Brothers

After school one day I came into the living room and found the boys like this. Please note that Dominic is twice the size and weight as Seth and he is on top. The boys were both sound asleep. They have been sleeping more after school so I'm wondering if they're starting to grow more. I am so thankful to have my 2 boys in this house full of girls!

Socks, socks, socks!

I love the sale at Fred Meyers on Black Friday! I always go there and stock up on their 50% off socks. We do an advent calendar where we hang up 25 socks on a rope or clothesline and countdown to Christmas so that's where I get all my socks for the calendar. We put a little something in each sock so there's a new surprise for the kids each day like a Christmas movie or a pair of socks, toothbrushes, bubble bath or even "pick what's for breakfast in the morning" and we leave it open for the child to pick whatever they want. They each take turns opening their own socks. I have included a picture so you can better understand. We have done this for 4-5 years now and the kids really seem to enjoy it. Last night was the first night and we got a book for Mom to read to them while they're in bed. so far so good. Tonight we get to put together our first gingerbread house ever! Wish me luck!

Nothing Beats Family

This last weekend we went up to Spokane, WA for a funeral and got to spend time with some of my family. It was so wonderful and I think I'm good for another few months until I need another family fix. We stayed at my brother, Paul's, home and went horseback riding on Saturday evening with him and got to meet his new girlfriend, Breanna, and her 2 kids. She is a kindred spirit. She is really great. Saturday after the funeral my Mom held a small Thanksgiving dinner for us since we won't make it up for Thanksgiving. It was so nice. Just being with family again does wonders for the soul. So here's a few pictures from our trip. Enjoy!
This is my niece, Andie. She is the eldest grandchild and such a doll! She is with Maggie who is currently the youngest grandchild, only for another week.Breanna with her youngest, Megan.
Breanna with her oldest, Molly. Molly was born with spina bifida and is in wheel chair because of it. She had a hard time getting on the horses last time they went but with all my kids around riding the horses it gave Molly the courage to try it too! We were so proud of her!
My amazing brother, Paul, on his horse. The ones I had of him when we were riding didn't turn out well so I took one from when we went riding at our family reunion in July. he provided 4 horses for all of us to take turns riding. It was so much fun. I had never seen some of my siblings ride a horse until then because they are so much older and were out of the house by the time I was old enough to remember.

Bye-Bye Scubbers

I have to confess a heartless act I did last night. Dominic has had this gerbil, Scubbers, for quite some time now and I got really tired of the smell in the boys room from her. Dominic would clean the cage at least every other day and it didn't help that much. So last night I suggested to him, half in jest, that he let Scubbers go free outside. He was eager to do it so he did. Well, this morning we found one of Scubbers legs and paw on the back patio. Our cat, Hermione, got her. Ryan was very unhappy at me and Dominic last night for this choice and now seeing that constant reminder is eating at me really bad. Am I really that heartless? If you think I am please don't tell me, I feel bad enough.
This is not our gerbil but a picture of one from the internet.

Are You Ready?

Christmas time is fast approaching and I'm happy to say that I have all my Christmas sewing DONE! Last year I was doing it all at the last minute and going crazy but this year I started it in September and now have it all done. I got 4 nightgowns, 3 pj capris, and 10 pair of pj pants. It took awhile but I got it all done. The hardest was getting the finishing done, I dragged my feet getting the elastic in them. I feel so good now that they're done though! Christmas is looking a little more stress free for me! This is Sammie sporting her Christmas jammies. The girls get pink camo and the boys get red camo.

Burned Popcorn

Today has been a lazy day for me. Don't tell my husband but the sink is full of dirty dishes, I am in lounging clothes without make up and my hair in a back ponytail, I have laundry to fold, a house to clean, kids to feed, and obviously dishes to do. So I am finishing the movie "Julie & Julia" and finishing up a Christmas project- yes you read right, I start way in advance so I'm not caught at the last minute by it all- and this guy, Brett Barton, who looks like he's 14 comes to the door and says he's running for state house or whatever and he's making his rounds to meet people and answer any questions we might have. He seems nice enough so far. Then he sees my kids running around and asks how many I have then asks if I'm LDS. He says he was raised LDS in a part-member family and is currently inactive. As I was talking to him Lillian was popping popcorn in the microwave and it got burned and was really smelling up the house. So as he was leaving he said that he was impressed at how I could keep my cool with all the chaos going on around me. OK, so my kids burned popcorn and the girls were playing but it was FAR from chaotic, trust me. I told him to wait awhile and he could see what real chaos is like. So here's to you Mr. young man who's really 30, running for office and wanting to represent me and all my chaos. I wasn't that impressed.

Mr. Brett Barton

The guy said he sends out his fliers through the Democrat party because it's 6 cents cheaper in postage. And he worked on Governor Kulongoski's reelection campaign. 2 strikes against him there alone.

Helping Hands

Yesterday in remembrance of 9-11 the community was having a "day of service" and our stake decided to get involved in it. Each ward took on assignments in their ward boundaries and went to work starting at 8am. Ryan works every Saturday so I signed me and the kids up to help and we were put in a group doing yard work for an elderly lady that was in the hospital. I bribed the kids with donuts when we got done if they didn't complain and worked hard. They did such a great job! I am a very lucky mother!



We got to wear the Helping Hands things. They weren't vests or shirts so what do you call them? There were more than a few neighbors who drove past a few times to see what was going on. There were only the kids and I and 2 other adults at our project. But from our ward we had over 80 people participating in service. It was so great and fun for my kids to be involved in.

Our new bishop, Don Hokanson, staining a railing with his daughter.

Also, Ryan was released from the bishopric today. He was called a few weeks ago to be the High Priest group leader so he has been doing double duty for the last few weeks. I am excited to have him sit with us again in sacrament meeting after almost 4 years of being up on the stand but I will miss all the great times we have had with him being in the bishopric. We have been richly blessed while he was serving in there.
Our computer is up and running again so hopefully now I'll be able to blog more!

Recap

Where does all the time go?? We have been so happily busy lately. Dominic & Seth are in baseball and Lil is in t-ball. my kids are cute and keep me feeling alive, too alive at times! Those times aren't o fun if you know what I mean. We've missed a little time on this here blog page so here's a little recap.


Here's my cutie pie, Seth, wearing Abby's sweater! He's a crack up!


Here's my big teddy bear, Dominic, after he got Maggie to sleep. She is always so comfy in her big brothers arms. He's the only sibling she goes to sleep for!


My 3 girls sleeping in my room while Ryan, Dom & Seth were gone on the Father & son's outing. Abby is in my bed, Sammie is on the floor by my night stand & Lillian is sleeping in my rocker/recliner. Last year I tried the "let them all sleep in my bed" thing and it was so uncomfortable! I learned my lesson. Plus, last year I was also 7 months pregnant!

Our power went out on Thursday while I was mixing my 4th, and last, batch of bread for the day. Needless to say, we were waiting for the power to come back on and here's what happened! Yummy!


Dominic went into our bedroom Friday night to put something away and look what he found in Maggie's bed. A visitor! Don't they look so cute! When I was a little girl I used to cry for my big sister, Ruth. My Ruthie was my protector. Well, when Sammie cries it's for her baby sister, Maggie. She loves her sister. We giggled and took pictures of them. They are so cute.


A few weeks ago I took the kids to Salem to the AG (agricultural) fair down there. That is where we were when Maggie fell asleep in Dom's arms above. We had a great time getting free pony rides, digging for potatoes, watching a sheep get sheared, seeing & petting all the animals, etc. They even had little pedal tractor races my kids got to do. It was great! So here's my little ones riding in style where I can strap them in and keep my eyes on them better. I'm not into that whole child leash thing.


A few weeks ago I couldn't find Maggie and when I went outside to see if one of the kids had her guess what! They did! Lil was riding around the cul-de-sac with her on the little bike! Maggie loved it!! I hope you can somewhat see the huge smile on her face!


Lillian & Abby are starting to get along more than they used to. Thank goodness! They can fight with the best of them! You can tell they are sisters. Here they are sitting on the play structure watching Seth, Dominic & their friends play soccer at Seth's birthday party.

And They're Off!

It's hard to keep 6 kids at bay when there are so many fun things to touch and ride on in the hardware store! Here's 4 of my cute kids trying out the lawnmowers! Shopping with so many isn't always easy but it's the great moments like these that make me sit back and smile and think how lucky I am to be their Mom! I hope when my children are all grown that they remember times like these and always cherish these times they have together as I cherish my siblings. These are the BEST memories.

Ode to Barney

As I was getting out of the shower today I heard my dear little Abby singing to her two little sisters in my bedroom. Here's how it went:

Joy to the world Barney's dead,
I barbecued his head,
Don't worry 'bout the body,
I flushed it down the potty,
And round and round it goes....
Repeat last line 2 times.

I just laughed. That song was a big hit this Christmas season for the boys and kids pick up on everything! Gotta love those big brothers!!! I know I do.

Nothin' Beats Chuck E. Cheese

Sammie is 3 now!! I can't believe it ! For their birthday we let the kids choose where they want to go for their birthday lunch or dinner, and we go as a family. Sammie chose to go to Chuck E. Cheese. The kids love that place. Ryan got off early and we went. we had a good time. Sammie and Abby and sometimes Lillian rode on all those quarter machine rides that are usually outside the grocery stores. They had a great time. The boys played games and we got our Chuck E. Cheese pictures taken. We love the Chuck E. sketch pad pictures and have them taken every time we go there. Nothing big. Dominic got so many tickets from scoring high on games that we walked away with over 800 tickets to cash in. Usually we're lucky to walk away with 300. Seth contributed too and the boys did awesome. I'm sad to say that I only contributed maybe 10 tickets. I didn't play much but was a sorry sight at skee ball.Look at all those tickets!
So we came home and did the cake and ice cream and presents then watched cloudy with a chance of meatballs. The kids liked it pretty well, but I am good to not watch it again anytime soon. We had a great evening. my Sammie is 3!!! Sad thing is that she'll just keep getting bigger and bigger. Where does all the time go?

Who Knew?

Before Maggie was born Ryan got a little bored and since we had some wood left over from laying the hardwood floors Ryan ripped out the tile from our front entryway and did this elaborate celtic friendship design on the floor and the surrounding wood. It is beautiful! Well, he got bored again and used the last of the wood from the floor. Isn't it beautiful!!! He did all the wood himself, design and all, and I painted the door. At least I contributed this time! He continues to amaze me everyday, just some days more than others! It makes me sad to know we're going to put the house back on the market soon. In the meantime we're going to replace our countertops and replace a few things to make the place the best. I want to do something like this in the next house. So, who knew it could be so beautiful?!

Fort Knox

Last Monday Ryan made Fort Knox for the future gerbils. Petsmart called on Wednesday and said they'd have gerbils ready for sale on Saturday. So yesterday morning we went and got 3 gerbils this time. We let the girls get one to share. They can't keep their hands off them. For 3 girls to have one gerbil it gets a little crazy. My little brother, Aaron, said we should name them Harry and Ron so maybe Hermione wouldn't eat them. Ha ha. But Dominic named his Scabbers, the girls is named Ginny, but Seth named his Stormy. But we set a new record, they made it through church ALIVE!! Yeah for us! But I'm sorry, the cage is a little ridiculous! I'd rather just get her a shock collar and have a little fun but those are expensive.

Hermione Treats

So I took the boys to go get more gerbils on Saturday and after checking a few places we found some at Petco in Clackamas. It was great, they were cute and the boys were excited. We had even bought them a little ball for the gerbils to roll around in, yes, Seth got one this time too. When we came home the following day, yesterday, we came home to no gerbils in the cage and blood splatters on the floor in the bedroom. This time Hermione got one of the cage extensions off since we locked the cage door good. So no more gerbils and it's tough to find replacements. There are absolutely no gerbils at the pet stores right now.
We called Petsmart and they said they may be changing distribution centers and if they do they won't be selling gerbils or any of those fun little rodents anymore because the new distribution center is in California and those small pets are illegal in California. so if anyone out there knows of any good places to go to get gerbils or know someone who needs to get rid of some let me know please. Tonight we are also building a cage over the cage so the cat can't even touch the gerbil cage. Extreme, I know. What we don't do because we love out children!!

Oh No, Oreo!!

Dominic got a new gerbil for Christmas and named it Oreo. Oreo is really cute, well, was really cute. On Thursday morning about 3:30am Ryan and I awoke to Seth and Aaron coming into our room and telling us that our wonderful cat, Hermione, got the gerbil cage open and took the Oreo. Aaron caught her downstairs and threw her outside before she could eat poor Oreo. She was already dead so Ryan flushed her down the toilet. He said you could see the teeth marks in her. It was sad. The funny part was that Dominic slept right through the noise of Hermione banging around the cage and all the voices after wards. That boy can sleep through anything. Poor Oreo. We are going tomorrow to get another gerbil. We'll see what he gets this time. This will be his 3rd one. This time Seth is going to get one too so Hermione will have a bigger meal!! ha ha.
You can see Oreo curled up in a ball in the picture.

Happy New Year!!

Don't you just love the holidays?! There's so many things to do to keep you very busy and stressed at times. You get together with family for the holidays, which was great by the way, but some people only get together with their extended families because they feel they have to, not because they really want to. All the decorations to get out, gifts to wrap, cards and letters to send out.....and the list goes on. Then all of a sudden it's over. Then you take down everything and there's nothing really after that. We work so hard for that month or two and then nothing. It's so sad that there's not something really fun after that to really look forward to. We'll have vacations and such things but there's nothing that ever compares to Christmas time!! But I must say that I'm just kinda sitting here thinking "OK, what next?"

Ryan and Maggie opening presents

Dominic and Sammie. He broke his finger really good the week before Christmas.

Abby and Sammie. It seems like Sammie likes watching everyone open their presents!

Our Christmas was really nice. We had a fondue dinner on Christmas Eve with the kids, my brother Aaron, and Ryan's parents. The kids absolutely love having fondue dinner so we thought that would be a great excuse to have it. Then we stayed up till almost 2am putting things together and getting stuff downstairs. We had Aaron help us this year so we can train him in the ways of Santa. It was great. Then on Christmas morning we got up at about 5:30 and it was great opening gifts with the kids!

Seth loved how funny he looked and wanted it posted.

Lillian loves to draw and Grandpa and Grandma gave her a sketch pad with paints!

Me and Sammie and Abby. They were so excited for me!

Aaron was so excited to get new underwear!!

Then we spent the latter part of the afternoon at Ryan's parents place and opened gifts with them then we had dinner and played games and watched movies. It was so nice to just do nothing.

I think Mom liked her new clothes.

Dad was excited about Harry Potter 6!! Pat on the back for us.

We rang in the New Year sleeping in our beds. Ryan has to work New Year's Eve and New Year's day. But it was good. 4 of our kids were elsewhere so we had the littlest 2.
So to all of you Happy New Year and I'm so glad we made it through another one!! Now I'm starting thinking of ideas for next Christmas, you can never plan too early.

And our "Maggie-dalana" as the little girls call her, is just too cute to pass up. Here she is playing with Dom and Sammie.