Friday, May 29, 2009

"make 'em laugh"


What this kid brought me in tears and frustration when she was younger she brings in laughs now. The other day I was helping her clean her crazy messy room. She is my kid that thinks everything is special and needs to be saved. I purge every once in a while but hadn't done it lately. We are working on her room when I noticed her goofin' off. I told her that if she didn't help I was going to leave. She had three warnings before I finally left. Usually this results in a lot of tears and no real progress. Effective parenting I know, but sometimes I have to remove myself from the situation. She comes waltzing down the stairs and says "Mom, my room is such a mess you have to come see it!!" I was a little scared but obliged her. Her room looked wonderful and I'm thinking "what in the what, what?" I said "Halley, I don't know what to say"...without skipping a beat she said offhandedly "...thank you very much; you don't know what you'd do without me... something like that". Such a gomer!
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Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Oldies, but Goodies

I recently purchased a scanner that makes 35 mm slides into digital images. Since Justin, and others, have been commenting on our Yellowstone adventure of many years ago, I thought you would enjoy these.





Here is Juliet at Mammoth Hot Springs









Although Jordan didn't find his way into this picture, he was on the trip. Jessica was still a gleam in her father's eye.






This one shows little Jennifer at Witches Caldron
















Here are Jordan and Jeff at one of the many steam pots















This swimming hole we found at Fire Hole. It is fed by a warm springs and doesn't freeze in the winter.



Chubby Cheeks looks a little forlorn. Maybe it's the fragrance from the sulfer pot.











Chris, always our outdoorsman, seems right at home in this magnificant setting.










"Firehair" showing off those great soccer legs.








Does anybody miss our Beauville? Does anybody miss the "Chinese fire drills" each morning to get all the bedding packed up and ready for another long drive?


This was a remarkable vacation. I only wish Jessica had been with us to enjoy it as well.



Friday, May 15, 2009

I left my heart...

Spring Break with the Miyakawa's brought a trip to San Fran. We decided to park under China Town near the Trans America Tower and walk up to the Coit Tower. What in the what what?
I have no idea why I thought I could navigate my 5 children through the streets of the city w/o Shane. He stayed home to get a large portion of our backyard done. Something in me still wants to give my kids cool experiences...even w/o my most helpful half.
Can you tell from this pic just how far we had to walk? See that same pointy building way down there. Coit tower is up on a hill...it was a watchtower. I must have lost my marbles.
Can you see my sweet brother in law helping me down the stairs with Evan. It was such a cool trip but I will never do that again...my thighs burned for days.
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Thursday, May 14, 2009

Head in the clouds..feet in the sand

Shane and Sean making nature's playpen. Evan didn't care until he got grit in his teeth. I think I was cleaning sand out of his ears for days.
My guys. These two are crazy about each other. Each new addition to our family makes us wonder how we ever did w/o them.
I think Halley was buried half of our vacation.
Going..going...GONE!

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Old McRoger has a farm

Halley's preschool (okay there are only two of them) was invited to Roger Hall's farm last April. It was so much fun! It was a gorgeous day and Evan was in hog heaven. He loved the animals and didn't mind cow slobber.
Halley gave me a thumbs up when it was her turn. When all three kids were on Charlie(I think that was his name) Halley preferred to sit off the saddle on his rump.
Evan loved to follow the Gawk Gawks. Our backyard it kind of off limits to him because it is not fenced off yet. Here at the farm he had freedom to roam as far as his little legs would take him. He loved every minute that we spent there.
I grew up in the country on the outskirts of Medford and seeing the view and smelling the field daisies, and hearing the animals was food for my soul.
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A birthday in Wonderland

I knew I wanted to do a special party for Lindsay's 8th birthday. She has never has a party and I wanted it to be great. I came up with the idea of Alice in Wonderland but I knew I would have little commercial help since it is not a popular theme like Fairies or Hannah Montana. I have always loved thsi story so I had so much fun making my decorations. Shane dislikes the story, but he was a good sport.
Here are the crazy girls that helped make her day special. She has such darling friends and I am grateful for their influence in her life!
The Friday before the party I decided to attempt to make an Alice dress. After staying up until 3 just getting fabric washed ironed, patterns cut out etc. I realized I was an idiot. I called my seamstress friend early the next morning to double check my efforts before I cut it out and bless her very generous soul she made the entire dress in a few hours...when she had her own yard work to do. I was so grateful to be able to watch and learn during the process.
Here is my fun attempt at croquet mallets made into flamingos and the ball to be a hedgehog. Hee hee.
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