Frank 'n Sense

The Silverware Museum

2012-02-11T06:50:00.001-08:00

I know, who ever knew there was a Museum dedicated to all things Silverware?!? Well, in all honesty I don't know if there is or not, I haven't checked, but that is where the kids (minus Jeremiah who knew the truth) thought we were going last Monday. Yup, we put them in the car after a couple days of pumping up the 'Silverware Museum' idea and told them we were heading there. They didn't whine or fuss, but were a little puzzled. Anyway, in case you didn't know we actually ended up at the Great Wolf Lodge...which happens to be AWESOME!!! The kids did fantastic, even through the extreme tiredness that follows. We ate, played in the water park, went on quests with our magic wand, ate, slept, more quests, toy inventors workshop via WHO, ate, water park, ate and home (via IKEA on the way up and down!). So much exhausting fun. We didn't have 'Aunt Stephaniepoppins' with us this time because we wanted to see if we could do it as just our family, and she had to work. The conclusion is, if you have kids younger than the medium slide height (like that, younger than the height?), then bring a nanny. It was extremely nerve taxing to watch the three younger kids in the kiddie pool area, extremely. While staying with Addie (who is 2.5), Lilly (aged 5) would go off to the other section or Isaiah (almost 4) would fall and start crying. Once, I had Addie on the pretend jet skis and Lilly tried to pull Isaiah down the small slide. Well, Isaiah didn't want to go down the small slide and started to cry. He then proceeded to walk back down the platform and stairs and by the time I realized he turn the wrong way he was half way across the play area. So, I'm trying to get Addie to go fastest when I see the Life guard find Isaiah, so now I'm 'running' with Addie protesting in my arms to let them know I'm right here (before they ship him off to 'lost child area' and I have to haul both the girls out to find him!). It's hard to move fast without raising alarms in 1.5 feet of water! I did catch up to him, whew. Anywho, it was much easier to watch them on the Fort MaKenzie slides...ones that I didn't know they'd let Addie down since there is no lap riding! Addie is fearless and had the greatest time climbing up the stairs and going down, I'll have to post a picture of the slides. Thankfully Isaiah liked those slides too or it would have been a hard place to be! The lifeguards were so friendly and thought Addie was so cute going down (they also have a signal of some sort that allows the lifeguard at the bottom to know there is a little one coming down and they're there to grab her out at the bottom!). So, I didn't take nearly as many pictures as normal, but I did manage to get a few. I'd post them all here individually, but Jeremiah is chopping at the bit (and being very good about it) to play the Wii, seeing as it's Saturday and his Wii day. So, for now I'll post the FB link and maybe later I'll put a couple good ones directly on this post!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2656859136231.2108858.1098437381&type=3&l=7209949da7

If you've never been to the Great Wolf Lodge, it's awesome!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-30T19:36:00.000-08:00

Aahh, it's over. All the decorations are down, the tree is out and the free flowing candy has subsided to a trickle...now if only the weight gain will start receding. No, I enjoy Christmas, I love the lights, the decorating the house and the reason to bake, but with the passing of Christmas brings the new, fresh beginnings and the hope of Valentine's Day and winter being OVER! I live in dread of snow, okay maybe I just don't want too much and would love just a little bit (6 inches) for just a little while (2 days), that's not too much to ask is it? Anywho, for those who are interested and for future reference when I have memory loss, here is a pictorial/captioned journal of before and during Christmas.

Lilly raking leaves to earn money for my present.

Isaiah helping Daddy with our Family Movie Snack.

On the hunt for the perfect tree!

Having too much fun!

Wait for me says Addie.

I can get it.

So pretty.

Sheep, baaa.

Mary.

Charming all the old ladies.

The 2's & 3's gettin' down for the Christmas Program.

Christmas at the Frank's.

Helping Grandma Sue sweep up.

Crazy cousins playing Angry Birds on cousin Kenny's phone!

Preparing for our Christmas Eve sleep over!

Pretending to be asleep.

Motorcycle!! Jeremiah's first ride.

I'm cool even while sleeping, oh yeah.

Family Christmas.

Mommy's new kitty, Malachi.

Got lots of brownie points for this present.

From tree to presents and a little in between. Update, after we brought Malachi the Cat home on Wednesday we haven't seen him and it's now Saturday. Perhaps he's just exploring. Anyway, it's now onto New Years Resolutions and Thank you notes! Hope everyone enjoys the pictures! Lilly wanted me to add that somewhere between getting in the car at Grandma Sues' and home blankie went missing, she is extremely distraught, but overall handling it really well. I'm sure we'll find it soon. : )

Here is a link to find all these pictures and a whole lot more from the month of December via Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2324963199040.2102218.1098437381&type=1&l=449224b152

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Luke 2:1-7

2011-12-13T08:40:00.000-08:00

On Saturday night our Pastor called and asked if Jeremiah could read (I think he already knew the answer), and with an affirmative response he asked if Jeremiah would read Luke 2:1-7 in front of the church as our scripture reading, even though it has some hard words. I asked Jeremiah and he said, "I think I could do that." He had already memorized the first two verses for Awana, but we read through it probably four times before service time and he did amazing! He only messed up one word...he called Judea, Judah. : ) He got the other hard ones that were tripping him up, 'lineage and betrothed'. Nazareth, Galilee, Syria, Caesar Augustus, Quirinous, Bethlehem were all no problem. : ) I'm not proud at all...here is a short video of him, the camera freaked out and so Travis had to turn it off and on and thus lost about half. : (

I unsuccessfully tried to upload this 48 second video twice...once for three hours and once for four...here is a link to the upload I shared on Facebook, let me know if it works.

I'm not frustrated...but man I should be!

2011-12-09T19:39:00.000-08:00

So today I had a hard time getting out of bed, it was just sooo comfortable and warm! However, that's not a new experience. I managed to pick up and clean the kitchen some, seeing as it's been getting worse for a while (you know, the corners are starting to get that extra clutter etc...). The rest of the morning went well, the kids behaved in school and we learned a new game. Then I cooked the pizza and when I turned around from washing dishes (for the third time today) I saw flames. Yup, flames from the bottom to near the top of the oven. I'd like to say that I have no idea why, but I do. I have a confession. A couple days ago while making bread I put a stick of butter int he oven to soften it for a minute...I forgot about it. I have yet to have a chance (okay, maybe the desire has something to do with this procrastination) to clean it out. So there you have it, flames. I managed to take the pizzas out and throw baking soda on the flames and sent Jeremiah out to fetch Travis from the shop. He laughed at me, the good 'oh, dear I love you' sort of laughed, definantly helped me not be frustrated! And then, I cooked the last batch of cookies. And while you think you know, you're wrong. I didn't burn them (though I very nearly forgot about them, yes.). I actually put them on the stove and went to take them off and wondered why a couple were very burnt on the bottom, one was still smoking...and then I noticed the parchment paper was burnt too and the cookie sheet had a circle of some sort. And then I realized I turned the front burner on and placed my pot on the back burner. Of course, both of these incidences happened while Travis had a guy from church teaching him about electrical wiring and also a youth kid hanging out in addition to my kids and the high schooler who does school here. A great audience to have for kitchen fires. But, I am happy to report that our smoke alarms work. And to top it off, after dinner I put a lid for my pot on the rack and the whole thing fell off...but it reminded me why we needed to buy superglue! Along with the piggy bank's nose (thank you Isaiah for knocking that shelf down), and the wiseman's head (he should be wise enough to keep his head about him) and the now two lids with broken tops and who knows what other things that miracle of superglue is just waiting to bind! Just another day in the Frank Family!

Happy Birthday to my Love!

2011-12-02T07:09:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to Travis!! Yup, it's come and gone and now on with life! My handsome husband just turned 31...he's so old! ; ) For his birthday the kids and I made waffles with fruit and whip cream and sent him back to bed to receive it! (in his defense we didn't get it all made until 8 or 8:30) Then we did presents, now I'll tell you a secret. I'm not good at remembering to purchase presents, so the kids and I picked out a few things on Sunday night and thus I didn't get them wrapped (and it always seems like such a waste of paper for a small family birthday, but bags just seem too impersonal). Anyway, I didn't have the presents wrapped and on earlier occasions we have made a Treasure Map of the house and then we hid the presents etc... This time we played 'Birthday Pictionary', yup, the kids each got to draw a picture of one of the presents we got him and he had to guess what it was! I took a couple medium length videos of this game for your viewing (and my memory's) pleasure...

Here is one of the videos, Jeremiah drew the 3" screws and Lilly drew a can of Pringles. : )

And then we got to play some games as a family, Uno Moo and Snorta. I would highly recommend Uno Moo for the young kids (even Jeremiah liked it, and it's more entertaining and a much shorter game than regular or character Uno). I even used the Uno pieces for helping Addie learn her colors. Snorta is a silly game that adults and kids like! I'd better watch out because I think Jeremiah will be better at it soon! We also got to go to Home Depot and look at things Travis wanted and then he drove me to get a massage. I know, right? Umm, it's your birthday buddy! He knew I wanted to use it, seeing as it was given as a birthday present and my birthday was three months ago! I just hadn't scheduled a time for him to watch the kids etc, etc... Well, that's pretty much it. Travis did get to work on his shop (yes, on), he's knocking out a wall between two bays to get a larger working area. He's been using all his birthday money to purchase cement mix and wood for enclosing it!

November Photos 2011

2011-11-15T20:08:00.000-08:00

These are for you Great-Grandma!

Costco Dogs...Travis and his girls!

Big bite.

She's even gorgeous while eating a hot dog!

"And I can eat 20 more!"

She designed the flower herself.

She helped put the Bazaar table together.

Jeremiah made 'Pirate Butterflies', Isaiah wanted cyclops butterflies, and Lilly's pink and purple ones ended up with polka dots!

Travis and I were swing dancing to a Phineas and Ferb song...I was sore the next day!

Isaiah picked this giraffe out at Costco, it's like a giant pillow pet and he LOVES it! He used the rest of his birthday money (yes, I know his birthday is in March, but there was nothing he needed/wanted until the other three got birthday money, so it was really great for him to have something to spend too). He was telling everyone in the store, "I going to buy him with my own money!"

We had some free black light, pirate Mini-Golf tickets!

Me helping Isaiah...though honestly he did better without help!

Jeremiah pinning a 6th grader in the Pumpkin Smash! (The 6th grader was being nice...but Jeremiah was only an inch shorter than some of them!)

Isaiah thought it was great fun to put the kitty down the slide!

Pet Peeve

2011-11-15T19:43:00.000-08:00

I have a pet peeve, you may call me a name for it, but honestly I don't know if there is a name for this because maybe it only bugs me!

I won't draw it out, it's the idolization of Single Mothers. The 'what sacrifice,' 'they work so hard,' 'I just don't know how they do it,' sort of comments with complete and utter awe in their voice. Now, before you get all defensive and spout off about this person or that person who deserves respect for their situation etc...let me clarify. Widowed single mothers DO NOT count, they are there because of no fault of their own. Also, I do not believe that single mothers deserve contempt based on their singleness. I just think that by putting them into a category of martyr we elevate the status and very possibly push more into the category. I understand that this is a simplistic view and single mothers (ones who have chosen this title and ones who made poor decisions on a spouse) do need help and caring, but awe and wonder I don't believe should be bestowed. Unfortunantly, the kids are the ones who suffer most.

Yes, I do have trouble swallowing the 'Prodigal Son' Parable. : )

Pet peeve rant, over...oh, an extra little rant on a similar topic.

In Salem they have at least one billboard that is for a big brother/little brother type program where Men mentor young boys without a male role model. No, I do not believe this is wrong, I think it is a great program because it's a near epidemic of single mothers without a male role model of any value. The issue I have is their push line, "Real Men Mentor." Okay, so because my husband is busy working and taking care of his family of four kids, a wife, and a house he's not a 'real man'? I know they're just trying to put a little self conscience guilt trip to push those who aren't taking care of families to consider helping the children, but it still rubs me wrong.

Okay, now I really done...as long as I don't start about Wal-Mart!

The Pumpkin Fairy

2011-11-08T15:53:00.000-08:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Isaiah working on our 'Skeletoni' project.

Lilly was a princess.

Lilly made a face out of our edible 'eyeballs.'

Jeremiah was an astronaut.

Isaiah was Dash from the Incredibles.

Little Red Riding Hood says, "The wolf ate my grandma!"

The farmer and his wife!

Our cute little herd.

She wasn't so sure about the scary house!

So, there is Halloween in pictures! We had a blast and got home too late! Because we got home so late, we had to ask the Pumpkin Fairy to come the next day. Oh, you don't know about the Pumpkin Fairy? Well, on Halloween you sort your candy and keep some. We kept enough for one piece every day until Thanksgiving. Then, you set your bucket/bag containing the rest of the candy on the table or the foot of your bed and during the night the Pumpkin Fairy comes and exchanges the candy for some trinkets. My kids got notebooks, crayons, p.j.'s, stickers and a little doll (no, they didn't get all of that, but at least one kid got those items). Oh, and the Pumpkin Fairy left some for the Operation Shoe Boxes that the kids just put together.

Up next...a pictorial of the Pumpkin Smash, in which Jeremiah wrestled!

Canning

2011-11-01T20:21:00.000-07:00

And the Canning Season is OVER!!! Praise the Lord! I finished up canning the last batches of jelly this morning. Here is the break down for the year 2011.

100 jars of jam/jelly, 72 peaches, 105 applesauce, 56 pickles & relish, 7 cherry pie filling, 7 strawberry sauce, 7 tomato sauce (I was hoping for 100 here, but this year

was not tomatoes year), 31 salsa, 58 pears, 106 grape juice and 11 grape jelly!

Drum Roll please...550 1/2 pints, pints and quarts!

And the coolest part? We only bought 1/3 of our strawberries (u-pick of course), a bucket of cucumbers(from a local lady), a box of tomatoes and peppers (from a farmer family) and the peaches (local)...everything else was FREE!

To top it off we have frozen strawberries (40+ lbs.), frozen blackberries, blueberries & raspberries as well as quarts full of blanched and frozen peas, carrots & green beans (from our garden!), and broccoli (gleaned about 80 pounds!). Oh, and this Spring Travis raised and butchered 25 Cornish cross chickens, each one weighs 6-8 pounds a piece! I am so glad for winter...that is after we prep the garden for winter etc...

And look! Room for more! : )

I want to go eat some now!

Broken

2011-10-14T22:14:00.000-07:00

Last week my camera broke, I feel lost. I feel like I'm missing so many great and wonderful pictures to capture our life. I don't know how my parents and especially their parents before them managed to live without pictures constantly! I didn't get to take a picture of Isaiah practically wading through acres and acres of broccoli, some bolted with little yellow flowers, holding onto a huge plant (roots and all!). I didn't get to take a picture of the kids with their 'potato pets' for Awana, Isaiah's nine googly eyed, yellow yarn hair potato named Fruitsnack, or Lilly's 'Rosie' potato with pink and purple pipe cleaner appendages or Jeremiah's foot and a half tall yellow squash complete with almond sliver vampire fangs and one googly eye. I didn't get to photograph Addie walking around in Lilly's lime green jelly sandals and her adorable pink skirt. I didn't get to capture Jeremiah and Lilly helping me by washing and cutting the tomatoes for sauce. I didn't get to take another picture of Isaiah and Addie sitting side by side in the rocking chair, just hanging out watching a movie or earlier of them playing for over half an hour with a tub of little people toys with NO squabbles! I know my memory should be sufficient, but Halloween is coming up and Jeremiah is going to finish his Awana book next week and, and, and. It had to happen after my birthday and too far before Christmas.

No pictures to accompany this post, sorry.

Happy 5th Tea Party Birthday Lilly!

2011-10-08T06:55:00.000-07:00

So it's now been about three weeks since Lilly's Tea Party Birthday and while I posted pictures on Facebook that day (I happen to take lots of photos!) I have yet to blog, my humblest apologies to those who have no Facebook.

So, I had everything planned...okay, I had some of it written down and the other part floating in my head. I didn't make it to the grocery store, for special ingredients, before my Mom and sister Stephanie made it down, so I was behind from the get-go. Anyway we made a plan and attacked it, thus by the time the morning of the party rolled around we were tired and still had massive quantities to do...like decorate, clean up the horridly messing house (which we didn't get to the day before due to actually making some of the food!), and of course actually getting dressed for the party! Anyway, thank you to my mom who did about three hours of dishes straight, Melinda for keeping us on track and making sure everything was checked off, Stephanie who made sure the kids were doing something other than messing up what we'd done and still managing to help as needed and Travis who helped do a little of everything in the whole process and also took the other kids so we could have a 'girl's only' party!

On to the good stuff, pictures!!! I believe I took about 99 pictures, so here I will post a couple and then a link to the Facebook Album that has a few more...if you really want to see all 99 I'll burn you a CD and bring it next time I see you! (I have a very strong dislike for shipping charges of any kind!)

I got the balloon garland idea from Pinterest...I LOVED it! If you can see the food...our spread consisted of heart shaped P.B. & J., Applets & Cotlets, mini colored marshmallows with toothpicks, a lemon whipped cream pie, (rice) crispie pops as well as lemonade 'tea' which they got to sweet with sugar from the sugar bowl! Oh, and prettily sliced strawberries and pink plastic ware, of course!

Here we have our photo shoot background...I got this one of everyone! What beautiful little princesses!

Here we have the birthday girl with Aunt Stephanie. Aunt Stephanie taught them two ways to curtsy...I believe that might have been the highlight for most of the girls!

Ta-da, she's 5 now! Here is the cup and sauce and food she chose. We talked about what makes a princess...here is what the girls' decided:

1. She has 'Princess' before her name.

2. She wears big, beautiful dresses.

3. She's kind to everyone (I kinda prompted this one).

4. She can write in cursive (the girl knew this because she actually met one at Disneyland!)

Yes, I was there too. We painted toenails while watching a Gigi (God's Little Princess).

A sample of what each girl got to take home...A tea cup and saucer (which they got to choose from our vast selection), a beautiful plate for food, a wand, the place-mats they made themselves and a 'tea bag' of other goodies (such as a lemon shaped notepad, Ariel chapstick, a gel pen and purple winter gloves). I didn't mean to have quite so much, but my favor box was just over flowing! The total cost of all the favors together was probably about $2 give or take $0.50 depending on if the tea cup was bought at Goodwill or a yard sale!

Our back up support...they made sure I didn't forget anything in the schedule, helped serve our little princesses and also washed their tea cups and plates afterwards so they could bring them home all nice and clean!

And here is the 'public link' for the other pictures on Facebook, sometimes you have to copy and paste it into the browser...

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2032173679485.2095658.1098437381&l=3168e7989e&type=1

Hope you all enjoyed this peek into a 5 year old's Tea Party!

My first 'How To'

2011-09-21T10:36:00.001-07:00

So, just in case I ever have a fabulous blog that deals with things not 100% with my children I'm going to go through a 'How-To Make a Phineas Cake' because I recently designed one for my son's 6th birthday party. And I'm pretty dang proud because, well, I'm just not the most creative person. So here it is, a Phineas Cake to feed the whole party that you can do at home with limited cost and creative juices.

1. Bake a 9x13 cake...turn it into the t-shirt shown here at Family Fun:

http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/groovy-t-shirt-cake-686057/

As you can see, I made the shirt longer and the sleeves smaller/vertical. SAVE THE SCRAPS!--then wrap in foil and freeze

2. Bake another 8 x 8 square cake (they can be two different flavors to tantalize all tastebuds at the party!) Cut said cake in half diagonally (you might want to wrap in foil and freeze to help it cut smoothly) and rotate until you have one nice big triangle...arrange on top of the shirt cake. Note: I used my extra large wooden cutting board to arrange the cakes on, I just covered it in foil, but you could also use a piece of plywood etc...

Here we have a slightly more recognizable Phineas...he has a lemon flavored frosting shirt and a tub of white frosting (I happened to us cream cheese) colored. I borrowed the coloring from the book "Hello, Cupcake!" by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson. Take one tub (you won't use quite all of it, but hey...you don't want to run out!) and mix in: 3 drops yellow food coloring, 1/2 teaspoon cocoa powder

Frost!

Next for the tricky part...take a tub of white frosting and mix in 60 drops of red!!! I know, yikes, right? Make it as red as you can, but it will still look rather pink.

Mix in about 35 drops of yellow food coloring to your 'red' frosting and you've got your orange stripes! Okay, for an easier orange go buy some orange food coloring at the craft store and color to desired shade...I'm just too cheap! Looking at a picture of Phineas, he has three strips, bottom, middle, over the shoulders and a small splotch at the neck...carefully apply stripes.

So, here is where I forgot to take a picture of a step, please forgive me it's my first 'How-To' Tutorial. Somewhere between frosting the shirt and making the orange frosting, draw a two circles on paper and place under a sheet of wax paper (I used a regular mouth canning lid as a template). Then melt some white melting chips (vanilla, white chocolate, whatever the bulk bins at WinCo carry!). When slightly cooled, spoon into a regular plastic sandwich bag, snip the corner and pipe onto the wax paper over the template. Shake a little to smooth out lumps. Allow to cool (it doesn't take very long...thank goodness since my 3 year old managed to break mine an hour before the birthday party!) While they're cooling, remove t-shirt cake scraps and cut into 'hair' and frost with orange frosting. Again, looking at a Phinease picture add 'eyes' and mouth with black gel, place eyes on cake (the half eye was jabbed into the cake).

And ta-da, you have Phineas..."I know what you're going to do today!"

My son loved it!

You'll need:

Two cake mixes (or recipes, and everything that goes with it)
2 tubs white frosting
1 tub lemon frosting
1 cup white melty chips
red and yellow (or orange) food coloring
black writing gel
wax paper and a baggie (ziplock or not)
1/2 t. Cocoa powder

Please excuse the blue underlined link writing, I'm not sure how it ended up that way and I really have no idea how to change it!

Giant vs. Mini

2011-09-21T10:09:00.000-07:00

Jeremiah and Adelyn had a combined birthday party this year. The theme? Giant vs. Mini, we had giant pickles and mini pickles, those giant marshmallows and mini marshmallows, giant crackers and mini nilla wafers etc...We ended up with a good mixture of kids, six 'older' kids, two three years olds, four almost 2 year olds a baby and a pregnant lady who gave birth the next day! We played water balloon games, such as pop the hanging water balloon with a giant fly swatter, water balloon three man sling shot and don't pop the balloon while jumping on the
trampoline. Great fun! However, the best part was that I didn't tell Jeremiah what his cake was going to be...I'll spoil it and tell you! It was a Phineas cake, as in Phineas and Ferb his favorite show. If you've never watched the show and you get netflix (or Disney cable) you should tune in to a show or two, it's hilarious! I'm really proud of the cake because I made it up ALL BY MYSELF! Okay, I got the t-shirt cake from the Family Fun website (which I also highly recommend), but they had it as a tie-dye. : ) Here are some pictures from the party...

If the video works, Addie said, "I did it!" when she popped the water balloon!

Circus

2011-09-21T07:39:00.000-07:00

We got to go to the Circus. Yes, I am finally blogging about part of our vacation that happened at the end of August, pretty close to a month ago, wow I'm so behind!

Anyway, for vacation we were able to spend a couple days at Camp White Branch in the McKenzie National Forest (east of Eugene). The kids got to go swimming, play on a water slide go on a hike and jump and holler just about as much as they pleased.

We then traveled to Eugene where we spent the day yard sale-ing and had our birthday burgers at Red Robin. Finally it was time for the Circus. We met cousin Theresa and headed back to explore the behind the scenes! The kids were able to participate in a number of the pre-show activities as well, I was very proud of Lilly for going into the center! Adelyn was very much trying to get there, but I held her back!

The kids enjoyed the show tremendously. I was holding my breath during some...no pretty much all the high wire, daring type acts. Adelyn just loved the animal acts, she was clapping and waving the whole time they were out. I don't know how they train those animals...but they should find a way to use the same techniques for children! I think my favorite was where they had a girl who changed her dress...I know, sounds cheesy, but it wasn't! She'd walk behind something for about 2 seconds and come out in a 'different' dress, different color, different style and as far as I remember they didn't just get shorter and shorter. At the end they put a hoop over her so that the top part of the dress was different from the bottom! And then they just dropped the hoop and it was all the same dress. I didn't get very many pictures because they asked for no photography during the show, but I got one or two good ones of cousin Theresa!

After the circus we headed down to Applegate to hang out with Travis' parents and family. On Sunday all the kids and cousins came over and we had a BBQ. Unfortunantly, I got sick. I had a headache in the daytime and by evening had a fever of 101*. Monday proved no better, but worse since I now had a huge sore throat, fever and headache. Not what I wanted for vacation, especially since we were supposed to head over to the coast (through the Red Woods) and visit with Grammie and Grampie Lowe! (Travis' grandparents on his mother's side) So, that was the end, we drove home Tuesday to the Urgent Care which told me that there was a nasty virus going around lasting 4-5 days-ish. Ugh, I don't like being sick!

Oh, yes, here is the picture of my 14 year old nephew sporting the same hair cut as my almost two year old daughter!

The Last Half

2011-09-08T21:19:00.000-07:00

So, I'm finally getting around to finishing the last half of my birthday date! I believe I left off with Travis whisking the kids away so I could have uninterrupted time (a precious commodity!)! Well, when he arrived home the kids all came in bearing Dollar Store gifts, Jeremiah bought me a heart balloon, Lilly a bouquet of flowers with sparkly eggs mixed in, and Isaiah brought me a huge pink eraser with the words 'For BIG mistakes'...I meant to take a picture of each child with their gift, but we rushed from the house for the next part of our date.

The next part consisted of driving to Scio with Jessica...to where her horse is kept. : ) Yup, we went on a guided horse ride! We got to help brush the horses down, bring them out of the pen, saddle them (well, Travis helped with that part...I probably would hit myself in the head with the stir-ups!). And away we went. I have some pictures that are currently downloading. I've decided to start taking more pictures of Travis and I together, just a random extra. : ) Surprisingly I wasn't really all that sore afterwards, pretty proud of that actually. : )

Next, we raced back to Salem for our romantic dinner provided by our friend Jay (who just happens to be the best cook, hence the whole catering business thing he has : ). Well, we made it back a little early so we took a little trip to Borders (we'd been there earlier, but I had a sneaky suspicion I was getting some books for my birthday so we didn't buy anything). I received some books for my birthday and we rounded out the Jane Austen collection for 50% off, so now I have five of her six books in the same printers/cover style! Unfortunately, it's the Borders brand, so I will probably never finish the set! (Northganger Abbey is the last...and I've never actually seen the movie or read the book, but from what I can gather it's not the best of the group : ) And then to our dinner. Jay had cleaned out the carport and set up a nice table complete with flowers, lamp in the corner and a picture on the 'wall'. I think there were three courses, started with breadsticks and greenbeans, followed by a delicious salad and then spinach ravioli with a oh, so smooth and good and creamy white sauce, yummy, now I want some more! All that was followed by a Tiramisu that was actually really good (it's not on my list of favorites, but this one could make it easily!). Oh, and did I mention the weather was a perfect? Just warm enough and yet still had a breeze and it lasted through the outside dinner, aah.

When we arrived home the children were all in bed, I got a 'rain check' for a frappuccino from the babysitter and we watched a girly movie...honestly I can't remember what it was, but it could have been Bleak House or possibly Wives and Daughters. It was a wonderful, fabulous, RELAXING day...the next day was quite the opposite after being so spoiled! : )

Happy Birthday...To ME!

2011-08-18T14:43:00.001-07:00

Yes, it is my birthday and well, I like birthdays and mine just happens to be my favorite! I would like to share about my day, however seeing as the day isn't over yet I can't tell all, but if I get part of it down, maybe I'll post the rest later!

Travis planned it all, I was not to ask questions, but I received little tidbits here and there. Things such as, "Don't worry about taking the kids to the store, I've got it covered." (Jeremiah really wanted to go spend his quarter so he could buy me a present!) Or, "You need to be ready by 10 o'clock, but don't worry breakfast will come to you in bed."

I was lounging around in bed listening to the sounds of my kids trying to be quiet while Daddy made breakfast and then the tell tale sounds of 'shh' while they try to sneak into the room came. After the cutest 'Happy Birthday' song in the world I was presented with pictures (thrown over my face), a lovely white flower, a very full glass that nearly spilled, a wordless demand for a hug and a plate with waffles covered in peaches, bananas and whip cream (I LOVE bananas and whip cream). After a few hugs I was left to eat in quiteness. I tried to get up to work on a craft project, but instead lazily stayed in bed to smile. : ) A little later I was heralded by Jeremiah to come watch the Phineas and Ferb they were watching, apparently it's the one he's been telling me about where Candace is turned into Perry, very exciting stuff! Travis took the older two to piano lessons (which we almost forgot about) while the little ones watched Diego and I did some dishes and picked up for the babysitters (Travis had to get up at 5am to go pray with someone from church going into heart surgery, so he was beat).

Then, the first part of our day...a regular date. We got hang out and go on errands. I know, so old married, poor couple boring, right? Well, it happens to be my favorite way to hang out, we get stuff done and we don't spend any more money than we would normally (okay, not much more). : ) We ended up going to about 10 stops in 2.5 hours! Amazing! We made it to Goodwill and I found another tea cup for Lilly's party, and some excellent condition hard back books for the kids.

Now, he took the three older kids, while Addie is napping, out so that I can work on whatever or read or just stare at wall! So, I'm blogging because the photo book program wasn't work right. Oh, and I got a package in the mail with two Jane Austen books! Okay, gotta go, the next part of the date is starting...all I know is 1) wear jeans and shoes 2) we're picking someone up in Keizer and putting gas in the car : )

Jeremiah's Science Experiment

2011-08-11T14:53:00.001-07:00

So, Jeremiah has been just dying to make baking soda and lemon juice/vinegar volcanoes, with or without food coloring. It doesn't matter, as long as he gets to do some science! We have a 'Jr. Science Kit' with a plastic beaker and giant test tubes etc...he loves it. I try to let him use it, but it's hard to supervise and make sure everything is put back etc...so I've told him he has to wait for a time when mommy can be there. It's hard being a kid. Anyway, today Lilly and I painted our toes and Jeremiah got to do an experiment...I made him introduce himself and tell everyone what he was doing, what he expected etc...(the term "hypothesis" will probably be in the next video : ). So, for your viewing pleasure, drum roll please, Jeremiah!!

*Be warned, it's a long video*

Here are Lilly's pretty toes...five different colors. : )

Trip to Grandma/Grandpa's

2011-07-13T20:11:00.000-07:00

I've tried before to post a link to the pictures I post on Facebook, but I don't think they worked...so I'm going to give it another shot, please let me know if they work or not!

This should bring you to pictures from our trip to Grandpa Dan's and Grandma Joan's house in June.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1782750044050.2086383.1098437381&l=4147fb29ff

Hope it works so that I can share the multitude of pictures that Facebook people receive!

Debt Free...FINALLY!!

2011-07-13T19:36:00.000-07:00

Okay, so about three and a half years ago Travis and I started going 'gazelle intense' on our debt. Before this we'd always talked about paying off more on our students loans etc...but it never actually happened. Something about buying a car, a house and having a baby (which cost about $6,000 by itself!) made it hard to put that extra bit onto our Student Loans. Well, after listening and reading Dave Ramsey we jumped on board...Baby step #1: $1,000 emergency fund, check. Baby step #2: Pay off your debts (except the house) in a debt snowball--smallest first, then wrap that payment into the next smallest debt etc...until they're gone. Well, this step is understandably one of, if not the longest/hardest step. It was especially hard for us because we didn't have any small debts! We had student loan debts...meaning our smallest was somewhere around $10,000. Thankfully the interest rate on our Direct Loans were around 2.5%-3%, so most went to principle. However, our biggest loan ($25,000) from Sallie Mae had interest rates ranging from 8%-11% and they kept going up! Every month I think we payed off less than $10 in principle! So, we wrapped that loan into the house as a 2nd mortgage...I know, I know, you're not supposed to do that because you say you're going to pay it off, and then you don't. Are you confused on all the numbers yet? Alright, nice and clear now...we started off our marriage (and added a little during the school year) with just about $54,390 in student loan debt. January 2008 (right before Isaiah was born) we started gazelle intensity and payed and payed and payed extra...we started with the Sallie Mae wrapped up in the house. We moved into the parsonage in order to free up some money to pay off the remaining $48,425!!!! In order to do this we lived in a one thousand square feet of ill planned house with mold, slugs and occasionally mice, where you can see the main street from the door, we were there for the birth of two children, making a total of four, we potty trained two children there with one bathroom. Nothing too horrible, but not the most comfortable situation. Then, in 2010 we were so close to being done...we were going to pay off the last student loan in October and instead we purchased a house in July. I do not regret buying the house, it has A/C (which is VERY nice here in Salem) as well as 3/4 an acre for the kids to run around and in general has been a blessing. However, we have now been here a year and are finally paying off that last bit! We actually sent the payment in two days ago...$678.26. We had to scrap together an extra little bit to get there (some grocery money, some spending money etc...). I can't believe we did it, three and half years and $48,425 making less than $40,000 and having no cost of living raise. Ugh...now to step #3: Building a 3-6 month emergency fund. At least we'll see our money grow this time around! However, next month is dedicated to a few neglected areas (the last little thing to make our new computer work, glasses for Travis and paying a medical bill from an Urgent Care visit this month!).

In High School there were three things I didn't want to happen. I didn't want to 1) get married in August, 2) have a baby in August and 3) still have student loan debt when my child was in 3rd grade (that's how old I was when my parent's paid off their last bit). Well, I got married in August, had my first child in August, but we're DEBT FREE over two years before my oldest child is in 3rd grade!!!

WE'RE DEBT FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And not the least bit excited about it. :D : P

Oh, Jeremiah has even donated change he's found and worked for in order for us to be debt free. We're going to call into the Dave Ramsey Show when Jeremiah and Lilly get back from Grandma's because they're almost as excited as we are! : ) However, they think that we're going to Disneyland because we're debt free...we haven't been able to convince them that it's not an immediate result, but now it's a possibility! : )

Please Pray

2011-07-07T17:04:00.000-07:00

Please be praying, someone told Travis that they're currently trying to talk someone else out of having an abortion. I can't say much because the situation is not known as public (thus not posting on Facebook), but this girl needs prayer. While our hearts jump a little at the possibility of adopting said child, it doesn't matter when facing death. Our prayer is that this woman/girl will choose life, whether she chooses a family for her baby or chooses to raise the baby herself, life is better than death...no matter what. Please be praying.

High Schoolers

2011-05-28T19:05:00.000-07:00

Apparently I was a strongly abnormal High Schooler. And now I wonder if all my friends (or more likely the ones that were acquaintance friends) were not. Did they go to drinking parties, did they bug their parents to let them go to co-ed sleep overs/parties, did they smoke weed, were they part of the horrible statistics of sexually active teens? I don't know, and I pray not. However, I do know that many of those things are or have happened in the youth group. How can one get through? How can you say that you're following God and yet do nothing to please Him and everything for selfish gain.

I feel like I can vent a little on here because there are only a few people who read it and pretty much only family which I could tell anyway. I know you'd rather have a post about the kids complete with pictures, but without me writing about this, it will drive me batty and thus drive Travis batty. : )

So last week Travis received a tip that there might be alcohol brought to a co-ed birthday party one of the girls in the youth group was having out at Sun River. Obviously Travis had talked to the girl and told her it was a bad idea etc...but, the tip said that the girl's 22 year old brother might bring some, and the other chaperone (her aunt) isn't necessarily trustworthy. HE told the parents of the kids going, one parent told his son he couldn't go (which he took really well and we're quite proud of him for that) and the other kinda shrugged his shoulders because he's past the end of his rope. We debated whether we should call the cops, but decided that we needed to give them the benefit. Well, one of the girls who went (who is older than 18 and had been advised strongly against going) came back early. Not because of alcohol being there, but because she felt guilty for getting plastered the night before. The aunt apparently brought alcohol for a 16th birthday party (did I mention this aunt's boyfriend is in jail...I think he was there when they met?). So, Travis called the teen's mom to let her know her sister brought alcohol and now he has to call parents etc...The mother didn't have the other youth kid's father's number (even though that is her daughter's boyfriend) and when asked for the address so we can give it to this father (so he can pick up his son) and to call the police she said she didn't know. She didn't want anything to do with the party because she didn't want it to come back on her...well guess what IT DID! Currently Travis is driving to the boy's house to tell his father because the phone number that a youth leader had wasn't working. And if that father doesn't call the police, we need to when he gets home. It's not something we want to do, but it's the morally right thing and it breaks my heart (and travis' more).

While there are many, many single mothers working their tails off to provide for their kids, many of which are due to divorce. Then there are many working to provide for their kids, with their singleness not due to divorce and many of these children should have been gifted to a family as a baby. As we are starting the adoption process I see every unwed pregnant mother to be out there and I try so hard not to judge that they should place their baby with a family. Sometimes it works out okay, and others it doesn't. I keep reminding myself that 'Life is better than death,' and that choosing to birth and raise a baby is better (WAY better) than choosing to kill your child.

We can't know the 'what if's' of this life, but we are going to strive to do a good thing and provide a home for a baby. And, yes I know that there are no guarantee's that an adoptive baby in a home with two parents will do anything differently than in a home with a single mother, but it's worth a try to change that babies' life.

Please pray for the youth at our church, most come from broken or never complete homes.

Easter

2011-05-01T17:05:00.000-07:00

While, once again I am picture-less I thought I'd post a little about our Easter trip.

This year we, the kids and I, got to drive up to Yakima to visit Great Grandma Christine. Thankfully Grandma Joan and Aunt Stephanie were there and later Aunt Brianna and Grandpa Dan joined us...even with all the help and extra arms and eyes the kids managed to...have a bloody nose through the sheets and mattress pad, a blow out on a blanket, they used Great Grandma's shoe horn thing outside, spread dirt all over the patio, walked on the peach carpet with caked mud on their shoes, and sprayed shaving cream into the toilet....HOWEVER, as far as I know the remote was NOT lost!!! So, overall it was a success!

While I have no pictures right now, they're making their way here in the mail and let me tell you...I got to use my dad's camera so there are probably 1000 pictures, though most likely 200 really good ones. : ) I love being able to push the button and 'click' the photo is taken, no waiting around.

We got to go to an Easter Egg Hunt at a park where we ended up participating in two of the four rounds due to a small amount of children! Yippy, I like small amounts of children. Jeremiah was so kind, he placed eggs in a little girls' basket because she didn't have a whole lot. Isaiah helped another little kid pick up their eggs that spilled. I love my kids.

Wedding

2011-04-02T21:12:00.001-07:00

Today our whole family was in a wedding...yup every one of us. While I don't have any of the 'real' photos, and actually I don't think I have any of the kids together even, but I have a couple from rehearsal and the preparation.

I told Lilly to drop her petals and walk slowly, even if Addie threw a fit at the beginning, keep walking! I told her if Addie ran ahead to keep walking slowly! And if Addie grabbed petals from

her basket to NOT yell at her and keep walking! Well. Addie had been having a rough time of it, two days without a nap, a bunch of people she didn't know all over and being told what to do just was frying her little sweetness! So, walking down the isle she tried to pull the wedding coordinator with her (she didn't want to let go of her fingers), and true to form Lilly kept

walking slowly! Then the boys started (a little early I think) and Isaiah was trying to get Addie to walk with him and Jeremiah kept walking slowly. By the end Jeremiah an

d Lilly arrived (at which point Lilly dumped the remaining flower petals from her basket!) and a couple seconds later Isaiah, holding Addie's hand finished up! Normally Addie will scream, pull away, hit at the air in frustration as she goes off to pout in a corner (something we're working on) if Isaiah even looks like he's going to try to hold her hand! Overall they did fabulous and

looked even better!

Isaiah was asleep about 3 minutes after this picture...do you like the socks and bow tie? They match the lime green wedding color!

A fellow bridesmaid (Emily) and Addie helping the bride get ready!

Here is myself and Lilly relaxing for a second while between when pictures needed us.

Music for the Soul

2011-03-22T13:25:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I'm not exactly a musical person, I'm not even that crazy about music. Often I switch between the three Christian Music radio stations, usually at the end of a song when it goes really high (ask Travis for the term they use to describe it). However, sometimes there are songs that just speak to you every time they're sung. Some are instant hits, so much that you remember where you were when you first heard it, others you can't remember where you heard it, but it feels like you've always known it. Then there are others that grow over time until you can't remember not loving it. And of course there are dozens of songs that are great and fabulous, but not quite 'that song that....' Here is a list, complete with U-Tube link (though I can't vouch for the quality of pictures etc...)

First, my favorite Hymn: Take My Life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma-RUB28iYE

Lead Me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLr6G8Xy5uc

How Can I Keep From Singing?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQI5wxtH6OY

Blessed Be Your Name

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qp11X6LKYY

Here I Am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN1MvK7Y-iY

Call Out, Press On--Travis Frank

(there are some more, but I can't remember the titles!)

There is one I can't remember enough of to get a title, but it has a Warrior and that Warrior is kneeling, praying or crying (I can't remember which)...so if anyone has an idea, I'd appreciate the it, so I can add it to my 'list.'

Don't worry, I found it! Warrior Is a Child

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9koHw6nnq-s

I hope that you were able to listen to one or more of the above songs and felt the peace of Jesus while being bathed in His loving kindness and light.

Disneyland

2011-03-09T07:05:00.000-08:00

Okay, so my mom, Aunt Stephanie and Aunt Brianna took the older two kids to Disneyland this past week. We drove them up to Sea-Tac on Thursday and picked them up there on Monday. Before they even left they had plans to bring back cotton candy for Isaiah. Here are a few of the sweet/cute/awesome things they said...

Disneyland sayings by the kids, March 3-7th

We arrived at the hotel on Thursday evening. Friday morning when getting dressed, Lilly said, “are we going home now?”

Aunt Stephanie told lilly we were going to braid her hair to match her aunts’ hair. Stephanie said, “Maybe we’ll braid Jeremiah’s ears.” Lilly emphatically said, No! Then he will look ugly and mommy and daddy won’t want him and will sell him!”

As Jeremiah and I (Grandma Joan) were walking to the shuttle bus, he said, “Grandma, you are pretty cool!” Of course I was thinking I was cool because I took him to Disneyland, etc., but I asked him, “Why?” He replied, “Because you are debt free!” Dave Ramsey would be so proud!

Aunt Brianna was explaining to me how Aunt Stephanie would have to pay $30 to eat and see Ariel up close. Jeremiah said, “Aunt Stephanie can have my $30 (spending money Grandma gave him) to see Ariel!” Such a generous child!

While the children were away Travis and I accomplished a lot, though not nearly all of what we wanted.

*I put on a Bridal Shower--my first one, and it went over well

*We bought two red bartlet pear trees

*We purchased five more laying chickens

*We planted more tomato starts

*We planted two rows of onions outside

*Weeded an especially weedy area

*Pruned the climbing vines along the front (found a rose bush hiding that had a sucker 'stem' about two and a half inches around)

*Oh, and we ate out more than we ever normally do because it was so relaxed that I never wrote a schedule! Oops!

I'm so glad they got that wonderful experience! Thank you guys! It was nice to have just Isaiah and Addie (Addie started helping unload the dishwasher because I wasn't so focused on all the other kids!), but it's just not the same without Lilly helping everyone out and Jeremiah sweeping! : )

Disapointment

2011-01-25T20:54:00.000-08:00

Well, today we went down to the rental in Jefferson with the intention of having a new couple who has viewed the house sign papers to move in. They're waiting on a VA check or something from the military so we said we could wait on last month rent and deposit, but they could start moving in February 1st. Unfortuantly, they feel like it wouldn't be responsible to start renting until they have all the money in hand. Can't blame them there, but it would have eased my stress to have their money. : ) So, they still should be set to move in March 1st. I'm going to take that as we have one month to sell the house. So if you know of anybody wanting to buy a house in Jefferson, let us know! It's close to Albany and Salem and has the best kitchen a reasonably sized home can have!

Bobcat

2011-01-20T16:20:00.000-08:00

Jeremiah just had an idea...

"I have an idea to catch the bobcat. First, you lay dead on the trampoline and when the bobcat comes up to take a bite, you punch it in the face and run away. Then he'll bite th trampoline!"

There was a bobcat spotted trying to get the chickens last night. Hence the way to catch a bobcat. : ) I love that kid!

2011 Goals

2011-01-14T16:55:00.000-08:00

As promised, here are the kid's goals for 2011 (Jeremiah and Lilly helped set theirs and the younger one's goals)...Travis and I have yet to set ours...

Adelyn:

*Learn how to use the big potty

*Learn at least 20 words

*Learn how to run and jump

Isaiah:

*Count and recognize to 20

*Recognize all letters

-Upper and Lower case

*Learn to ride a bike

Lilly:

*Add and Subtract to 10

*Read Yellow Collection Bob Books

*Put on a Fabulous Tea Party

Jeremiah:

*3-digit Addition and Subtraction

*Read Level 3 books by himself

*Learn how to play soccer

They're all nicely written on 8x11 designed paper. We're going to display them on a wall somewhere so we can be reminded of them.

God has Blessed us Again

2011-01-14T06:59:00.000-08:00

Not seconds after, but actually seconds before I pushed the publish button the phone rang yesterday. It was Conley, the man who was working on our car. Apparently he'd been working on it a lot, since he fixed it!!!! For free!!! He took out the offending parts and ground them down and put them back. We no longer have a/c, but we can live with that since we have a/c in the house now. Disaster #2 avoided for little (no cost in this case). We have been and are blessed. I think we totaled the meter base cost to be about $250...instead of an undisclosed amount by a 'professional.'

They come in Threes

2011-01-13T18:34:00.000-08:00

So, I feel like I have a lot to blog about, more as a record of what has happened than to inform people of what has happened. And honestly I could have already covered what I'm about to say and yet I don't have the time to go back through and check, so if for some reason it's a repeat, I'm sorry.

Well, starting at the end of November we had an electrical smell coming from our breaker box, which reminded us that we were supposed to change the wire gauge from the breaker to the new hot water heater (I'm sure I blogged about that!). Thirty dollars of wiring and a husband determined to learn and fix everything we had a correctly changed out wire and no electrical smell! For three days. Thinking we were somehow stressing a breaker we would shut off the hot water heater leading to the kitchen and two small bathrooms. Thankfully that meant we still had hot water in the washer and the shower! Well, a couple weeks of turning it on for a little while to run the dishwasher and do a couple big dishes and then back off real quick and picking people's brains to figure out the problem wasn't really working so well, as you can imagine! On the day our friend's son, who works at some Dam, the PGE (Portland General Electric) came out. Yup, those smart meter things that send the amount of energy used flagged our meter! I'm sure they thought they were pulling up to a pot house or meth lab! I'd like to think I kept my cool and asked all sorts of questions as they checked on the meter base. Apparently there is the meter and the meter base. The meter base on our house was old and hot, when it should be like a metal pipe and needed to be replaced and yes, it was the home owners responsibility. I asked for an estimate, and of course they couldn't give us one, but I did get that the meter base was 'cheap' at $200. Ugh. This was the day before we were leaving for Christmas in Washington. So, we turned off all the breakers beside the fridge and shop (with the freezer) and headed to Washington. We looked into the stuff a little bit, but kinda forgot it until we came home December 29. Of course, the temperatures dropped and we huddled the kids down stairs in three layers, a sleeping bag and a comforter, complete with hats. : ) Then we figured out all the steps that had to happen...Denny, the guy from church who was going to help us replace the box couldn't help on Thursday. Travis had to get ready for the lock-in Friday, spend the night at the church until Saturday morning and for obvious reasons should not be working on electric things on the rest of Saturday. Sunday Travis works until about 1, and the power company wouldn't come out unless it was an emergency. Then Monday is our day off, but Denny was unable to help that day. (I don't understand how all these retired people can't just drop everything ; ) So, Tuesday it was...six days away...temperatures dropping below freezing at night and walking around layered all day still freezing. Not exactly a good situation, so we (the kids and I) headed back to my parents house the day after we had just left! We called the power company and they set us up for power turn off on Tuesday from the emergency team (apparently six days isn't enough notice), we purchased a meter base (for $42) and went to get a permit from the county (which we had been suggested to that it should be about $35). Yeah, don't know when or where they got there permits, but $92 later, we had ours! And we set up a inspection time for Tuesday later in the day. Then here comes Tuesday to everyones delight (especially Travis' since he was freezing the whole time). And he waits and waits and waits. He calls the inspector to make sure that everything is set...yes for 12 noon. Um...not okay! So, thankfully the inspector was nice (I think it might be an oxymoron--nice inspector) and said he'd come later to check. The power company was scheduled for 'morning,' they made it out around 1. At which time Travis was 'radio silent' since the phone runs through the computer, which runs through the electric. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore so I called the church to find out Denny's number...that was at 12 on Wednesday. Apparently the inspector was pulling up right then and we got the approval! Which reminds me, I wanted to make cookies for the nice inspector.

The kids and I raced home on Wednesday, taking my mom with us as a stow-a-way. Well, sorta...she decided last minute to come with us since Aunt Fran had passed away a week earlier and her funeral was Thursday. It really was perfect timing! We all got to go to the funeral. I felt like the kids did a really good job sitting through the funeral and later at the gathering. Okay, I have to tell this story real quick.

At the funeral there was a large picture/poster with pictures from Fran's life. The kids were looking at it and asking questions since I think Jeremiah was the only one who'd met Fran and that was when he was less than 10 months old. I told them they didn't know Fran. A little later when we were sitting down Lilly looked like she was going to just start bawling. I passed Addie off to my mom and cuddled her asking, "Lilly bug, what's wrong?" Through her sniffles and tears she managed to say, "I miss Aunt Fran!" My poor sensitive baby! A couple minutes later she had finished most of her crying when I asked her again, what was wrong...I wanted to make sure there wasn't some other reason. This was her reply, again through tears, "You know Mommy, I miss Aunt Fran. Why didn't you *sniffle* let me meet her *sniffle*?" I felt so bad!

It's been a week and I feel like we're almost back on schedule with the house, laundry, dishes etc...however, while up at my parents my car started shaking some and I though perhaps it was a combo muffler (which is quite loud currently) and cold, cold air (though I did let the car warm up 5-10 minutes every time it was cold). After driving down to Oregon, up to Portland and back to Salem, and around town a little bit, we figured we'd better take a look at it closer because Travis didn't think it was muffler. Unfortunantly, he was right, bad part is that it's some sort of pulley thing related to the A/C...worse part is in this car you can't by pass it without by passing I think the power steering. Oh, and it gets better...Once again we had to call and rely on a person from the church. This time Conley, who has been looking for the compressor part and found one...in Japan for $800. He came out today to check and make sure that was the problem etc...and the car wouldn't start. Yup, corroded battery terminals (apparently that stops the charge from going back into the battery), sitting for almost a week and I think a door was left open when we moved the carseats to the bus so we could get to church. I also learned that you need to feed your battery water...and aspirin. Yup, learn something new everyday. So, basically it'll be $300-800 (and who knows what shipping is) and possibly 3-4 weeks to fix. We'll be saving at least $800-$1,200 though. (And actually more than that because I won't be able to make it to Target to see if the toys are 75% off : ) I'm not trilled, not really even happy, but at least Travis can ride his bike to work and the only places that the kids and I have to go are church on Sunday and Awana on Wednesday. Oh, yes that brings me to another story. I arranged a ride for the kids to Awana. I really don't want them to miss (It's good for them, I don't want Lilly to get behind, not getting the attendance jewel will rub me the wrong way and I really enjoy my two hours with just the two little ones). I don't like the phone and I really don't like calling people, especially people I don't really know. Well, I did it, I called on Monday and arranged a ride from the only person I had a phone number for...it helps that she has a 15 passenger van for her 7 kids and we only live 2 minutes away from the church...and that's IF you hit the light. Well, she called on Wednesday around 3 that she was in the waiting room at the doctors thinking an infection had spread. So, I buckled down and e-mailed the commander, yes I asked of the person who does the most and is the most busy on Wednesday, something I try really hard not to do. Thankfully he actually got and responded to my e-mail and the kids were able to go, whew. However, now with the car being gone (Conley took it to his "shop" at his house) we'll have to set something up. : ( Ugh.

Since things usually come in threes we've decided that our vacuum dying is the third thing. I think it needs a new belt, but that's it. It has to be, because if it's not...we won't finish that thought.

Okay, we'll finish it a little. As most of you know Addie has spots, yes spots, they look like little bruises or a dozen or two birth marks. They don't hurt her, they aren't raised and they haven't grow since they showed up. Now the bad parent part. They started showing up around 2 months old, and I'm not sure when they stopped, but I'm pretty sure she hasn't gotten any new ones since about 6 months old. The doctor said that they are Cafe au Lait spots (actually Melinda found it online and the doctor confirmed it), it means 'coffee with milk' spots and they can range in color from darker to lighter and are completely harmless...unless. Unless they're a symptom of Neurofibromatosis, which is a genetic disorder (actually only 50% are genetic, the rest are spontaneous mutation) that causes abnormal cell growth of nerve tissue. You're supposed to have six or more larger than a quarter, dime or 1 cm--depending on the site you look at. Anyway, the doctor, back at six months said that they're probably nothing, just the harmless permanent type, but he'd probably bring her to a dermatologist just to 'be safe,' 'peace of mind' etc...basically in case he's wrong. Well, right about then we were switching insurances, so I didn't want to confuse them over who's paying for what, then I wasn't sure if this would be considered a 'pre-existing' condition that the new insurance wouldn't cover, then it was summer and trying to schedule an appointment so that Travis could be there too would be next to impossible, not to mention cost of tests etc...(switching insurance doesn't mean good coverage). And honestly, I was/am afraid and didn't want to take her in since everything seems fine. Now, I feel like I need to and also that it might be the real 'third thing.' She got a blister like bump on one of the spots. It 'popped' but another one showed up on a spot next to it two days later. I'm praying that it's nothing, but I'm getting scared. I researched some and it states that most cases live without complications (60%), but others may need surgery depending on where the tumors develop...often in the ear or eye nerves, some times brain, causing damage. And that's if it's NF1, NF2...well I didn't even want to look at that. I don't really want advise or comments about what I should do or shouldn't have done. But prayers would be greatly appreciated.

While all these things didn't start at a hormonal time, it certainly has crossed into that territory...which is obviously not good for anyone who might walk into the cross hairs unintentionally. : )

Lighter notes...we made 2011 goals for the kids, I will share them later, hopefully tomorrow. I've been trying to get up around 6:30 and have been successful for three days, how many days does it take to form a habit? Five, right? Well, if anyone reads through the whole thing I'll be amazed! Thanks for letting me vent. Oh and sorry about the font change---I pasted something from a different document and I don't know how to change the size on these posts...and Travis went and bought me chocolate ice cream so Ta ta for now.

3 Mary's

2011-01-04T13:16:00.000-08:00

Lilly got to go to Grandmas' school today. When I brought up Grandma's lunch this is what Lilly told me.

Lilly: "Mommy, see that white shirt? That's my friend Mary! Oh, there are two Mary's! Wait, there are three Mary's!"

Me: "Wow." (I was wondering where she was getting her other Mary's, because I was pretty sure there was only one in the school)

Lilly: "Two in the Bible and one here!"

Me: "Who are the two in the Bible?"

Lilly: "You know! Mary had a Little Lamb and Mary who had baby Jesus!"

I laughed and laughed!

Apples to Apples

2010-12-29T20:01:00.000-08:00

Most people have probably already heard the story, but for those who may have missed it and for etching it into all eternity here it is.

Aunt Stephanie, Aunt Brianna, myself and partner Lilly along with Grandma and her partner Jeremiah were playing Apples to Apples Disney Version (it has pictures!). The green card came up with "Frightening" (to which you are to place the most appropriate card from your hand down for a judge to select). Jeremiah chose "Telling a Lie," even after Grandma asked him if he was sure, replying "Yes, you get big spankings!" Now, it happened to be Lilly's turn to judge and choose the card that is most 'frightening.' The choices consisted of, 'Getting Lost,' 'Jumping off a Cliff' and of course, "Telling a Lie." The one she chose? Telling a Lie!!! I'm so proud of my kids...the most frightening thing. : )

Isaiah

2010-12-22T12:29:00.000-08:00

So, the bathroom door was closed. Isaiah needed to go potty. He tries to open it, knocks and tries again, this time succeeding. As he walks in he says, "Anyone in here? Nope. Knock, knock, me. No, go use the other bathroom."

During the Sermon

2010-12-17T15:48:00.001-08:00

Okay, so last Sunday while pastor was preaching he gave a story analogy, like normal. However this one was hilarious! I hope I can do it justice...

It was once again the Christmas season and as always this grandma couldn't figure out what to get her three grandchildren. They were past the age of legos and dolls and into those new fangled thingys that cost an arm and a leg. So, putting tradition aside she decided to give them some money and let them decide what what they wanted to do with it.

Feeling better she quickly wrote the cards, "Buy your own gift. Love Grandma." She rushed to the mailbox to get them out that day.

Three days later she was straightening up her mail desk and discovered an envelope with three $20 bills...tin her rush she had forgotten to put in the money!

That same day three grandkids were opening up a card from grandma that read..."Buy your own gift. Love Grandma."

It just made me laugh.

Because

2010-12-10T15:19:00.000-08:00

I said I would post more for those without Facebook...and I've been meaning to, honest! However, I have the bad habit of thinking of things to post and then forgetting them. The kids have been full of hilarious things lately, but I can't remember them!

Jeremiah prayed the other day, "...and please help Adam feel better and help him find his charger. Amen." (explaination...Adam is staying in the shop this month and eats with us...he had a serious blood sugar level increase that landed him in the ER, hence the feeling better. And he's let Jeremiah use his phone and play a game called 'Angry Birds', hence the phone charger part.)

Addie can now sign 'milk' which is awesome because she likes to scream and whine for it otherwise. She said diaper and Target on Wednesday! hehe, girl after my own heart (the Target part)

Lilly is going to be one of the flower girls in a wedding tomorrow, she keeps asking, "Is it Saturday yet?" I'll try to post a picture. : )

Isaiah, well he's working on not whining and is still gaining followers at church, new ones every week! He's almost got 10 shapes down and is about 50% on colors. And when I say 50% I mean that half the time he knows almost all of them and the other half he can't remember any. : )

We recently butchered two roosters. We thought we were getting 5 hens, but the cock-o-doodle-dooing nixed that idea. : ) So, Travis can now confidently say that he can kill, defeather, chop, cook and freeze a chicken. Feel so Little House on the Praire. : )

Alright, enough procrastinating...off to make dinner and a freezer meal. : )

Facebook Pictures

2010-12-04T11:58:00.000-08:00

So, I know that some people who read this do not have facebook (which I can understand since I myself held off for a long time), but it's really hard to upload to facebook and the blog. Especially since our computer is kinda slow and it takes FOREVER to upload. However, facebook has this niffty little thing that allows me to give a link to people who don't have facebook that will allow them to see the photos. Here are the lastest:

Christmas Tree Hunting:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2063584

Thanksgiving in Applegate:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2063124

Great Wolf Lodge with Grandma & Grandpa Bushnell:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2061593

Halloween:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2060751

Hope those are fun!

Happy Birthday Travis!

2010-11-29T16:06:00.000-08:00

Well, it's come, the dreaded day...the big 3-0. Yes, I am now married to a 30 year old man. Hmmm, I won't think about the fact that in three years my husband will be married to a 30 year old woman. Or that Jeremiah will be 8 in three years...Anyway, I digress.

With Sunday being a busy day today (Monday) was our birthday day. It started out with a nice relaxing morning...well as much as four little kids can provide relaxation! We brought Travis breakfast in bed of a donut, coffee and a smoothie. Then the kids helped Travis find his presents which I had cleverly hidden with clues all around the house. Then we got our Christmas Tree. And now the house is half decorated and half a big mess (as oppossed to the medium mess that usually graces EVERYWHERE).

Travis' birthday present (slash Christmas slash Valentine's and probably slash Father's Day as well) was a TV. Now, with all those holiday's wrapped up into this one present you'd think it was a monsterous hugely expensive TV. You'd be wrong. Travis got up at 1am, stood in line for a braclet, then went back at 5am to claim his prize! Yes, a 32" TV for $198...pretty much the only Black Friday Deal worth anything (at least as far as I could tell). So, we're going to use it as a computer screen, however we have to buy an adaptor. No problem, right? Wrong. Our computer is soooo old that it doesn't have the right connection. Amazing, six years and you can find newer computers at the Goodwill...well at least Jeremiah can play Mario again. : )

On another note, I think we're going to be moving a couple rooms around. The education room has been doubling as Addie's room (or vica-versa), but we're going to switch with our stuff. While that puts Travis and I farther away from the kids than I'd like at night, it solves the problem of having Addie getting too cold at night, not being able to do laundry when Addie's sleeping (since the washer and dryer are in there too) and me being able to quickly fix lunch while the kids are still doing school. However, the moving of stuff just doesn't sound fun!

Isaiah

2010-11-27T20:38:00.000-08:00

So at Thanksgiving Larry (my father-in-law), Travis, Jeremiah and Isaiah went out to pick up some auto parts and this is a conversation held with Isaiah afterwards...

Me: Isaiah, did you have fun? Are you one of the guys?
Isaiah: Yes! Me no like girls.
Me: You don't like me? *pout*
Isaiah: *Slightly confused look* No, me like you mommy!
Whew. : )

Then later, when we had made it home:

Me: Tomorrow is Sunday, who do you get to see on Sunday?
Isaiah: Miss Tracy, Miss Piper and...girls!

Hopefully Thanksgiving pictures will come soon...

Today

2010-10-19T21:17:00.001-07:00

Today marks 7 years...7 years you may ask? 7 years ago my wonderful husband asked me to be his girlfriend...on a walk around campus after giving me a rose. He came over right away after I had been away on a Dove Retreat. That's what he asked to, "Will you be my girlfriend?" Not, "Will you go out with me?" But, would I consider being a part of his life, not just because it sounded fun, but because we were going to find out if we could be together forever...obviously the answer is yes, yes we will be together forever. That's it for now.

True Colors

2010-10-06T21:04:00.000-07:00

So, Travis and I really like the personality test called "True Colors" (there are actually two with colors, but we use Blue, Gold, Orange and Green). We are constantly using the colors as descriptive words to explain a person's behavior. Example, "I think the lady I met was really orange, she would be a sentence into our conversation and then be off on a different one with someone else." Or, "The person at the post office must be green." We don't have to go further. Well, we have our kids tentitively pegged, one with each color. We know that they can and probably will change here and there, but so far in their lives they are: Jeremiah--Gold, Lilly--Green, Isaiah--Blue and Adelyn--Orange
Here are some examples as to why we feel that way...

Adelyn--While she has the most room for change, currently she seems to lean toward Orange. An orange person flys by the seat of their pants, is always up for an adventure and really doesn't like rules (especially if they seem illogical or squash their fun). So far in life Addie has never really liked her exersaucer, we figure because it takes away her freedom. : )

Isaiah--He is Blue, there is no question (even with the option of change, right now he's blue). A blue person wants everyone to get along, they're romantic, personable and feeling. This kid cares SO much about people, he's always giving hugs, kisses and in general making everybody's day brighter with a smile. He has a following of older women at church (and other frequently visited places) who just stand in line for an Isaiah hug. He notices when someone is hurt or sad, many times he's "blown away my ouchies" without me ever mentioning that I had any, he just reads your face. Tonight at dinner the kids were being silly and saying they didn't like my cooking...I told Isaiah that he was going to make me cry, that that wasn't very nice and his little face, being all silly a second before dropped and his brow furrowed and he looked like he was about to cry!

Lilliana--My little Green girl. Greens could also be labelled "Type-A," but with all personalities there is a range from extreme to light. Greens like to be in charge, they follow rules IF they make sense to them and if not they don't really care. Lilly is a light green, she loves to be in charge and often will push rules if they don't fit what she wants. She will choose to go in the 2 & 3 year old's Children's Church, where Isaiah is the next oldest because they will listen to her and she's 'the big fry.' However, she does have a generous heart, last week I made her go to the 4 & 5's Children's Church and she almost cried, saying "But Isaiah will be scared without me." She also brought Travis a plate of chips during the youth game night, and then came back and refilled it and then offered to do the same for me, there was no prompting or asking involved. Oh, yes and with some of her birthday money she bought some animal crackers, which she shared, even though I didn't tell her she had too. However, I'm not certain that she was sharing purely out of the kindness in her heart (though there is a lot there), I think she really liked that she was in control of who got what and how much. It's not unusual to hear her say, "I'm in charge of my chicken." Soon she'll be in charge of getting the chicken's eggs...hopefully that rule makes sense to her, or we'll have a fight. : )

Jeremiah--He is my Gold. Golds are the rule followers, the organized, the details matter sort of people. We're the ones that read a sentence like "$60 for the first two people and then $10 for any additional" and go, "Do they mean $60 each or $60 total." And that happens with everything. : ) But anyway, on to Jeremiah's goldness...This kid remembers everything, if I need to do something, I tell him. Granted his sense of time is still developing so it's possible he'll remind you after the fact, but only because you didn't tell him to remind you before lunch etc...He remembers his finger getting bit when he was almost three at the Sylvana Fair, and he remembers eating crab with the Kershners when we was two years and two months old, so things that happened last summer when he was three are like crystal clear. He thrives on routine, this summer was tough on him, he lost a lot of focus and self-control. We've been in school for three weeks and his attention span has tripled from the last couple months, he likes knowing what is coming up. So, two days ago I sent him upstairs with his laundry basket of clean, folded clothes to put away. Half an hour later he still hadn't come back down, though I know he had been half way through. When I called him down for dinner he asked if he could finish 'rolling' his clothes. Not exactly knowing what sort of mischief was up, I told him after dinner he could finish. I got to see what he ment...he took every drawer (some of which were stuffed and hugely messy), folded the clothes and rolled them (just like Travis and I do). His underware, p.j.'s, shirts and pants are all nicely rolled in his drawers. I don't know how long it will last, but he had more laundry to put away today and he took his time and rolled them all.

I love my kids and I can't wait to see how they change and grow over the years and who they'll turn out to be.

AWESOME NEWS

2010-09-29T00:07:00.000-07:00

I want to make sure that this is marked and recorded. Around 6 o'clock on Monday, September 27th, Lilliana Morgan Frank accepted Jesus as her Savior and is now going to Heaven (of course that won't be for a long, long, LONG time). What a blessed and wonderful thing to watch your child become part of God's family.

Jeremiah, though I don't know the exact date, accepted the Lord around October/November of 2009.

Isaiah yesterday told me "Me love Jesus," granted he didn't know who Jesus was, but he knows that he's supposed to love him...made my heart smile that he's starting to get it too.

Nearly Midnight Musings

2010-09-28T23:47:00.001-07:00

So, it's almost midnight and I'm still awake, which is not exactly a usual occurance for me. Okay, it hardly ever happens, though since being married, pregnant and dealing with feeding babies, it's much more common. All that aside, I feel like I have many things to write even though I can't remember many of them...I have the bad habit of 'writing' in my head...and then forgetting to actually write it down because my brain checks it off the list as done. Oops. I have many, many photos to upload, both to here and Facebook. I have a video of Addie having her first ice cream...it's quite adorable. I also have one of Isaiah as Spiderman showing off his muscles. Can't wait for Halloween. Lilly wants to be a cat (she's a very determined child that doesn't waiver on her costume idea, once she says it, that's it. Thankfully she's chosen easy costumes so far!), Jeremiah can't quite decide between all the nifty costumes in the dress up closet (he's waffling between a storm trooper, iron man, and bumblebee), and Isaiah is going to be a Jaguar (he was quite excited about the idea and Aunt Stephanie is going to make it possible with her mad sewing skills). Addie is undecided, I figure I'll let Lilly choose between the princess dresses, tinkerbell, a ladybug or a bumble bee...she has too many options for me to choose!
We recently picked 215 pounds of apples from a elderly neighbor's tree...we've been canning for four days now and have the last box down to about 20-30 pounds left. Even though I haven't eaten more than a few slices, I'm pretty tired of apples. Heck, I think I've only cut about four apples (my awesome husband has been helping like crazy and that's his main job...he's just wonderful!). So far we have about 20 quarts of applesauce, 6 quarts of spiced applesauce, 8 1/2 pints of apple butter, 10 quarts of apple juice (though one batch wasn't the greatest and all will need to be mixed with the grape juice), six pie fillings, two fruit leather trays (and probably three more coming soon), and 18 apple pies in muffin tins (and frozen) for quick easy breakfasts. The remainder of the apples will be turned into more "muffin pies" and spiced applesauce. In a couple weeks I will be getting concord grapes!! Yippy, a nice easy thing to can. However, I need to buy some pears because the free pears we normally get didn't happen (the tree didn't produce this year), it's really hard to buy fruit that you normally get for free.
We started Kindergarten and Pre-School last week. Isaiah is doing much better, making it nicer to teach them all. I think Lilly is really going to explode this year and Jeremiah is going to continue to do awesome. It will be nice to see the progress they make...now if I can get it together and assess their beginning levels I could actually measure some of their growth. : )
I had some funny things that the kids said floating around in my head, but I 'wrote' them already, so they're gone. Oh, yes we now have chickens, five to be exact. All of us except Addie named one. Jeremiah's is Speedracer (he's the black and white one that is always getting out and leading the others out), Lilly's is Woodpecker ( in the week we've had them he's had about four birthdays and I think another couple are planned for the future), Isaiah named his Puma (big surprise there--watch Diego to know what I'm talking about), I named mine Pepper (the book I was reading at the time had a horse named Pepper and it's the other black and white one), and Travis named his plain white chicken Goober. So those are our chickens, hopefully they'll start laying soon...though I've read they don't lay unless there is 14 hours of sunlight...and of course it's coming into winter and we have less than 14 hours of sunlight. Hmmm.
We need to sell our Jefferson House. If anyone knows of a buyer, let us know. : )
Tomorrow is Lilly's 4th birthday, Addie turned 1 last week and Jeremiah has been 5 for a month! Craziness. Well, I think that's it and now I'm hopefully tired enough to go to sleep. I knew I shouldn't have bought that coffee, it was just so good!

Daddy Stay Home Day

2010-09-20T19:18:00.000-07:00

Last night I was melonchy, bummed, hormonal, irritable, you get the picture. Not how I wanted to be for the evening before 'Daddy Stay Home Day,' which is the best day of the week! Thankfully I woke up in a pleasant enough mood to allow Travis to sleep in ('til 9 o'clock!), make coffe, empty the dishwasher, load it back up with the backlog in the sink, make a batch of granola for breakfast and pick up the family room. A good start. We also found out we have a small Walnut tree on our property as well as neighbors who don't want massive quanities of produce. Therefore we got to pick 42 pounds of green grapes, which I am currently juicing, 3 pounds of hazelnuts (which happen to be my FAVORITE nut) and a dozen little apples and asian pears! Awesomeness. And as if that wasn't a wonderful day in itself Travis went and picked up chickens and allowed me to read my book at Starbucks. It's amazing how refreshing an hour and a half sitting, reading my book and drinking a coffee is. (Last week I got to go to a 'girls night' and I felt more drained than refreshed, I'm such an introvert!) Whew. I'll have to post names and pictures of our new 'pets' later!

Lilly and the Grapes

2010-09-15T10:41:00.001-07:00

So yesterday Travis went and dug up a huge grape vine, a small apple tree and some lillies, thank you Craigslist free section! He planted the grapes where the blackberries are currently. It's probably not the best time to transplant right now, seeing as the vine is covered in bunches of seedless grapes...they turn purple, but start out green. They' quite delicious. Well, anyway Jeremiah picked some this morning to put in our oatmeal. Later Lilly asked if she could go eat some grapes, to which I told her 'no.' I don't want her eating them all day, because she would! About ten minutes of playing outside I go to check on them and find Jeremiah and Lilly over by the grapes. I holler across the yard, "Lilly, Jeremiah, I told you no grapes, come here!" And lo and behold they came running and while they ran Lilly said, "We didn't eat the grapes, we were eating the blackberries (which they're allowed to just go eat)." I was so proud of her, she obeyed and listened! Just one of those moments where you go, aahh, that's what you're supposed to do ALL the time. See, isn't it much better? : )

Costco

2010-09-04T23:29:00.000-07:00

My kids LOVE Costco, especially on what they call "Sample Day." However, they often fight over who gets to hold the receipt at the end...we've started doing a "guess my number" way of choosing. Jeremiah won today and Lilly pouted for about 10 seconds. While they normally forget to say please and thank you to the person checking this time he didn't! Jeremiah very politely handed the lady the receipt and asked "May I have a check mark please?" When questioned that that really was what he wanted, he said, "Yes, a check mark please." The lady gave me a raised eyebrow, 'wow' sort of look and gave him a check mark. He then with a smile said, "Thank you." She turned and told me, "You're doing a good job momma, keep it up." (amazingly enough Isaiah and Addie weren't bugging each other in the cart and Lilly was sitting quietly too!) Whew...keep plugging along, they're getting something! Whoowho!

Oh, yes, and then I told Jeremiah that he 'impressed the ladie's socks off,' he thought that was hilarious and has since tried to 'impress people's socks off.'

My Heart Smiles

2010-09-04T07:41:00.000-07:00

Lilly: Jeremiah I have something to say to you.
Jeremiah: What?
Lilly: I'm sorry I broke the tongue off your snake, I didn't mean to.
Jeremiah: Oh, that's okay, it looks cooler without a tongue, like it swallowed something.

This is a conversation that was not prompted at all. No one knew that Lilly had broken the tongue, and Jeremiah's response was all his own. Made my heart smile, especially since they'd been having a hard time listening earlier. : ) Maybe we're making some head way, press on, keep pressing on.

Lilliana

2010-09-01T13:54:00.000-07:00

We got 4 year old pictures taken of Lilly today...I can't believe she's almost four. It feels like she should be 2 at the most! She is growing into a beautiful little girl, we've been working really hard on helping her see that being kind, generous, smiling etc...are what make you beautiful. We have Addie's pictures scheduled for next week. I actually got them taken before their birthdays this year and they'll all be ready for their birthday party...not that there is anything special about that, just that I can hand out a few instead of mailing them! I like that. : )
So Addie can climb out of her playpen, thanks to a hole Jeremiah cut in the mess netting a couple months ago. And now she can climb out of her exersaucer! I think she can only do the latter when there is something to pull herself with, so if I put her in the center of the room, we might be okay. : )
Oh, yes, I forgot about a piano lesson yesterday. In my defense normal days are Thursday and we didn't have one last Thursday. I still feel bad though. : ( I can't wait for school to start so there is a 'normal' schedule. Unfortunantly the Education Room still looks like a diaster zone (even though Travis and I worked on it for a couple hours the last couple days). I still need to do photo copying and figure out which projects I'm going to do with them. I don't know how other homeschool families work it out, but mine is more like 'school.' We sit and have intro time, story time, math time, transitions, projects, reading time, show and tell...you get the idea. : ) Ugh, makes me tired and excited at the same time!
Well, I'd better go, I need to buy dish soap (I forgot to get it at the grocery store yesterday!) and I need to find out if we're making chicken strips tonight...they are yummy!

Pictures

2010-08-24T14:03:00.001-07:00

We got 5 year old pictures of Jeremiah taken yesterday. I can't believe he's almost five, it just doesn't seem real. Anyway, after his first set of poses (while semi distracted by the Word World playing for his siblings) the photographer set up a make shift changing room behind the curtain and came out to listen to a message. Apparently he didn't quite understand what he was supposed to be doing because a minute later he came out, in the same clothes, asking the photographer, "Are you changed yet?" The pictures, as usual, turned out fantastic and I have a horrible time trying to choose just one for the package, thankfully I got a 10 by 10 too. Perhaps I'll upload those here later.

Happy Birthday!

2010-08-18T11:38:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday to me!!

Unfortunately my birthday is on a Wednesday this year and Travis has 'set in stone' office hours for Wednesdays while pastor is on sabbatical. However, my awesome husband made sure I had a great start to my birthday day and we have a date set for Monday...

Anyway, last night while tucking Jeremiah in I told him to sleep in really late because tomorrow was mommy's birthday day. He looks at me and asks, "Did you hear what Daddy and I were talking about?" Me, "No." To which he replied, "oh, okay, he said I can't tell you. I'll sleep in really late." And Travis told me to just let the kids get up in the morning and not tell them what to do, like normal. : )

I woke up at 6am, through no fault of the children, though Lilly was up soon after. Around 6:30 Travis got up to take care of the kids...and around 7 I woke up to a quite house! Fifteen minutes later I hear them outside "Pick a flower for mommy...quite." "Waaaah" "Let me get that one, it has thorns...come on."

A little later my door bursts open to the older three kids singing "Happy Birthday" while Travis carried a plate and vase of beautiful flowers. The kids started chattering away as the song was done, telling me that "We bought Orange Juice!! (a true rarity)" and "We got your favorite donut with chocolate on top and cream inside! I thought you would like the one with sprinkles all over!" Travis lowered the plate and it had my Valentine's Ladybug glass from Jeremiah filled with o.j. (my FAVORITE), a whole nectarine cut up with fresh picked raspberries and blackberries (the berries from our yard) and a delicious looking eclair. I've been wanting cream puff things since watching Cake Boss! : ) It was just perfect. Then Travis took the kids to eat their donuts while I ate in semi-quietness. : ) I took some pictures, though the food is half eaten. : ) Oh, yes the kids all drew me a picture too! They're so cute. : )

We ran out of time for me to open the presents from my family, but when Travis comes home for a quick lunch (of homemade pizza : ) we'll do that...and then off he goes again to fix our car. It broke on Monday, needs a new starter, which we happened to get yesterday right before VBS. Hopefully he can fix it before VBS, that would be a nice birthday present. : ) I almost forgot, Travis also took Jeremiah with him for the office hours (9-12), so it's been nice and quite-ish around here!

What a great husband I have...pretty cute kids too. : ) I love them.

Diego & Alicia

2010-08-18T11:32:00.000-07:00

Here is a conversation between Isaiah and Lilly

Isaiah: Ant, ant, Lilly ant!
Lilly: I'm Alicia.
Isaiah: Alicia, ant!
Lilly: Oh, Diego there is an ant!

I've decided that I'm going to try and put more of the funny little things the kids do and say on here instead of just facebook. I know that you can link the two somehow, but I rather like not having all the church/high school etc...people having access to the blog. Not that many people read it anyway, but it works. : )

Oh yes and soon I will post a video of Isaiah talking on his video watches. : )

Just a bit too big for Facebook...

2010-08-17T13:21:00.001-07:00

Addie can now "crawl" out of her playpen. Yes, she is only 11 months old. However, this feat is only possible because of the gapping hole cut into the side mess by none other than Jeremiah. This cut came at the same time as Lilly's hair cut. Lilly's hair has yet to be 'fixed' because if you put it up it doesn't really show...and except for some uneven parts it really is kinda cute. : )

Travis had Jeremiah in the car and a commercial came on the radio: "If your clothing makes a statement about who you are, what does your underware say about you..." at this point Travis turned it off (inappropriate commercials, really!) and Jeremiah pips up from the back, "my underware says I like bugs." Now, you must know that Jeremiah has no underware with bugs on it...but apparently it says he likes them! : )

Superman!

2010-08-11T19:08:00.000-07:00

So we went through a big huge bag of Halloween costumes given to us by Aunt Brianna (and possibly Aunt Stephanie)...Jeremiah got to choose his Halloween costume from the greats such as Superman, Darth Vader, a cowboy, and Iron Man. After his choice he naturally wanted to try one on...this one being Superman! Complete with muscle chest, yellow belt, underwear on the outside, boot covers and cape. While discussing that Superman can see through walls, and wondering if he can see through trees I managed to get a couple pictures. While wrapping up the photo shot, Lilly plops down on the floor and calls out, "Help me, help me!" It was too cute, so I had them reinact it for the camera...the following is priceless (at least to me!).

Lilly after this video quickly changed into a tutu, added a striped red and white blanket for a cape and dubbed herself "Super Princess." They were quite cute swinging from the rope swing and rescuing Isaiah. : )

Jeremiah's Bedtime Adventure

2010-06-29T21:36:00.000-07:00

So, Jeremiah often starts the night out in our bed so that he and Isaiah don't keep each other up etc...well, tonight I went to put something in our room and lo-and-behold, the door was locked! Silly kid. Unfortunantly, he was asleep by the time I figured this out...and, he wakes up like his dad...needless to say, knocking, banging, calling his name and eventually Travis climbing through the window still did not wake up my child...oh, why does he not have this problem in the mornings?!?!

Medford and Bandon!

2010-05-30T16:35:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pictures from our recent very quick trip to Medford and then Bandon to see relatives and have a little bit of fun!

Isaiah loves Grandpa!
Exploring the beach at Bandon

First date material...Isaiah going potty on the side of the road

The long, windy stairs to the beach.

Great Grandma..I'm not sleepy.

Grandma Sue and the girls.

Cousins!

Thick as thieves these three.

Whew...

2010-05-18T18:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was one of those really nice productive days where you fall on the couch exhausted from doing work, rather than just because of the kids. : ) Travis and I made nine freezer soups (3 types), 119 meatballs (thanks for the recipe Grandma), 13 hamburger patties, 19 2 cheese, bean and rice burritos (to freeze for easy lunches), and 4 'cans' worth of cream of chicken soup. Whew. And we managed to fold the overflow of 6 clean laundry loads...oops! I'll do better with that this week. Now I can't decide to can pineapple, make freezer rolls or try out the new tortilla recipe I just got in my Taste of Home Magazine tomorrow while the kids are at Bible Explorers.

Oh a different note, the kids have gotten into the bad habit of, how do I put it? Not listening and/or not believing that anything will actually happen. Needless to say Jeremiah and Lilly are both crying (and crying and crying and crying) in their beds because they had to go to bed early for misbehavior.

A couple New Pictures of the kids...

2010-05-09T20:19:00.000-07:00

Hehe, you can't guess what I'm thinking.

Addie pulled the toy onto Isaiah's face...he's not too happy.

Jeremiah reading to Addie.

Cutie-pie

Isaiah the big boy.

My silly Lillybug

Jeremiah copied a lego picture and built two ducks. : )

Beautiful Tulips

Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm

Happy Great Grandma Day!

2010-05-09T20:06:00.001-07:00

Happy Great Grandma's Day to all our awesome Grandmas!

Pictures

2010-05-05T21:11:00.000-07:00

Just thought I'd try to update with a few pictures.

Just in case anyone missed this as my profile pic. on Facebook! Too precious!

Lilly fell asleep during my friend Jill's Baby Shower...poor baby didn't feel good. : (

Apple Ladder Loaf...so delicious!

The Easter Bunny left Chuck E. Cheese shirts for the kids...my little stair steps!

Our New Pets

2010-04-29T15:46:00.000-07:00

It all started at 6 am. I woke up to Isaiah screaming at the top of his lungs (okay, maybe for Isaiah it was the middle, but quite loud even for normal). "Daddy, potty, poTTYYYY, PPPOOOOTTTTTYYYYYY!" So, my wonderful husband stumbled out of bed, shhhed him and put him on the little potty. Awesomely enough he went poo-poo, unawesomely he managed to wake Jeremiah up (who was grumpily telling him to be quiet). I sent Jeremiah to the couch to finish sleeping.
The next thing I knew it was around 7:30 and I could hear Jeremiah and Lilly's feet moving around and their little chitter-chatter. I found them by the dryer with the back door open. I was not pleased and they immediately were sent back to their beds (or couch). After their confiment Jeremiah asked if he could check on his pets. A little confused I asked, "What pets?" To which he answered, "My slugs!" and ran for the laundry room and a pint jar filled with, yes slugs. I couldn't even touch the jar. We made him put them outside where he has put leaves in the jar to feed them.
After my Bible study he wanted to go check on them. When he came in Travis asked him how they were doing, to which he replied. "No so good, three of them are gone!" So, we now have pet slugs. Gross.

The Dead Tooth

2010-03-31T20:55:00.000-07:00

Here is the picture story of Jeremiah's tooth removal, but background first. When Jeremiah was two he fell on a dividing strip (between carpet and linoleum), this resulted in his front left tooth turning gray. The dentist said it looked fine inside if it starts hurting him or the gums get really red and/or swollen, bring him back. Two years and nothing. Then, he got a line of red inside his tooth. Another trip to the dentist and she told me the tooth still looks fine on the inside (via x-rays) but if it starts really hurting him or a bump forms up on his gums bring him back, but it might just fall out normal. A couple months later his tooth started bleeding if we brushed it on the back side. Needless to say I called for an appointment...unfortunantly it was while Travis was on a youth retreat for four days, but eventually it was worked out for Saturday after he was back (we were worked into the schedule, seeing as the dentist's first tooth extraction appointment was for June 1st!). So here are the pictures I'm sure you're just aching to see...

Outside the Dentist's Office--look close and you can see the purplish color on his tooth.

Jeremiah with his Koala to squeeze and his 'funny elephant nose' (Doggie was unable to make it, he was getting a bath)

Right after...not feeling so hot, but since he did super fantastic he got two tokens to spend on the token machine (he got a small ninja and some gum)

The gaping hole. He was sluggish for about 6 hours, though it didn't stop him from having cake and ice cream at a birthday party!

Alright, I'm better, lets go play Mario!

And there you have it, my 4 year old with a missing front tooth!

Every Year

2010-03-26T14:42:00.000-07:00

So I was thinking yesterday that every year (for the past two) Lilly throws up in the first 1/2 of the year. The first time she was with the Kershners, bless them, while we were at a pastor's retreat in February (she was 1 1/2, throwing up multiple times through the night and once the next day). Last year, I think it was in May at the family movie night at church. She had been cranky and then proceeded to up-chuck while sitting on Travis' lap. The gym floor is great for liquid to splash and spread fyi. She was bouncing off the walls right after. I was wondering if this would be a tradition to look forward to. Well...
Today Lilly has been fine. She went to sit in her seat for lunch and said, "I'm not hungry." To which I replied, "That's fine, you can go to bed." And she did! Normally I get a "okay, I'm better," but she got her blanket, crawled into bed, told me her tummy felt icky and fell asleep. Right around 2:30 I heard a paniced yelp. So I run in (though I thought it was Isaiah at first) and find her scared little face with throw up all over her pillow. And as I try to help her up, the next three waves come! Poor baby. Amazingly enough she managed to get it on only her shirt, special blanket and pillow with three drops on the sheet. She is now happy as a clam and playing in the tub. I am so glad she didn't eat the refried bean and cheese casadeas! Maybe my theory is right...and now I'm done with her throwing up for the year! Oh, and I don't think any of the others have thrown up yet. I just can't wait!

The Beach

2010-03-03T20:59:00.000-08:00

We got to go on a family day trip to the beach. The kids had a blast and would have stayed there all day. It took Isaiah a while to warm up to the idea of sand...he cried the first five minutes because he did not want to touch it. However, after smashing a few cup castles he started to enjoy it and by the end was running after seagulls and chasing down dogs. Yes, he would run after people walking their dogs yelling, "Doggie, doggie, doggie." Until they finally stopped to let him pet their dog. However, when it was time to pet the dog he was usually a bit scared and just wanted to point and yell at the thing, though he did ask to hug one of them. Yes, he was the laughing stock of the beach (in a 'that's so cute' way). Jeremiah made a pretend beach fire with all the sticks he found. He threw them in a hole--his hole. Lilly kinda flitted around, following Jeremiah for some of the time and mostly just building this and then playing with a different toy etc...Addie slept, whew. Poor baby was so tired from being sick. She's finally sleeping better and smiling all the time again. Here are a couple videos, hopefully they upload.

Cousin Hudson's Birthday

2010-02-16T13:31:00.001-08:00

Lilly apparently hasn't figured out that it's the birthday persons job to blow out the candle.

Video

2010-02-16T13:04:00.000-08:00

Here is Isaiah with his valentine's day gift from grandma/grandpa...BALLS!

Jeremiah

2010-02-16T12:52:00.000-08:00

Jeremiah was able to spend the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Bushnell. He's still trying to adjust back to "normal life". After Indoor Park (and a bit of not quite behaving) he deliberately went out of his way and stomped in a puddle. I gave him a swat and he promptedly whined, pouted and grumbled, "uh, I'm not going to eat." To which I replied, "You're right, you're not." He didn't like that too much. When we got home I sent him to bed and he cried, "If I don't eat I'll be starving forever!" Needless to say, he was asleep about 10 minutes after he figured out we really weren't going to feed him lunch. (don't worry, he'll get when he gets up...hopefully with a better attitude!) You gotta love parenting.

Valentine's Day

2010-02-16T12:41:00.000-08:00

So, as most of you know, Travis and I have been gazelle intense on paying off debt the past two years. This means that vacations, birthdays, Christmas etc...are done 'on a shoe string' though more accurately on a very wore shoe string! All so we can eventually be completely debt free (except the house right now).
Valentine's Day is no exception. This year Travis combined multiple little things into one wonderful gift. First, he completed baskets and baskets of laundry, picked up the house, vacuumed and mopped on Friday while I dropped Jeremiah off with the Grandparents. Then On Saturday he had me take a nap while he 'shopped' for my present. Sunday he showed me what he shopped for...flowers. However he knows me so well. Instead of a bouquet of expensive flowers that will die in a week he planted some. Yes, the side of our house which has extremely hard, icky soil now has about six primroses of a beautiful pink shade as well as two small heather bushes which will hopefully be a nice addition to the house for years. Oh, and he took care of all the old icky plants from the front flower boxes as well. Then Monday he got up early and made me a plate of chocolate and white chocolate covered strawberries. He loves me. : )

For those not on Facebook

2010-01-31T09:43:00.001-08:00

Yes, I have sucumbed to Facebook, and honestly I love it. It's like I get to put up little sticky all day for anybody and everybody. Anyway, here is one of the wall posts that I thought should be shared with everyone:

Jeremiah's version of "Becareful Little Children"

"Oh becareful little tongue what you lick
Oh becareful little tongue what you lick
For the Father up above is looking at the trash
Oh becareful little tongue what yo lick!"

Lilly added, "Oh becareful little tongue what you bite"

Oh, and here's another wall post that is super adorable:
We've been working on the kids to 'compliment the cook,' whoever that is, even if it's not their favorite etc...This morning, with no prompting, guess who said, "Thank you Daddy for cereal." --Isaiah! I'm so proud of him. He has just started exploding in his ability to understand and communicate (even if it's pulling you to what he wants : )

Biggest Loser

2010-01-27T20:39:00.000-08:00

So, I've only seen two Biggest Loser Episodes. One I don't think was even an episode since it followed someone who had recently been 'kicked off,' and the other one was the make over show not to far from the end. So, in reality I've never actually seen it, but I have heard bits and pieces about "Jillian Michaels" as one tough cookie on work out etc...Seen her on the Wii exercise routines etc...Anyway, I bought one of her Dvd's at Costco yesterday. And boy oh boy am I out of shape! I mean, I know that I am, it's extremely hard not to be after four kids in five years! I think I made it through two of the six circuts...without the weights! Needless to say, maybe I should have chosen a different trainer...or the 30 Day Shred one instead--that way I'd have an end goal in sight!

On to more exciting topics. I made rolls with my Kitchen Aid tonight! Yup, and they turned out really good...they're called 60 minute Rolls and because I'm slow at everything cooking/baking, they only take about 1 1/2 hours to make. Bread stretches my ability because you have to work so quickly without interuptions!

Isaiah had his first dentist appointment today...everything is fine so it wasted about an hour and a half of my time (including driving). It's amazing that across town can be 30 minutes! Took Jeremiah in to the dentist last week because his front tooth. It turned gray when he hit it two years ago, and was starting to turn red on the inside. It's fine. At least right now, but it's breaking down from the tooth to the root instead of the other way around. So, if it starts to hurt or get red, which could invite infection, the dentist said she'll pull it out. He'll look like a six year old until he's actually six of course! Or he'll have a reddish tooth until he's six and it falls out naturally!

In other news, my sister was in the hospital for about a week with a kidney infection. She's home now and doing better, but still not running full speed. Everything is fine with the baby though, so that is wonderful. She's due in the beginning of April. Glad you're doing better Melinda!

I've starting going to a new mom's group. It's actually a Bible Study (vs. a MOPS with study, crafts and/or speakers). We're doing Elizabeth George's A Woman After God's Own Heart. It's been really challenging as well as refreshing. She strongly encourages us to "beat the family up," so I've been actually getting up around 7 to do my study. I should probably get up a little earlier, but I just can't pull myself out of bed!

Preschool has been going really well with Jeremiah and Lilly. Jeremiah can read two of the 'Bob' books and both can write their names. It will be nice if we ever end up with a larger area, or at least one without a playpen taking up 1/4 of the room! I will say that the hardest part of homeschooling so far is...Isaiah! Poor kid. Every once in a while Travis will be home during preschool and he'll watch Isaiah, it's amazing how much extra work we get done, I can organize papers and spend some one on one time with each kid instead of constantly trying to juggle the older two's questions and keep Isaiah occupied! Oh, well, he'll be old enough soon and then Addie will be the hardest part, and then in just a few short years they'll all be at levels of independence and focus!

Alright, away I go. Have a fabulous day!

Rainbow

2010-01-22T16:53:00.001-08:00

So Jeremiah poked his head out the door this evening to look for the sunset. He didn't find one, but he did see a rainbow. He was quite exstatic, so I asked him "Do you know how a rainbow happens?" His answer, "Yeah, when it rains and is sunny." Okay. "Do you know what a rainbow means?" His answer, "Yes! It's God's promise not to flood the earth again." This last sentence was said while running toward Travis and around wrestling cushions on the floor! He knows his stuff...now I need to know more so I can teach him more and more!

General Updates with video

2010-01-13T14:00:00.000-08:00

Well, not much has changed around here, however more than you can bore people on facebook with! Nevertheless, I'm sure to forget half of what I wanted to say! Either way I should have a couple videos and possibly pictures to make up for the post!

Our renters got a small inheritance, so they paid two months ahead. This resulted in us...drum roll please...paying off our 2nd mortgage! Yippy, we are one step closer to being debt free! We are on track to being completely debt free (except the house) by December. Hopefully we'll have gotten a new job by then and hopefully that will come with a raise and medical! Thank you to those who are also on Facebook for NOT mentioning the job search there--the church as a whole does not know that we are looking. That said, we just applied for a job up in Oak Harbor, WA. I really like the looks of this church, however we are in constant prayer about whether or not it's the 'right' one, though part of that is decided by them! They're accepting applications until April, so we won't know if we made the 'long list' until then, but if we do get it, they want to hire by July! We'll see, keep praying and sending any tidbits our way!

Here is a video clip of Isaiah...as a third child he doesn't get nearly as much one on one 'study' time. Example, we haven't worked on colors or shapes with him more than in passing. So, we were walking around Fred Meyers (Jeremiah & Lilly were in the Playland) and I asked him what a sheep says. Lo and behold, he told me and was correct! Then I asked what a cow says, and this is the response I got (reinacted and interjected with a closed eye smile!)

One of Jeremiah and Isaiah's favorite things to play is doggie. Yup, they crawl around like dogs, panting, barking, begging to be petted. While Lilly assumes the human roll, "No, that's my doggie! Come here doggie." Here is a small glimpse into "Jeremiah the Dog."

I'll have to try and get a cute shot of Lilly soon, as well as Addie actually rolling over! She prefers to roll from her back to her tummy and then gets stuck.

As you can tell, I'm really enjoying my Christmas present from Travis--the internet. It's like I get to talk to my friends, or at least pretend, two to three times a day! Once quickly in the morning, a little longer at nap time, and once in the evening. I feel so free. : ) But now I must get back to reality and laundry! Hope you enjoy the video clips!

Oh yes, we're dedicating Addie on Sunday so I should have some pictures from then soon. : )

Adelyn

2010-01-03T16:15:00.000-08:00

Addie rolled over on Wednesday but she hasn't since, so we'll see how long it takes her to start rolling all over the place! Here is a short video of her rolling over--she surprised herself!

Sorry it's dark, it was in the morning and I hadn't turned the lights on yet.

Christmas in Review

2009-12-30T16:09:00.000-08:00

So we had three Christmases this year, our small family one, one in Applegate with Travis's family and one in Salem with my family. I can't begin to remember all the gifts that each child got and from who, so I will highlight any that I remember. Internet--I am now online and capable of internet interaction (meaning I won't have to delete dozens of e-mails at one time, consuming nearly all of my internet time!), thank you Travis!
Jeremiah received two Nerf guns, one of which splits into two and stands 3 feet all when altogether! He also got a remote control turantula and a couple transformer cars. My baby is growing up! On the way home from Applegate he told Travis and I, "Mom, you spell nerf "NRF"" I said, "Actually it's 'nerf'" to which he replied, "No mom, (he made each sound) 'n' 'r' 'f', nrf."
Lilly receieved a drawing bag of pens, a stamp, a notepad and coloring books, as well as some princess shoes, tiara and earrings. She put all her princess stuff on and then proceeded to tell everyone that she, "I look like a lady!"
Isaiah got a cute phone that was glued to his head for a couple days! When unwrapping presents he would tear a little peice off and throw it away before proceeding, it was pretty cute.
Adelyn did wonderful, especially considering all the commotion the past week!

My brain has given out and the kids are up...here is a note from Lilly: m bjuojjkffffffffffffffffffffffffffkyttttt8tttm jjjftyyuh
ut uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuudfyrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrffgh

From Jeremiah: aaaaaaa277777777777777773333333rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr1`qqqqqqqqqq122u999999999 444444444444444444455555555555555555555555555555555
uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuur7

I will try to post pictures, but Facebook uploads so much faster!

As Always

2009-12-19T19:48:00.000-08:00

As always, I’ve fallen behind in blogging, dishes, laundry, Christmas presents, bathes, anything and everything else, so I might as well procrastinate and catch up on the important things like blogging. : )
We had our family Christmas yesterday, this way our presents don’t get quite as lost in the onslaught awaiting in Applegate (and then again with my family!). We had to make a trip to Costco today in order to get AAA batteries for Jeremiah’s Remote Control Tarantula (the only tarantula ever allowed in my house) and Spy Kid binoculars. We figured Costco pack would be best seeing as more and more of his toys require AAA. Isaiah loved his play phone from Great Gma. Christine and also the bubble blower from us—I love bubbles! Lilly should have gotten a kid’s digital camera, but apparently I’ve once again turned into my mother—I have no idea where it went! : )
Well, I need to go and do this whole internet thing so I can finish the scrap pages for my mother and mother-in-law. Don’t worry mom, they’ll be done! : )
PC020018
PC020024.AVI

Here is the video (if it uploads) of the kids doing their Christmas Play...

Happy Birthday Great Grandma Christine

2009-12-15T19:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday! We miss you! Hope you had a great birthday!

Real Quick

2009-12-06T10:08:00.000-08:00

This morning Adelyn was playing in her exersaucer and Jeremiah was talking and playing with her. Travis overheard this, "Hey Addy, guess what?" Jeremiah leaned in close with a whisper. "I love you!" and then added, "Are you surprised?" Just thought that was cute. Yesterday he yelled out the door to me as I went to the Bazaar, "Wish you luck mommy!" and then he added, "I love you bigger than the universe!" It used to be bigger than the sky, then bigger than the sun, but he keeps wanting something bigger! Too cute.

Happy Birthday Great Grandma Barbara!!

2009-11-29T17:52:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Great Grandma Barbara!! Hope you have a fantastic birthday, wish we were there with you!

The things that transpire...

2009-11-26T20:51:00.000-08:00

It's truly amazing how much can happen in two months, how busy we get and shocking how little we can remember! Thankfully I have pictures to remind me...unfortunately for you they're all right now!
Lets see what I can remember...Adelyn's birth September 23rd and the following weeks of adjustment.

October held Halloween, Jeremiah was a pirate (with a pirate tater tot on his shoulder), Lilly was a doctor, Isaiah was a train conductor (hat is missing in picture), and Adelyn was a lady bug and a pumpkin, didn't quite get a picture of all four together.

November has just flown by, I can't believe Thanksgiving is done, Travis' birthday is almost here and Christmas is a month away! Yikes!

I've joined the throng of Facebook junkies...except I only check about once a week (though that's plenty for the activity on the page!) I feel like I should have loads to write about, but my brain is fried from so many relatives and eating turkey. Adelyn has been doing a great job of sleeping at night, so goes from 10:30ish to about 7 most days, and if not it's not earlier than 5:30, so proud of her. She's really chunking out, a couple chins and little rolls on her arms and legs. At her 2 month check up on Monday she weighed about 13 pounds and was 23 1/4 inches (gained 4.5 lbs. and 3 inches since birth, 90th & 75th percentiles)

Adelyn

2009-10-04T10:14:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures that I promised, hopefully they upload! So, it looks like we are not getting pictures today. Hopefully soon.

Yippy! One picture!

Less than an hour old--It's all okay, Daddy's got me.

One tired, but happy Mommy.

And one tired out Daddy, too!

More pictures to come over the years!

Baby Adelyn

2009-09-27T10:08:00.000-07:00

So, I forgot my camera cord, so no pictures right now...but soon.

Here's the birth scoop. Contractions started at 7pm on Monday, September 21st, I was actually able to sleep through some of them, but they were still coming regularly at 15 minutes so we called my mom to come down. I puttered around the house while Travis took the kids to indoor park, even though the contractions were weak still. Travis and I then got a whole day date! The contractions didn't start getting harder and closer until about 8pm on Tuesday (26 hours from the start). So we watched the Proposal at Northern Lights and I stood up every 5 minutes and had a contraction. We finished the movie and headed to Silverton to walk around. We went to the Hospital around midnight to see where the progress was etc...And I was at 2cm. Then they called the doctor in (he was sleeping somewhere) because the baby's heart reat was dropping too low with every contraction. They did a quick ultrasound and found that there was very little amnionic fluid. So, we decided to labor for a couple more hours, see if I'd made progress, and then either keep going or do an amnionic transfer (or something like that, they break the water and put in new 'water'). This would either fix it or not. : ) I hadn't moved enough by 6am, so they replaced the water and her heart rate dropped too much and they put an internal moniter on and watched. Her heart rate came back up and basically the doctor said, "The baby does that again and we'll take it." And the rest is pretty boring...from 6-8 I moved to 6cm, from 8-12 I was stuck at 8cm and the last two hours of that was pretty much a continuous contraction. At about noon I told Travis that I wasn't going to make it, so I would do an epidural to make it. Thankfully the doctor decided to help out and she let me push and she pushed the last little bit of cervix off and then I got to push my little baby out--10 minutes, the only part I had any control over! 41 1/2 hours total

Welcome Adelyn Cadence Frank, 12:34pm, 20 1/4 inches, 8lbs. 6 oz.

Oh yes, I pulled a muscle on the right side--I will forever have compassion for those who have a pulled muscle!

I promise pictures later, whew, I made it, no more babies!!

Are You Still Here?

2009-09-20T10:13:00.000-07:00

The question that irritates just about every pregnant lady (and if it doesn't that's because your babies come early or you're alien). Pray that I have this baby before next Sunday--because otherwise I'm not going--for the health of everyone at the church. : ) While it's nice that I don't have false labor, the waiting and waiting for just a hint that something is going on is driving me mad! I've had about 10 'almost' contractions. I guess I should just be thankful that I'm not in pain off and on all day, but at least then I'd have more of an excuse for being cranky! (besides being hot, large, tired, exhausted and dealing with kids and people)
We found a nice home for Diesel, one that he's inside with people most of the day, so he doesn't feel the need to howl and whine and whine and howl constantly! Jeremiah and Lilly are fine with him gone, they tell people we had to give him away so he'd be happy. Isaiah still hasn't figured out that he's gone--he keeps pointing to the fence and saying 'Diesel.' To which we tell him he's gone and then he says, "Where Diesel?" while trying to look around you.
I think that's it for now. Maybe this week I'll get some pictures up.

Ugh

2009-09-09T19:20:00.001-07:00

So on top of being way pregnant, the past week has just been one of those weeks. Last Monday & Tuesday night Lilly was awake and crying that her tummy hurt. Thankfully it went away-ish while we were up for a whirlwind trip for my mom's birthday party and fair (see my sister's blog for pictures : ) As fun as it was, when we got home, I got sick. I haven't been sick for a month and a half so it was extra hard! Of course this happens over a Sunday so Travis can't take care of the kids or anything (but at least they can go to Sunday School). Travis had a lock in Sunday through Monday and came home exhausted, but praise the Lord I was feeling much better. Unfortunantly, he then got sick until Tuesday evening and Sunday and Monday night Lilly had been up and crying and crying again. Yikes! So, Lilly has a urinary track infection--at least it's something that we can fix! And Travis is better, weak but better. Oh, yes and I had been planning on a Chuck E. Cheese party for the older two on Saturday--so it's phone invitations this time around, I can't wait for this baby to show up and let me get my brain back! Whatever you do, do NOT ask me to do any sort of math equation! My brain does everything right and still comes out with the wrong answer! IT's truely amazing. Alright, I have to go now, but Lilly and Jeremiah get to go to Bible Explorers this year. Lilly is quite excited. Oh, yes, I forgot the other thing from this week. Apparently Diesel was whining and howling the whole three days we were gone (and the first day we got home). Thus, if you know of anyone who wants to buy a purebred mini beagle let us know. He needs to be an indoor dog, if he's around people he doesn't whine. Oh, well, it was a good try, we'll wait until we have some land and hopefully no neighbors within spitting distance. This whole city thing is really starting to get to me. Thanks for reading!

n7nnnnmn9n n kjjojunjnlm<-----a message from Isaiah!

The Pictures are Here!

2009-09-03T23:12:00.000-07:00

So, the last really long post was posted, but the internet completely froze after uploading two pictures...I was able to reload one, thus the captions without pictures! So, you can now enjoy captions and pictures! Hope you like them!

The Busy Months of Summer

2009-08-30T09:51:00.005-07:00

So, I left off with a dog, and never followed up, nor have I said much or anything about our trip to Silverwood in July, our vacation to Southern Oregon, any such baby stuff, job search or pretty much anything, including today’s Jeremiah birthday activities. Thus, I am about to bombard anyone who dares to read. However, for your ease and convenience, I will break up major events into different posts with the hopes that you’ll make it through! The internet better be working well to get all these pictures posted!

Silverwood

2009-08-30T09:51:00.003-07:00

For those of you who don’t know, Silverwood is a theme park in Coure d’ lene, (spelling?) Idaho. The kids and I made the drive in mid-July to join my family for cabin camping, a wedding reception for my cousin and the main attraction, ‘roller coasters.’ Honestly there isn’t much to tell, the kids did FABULOUS which was such a relief, especially with Travis not there (though there was no shortage of hands—thank you!). We were at the park from about 11am until 9pm and Lilly got a bit whiny and tired (though she revived at the water park), Isaiah had a small cranky spell and then was great, and Jeremiah lost it at about 8:30 (in that bitter weeping, I can’t even control it, no tantrums, whew). The pictures tell it the best…these are a sampling.

a bunch of the helpers! I didn’t see half the stuff Jeremiah did!

Jeremiah & Lilly’s first ride of the day

Isaiah does NOT like mascots! And the best picture of my pregnant belly for the month of July (the baby will be thankful seeing as most months don’t have one! Oops!)

Grandma and Lilly on the Elephant ride

No, Lilly is not crying, she is actually asleep and she slept for about 30 minutes, even after my mom set her in the wagon and we pulled it around!
Thought this was a cool picture, Lilly loved the water. I was told Jeremiah did too (no surprise), however Aunt Stephanie had him on the young kids water slides!

Mommy can I have one last ride?
There are hundreds of pictures from the campsite, but for now these will have to do!

Vacation

2009-08-30T09:51:00.001-07:00

Vacation was pretty much uneventful, exactly how we wanted it! Travis attended his 10 year High School Reunion. Out of everyone that Travis talked too, we have the most kids (counting the one still cooking), though obviously not the oldest kid. : ) We stayed at Larry & Sue’s—it’s like a free hotel with a kitchen and built in trustworthy babysitting if you feel like going back into town! Here are another picture sampling:

Jeremiah and a praying mantis, Lilly held it too…but starting screaming when it tried to crawl up her arm!

Lilly and cousin Isa

Isaiah loves the idea of dogs, and this was a great solution! Both Sissy and Isaiah were happy!

Jeremiah got to open his present from Gma. & Gpa. Early, it was a Cars fishing pole and tackle box…as you can see, I think he like it!

Lilly got to open hers from the Witte Family, it was a stuffed white dog she named Daisy—it lives in the purse thing.

A picture of all the cousins! Not sure why half of them have red eyes, but hey, they’re all there…until September when the final one arrives!

Jeremiah at 6:50pm, his cousins actually wore the kid out! I had to document that!

Down by the river! Too cute.

The first ride always seems to be the Carousel. This is the Grants Pass Fair, it was past 100 degrees, but we were not going to waste the wrist bands!

Isaiah had enough of watching the rides!

Jeremiah's 4th Birthday!

2009-08-30T09:50:00.002-07:00

My baby is now 4 years old. He’s growing way too fast! His newest phrase is, "Oh my goodness." (and he told a lady at the playground that we don’t say ‘butt’ fyi) He’s around 43 pounds and at least 44 inches tall, and has the most adorable freckled nose and cheeks you’ve ever seen! Oh yes, we found a pair of overalls that fit him when I inventoried clothes. He loves them, tries to wear pants or shorts underneath them and calls them his, ‘roveralls.’
Travis was working this weekend—it was the all church camping trip. So we drove down to Foster Lake and hung out, ate cupcakes and opened presents.

The kids on a walk doing well. : )

You can’t see the movie, but it’s Kung-fu Panda—we watched it when we got home, and afterwards he hiya-ed and ran and threw things in the air for about half an hour! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!

I forgot about the video part until halfway through the song, oops!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Lilly and her five o’clock shadow of dirt!

Random

2009-08-30T09:50:00.001-07:00

Pushing onward, if you’re still there! Summer activities are finally winding down, the camping trip was the end, until the youth wanted a lock-in before school. : ) I can’t wait to have a job with one focus area! Speaking of which there are two job openings right now that we are sending in info to, one is in Olympia, WA, and the other is in Monroe, WA, both are around 1000-1500 people so we’ll see. Be praying for the right position, whether it’s these or not, but hopefully soon? Travis is going to be recording a couple of the songs he’s written. There is a radio contest going on that he’s entering, so there’s a possibility that his songs could be on the radio, cool? The baby is close, though not quite close enough! The ‘due date’ is September 17th, but I’m hoping earlier (because I’m tired of being pregnant). I’m actually shooting for the 1st of September, then we would have 5 birthdays in a row—Jeremiah, Cousin Daniel, Uncle Dustin, New Baby and Aunt Brianna, Aug. 29th to Sept. 2nd! Good plan, right? Well, anyway it goes, it’ll go. Ugh, this waiting is worse than the others—it’s like the last 2 weeks on a job, they seem to go by so slowly! I have Preschool stuff to prepare. I’m starting Preschool with Jeremiah and Lilly and don’t have nearly enough done! Though we did clear out the back room for an education room! But of course it still has a ways to go, and that means we’re transitioning Jeremiah and Isaiah to the same room. It hasn’t been too bad, except when Isaiah isn’t asleep at night time we put Jeremiah in our room to fall asleep—however, if it’s hot in the house our room is the only cool one, so I roast! Or they keep each other awake until 9ish, argh. Alright, enough boring, wordy stuff, here are the pictures. Random ones that didn’t fit the other categories, but were too cute not to post:

In July I watched our friend’s two girls, Heidi and Clara, we got a picture of all five kids

Jeremiah and Travis found a HUGE beetle in a piece of firewood. Yes, it was already dead and here is Jeremiah pretending to eat it! We’re not sure what it is, a June bug perhaps?

An updated picture of all three kids…they don’t all have to be looking or even happy, right? And shoes on the right feet would be too much!

We took Jeremiah’s training wheels off just to have fun and see what would happen. He actually did really well, however he couldn’t quite remember to pedal he was too excited.

Jeremiah with Diesel. The dog does NOT like to be alone and howls and whines all day (thankfully he’s stopped at night).

Lilly with Diesel. She loves the thing. As does Isaiah who calls him what comes out as ‘DC.’

We had a yard sale last weekend, this is Jeremiah and Lilly taking a nap because they were so bored! Jeremiah had been using the blue bat as a pillow!

Isaiah just being funny!

They love their daddy! Isn’t he so strong?!?

Strong man Jeremiah—we went peach picking. Picked 89.5 lbs of peaches, learned not to let me pick any (I apparently can’t tell which ones are ripe enough and thus the skins do NOT come off for canning). We canned 41 jars, broke two, froze four bags of slices for smoothies, and dehydrated one dehydrator full. I can’t believe I have so many peaches!! Yummy.

The End, though I’m sure I missed something I was going to post.

Diesel

2009-08-17T16:59:00.000-07:00

Diesel is the name of Jeremiah's dog. Yes, we now have a dog, a little Beagle, we'll see what happens. Happy Birthday Jeremiah! (even though it's not quite his b-day)

Heat, Deals and Nothing Important

2009-07-28T20:26:00.000-07:00

So, here it is, my first VBS in which I have a child participating. Yesterday they told Lilly she could go as well, however they ended up with about 18 3-5 year olds and thus today 3 yr. olds are allowed in the nursery. (Since their birthdays are so close Jeremiah is considered 4, and Lilly 3) Isaiah and I had a fabulous time at Target yesterday, he’s a happy shopping baby apparently, something that doesn’t always come out when mommy is constantly keeping the older two in check!
Air conditioning is pretty much a must in some form or another down here (up here) in Salem. We pulled our small, old window a/c unit out of the closet, even though we couldn’t remember if it was still working! Thankfully it does work and our bedroom is now like walking onto our Honeymoon cruise ship. However, we remembered why we thought it didn’t work: it spits and sputters water droplets (not a whole lot, just enough to make you wonder if you’re getting sprayed with water or something else). We also purchased an old unit from someone on Craig’s List. Unfortunantly we measured our window and forgot to measure the unit! It’s about 2 inches too big for any of the windows in our house. So we have a very ugly arrangement outside and an equally ugly one on the inside to jury rig it into place. That’s okay! We can now stay in the house—I was thinking about seeing if the Gilbert House has a/c and buying a membership, we’d only have to spend from 10am-1pm and 4pm-9pm there every day! I’m not sure how hot it got today, somewhere around 99-103 degrees?
We went to the coast today. I don’t know why I even try to get really good deals at the outlets, they’re practically the same as the regular stores! Claire’s had buy one get one 50% off—great deal, eh? Children’s Place, where I have on occasion found awesome deals had some that were okay, good if you really needed something. However, the pants for Lilly that I found weren’t an extra 50% off, so that left them at $7.99. I don’t know, maybe I’m too cheap, but $8 for a pair of 4T pants just seems like it’s still not a good deal—even if they were $20 or whatever to start with!
Isaiah has part of 4 molars through and white for other teeth! Plus, I think he’s going through a growth spurt—about time!! I can’t wait to be done with summer and have this baby! Yet, I’m very thankfully that I’m not nursing an infant through this heat, that would be awful!
Alright, I think I’ve typed your ear off enough, that’s it for now. It’s time to put the fussbudget to bed.

Bumps, Scrapes and Stings...Oh My!

2009-07-14T17:54:00.000-07:00

Like any other day in which the kids are up before I’ve had a chance to check the mail, whoever is up goes with me. Well, walking through the yard Jeremiah stops, says ouchie, and drops to the ground taking off his sandal. Thinking he has kicked a thorny branch or something I look and pull out the offending thistle like ‘ouchie.’ However, as you’ve probably guessed, it was no thorn. He had managed to kick a bumblebee right in the behind, at just the right spot to miss his sandal and hit his foot! The poor kid is now in tears saying over and over, "It hurts, it really really hurts," between huge tears and arching his back in pain! Lilly was a great little nurse and brought her brother the ice cube and was hovering to help and asking, "Are you okay?" We got it under control quickly with baking soda and water mix. Then we had to call Grandma to tell her that we had just gotten our first bee sting!
Next thing we’re outside riding bikes, because the bee sting boy thought that riding bikes would make his sting feel better—good logic. : ) Well, he speeds straight into the sidewalk, tips his bike and gets a nice little scrape/gash on his knee! We wheel him in, wipe him off and put another horribly unsticky band-aid onto his body. Whew, another ½ hour has passed!
Needless to say we went to Fred Meyer got a free cookie and invested in some over priced Scooby-doo band-aid brand band-aids and plain ones (for those non-bleeding ones that just have to have a band-aid).
On a less dramatic note we were able to go up to Clackamas today and visit Build-a-Bear as a special treat (I had a $10 rewards certificate). We splurged and let them each get a $5 item. That was more difficult than I thought it would be! If you splurge there, make sure you budget $6 a kid! However, they each found an item of great value for their respective animals. Jeremiah chose a cupcake with elastic strings to put onto Charlie Monkey’s arms—we’ll see how long the strings stay attached! Lilly, surprise, chose a pink backpack with rhinestones and Isaiah got a pair of sandals (the shoes were too expensive, but he loves any type of shoe). Just a little bit of fun to help celebrate that Daddy got a day off…I’ll try to get a picture of each of them with their animals and post it! : )

Two Videos...Hopefully

2009-07-09T19:30:00.000-07:00

Well, here are two very short videos of the kids playing. And as always, we'll try and see what we end up with! I just posted and the videos played, but there was no sound, not sure if that's because of my computer or what, tell me if you got sound?

Here is Jeremiah and Lilly playing in the kiddie pool with Grandma Joan...Isaiah does not think very highly of the pool, in fact he starts whimpering and crying if we go near it!

Next we have a new trick Isaiah picked up somewhere. Well, I guess it's not exactly a trick...I kept telling him, "Smile Isaiah, smile!" and he would squeeze his eyes closed for a second! It was too adorable to pass up!

Yippy, I just ordered pictures! I try so hard to keep up on ordering pictures, it just doesn't seem to happen! And sorry mom, but I haven't been able to keep up on writing on the backs (or naming the files), I guess that's what happens when you download hundreds at a time and order 50-100 at a time! However, I do have them in folders labeled by year and month and am working on backing them up...yikes.

So, I've also been meaning to blog about my very hectic hour last week, one of those, "I love being a mom, but give me a break!" moments.

It started out as a normal 5 o'clock hour. The kids were winding down from nearly an hour of swimming and running and splashing. Jeremiah decides to run from the pool to the tree and back, jumping of course back into the pool with a big a splash as possible. Well, a bee had decided to take a drink right before he jumps, thankfully he did not land directly on this yellow jacket. No, he just managed to knock him into the water--and right to the side where he proceeds to climb up the wall! First thing I think--drown it! So, I jump up and start splashing the thing around the pool--something the kids think is absoluely fantastic. However, God made bees to survive...and I had to run to the house and turn on the hose to continue my drowning process. It took us (Jeremiah and Lilly helped near the end) at least 15 minutes to kill this bee! Whew!

Inside at last, and dinner is on the stove. I told the kids to remove their swimsuits and get dressed. Suspecious of the quiet I went to investigate. Sure enough both kids were naked and just about to start arguing over a small snowglobe from Easter! I walk around the corner just in time to see Jeremiah drop the globe right by his foot and smash into a thousand glittering peices. Great. I now have two naked children by a bunch of tempting glitter and glass, a toddler ready to come investigate and meat ready to burn in the skillet! Deep breath. Lift Lilly over, command Jeremiah to his bed, take Isaiah with me to turn down the stove and get a bag for glass and after another 15 minute clean up, we're back in business and ready for spaghetti--an adventure all it's own!

You just gotta love those moments of pure insanity, especially when you make it through without any stings or bloody gashes!

So Long

2009-06-21T09:33:00.000-07:00

Too cute!

Everythings seems to fly by so fast and yet it seems to be too long. I can't believe that it's already the end of June. Fireworks is starting on Tuesday or Wednesday, so it's goodbye to Travis for a while (though there are a few people who are concerned about making sure he's not there ALL the time). We had had hopes that we would be gone before fireworks season this year, however, that obviously isn't going to happen...maybe this is the last season?

I can't even remember everything that I wanted to write on here--I keep meaning to write at home and transfer it to the flashdrive and bring it over, but I've had some good books lately. : ) Oh, yes, last Monday Travis was invited to do the opening prayer for the Oregon House of Representatives. Bet you didn't know that they even opened in prayer? Well, most reps weren't even in their seats, they had to wait outside the door, and even then half the seats (I think, might have been more or less) were empty. : )

We went to a carnival last week, Jeremiah has been wanting to go for the longest time! They had a blast! Jeremiah was pretty much fearless, and Lilly loved the gentle rides! Here are some pictures, providing the internet can handle the upload!
Our little Kung-fo Panda

I'm ready! This one was a hot air balloon ride.

Okay, here we go!

Oh, yes, I was there too!

Pranks

2009-05-13T19:43:00.001-07:00

Do you remember how your mom always fell for everything? Sometimes, no matter how many times your dad/brother/you pulled it on her? And did you vow not to fall for all the pranks your kids pull on you? Well, I did, and I can tell you right now, there is no way I’ll be able to keep that vow!! Yes, I nearly was taken in by my 3 ½ year old son. Driving in the car he yells up, "Mom, I’m bleeding." Now, he’s constantly asking if he’s bleeding over various scrapes, so this is nothing new. However, as I look back there is a big glob of red goo and my heart jumps and starts looking for a place to pull over. Thankfully I remembered just in time that he had just been eating red licorice! Yup, red licorice and I nearly pull over! Yikes, I’m in for it!

A Picture--maybe more?

2009-05-04T14:38:00.000-07:00

Well, I got it to upload one picture!! It's working on another, but I stressed it out by trying to upload a 30 second video clip of the kids chasing seagulls at the beach! Now I don't even know what picture I'm loading because I didn't name it and it doesn't have previews! Hopefully it's a good one, though it might be sideways! Assuming it works! Nope, not this time.

Isaiah's Birthday Pictures

2009-04-25T21:13:00.000-07:00

Yes, Isaiah's birthday was a month and a half ago...be thankful to get pictures!! : ) Our friend Terra took them--that's why they're wonderful! She has given me more, but the rest are at home, so here's a couple...

And this one is my favorite...

My blue-eyed baby boy.

The Past Month

2009-04-19T10:22:00.000-07:00

Well, it seems that time has flown by without a blog for quite a while. This past couple weeks has been crazy...I think. We had a trip up to Washington for Daniel's dedication, then a week at home due to sickness, then a week of recovery, then Easter down in Applegate and we're finishing off a crazy week of Travis writing his 20+ paper for the class he's in, writing a sermon, helping coordinate a move and oh, yes the regular Sunday School lessons and 14 calls an hour. Okay, maybe 14 calls an hour is a stretch, but not by much. : )
Let me see if I can remember the cute things the kids said down in Applegate. Jeremiah was asked how old he was and he replied with authority, "I'm 3 still." Lilly slept on a 'blanket bed' and Travis found her the first night covered in white fluff from the pillow. She looked at him when he came in and said, "Oh, I'm so sorry daddy, why did I do that?" Grandpa Larry took us out to Red Robin, as we were all greeting Lilly runs over to me and says, "I got you a flower Mommy!" And sure enough, that Red Robin will not have any red tulips for the rest of the season! Thankfully there was only one, but Lilly got it! Later I was pointing out some flower to Jeremiah out the car window and told him that we don't pick other people's flowers and Lilly pips up, "But I did!" "Yes, dear, but you're not supposed to." "Oh, I'm so sorry, I not do it again!"
I should hopefully have some pictures sometime!

Pictures

2009-03-11T19:06:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we're taking the kids in for Spring Pictures! My friend has offered to take family ones later on when the weather turns nicer, and I'll look more pregnant so all the kids will be present!

I'm going to try to post a massive amount of pictures soon...it's just a process to get the pictures from the camera to the home computer, then onto a CD to bring to the church computer to upload to the blog. It will happen...someday.

The lastest JQ: "Mommy, my nose doesn't work!" The whole area has been fighting a stuffy nose cold thingy.

A Surprise Date

2009-02-25T19:15:00.000-08:00

Well, I was almost done...and Lilly pushed a button that somehow erased it all. So you all get the short version now.

On Monday Travis told me to go to Target and have some 'me' time, he'd watch the kids. I agreed, obviously. As I was walking around I rounded a corner and nearly ran straight into...TRAVIS. My first thought was 'I have the car!' and the second, 'aren't you watching the kids?' So, my wonderful husband planned a surprise date. He got me out of the house and within 30 minutes had the house picked up, dinner for the kids made, p.j.'s out and the babysitter on the way. Not only that but he had a friend ready to pick him up to drive to Target--also having that friend make sure I went to Target (he had to leave his phone for the sitter!) He planned to have me pick out a new maternity shirt, though that was a longer process than he probably thought! (it's near impossible to find a cute shirt that doesn't reveal everything to the world!) He had dinner reservations...even if they ended up not being overly busy! He even knew the time and what movie we were going too! We saw Twilight--it was quite good. We were gone from about 5:30-11. Amazing. I love him!
Oh, I'm almost done with the book Twilight now. : ) It's pretty good.

Jeremiah

2009-02-15T09:32:00.000-08:00

So the last couple days have been rich in JQ's, here they are:

1) Jeremiah has started a new technique in getting what he wants. Usually when both Travis and I are in the room he'll ask me if he can have candy/cookie/whatever, when I say no, he goes, "Can I ask Daddy?" He knows he's not allowed to ask if he's already gotten a 'no' answer, but if he asks to ask, then it's okay.

2) A couple mornings ago Travis got up and 'ripped a good one' at which Jeremiah laughed and said, "Daddy! You have frogs in your bum!"

3) Yesterday Jeremiah came home triumphant, "Mommy, I caught a dandelion!" I don't know how fast that flower was going, but it was no match for Jeremiah!

A Great Memory

2009-02-15T09:30:00.000-08:00

So, Jeremiah has the best memory I think I’ve ever experienced, even if sometimes it’s only for things that are important to him! One of my cravings recently was mashed potatoes, so off to KFC we went…and as we were pulling up Jeremiah said, "Hey, are we getting ice cream, I want ice cream!" Now, most kids won’t associate KFC with ice cream, but about 7 or 8 months ago when Travis was once again out of town for an activity I took the kids to KFC for ice cream since it was within walking distance and I had a coupon! So now he thinks we’re getting ice cream if we go to KFC!
Jeremiah did something else recently, but I can’t remember…shows how great my memory is!
Lilly’s favorite song right now is Lord’s Army (also Jeremiah’s). She randomly starts singing it, and just about every time I hear something about Sally kissing (from ‘Cars’) and then I realize she’s just jumping right ahead to shoot the artillery. I just got a new camera (yippy!) and it has video, so I’m going to try to capture it and post it. It’s adorable. : )
Well, we haven’t heard anything from Montana and the posting has been removed from the site it was posted on. I’m not sure what is going on, me and my pessimistic attitude says that they really aren’t looking or they’re just starting to put together a search team and the process hasn’t even started yet…and who knows when it’d be up and ready. Travis’ optimism goes more toward the idea that they found who they’re looking for. : ) Either way it looks like the pastor was probably just putting out feelers for who/what response would come in. It’s discouraging unless Travis is right…oh, well.
Oh, yes, I just got a free large cereal Tupperware, but I agreed to hold a party. : ) So, pretty much everyone who reads this blog will be getting an invitation (the party is March 23rd), so take inventory and see what Tupperware you need and order some! Those in Washington don’t have to pay sales tax and I think can have it shipped straight to their house! If you would like an invitation, tell me! (I get extra gifts if I have 5 outside orders)
Well, there’s another long one, I’ll have to do two more picture ones to make up for it!