some fun in June

I don't think my husband would be a happy man without a project to work on. This summer's major project is a greenhouse/shed combo! He's doing a great job on it and has a real gift for building and creating.

My Dad, Jeremy, and the boys took in the air show last weekend and had a great day together! While us girls Marla Kay, Annika, Morgan and I took in some shopping in Anchorage. We had a great time too, doing what us girls do best.

Our sweet baby in her current favorite hang out spot. Thanks, Chantel!

Me and my big little girl. But don't get caught calling her little! "Remember, I'm not little, I'm a big grill!"

Last Thursday night, Morgan took a big tumble off of our treehouse ladder. Yikes, she fell about 8 feet right onto her back. After about 45 min. of us wondering if we should take her in... I decided to run her to Urgent Care and called Marla Kay to see if she was up for a trip into town with us. (Mind you, it was 10pm by then.) Morgan was complaining of back and tummy pain and was kinda falling asleep, and was just a mess until we decided to go. She had no visible injuries, but I was a bit afraid of internal things, since she fell so far. As we were getting into the car and heading to pick my up MKay, she perked right up!!

She was back to our Morgan... "Mommy, turn that way!" And on and on and on she went. So when we got to town, of course the two Urgent Care clinics were closed. So we called our Doc and he had us do a little test for her in the parking lot we were in. And he said that it sounds like she doesn't have any major back injury and has full range of motion, didn't have the signs of internal injury and was cognitively fine... so we decided to just watch her and see how she does by morning. So after all that we took our little patient for some ice cream. (at 10:30pm) and ran to get some movies. Grandma Kay (as the kids call her) told Morgan that the ice cream would make her feel all better. This is the happy, messy face she made as we arrived home. When Jeremy came out to meet us, she said, "It worked, Daddy! I'm all better!" She's been fine ever since, a bit sore, but overall fine! I think our girl is made of rubber. If I fell from the height she did, I'd be in bed for a week! Praise the Lord for his care of our sweetheart.

our Soccer guy

Gavin is in the middle of his second year of soccer and it is so much fun to watch! He was put on
an 8 and under team, which means our not quite 6 small fry of a boy is playing with some BIG boys! It doesn't phase him a bit. But during his first game of the season a couple weeks ago, coach put him in as the goalie! He was all excited until she put the goalie jersey on him. This is the face he made when he looked over at us. He flapped his arms to show us how long the sleeves were and was very sullen until the action started.

Then after the first play and the other team failed to score on him, he was jazzed. He looked over and gave us this confident thumbs up.


Last week was picture night before his game. And we had a flat tire on our way there! Thankfully we were still close to home when we noticed the flat. (It had been completely flat at home, but I didn't notice it until we got off the dirt road!) SO... we missed soccer pictures. So while we were waiting for Daddy to fix the van, I thought we'd take our own soccer pics in the yard. We got some great shots! Who needs to pay for soccer pictures? It was funny, after Gavin finished his photo shoot, both Drewy and Morgan wanted their picture taken with the soccer ball. The two of them came up with some unique soccer poses!

yarn and apples

I can think of maybe 2 people that will think this first picture is worthwhile and many more that will love the 2nd photo of my two Apple models.

I admit it, I'm a yarn addict.

Maybe I should have listed this as one of my quirks. (as listed below) But yarn stores and seeing my drawers full of yarn makes my heart sing. I actually smell the yarn when I buy it. Yeah, I know, you don't even have to say it. And I am SO excited after a good 6 months of searching, to finally find a cotton yarn I love. I've wanted, for a while now, to convert all of my Bacon Bit Knits hats to 100% cotton. But it has taken me a while to find one brand with all of the right colors. I'm really picky about it. Because a carrot and a raspberry have to be just the right color, right? Right. After searching high and low, I found it. End of that story. And, I've started a blog (which sits empty of any posts) for my knitting business, which has kept me quite busy this year. (The knitting, not the blog.) Or as busy as I want to be. You can check out the future site of my blog here. I'm in the process of knitting up one each of all the different hats I sell and taking cute pics of them and posting them on the blog for those wanting to place an order. My special order business has grown and I'm loving knitting made to order hats. They're also available at Pitter Patter, but she's all out. All of my sample hats will go there when I'm finished with them. 2 hats knit, 7 more to go.

strawberry

carrot top *new

blueberry

cupcake cutie

neapolitan sundae

watermelon *new

raspberry

pumpkin

apple

Karla ordered mother-daughter apples. Aren't they looking so cute?

I've Been Tagged

I've been tagged. Rachel W. tagged me to spell out 6 quirks that I have.

Here are the rules:

Link the person who tagged you.

Mention the rules in your blog.

Tell about six unspectacular quirks of yours.

Tag a new set of six bloggers by linking them (I chose 10!)

Six quirks of mine: (The above photo is 9 year old me, where it all started...)

1. I love books. Except I love the look of them sometimes more than the content of them. I would buy books left and right if I could, just to have them sit on my shelves and be books.

2. Jeremy calls me Rain Man because I remember faces, numbers, pictures, and can throw something across the room and have it land in it's exact proper place. (like a pen into the pen cup across the kitchen) Weird, I know.

3. (don't laugh) When I'm driving, I count how many car lengths (my car) it takes for me to get to the next oncoming car, or how many car lengths it is between telephone poles. I know, it's the Rain Man in me again. And like Rachel W., I stink at conventional math.

4. When shopping, I am drawn to black, black, and black then I complain that all I have to wear to church is dreary black. I think my wardrobe perpetually stuck in winter living in this wintry state.

5. I take my kids all over town, enjoy being out with them when Jeremy is at work... but then at home, I fear things like kidnappings when they're playing outside without a soul in sight in our secluded neighborhood.

6. It is way too easy for me to walk right by folded laundry and never put it away. Seriously, it will sit there folded for weeks before I break down and finally put it away. And did I mention that my dear husband is the one who washes and folds it?? My kids are too used to finding their clothes for the day in the folded ones. Ugh.

I choose the following to list their quirks:

Chantel

Jen

Rachel K.

Sarah B.

Shannon

Tasha

Carly

Anita E.

Sarah C.

Elizabeth

ahhh.. the Public Library

I think my favorite place to stop with my kiddos or especially without is the public library. I especially am fond of the Palmer library. Today, we made an unexpected trip to that blessed place. To make a long story short... we were headed to Palmer for Annika's 4 month checkup that has been planned on this date for 2 months, only to arrive after a 40 min. drive and find out that his office is closed today! (They called this evening to confirm my appt. for TOMORROW!)

Anyways, so we decided to head to the DMV to get my license renewed. I was excited because I've been waiting and waiting to get one of those cool new (or not so new) versions of the driver's license. So all went really well in the DMV with my 4 kiddos. I even got a compliment from a fellow family on how well I handled a "domestic dispute" as he called it. (Morgan was sad that Gavin "stole the seat she was sitting in") And our favorite DMV friend, and my best friend's husband, Ryan helped us! BUT... when we trudged across the parking lot, to get loaded back into the van, I gasped when I saw my driver's door WIDE OPEN! We were in there a good 25 minutes! Not a thing was out of place, even the mini DVD player that we had just borrowed from a friend! Phew! Disaster averted. I got in the car and exhuberantly said, "Thank you, Lord!" Drew said, "Mom, I was just about to say that!" Okay, so that wasn't really the "long story short" that I promised. It was the long story, long. I was imagining the place crawling with ex-cons (hee hee) because that building also houses the probabtion and parole office! I know, I'm a big, giant nerd. But I was SO thankful that nothing was taken! My entire diaper bag was in there too, with all of my super important Annika gear.

Okay, now on to the library. Every time we're in Palmer, we make a trip to my favorite library. Today was no exception. So after our Dr. and DMV excitement, I decided it was time to load up on some books! Thankfully, no major drama took place, and we were actually in there for like an hour and a half. Little Annika fell fast asleep in her stroller sitting straight up without so much as a wimper. What a little champ.

(Shannon, you'd like to know that I stumbled upon Ox-Cart Man! I stood there and tried to recall the title, remembered it, wondered if I'd ever find it without the help of the computer, took two steps and there it was.... the first book that caught my eye out of the gazillions in the children's section!!!! Amazing, thanks Lord for smiling on me in that way!)

Some fun kid's titles we found:
The Declaration of Independence (illustrated and beautifully penned, this one was for me but in the kid's section! I had never actually read the Declaration... me with a History Minor!)
Knuffle Bunny Too (We LOVE Knuffle Bunny! Thanks Sarah B.)
Mouse Cookies & More (The complete treasury of the "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" series)
a load of books on Knights (for Drew)
2 books on soccer (for Gavin)
and dozens of other titles!



We checked out tons of kids books, Drew got his first library card (we were able to get double the books that way!), and most importantly, got this Mama a couple books! So the entire purpose of this post is to share the books I came across that I'm so excited about! They're both up for much criticism, I'm sure, by those tried and true author/series-loving folks... But I'm not picky about that kind of thing. The first is a prequel to Anne of Green Gables, called Before Green Gables written by a Canadian author. It starts with good ol' Bertha and Walter Shirley shortly before Anne arrives on the scene. And the second book I'm excited about is The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen. There are tons of "Jane Austen-y wanna be" books out there, none of which I've read... but this one looks interesting! Maybe I'll post a review when (or if) I finish them. Well, I'm off to gather myself after this long and interesting day!

How many of you also find a public library or bookstore to be a fabulous way to spend your time?


Update: I'm now 12 chapters into Before Green Gables and boy is it affecting me! I can remember maybe two other times that I teared up reading a book. (real life affects me much more that fiction) Reading this story is like knowing that my longtime friend is an orphan, but hearing the story of her parent's death for the first time. Heart-wrenching! I have to say that the author is (so far) doing a great job of capturing and imagining Anne's story! Okay, goodnight!

my sweet helper and a rousing breakfast

Here's how this morning started...

"Mom?" says Drew in a hushed tone, "I love you, Mom."

His fuzzy Mom says, "I love you too."

"Do you want me to give you a little backrub?" he says.

"Sure!"

As he's rubbing my back, "What's your favorite movie?"

"Um..." I'm trying to make my brain work to recall my favorite movie at 8:30am.

"Why don't you just rest, I'll take care of Annika!" says my morning helper. Then I hear him out in the living room, "You guys, we have to be quiet so Mom can rest."

(Yes, he's being very darling... but I'm onto him. He is angel boy/helper whenever he has a golden ticket on the brain! But, hey! Whatever works!!!)

He kept coming into my room to tell me to "just rest!" It was adorable until Annika got really cranky and was ready to be picked up.

THEN.... 10 min. or so later at breakfast. I was on the couch feeding Annika while the kids were making their own breakfast. Toast and all. So Drew is talking all about have a "rousing breakfast" that he heard about from Sally in a Charlie Brown episode that we own. Then Gavin asked Morgan if she wanted to have a "rousing breakfast" and she said, "What????" Gavin said, "Morgan, it means to have a BIG breakfast!" (hand motions included)

"Sure!", pipes Morgan! So my 3 silly big kids (as they are now called) enjoyed toast and cereal all made by their own hands..... Then Drew waddles over to the couch after he was finished and said, "Ohhhhh.... that was too much of a rousing breakfast! I'm full!"

some May highlights!

The month of May brought many fun days! Garden & flower planting, Curtis Menard Memorial Kid's Run, birthday parties, Mother's Day, an engaged brother-in-law, and many other reasons to smile at our house!

I'm at it again!

Almost 2 weeks ago, I started on my mission to seriously lose the rest of this baby weight! I've been doing Turbo Jam 5 days a week and have lost 6 lbs already! The last two days, my three big kids have joined in. They are so funny. Drew said yesterday as I was finishing, "Mom, next time you do Turbo Jam, count me in!"

It's a great fun, workout... I have about 6 different workouts to choose from in the series. I feel so much better already! My goal was to lose the first 10 lbs. by July 4th... looks like I'm gonna make it!

When do I find time you ask? Well, I make time! Usually when Annika goes down for her first morning nap around 10 am, I get at it. Then I put on a movie or turn on PBS for the kids and we're all happy while I catch a shower. It's been working famously for 2 weeks now.

You have to watch this!

This is the cutest video of a cutie pie 2 year old singing The Lord's Prayer! We watched it three times, and the kids loved it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR4PQ30VkBk

Jeremy and Annika checking out the latest issue of Real Simple, I just had to take a pic.

a baby is born!

Yesterday, I had the awesome privilege of being present at the birth of my best buddy Jessica's fourth baby! Her water broke Thursday morning at 6:30am, she called at 8:00ish to let me know.... called back around 8:45 to say they were on their way to the midwifery and her sweet baby girl was born at 9:35am! We scurried out of the house, my dear friend Sarah B. watched my big kiddos and I made it to the midwifery just 10 min. before she gave birth. It was an amazing morning, watching Jessica be so strong and give birth in the shower! She has super quick deliveries and this one was no exception! She got in there right after I arrived in the room to speed things up because she was at 7cm and the contractions had slowed lying down on the bed... so good ol' gravity worked it's magic and the baby was born within minutes of her being in the shower! There was no time to get out, that baby was coming! Judi was super quick to get in there with Jess and Ryan and out came a surprise baby girl! They didn't know the sex of the baby beforehand, but completely thought they would have a boy!





She doesn't have a name yet.. they had a boy name all ready, but hadn't decided on any girl names! So I'm excited to find out her name! She was 6 lb. 1 oz. and is so adorable!



Welcome sweet girl!

Wow! Big news from Aaron!

We received big news from Jeremy's brother Aaron this weekend! He's engaged! He lives in So. California attending seminary, and met an awesome gal named Abie in January! Yes, this January! They started dating this spring and Aaron popped the question last Saturday! They're getting married on October 18th, and we are SO thrilled for him.

He was over last night for dinner on his way up to his summer job on the pipeline. So we got the whole scoop, saw all the proposal pics, and listened to him gush about his sweetie. They met through his church in Long Beach. He is quite the creative guy.... here's how he proposed:

First last Tuesday, he flew up to Chico for the day to ask her father for her hand in marriage without Abie having a clue he was gone for the day. (His answer was of course, yes!)

Then he planned for her whole family to drive down Saturday for the big moment! She's super tight with her family... He took her to the beach and had 3 family photographers hidden in different locations on the beach, and caught the whole thing on camera! So after he got down on one knee, and she said YES, and they celebrated, he told her that they were all there! What a surprise! Then... he had the family members frame the photos that were taken that day and went to her uncle's house and had a party planned that night for her decorated with the proposal pics from that day!!! Good job, Aaron!

So it feels strange to have not yet met my future sis-in-law... can't wait though, I know I'll love her. They asked Drew, Gavin, and Morgan to be in the wedding this Fall in California. I told Aaron that she and I should form a support group for women married to Bacon men. hee hee

It was a great night, celebrating Aaron and his bride-to-be! Pictures to come!

some funnies from yesterday and today...

Okay, well the kids and I were having an educational discussion about classical music just now. We are currently listening to Beethoven and discussing the different instruments that make up an orchestra. So we pointed out flutes, violins, drums, horns as we were listening. I asked Gavin what instrument he wanted to learn to play and he said "guitar! Oh, no, no, no the trumpet!" I said, "Daddy used to play the trumpet!" And Drew piped in, "With Beethoven?"

Don't ya love this pic of my two goofy boys hamming it up together? Things never change! Drewy was nearly two and Gavin was about Annika's age about 3 months!

Then earlier, we were getting ready to watch a movie.... We heard that Barbie's Nutcracker was actually decent! So we decided to give it a try. And as we were getting ready for the movie, Gavin asked, "Now can we watch Barbie and the Cracker?"

And then there were two whoppers from Drew's mouth yesterday.

Before heading out to MOPS and getting breakfast, Drew was attempting to toast his own english muffin when he asked, "Mom? Do you know who invented english muffins?"

"No"

"Well, I wish you did and that I had a million dollars so I could give it to them. Because they are SO good!"

And then in the car on our way home from MOPS, Drew asked if I could turn the radio station to the Oldies. I turned it there for the first time the other day, and they loved it! We usually listen to KLOVE 88.5, KAFC 93.7, KATB 89.3, or KLEF 98.1.... But yesterday Drew said, "Mom, can you turn it back to the Oldies? I really liked that one called "I Really Wanna Bust the Dust!" They were grooving out to "Another One Bites the Dust" the other day!

sigh

I think tonight holds the record for the most posts I've done at one time. But there's just so much going on!

Today marked the last MOPS event of the year. And the last MOPS event that I'm a part of leading! I've been in MOPS leadership these past 4 four years since moving back out here to the Valley and WOW has it changed me.


I have grown so much as a woman, mommy, wife, friend, and leader and have loved, loved, loved my time with so many wonderful women. I believe so strongly that reaching and caring for Moms is vital to strong families. Nearly all of my close friends here in the Valley came from relationships that were built at MOPS. I still plan to attend, but it feels so strange to be done. MOPS has been so huge and consuming in my life and I've loved every minute of it. Yes, there were a few "bumps" in the road, but as I see it now, have grown me and molded me right along with them.

Let me just name the gals that have meant so, so much to me this year especially. I was too choked up this morning to say any of this to them, but it was on my heart.

Anne-Renee
Rachel
Elizabeth
Amber
Tasha
Chantel
Hannah
Milly
Tiana

The relationships I have with you all are near and dear to me. And I think I'm grieving the closeness of those relationships and time spent together. Late nights spend talking and giggling at retreats and out-of-state conventions, steering team meetings spent sharing our ministry vision and plans together, praying together for the Moms in our group, and the awesome friendships built will be missed! I know we will stay great friends, but I will miss and love you all dearly.

So, what's up next? (other than focusing on my 4 little bits and homeschooling?) Well, a dream I've had over these past years is to see Moms get plugged into a Bible Study of some sort to gain Bible knowledge, intimate friendships, time to share their life with others, and a close relationship to the Lord. And I'll be focusing on that next year, with my new, emptier plate! I'm beyond excited for the chance to make this dream a reality and see our MOPS Moms flourish!


Here are some pictures from last weekend of our Steering Team out on the town for our final outing together. First we went out for a yummy dinner, then it was off to the play Little Women! We love hanging out and cherish the time when it can be just us having girl time with out all of our kids! We have 24 kids between all of us! (including Elizabeth's little girl who will be in her belly a few more months!) Milly, we missed you that night!

my! how you've grown!

Here's my sweet Annika at 10 days old and 3 months old in the same shirt! Look how baggy it was and look how tight it is now! She looks like a different baby! She was wearing that shirt probably for the last time yesterday and I just had to do some comparison pics. That last smile makes me laugh compared to her serious face in the picture before!

a date with Miss Tammy

Gavin's Sunday School teacher, Miss Tammy, took Gavin on a "date" this last Saturday. Gavin earned it for filling his sticker chart in class from saying his memory verses each week! Gavin has been SO looking forward to it! In the days and weeks leading up to his trip, here's what he had in his head that they would do together:

go mountain climbing

get a banana split at "Queen Dairy"

go bowling

see who would jump the farthest!!!!!!!

here's what they actually did:

went for a pony ride (Gavin actually fell off the pony when the pony got scared hearing a gun shot! But he called me and assured me that he was okay!)

went to Carl's Jr. for lunch and playland

went bowling

played at the park (Tammy said that he "mountain climbed" a hill in the parking lot, then proceeded to relieve himself on that very hill in the parking lot! That's my boy!)

had ice cream at "Queen Dairy"

went to Shop Rite to buy wallets for Drew and Morgan just like the one he won in her class

What a memorable day that was for him! And Tammy even took pictures of the day on a disposable camera for us to develop!!! How cool is that? The only disappointment is that I never heard who won the jumping contest! Tammy, you are amazing, thank you!!!

Drew and Morgan ran after them waving enthusiastically. They really missed him!

some precious moments in our home

This first picture was captured as the kids were watching robins out the window. It was a moment that was so warm and fuzzy for me!

Morgan came upstairs after raiding the costume box with this unicorn costume on! We've had it for a couple years and this is the first time she's put it on! It was a fabulous hand-me-down that Marla Kay gave us that was worn by my (now 20 year old) step-sister Alli. Thanks!

And this third special moment in my life happened on Mother's Day, no less. Ever since the ol' milk wagon went dry a month ago, and Annika has been on formula, it is a very, very rare moment that my girl falls asleep in my arms. :( She likes her bed, and falls asleep in a snap without a fuss. Great, right? Right - but I love holding her asleep. So on Mother's Day, after all the kiddos were in bed, I fed her and was just holding her smiling at her and her back at me. Then she started blinking those long sleepy blinks, and she conked out. I about cried! It was so special, so I just held her forever and was so thankful that God gave me that moment as trivial as it may sound. Thank you, precious daughter for that gift.

a four-wheeler!

Well, we've turned to the dark side. Jeremy surprised the kiddos last week with a kid-sized four-wheeler that his company sells. The kids were beyond thrilled, and still are. So for now, they're taking "four-wheeler lessons" as they call it. Drew took me on a ride for Mother's Day. He'd been planning it as my gift. It was precious, he took me back in our neighborhood and on a fun little trail. Grandpa Louie and Gavin joined us on Grandpa's four-wheeler! What fun!

the bobsey twins

The kids love helping Daddy with his outdoor projects. One recent Saturday, they were helping him dig and move some dirt for a landscaping project that is on the horizon. I snapped this photo of them helping out... and about two seconds later, I said, "Hey, Gavin and Morgan, stand a little closer together and look at me!"




And without any coaching from this camera toting Mom, this is what they did. SO stinkin' cute. They look like they were placed, moved, and cajoled into smiling like little models. And they look like little twins don't they?





and about two seconds later, this is Morgan pouting...



and about two seconds later, she's a mess... It runs in the family. But I love that fact that she was captured in a sad moment, I'm sure she'll laugh at and love this picture for years to come!

happy birthday to Jeremy!

Jeremy just celebrated his 32nd birthday yesterday! At the moment, he and the kids are outside working on a treehouse... he's been taking them outside every night when he gets home from work to give me a break and some alone time with Annika. Here are ten reasons (in no particular order and I'm sure I'm leaving lots out) why I love my husband:

1. He takes an interest in our children's spiritual growth and is a great Bible teacher.

2. He melts at the sight of our sweet baby girl..

3. He is always so willing to grow as a husband, father, and friend.

4. He always greets me with, "Hi, beautiful!" I love that, it makes me feel so special, even if I'm not exactly looking so beautiful.

5. He supports me in my decisions, ventures, and sometimes crazy ideas.

6. He's such a hands-on Daddy.

7. He's Mr. Clean and loves to help keep our house lookin' spiffy. It's a great help to this weary and thankful Mama.

8. He works hard to support our little (or not so little) family. And is so committed to whatever he does, he's been at his job for 12 years!

9. He loved me even when I had braces! (He said he "digged" me with braces)

10. He married me! We're celebrating 9 years this summer and still think we're playing house!