Green Acres?

Eric is on the night shift this week, so he is home all day to play.  He loves to "play" with wood. So he has been using his free time to make this.... 

You can see from the photo with Eric the scale of this structure- it's huge! The inside is tall enough for Eric to stand in, but he's not building himself a man cave.

Here is a huge hint... it has a built in toilet that I am very excited about.

Our neighbor calls us green acres, but I totally disagree with her...

Eric would never wear a straight tie (except of course on Halloween).

say WHAT?

9/5/10
Haley "Why did you marry dad?"
Me "Because he's is so stinkin cute!"
Haley continues to push me for the real reason, and I keep telling her more reasons. A few minutes later Eric walks in the room acting crazy and singing really loud.  Haley in her very dry sense of humor said...
"And this is the point where she realizes... looks aren't everything"

9/28/10
Cheyenne "We would have had one more egg, but the chicken dropped it from the nesting bar so it cracked open"
Eric"Did you clean it up"
Cheyenne"NO, it was totally nasty"
Eric"Chickens don't have cooties ya know"
Cheyenne"Cooties are so elementary... it's called STD's now"
Eric "Chicken's don't have STD's either"

9/29/10
Lucy "It was so hot my bum was like crying"
Me "Why was your bum crying"
Lucy "My bum wasn't really crying! It just felt like it because it was sweat'n so much"

10/1/10
This morning it was Ruby's turn to say the family prayer before the girls left for school. She said: "Dear Heavenly Father, please bless we will have a good day at school and PLEASE bless that mom gets pregnant, please. Please bless that we have fun day today and that Mom has a baby soon. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen."
I really hope she has a good day today so half of her prayer can be answered.

10/6/10
For Haley's school assignment we both had to make a list of things we would like to improve on. One of the things I listed was that I wished I was a better cook. Haley read what I wrote and said:
"Mom you don't need to get better at that... you are a really good cook!"
ME "Then how come whenever I cook dinner, none of you want to eat it?"
Haley "That's because you cook healthy stuff. We are kids, we just want to eat junk."

11/21/10
Lucy "Dad why are you polishing your shoes?"
Eric "To make them look nice and new."
Ruby "Oh, girls just buy new shoes."

12/9/10
Ruby "Mom why is there a diaper on the kitchen counter?"
Me "Ms. Chari sent that home so you girls could see how tiny her little baby it"
Ruby" No way, he is really this small?"
Lucy carefully picks the diaper up with two finders and shakes it so she can see inside. Very relieved Lucys said "Oh good... it's not dirty"

12/30/10
While walking into Sportsman's warehouse to get Haley more arrows for her archery set.
Lucy "Are all these things REALLY dead?"
Me "Yes"
Ruby "Why do people do that?"
Haley "For sport"
Lucy "Oh, if I ever killed anything... anything... like a spider or squirrel, I would be so upset I would kill myself."
Me "Actually we kill stuff all the time without even knowing it, like bugs on the ground as you we are walking."
Lucy very somber  "Ohhhh, yaaa. I guess so"

Christmas day

This photo pretty much sums up the morning. 

 Cheyenne got to Skype with her brother who is serving a mission in Iowa.

 It cracked me up when I found Cheyenne carrying her favorite chicken Cecilia into the house to show her brother! I don't think he was as excited about the chicken as Cheyenne was.

Here are some of my favorite outfits of the day... and day after. (Yes those are christmas lights and boxes as Eric and I took the tree down on Christmas.)

Here is Haley getting prepared to go out in the snow for some archery practice.

 She went out and shot arrows at the target for over an hour in the snow, in this get up.

This is my personal favorite. Eric in his U of U Snuggie that Grandma gave him. I'm not sure what is funnier. That he's wearing it backwards or that he is so tall it fits him like a bathrobe.

Gotta love Lucy in her panda hat from Grandma Bonnie and her outfit that Ruby made for her. Yes, Ruby sewed the skirt and appliqued the shirt.

Speaking of handmade gifts, our family did only handmade gifts for each other this year. It was fabulous! The kids really put a lot of time and thought into their gifts. The only other gift I have a photo of right now is the Dream letters that Ruby painted and bedazzled for Cheyenne's princess bedroom.

I will try to post about more of the handmade gifts later.

Christmas eve TRADITION... TRADITION!

For as long as I can remember (and possibly before I was born) my parents have thrown a party on Christmas Eve.  They have always served a potato bacon soup (that I have no idea how to spell the name) and had a table covered in desserts. It is a Christmas tradition that I always loved. 

(photos from my one of the parties at my parents house)

Eric and I have tried to do it a few years but we have always lived in places not conducive to throwing large parties. Last year was really our first attempt and it seemed to go well, so this year we did it again and invited everyone (or at least tried to) that did not have family in town or other plans.

The 1st photo is missing a few cakes, but still I think we did a decent job of filling the table with treats.

I am so bummed I did not get a photo of my Mom with her HUGE soup pot. It really is large enough to bathe a 6 year old in. The soup was absolutely delicious (no, I'm not biased).

After the party the girls each got to open one present we choose and then one they choose. There was no shock that the one from us was matching cozy jammy bottoms, but they were all excited about them.

Grandma Bonnie is in the house!

All the girls were excited  for Grandma to come and spent the day making signs and cards to hang all over her room. We even left her a basket of her favorite things...Pepsi, M&M's and fortune cookies.

Eventhough Grandma arrived super late at night, everyone stayed up and waited to go to the airport to get her.

Can you feel the love? I think she did.

I have to add that one of Grandma's favorite things at our house is the chickens or "the girls" as she calls them. She would often ask me something about "the girls" and I thought she was talking about the children, but no... it was these girls. She would also feed the girls treats from our side door.

Yes chickens like sticky buns for breakfast just as much as the rest of us.

Christmas Traditions

We started early and made popcorn trees all day. I made sure everyone had their hair pulled back, but I'm sure sitting on the counter with bare feet is a health code violation. Lucy was our bowl turner to make sure the popcorn made it in the bowl. 

 Haley was our carmel maker. This was a hard job because she had to have three batches going at all times to keep up with production.

Ruby put the ornaments (M&Ms) on the trees and Max and Opal did the floor clean up.

 Once Cheyenne woke up she joined the team. We were air popping and microwaving popcorn. We had to pull the microwave out of the cabinet to keep it from overheating.

When all was said and done we made and delivered over 20 trees!

One of our other favorite Christmas traditions is decorating the gingerwood houses. More candy was consumed then actually placed on the houses.

They are happily floating on lit up snow over our kitchen cabinets. So cute!

Another big Christmas tradition at our house is advent calendars.  I've got to laugh every morning when the girls start the morning out eating all candy from the calendars. I think this life savor tree is

 everyone's favorite. I'm not sure if they really enjoy the count down or are just into it for the treats.

The Festival of trees

My cute friend Susan is very involved in the festival of trees here. She asked me a year ago ago if I would design, stock and run a candy shop at the festival. I had to pass because I have been so busy with my calling and the kids schools. A couple of month ago she asked me if I would design the Santa's sleigh and I said yes. I just had to set it all up and box it all up at the end, I did not have to work there each day. Haley and my friend Janet helped me get everything put together, it was actually really fun.  The sleigh was auctioned off (all the toys) for $3,000 and donated to the Salvation Army. So cool!

Eric wired up this little camp fire to keep the bears warm.

When it was opened we took all the girls there. They got to see Santa and check out all the trees. Haley was so excited there was a Wicked tree!

Susan (who was running the gift shop) hooked up all the girls with these huge suckers. They were thrilled.

Finding our tree

You may remember last year Eric and I trying to be cool Oregonians, bought a $5 pass to go up in the forrest and cut down our own gynormous tree. We decided this year we would go to a tree farm in Jacksonville where you choose your tree and they cut it for you. Sounds like a fun saturday morning right?

Ruby and Lucy had a great time. Eric and I argued/discussed which tree is better the open charlie brown style tree or the bushy kind. We decided to rotate years so Eric picked out a bushy tree he liked. 

Haley and Cheyenne were typical teenagers. Complaining that we pulled them out of bed, that it was too cold and worried they might see someone they know. We just ignored them.

They helped Eric load it in the trailer. Unlike last year, it fits in our house!

It was Ruby's year to put the star on and she did a great job!

Thanksgiving in San Francisco

Luckily the weather was good enough that we were able to make it down to Ali's 8th birthday. We all saw Tangled on the day it opened- Love that movie!

We had a delicious, beautiful thanksgiving dinner. For some reason, I did not take any photos with people at the table. Trust me we were all there!

The day after we drove into the city with Grandma bonnie and went to Ghiradelli for huge sundays.

It was soooo good! This is always a must for us when we are in town.

We also went to the De Young to see this exhibit. It was amazing!!!

Of course back at the house there was some serious rocking out!

4D

Eric,
Do you remember the conversation we had in New Orleans discussing what specialties you were interested in and how many years they would take.  Very discouraged you said "I will be almost 40 by the time I am done with my training, I will be an old man!"

Well as of today you are officially 40 and have like 7 gray hairs, but you are far from being an old man. I have to say I totally agree with you... you are smoking hot, ruggedly handsome and yes, you look GOOD!

Thank you for always making me laugh, loving me so much and of course for being my arm candy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOVE!

A very sad day

Ming Ming hanging out with Haley

Ming Ming right after Gracie was born

Ming Ming and Rico sleeping and keeping warm

When Haley woke up this morning she noticed that Ming Ming did not look right and Rico was licking her. Haley quickly realized the Ming Ming had passed away.

She asked if we could bury her under my dogwood tree, and we did.

Ruby wrote Haley this condolence letter.

Haley was having a really hard time so she stayed home from school for a few hours to help get all the tears out. Eric quickly cut a grave marker before he left for work and Haley painted it. Haley asked if we could go engrave a dog tag with Ming Ming's name so she would have something to remember her. Then I took Haley out to lunch before dropping her off at school.

I am a little nervous about Rico. If she had an infection there is a good chance he has already been exposed to it. I am just going to have positive thoughts for now.

My tree girl

Ruby has been climbing all the trees in the yard.  I was driving up the driveway coming home and I stopped to take this photo.  Other then the fence, I could not have gotten a better shot of Ruby in her natural habitat.