Pictures

Tyler sporting a 'faux-hawk'

'Gwammy taught me this!'

Amanda, Emma and Katie playing dress up

'Take our picture!!'



And here are a few pictures of the strange places my kids fell asleep while they were sick:

Kaite fell asleep literally face down on the kitchen floor :(

James fell asleep on Jeff's feet

Katie fell asleep leaning against the dishwasher before she could even think about eating the oatmeal she had wanted

Before the Sickness Struck....

Farmer James is the proud owner of a set of mini-oxen and is half way to owning a pair of larger (toy) oxen. He has purchased one so far and is saving for the next one. He requested covered wagons for each pair, in the appropriate sizes. We made a wagon a few months ago, but it finally bit the dust. At this point in the game, the big wagon is going to have to wait til after Christmas. However, I was able to make this small one for his mini-oxen.

We're Still Alive

We're finally on the upswing, for real this time. I think. I hope. It all started last Wednesday, where we went from being fine to not being able to keep a single thing down, all within approximately one hour, literally. My parents also succumbed to the plague of doom and despair. Whatever it was...it was AWFUL!! I'll spare you the details, but I am now in the midst of cleaning and mopping every single room of the house. I also have mountains of laundry to wash. Despite running 3-4 loads per day for the last several days, my pile to fold is pretty darn small due to the constant turnover of laundry. I project that I will be done sometime in Spring of 2034. Maybe I'll even get some sleep one of these nights. Here's hoping.

Sickness

We are all in various stages of the worst sickness ever to hit our house. I probably won't blog til next week. We're a mess....

Funny Picture

I am at a loss right now, but there must be some clever caption for this picture. It makes me laugh.

Christmas Festivities

(Katie carrying on in the tradition of Auntie Rachel: dancing with the Christmas tree skirt)

Last night we bundled up the kids, cookies in hand, and went out into the finally-frigid weather to go look at the lights. Jeff gave us the supreme driving tour of lights, meandering all around L-town looking for dressed up yards. Let me tell you, some people really go nuts. We saw one house that was completely, and I do mean completely, covered in lights. Even the front of the house. Every square inch of the yard was covered. They even had a sign saying when Santa was making his next appearance at their house. Of course, being grown-ups who pay our own electric bills, Jeff and I immediately wondered how much their bill will be. Yikes! We had so much fun and the kids were just mesmerized by the lights. I look forward to doing this every year!

Tough Questions

Yesterday James was playing alone in his room. He yelled out to me, "Mom, I never want to die for a funeral." Next thing you know he is in tears, asking me "If you and Daddy died and Katie and Tyler and I were still alive, who would be our Mommy and Daddy?" I told him that if that happened, Auntie Rachel and Uncle Phil or Grammy and Chappy would take care of them. He was very upset and it took a long time to calm him down. How do you respond to something like that? I mean, I would love to say we won't die and we'll always be with you, but no one really knows what lies ahead. On the other hand, I didn't think that telling him that there was a small possibility of that happening. I just tried to reassure him and let him know that we love him and that we will do everything we possibly can to provide for him. I told him that someday I wanted to meet all my grandchildren, too. These kids and their tough questions.

WWBD?

My kids are into watching Man Vs. Wild with Bear Grylls. He is a survivalist who shows you all the tricks you never want to actually use to survive. For example, did you know that pound for pound, insects pack more protein that beef or chicken? They are the perfect survival food!!! I'll take Bear's word for it. The kids will sit memorized while Bear Grylls chokes down live lizards, drinks yak blood, roasts turtles in the shell, and dives for sea cucumbers to eat. James has started building lean-to's in the garage and outside. He 'repels' down the swing set ropes. He wants to build a raft. He and Katie tell me all sorts of things you can actually eat if you need to. James even knows that before eating a poisonous snake, you must first cut off its head and bury it so it's venom doesn't come into contact with you or anything else. I am a little worried about when he starts Kindergarten. Other kids will be saying 'Oh, yeah, I got to the secret level of this video game,' and James will say 'What are video games? Oh, did I mention that you can survive for a week in the Sahara by squeezing the liquid out of elephant dung to quench your thirst?' After watching several seasons of Man Vs. Wild, we now ask each other: WWBD? What would Bear do? The other night Jeff was complaining about being cold, and I helpfully reminded him that he could make himself a hot-water bottle of sorts, using his own...er....urine. He wasn't too excited by that idea. But in fact, there are multiple uses for this handy liquid byproduct. In addition to using it as a heat source, you can use it to dampen a head scarf to keep you cool or use it as a questionably refreshing beverage. Now that's one thing I hope I never have to try!!!

Just Coming Out Of A Turkey Coma.....

Hello, and welcome to today's episode of Newspapers and Broccoli, where Megan rambles on about her long Thanksgiving weekend. We begin today's post with a brief recap of the food that we all made. There was roasted turkey, smoked turkey (muy bien!!), mashed potatoes and stuffing, zweiback (German rolls), and a whole variety of delicious pies. It sure was good, and I couldn't help but think of how much (like...over-the-top much) we have. I heard someone say on the radio that if someone in a third world country could sit down to an American feast, they wouldn't be able to fathom it. He said that they would not be able to comprehend that all that food was to be eaten in the same day, on the same meal. So sad. I would invite them all over if I could. That would be a full house! And speaking of full houses, there were a lot of people at our Thanksgiving soiree. Aunt Sal made her debut at the Thanksgiving table, and Con-Rachel made a late appearance as well. My sister-in-law's family also came toting marshmallow guns, new and improved. Moving on to the marshmallow fight, I have made a few observations as a participant in the epic battle of puffy white balls of corn syrup. It has been determined that the guys have an advantage in lung capacity. My marshmallows could be seeing lazily floating along, stopping to make a daisy chain or two before descending to their targets (which sounds oddly reminiscent of my short-lived softball career). The men launched one punishing marshmallow after another. Ouch!!! I was the unlucky recipient of three to the face. Let me tell you, marshmallows really sting! I thought that I was going to have a welt, but fortunately I didn't. Another thing that I established is that your fingers will cease to have the capacity to load marshmallows once frozen. It is at that point that it is best to bow out gracefully, and go warm up inside.Tyler spent half the day napping in Jeff's arms. Jeff has the magic touch. Its quite amazing and handy. Once awake, Tyler spend the afternoon mooching chocolate off of Grammy, who is known to be a sucker when it comes to those sorts of things. A few times I spotted Tyler with the dead giveaway: a chocolate goatee! :) James and Katie made little pumpkin pies with Grammy, and otherwise remained relatively quiet. Thursday we Skyped Jeff's sister and were surprised to end up talking to Jeff's Mom. That was the first time in 2 1/2 years, and it was awkward, strange and very sad. We did get to see all my nieces and nephews (via skype) and that was very nice! My two youngest nephews both have lost their front teeth, leaving a big and adorable gap in their smiles. I wanted to hug them through the screen, but it didn't work out very well. ;) Ah, well, I think I have pretty much exhausted what little brain power I have left after my Turkey Coma, not to mention your attention span. Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Oh, and I almost forgot!! Jeff has some tips to add for how to make sure no one comes back for seconds. I asked him to crack some eggs for me. He decided that the most efficient way was to crack them all, then pick out the shells. Let me say that eggs should not crunch. I fed the leftovers to Jeff this morning and he realized that he may have left a 'few' egg shells in the eggs.

Happy Thanksgiving!

1000th Post?!?!

Its my 1000th post! Should that make me happy? Embarrassed? Confused? Well, I really don't know how I have managed to spout off that many blog posts, or how y'all have managed to keep reading! 1000 posts is a whole lot of drivel. :) That being said, here are links to a few random favorites:

My First Blog Post Ever (Almost as interesting as reading 'The Pocket Guide to Earwigs)

Horns In A Bag (Great Idea for Christmas Gift Giving!)

The Tragic Frozen Steer Incident (In which Jeff and I romantically ice skate around some frozen beef)

The Lady In The Tuna Boat (The saga of finding a suitable renter)

Our Rental, Before and After (Don't view while eating)

Jeff's Antenna Of Doom Part One and Part Two

Jeffrey's Capers: Doing the Devil's Work for Mormon Missionaries


And I feel the need to share this with you, if for no other reason but for you to laugh at me. I made a big batch of Zweiback yesterday (German rolls...a family tradition). I was feeling all industrious and stuff, making my Thanksgiving stuff ahead of time. I put the bowl in the oven to rise, like I always do. My friend Erin called (!!!) and we chatted away for an obscene amount of time. While we were talking, I made pumpkin bars, and when I went to put them in the oven, I realized that yes, I had preheated my oven with the dough inside. It was partially baked, and while I did salvage enough for couple pans of rolls, I will be making another batch tomorrow. Nevertheless I had fun talking to Erin about all manner of things, the likes of which include pickles, mammograms, and relatives.

Why Ask Why?

Jeff is an engineer. That being said, sometimes he clings too dearly to logic. He tries to make sense of it all, because after all, there is a logical reason for everything. Right? Wrong. At least not when you are dealing with a 5 year old, a 3 year old, and a 1 year old. He asks questions like 'Why is there a petrified apple core in your houseplant? Why are there Lincoln Logs in our bed? Why is my cell phone out of place?' And what am I supposed to say? Um...the kids did it. That should explain it. The other night he took a look inside James' piggy bank and asked, fully expecting a logical answer, 'Why is there a Butterfinger wrapper in here?' In response he got a blank stare from James, and a helpful 'Well, I'm thinking one of the kids put it in there because they could' from me. Poor Jeff. Sometimes you just can't win. Now if only someone could tell me why I just found the TV remote floating in the toilet?

My Baby Bird

The other day Tyler woke up with 'bed head.' His hair was sticking out all over the place and he reminded me of a little baby bird with its soft fluff. I know I am biased but I think he's darn cute! My friend Jenni and her kids came over last night and we were talking about how adorable our kids are and how we look at them and can't believe how stinkin' cute they are.

If I Haven't Apologized Already....

Coming up with new bedtime stories each night can be a chore. Often, it involves dredging up long forgotten stories. The story I remembered tonight was one that made me feel like perhaps the worst sister ever. We used to go out tramping in the fields. We would find toads along the irrigation ditches. Did you know that toads make little burrows in the mud along ditches? Pretty cool. We would search for toads, and we perfected our technique for capturing them without letting them pee on us. A very important life skill, but I digress. One of the things we did with the toads was make Rachel kiss them. Yes, that was very mean, and yes, I feel very bad. (Sorry, Rach!) We would tell her that if she didn't kiss the toad, we would leave her out in the field. Since she was the little sister, the prospect of being left out in some alfalfa field alone was quite frightening to her. We got her to kiss a lot of toads that way. Maybe that's why she made fun of me relentlessly in high school. Alas, we both survived to be the best of friends!

I Am Fank-You Fay-air....

We started playing this new game, the Thankful game. Original, no? The kids and I take turns saying what we are thankful for. Katie says, every time, I am fank-you faaaaaay-air my _____. Not thankful, but her version of Thank You. I am happy to say that the kids love this game and ask to play it at almost every meal, and sometimes in between. They have no shortage of things they are thankful for. A few of my favorites are 'lions and tigers,' 'mushrooms,' 'Ty-weer's chubby wittle hands,' 'my silo,' and my all-time favorite: 'hugs from Mommy.' Yes!!! I'll take that.

No!!!!

Yesterday James told me he didn't need me to tuck him in for his nap. Every few days he has been telling me this. So yesterday, he told me that he liked to tuck himself in because it makes him feel like a big boy. No!!!!! I could seriously sit down and cry, just thinking about how fast he is growing up and how someday, apparently soon, he won't need or want me to tuck him in. (At least he still wants me to tuck him in every night....) On top of that I keep thinking about him starting Kindergarten, and how that will be the beginning of new independence. That will be good for him. The things I don't look forward to are him learning about bullies and social 'clicks.' I am most dreading is the whole comparison thing. I don't want him to start thinking 'Well, so-and-so is better at this than I am.' I don't want him to give up what he loves because he isn't good enough, or because the other kids are doing something different. I know that its all part of life but sometimes I wish we could move to some very remote location where nothing bad ever happens. (OK, there is no such place, but...)

In other news, the little Menace, AKA Tyler, has learned to crawl up in the bay window without climbing on anything else. He stands on the baseboard, reaches up with his little grippy toes, and hauls himself up. It really is quite a feat since the window isn't exactly low to the ground!

Pictures

Its a beautiful fall day today. I really feel like sitting out in the sun and reading a book. But, alas, here I am inside with things to do. Without further ado, here are a few pictures from the week.

Here are the kids working on their leaf turkeys. It turns out that the boys are a little bit distracted when it comes to art lessons, because all they can think about is PLAY! WRESTLE! RUN!! James was mostly cooperative and Noah had to be enthusiastically encouraged (does that sound better than 'forced'? ;) Emma has officially earned herself the title of Glue Stick Destroyer. And Amanda, being the star pupil, produced not one, but two splendid looking turkeys.



Every few weeks we go and visit the animals at the farm. I am in love with the chickens, especially the one pictured below. I really want one like that, but I have heard that those kind require extra care due to the spectacular feathered fro they have. As soon as the snow flies, or maybe sooner, I will start solidifying my plans for chicken ownership.

And in case you need a little deliciousness on your Friday, check out Tyler after he happily plowed through the chocolate bar our neighbor gave him after James saved the day. Ain't he cute?!

Super James!

This morning part of our art lesson involved the need to scavenge for leaves. (Pictures to come) I took the kids down to the green belt, or 'the swamp' as Noah calls it. (Oh, yay, I really love the swamp!!! Noah said) As we were coming back we saw my adorable elderly neighbor lady and her granddaughter. Turns out they got locked out of her house. The neighbor that could have helped was away on vacation and it was a dilemma to be sure! I told her I thought I could coax James to go through a window and open the door. The window was pretty high, but James said he would do it. When he got cold feet, I did what any self-respecting mother would do and whispered in his ear 'I'll give you a dollar!' Well, that did it. I hoisted him up and he was able to go in, open the front door and save the day!! She was so happy and kept saying in her sweet German accent 'Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!' She then proceeded to invite all six kids inside, where she first gave James candy, and then the rest of them, and then another round for good measure. Then she went back to her cabinets and gave James an entire package of E.L. Fudge cookies (a blast from my past!). By the time we left we were loaded up with more treats than Halloween, and the kids didn't know what had hit them! James got many hugs from her, and it wasn't too long later she sent her granddaughter back with a spare key and another bag of lollipops. Fortunately we still had time to finish our project. What a morning!

There's A First Time For Everything

Yes, we showed up at church an hour early yesterday. I always loved sitting at the kitchen window as kid, watching to see who would show up early at Daylight Savings time. (Pastor's kids have demented senses of humor, or maybe it just runs in the family) Anyway, I was blissfully ignorant of the time change, and Jeff assumed that his fancy-schmancy Blackberry would change the time (he uses it for his alarm). However, the fancy-schmancy Blackberry decided to run out of batteries overnight, and neither one of us thought twice about it. When we got to church the parking lot was deserted and we realized our error. Darn! We could have used that extra hour of sleep.

Happy Friday!

Frolicking in the leaves!!

Peanut Butter and Spiders

Katie is a fan of peanut butter. She gets it from me. Jeff doesn't like to eat it because, and I quote, it "makes him thirsty." Katie asks for peanut butter on everything. Our conversation will go something like this: "Katie, you can have a burrito, or some soup. What would you like?" "Um, I'll have a burrito....wif peanut buttair." "Cereal, wif peanut buttair." "Apple swices, wif peanut buttair!" That's my girl!

James has come up with a new game, which he finds to be most hysterical. He will play as many rounds of it as I will cooperate. It goes like this: "Mommy! Mommy, you have a spider in your nose!!!!" I pretend to freak out and swat the spider from my nose. He dissolves in a fit of giggles. Then he composes himself, and says "Mommy!!! You have a spider in your pants!" I repeat the routine, which never ceases to amuse him. This continues over and over until I finally get tired of swatting imaginary spiders from various appendages.

And on a random side note, yesterday was art lesson day. It is so much fun to have these, and the kids seem to enjoy it. Yesterday we learned about texture, and I promised them I would take pictures of their creations. Amanda did not like the idea that she couldn't keep each and every creation that she made with her play dough. I kept trying to explain to her that I didn't have enough play dough for that. (I already made a quadruple batch!) She was happy when I told her I would take pictures of each thing she made. Tyler will only sit in his chair for so long before he revolts. For some reason, every week, he insists on climbing on to Noah's chair, over and over. Noah is a good sport about it. Usually about 30-45 minutes into it James and Noah start getting antsy to go out and wrestle and run around. They got to play in our leaf pile yesterday and they stuffed James' clothes full of leaves so he could be a scarecrow. It was pretty funny.

I Really Need To Post More Often

This post is filled with the various shenanigans of the last few days, but first!! FIRST!!!! We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog post to make an announcement:

My Dad is officially a Doctor as of today. He reminded me that it is an Doctorate of Education, not a Ph.D., but whatever! He got his doctorate after 8 years of hard work. Yay, Dad!!!!!! I don't care what the rest of the family says about you...you're alright! ;)

Now that I got that off my chest, let's move on, shall we? Halloween. I gave up. No one was cooperating with my whole 'themed costume' idea. It won't come to a shock to you that James dressed up as a farmer. How is that different then any other day, you ask? It isn't. He just threw on his farmer gear, loaded up the stick horse and he was good to go. I do have to say that, yes, his pants are way too short. Time to start cruising ebay for some new Wranglers for him. Katie was a princess, and finally wore the dress I slaved away over for the first time. Tyler was a gorilla, for no other reason than we already had the costume. It has now been through a few cousins, James, and Tyler. We took them to a few houses to go trick-or-treating, and Jeff and I have been late night beneficiaries of their gleanings. We prefer to call it 'quality sampling.'

Over the weekend Jeff cleaned out his 'treasures' from the garage. He came in, with a somewhat sheepish look on his face, and said 'You're never going to believe this!' I gave him a worried look. He said 'I found a fourth lawn mower I didn't even know I had!' Yes, because we all need four lawnmowers in our lives. I **thought***that he would get rid of a few while he was cleaning out, but no, he found a spot for all four of them in the shed. Each lawnmower, Jeff informed me, is a strange amalgamation of the next. A severe case of lawnmower inbreeding, if you will. Every time one breaks, he swipes a part off another. One of these lawnmowers actually caught on fire two summers ago, but of course, he got it running again. This is all part of Jeff's solemn vow never to pay money for a lawnmower. He's weird. What can I say?? :)

Enough for now. I'll post the rest tomorrow since this is getting rather cumbersome. Enjoy your day!

Katie-isms

Katie has her very own distinct 'accent'. Here are some of my favorite 'Katie-isms':

• Nev-air, ev-air! (never, ever)
  
• Dye-pair (diaper)
• Ty-where (Tyler)
• My Sistair (James...she can't get it into her head that he is a brother)
• Daddy's Cowberry hat (cowboy hat)
• Root Beard
• Pajammies
• Supair Dupair (super duper)
• I'll show you no comprendo!
• Ho-wee Mack-well! (holy mackerel)
• You wass-i-cull (rascal)
  

This morning Katie and James were playing under James' bed. I've been wondering how long it would take them to discover that they fit under there. They were pretending to tuck each other in, and praying with each other. Katie thanked God for the 'suspicious sunshine.' I think she had the word 'suspicious' floating around in her head and figured then was as good a time as any to implement it. :) She also thanked Him for the 'pink slide that we never play on.' Incidentally, they play on that slide all the time.

Yesterday we were at the store and Katie said quite indignantly, "Mom!! James just called me a skidiot!!!" James is getting clever in trying to get around the rules these days. He knows he can't say 'idiot' so he just adds a few letters thinking that that will be OK. He also tries to get away with saying things like 'fard,' and 'button'. However, I think Grandpa Cheyney would be happy to know that James has taken to calling Tyler a little turkey whenever he is being mischievous. :)

One Down, One To Go

A while back I found this pattern in a book I have, and I decided I just had to make it for the kids for Christmas. Let me tell you, it was a major pain in the booty. It is a fold-and-go doll house, or if you're James, a fold-and-go barn of course! One for Katie is in the works (a very girly version). For more details (like if you are crazy and want to make one yourself...ha, ha...check my craft blog later when I have time to post the details). And speaking of the craft blog that my sister and I have...we have it just to document all the projects we've made, and I think only our mothers read it. OK, and maybe Dad too. Imagine my surprise when I saw one of my projects featured on the awesome Crafty Crow blog!! I was pretty excited to see it, especially since I had submitted it several weeks ago and never heard a word. Click here if you want to see it. Its the sparkly pumpkin.

Muy Bien!!

Jeff has been released from his ten week incarceration in Ohio!! Yippee!! This week, week Numero TEN, will be his last. While there is some disappointment in that he will be unable to finish the job he has worked so hard on, there is also muchos relief that he will be free! So much relief, in fact, that it is apparently making me feel like bursting forth with what poquito espanol I know. I think we need to hold a fiesta in honor of this momentous occasion.

On a side note, when I Googled one of my limited Spanish words (you know, to make sure I was remembering it right and didn't inadvertently post a bad word...) Speedy Gonzales came up. And you know what I learned? He has been banished from the airwaves because he furthers 'ethnic stereotypes.' Seriously! What is this world coming to? Our children can't watch a speedy Mexican mouse, but they can turn on Sesame Street to see Jay-Z (among other celebrities that little kids should be oblivious to) or listen to propagana-laced cartoons pushing flu shots, evolution, extreme environmentalism (like not picking flowers at all because every flower is a creatures home!), etc. OK, total rant there, but its true! And the reason my kids watch little in the way of TV.

The Happenings (and a whole lot of pictures!)

(One of James' recent drawings, of he and Tyler's farm)

**Pictures in no particular order, Blogger is giving me fits and I can't get this post formatted nicely***

James' portrait of our family, sans Katie (because he 'didn't want to draw her')

(Detail) I LOVE my hair and James' hair (me on left, James on right, Tyler in the middle)

Our first art lesson project: coffee filter painting with fall colors. James drew himself standing under the tree

Katie gazing at the chickens in Lancaster

He got up there all by himself!! This kid is nuts!!!

My handsome James....how did he get so HUGE??

More James

I love this one! She always has that expression when she says 'I'll show you no comprendo!' (a veggie tales quote)

Tyler is thinking about making his escape

Aunt Sal and the kids

Happy Random Undie Dance!!! What? Don't you dance around with undies on your head?

And here are the latest happenings around these parts:

• The kids had check-ups today. No surprise, but we have tall children. James is projected to be as tall as Jeff. Even Tyler is taller than average, although still a skinny little thing coming in at a whopping 20 lbs, 4 ounces
  
• 

a

• James and Katie both love to draw, which excites me to no end! Katie has just started drawing people and James likes to make very detailed drawings with lots of people, animals and buildings.
• James has been eating up a storm!! Tonight he ate roast chicken, a salad, and three big muffins. The other night at my parents he ate two sandwiches and two tubs of applesauce and a 'few' (Mom's words) treats too. ;)
  
• We went on an actual date on Saturday. Such a novel idea. We had a great time!! Thanks to Grammy and Chappy for entertaining the kids!
  
• We went to Lancaster on Friday for fun. And by we, I mean Mom, the kids and I. After waiting for Jeff to be done in Ohio, and realizing that won't be any time soon, Mom volunteered to come with me. We went to my favorite place for lunch, saw Aunt Sally, I bought two BUSHELS of apples and some fancy sprinkles. Now to make some cookies! And loads of applesauce. We also went into an Amish-run tack shop and got a new piece of leather for my poor decrepit Bible. It needs some serious attention, but I can't bear to get a new one when that one has been with me for so long. James found a horseshoe there, which he was quite happy with. He informed me that he 'liked talking to the Amish guy; he was really nice.'
  
• Tyler is busting out teeth left and right (at night, of course!). In the last week, he got a front bottom tooth, and two top molars. Now he is working on the bottom two molars and his other side bottom tooth. Crazy! He got the first four at 8 or 9 months and then nothing since then. I guess he's trying to get them all out at once.
  
• Jeffrey is officially sick and tired of eating out after eating approximately 10 meals out a week. Ick!
• Oh, and how can I forget!! Today is the 12th anniversary of our first blind date, although technically I had met him once before the fact. Someday for posterity I'll write about our first date in its entirety, because it was a doozy. Its a wonder we made it past that. Happy 12 years, Jeff, even if you a) don't read the blog, and b) don't believe in celebrating date-iversaries!!
• Phew! I think that's it. If you made it to the end then give yourself a big ol' pat on the back!
  

Every Morning

Well, I take that back. Not every morning, but on the two weekdays Jeff is here, the kids sit at the window and wave when he leaves. Katie gets VERY MIFFED when Jeff forgets to wave, or if she doesn't see him wave. She reminds me of it all day.

Fun Project

Over the past few weeks, James and I have been working on this project. I love that he is old enough to start doing fun stuff like this. One night he got to stay up late, and we built the salt dough landscape. After taking the 5 year old's equivalent of eternity to dry, we painted it, made a pond, and varnished it. Now, it is ready for its maiden voyage. It seems sturdy enough that it will last a while and James is quite thrilled with it! He even made 'footprints' with his toy animals while the dough was still wet.

Tell Me How You Really Feel

Today James decided that since Katie was playing with his barn, he simple had to have it. RIGHT NOW! (The rule around here is that if you don't want someone else playing with your toys, you need to put them away. If you leave them laying around, they are fair game.) So, I told him that he could have the barn as soon as Katie was done with it. (Incidentally, hearing that will cause any child to feign interest in the toy in question for a lot longer than they originally had in mind just to drive the sibling nuts!) When James realized that he was not going to get the barn RIGHT NOW, he wailed mournfully 'I don't want a sister, at all! I don't like having a sister!!'

He leads such a rough life.

Oops!

I just realized that I haven't posted anything in a while. My apologies. Since I've last posted, we have taken many a walk in the beautiful fall weather we've been having. One day we walked over to the park, fording the creek on the way. James was thrilled when I pushed Tyler across in the stroller, because it was 'just like a covered wagon crossing!' We have also been reading some of my Grandma Heppner's memoirs. James is particularly enthralled with the story of the dog getting its tongue stuck in the gears of the tractor when Grandpa was the motor to power his wheat grinder. On Saturday, I got to go to a sewing/craft day at our new church. I spent about 5 glorious hours sewing and visiting. I am working on little toy houses for the kids for Christmas, made from fabric and a total pain! But they are going to be awesome. So I got a lot done on James' without any curious eyes. (I'll post pictures when its done.) I also worked on a super-awesome Christmas present for my Mom. Jeff and I watched several really lame documentaries, which is a bummer because I love me a good documentary! (Never, ever watch 'Spellbound,' or 'The Amish Life', unless you also like to watch paint dry.) We then proceeded to watch a very freaky documentary that Jeff picked out about Suicide Bombers and why they are so effective and how much they hate Americans. It was very disturbing, or if you are Jeff, very 'informative and interesting.' Another exciting development is that Jeff has now earned the name 'Bean-Bean' from his Mexican peeps at the restaurant. He calls them his 'frijoles' and his 'homies,' and they call him 'Bean-Bean.' In fact, the owner's daughter even told him he could pass for a Mexican if he got a good tan. Now that is hilarious...totally false, but hilarious!

Well, enough randomness for one day. At least you know we are still alive and kicking. Tomorrow starts week 9 of O-H-I-O, which I am beginning to think of as Purgatory or 'Jeff's Lengthy Incarceration.'

Garden Recap 2010

Delicious Amarillo Carrot!!

This garden year started with a bang. Remember the notorious skunk incident of 2010?? How could you forget! Yes, I started out trying to evict the pesky ground hogs from the Groundhog Love Shack that is our shed. I ended up accidentally capturing a skunk. This triggered many events, in no particular order: panic, despair, calls to the fish and game department, trusty internet research, more panic and despair, long debates about whether I should try the sheet method recommended by the F & G guy or try and, uh, 'dispatch' it, my brother-in-law requesting front row seats for said event, calls to various pest control operations, Dog the Bounty Hunter showing up to remove the skunk, an unhappy husband at the cost of removing said skunk, and Dog the Bounty Hunter going AWOL with my borrowed trap, which he returned after over a month of incessant calling. We later got rid of our groundhog problem which has been nice! I only found one tomato with teeth marks the entire season. After that saga, it could only get better, right? Things went well this year in the garden. I planted cabbage for the first time, and I got a few heads of cabbage out of it. Next year I will plant it earlier so that all my plants will produce!


The tomatoes and peppers did pretty well this year. I planted orange, yellow, purple, green and of course, red varieties. I have discovered that the Green Zebra tomato is one of my favorite tomatoes ever. I babied a Brandywine plant that didn't want to grow, and it produced one lone, but incredibly delicious, tomato. Violet Jasper? Well, they look cool and taste gross. I won't be planting them again. Now my freezer and cabinets are full of roasted green chiles, pickled peppers, salsa, dried tomatoes, canned tomatoes, frozen tomatoes, and even my very own.....homegrown and homemade ketchup! (I realize making my own ketchup from tomatoes I grew myself puts me in the 'that-lady-needs-to-get-a-life' category, but I really wanted to a) try it, and b) have ketchup that doesn't have a ton of sugar/corn syrup) Its been a fun year of experimenting with new things. I have tried fall planting this year, with kale, cabbage, radishes, and spinach. We'll see how those go. Last year, I grew 117 pounds worth of veggies. This year, my goal was 200 pounds. So far I am at 214 pounds!! (Yes, I weighed everything. And yes, I am sort of nerdy that way) Next year I think I might hope to hit 300 pounds. I better start planning now. That's half the fun!

Stinkin' O-H-I-O

Ohio is officially on my list of four-letter words I never want to hear again. After declaring that his work in Ohio was done, one of the new managers quit. Now he is back to square one, and will have to stay out there several more weeks (or more), til he is able to conduct more interviews, hire and train the next person. Argh, matey! I am not looking forward to it, but if I've done it for eight weeks now, what's a few more, right? Right??? I feel especially bad for the kids. They were so glad that he didn't have to go back, and now Katie is already asking when he is going to come home. That's the first thing she asked him when she was talking to him tonight. James was looking forward to starting AWANA's at our new church, and now he'll have to wait a few more weeks. Oh, well. He has a job and for that I am grateful, especially in light of current events.
In other news

• Tyler is the most crazy/determined/climbing/fearless child I have ever seen!! He gets in to everything all the time. If he is not swinging the chandalier back and forth, he is climbing on anything that will hold still for him. Jeff actually watched him climb to the TOP of the ladder, without any fear. Tyler figured out that if he could climb the ladder he could get into Jeff's toolbox. (The ladder is a little taller than Jeff, and Tyler went to the last rung before the top) I feel like I spend my day plucking him from precarious situations.
• We had our first 'art lesson' today. I volunteered to have our friends' kids over for an art lesson every week. Today was the first one and it was fun! I slapped aprons on everyone but Tyler and we went to town! I let them paint, which they were sure to tell me that Daddy wouldn't care if they got messy, but Mommy would. :) I'm going to go out on a limb and say that that is because Mommy does the laundry. ;)
  
• Katie is a chatterbox. It takes her 30-40 minutes some days to go down for a nap because she is so busy talking to herself. She does that at night too.
  
• James is currently in an All-Pirates-All-The-Time phase. I am thinking that the farmer obsession will be back shortly. After all, he has been in to farmers for the last 3 years. The funny thing is, he has no idea what pirates really do. I tried to explain but he wasn't having it. He is just content to but castles and forts for his apparently land-locked pirates. The pirates also have successful gardens, horses and livestock. Those pirates always were an industrious bunch.
  
• And lastly, its beyond me why I forgot to post these pictures of Auntie Rachel playing with her favorite niece and nephews in the tent they made. So, here they are:
  

The Halloween Dilemma

This year is the first year that James is old enough to have his own strong opinion about Halloween costumes. Now, I had firmly decided to dress the boys as gnomes with white beards and red gnome-hats. Katie was to be a toadstool/mushroom, red with white polka dots. However, James is not cool with that. Its not as though he is dead set against it, but he has other ideas. While he has thrown out the idea of being a farmer, a pirate, a cowboy, a farmer, and a cowboy, and a farmer (see the theme here?) he has also suggested that he and Katie dress up as Thing One and Thing Two from Dr. Seuss. While I think my dreams of dressing them up as gnomes are dashed, I think Thing One and Thing Two would be funny too. And if I did that, Tyler could be the goldfish. Oh, or a garden gnome. Or the Cat in the Hat. Such decisions! So what do you think: should I go with Thing One, Thing Two and the Goldfish, or T1, T2, and a garden gnome. Or should Tyler be the Cat in the Hat? Or, should I just stop over-thinking this whole thing!?!

PS. Here is last years costume: Two Lobsters and a Fisherman

Overheard

James: Katie, you hit me!!
Katie: Uh-oh, I better take a time out.

And in other news, after this, the eighth week in Ohio, Jeff will be done!! (Lord willing and the creek don't rise, as we Cheyneys say) I am so excited, though I am trying not to get my hopes up. He has hired two people to replace him so he won't have to be out there. Yipee! When he came home on Saturday, he had a good story for me. Those of you who know Jeff know that he is NEVER embarrassed. I mean, I've known him for 12 years and I can only remember ONE incident that really made him blush. This is the guy who has no qualms sitting on the display toilet at home depot reading a magazine, or climbing up on the display saddles at the Western Implement pretending he was riding a bucking bull. Yep. Its true. Needless to say, he is up for almost anything. Each night in Ohio, he eats at the Mexican restaurant alone. Last week, he asked the waitress to sit him with someone. She was a little to scared to do it, but thought it would be funny. He picked a young couple and walked up to them and asked if he could eat with them. Surprisingly, they said yes. Even more surprisingly, they turned out to be quite nice. They are on staff at a church out there, and ended up inviting Jeff to a special event they are having next week. Jeff said he had a really good time. I would never have had the nerve to do something like that, but I am glad it turned out nice for him.

Flea Market (Rained Out) and My Pumpkins

Yesterday we dragged the kids to Rice's Flea Market. Its tradition. I have taken all my babies there at tender young ages, bundled up against the cold. (And believe me, it has been much colder on past trips!) James is on to our shenanigans. He wanted to leave as soon as we got there. I gave him the 'grow up, get a job and be responsible' speech. Just kidding. It would be funny though. We weren't there for long because none of the vendors wanted to set up shop. (Yes, we checked the forecast: one said rain, the other said sun)

And here is a picture of the most beautiful, darling, handsome, adorable, scrumptious, precious, and endearing children on the face of the planet. (That's for you, Candi! ;) Seriously, this is one of my favorite pictures of the three kids together. It makes me smile!

Glorious Day

Today was glorious. My sister and I spent pretty much all day gabbing, playing with the kids, drinking tea and making homemade bread, cinnamon rolls and soup. It shall go on the records as one of those perfectly nice days where you feel like smiling just thinking about it. Thanks, Rach, for hanging out with us. We did a darn good job on those cinnamon rolls!