5 Generations

Last Saturday my grandma came and picked up my girls and took them up to her mom's house to help her decorate for Christmas. Grandma Pearson lives up in the mountains in Cambridge, ID and her house is a cozy cottage of memories and full of fun things to explore. The best part is the pull-down stairs that come from the ceiling and lead up to the attic with a bedroom and lots of fun "old" stuff to look at. Ezma Pearson is my great grandma and the girls' great-great grandma. She has always been an inspiration in my life and my kids' are so fortunate to have the opportunity to get to know her.

I hope I will remember the stories she has told of life when it was simple and teach my children the important things like charity, love, patience and family. It's amazing to think her lifespan has included using an outhouse and no indoor plumbing and no lights all the way to ipads and instant connection to the world.

Grandma is known and loved in her community by everyone and she even served as the town mayor many years ago! I am so blessed to be her descendant and am grateful for her sacrifice, example and love she has emulated over her life. Merry Christmas Grandma!

Breaking the Rules

Tonight was Emma's ballet recital. They did the "Nutcracker" and she was a party girl and a candy cane. After all these months of practices and lessons, we're all settled in to watch the show. Of course we want to capture this moment (we've paid for in lessons and tickets none the less) with pictures and video. The natural thing to do, right? Right before the show starts, the instructor marches over to my grandma and says, "I need you to put that away. No Pictures!! No Video!!"

Uh, excuse me! There is no way I just paid $$$ for dance lessons and $10 bucks a ticket and not get something to show for it! Now there may be some dance people or show people who are nodding their heads in agreement with the no media thing but come on! They're kids! My kid!

Sooooo, we broke the rules...

We were at least discreet about it and turned the flash off but by golly, we got proof our daughter was in the "Nutcracker"!!

                                                                    So sue us..

                                                                    The Party Girls

                                                          Emma and her bestie, Julia

She's too darn cute to not get pictures. I'm justified!

Bowling

The other night we went bowling as a family and had a blast. Derek and Jared were in heaven! I don't think Jared had anything other than a smile on his face the whole night. I don't think he realized there was such thing as "real" bowling. With all the bowling pins of different shapes and sizes around the house, I think he just thought it was another kind of toy.

  

The kids had some funny moves when they bowled and I told them if they did something funny after their turn and let me video it, I'd let them get a candy bar when we left.

     

Makayla did a jig

Derek bowled with his tounge out

I made Emma do the splits after she bowled but I didn't get a pictre :(

What is it with wanting to stick your face in the hole where the balls come out?

Jared and I got a strike!

Every day since we went bowling, Derek has been asking if we can go "real" bowling again. I think Mark may join a league with him. We had so much fun!

Some shoes I think I should invest in...

Macaroni Explosion

While Mark went hunting for the day on Wednesday, I decided to make some home-made mac-and-cheese for dinner. After mixing all the ingredients, you have to bake it in the oven for 15 minutes at 450. I thought it seemed a little high for the temperature but I stuck it in anyway. Midway through cooking, I heard a "Pop!" and we all looked at the oven. I thought it was strange and almost sounded like one of the oven racks had fallen. I opened the oven door and much to my surprise found this.

KA-BAM!!

Mark was such a great sport when I talked to him on the phone. I told him dinner exploded in the oven and he said, "Don't worry about it. I'll clean it up when I get home."

I said, "No, you don't understand. It exploded in the oven!"

"Wow." was all he said when he saw it.

Even after taking out the racks and bottom shield, there was glass and burned mac-and-cheese everywhere. Thanks for cleaning it honey! You're amazing!

The Pumpkin Patch

No pre-school would be complete without a field trip to the pumpkin patch. We went to Linder farms on a stormy morning but luckily it didn't rain on us and we eventually saw some sunshine. I was reluctant to take Jared with us but he ended up being pretty good and had a great time too.

I like the crazy looking gourd

The kids played in a box full of corn and we took a wagon ride out to the patch.

Derek found the right one

The hay bale maze

Fun in tractor tires

The Blog-wagon

Man I'm already on and off the blog-wagon! Consistency is not my thing...

 Luckily I have some great friends and family members that do blogs and keep me inspired.

Last night we had a great time with my parents, my brother and his family and also his in-laws. I made soup and the kids were off trick-or-treating in no time. I volunteered to "sacrifice" and stay at home for the coming trick-or-treaters. We had some great costumes stop by!

Jared helped me make yummy soup!

Emma was the girl from "Soul Surfer" who lost her arm to a shark while surfing. She got a lot of "Now who are you?" comments while trick-or-treating. Notice the shark biting off her arm :)

                                            

Derek was Buzz Lightyear with Homemade wings. When you buy a costume at a garage sale, it's bound to be missing some parts :)

Makayla was some nasty looking ghoul thing with fangs. Derek kept calling her "Man-pire"

Jared was a horse that each of the kids have been at that age. Yeah, I'm cheap.
G-pa took him trick-or-treating and he was done after 3 houses. It was cold and the people were scary!

Emma and Makayla with Sheridan.

The Fire Station

 Derek's Preschool class had a field trip to the fire station on September 21st. The kids were excited and anxious to go inside when the garage door opened and the fire truck rolled out with sirens wailing. Off they went to a call! We all looked at each other with raised eyebrows and "what now?" looks on our faces. The teachers stepped in quickly and had the kids sit outside to do snack and share until they got back. Luckily for us, they were back in about 10 minutes.

 After watching an annoyingly long and loud movie on fire safety, the kids were able to go out to the garage to get the real scoop. One fire fighter put on the gear while another explained what each thing was for and why it was important.

Each child was able to try on the jacket and get pictures with the trucks and firemen. All the kids were exclaiming, "I want to be a firefighter when I grow up!" and "I can't wait to be a firefighter!" and then there was Derek with his hands over his ears, and shaking his head saying "I don't want to be a firefighter! I don't want to be a firefighter!" The sirens and horns were a little much for him :).

Schools In

The kids are always excited for the new year to start and it usually lasts a couple of days into the new week. Makayla is in 4th grade, Emma 2nd and Derek is in Pre-school. They all have wonderful teachers and have an exciting year in front of them. The question is am I ready to let them go? The week right before school started gave me a resounding "YES!" They were so good the whole summer and then the last week was rough for us all. We were up bright and early that first day back! They love going and it's a good thing I love having them come home every day!

Coop da' Villa

Back in the spring the grandkids (mostly mine) begged and pleaded with my parents to get chickens. For some reason they agreed and so off to D&B supply they went. They came home with 14 baby chicks and placed them in their new home. A cardboard box. Little by little the chicks grew and needed a new home. My dad decided he would build his own coop by watching U-tube videos and the end result was a chicken penthouse! The coop is amazing with 2 doors, windows, a row of nesting boxes accessible from the outside and roosting bars. He graciously allowed the grandkids to come and "help" with the painting.

Cute little chicks in a box

Makayla is lifting the door to the nesting row where you can get the eggs.

Looking through the coop.

The holding pen.

Painting the penthouse

G-pa with his helpers

Cost of baby chicks- $20

Cost of Coop da' Villa- $$$$

G-pa's adventures-Priceless!!

Painting the Boys' Room

I buckled down and painted the boys' room this past month. I had 3 of the 4 walls painted blue but I wanted to paint the ceiling and 4th wall sky blue and add the stripes. Yes, the stripes took forever to measure and tape off. I saw the idea in a magazine and used some paint from the toy room painting I did. I did have to purchase the bright blue and another can of the sky blue but I had everything else.

The red drapes were already there and red will be used as an accent color when I hang things up.

We still need to add Derek's bed back in but we probably won't do it until Jared is in a bed as well.

The fun Sun light is from IKEA but contradictory to its name, does not provide good lighting.

Scrapaway!!

Earlier this month I got a call from my wonderful, dear friend, Carli Siders asking if I was coming to Scrapaway this year. I had gone a long time ago and I knew it was overdue for me to go again. Because I was going to fly and not make the 12 hour drive, I thought I would just bring my laptop instead of all my pictures and scrapbooking things. Definitely a lot lighter and I wouldn't have to pay the stupid airline fees for extra baggage. 

Scrapaway is the perfect opportunity to have un-interrupted time to blog and put together photo books online. This year scrapaway is held in Colorado Springs at a home in the mountains. The host, Jessica lives here with her family but we have the whole basement to ourselves. There are lots of tables and work spaces, printers and die-cut machines, a tv lounge area where we can watch conferences and the best part is that she COOKS for us! We checked in this morning (Friday) and don't have to leave until 5pm Sunday.

Luckily my husband is wonderful and encouraged me to go so I don't feel too guilty about leaving him with 14 hour work days, piano practice and group class, ballet, soccer practice, 4 soccer games, school picture day, the jog-a-thon, and a very destructive and messy toddler. It's a good thing it's conference weekend and he doesn't have to haul them all to church too. I wonder who's going to get more out of conferences this time??  :)  Thanks honey!!