Yes, I know!

It's been forever since my last post!!

During the holidays I planned on doing several smaller posts so that it didn't get overwhelming after the season was over but I kept putting it off to take care of other stuff! Imagine that! LOL!

Anyway, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving that we hosted along with my mom and grandma at our house and a great Christmas all around!

I would LOVE to show you how much fun we have had in the last two months with the great pictures we took but....Our camera and video camera were stolen out of my car. :( I am especially sad because we didn't take the time to download all the great videos off the recorder and now all of our video's of our time in Russia and beyond are gone. :(

I just haven't had it in me to admit to myself that I don't have any pictures of Julia's first thanksgiving and Christmas home.. Every time I would sit down to blog it would bug me so bad that I would save it for another day. So it's a new year and as soon as I figure out which camera I want I will post again, with pictures! :)

Happy New Year!

What happens

when you give a teen girl a cell phone?

She racks up 5,700 text messages in 30 days.........

So John and I have been dead set against giving our kids cell phones. Alyssa has bugged and whined to us for the last two years. "Everyone has one. I am the only one in school who doesn't have a phone."

Etc., Etc.

Blah, Blah.

It seems to me that most kids have them because everyone else does, not because they really need one. That is just our opinion of course.

I am a SAHM and I drive my kids to and from school so we have never found the need for them to have a phone. Until this year. Alyssa started the year out when the weather was nice, walking home with the girl next door. It's a fairly long walk and honestly the route does not go through the best neighborhood, so we decided to get her one for safety. It also comes in handy now that she is in Gymnastics after school.

Hmm, well apparently John was very smart when he signed us up for unlimited text messages because at .10 cents a text times 5,700 text we would have had to rethink the cell phone! To be honest we cant really figure out how in the heck she did that much texting!

But in Alyssa's defense, she is a 4.0 student and a really good girl. There could be worse things she could be doing.

BTW, how did we get old enough to have a teenager anyway? :)

Oh the things kids say

John and I thought this was really funny!. Maybe it is a had to be there moment but we dont want to forget this one.

So I came into the living room to tell John I was going to take a walk. I sat down and kissed him. (Just a little kiss BTW nothing big enough for Nathan to think this) At the exact same time Hannah(10) and Nathan(7.5)" yell out, ewww! Gross!!" Then Nathan said "you look like two cows milking each other!"

Maybe they are spending too much time at the farm.....

October Odds and Ends

I am not sure where the month of October went but I do have some cute highlights to tell you about.

Hannah had a great season of fall soccer. I think she only had to practice and play a game one time in the rain. For anyone who knows Washington knows that is pretty amazing for fall! Hannah's coach was wonderful this year. He was really dedicated and knowledgeable. Hannah really enjoyed his coaching style and hopes he will be her coach for spring soccer.

One thing the kids will miss about the nice weather is when Grampa Duane stops by and lets all the neighborhood kids climb in his truck! Almost as soon as he pulls up the kids start running over. Grampa Duane plays the"Who let the dogs out!" song really loud and the kids start dancing! He is also known for having goodies in his truck. I can usually find them snacking on chips or cookies, right before dinner of course! :)

I couldn't believe my eyes when I walked into Julia's room and found this!

I had put her down for her nap and about 30 minutes later she was crying. When I went into her room she was standing up looking half awake and very confused. I can only guess that she did this before falling asleep and then woke up fussy because she was uncomfortable. I had to run down and get my camera, by the time I came back up she was smiling. I still don't know how she did this, she doesn't try to take off her clothes and has not done it since.

Speaking of Julia, she is NOT a spoiled little girl! Her siblings NEVER give into her and give her whatever she wants. I was on the computer and looked over to find Alyssa standing next to the barbie house, HOLDING Julia so that she could play on the top floor!

I wont lie and say that Garret is thrilled to have lost his position in the family as the "baby" but he does have his cute big brother moments where he shows that he really does love his little sister.

The weather decided to change in a huge way and the kids were going to have a day off from school so I decided it would be a whole lot more exciting to go here than sit at home and watch it rain. The kids were SO ExCiTeD when they came home from school Thursday and I told them to pack their swimsuits and pj's cause we were heading out!






Well before I let this post turn into a novel I guess I will wrap up October with Halloween! We had tons of unseasonably warm weather the week of Halloween. Until the 31st of course! Thankfully though the rain let up long enough to head out and enjoy our church trunk or treat party! We also got to enjoy pumkin pickin at the Huber farm! One of Papa's pumpkins weighed in at 70 lbs!

That should just about do it for October! Stayed tuned for more of our crazy life in November!

Catching up!

I guess I will start updating with September because I am not sure I can remember back any further than that! :)

Of course September means a new school year is about to start. This year I was really sad to see the kids go off to school! We were having such a wonderful summer relaxing and bonding with Julia. I cant tell you how many times I was asked if I was excited that the kids were going back to school and how many "your crazy!" comments and looks I got for saying "No actually I am sad they are going back already." Here are the kids typical back to school photos that I always take the first day of school.


































Alyssa 8th grade, Hannah 5th grade, Nathan 2nd, and Garret preschool.

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The weather this fall has been nothing short of amazing! We have had several hot sunny days and many opportunity's to play outside. The weekend we hung out at Ma and Pa Huber's farm was no exception! The kids LOVE playing in the dirt and hanging out with all the animals. Papa has even added turkey's to the farm this year. Julia loves to wander over to the chicken coop and talk to the chickens and turkey's. The cute thing is that their dog Bonnie fallows her around to make sure she doesn't get into any trouble. Bonnie is a boarder collie and they love to heard anything that walks.












Alyssa is usually hard to find when the weather is nice and we are at the farm. She loves to roam around and take pictures. Sometimes when I am out on the front porch I can see her dancing around talking to the cows. But dont tell her I told you that, being that she is a teenager and all!

Ok, so we are finally getting things up and running around here. On the blog that is. Things are always running around the house! ;) Learning to use blogger has been a bit of a challenge. Well maybe not much of a challenge, just something new to get used to. I was a little bummed on the selection blogger had for layouts so John and I designed a header to at least mix it up a bit. I didn't want to have the same blog as half the blogging world. I did look into having a pro design me one but that proved to be quit a bit more expensive than I thought it would be.

Anyway, still trying to figure out how to import our own pictures in the slide show. And I hope to get caught up tomorrow on our photos so I can finally do a post with visual aids! :)