Christmas 2013

I love making my kids take a Christmas photo each year. Some years are better than others. This years photo turned out surprisingly good, even with the inevitable before church rush.

I love how alive my kids look. Ian cheeks are pink as he and Mike had just returned from a 7 mile walk in the snowy woods, Finn has a slight black eye from falling off a kitchen chair and Eliza's toothless grin is delightful. Merry Christmas to our Friends and Family. 

Halloween again...

I know most of you have seen some of these Halloween photos on Mike's facebook, but my blog wouldn't be complete without chronicling the kid's costumes each year!

 At the trunk or treat we had a ghost, a bat and a hobbit.

 But on Halloween we had a Ranger, a Bear that couldn't lift his arms because the costume was so tight, and a pirate girl. Eliza was determined to dress in different costumes each activity we went to! I was a bit disappointed as I actually made her ghost costume! It only got an hours worth of wear.

After the sugar rush of Halloween ended we took a Saturday and volunteered at an aide station for a half marathon! The kids loved filling up the hundreds of cups with Gatorade and water. Ian stood on the side of the road with cups calling "water water water water" to all the runners passing bye. It was really fun and we also scored some t-shirts and ski passes.

I will post a video of my darling baby. Only Grandmas are required to watch it, the others can just smile and nod and say how cute he is.  

Fall Harvest!

Today I harvest the last bit of the garden, all our lovely carrots. They are sweet and tasty. 

 This year we had more cucumbers than we knew what to do with! I had at least 15 in my fridge at one time. Sheesh. Next year I won't replant and replant thinking the seeds didn't work. We also ate 2 delicious canteloupes. We got enough tomatoes for some eating, and canning a batch of spaghetti sauce and salsa but we had way too many freeze on the vine. I think they need for sun next year.

We have been trying to get the kids outside before it really gets too cold. They are such good sports and Finn can't get enough of the great outdoors. I just have to say outside or bike and he will stop fussing and head to the door ready to play. His favorite thing is to walk out the front door, and race to the elementary school playground across the street with us chasing him. 

 This is Finn on his first day of nursery. I can't believe how big he is getting! He is so much fun and his vocabulary is growing so fast. His favorite words are no, mama, hot, hat, nose, yaya (eliza), cracker, juice, cheese, baby, diaper, puppy, door and more no no no no all day long!

The sad thing in writing this blog is knowing that a good friend of mine won't be reading and commenting on this post as she died this week. I will miss you Shamae! Hug your friends today.

Back to School

I didn't think I would be sad to see them go! But I miss them. A little. 

 Finn has decided to make sure I understand that my job watching one child is not going to be an easy one. Usually in the mornings when I shower the kids watched Finn. This morning he wandered around playing and all was well until I hear a suspicious splashing sound. I peeked out around the shower curtain and he had taken a wad of TP and was dunking it up and down in the toilet. I screamed and caught it right before he took a good bite of it. After cleaning him up, I closed the door to the shower/toilet area and went to my room to get dressed. I heard him close the other door of the bathroom and trap himself in the sink area of the bathroom. This wasn't a problem until he opened the bathroom drawer and blocked the door! I listened to him empty the drawer and say "uhoh" for everything he dropped. He was in there about 10 minutes with me talking to him before he finally pushed the drawer shut so I could open the door!

Nothing but trouble!

Where did the summer go?

Mike mentioned that I never posted pictures from our campouts this summer. I forgot! Our first much anticipated campout was to Redfish Lake. We had major storms and a tent failure but we had fun anyways!

I think I am done camping with a crawler though, he just got way too dirty.

We had the best campsite with awesome climbing right next to the site. And of course, just a walk down to the freezing lake. 

 Our next campout out was with cousins in the City of Rocks. Talk about crazy weather! I have never seen wind blow that hard. The tents were practically sideways. There were actually tornado warnings in the area. We put the older kids to bed in the car and then "slept" with the baby in the tent. We were wet, wet wet!

 I can't keep this kid from climbing EVERYTHING! Windows, bookshelves, tables. Pretty much on 24/7 suicide watch.

Finn has been helping the kids with all their art projects they are getting ready for the North Bannock County Fair. He loved the paper mache! 

The kids have been begging us to sign them up for a race, any race. They were dying to get into the racer's tent with all the treats! I found an inexpensive 2.5K for us to run together. They loved it! Ian pushed hard and was 3 in his age group and 10th overall. Eliza could have run 3 times the race route, she had so much energy when it was over! She was first in her age group and 20th overall. And they stuffed themselves silly afterwards. 

Our latest trip was the Kammerman Family reunion at Mount Hood in Oregon! It was beautiful. I have so many good memories of growing up in Oregon. We went on a lot of  hikes with my family, played at Trillium lake, relaxed in the rental house.  

On Sunday we drove into Gladstone to attend the our home ward. We also drove by the house we grew up in to show the kids and then headed down to the Willamette River to do some black berry picking! It was just as painful as I remembered but so worth it. 

For Ian's Birthday we went to Powell's bookstore, Ice skating in the mall and then back to our lovely hostess's house where they had decorated for a wonderful party! It included hamburgers and an ice cream cake per Ian's request. I can't believe he's 9! Next year for his birthday he requests that we don't go on vacation. I don't know why he would say that when we had such an awesome time! 

The kids LOVED snow bowl in government camp. It had so many fun activities for the kids and grown ups and a great view of Mt Hood. 

 

Growing up, our favorite family activity was rafting in Eagle Creek. My kids loved it as much as I
did as a kid.

When we got home, we had a nice surprise! The apples were ready to be picked and our garden has really taken off. We having been eating apples, cucumbers, onions, potatoes, raspberries, peas. We have huge pumkins and one little canteloupe!

Wow that was really too long. We have been having too much fun!

Cast Your Vote!

Weed or Watermelon?

I say it is a watermelon plant although all my google searches do not comfirm this! This first picture is what it looks like when it is small. It starts with two smooth leaves.

And then it grows bigger with spikier leaves. 

Mike thinks it is a stickery weed. Any help? Grandma Stubbs do you know?? 

Maybe I need to stay home more....

Ian got a similar video sent to his email address after he went shopping with me. I thought I could trust Finn to keep an eye on those guys but he went along with everything.

AKA Wendy Stubbs

So there is another Wendy Stubbs that lives in the South. She is a very Christian woman, a wife, a mother, a volunteer. How do I know all this about her? I frequently get her emails. Her email address must be really close to mine. I have unsubscribed to her weekly church newsletter multiple times. I have received hotel room confirmations. Today I received a flight confirmation email.  (Anybody want to take a trip? I've got boarding passes!) She was a volunteer at a large religious revival in Atlanta in January. It took many emails to get them to stop sending me the hourly updates! And now unfortunately I have found out that she needs some marital counseling. The counselor emailed me a questionnaire to fill out before the appointment on Monday. My heart goes out to her, struggling in her marriage, her kids getting bad grades (yes, I got an email from the school teacher). Every time I get these emails I send polite responses that they have the WRONG email address. I wish that I knew the right address! Am I the only one that this happens too? Does this other Wendy get MY emails?

Any who. It's summer vacation! Eliza graduated from Kindergarten. Me and the kids spent a few hours in the Wilderness waiting for Mike to finish the BIG RACE.I am so glad it is done! He did great and is walking almost normally. Now maybe when I go the the dentist, the dentist will actually talk to me about something other than my husbands running habits. Like maybe my teeth or something.

Gardening Goodness

Last year in March, this is what the garden area looked like:

After lots of hard work, this is what it looked like in July.  I can't find any pictures from August & September.. It was really impressive then.  Also notice the lush green grass! Delightful. 

 Here was some of our harvest last year:

We had such great success that we decided to expand the garden! Thanks to my Dad and Mike for a few hours digging and rota-tilling...

We now have this! It is mostly planted and I can't wait to start harvesting peas, corn, potatoes, onions, pumpkins, zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, cabbage and more.  We also expanded the strawberry plantation in the front of the house which is is flourishing nicely. 

 Here is an added baby bonus for your viewing pleasure....