Need a Laugh?

Maybe this will help. Wynden's freshman year school picture. Love the cardigan.

Got Me an Apron

I have never had an apron my whole life (I really never cooked until after I was married), so maybe I only needed one the last 13 years. I have ruined a few shirts to grease splatters and so I have been looking for awhile now. I just couldn't spend $20-$30 on something I was going to wear to ruin. I even bought fabric to make one at a crafty night at church, but never ended up going :) Out shopping this past weekend with a great group of girls, I came across an apron for $7.99 at Marshalls. I couldn't pass it up. Wearing it for the first time my kids couldn't get over it "why are you wearing that and what is it?" A little girl I'm watching even told me it looked pretty. Now to see how similar it is to a treadmill...will I use it for more than one week?

Love Thy Neighbor?

This is a certified letter we got from our neighbor. Funny thing is is that we have no dog. My brother in law's dog lived with us for a little over two months this summer from July until the middle of September. He went from his kennel on our back patio to our fenced field every day. I just thought the letter was funny. The wife also accused our cow of ruining their yard and shrubs a year ago. Wynden told her that it was the other neighbor's cow, she didn't believe him and Wynden was like I helped him get it back in his field this morning. Good thing I am the type of neighbor that can laugh about this. Click on the letter to enlarge it, but you already probably knew that :)

Two Peas in a Pod

My two youngest girls are so entertaining for me to watch. It is interesting who everyone thinks they look like because really they don't look very much alike. With Karlee I usually get told that she looks a lot like Wynden's mom Susan. I think that some of the looks Karlee does look a lot like Susan too, but I do see some of my childhood pictures in her as well. It is funny how Karlee's personality resembles Susan's just a little too. Hallie on the other hand I get told quite often that she looks like my mom. She has the darker hair like my mom, but her skin is porcelain white just opposite of my mom's nice dark skin. I often times think that sometimes Hallie's personality also is a little like my mom's as well. A little crazy to think that I have my mom and my mother-in-law's clones bossing me around all day long. Ironic don't you think.

Warning do not stare at picture too long may cause extreme laughter

I get told by a lot people that their hair is just like mine, but they straighten it. Their hair is usually perfectly straight. I mean like smooth straight like Lexi's looks like when she straightens her hair. I have only straightened mine a hand full of times and it is pretty crazy looking. My nieces even took like over an hour straightening my hair and it still looked pretty funny. The other day the morning turned out to be a little crazy trying to get everyone out the door for school, so my hair was left up in a towel for way too long after my shower. I needed to wet it down again, so I could do my frizz control properly. I got a crazy idea that maybe my hair would straighten better without any product in it. Apparently not. I guess I just don't have the same hair as all those girls :)

The Days of Mutton Bustin are Over

Hunter rode a lot of sheep this summer. He rode I think 4 times at the fair. We were right next to the booth that was in charge of it, so she would just let me know if they had a spot for him. And then he got to ride both days of the rodeo. The first ride at the fair he did really good. The next few rides though were not that great of a showing. So for the rodeo I told him he better hold on tight because this was his last year to ride he will be too old next year. I tried to tell him a lot of other things, but I guess I have never rode on a sheep, so what do I know. He did really well at the rodeo taking second place both nights. I felt bad that he didn't win a trophy this year because Lexi did last year and Hunter was more proud of it than she was. He keeps saying that he wants to ride calves now.....

This is a video clip from talk it up Tv and Hunter was interviewed. Unfortunately they put his last name as VanDalen. I think his part is around the 2:22 mark.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MrOZYPqvnpM

Darn Water bottles!

My kids have been hounding me to get them water bottles. They want them for school and for soccer. Hallie needed one for preschool this year, so I have been looking and they are just so darned expensive. So yesterday I was at Rite Aid and found two bigger ones for Lexi and Hunter (not very fancy, but good enough) and then I spent a little more for the youngers and they got a Cars one, Tinkerbell, and Disney princesses from Safeway. Diesel was the only one at home for the morning and boy did he go to town on that water bottle. It was around 11:00 and I picked him up to hold him and I could hardly believe it, but he had wet through his diaper and pants, he has never done this before. When everyone got home from school they were totally all over the water bottles. I kept thinking they are drinking a lot of water! Needless to say I had two bed wetters and one diaper leaker last night. I guess I will have to cut off water consumption after dinner.

Adventures of Summer

Ferndale Parade...My dad's big truck pulling the Windermere "float

Windermere Party

Bowling for kids

Looking back over these past couple of months I cannot believe how much my kids got to do. They are so lucky (or spoiled depends on how you look at it). Hunter was lucky enough to go to cub scout camp for a week just during the afternoon. I signed up for the bowling for kids deal - not worth it - we only went once. Birthday parties, Whistler, The fair, the tractor show, the rodeo, $1 movies at the mall, parks, swimming at Homestead, parades, Lake Whatcom, the waterslides, and of course Windermere's family party, which is amazing: A jumpy castle, face painting, spinning art, all you can eat snowcones and cotton candy, boat rides, and tubing. Needless to say I am glad that school is starting not because I want to get rid of my kids, but so I am forced to slow down.

Hunter in his cub scout atire.

The Last Day of our Summer

Labor Day always feels like that is it for summer even though it is usually nice for a few more weeks of September (who knows this year though). So we packed up the kids and headed for Cultus Lake Waterslides. We went the last half of the day, so it wasn't so expensive even though it was still a million dollars to go for our big family. We had a blast. The weather was perfect and the kids were all good. Can't wait until next year.

Karlee's First Day...Pick one

Day 1: 45 minutes

Day 2: Half Day

Day Three: First Full Day

Karlee started Kindergarten this year and boy was she excited. She got the same teacher that Lexi and Hunter had just like she wanted. The first time she went it was only for 45 minutes, but still a huge deal for her and a lot of time and thought put into picking out her outfit. She loved every minute of the 45. Wynden picked her up and she got to go have an ice cream date with him that he owed her from a stars and checks chart award this summer, so it was a good day for sure for her. The next time she got to go for half a day, which started with riding the bus to school. She was so excited and of course Lexi was brought in to help with the outfit choice. When I picked her up she told Hallie that her teacher was the best and she hopes Hallie gets her too. The first full day started with a lot of tears. For some reason she had her heart set on these particular shorts with flowers on the pockets. They were dirty. I quickly washed them and got them in the dryer by themselves for like 8 minutes. They were a tiny bit damp still, but she pulled them on and ran out just as the bus was coming. She had a great first full day.

Best Time of Year....

because we love corn on the cob!!!

Happy Birthday Wynden!

Wynden's 36Th birthday was Saturday (what an old man-rounded up he is closer to 40, time for a new younger husband I guess). We have been so busy this summer that all he wanted was some relaxation for his special day, so we decided to head up to Whistler just the two of us for the weekend. We had a great time. We ate too much, slept a normal amount, and laid by the sun and just relaxed. For Wynden's birthday dinner he picked the Mongolie Grill to eat at. You fill your bowl with vegetables, meat, or whatever they have at their bar and they grill it for you like stir fry. The problem with this one was that they weigh it and so you really don't know how much your spending. We're used to just one price for all you can eat. It was pretty expensive, but Wynden got a free birthday dessert, so that helped. The funniest part of the whole trip was when we first got up to our room we walked in and it was really nice. A nice sized kitchen when you first walk in which opened up to a couch area with a flat screen TV. I was like wow Wynden this is pretty nice. Then I was like where's the bedroom, so Wynden was looking by the bathroom and across from the bathroom was a door, but only if you were sharing the room next door would you open it. I was like I think that this couch is the bed. I can't believe that we are going to be sleeping on a hideabed. Wynden then called down to the front desk and said "so do we pull our bed out of the couch?" It was pretty funny. We book our hotels through hotels.com and it said a queen bed not a couch bed. Anyway they refunded some of our money, but sleeping on a pull out bed is not very comfortable. Oh well at least I wasn't woke by a little one at 2:00 in the morning. Whistler is such a pretty place. When we came home on Sunday there were steaks and a cake waiting for him. The kids had made him cute cards. It was a great weekend.

first things first

So much we've done, so much to blog about, but since school started last week I guess we will start with that.

Just Lexi and Hunter for today we are yet to experience a full day of kindergarten.

They all got very good teachers and we are excited for a good year of school. Lexi got the teacher that all her cousins have had and love. She also got in the same class as her good friend that has been in the same class since preschool, so she was very happy about that. Hunter got a few of his friends in his class including his cousin so that was good. I can tell Lexi is getting older, she makes sure she is dressed just right with every outfit coordinating and stylish and now her hair is done differently almost every day. What a diva!

I'm not sure why the pictures are blurry, darn camera.