Wolfley Christmas Eve festivities

We had a wonderful Christmas eve with the Grandparents, the Allen family, Jon and Megan and Jon's Mom, Ellen. Here is the large family around the tables.There is The Littlest Angel story read by Papa of course.

Cousin Nate is always a big help. I thought this was a cute picture.

Ammie put her skills to work making these plush robes for all the grandkids! One thing about me is,I love robes! I think I was the most excited about this gift! They are a portable blanket the you tie on and can do anything in! Our kids now play flying squirrels in the morning when they are wearing their new robes! We love them! Thank you Ammie!

Milk and cookies for Santa of course! I was trying to get our usual pictures we take every year. One in front of the tree with new pajamas and one in front of the fireplace with the Santa goodies. The kids were to crazy and couldn't hold still. It had been one crazy day from the moment they woke up till they finally fell asleep.

Happy Birthday Sid!

33 years old and still a goofball.

So this is a little late but hey, it's the holidays and we are busy so give me some space. Sidnee requested a low-key birthday party so we just had some presents with the kids and then invited some family over for good ol' Catch Phrase on the weekend. I can't tell you how much I love that game. Sidnee's look of disbelief is due to the fact that I nailed her birthday gift...again! I always get her just what she wants. Truth be told I never win and always get the wrong thing. I showed her this year. I went to three seperate stores and bought armloads of colors and styles in hopes that she would like a few of them and not all. The kids and I had fun wrapping 40 presents and watching her unwrap them all. Happy Birthday Sid.

Twinners Get Baptized

I wanted to throw up a picture from the girls baptism before I post Sidnee's birthday blog tonight. It happened this last Saturday. Sid's parents and siblings even came out for it. It was a wonderful day full of family, friends, and warm feelings. Thank you to all who attended to show their support for these wonderful little girls.

Twinners have a birthday...

My girls are growing up! I see them change, they are beautiful daughters of God who are so faithful and have so much in store for them. I feel very honored to be their Mother. How time has passed so quickly and I wonder if I am doing the very best for them. I will try harder each day to be the kind of mother they need. I want them to never forget their worth and stay virtuous, kind and full of so much good.

Turning 8 means in our house you can put a hole in your ears (if you are female)! We had presents in the morning and then breakfast. I picked them up from school and we went to the mall and did the ear piercing thing. I only got one picture. It was just to dramatic and to many tears to pull out the camera. Kennedy went first. She did great and held real still for the second ear with tears rolling down her cheeks. She was so brave. Then came Addison's turn and I couldn't find her. She was hiding in a wall of scarves! She didn't want to do it after witnessing her sister. She finally got in the chair and it was quickly over! After paying the million dollar bill that it takes to pierce ears these days and reassuring them the pain would stop soon, I walked out with two girls with bright red ears who witnessed one of the first painful experiences of being a girl. We met the rest of the family and Ammie and Papa at Red Robin for the celebratory dinner and that is where we finally got some pictures of the happy birthday girls. Then we had the Girl Birthday Party a few days later! That was quite an event and let me just tell you I learned a lot from this party. Things I will not do again and if you want to know what I learned just let me know and I will fill you in on the details. We did fingernail painting, dress up, pizza, cake and ice cream and then a dance contest. The girls had a great, crazy time!

Happy Anniversary

I love you Sidnee. That was a fast 10 years. I look forward to the next 10. You are just as beautiful and feisty as the day I married you. Keep up the good work. ;)

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.

Pretty, Pretty Princess

Isn't it wonderful when your kids get to the age they can play a game with each other and not need a parent to play along to ensure the game goes the way it should? During conference I got out every game we own and organized them. The kids were amazed at the billions of games we own! I just don't let them play with them because they would just throw them all over the house and then they would be useless! So, the rule was they had to put away the game they were playing before they could play another and it ended up being a success! They all played Pretty, Pretty Princess together and it was fun to sit back and watch! I knew they were listening to conference because they would comment on things that were said and as long as they were in the room and somewhat quiet, I couldn't complain! Except maybe about that fact that my 3 year old boy was the prettiest princess of all.

Bend It Like Sidnee

OK, this post has nothing to do with soccer. In fact, it has nothing to do with sports. I just needed a catchy title to rope all of you blog stalkers in and then the pictures/subjects will do the rest.

Sidnee and I just finished our 10th anniversary celebration get-away this last week and we had a great time. Our actual anniversary is not until November but the weather sucks in November so we decided to celebrate early. Sidnee's mother was coming out for a wedding and we talked her into coming a little early to stay with the kids. I'm sure she regrets agreeing to it now but we sure enjoyed ourselves and would like to publicly thank her for her efforts. Thanks Jeanie!

We spent a good part of last week in Bend, OR (Central Oregon, East of the Cascade Mtns). It is a fun little town with a ton to do and see. We took the longer more scenic route down there which winds over the Siskiyou Mountains and through a small little town called Sisters. It is named such after the three mountains you see pictured below. The names of these three mountains are South Sister, Middle Sister, and of course, North Sister. How did they ever come up with those names? Anyway, we caught them at sunset and it turned out to be a nice picture.

This is a picture of Sidnee pouting in the car. She didn't want to get out and enjoy the beautiful scenery. She sure is cute though.
We used the first full day on our trip to drive down to Crater Lake. It is a huge lake in the middle of a dormant volcano. The lake is a beautiful blue and the pictures don't really do it justice.
Some guy helped us out with a picture. We had ventured out onto a ledge where we could have fallen to our deaths if we weren't careful. Don't worry Mom, we were careful (it was Sidnee's idea).
My tree friend and I kickin it.
After staring at the lake for a while we drove to the east side of the crater and proceeded to hike up Mt Scott. It is a hike that rises 1,500 feet in elevation over a 2.5 mile trail. The elevation at the top is 8,900 feet above sea level. There is a sign at the bottom of the trail that tells you to get back in your car if you are out of shape or have a heart condition. After we got to the top I realized I fell into the first category and should have gotten back in the car. Oh well, I lived to tell about it and catch Sidnee in the act of eating this granola bar...

This was taken from the bottom of the trail and you can faintly see a little bump on the ridge line in the middle of the picture. That was our final destination.

The next day we took a drive on the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway. It is a loop that goes around Mt. Bachelor winding through many beautiful lakes in the middle of the Deschutes National Forrest. This was our first stop on the drive and there is Sidnee wandering out into the middle of a marsh on the west side of Mt. Bachelor. In case you haven't noticed or have just begun following our blog, one of my favorite hobbies is catching Sidnee in funny poses or taking her picture when she is not looking. Sometimes she catches me in the act and I have only a few seconds to react or it's curtains for me and my little camera.

In this picture she has noticed my actions and is now charging.

She's getting closerrrrrr! Drop the camera dummy, it's not worth it!

Don't worry, she didn't hurt me. That sequence of events did actually happen though. The picture below is how she normally is when not provoked.

Next stop on the "Sidnee Thoughtful Pose" tour was Devil's Lake.

On our drive back into Bend we stopped at Lava Butte. It was a large lava flow that erupted thousands of years ago. You can see Mt. Bachelor and Broken top in the background. Check out the video below. It's kind of funny.

Thanks for reading (and watching)!