Silly Scarecrow Day

This is how Gideon went to school today! Hilarious!!

Busy Weekend=Exaustion

This weekend, though incredibly fun, completely wore me out! That and the girls haven't been sleeping well lately! We had a great week last week with Gideon meeting the sheriff on Wed. at preschool and learning all sorts of self defense moves to use on a stranger. I couldn't believe they actually taught him moves but he came home with all of these things to do if a stranger grabs your hand or trys to take you ....I must say I was really glad they taught him that....it makes a mother of a incredibly social child more at ease to know he now understands that not everyone out there can be trusted and we must be careful! Anyway he also got to ride in the sheriff car and got a junior deputy badge which he wore for about 3 days straight! On Friday he got to have a camp out at school and play in a tent, roast mallow's and sing camp songs...man I wish I was in preschool! This week he meets an ambulance driver and gets to ride in the back of it and he also has dress like a silly scarecrow on Wednesday and is having a harvest party! He gets to do so much fun stuff...I'm jeolous!
The weekend was really great we met up with Aunt Jean, Uncle Doug, Kelli, Marc, Andrew, AJ, Uncle Jay, Aunt Les, Jacob and Josh at Grammy and Papa's house and went on a treasure hunt, carved pumpkins, made caramel apples and went on the flying squirrel again...we ended the evening with trick or treat through the camp grounds and a hot dog roast! It was a great weekend the kids were wiped out on Sunday evening! I'll get some pictures and maybe some video of the events eventually....I'm really failing at the camera thing!
Anyway this week was filled with lots of news too! Some bad...some awesome...The good news is that my older brother called and they are pregnant with #2! That is really exciting! More cousins for the kids....Gideon is already hoping it's a boy! That make 2 new cousins this winter with Drew and Melinda due in Feb and Brad and Jana in March! The family is expanding by another 4 feet!!
The bad news of the week is that Keith's cousin Cody....who's only 19 was diagnosed with stage 3 Melanoma. They did surgery to remove a spot on his back but it is in most of his lymph nodes so that's not a great thing. He is going to be placed on a chemo-pill that will make him really sick, but will hopefully work. Keith's aunt and uncle have gone through a lot with 3 of their 4 children's familys hit with cancer in the last few years....all young ...please pray if you think about it! I am sure they feel much like Job at this time! Satan is attacking and they need the strength and the power that only God can give to fight this!
Hope everyone is well! Love to all!

Butchering Day

By all means click on the picture if you can and enlarge it! The kids faces are hilarious and totally expressive of how they acted. Yes...poor little chicky had to die a week early. He couldn't stand up anymore because....as the nurse in my mother diagnosed....he had hip displasia or something the matter with his hips. Anyway he couldn't really walk very well without falling down and so he had to die early. Keith wanted to help and although I had an auction and couldn't be there for the blessed event here is what I have been told....and it sounds like it was hilarious. I dropped Gid, Lucy and Ella off early because I had an auction to go to. Before I left Gideon "read the chicken his last rights" by feeding him his last meal and giving him a little pet...Lucy fluffed his feathers a bit just to make him look nice for his "showing". Then, Nani, Gideon and Lucy went downstairs to prepare the "chopping block" and sharpen the ax. I guess Gideon was all about chopping the chickens head off. Keith arrived and they brought the chicken downstairs. Mom put the chickens head between two nails to steady it and it closed its eyes as if preparing for the inevitable. Gideon was ready to use the ax until this point....as soon as the chicken was "in restraints Gideon backed away and turned his head...he couldn't bring himself to do it...although I did learn from him that the chicken died before nani chopped it's head off because it closed it's eyes. Well....off with the head and the body, as usual flapped and fluttered and the head lay still. The kids watched but wouldn't touch or help with the gutting and de-feathering until Nani put the body in the freezer and took them back outside to "clean up". Then.....with the body gone...Gideon and Lucy touched and examined the head of the chicken...looking at its eyes and ears and then examining the chicken feet.....mom had given them an anatomy lesson earlier in the gutting and Keith thought it was pretty cool too. They got to see the gullet and the gizzard and open it up and see the feed the chicken had eaten for it's last meal so Gideon said that was cool. Anyway....Gideon was a little nervous and would only touch the chicken head and feet but Lucy....my child of no fear picked up the head and carried it to the burn bag and then went back for the feet and put them it.....it was a good anatomy and life lesson for the kids and I'm glad they had it but I wish I could've been there because it was probably quite hilarious to see the kids reactions.

Pictures to Follow

This past week and weekend just flew by! It feels like I have been running non-stop only to find myself at Monday again ready to start a new week of running! Last week, on Wednesday Gideon blest me with a horrendous cold(which he had shared with Keith first and then me). It was one of those bad ones that you can't breathe and it hurts to move and you can't taste your food and your nose is sore Yah.....anyway for 5 days I was in pretty much torture, but then Sunday afternoon it started to clear and I began to feel better. Hopefully we are done with it now and the girls don't get it! The preschool handbook said and I quote "Don't be surprised if your family is especially sick this first year of school. The children will bring home and share their virus'" Yipee!! I hope we are done sharing for awhile! Anyway, so, despite feeling horrible we still went to mom's and fed the chickens on Wed and Thurs night and they literally attacked us in the pen! I have fed a lot of chickens in my lifetime but never have I come across such an aggresive bunch! Gideon even got a little scared! We would open the door to the pen and they would come sqauking and pecking at us! They would peck our shoes and ankles until we put the food in the feeders and then all 65 would try and crowd around the same feeder to eat pecking and fighting and smooshing and standing on eachother. So, I decided maybe they needed more food. I gave them more but that didn't seem to do any good. Thursday night they did the same thing! Oh well! Think how exciting it will be when we have to move them to crates to take to the butcher! Fun Fun Fun! Oh well! Anyway Friday was a slow day and I didn't really feel like doing much seeing as how I felt like a truck ran over me so we just stayed at home. Sat morning I went to the quilt shop at the village with mom to pick out some material for quilts I'm going make for the girls room which won't be painted/decorated until next year this time but I think it will take me that long to make these...so I'm starting now!! Sat afternoon we headed to Camp Palmer where they were having a "free fun" day for the community. We got there a little late but still had time for a tractor ride, sliding down the slide and the best of all......"The Flying Squirrel". Gideon and Gramma were the only one's who actually participated but it was fun to watch and I think we're all going to go next weekend because Nancy is going to rent it for a day. Anyway, "The Flying Squirrel" is where you put on a helmet and a full harness and they hook the back of the harness to a rope that hangs over a 20-30 ft high bar and connects to a group of spotters behind you. You say "Spotter's Ready" and they answer "Ready" and then you shout "Running" and you take off running in the opposite direction of the spotters. They pull and you fly up into the air still running until about 20 ft and then they let you down easy. I didn't know if Gideon would do it but Gramma did it first and of course he was in. They hooked him in and he yelled what he needed to yell and then took of running. I told him to pretend he was Peter Pan and think of a happy thought and he would fly and when he got up he spread out his arms like Peter Pan and flew! He was so brave and so funny! It was a blast. Once I get the pictures off keith's cell I'll post them! I can't wait to take my turn next weekend! After that, we went to Gramma's for a hotdog roast with some of their friends. The kids were pretty cranky so we didn't stay long. Gideon kept commenting on " Why were there so many old ladies at Gramma's" I had to get him out of there before they actually heard him!
Sunday we went to church as usual and then Gideon and I went Grocery shopping while Keith took the girls home. It was such a beautiful day when we got home we went on a long bikeride! It was such a nice day I hope we have more before it gets too cold! For supper I made Keith stuffed Jalepeno peppers and spicy buffalo wings (new recipes) and though they were chaotic to make they tasted awesome! Very much a "keeper" recipe! I am thinking about make a batch of the wings for this weekend but we'll see how the week goes! We are kinda busy with Bible Study here tomorrow night and auction and Ella's 9 month appointment the other nights! Hope everyone is doing well and feeling well! Love to all!

Oh How Time Flies

#1

#2

#3

Ok, I know, I am really wierd posting these images of myself on the computer but I am sorting through all my pic's and came across pictures of myself pregnant with all three kids and I noticed how happy, awake, relaxed, full of energy, normal, peaceful I looked in my first pregnancy and how tired, worn out, baggy eyed and lathargic I looked in my last....hilarious....if I have another imagine how bad I'll look :)....Anyway enough of that stuff...so this past weekend was really fun. I worked at the hospital on Friday morning and got to catch up with all my work friends and then I worked the auction in the evening and got some good deals on stuff.....$1 a loaf on Aunt Millie's all natural, whole wheat bread and Thomas English Muffins......$3.50 on a large bag of Starbucks coffee.....&1.75 on boxes of Cheerios, Honey Bunches of Oats and Trix cereal.... anyway...there were not that many people there so stuff went really low and I was a happy shopper/worker! On Sat. Keith wanted to watch the bucks smear Minnesota so he watched the kids and I went shopping for shoes to wear to my friend Traci's wedding...it was so nice to be out without the kids, I could take my time, try stuff on and just listen as other kids screamed....ahhh.....so relaxing and nice...when I got home we headed to Keith's mom and dads for a yummy supper and then a trip to the park and fishing...it was a beautiful day and lots of fun. On Sunday Keith went fishing with a buddy so we headed one last time to the zoo with Papa Roynon. We tried to see the things the kids always skip this time so we got to see the snakes and the monkeys..it wasn't too crowded so it was very nice and the kids...for the most part behaved so that was good. Dad kept looking and seeing an aniamel and saying...."Oh my goodness Lucy look at that" so Lucy started saying....oh my goodness papa....oh my goodness it was hilarious! The aniamels were really active so it was fun...the bears, monkeys and hippos were right up against the glass staring at the kids and they loved every minute of it! Keith brought home pizza for supper when we got home so it was a very nice evening! Well that's it from us...have a great week everyone!

No Way!!! We Landed on the Moon!!

Guess what Friday was at Preschool? Yep! They were studying the letter A and Astronauts. They made astronaut helmets, paper "rockets" ate what real astronauts eat and took a walk on the moon! Gideon came home looking so hilarious in this helmet and yelling BLAST OFF!!! BLAST OFF!!! 3 2 1 BLAASSSSTTTT OFFFFFF!!! as he ran around the yard throwing his paper airplane...I mean rocket :) I had to take a picture of him! It was red day also (the color of the week) and if he didn't wear red he would have gotten a red dot on his nose....or so he tells me! So he got to try out his new preschool t-shirt too! He is having SO MUCH FUN at preschool....meeting lots of new friends and learning about all sorts of stuff from astronauts to Adam. Anyway, it's really good to see him so happy about school....I know those days are numbered! I am cherishing every one!!

Keith and I attended a marriage conference at church this weekend that was awesome! It was called "Love and Respect".....I felt like maybe we were a little too young to be going and we don't have a whole lot of "big" marriage issues yet but we decided it was never to early to work on problems and went for prevention therapy :) It was so great and applicable! Keith and I got a ton out of it! I even started to apply one of the biggest things the speaker told the women to do with their husbands and that was just be with them and not talk, right after and it worked! And all of you who know me well know that "not talking" is an incredible feat for me! :) But Keith completely opened up and started talking about stuff which is an incredible feat for him! It was cool and I'd highly recommend this conference!

Ok enough blabbing about the marriage conference! Hope all's doing well!

What happens when.......

Well...a. few days ago....I seem to recall Keith saying...."Have you seen Gideon's sippy cup? I can't find it"....I believe I responded...."I think it's in the fridge but I don't know...." WRONG.....

Wish you had smella blog? I bet not....found it today.....that was last weekend....it was sitting in our sunny window in the front under some toys behind the couch....Yum Yum Yum!!!

Chocolate Milk anyone??