Gobble Gobble!

This is what we did for family home evening last night. We talked about all the things that we are thankful for and how important it is to show our Heavenly Father that we are thankful for the blessings he gives us. I had pre-cut all the turkey bodies (aka the out line of my foot) and the tail feathers (aka Brock's hand). Each of us made our own turkey and wrote on each of the feathers one thing we were thankful for (the boys wrote things on all the fingers). It was a lot of fun. I "helped" Hayden with hers. I would ask her, "are you thankful for mommy?" she would say "no" This is what she says to everything even if she means yes. Although occasionally we get a big head nod when it is really really really YES! (this typically involves candy, ice cream or cookies) Anyway the funny thing about this project was that Larry was sitting in his chair quietly writing on his hands I handed him and he said what about this one and held it up so I could read it, faster then I could smile or giggle Ethan said "Sex?" Larry quickly said how do you know what that word is? I had to remind him that He is 8 and a half and can READ!!!! I am sure this will lead to more talks but for now he has left it at that. So needless to say Larry waded that one up and rewrote one that says "the ability to procreate!" HOW APPROPRIATE! Is my husband the only one in the world who thinks his children are still to young to catch the things they are doing? I don't know if he thinks they are all 2 and don't see or hear the little comments he makes. He isn't inappropriate but he is trying to be cute and flirty with me and now the kids are picking up on it and it is kind of funny. Or scary I am not sure...

Still canning!

So here it is mid November and I am still canning! For me it is so worth the work to look in my garage and see my shelves filled with wonderful things to eat! This week it was Beef and Chili. My wonderful Brothers provided us with a half a beef last year and this year when we went to get it there was still some in our freezer so we decided (since there wasn't room for both) we would can it! I say we but I mean ME! So all week I have made several HUGE batches of Chili with what was left of our stew meat and then caned the few roasts that we had left plain. They will make yummy meals latter! It isn't the prettiest thing in a jar but to me one of the most useful. I can make a whole dinner from what is in there, not just a side or dessert! So it is totally worth it! My only complaint is that canning beef takes FOREVER! Not literally because actually it is much less work in the prep area. But they have to be in the pressure caner for 90 minutes plus who knows how long coming down from pressure before you can even touch them! Oh well my work is finally complete! (Until next year that is!)

"My Grandma"

Lately Amelia has had a really big attachment to my mom. She calls her "my grandma" and will randomly start crying or asking to go see her. She lives 3 hours away so it is a weekend to go see Grandma. Which we love to do but can't do every weekend obviously! So anyway Wed. last week we were taking Ethan to cub scouts and Amelia asked me if she could go and see her Grandma and I told her yes we were going Friday. So then she told me "mom I need to get a picture of me and my grandma to put on the wall in my bed room so I can always see her." So while we were there we took this picture! It is sooo sweet to me to see. Oh and Grandma is the one who made this very cute dress for Amelia. Hayden has a matching one! They love their dresses so much that I can hardly get them to wear another dress on Sunday.

Giveaway!

I found this on a friends blog and I sooooo hope I win! So I thought I would spread the word! The quilts are amazing! Check it out!
http://camilleroskelley.typepad.com/simplify/

Project Runway here I come!

Recently when I was finishing Hayden's birthday quilt Amelia wanted me to make Barbie clothes out of the scraps. I am not much for sewing. Quilts are about all I do. But I though I used to use fabric (or wash clothes) wrapped around my Barbies when I was little I can handle this. So the two of us sat and came up with this. I wanted to wrap the green over and around her shoulders so it would be more modest but this is what Amelia wanted.... Pretty snazzy with her awesome leg warmers I think! I especially love that we used the tiniest scraps to "tie" it all together! What do you think? Should I start a clothing line?

Momma's got a "new" pair of shoes!

Those of you who know me well know that I am not a "pajama" or even a sweat's wearing girl. I wear them but at home. NEVER OUT SIDE! Not that I am super dressy because I am not that either. I am a jeans and t-shirt girl. I just like to be "fully dressed", and put together when I go out. Not that I think it is wrong for others to wear sweats. I just don't choose to for my own comfort level. Well Monday morning (Hayden's birthday) I was in a big rush. We needed to go pick up Larry's pay check, go to the bank, get gas, go to Costco, and Waremart! Oh and on top of it because it is Hayden's birthday I am required by law to make Mickey Mouse pancakes for breakfast. So we rushed through the morning getting ready and headed out to do our errands quickly since the boys get out of school an hour early on Monday plus Amelia and I do preschool with our friend Lucia at 12:30.... So we are in the race! I get half way to Salem and realize..... I DIDN'T PUT MY SHOES ON!!!! I am still wearing my slippers!!! I thought I will turn around and go get my shoes and I realize the gas light is on! I won't make it if I do!!! So I am stuck running all my errands in my slippers!!! I had to call Larry and tell him what I did he of course Laughed because he knows me very well, and of course Allison had a good laugh as well because she knows me well enough to know how painful this was for me. In fact she even suggested just like Larry did that I buy a pair of shoes while I was out. I figured it wasn't worth the financial repercussions so off I went in my slippers. I know a lame post but I had to share my embarrassment and see if there is anyone else in the world who might feel the same way?

Happy Birthday Hayden!!!

Today is Hayden's 2nd birthday! I can hardly believe it. It seems that we should just be having her first birthday party! She is soooo two! I love two though! She is learning so quickly, does funny little things all the time, and is so full of love! Especially for daddy lately!

This is a picture of her on her "birthday stool." This is my attempt to get her to stop sitting on my lap at EVERY meal. I love her and don't mind so much but sometimes it would be nice to eat a meal with out a wiggly toddler on your lap. There is so much crying involved any other way I have tried.... I am hopping the stool is the key. We stayed with my brother when we went to Prineville for my Grandma's funeral and they had stools and she loved it... I thought it might be worth a try. So far she loves it! One meal down a million to go!

I had wanted to do a monkey cake for her and saw it on my friend Katie's blog so I thought it looked easy enough. Hayden loved it! I decorated it during her nap and showed her when she got up and she was so excited! She just wanted to hold it. It was pretty funny!

She is my ice cream girl!

This video is mostly for my mom. Other's might like it too because Hayden is so stinking cute! But this shows her enjoying the doll my mom and dad bought her. It is a "Baby Alive" so it blows a party blower, blows out the birthday candle, and drinks a wets. We aren't going to show her the last two things for maybe even ever. Although if I get desperate I might let her "potty train" her doll. Dr. Phil says that is suppose to help. I didn't realize it does that when I picked it out. I just thought she would love the doll and that it blows the blower. She loves it!!! Grandma Lucy gave her this really soft fleece blanket, with matching pillow, and a Hello Kitty full of bubble bath. I made her a quilt that I posted a while a go. At bed time she took her doll, Hello Kitty, fleece, pillow, and I tried covering her with the quilt I made and she pushed it off and told me NO. She only wanted her fleece. Then she kissed her doll, and Hello Kitty and snuggled in.
She really is such a sweet girl! I don't know where I would be with out this sweet girl who truly helped heal my broken heart. She is so loving, and fun for everyone. I just can't say enough about her wonderful spirit!

"Pre-school"

I think I have talked about how Amelia and I are doing Pre-school at home this year. Well I have been meaning to talk more about it because it has been so much fun for both of us! Each week we focus on a Letter, number, shape, and color. We are also working on other things like opposites, rhyming and things like that. But we always do a craft that goes with the letter of the week. Sometimes more then one. And other times we do one that is just fun. Our very first week when we did "A" we stamped on our A paper with an apple that we cut in half, and we made a paper mache apple. Each week we make a letter and hang it in her room. On "B" week we made a Band aid, and button collage on our letter B.... you get the idea. This week we are on J. So we did Jar painting. So we used Jars to stamp on our big J. (when it is dry it will join the letter wall in her room!) I bought these really cool paints that you can use on windows and glass and we use them on our big glass door to practice writing her name and letters we have learned. (You can see the ghost I painted there a few weeks ago just for fun in the background of the first picture).

Amelia stamping with her Jar

These are the apples we made the first week and the pumpkin we made last week. I wanted to use a balloon to do the pumpkin but I didn't get to the store in time. So the pumpkin is a little small but awesome still. Amelia is becoming quite the expert at paper mache. She really does it all by herself. She doesn't like me to help her! She gets it pretty smooth on her own. I would say as good or better then I do. She loves it! In fact Lucia, our friend that comes to our house to do pre-school with us doesn't like her hands to get dirty so Amelia did her's too. It was pretty cute!

Here is more of the jar stamping but you can see the cute pumpkin face we made last week in the background. I think I love doing preschool with her as much as she does. It is one on one time we haven't ever had before and it lets me appreciate the sweet smart little girl she is. After all next year she will start Kindergarten! At least we only have 1/2 day kindergarten here. That will help me ease into not having her with me all the time! I love this little girl!

Are you ready to RUMBLE?!

This week my boys started wresting. It is done in a 5 week camp with just one tournament at the end. Which is just perfect for us. Only 2 nights a week, with 1 hour practices. So it isn't to much stress, to much time, and lets them get a taste of it to see if it is something they want to do when the get older. Plus they learn enough skill to get them ready if they want to in middle school. It has been a lot of fun and very entertaining so far. Watching them learn the drills is pretty funny. Shockingly enough Brock is not the littlest kid there. Although I think the kid that is smaller is 4. But that doesn't matter. He has a lot of fun! So is Ethan. They are so excited every time I tell them to get ready to go and the whole way home they talk about all the cool stuff they did. It is fun for me because I grew up in wrestling country so I enjoy watching. The girls like to go (when dad isn't home to stay with them). Amelia will try to do some of the drills sitting by me and Hayden gets in to it to. It is pretty funny!

Ethan practicing with one of the other boys

Brock trying to block the other boy's shot

Again Brock blocking. Usually Brock just shoves the other kid. He keeps saying he is going to Karate and I keep trying to explain to him he can't hit and it isn't Karate it is WRESTLING! He is getting there.

Brock doing the "bear crawl" during warm up! Next time I will try to get a clip of his warm up. It is a riot!