I Just Couldn't Control Myself

I said I wasn't going to do it early. But, oh well. Luckily we're going out of town all next week, so I only have to deal with the children redecorating for one day.












And don't you just love fat, naked babies eating their toes?

Riches

This morning the girl's asked me if we were poor or rich. So here is how the conversation followed:

Me: Well, we are rich in things that really matter.

Avery: Like what?

Me: We are rich in family because we have such a great family. And we are rich in love because we love each other so much. And we're rich in Christmas lights because our neighbors gave us all of their old ones. And food, we have plenty of food to eat.

Maren: And we are rich in haircuts!

Me: Yes we are.

At least Maren is rich in haircuts. And don't worry, it will only take 4 YEARS to grow back.

Catch Up

Since we are in a pre-Christmas, post-Halloween lull, I thought I'd do a little catching up. In October, Grant had a couple of milestones.

He ate his first solid food and didn't care for it much.


He also got his first haircut.




He had his 6 month checkup and weighed a whopping 19 pounds 4 ounces. He's a fat one alright.

And I just thought this one was cute. I guess it was the milestone of "First time for Ryan and Grant to be in the laundry basket together." That is a big milestone.




Avery had crazy hair day at school.



We painted our pumpkins and made scary faces. Please note that each child has a pumpkin (albeit a very small pumpkin), an answer to a very specific prayer for our garden by Maren (even though Maren's was from preschool, each child got a pumpkin so we still count it as answered).



We got an awesome package in the mail from G-ma and G-pa Wiberg full of new clothes. (Thanks again Grandma!!)



And we made a Christmas Chain, but I didn't get the pics off my camera. Just know that it looks so good! And when we made it there were only 46 more days to go. So Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

What A Happy Halloween!

Avery didn't have school the day before Halloween and since Dustin is retired, we decided very spur of the moment to go visit my parents. We piled in the kids, costumes, dirty laundry (Friday is laundry day, you know-no clean undies for the kiddies otherwise), and we were off! It was fun to go trick-or-treating (er, I mean to have the kids trick-or-treat) at the houses where I did as a kid. Grandma and Grandpa were a great help with our little dragon, chicken, Jessie the yodeling cowgirl and mermaid. We got tons of candy and even saved some of my parents candy for the actual trick-or-treaters. It was great fun. What a great holiday! You give a little candy, you get a lot in return. You could just go buy a bag for yourself and skip the trick-or-treating entirely, but come on! Who wants to miss all these great pictures?

P.S. Merry Christmas!

Harvest Time

We have been harvesting and canning for the past couple of weeks. Even after years of participating while my mom canned peaches and pears and made jams and jellies, I still don't know how to do it. Thank goodness for big sis, who does, or at least pretends to. Jen and I bottled pears and apple pie filling and made plum jelly and jam. It is so fun! We spend the day talking and peeling and slicing and sweating and neglecting kids (not total neglect, we do feed them and turn on movies for them). And after all that work, this is what we have to show for it:


This is only my half of the spoils. Jen has the other half.

Here is some of what we got from our garden.






The beets aren't looking too hot.

I love gardening. It is in my blood. Both of my parents were (are) farmers. Granted, if you saw how much my garden didn't produce, you might not think it. But let's not focus on that. Let's focus on the positive. For instance, we got three pumpkins of differing colors and two varieties of squash! We got two whole cobs of corn (won't be planting four rows next year for sure).
We also have about a thousand little apples.



Not bad for our first ever garden.

Math

This:



Plus this:




Equals this:





It was inevitable. What spunky-two year old boy can resist the utlimate thrill ride? Well, not mine for sure. Those marks are where his ribs are. It looks like a hand print, but it is because there is no fat at all covering his ribs. He also got his face and arm, but you can't see it in this picture. I guess he is just toughening himself up for bikes and motorcycles and football and other painful experiences later in life.

Dustin's Geburstag

Well, a little older, a little wiser as I like to say. Happy Birthday to dear old daddy Dustin. In lieu of our recently remodeled cat room and Dustin's allergies to the pesky creatures, I found the perfect cake (Thanks to a little inspiration from my kooky friend).

I promise, this cake is better than an alternative. And doesn't Dustin look nice and thin? (His body, not his hair, people). He is such a great dad and husband. What a lucky gal I am.