Mother's Little Helper

Now that the kids are back in school, I only have Joseph and Meredi at home keeping me company. They're great fun. They follow me around "helping" me most of the day.

However...there was that one day...I had been upstairs sorting and running loads of laundry - all this AFTER I had cleaned the entire kitchen, mind you - and I came downstairs to find that Meredi decided she needed some Fruit Loops...



I've gotten pretty good at grabbing the camera instead of losing my cool when funky things like this happen around here - which is often! Look how cool THIS picture turned out! (Click on it to see it bigger!) I think I'm going to make it the wallpaper for our desktop! :)

Good Neighbors

So the story is too long and twisted to really tell it all - but the end result is this...this is the black bear that our neighbor's brother shot with his bow in our "back yard", so to speak - really it was in Brandon's mom's back yard, but that's close enough when we're talking fangs and claws!!



I know it's not a big bear and it was estimated to only be a couple of years old - and it's a black bear, which I've been told isn't necessarily an aggressive breed... but you know what?? IT'S A BEAR!! DOES ANY OF THAT MATTER???

Never a dull moment!

(I blurred the hunter's face out b/c I didn't get his permission to blog him - and not that he'd even probably care, but you never know!)

Fall Photos!

(Editors Note - I just scrolled through our blog, after submitting this entry, and realized I'd already shared this picture! If I weren't so lazy, I'd upload each of the kids' individual poses...but today, I'm too lazy! Sorry for the repeat!)

I FINALLY updated the pictures on our wall! They were almost two years old! The group shot turned out great!! Oh sure, maybe a picture with everyone sitting with their hands folded on their laps, all looking the same direction with somber looks on their faces would have been more "professional" - but THAT isn't OUR family! :)



(I didn't mean to imply that there was anything wrong with a more serious pose for a family picture - or suggest that we would never do such a thing...we just may one day...but if you'd been at our "photo shoot" you'd know the mere thought of "serious" was out of the question!)

Good Friends!

We are very blessed to be surrounded with the very greatest friends on earth! Last Friday our friends Steve and Julie invited is out to the lake to go boating and eat dinner. We all had a blast!!



Madilyn...Going...

...Going...

...Gone!!!


Jake, Jared & Megan...




Jared, Joseph & Jacob...



Fun on the shore - Megan, Malorie, Jared & Melanie.



Oh Brother! Jason, Jared, Dad & Gracie.



Mom, Meredi & Malorie.



I have NO CLUE whose legs those are!!!

First Day of School 2009

This year was Jayine's year! 7/9 are in school now - our house is very quiet during the day!!

We've been in school for a week now and everyone is doing just great. Everyone likes their teachers. Everyone is happy to have reconnected with friends. Nobody (except Malorie & Melanie) likes the bus, but it's a right of passage ... or so we tell them!



Everyone except the Malorie & Melanie rode the bus the first day (they liked it then, I guess). When we got to the Elementary School, Malorie quickly hooked up with old friends from her class last year...



...and before I knew it, she was a 1st Grader!



Melanie was excited to start school all summer long - right up until the last 3 days before it started, then she thought maybe she'd stay home instead! But when the day came, she was as excited as everyone else and without shedding a single tear, she turned into one of the school kids right before my very eyes!

Nine of my favorite people!

I'm still a little bit afraid of our new camera - I love "new" and I hate it at the same time!

And I do know that this picture isn't as "centered" as it could be...I wanted to get Gracie's cute fingers in it!

Cell Phone Pictures

Sorry, there are a lot - but I when I took these pictures I thought they were important...now most of them are just silly, but at least I know they made it to the blog!

The cookies I baked for my sister to thank her for picking up something in town for me...then forgot to send them with Brandon to give her so I took this picture and sent it to her phone...I was informed it wasn't the same - go figure.



The Other Mother's roof after the 9 or so feet of snow last winter.



Visiting Sharon at SHMC - Joseph found a little couch in the ICU waiting room that was just his size.



What kid wouldn't love going to the dentist when they load you up with granola bars and juice boxes! :)



Madilyn's volleyball team (she's middle standing row furthest to your right). She didn't buy a team photo so I stopped at the trophy case in her school and took this picture for her! :)



Jared's art on the school bulletin board...if you have time to click on it and squint to read it it's pretty cute.



One of many reasons our family loves Ben and Aaren so much!



Malorie standing in front of the moose antler bulletin board at school. (And I'm officially letting her hair grow out again!)



Silly hats at Michael's.



Mom and Meredi playing around with the phone.



Joseph's first official dentist appointment/cleaning!



Crayons that Meredi bit the tops off from at Red Robin.



Joseph getting a piggy-back-ride from Chaylee!



Jared receiving his Wolf rank.



Meredi - not sure where she is or why her eyes are so big, but she's darn cute!



Yep, our van really has that many miles on it - and yep, I stopped in the middle of the road and took this picture!!



Dad and Meredi at Chataqua - we have officially vowed to never do the Teriyaki noodles and kabobs ever again...just not what they used to be! :(

Vacation

So just for kicks, as a souvenir I brought home a case of pneumonia that I have been fighting for a week now - really takes the wind out of my sails when it comes to blogging I guess! We took 3 cameras on vacation - not exactly sure what we were thinking! :) Here are some from one of the cameras - I don't even really promise that you'll ever see any from the others! lol I also just realized that we had a trip to Silverwood BEFORE our trip to Seattle that isn't on the blog yet - I'm thinking it may not make it at all. We'll see.

Anyway - here is our very fun (minus pneumonia) trip to Seattle last week!

Woodland Park Zoo


Joseph listening to whales at the Aquarium


Mom and Jaynie reaching in the touch-tank at the Aquarium


The family posing with Sylvester and Sylvia at Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe


Of course we stopped to pose with a 8' Bear on the sidewalk!


Gracie was thrilled to get to the hotel


3-D movie at the Science Center


Space Needle


Back to the Science Center


We were lucky enough to catch a wonderful Jim Henson exhibit! You would have to know what huge Muppet fans we are to really appreciate how much we enjoyed the chance to BE the muppets!


I don't think we were to North Bend before everyone was sacked out!

Happy Birthday JASON!

It's one thing to have a baby turn 3 and think over how fast the years went by...but FIFTEEN? We can't even wrap our heads around 15 YEARS!!

Jason woke up to donuts for breakfast...



Then Maddie (and her friend Makay) decorated a cake for him...



We didn't have 15 candles but luckily our math genius son, Jacob, figured out we could add our number candles and get 15...



Happy Birthday Jason! Before you know it, you'll be driving, then graduating, then on a mission, then college...you're mother isn't old enough for you to be doing all these things!!