Quick Trip to Washington

We had to go up for a funeral so it was a quick trip to washington. We got to stay at my parents and visit with my grandma a little.

I like these four pictures of Ginger with my grandma. the bottom right hand corner is the first picture I took. Ginger wasn't sure if she wanted to get close to grandma. hahahah She has a funny expression. Then she is smiling then smiling at grandma then giving her a hug. The two of them visited for a long time which during that time my grandma showed Ginger her cute little stuffed animal cat about 5 times. Ginger didn't seem to mind at all. :)

Check out this stupid looking car! hahahahh My mom and I saw this leaving the mall and both cracked up laughing!

Gretchen's Graduation from Babyhood!

I just can't believe it's been a whole year! My little baby is turning into a toddler.

I decided to take the easy route as far as decorating a cake and made cupcakes into a flower shape. THat was much easier and much faster!

Jack and Ginger wanted to try out one of Gretchen's new toys right away. The bubble blowig octopus.

Thanks for the cute outfits mom!

Surprised? I know you would be. .. .

I know many of you must be surprised to see me smile with a dog in my arms. i'm really not an animal hater. I just couldn't stand the last dog we had because it was clearly Glen's dog. Which, now, that Kiah is no longer with us, Glen let me know that German Shepards are often loyal to only one person and that's why it was so hard to get that dog to do anything! And I really shouldn't get mad at other people's dogs. I should be mad at the owners for not training them to be good dogs and not letting them bark all night etc.

You may ask, why the change of heart? Well, eversince I saw the kids play with this mini autralian shepard at the river, I've been thinking about what it would be like to have a smaller dog for the kids. It was fun to watch them play with the dog. Having a good experience with a well behaved and well trained dog helped me see things in another light.
The other thing that helped me change my mind is that one day when the kids came in from playing outside, Ginger told me about some people that were talking to her. I'm pretty sure it was the old lady on the other side of our fence, but that got me thinking about how friendly the kids are getting and how easy it could be for a stranger to watch from the sidewalk how often I go outside to check on the kids etc. Getting a dog for the kids to play with in the backyard makes me feel better about them playing out there when I'm inside. soooooooooo, Let me introduce to you:

Chester Chandler! He is 10 weeks old. He is a Welsh Corgi. Welsh Corgi's are really neat dogs. They are herding dogs and also have been used to guard children. They are supposed to be a really good family dog. I had one as a kid and loved it! They are short and stout but strong. I think they are perfect for little kids if you want a smaller dog, but not one that is fragile and will break if they fall on top of him or something. They are supposed to live 11 to 14 years.

Jack and Chester have bonded really well. Jack just loves him. Ginger does too, but she was a little nervous from time to time. Eversince getting Chester, we all have been outside alot more. I love that the kids want to go play and I don't have to "make" them go play.

I know these dogs do shed and that was something that drove me crazy about Kiah. With this dog, I'm assuming responsibility for keeping it bathed and brushed (which kiah got a bath once a year and was never brushed!)  I want the kids to know what it takes to "really" care for a pet . I'll give it a bath the same day the kids get a bath. (Did you know that you can just use baby shampoo for your puppy?)

WE love this dog. We love it's temperament. It's so calm and good with the kids. I didn't want one that is always bouncing off the walls. We take him everywhere. We just took him up to washington with us and we take him to the grocerie store, and we'll take him to the parks once he gets his little puppy parvo shots.

Puppies are so cute but high maintenance.  WE decided it's best to keep this little guy in the kitchen, garage and outside so it doesn't chew up the entire house!  Luckily by the end of the year he should be over his chewing stage.

Sewing Boards

I'm getting tired of lugging a diaper bag full of toys and things to keep the kids entertained during church. I decided to think of things that I could bring to encourage them to stay seated and that would keep them busy and quiet, and something that would be fairly light to carry around. One of my ideas was to make my own sewing boards. I went to Walfart and bought foam boards, some pretty ribbon and dug up some pipe cleaners that I had in the closet. I cut the pip cleaner to 4 inches and folded in half. Then I tied the ribbon to it and twisted it so the ribbon won't slide off. Then I drew a picture on the foam board, colored it and drilled the holes and tied the ribbon to the corner of the board. voila! This is something that I will keep in the church bag and let them use only during church. (I have two other foam boards with a giant triangle and one with a large circle so they can sew different designs on them)

This picture took me all morning to draw. I had a hard time bringing myself to drill holes in it. :(

My other activities for the kids is they each have a small dry erase board and washable dry erase markers. I also got them each their own little pad of paper and "special" twisty crayons. I hope with these new fun things, that they will look forward to sitting still and being quiet just so they can do these new activities.

Here's what holds our honey

I love the Bella kitchen store downtown. It's wear I found this fun honey holder and wand. The end of the wand is silicone. I really like it.

I just thought these were so pretty. They grow almost an inch every day. It's been fun to watch them grow.

Carrying on a tradition

When I moved out, my mom gave me a case that she had kept for me and saved pictures I drew, birthday cards, and school work that I did over the years. It was mostly things from elementary school and younger. I enjoyed looking threw it and reading the little notes my mom wrote on my artwork explaining what I drew and cute things I said as a kid. Lately Ginger has been very curious about all kinds of things and has been saying the cutest things and asking interesting questions that keep me entertained. It's just impossible for me to remember everything and I would like to keep a nice record of those things along with the nice cards and letters that she gets from family. So I decided to carry on the tradition my mom started. I got one of these for Ginger Jack and Gretchen. It's also a nice storage thingy to throw in extra family pictures or pictures of the kids too.  I just recently started to print out e-mails that I write to my parents about little stories about the kids and slide that into their dividers.  It helps save time in writing everything down.  I use each divider to seperate the years. Along with these I also have a journal for each kid. I try to update those regularily. I use thier journals to write what they are interested in and new things they learn and to record funny things they do and say. Once they are old enough to write, then I will hand it off to them and let them continue their journal.

Our newest family member!

Let me introduce you to Thoth! He was born in 2003 in Woodburn, Oregon where we adopted him from Craigs list. He has 83,000 miles and seats 9 comfortably. His favorite color is blue. He's never been in the mountains before. (his nickname is "road princess") but he's looking forward to his first trip up Mt.Emily. His family name is Chevy Tahoe.
He's adjusting well to his new home. (he'll fit in the garage just fine as long as we fold his (M)ears in. :)

My love for Thoth grows more and more each day as he so valiantly serves our family's needs. Here are some of my favorite attributes about him.
-The front center console can open up for a 9th seat or fold down for storage area.
-The back can open up two ways- just the window or the whole trunk ( I love using just the window for getting groceries in and out)
-the back row seats easily fold up and out of the way
-We can seat all three carseats side by side and not squish our hands trying to buckle them. There is still plenty of room on either side (unlike the honda!)

*side note. We had 10 inquiries about the honda and sold it to the first person who came to look at it!