My new brace face

Today was such an exciting day for Haley. She has wanted braces for a long time. I think she associated braces with being grown up, as of tonight she is associating them with pain.

Haley begged me not to have her sister's there. Her Sister's begged me to watch the whole thing. We compromised and they got to watch them put on the 1st two braces. They were so interested in what was going on they were practically down her throat.

Our first egg!!!!

I was showing grandma Natalie the coop and opened the lid to show her the nesting boxes and look what we found...

Our very 1st egg!!!
It's tiny, I'm sure with some practice they will get better.

We have been waiting for months... this was so egg-citing!

A foul time

We decided to show grandma Natalie a little local action. What better then a rooster crowing competition?

I had the right address but the wrong city in the GPS, so we took an unnecessary road trip and then had to rush to back track. Eric was bugged we drove so far, I was bugged that I was stuck in the back seat with fighting children, it was not a happy car ride. The girls were fighting so much I had them get out and do push ups when we stopped for gas. The good news is grandmas hearing aids were not working well so she never heard all the fighting. Although the ride was hellacious, we eventually made it.

This was my favorite rooster. He did not crow the entire time. His owner was a little 9 year old girl that was so cute she told me "He crows all the time at home." I felt so bad for her.

This was the next most handsome guy.

But I know the burning question you have is who won?

Bye bye Bob won with 73 crows in 30 min. We were lucky enough to be seated right in front of him.
  

I'm not sure who was more fun to watch, the birds or the owners of the birds.

The girls had a great time because there was sugar/snow cones involved.

Grandma smiled when I took the photo, but she was just pretending that she was not being tortured. I guess rooster crowing competitions are not for everyone... who would have thought?

Grandma Natalie is in town!

Cheyenne has been counting down the hours, minutes and seconds until Grandma Natalie arrived and she finally showed up.

She will be here until the 7th of July, so I'm sure we will have plenty of time for adventures. Hopefully the crazy of our house doesn't raise her blood pressure too high..

Cheyenne's 15th birthday!!!!

Of course she woke up with the birthday quilt and a floor full of balloons. ( I love traditions!)

We had a party with her girlfriends and watched the new Alice in wonderland.

In the state of Oregon you can get your driving permit at 15! So she is studying for the written test. I let her practice driving for the 1st time in a parking lot to get her excited and motivated to do well on her test. Cheyenne's mother and older brother never had a license so she is very excited to get one.

Happy birthday to me!

Check out this fabulous cake the girls secretly made for me for my 38th birthday.  When I blew out the candles I said "holy cow, I am old that's a lot of candles" to which Haley replied. "Oh your not THIS old, we just used all the candles in the cupboard... there are 40 on here".

Lucy's 7th birthday!!!

Of course she woke up with the birthday quilt!

 Lucy is obsessed with pandas, so of course she wanted a panda party. Since we moved to our new house a lot of people have not been here I drove to the end of our long driveway to put a panda sign with an arrow. When I came back towards the house Lucy was on the side of the driveway picking wildflowers. I love this photo!

Pandas are not too popular, so I had a really hard time coming up with ideas for the party. Here are a few of the things we did. 

I bought bear & cat (only one kid noticed the different ears) piggy banks from the dollar store and the girls painted them to look like pandas. 

The girls each decorated their own cupcakes with mini Oreos to look like pandas.

We had chinese food for lunch. I was surprised that EVERY kid there loved chinese food and pounded it. I think I may do chinese food for all future parties- it was a serious hit.

We played panda games on the trampoline and hot panda inside.

The girls drew pandas on bags, then Haley filled them with their party favors. I was amazed at what great pandas they drew. They were so stinking cute!

Lucy had a very happy birthday!

Haley's graduation

Haley graduated from elementary school and is now officially a middle schooler!

The night before graduation she received a 500 club award. This is for kids that have an AR (accelerated reading) score of 500 or more. She was kinda bugged because she actually had an AR score of 870 and felt like there should be an 800 club.

Say WHAT?

5/8/10
"Have you seen this little bump on the top of my foot? I keep thinking... did Mom marry her cousin or something?" Lucy
Eric and I look at each other puzzled
"Are you staying that you think you have a birth defect? Dad
"Ya, no one else has this." Lucy

5/16/10
While driving to church
"I think we should go on a Disney cruise" Ruby
"Ya, I want to. I think that would be really fun." Dad
"I think we should go on a trip to a foreign country where we can do service. We can help them and focus on others and really make a difference in someone's life that needs it.  I have heard so much wining and complaining I think it would be good for us to focus on others rather then pamper ourselves laying on a beach." Me

little pause

"No, I just want to go on a trip to have fun." Ruby
"Ya, me too." Dad

6/3/10
While we were sitting in the dentists office there were two different large photos of women showing their perfect teeth.
"If you could be one of these women which one would you choose?" Lucy
After looking at them for a minute I said "That one, because she looks the happiest. Which one would you want to be?" Me
Lucy pointed to me and said "I would be you"
I think thats nicest thing any of my kids have ever said to me.

6/5/10
While driving to school
"Shoot, I brushed my teeth before breakfast and now I have raspberry seeds in my teeth from the jam." Me
"SEE, you are NOT perfect" Ruby
"What? I NEVER said I am perfect. I am far from perfect." Me
"Ya, but Dad says you are." Ruby

6/8/10
"Holy cow stop fighting over the syrup!!! You girls remind me of Cinderella's step sisters fighting over the dress." Me
"I agree....except I'm Cinderella" Eric
The fighting stopped and all the girls started cracking up laughing

The laundry room... before/after

When my Mom came to visit over a month ago she slipped my painter her phone number (no comment) and asked him to call her. For a house warming gift my Mom paid him to paint all the laundry room cabinets inside and out white. Paint along with removing a cabinet and some new appliances made a huge difference.  FYI- All the before photos I will be posting are from our final walk through before we closed on the house.  Check it out.

Before:

Of course the sewing machine was a sign, I needed to live here.  

After:

This room gets tons of use as the office, laundry room/mud room for backpacks/ shoes and Chinchilla home. Did I mention that it has a laundry shoot from the girls bathroom upstairs? Love it!

Before:

After: 

We just got the washer and dryer (we waited for the memorial day sales), but eventually Eric will put a counter all the way across including the sink.

Before:

This women was a true sewer, the refrigerator was unplugged and stored her fabric.

After:

We used that space for the chinchillas.

Before:

After:

This closet holds the girls jackets backpacks and shoes. This room is right off the garage so it's great to have a place for them to dump them right when they walk in. 

One of my favorite things about this house is the view from every room. When I am wasting time on the computer look at my view! I get to watch the chickens chase each other and watch Lucy pick dozens of flowers with her fingers (even though I have beg her to use scissors).

This is going to be a great summer