VACATION!

In the absence of Dad, the girls and I have gone on a Grand Christmas Vacation Excursion. (In our Excursion.) First we traveled 10 hours to Grandad's house in time for a Birthday party for Chickadee (10yrs old). We stopped only twice that day, not bad for a car full of girls.

We spent acouple days at GranMary's house, with day trips to Gram and Gramps and our old college town. We saw Aunt Lo and her gang and "Fred, Ethel Merts" and her gang. Unfortunatley we couldnt see everyone we wanted to, but we'll try to stay longer next time.
We are currently up at Gram and Gramps' house for the long weekend and will go to the Barney and Betty Rubble's house for New Years and MU football and another birthday party. (Bam Bams 10th birthday.)

More updates next week, when we return to bedrock. :)
Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year.

A friend forwarded this link to me, it's like a bedtime story on the creation. Very nice.

http://www.kids4truth.com/watchmaker/watch.html


(As to the fort progress, none. In fact, with Christmas and all, I think I'm going to count it as a loss. We're just not going to get to it. "big sigh" Off to the dumpster I go.)

Fort Building Progress

Attempt 1: self supporting, wired together, failed miserably.
Attempt 2: zip-tied to PVC and wire frame, a bit wobbly, stood 4 days, toppled by exuberant 4 year old. She's sorry, and she cried, but we explained that it wasn't really her fault.
Attempt 3 pending: plan to repeat attempt 2 with increased structural supports. All parts are purchased, we're just waiting for a warmer day. It's been down in the 50's, and a bit chilly. :)

Watch out OU! Here come the Tigers!

I've been trying to get youtube to post a video on here for about a half an hour but it isn't working so you'll just have to click on these for now on you're own. Go MIZ-ZOU! What a fun game!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wtHvipp8yw&feature=related

https://secure.pursuantgroup.net/pursuant4/mizzou/muselect/flashstory.asp?tpgid=AAAAAS06E800000054800000281340&sn=1

Apologies to my Jayhawk friends, but this is sorta cute.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl2ZOpkJVxk

Testing new photoshare. Halloween Mosaic

(Click on a photo to see complete image, then roll over the others)

Baby Dolls

A while back we had a quite afternoon, (don't know how that happened, must have been a Sunday) and decided to make these little blanket baby dolls. The girls had a great time sewing on the hair, and stuffing the little bodies. They did really well! Everyone was pleased. Here are the pics.

Using our resources

When we moved in a year or so ago our palm tree out front looked like this.


Actually, this is the best "before" picture we have. I guess with how overgrown everything was, we didn't consider the palm a priority. However, as we've been tring to improve our 'curb appeal' the palm was looking more and more like a huge lollypop. (The big 12 inchers that you always hope no one gives your kids. ) -but I digress. Five feet from the bottom you can see where the old fronds had been sawed off, but the bases remained against the tree. Those old bases continued up the tree for another 7-10 feet under the dead hanging fronds. Then we had about 3 feet of dead palm fronds to remove before we hit the newer growth. FYI Palms grow pretty slow and only need to be trimmed every 3-5 years. Ours was due.

We borrowed a pruning saw (funnest tool ever, highly recommend one) and set to work.
Fortunately for us it rained very heavily the night before. (Now that I think about it, it hasn't rained since.) But what we found the next day was that the rain had softened the debris and fibers such that after we knocked off the old trimmed stuff with the back of the saw, we were able to PULL off all the fronds that we could reach! Which, though MUCH easier than sawing, was still quite a workout.


We actually did have to saw off the highest ones, 'cause we couldn't reach anymore, and after a couple days working on it, it was starting to dry out and get tough again.


-And now it really looks great. We have a much better view of the mountains.


...The onnly problem is that I couldn't just let the garbage man carry off such a novel resource as the dead fronds. We have a ton of them. We carted them into the back yard and have made an attempt or two at making a fort out of them. So far unsuccessful, but determined. Any design ideas are welcome. I think we are going to have to build a 2X4 frame of some kind and nail them on.

(Also, they make pretty good kindling.)

Potato, Potata

A friend of ours is doing a bit of "research" and would like any and all input he can get.
He's posing a regional/mormon culture question about scones. Intrigued? Please visit:
http://zachandginet.blogspot.com/2007/11/participate-in-ground-breaking.html

Happy Birthday Dad!

In all of our October madness, I neglected to post that the Master had a birthday. We celebrated in true form. We celebrated all month! Going out to eat, out of town, shopping, shooting, you name it. (We had other reasons for spending extra time and focus on our wonderful Patriarch of the home, but if you don't already know, you'll have to call and find out. -No!, no more babies. Guess again.)

Here are some pictures of him and his little girls.




-And yes, that is a dutch oven on the table. I believe it had his birthday pie in it.
In an effort to keep the oven off in the house we cooked a very large percentage of our meals in dutch ovens this summer. Very Fun. We even won a contest, and the prize was... another dutch oven. Oh brother!

Halloween

Here is a picture from Halloween. We had a Rock-star, some sort of ballerina princess person, a classic ballerina, and a little devil.

We subscribed to the "Let the kids have fun playing dress-up" theory of Halloween instead of the "Mom goes crazy making Splendid dress-ups for the kids" theory this year. I wonder what next year will bring. Every summer I get the urge to make them the Ingalls girls (from Little House on the Prairie, with bloomers, aprons, bonnets, and everything. I have the patterns already, maybe next year...

Anyhow the kids always have fun, and always come home with chocolate for Mom and Dad. :)

Baptism

Here is a picture of the Master and his newest big girl after her baptism. All the pictures we should have of her with her Mom and Sisters and friends who were in attendance do not exist because even though her Mother brought 2(!) sets of spare rechargeable batteries, they were all dead! There are some pictures on a disposable point-and-shoot. We'll have to wait and see how they turned out. (The aunt who sent us the camera should smile because she knows who she is and yes, she saved the day again.)



The baptismal service was the event it is supposed to be. Big Red showed her willingness to follow The Savior and felt the assurance of the Holy Spirit in her heart. She is a shining example of commitment and faith and we are very proud of her.

We are grateful for the friends who came and supported her and our family and participated in the program. We are truly blessed.

Unfortunately none of our extended family was able to attend and we want them to know they were greatly missed. We love you all.

Assorted Wanderings

Here are some pictures from recent outings.


This is at a petroglyph site near Albuquerque. A little hike, a nice view, a lot of urban sprawl. This is about half way up.

Yippy-Skippy on a zip-line swing during a camp cookout.


Little Red struggling not to blow her emergency whistle.


A sunscreen add? White Sands is loads of fun!


Big Red and Chickadee at White Sands, before the fabled sand-in-the-eyes incident.

Big Red had a birthday and this week will be her baptism. Wow, 8! And her dress is mostly done. Just a few more roses and a light wash. Thanks to all those who have offered help, advice and support. My projects are seldom quiet affairs. :)

End of Summer Report

Let's see, the rest of the summer went roughly as follows:


Big Red and Chickadee were in a Missoula Children's Theatre production of The Wiz Of The West. They were both buzzards. (This is a FANTASTIC theater company, find one near you!)
Big Red and Chickadee are bottom center.




Yippie-Skippie lost a few more teeth. Move over pizza face, I give you...Pumpkin Face!





Little Red still putzed around and helped in the garden.




We had a bit of after-church silliness,



But Autumn found us at last. Everyone is back in school who belongs at school,
and we are falling back into the rhythm of the routine.
(Routine laced with a heavy dose of almost daily chaos and upset. We wouldn't want to be boring now would we?)

Pachelbel Bedtime

This is perfect! Families are great!

Farewell Foodies!

This week we have to say goodbye to our good friends, lovingly nicknamed the "Foodies." Our family met their family after a local family racing event. We have many things in common, including four little girls in each family. We have had many adventures in the past months, including camping, hiking, racing, working out, medical issues, car issues, swimming, playing, laughing, eating, watching dopey things online, whining, and just hanging out! Can't say how much we are going to miss these guys!

Here are the pictures (finally) from the all day hike we took with them in May.

Little Red

Here's a story of Little Red.
Mom is making sugar cookies one evening, and the girls are helping, playing and taking turns getting a bath.
The conversation went something like this.

Little Red: Mom, can I take a bath with my sister?
Mom: No, I want you to wait and take one after.

-Little Red disappears for a while and comes back completely in the buff.

Mom: Little Red, I told you no bath right now.
Little Red: (cheerfully) I know, I'm just going to help you while I wait.
Mom: (patiently) Well, I think you should put on a robe or something.
Little Red: (patiently) Mom, Sometimes I wait naked, and sometimes I don't. But this time I am, so... (big smile)

After trying not to laugh hysterically and getting a quick snapshot, she found a robe. ...or did she just get in the bath with her sister? One never quite knows with the baby of the family.

Please indulge the parents in just one more kids are crazy story.

This same child was given some raisins on Sunday in those cute little red boxes. When she was done, she didn't know where the trash was, and she didn't have any pockets, so she flattened the boxes and stuck them in her sandals. So as she walked, if you looked you could see raisin boxes sticking out from under her heals. She was quite pleased with herself (and with the reaction she received from everyone else, and why not? Such ingenuity.)

Kid's Favorites, Vacation Highlights

June saw our little family on vacation to see the folks, visit friends and hug Our Favorite GI, (Topper's brother) who was home on r&r from his Iraq deployment. Here are the pictures that the girls picked to post.





Here is Chickadee feeling like a caveman in a little African hut and the tiger at the zoo.

Big Red is enjoying the Science Center with Grammy Nanna, and the zoo with Gram.

Yippy-Skippy loves the zoo, and loves to play with the children of some good friends.










We hadn't seen the Rubble family for almost four years. What a treat to hang out with them again!






































We took a four generation photo with Nonnie, Great Grandpa, Grammy Nanna, Topper, and girls. What fun!













And here is Our Favorite GI being a good Uncle to Little Red.












What a fun trip! We love you all!

Who Broke My Window?

Here are some oldies but goodies. Enjoy.

Happy Fathers Day!

Hooray! to all the Fathers out there that we know, and of course or own irreplaceable Fathers. We love you all.






For Father's Day this year, while the Skipper was out, we sneakily redid his 'garage bathroom' and turned it into the 'bear bathroom'.

While a decorated room may not be his most exciting gift ever, we think he likes it. At any rate, he's a very good sport.

He was also a good sport about this silly t-shirt we got for him. (The shirt says, "Dad tough enough to wear pink.") If you click on it, it will open up larger.

We love the Skipper. Happy Fathers Day!

(The original post had more pictures, but two were somehow lost, the computer elves probably thought they were too much unnecessary detail. I would probably have to agree with them, so I'm not re-posting them.)

Garden in June

We are having fun watching our garden grow and have enjoyed the greens as they have become available. We are still watching and hoping for some of the vegetables to produce well, but overall we are abundantly pleased with the results of our garden experiment so far.

We are attempting to train our melons and squash up a trellis and they are doing nicely. I stuck this watermelon into the wire while I thought of the 'perfect' way to support it from above. I kid you not, 3 days later we had to use wire cutters to remove it.

Today it is suspended in a kind of pantyhose hammock but it's not the 'perfect' permanent solution. Any suggestions? Quick, we are going on vacation and I need to teach a teenager how to tend these while we're gone.

Random Cuteness

As I mentioned, May was an insane month, and I took pictures of the girls in their talent shows, but none turned out. (Zooming in onto a small portion of the stage from a back row seat does not allow enough light on the subject. I knew better. And taking a picture from a back row with a wiggling Little Red does not produce good results either.)

Nevertheless, here is a picture of Yippy-Skippy at her Kindergarten graduation, and one of Little Red getting ready to ride with her sisters.

One of these times I've got to get a picture of the whole family lined up for a bike ride . We make a mighty fine pace line through town.