It's beginning to look a lot like...

I am a week early for Christmas pictures of the kids this year, but I decided I'd better try early since they don't have a great record of cooperation!

These were the best. There were a ton of photos of Finn running away! Eliza lost another tooth last night to add to her cute kid smile. 

Belated Halloween wishes

We have a dragon, Nacho Libre, Frankenstein, and Link. Not pictured is a rock and roll star with purple hair.

Downstair bathroom make over!

So please excuse the fuzzy pictures, but look at our downstairs bathroom! One of my frustrations is the kids taking over our upstairs bathroom in the morning. So I thought if I improved the downstairs one, they would use it more! I painted the walls elephant skin gray and touched up the white baseboards.  We replaced the towel rack with Ikea coat hooks. I found some great rugs, garbage can,  and handtowels at Ross, and got large, fluffy, luxurious towels from Costco. I created the art, painted picture frames from DI and printed the art out at Costco. We moved the hand towel hanger and when I find a classy over the toilet organizer, that will be the finishing touch. 

 

We cleared out the garden this week, and this was the amazing butternut squash result! What am I going to do with it all? Please come take some, please!!! We only got three pumpkins so we might carve a squash or two.

And since I did not take my camera to document it, thanks to Julie for taking pictures at the Church's women's meeting! We had a lovely time with cousins, second cousins, aunts, and old friends.

In other news, this is Finn on his new balance bike. He loves scooting around on it. He is now potty trained and full of mischief. Seriously he surprises me everyday with the things he says, the faces he pulls and the overall enthusiasm for life!

I haven't posted the kid's room redo's that I did this summer. I also finished two quilts of Grandma Green's, that was a fun project. My next project is to finish an attic window levi quilt and redo Mike & I's bedroom. That should keep me busy for the winter!

Back to School Post of Course!

On the last day of summer vacation, the kids really wanted to take Ian's raft out again. It was raining on and off and not exactly warm out but we did it anyways!

 The Portneuf River is really full this year because of all of our August rain.

 Ian started 5th grade, his last year in elementary school, sniff. Eliza started 2nd grade.

 I tried to get a picture of Finnegan looking sad that his siblings were going off to school but he is too much of a clown. He does miss them and drives me crazy because he won't play on his own!

 After the first day of school was done, we drove up to Rexburg for some Rexburgian fun. The kids loved loved loved this carousel. Even Finn agreed to wait in line multiple times to get another ride on the horses.

                                         Our family picture from July 2014

Ian turns 10!

I can't believe how old this kid has gotten! 10 years old and starting 5th grade tomorrow. 

He had a great birthday rock climbing and eating pizza with some buddies. He got a raft which we have been taking down to the Portneuf river for some floating fun! What a great kid he is. 

Redfish Lake 2014

We hit Redfish Lake in July this year. We usually go in June but switched to July to get some sunshine and coordinate with some friends.  The weather was beautiful and the kids loved loved loved the lake this year. And you can tell Mike has a camera now, because I am actually in some pictures. 

 This is Eliza with some of our friends. This normally beautiful view of the mountains was a bit smoggy from forest fires.

 Finn loved the water and would run straight to it on our hikes, in the campground, and at the lake.

We can't wait to go again next year.

Finnegan's Room

I decided it was time to turn the guest room into a little boy's room. I got rid of the floral bedding and quilts and put up some costco gallery art. I redid this worn out dresser from my childhood and love how it turned out. 

Next up: Ian & Eliza's rooms! Wish me luck.

First trip of the Summer

We have a lot of awesome plans this summer. Lots of camping and reunions. A few races and field trips thrown in there and it seems that we don't have a free week to just relax even! For our first big excursion we headed down to Zion's National Park. We have not taken the kids before but we prepared well for the heat and endless sunlight. The kids did great on the hikes but their favorite part was playing every afternoon in the Virgin River with their cousins. I am so glad it was near our campsite!

 One of the highlights for Finn was riding the shuttle bus everywhere! He loved it and still asks me if we can ride the bus.

The kids were amazing hikers and loved walking in the water up the narrows. We camped for three days and then headed back to Pocatello. What are you doing for your summer?

Belated Birthdays

We started on April with Eliza's birthday! She insisted on having a birthday party so I went along and planned it and 14 little girls showed up there (12 were invited...). It was so insane, I swear I will never do one again! Eliza was thrilled and loved every minute of it. I can't believe she is 7.

We don't get much of a break between Eliza's and Finn's big day, Sunday my baby turned 2! I guess I will have to stop calling him my baby. He is learning and growing so fast... his latest phrase he loves to say which the kids think is hilarious is "shut your mouth". Fantastic.

The weekend before Eliza's birthday we took a trip to the country (Paul Idaho) to visit the Christensen family. They send us home with these wonderful eggs! Geese, Duck and chicken eggs. I made a german pancake on April fool's day with them and also served some "orange juice" to the kids. (Macaroni and cheese powder mixed with water) Ian's face was priceless as he took a giant gulp!

More Winter Fun...

I guess for historical purposes I need to document my broken baby. Finn got a toddler fracture on our most recent excursion to the mountains. We are not exactly sure how it happened, we just know he had an exciting sled ride with Ian & Eliza and that he couldn't walk when we got home.

He has been such a tough little guy, when the doctor examined him, she had a hard time locating the hurt place because he wouldn't change facial expressions for any part of the leg she touched! But I realized that he was holding his breath when she pressed on the lower part of his leg. He crawls and scoots around a lot and also walks with his splint on. We haven't ever had a broken bone in our family before! It's been amazing how pleasant he is despite being hurt.