field. Then we realized that there was a real maze and the kids decided that they would like to go through it. BAD IDEA!! It was soooooooo long! At first there were no new pathways to take and we were afraid it was just like the other one. Nope, they just take you deep in the corn before starting to confuse you. The kids were having fun for the first 20 minutes we were in there. Then we just wanted out! It was starting to get dark and we started seeing kids in costumes making their way through the maze. It was then that I realized that at dark it was going to get haunted!!! ARGHHHH! I hate being scared! And I didn't want my kids traumatized by the experience! So we started walking faster and even asked some of the "crew" if we were near the end. "You've got a hour left" is the answer I got. WHAT?!?!?! AHHHHH . . . obviously we made it out . . . 50 minutes after starting!! And just in time - we didn't get haunted. PHEW! After all the ~~panic-y~~ good times we ate hot dogs and roasted marshmallows for s'mores. They really have a great set-up there and we all had a fun time! What would a family outing be without the mandatory "silly face" picture?
Sliding down the hay bale pyramid.
Andrew being creative - corn stalks make great horses!
The petting zoo - bunny exhibit.
One of the 5 campfires. We had gotten a family pass and it included hot dogs, drinks and s'more makings, but we saw other people bringing in their own food and drinks.

Go Mariners!

2008-09-30T07:33:00.000-07:00

Ok - so they are in last place . . by a LOT . . . but they sure showed the fans a great couple of games! We went to 2 Mariners games and they won both of them - 10 to 8 and 7 to 3. Here is the Safeco field sign from our seats on the Saturday game (seriously zoomed in) Do not be fooled by the gray look of the skies - it turned into a gorgeous day! Here is the view from our seats (not zoomed in):
Here are Monte & I - self photography is never the best:
and the Monte Man - the seats look really empty because we got there about 2 hours early!
Here is a picture of the scoreboard after the 1st inning of the Saturday game - if you can't see it, the score is 6 - 0 in our favor!
We had a really great time in Seattle this weekend! We walked alot, talked alot, and just relaxed! We ran into one of my best friends from jr/high school! It was so random - we decided to walk around for a bit during the Friday game and literally ran into her and her hubby. We haven't seen them in at least 7 or 8 years! It was great to see them and get to visit with them for a while.

If I were a Super Hero . . .

2008-09-30T07:26:00.000-07:00

Last week Andrew brought this picture home from preschool:

I guess I just don't feed that kid enough! He eats more than the other 3 combined these days! Would that make his super hero name "Flys home to Eat-Man"? And what would his suit look like? I guess I should be thankful that he wants to fly home to eat and not McDonalds :)

I got an early birthday present!!

2008-09-16T07:48:00.000-07:00

Monte surprised me with 6 Mariner's tickets!! 2 seats for each of 3 games - for Friday, Saturday and Sunday September 26, 27, 28! His boss has season tickets and he let us have them, plus stay at their condo on the waterfront. I am sooooo excited!!

My little stamper

2008-09-15T22:40:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday, after school , Natalie came home and got a bunch of my stamp stuff out. She stamped for about an hour and had come up with these 3 cards. I only helped a little with the ribbon. I like her brown one so much that I'm going to have to copy it!! she even cleaned up the whole mess by her self - that is a huge task considering how much stuff was out. I will have to take a picture of the "creative space" next time. UGH - still working with my camera settings! Sorry you can't see the bottom one - it was light yellow cardstock.

Saturday night fun!

2008-09-09T08:18:00.000-07:00

Every year at the end of the summer our friends have a big get together/bbq at their house. Their kids invite their friends and they invite us! This year it happened to be a little later than normal - more like a back-to-school party since school had already started. They set up their 2 jumpers - they have a velcro wall and a bungee run. It's sooo much fun to play on them! We also had a fire in the fire pit and lit fireworks. They have a large chess/checkerboard board made of cement squares permanently in on part of the lawn. They use giant chess pieces and black/red cones to play. It was a great day!

Here is a picture of Kaylee playing in the chess pieces with my nephew Jacob. She really seems to like playing with the little kids and they love her! The teenaged boys stuck Colten high up on the velcro wall - he couldn't get himself down! I have to say that Dale & Jessicas friends are always so good to play with and include my kids in their activities when we are all together. Even though my kids are way younger than them. (Dale is 18 and Jessica is 13)
This is what the velcro wall looks like.

Andrew's first day of Preschool!

2008-09-09T08:06:00.000-07:00

This is my Andrew on his first day of preschool. He was so excited to go! He is going to Ready-Set-Go Preschool with Mrs. Kelli. Colten went there 2 years ago, so Andrew already felt right at home at her house! He gets to go on Wednesdays and Fridays. this leaves me with an empty house for the first time in 11 years. It's a little bit sad and a whole lot quiet when everyone is gone. I am volunteering at both elementary schools on Wednesdays and will have Friday morning free! I'm sure I'll find something to do! Andrew and his good friend Ethan.

Colten's first Day of Kindergarten

2008-09-09T07:47:00.000-07:00

Here is Colten on his first day of kindergarten! Isn't he so handsome?? His teacher this year is Mrs. Childers - he really likes her. He has a few friends from church in his class - Kamille & Seth, and he is making new friends every day. He has a crazy schedule to get home during the week. He rides the bus home on Monday, Thursday & Friday, rides a different bus to the middle school on Tuesdays (where Kaylee gets him and they walk to the church together) and I pick him up on Wednesdays. Sheesh - I can barely keep track of all that! Good thing his teacher helps him out.
And of course one with his sisters before they head to the bus.

The flash on my camera was washing them out so I tried to correct the color. I think I need some photo shop lessons from Dedre! Oh and I'd have to get photo shop too.

What's in your lunchbox?

2008-08-30T06:47:00.000-07:00

I used to know what kind of sandwiches my kids wanted to have for their school lunch. Not any more. My kids' tastes have matured. I had the following conversation with Natalie last Monday night - the night before school started:

We were having tacos for dinner and I had just placed chopped cilantro on the table.
Nat "ooooo cilantro!" (as she grabs a couple of tablespoons to put on her plate)
Me: "ummmmm you like cilantro now?"
Nat: "Yes, Aunt Cheri made me this sandwich thing with it on it cuz Uncle Jonathan took all the lettuce to work."
Me: "What kind of sandwich?" (and totally laughing about Jonathan taking all the lettuce!)
Nat: "It was on a tortilla with mayonaise and ham and cilantro"
Me: "You liked it?"
Nat: "Yeah - can I have it for lunch tomorrow?"
Me: "uhhhhh maybe" (wondering if I have all these strange ingredients in the fridge - and wondering when she had left the world of pb & j behind)
Fast forward to the next morning . . . I had totally forgotten about this mysterious "sandwich" when . . .
Nat: "Mom, can you make me that thing with the tortilla and mayo and ham?"
Me: "I can try . . what's all on it again?"
Nat: "Tortilla, mayo, ham and garlic"
Me: "Garlic?" (ackkkkk she likes garlic now too??)
Me: "How about if I call Aunt Cheri and ask her what goes on it. Then I can make it for you tomorrow." (and knowing that Natalie will nag me about it for the rest off my life until I find out what is on it)
Nat: "Okay"

So here's what on it - I was too chicken to try it, so I'll take Natalie's word that it's good.

You mix cream cheese, chopped garlic, roasted garlic & red pepper seasoning, and mozarella cheese. Spread that on a tortilla then a layer of ham and a layer of cilantro leaves (like 20). Roll it up and cut into slices. Sounds more like a sandwich you'd find at a fancy ladies' tea instead of a 3rd graders lunch box. Nat's wrap and Kaylee's ham and cream cheese bagel.
I know it's not as good looking as a P-dub creation.

Back-to-School

2008-08-26T07:57:00.001-07:00

The girls started school today - YAY!! Kaylee in 6th grade at Housel Middle School and Natalie in 3rd grade at Prosser Heights. Natalie's teacher this year is Miss Russell. Kaylee also had her in 3rd grade. Here is the kids picture this morning. Andrew was still asleep!

Colten starts kindergarten next week.

Scrapbook Queen Contest

2008-08-24T10:02:00.000-07:00

Good Morning Everyone!!

I've entered into a scrapbook queen contest over at www.craftwarehouse.com (to win a $250 gift card) and I need your help! I need votes!! To be exact I need votes with a rating of 5. So if you could help a girl out, I'd appreciate it. You'll have to register in order to vote. Craft Warehouse does not send out a lot of emails - I think I get one every other month, but you could just unsubscribe when you do get one. If you're interested here's the steps on how to register/vote.

1. go to www.craftwarehouse.com
2. scroll to the bottom left corner. it will have a login in bar. Click on "register"
3. fill in the info - use Kennewick as your store (you do not have to fill in your birthdate)
4. when your registration has gone through - log in
5. next you'll need to click on "photo gallery" in the main lime green tool bar
6. click on "2008 Scrapbook queen contest"
7. click on Kennewick Store entries
8. click on my layout- the All-American Kids one
9. give my entry a "5" rating. well if you like it anyways!
10. you can give the other entries ratings as well - and you can vote at the other store locations, but giving anyone in my store a high rating hurts my chance - so give them all a 1! hehehe just kidding! kind of ;)

Thanks!!!!

Anyone know what this picture represents?

2008-08-23T08:29:00.001-07:00

No, it's not a random picture that I found on my camera. It's the picture of Kaylee's rite-of-passage into middle school. It's the picture of my heart strings pulled a little tighter. And my apron strings becoming looser. I know, I know it's only middle school, but I can't believe that my baby is old enough to have 7 classes and a locker and she's too little to be in that big school! I have so many fears for her - and she has none. She's excited and I'm a nervous wreck! And I have to let Colten go to all-day kinder this year too! Does it ever get easier to let them grow up?

Mommy's aren't allowed to be sick!

2008-08-22T08:17:00.000-07:00

Man who wrote that rule?? I want to never be sick again! I've been fighting a cold/allergies for a few weeks now and went to to dr to find out that indeed it is a sinus infection. So here's what my kids did while I was resting one morning: Yes, this was a ginormous (is that a word?) fort that took up my entire living room. The furniture was completely re-arranged! I guess I can't really complain - they were all playing nicely, there was no blood, no tears, and they cleaned it up when I asked them too.
Here it's the midway point in the clean-up. All the blankets and toys are put away, they're just getting the furniture put back together.

What we've been up to . . .

2008-08-21T07:21:00.000-07:00

since my last post we've been pretty busy. So I thought I'd just post a couple pictures of what we've been doing.

For Andrew's birthday we drove up to Granger for lunch. Monte works up there so it was a good way for him to get to go to lunch with us. There is a golf course just off the freeway that has GREAT pizza. They also have putt putt golf, pedal cars, and these "kid steam" engines. We did the pedal cars and the kid steam engine and then quickly left since it was 100 degrees outside and we were sweating! It was so much better than chuck e cheese - food was good and way cheaper entertainment! On Saturday the 16th we went up to my in-laws for a birthday party with the other cousins that have August birthdays. We swam in the pool, rode the 4 wheelers, and red-neck surfed in the grass - I wish I had pictures of that! I'll see if my sis-in-law does. Anyways, here are Maeson, Haiden and Andrew with their cakes. My sis-in-law is good and handmade their cakes. Maeson's is a watermelon and Haiden's is a wheel of fortune. Poor Andrew has a store bought Cars one :(.
At this same birthday party everyone had ditched Eastyn. He's the youngest so he often gets left out of things. Kaylee was such a sweetie to play with him, even though all he did was splash her and spray her with the hose!
Then on the 17th we went over to Renton to see my brothers new house. They had a house warming BBQ. If was so much fun and my sis-in-law Kristin made some really good food!! I mean REALLY GOOD! I ate so much I thought I'd have to roll back over the mountain. Here is a pic of Kristin:
And here's my brother Craig:
We spent 2 more days over in Duvall over at my sisters doing boring things like going to Costco and the bookstore. My kids love playing in her hot tub, so we did that a lot too.

Happy Birthday Andrew!

2008-08-15T09:16:00.000-07:00

Andrew is 4!!! Ack how did that happen?? Here's a picture I took of him this morning - dirty face, scabby forehead and all - just keepin' it real!

Fishin' with the Family

2008-08-13T00:16:00.000-07:00

Wednesday night we decided to jump in the boat and go fishin'. Monte had heard that the steelhead were biting above McNary Damn, so we decided to try it out. We caught a 1 1/2 pound small mouth bass but didn't even get a bite from the steely's. We were bummed but had a great time anyways! When you get no bites you become silly and take funny face pictures.
Even Mocha got to go.
This was our view last night - it was a gorgeous evening to be out on the water.

LDS funny

2008-08-07T17:20:00.000-07:00

Natalie's Birthday weekend - Day 2!

2008-08-07T08:46:00.000-07:00

Sunday was Natalie's actual 8th birthday - and she chose to be baptized. I'm so proud of her! Here she is all ready to go with her Uncle Michel - Monte's brother. Her day was made even more special by the fact that her cousin Ethan - who is just 7 weeks older than her - got to be baptized on the same day!
After the baptism we went back to our house for a family dinner. This is a picture of her cake. It's a cupcake cake that we ordered from Safeway - it was YUMMY!!
Here's a shot of her after blowing out the candles - I wasn't quick enough to get the actual "huff".
After this picture was taken my camera informed me "Battery Exhausted" man I love new electronic devices that tell you what's wrong with them!

Natalie's birthday weekend - day 1!

2008-08-07T08:20:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was Natalie's 8th birthday! My sisters (& their families) and Mom came to visit us for the weekend, so on Saturday we went and did some activities. This picture is just of Nat in our front yard - Grandma colleen needed a picture for her talk at Natalie's baptism the next day. This is a picture of my Mom. She has Natalie's swim suit bottoms on her head. Don't ask. We (me, Mom, Cheri, Kaylee, Natalie and Andrew) are in the car on the way to go see Space Chimps. Please, please, please DO NOT go see that movie! Don't even rent it on video. I love you all so much that I am telling you this for your own good (and to save you the money, pain, and horror of having to sit through it)
After the movie we met up with my other sista Sarah and 2 of her kids Cayden & Ethan and Colten (who had gone with them instead of the movie) at the pool inside the Best Western hotel. The pool was freezing so the kids were in the hot tub most of the time.
Andrew got this towel for his birthday (which is still another week away) from my mom.
This picture of Ethan made me crack up!
There are no pictures of the husbands or of one nephew because they went fishing. They didn't catch anything but had a good time relaxing and visiting.

Don't let my sis-in-law watch your kids!

2008-07-31T13:20:00.000-07:00

My sister-in-law took my boys to her house yesterday after we finished the flag pole project and look how she takes care of them!
** No children were harmed during this photo shoot**

The flag pole area is done now too!

2008-07-30T17:42:00.000-07:00

OHHHHHH YAY! It's done! It's done! It's done! Do you know how good that feels?? My sister-in-law offered to come over today and help me out, so I let her! She brought her 3 youngest kids over (the other 3 plus Kaylee & Natalie, are out backpacking with Grandpa & Grandma ) and we got this all done. Here is a close-up: And here is one with the flag too - it's a little crooked because of the wind yesterday.
And here is one final one of Eastyn & Colten at the school lunch today - soooo cute.

Our Morning Project

2008-07-29T09:31:00.001-07:00

We've lived in this house now for a year and a half and I finally decided that I'd had enough of the weeds growing around the front of my house and around our flag pole. (That and we have family coming for Nat's baptism this weekend and I wanted it to look nice!) So on Saturday the kids and I bought a few shrubs and a tree and planted them! We also layed down weed blocker fabric. Then yesterday my awesome neighbor Sandy drove me to a nursery in Grandview where I bought a "yard" of bark. Don't ask me why they call it that - it was basically 2 buckets full. Colten helped un-load the bark out of the pickup yesterday and this morning at 7 am the fun began. It only took Colten and I an hour to get it done. He was a really hard worker! This is Colten cranking the ez-loader to get the bark out - what a handy device!
Ye Old Pile of Bark in front of my garage.
What it looked like before bark . . if you want to see the pre-shrubs et al you'll have to go back to the "I didn't mow my lawn yesterday" post from June 27 - the picture with Andrew on the slide.
AHHHHHHHHHHHH! Man that ~~feels~~ looks good!
Here's the next project . . the flag pole area. And yes, there is something planted in there so I can't just take a roto-tiller to it.

Lowe's free build day

2008-07-28T14:04:00.001-07:00

It was another great bulid at the Pasco Lowe's Home Improvement store last Saturday. The project this week was a table top tetherball game. My brother-in-law Chris showed up with 5 of their kids! It really surprised me! I was thinking to myself " Wow, they drove all the way to town to do this project - that's dedication" and then it dawned on me that I probably drove farther than they did to get there! I just never think that driving to tri-cities is that far for us living in Prosser. It used to take me an hour from where we used to live in Othello, so 30 minutes is a cake walk now. Yeah, I know we've lived in Prosser for 7 1/2 years now, and that I shouldn't think of driving times as though I still live in Othello, but oh well. Sometimes I feel like my kids should still be as old as they were when we lived in Othello too, not that they should be old enough to do things like go into middle school or get get baptized, or go into kinder . . . ok I will get back to my regularly scheduled post now . . . Here are some pics from Lowe's: Cousin Brenden, Colten, Bro-In-law Chris, cousins Kianna, Tyrelle and Maeson
Andrew with his completed (by me) project.
Natalie, Kaylee and Brenden. The only cousin not to make it into the pictures was Haiden - he was standing right next to me. I'll get him next time!

We Have a Winner

2008-07-26T07:06:00.000-07:00

The contest is officially over and we officially have a winner!!! 3 people had the correct answer which was 7 members living at Sun Terrace. Stefanie, Kari & Amanda all had it correct so I put their names in a hat

and

drew

out

the

name

. . . .

Kari!!!

Congrats to Kari ( I will hunt you down with your prize) and thanks to everyone who played. I'm thinking up a new contest already, so stay tuned.

PS - Kari can also name each of those members!

Contest Update

2008-07-23T10:04:00.001-07:00

Well, I've quite a few entries for the contest I started last week. I will keep it open til Friday and then I will choose a winner! all you have to do is leave a comment on the "stampin with the beehives" post guessing how many members of the Prosser, WA ward live at Sun Terrace. Remember the prize is 5 hand stamped cards with envelopes!!

Trip to Hayden, ID

2008-07-23T09:21:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we got to go, as a family, to Hayden, Id. There is a Holiday Inn Express there that has a water park attached to it! It's called Raptor Reef - there are 3 big slides, a wave pool, hot tub and kiddie area with mini slides! Then there is also a Triple Play place that has go carts, bowling, bumper boats, golf, a rock wall, and a Chuck E Cheese type arcade area. We had sooo much fun!! Of course what trip through the Spokane Valley would be complete without stopping at The White Elephant and Cabela's?!?! Here is a slide show of some of the things we got to do. Enjoy!

Stampin' with the Beehive's

2008-07-18T07:10:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, the beehives in my ward asked me to bring some of my stamp supplies to their Wednesday night activity. They wanted to make cards for the members of our ward that live in Sun Terrace (an assisted living complex) It was really a fun night getting to show others how much fun it is to create things with stamps and I loved getting to know the girls!

contest!!!! Guess how many members of our ward are living at Sun Terrace. Leave me a comment with your guess and the person with the correct # will get a stack of 5 cards w/envelopes!

Heeeeere's SarahAlana & Sierra

Claire & Deborah - apparently Deborah HATES to have her picture taken . . which of course means I HAD to have it! Thanks Claire for helpin' a girl out!

Pickin' Raspberries

2008-07-18T07:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we picked raspberries up at Grandma's & Grandpa's house. (Monte's parents) We met Aunt Amy, Lyndon & Emily up there and we picked for about 2 hours. Aunt Maria, Brenden, Tyrelle, Haiden, Maeson, Kianna and Eastyn also joined us after a while and the kids all jumped in the pool together to cool off. All in all it was a fun day with only one mishap - Colten got stung by a bee. Thank goodness he is not allergic like Monte is or we would have been at the hospital! Kaylee had to pose for me - I forgot to grab the camera while we were all out there!
We ended up without about 4 of these pans full. Guess what I'm doing today? Yep - making raspberry jam!

Lowe's Kids Activity Day

2008-07-12T13:23:00.001-07:00

By now you all know that I love to find cheap things for my kids to do. Free stuff is even better! We found out that Lowe's home improvement store has free kids classes every other week thru the summer. Today we made Dune Buggy's. It was pretty easy for them (even Andrew) just nailing and stickers for the most part.

Here are Kaylee, Natalie & Colten hard at work: Andrew was at the other table:
Here they all are with their finished dune buggy's. They also got free aprons, safety goggles, completion certificates, and a patch with a dune buggy on it. They'll get a new patch each week they go.
Andrew made a "garage" with hammers for his buggy. I love how this kid's mind works!
Here's the crew inside Lowe's. With them is our friend Jessica. She wheeled the kids around the store while her mom, Coren, and I shopped for ~~boring~~ exciting things like light bulbs, cabinet brackets and hose repair kits.
We decided they were the worst customer service workers ever. They didn't know where in the store we could find what we needed and they kept hiding whenever we had questions. Maybe they could get jobs over at Michael's - they'd fit right in there.

4th of July!

2008-07-08T06:23:00.001-07:00

I love living in a small town!! It's great to be able to show up to the 4th of July Parade (or any parade that is) 2 minutes before the start time and be able to find a great spot, in the shade, with your friends! This year was no different - we sat in front of the PMH Physical Therapy Office with our friends the Cliffords. It's a great spot because it's at the start of the parade & the people on the floats are VERY enthusiastic about sharing their candy! Hehehe - ya, you know that's why I go - FREE candy! The other great thing about this particular spot is that you can pack up your stuff when the parade is gone and follow it down the street. Dress your kids up like this and the other parade watchers will think you're part of the parade! From the left - Colten, Kaylee, Sydney, Andrew, Natalie & Ethan
Colten & Ethan Lagones getting ready for the 3-legged race.
Natalie & Kaylee in the 3-legged race with their friends Eliza & Hayley Buttars.

Kaylee & Hayley won!

Look at Kaylee's crazy-long stride!!! We need to get her in track!
Here's Colten & Andrew in the pie eating contest. Colten stuck his face right in - he had the best technique. But he discovered it was blueberry and didn't like it at all. Andrew got an apple pie - but his technique was to nibble all the edges first, then he was too full to start on the actual pie! It really was a fun day at the Prosser City Park. We finished off the night at a friends house in Pasco with a BBQ and fireworks.

** Special thanks to the Cliffords for remembering their camera so that I could have some great pictures of my kids!

Bugged out at the Library

2008-07-01T07:06:00.001-07:00

Last night we went to the Prosser Library for a performance by Joy Aronson. She was the Singing Bug Lady! She was so entertaining and interacted with the kids. My kids loved her! This is Natalie & Colten (Andrew is on the side) wearing bug masks made out of kitchen utensils. They were part of the bug band. Andrew got to wear a headband with springs and silver balls attached - like antennae. We call them deely-bobbers, but I don't know if that's what they are called.

I know this picture is a bit small, it was taken on my cell phone.

Fun with Friends

2008-06-30T06:36:00.000-07:00

On Friday, the kids and I met Natalie's 2nd grade teacher (Jen Muhlbeier) and her kids, and their neighbor for lunch at a sprinkler park in Kennewick. The kids loved the sprinklers, but had more fun at the koi pond and garden that is next to it. Here's all the kids (minus Kaylee - she was guarding our picnic paraphernalia). from the left - Andrew, Trace (on the floor), Laney, Caden, Natalie, Macy, Drew, & Colten.
What is is about a fish pond that makes the kids just flock to it??
Now, this is why we love Jen sooo much! She totally turned into teacher mode and was giving the kids lessons on the herbs that the Master Gardeners have in the garden. She had the kids taste a leaf from most of the herbs and then would tell them what kinds of foods that they would go with. "The is rosemary, it goes well with chicken or pork." "This is thyme, it goes with meat or you can taste it in spaghetti sauce." "This is dill, doesn't it taste like pickles?" The kids were totally mesmerized! The garden also has veggies in it. It was fun to go around and see how all the different veggies grow. We see the onions, cucumbers, asparagus and peppers on the farm all the time, but it was really neat to see how other veggies grow too. What I thought was going to be just a fun play day turned into a learning experience that the kids thought was so much fun.

I didn't mow my lawn yesterday. . .

2008-06-27T07:00:00.001-07:00

. . . and I had a great excuse. The lawn was too wet because my kids decided to make a "water park".

Here are the blue prints: Here is the main attraction - riding the scooters around the sprinkler thats on the sidewalk.
And here is the side attraction - the slide that goes to the clubhouse propped up by buckets from their bedrooms. I wonder what their rooms look like? I think that's a whole other post.
** Please ignore my weeds and dead spots!

100 things you might not know about me . . .

2008-06-26T06:44:00.000-07:00

I was tagged by my friend Carol to make this list and she wanted me to post the answers to my blog instead of just emailing it to her. She doesn't have a blog, so she doesn't understand the pressure I feel to perform well . . . ARGH!!!!! Here goes:

1. I go by my middle name
2. My siblings and I all had the same initials (until us girls got married)
3. I love pizza
4. I have 2 dogs
5. and a cat
6. Also a fish
7. and 2 snails
8. I love to read
9. rubber stamping is TONS of fun
10. I love it when my friends come over to stamp with me
11. We lived in Colorado during the summer between 4th and 5th grade
12. We drove there from Seattle.
13. It wasn't fun
14. I'll never do that with my kids
15. I enjoy camping
16. Especially smores
17. I make my smores with a peanut butter cup instead of a hershey bar
18. I LOVE pb cups!
19. I met my best friend from jr high/high school over a pb cup. ( Hi Amy!!)
20. I've been to Disneyland
21. twice
22. Once on crutches
23. I broke my toe 3 weeks before graduating high school
24. I fell down the stairs in front of our house.
25. It was painful
26. I'm always stubbing my toes on something
27. It's not me, it's the furniture. It's out to get me.
28. I broke 2 more toes in the fall of 2005.
29. I fell down the stairs at my sisters house.
30. My house does not have any stairs.
31. I find this difficult
32. So I will not tag anyone else!
33. I would read everyone else's 100 lists if they made one.
34. I like the summer
35. It gets a little too hot for me where I live.
36. I prefer 84 degrees
37. Hawaii is 84 degrees
38. I love Hawaii
39. I can't wait to go back
40. I love the fall
41. My birthday is in the fall
42. the air is cooler in the fall
43. the kids go back to school in the fall
44. all my kids will be in school this fall
45. I'm VERY sad about this
46. I want to know where all my years with them have gone
47. My favorite number is 47
48. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my kids
49. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my hubby
50. I'm half way done!
51. I really don't like the winter
52. I don't like driving on the freezing rain/snow
53. Or the black ice
54. I flipped my car after hitting a patch of black ice.
55. It was the scariest thing ever!
56. More scary than finding a spider in the shower.
57. I am very afraid of spiders.
58. I have to kill them for my kids
59. I. DON'T. LIKE. SPIDERS.
60. I do like kittens and puppies and all baby animals.
61. They help me not to think about big old nasty black hairy jumping spiders.
62. I just shuddered.
63. Thinking happy thoughts!!!
64. I like watching movies.
65. Especially Disney movies.
66. My favorite Disney movie is Monsters Inc.
67. I love Mike & Sully.
68. I have a stuffed Mike & Sully on my dresser
69. I have Mike & Sully characters from the Cars movie
70. Monte drew the line at Mike & Sully sheets
71. I'm kidding
72. I didn't really want them bad enough to try to convince him of the security features.
73. He wouldn't have believed me
74. So I didn't even try
75. I'm LDS
76. I grew up in the church.
77. I have a simple testimony.
78. I wish I had a stronger one
79. It's very difficult to take my kids to church by myself.
80. I feel frustrated most Sundays
81. but I love church and my friends there so I keep pluggin' along
82. I'm almost done!
83. I'm not perfect
84. I don't want to be - that would be boring!
85. I HATE folding socks.
86. I would rather balance my checkbook than fold socks
87. I don't like balancing my checkbook but it has to be done
88. My kids don't have to wear socks, do they?
89. I love flip flops
90. I could wear flip flops year round in Hawaii
91. Did I mention that I love Hawaii?
92. Oh I did? Oh well I said it again!
93. I love to get pedicures
94. I love the color lime green
95. This is the year I graduated from high school
96. This is the year I got married.
97. This is the year I had my first baby
98. I have to mow the lawn today
99. I have LOTS of weeds to mow too.
100. I love you all!!!!!!

Waiting . . . .

2008-06-21T21:33:00.000-07:00

What goes on a bagel?

2008-06-19T06:32:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I don't have a picture for this post, but I had to share a conversation I had with Colten yesterday.

Colten: Mom, where's the chowder cream?
Me: Huh??
Colten: The chowder cream.
Me: What is chowder cream?
Colten: You know - for my bagel.
Me: You want chowder cream for your bagel? ( I still don't know what he's talking about)
Colten: YES!
Me: What is it?
Colten: You know (no, I don't!) the stuff that Kaylee puts on her bagel - the white stuff in the 'tainer in the fridge that you spread on a bagel.
Me: (digging around in the fridge for the new 'tainer of the stuff - by this time I'd finally figured out that he meant CREAM CHEESE!) You mean this stuff??
Colten: YES! chowder cream.
Me: OK, I call it cream cheese though.
Colten: ohhhhhh

long pause . . . . . . . . .

Colten: I like to call it chowder cream.
Me: OK

hehehe I LOVE KIDS!!!!

Spa-gar-a-gus

2008-06-17T22:11:00.000-07:00

So I was going to blog about swimming lessons today (ya, I know, big deal) but Monte came home today with not one . . but TWO 28 pound boxes of spagaragus. (This is what Andrew calls it and I think it's so darn cute that I've started calling it that too) So what exactly does one do with 56 pounds of spagaragus??? You make Pickled Spagaragus!! Of course I couldn't possibly have done it all on my own . . the kids had to help. They were quite helpful as you can see: Kaylee and Natalie cut the spears to the correct length . . .
while giving the camera lovely smiles.
It was the boys job to take off the rubberbands that hold the spagaragus so nicely together. Oh they are not rubberbands . . they are slingshots. Colten corrected me. The boys also made sure that the girls had plenty of un-slingshot bound spagaragus.

And what was I doing during all this? Why, taking pictures of course!

Oh, wait. I was also packing jars with garlic, dill and spagaragus, filling them with vinegar/water mix, and giving the many jars a water bath.

These are the many beautiful jars that we filled today. 23 in all - one broke :(

But don't be sad for us . . . there will be more jars tomrorrow. There's still one 28 pound box of spagaragus left to do.

Birthday Shout Out!

2008-06-16T09:49:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Ethan!
Great big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my nephew Ethan!!
He turns 8 today! We love you big guy!
** Thanks to Cheri for the great picture!! **

The second day of Summer Vacation.

2008-06-16T06:29:00.000-07:00

Now this is a much better choice for my sanity during summer break. We now have a routine! We get up in the morning and have breakfast, then we start on some schoolwork. Yes, I'm one of those mean moms who makes their kids do schoolwork during summer break. I just don't want their brains to turn to jell-o in the next 10 weeks. (Actually it's really so I can have 20 minutes to stalk all my friends' blogs, but shhhhh don't tell my kids!)

After that they do their chores, read books or watch a little TV. Then it's time for lunch and quiet time, then they can play the rest of the day! If you're interested the books I use are called Summer Bridge Activities. I bought mine on eBay (I know . . shocking) but you can also purchase them from amazon.com or at the teacher supply store in Kennewick.