Jack is Now the Big 4!

Jackson lucked out with much party-ing this year! He has the best birthday day in my opinion because it is Veteran's day and so the kids don't have school and the banks are closed so he gets to spend his birthday with everyone surrounding him! We had quite the party with cousins, neighbors and kids from church to party with us! It was boomin' and I am glad Dan, the party animal was there to help me out! whew! Okay, isn't Luke looking like a big boy! I don't want my baby growing up so fast!
Addison and Kennedy were great party planners and did the decorations, the games and this cool chair for Jack to sit in while he opened presents.

This was a separate party at Ammie and Papa's house. Papa and Jack have shared their party for the past 3 years and it has worked out beautifully! These are the weirdos that showed up looking for cake and ice cream. (Thanks Uncle Jon for the cool idea)

What a handsome 4 year old. He got this crown at church and proudly wore it for hours until it ripped from the abuse.

He also got an awesome present in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa Beutler. It is a flap book all about the body. They had a great time opening the flap and seeing the waste come out of the intestines.
We love our little Jackson! He is his own man, does what he wants to do, says what he wants to say and cries about anything and everything! Is that a 4 year old thing or what? I can't remember from one kid to the next. He is not a follower of the group. He gives freely of his love and affection. He is always kissing Luke and I (if Luke will let him). I even saw him lean over and give another kid a smooch on the top of the head in primary the other day. I don' t think he really wanted to kiss that kid he just likes kissing and it comes automatically sometimes! Our lives are so blessed because of this boy. Four years have gone fast and we have loved every minute of it!

Blessings in abundance!

No, it is not Thanksgiving yet but I am feeling so blessed! In church on Sunday we sang the song count your many blessings. I immediately thought of my mother and her singing that song countless times through out my life. The words hit home because I hadn't heard it in awhile.
"Count your many blessings, name them one by one." Well, first of all I am grateful for a companion who I admire, desire, can't live without! He is my world. I am grateful for the relationship we have. We are a good team! He has given me my next 5 blessings. We are a blessed family, not perfect but sometimes feel glimmers of what perfection will be like!
I just am really enjoying this time of year! The beauty, the weather, the food. I love cooking soups and biscuits and cookies and all the wonderful tasting and smelling foods! I want to feed my family healthy and am working on that!(kind of) It is not easy to change old habits and especially things your kids are used to eating. I made some homemade granola bars the other day. I felt good about feeding the kids these. Wholesome goodness!

Coconut Almond Bars

2 cups rolled oats
1 cup unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup each raisins, sunflower seeds, almonds
1 1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla

combine oats, coconut, raisins, sunflower seeds, almonds. In separate bowl mix peanut butter, honey, and vanilla. Microwave for 1 min. Combine wet and dry ingred. on ungreased sheet. bake for 15 min. @ 350 degrees.
Thank you Emily Hanson for the recipies!

The End of an Era

It is with heavy heart that I post this blog. My long time commuting companion is gone. The trusted friend to get me to and from work/school for the last 11 years is driving someone else to work today. I'm almost tearing up just writing about it. We froze through winter together and sweat through summer together for so long, and now, just like that, she's gone. :( No longer will she leave oil stains on my driveway. No longer will her window finally defrost only minutes from my destination. No longer will I have to drive home with all four windows down when it's 90 degrees outside. No longer will I have a car that I don't care how many door dings it has. I have parted ways with my 1991 Honda Civic and I'm kind of sad. Those of you who had the pleasure of riding shotgun in her know the bond we shared. We were like a well oiled machine (get it, "well oiled"). I just pulled the Craigslist add and signed the title away. I can only hope the new car in my driveway will live up to it's predecessor. Only time will tell. Goodbye little Civic. Goodbye.

Help!!!! I am drowning in pepto bismol!!!

So here is my dilema..... I have told my girls that when Luke starts sleeping through the night they can have their room back. All four oldest kids have been sleeping in the same bedroom for over a year. We call it the orphanage because all that fits in the room is the 2 sets of bunk beds stacked on each wall. Luke is now 17 months old and still is NOT sleeping through the night. I was getting impatient and envisioning all these fun things we could do in their new room! So we booted his little body to the guest bedroom and went to the paint store to pick out paint. I wanted the girls to have a say in their room color. Two almost eight year olds idea of paint color was MUCH different than what I had in mind. I spent many hours painting in there room today and every time they would come in and check on the progress they squeal with excitement. "I can't believe this is our room! I looooove this pink room! I NEVER would have thought we would have such a cool room!" Honestly..... I really don't like it! It reminds me of the pink frosting on those sugar cookies you can buy at the store. Ya know, those soft cookies, pink frosting and sprinkles?

So do you see my dilema? What is a mom to do? It is really something I can live with and I am a strong believer in giving my kids choices so they can learn from them. Will it be better when I get the shelves on the wall and their beds in the room? Will it grow on me and I will learn to love it? Or should I go get some different, lighter pink paint at the store tomarrow and paint it while they are at school. Then I can tell them my true feelings and hope they agree? Am I over reacting? Please share your thoughts, ideas, and/or feelings with me!

Pumpkin Patch 2009

Yes, I know, it's the same old pumpkin patch from last year, and the year before, and the year before that but the kids are older and the pumpkins photograph so well. I took the kids (minus Davis as he was at a birthday party and will be going with his kindergarden class anyway) by myself this year. As evidented by the picture below it is really hard to get kids to look in one direction without a second adult to supervise the photo shoot. This pic was the best I could do.

I love having kids old enough to take care of the baby.
Lucas lost his shoe and Jackson thought he would sit down and help. I'm not sure how sticking his hand down the back of his pants helps but oh well.
This was almost literally the only picture I was able to get Luke to look at me for. It's almost like the look on his face is saying "Will you please stop calling my name?"

I have no idea. Probably looking to see if it's a girl pumpkin or a boy pumpkin. I think I have a picture from the patch last year with Jackson doing this same thing. Maybe he knows something I don't. Maybe one gender of pumpkin carves better than the other.

Corn? We don't need no stinkin corn.