Gullett Circus

More projects

2012-01-31T10:04:00.000-08:00

I feel like I'm showing off but it's fun to do creative things and get to share. Morgan has been begging me to turn her favorite jeans into a skirt because they finally wore through on the knees. The skirt turned out super cute, and way easier than I thought it would be. And of course who wouldn't want bumble bee nails ha.

Stuff I've been working on

2012-01-29T11:41:00.000-08:00

Been spending some free time on Pinterest which my super creative sister in law introduced me to. I am loving the ideas and realizing I do still have a creative bone still in my body. Finding all kinds of things I can use at home to make crafts, decorations and of course food.

Brock working on his alphabet lapbooks. Finally has him interested in letters

Morgan's waterfall braid

D + H = M C T B

Hearts in Morgan's hair

Raggedy camera bag

I lined it with super soft chenille to protect the camera screen

Ladybug toes

Flood 2012

2012-01-22T11:07:00.000-08:00

Bryant Park looking toward Monteith Friday

Saturday

Don was standing by the light post Friday to take pictures, Saturday not so much

Friday Bryant park

Saturday

Play equipment Friday

Left side of picture is play equipment Saturday along with submerged picnic area

Friday Bryant Drive

Saturday Bryant Drive

Friday Timber Linn Park

Saturday Timber Linn Park, water obviously receded

Super fun Sunday

2012-01-17T09:02:00.000-08:00

Sunday we finally got a little snow so after church we headed east to a Fish Hatchery to drool over what we will hopefully be catching soon out in the wild and then further east to play in some snow.

Sweet cake for our neighbor.

2012-01-09T14:00:00.000-08:00

Been a rough few days

2012-01-03T11:12:00.000-08:00

I'm not going to go into all the goings on in our lives because I honestly don't think anyone really cares, so here are some pictures I took of some flooding at a nearby park and everyone playing with rc cars.

Christmas gift giving 2011

2011-12-26T10:07:00.000-08:00

Somehow I didn't end up with pictures of the apron I made my mom or the embroidery I did for my brother and his kids. Ugh and I need to take pictures of the kids aprons I made now that everything is open =) later hopefully.

I made an apron for both grandmas with all their grandkids names on them.

I made envelopes with felt to put all the Christmas presents in, yeah no wrapping next year.

Christmas Day

2011-12-26T09:58:00.000-08:00

I have no idea how to even write this post or choose the pictures to put on here, I want everyone who got them gifts to see how excited they were for each item but there are 94 and I don't think many people want to see that amount of pictures, I will put a few of my favorite and for the day after Christmas I will show a couple of the items I made for others.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-26T09:42:00.000-08:00

Whew what a fun day Christmas Eve was, we had the Christmas Eve service, on our walk in from the car Brock took a spill and because his hands were in his pockets he took a pretty good hit to the face, then because of how busy we have been and all he fell asleep during the service completely missing my favorite part, the candle light part. He couldn't figure out why we all had candles at the end when he woke up, poor guy. Later our dear friends J and A came for a visit, it's been way too long and we are always so happy to see them. Don and I were up late into the night setting up Christmas =)

And the last of Morgan's bday pictures

2011-12-23T23:14:00.000-08:00

More of Morgan's birthday

2011-12-23T18:28:00.000-08:00

Friday

2011-12-23T10:03:00.000-08:00

Happy 12th Birthday Morgan! Can't believe we were blessed to welcome you to our family 12 years ago. I love your sweet and giving heart. Thanks for all your love and helpfulness! We love you to the moon and back!

Thursday

2011-12-23T10:00:00.000-08:00

Got the cake done and had a meeting with my pastor and his wife oh and came home to an awesomely decorated house.

Wednesday

2011-12-22T07:59:00.000-08:00

Same tune, different day. Ty and I headed to the jeweler today because one of the stones on my ring was loose so dropped that off and then took Ty down to a local toy store and a few other places "looking" it was great to get out the house with him. He's such a great kid, so different from the others, laid back and kind of a free spirit, reminds me of me when I was younger, hmmm maybe an example I should follow?! =) Again with the no pictures, but don't worry I am sure you will be bombarded by them this weekend ha.

Tuesday

2011-12-21T10:31:00.000-08:00

Hmmmm, not much to report again. Hope Wednesday has something more exciting.

Monday

2011-12-21T10:30:00.000-08:00

Maybe this every day thing isn't gonna work, we'll see, I can't seem to keep up. Monday we did the usual daycare, getting sick, spreading germs and all around good time =) Watched a little King Korn documentary and also No Impact Man. Good for us environmentally friendly people but man I feel like I could not go without power, I am way too high maintenance for that =)

Sunday

2011-12-19T09:29:00.000-08:00

The tree is up and decorated and the Christmas program is finished, woohoo! The program went great, the kids are thinking of trying out to be in the production next year but we'll see. We spent the entire morning at church and the rest of the day thankfully just laying around the house, it was nice to relax and decorate the tree. It looks beautiful, the kids did a great job.

Saturday

2011-12-19T09:15:00.000-08:00

Kids had their final rehearsal for the childrens program in the morning and then the six of us headed to Eugene to hang out with some friends we haven't seen in a while. I am ashamed to say I didn't take any pictures but one funny thing was the adults were sitting in the living room eating dinner while all eight of our kids sat around the dinner table eating and it wasn't phasing any of us that the noise level was near making your ears ring. My thought was I was proud of how well they were all behaving and then we all laughed at how differently we take things being that both families have four kids we are used to noise a little chaos compared to those with a couple less children. Anyhow, thanks Isaacsons for letting us come hang out, we should do it more often.

Friday

2011-12-17T10:30:00.000-08:00

Busy Friday, had two of my daycare kids sick so with just the one I was able to get a lot of sewing done. Got all our gifts that will be shipped into homemade felt packages and out to the post office (Carriage House Plaza post office rocks by the way) We also tried to go to the last night of Storybook Land but once arriving and seeing the millions (probably hundreds) of people in line we decided to head to the mall so they could see that Santa. The mall was surprisingly unbusy and the Santa had them all come together to talk to him which was so sweet to see, wish I could have taken a picture =( For the most part finished up on our Christmas shopping thanks to Amazon!!!! Woke up Saturday morning to find that Don had put up our Christmas tree so I am sure I will post pictures of us putting on ornmaents in the Saturday post =) Sorry I am behind but hey not anymore hahaha

Thursday

2011-12-17T10:27:00.000-08:00

Uh oh got behind again sorry. Hmm, it was only two days ago but seems like a lifetime. I decided that I needed to refocus my stress so I started sewing envelopes or little bags with dog food fabric, weird but fun =) Don got to head out for a little guy time, I was glad he was able to talk to someone else besides me and get away from the normal hum-drum of our daily lives. The kids and I headed to the store for some special dessert and I realized it was the first time I had taken the kids out by myself in ages. I miss my alone time with all of them sometimes but not enough to give up what we have with Don being home.

The eyes have it

2011-12-14T12:49:00.000-08:00

Tuesday

2011-12-14T12:37:00.000-08:00

Today will be a double posting day. Tuesday was spent by me making wrench holders for Don's metric and standard wrenches. I used some old fabric and embroidered the sizes on each spot so he can know exactly where and what he has. I didn't take any pictures though, not a super exciting item. Ty finished up his Captain America shield which I will take pictures of later. It was a fairly uneventful day.

Sunday

2011-12-12T10:46:00.000-08:00

Hmmm, a day late oh well. We headed to church and had a good time. We have gone to the early traditional service two weekends in a row. Can't say that I am a huge fan of hymns but I love the people there. We had to greet two people older than us and one that was younger and Don and I didn't have anyone younger than us to greet. We were quite popular as the youngers though haha. The kids really enjoy the sunday school that they have during first service more than second so we do it for them. The preaching is the same both services so maybe we will meet some great grandma/grandpa type people through this. The two older kids went to the mennonite home with the choir and sang carols for people living there and we ended our evening watching a football game (So bummed for the cowboys, the last few seconds were super frustrating) and then the season finale of amazing race, also bummed that one of our favorite teams didn't win, also thankful our antenna lets us see regular network programming so well, and Brock finished his treehouse he's been working on all week. So cute. Don't know what super exciting things Monday will hold but I will share none the less =)Oh and after looking through pictures we also fingerpainted as you can see.

Don did a little painting on Cale with the spray snow

Saturday

2011-12-10T18:58:00.000-08:00

Today the older kids had dress rehearsal for the Christmas program and we delivered the props, etc. Had to do some tweeking on the stuff I made which was no surprise but as always Don's products always impress! It was fun to hang out with the younger two kids today, it was much quieter =) Don spent a few hours this afternoon chatting with our pastor about our future, etc. I think it was good for him to have someone completely removed from our situation to listen and give helpful words. Oh and I realized last night that I don't get to sleep in until next year. Every day of the week I have daycare and then weekends the kids have to be at rehearsal on Saturday and then Sunday is church. My night owl personality doesn't let me fall asleep easily at night so I am tired. Good thing I can catch little cat naps during the day or it would SUCK! Still haven't put up the Christmas tree but I am nearing the end of one Christmas gift project for the kids, woohoo, they are going to be so excited =) Night all, wonder what boring thing I can think to write about tomorrow. Is anybody out there?

Friday

2011-12-09T19:06:00.000-08:00

The major part of today has been taken up by a rather large Christmas prop in our garage. Don did an awesome job if I must say so myself.

Still alive again!

2011-12-08T11:03:00.000-08:00

I seem to be a broken record with the fact that we are still alive. We've now been thru Halloween, and Thanksgiving and not really taken many pictures, also our home internet charges for our data usage so uploading or whatever you call putting pictures on the blog or facebook is not super cheap for us to do. It has been brough to my attention that people still read my blog and would like a little more info into what is going on in our lives. Things are tough, I will not lie finances are about to become nonexistent besides the daycare and we cannot physically survive on just that so any and all prayers for that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanksgiving this year was fun, my mom, my brother and his family came for a visit and we got to meet my nephew for the first time and the cousins all had an awesome time hanging out together. It was fun to get to know my sister in law better and find some odd things we have in common, like scary movies and of course crafting =) Almost everyone worked on sewing some christmas ornaments while they were here. I admit I stupidly didn't use my camera much so not much evidence of said good time. We have also finally organized our garage and made it into usable space for working on miscellaneous projects and also given Don a place to get away from the noise that tends to reach high decibles around here during the day.
Christmas is on it's way and we are furiously handmaking things trying to finish so they can be mailed for the big day. I wish I could share but alas you that read also receive in some instances. I guess I will take pictures and post them later =)
I think I am going to try a picture or post a day with some info of our day. Today Don is going to work on some prop type things for our churches Christmas play and I will be making salt dough cookies and Christmas vests also for the play. My older kids are in the crew so they are excited. They love the behind the scenes things, they are also getting to know kids at church which we are loving. Most of them homeschool which helps them all understand each other much better.

Anyhow, I will post a picture if it will download of our Thanksgiving fun.

Tisha trying to fix my stupid serger, it's still in my closet ha!

Jason and my boys crawling around on the garage floor.

Don putting the checkerboard on our friend Riley's cake

Finished product

We're still alive

2011-10-23T16:06:00.000-07:00

Well, it's now been almost two months since my last post. I have no camera except my phone so I don't have much to add right now. Over the past couple months we've had a visit from my mom, painted a dresser for Morgan, rearranged the kids rooms, gotten rid of a toddler bed, organized a garage, survived =). We are still in a waiting pattern for Don's workmans comp claim. Our hearing was Oct 3 and they said we would hear within 30 days so we wait, and wait, and wait. We've had dessert at our pastors house, gone to church, gone to the pumpkin patch, watched sprint car races, gone camping, had an anniversary dinner with our most awesome friends, had pizza with another set of our awesome friends w/ kids =). Hmmm, I am sure I'm leaving something out, oh yeah Brock fell on the coffee table and ended up with nursemaids elbow, nothing broken but man was it painful until the xray tech while taking pictures inadvertently popped it back into place. Oh yeah we've done homeschool, canned tomatoes, I've taken up embroidery, driven rc cars, um yep, we've been busy, thankful for our time at home with Don and that God is providing all along the way.

Yep, me as a dork =)

Morgan's rearranged room, the dresser on the right is pink crackle paint over silver.

The boys room, all their dresser are now in their room and Brock is sleeping on the bottom like a big boy.

Brock in the exam room before their fixed his elbow.

Little reading nook in Morgan's room.

Ty's Birthday Post =)

2011-09-01T10:22:00.000-07:00

Ty turned 8 on the 30th of August and asked for an eyeball cake. Of course Don took it to the awesomest place he could imagine which we think rocked.

We posted this picture on facebook and got some interesting guesses as to what they thought the cake was going to be.

Flippers for our budding swimmer.

He's been saving for a camera so we decided to take the plunge.

One happy 8 year old.

Don lit the candles with a butane torch

Update from the garden

2011-08-06T09:22:00.000-07:00

We harvested our first tomato yesterday!!! Thought I would take some updated pictures, please excuse the weeds, you know how much I hate to weed, well here's proof!

The final birthday pictures/video

2011-07-29T08:29:00.000-07:00

Love that Cale wanted red velvet cake as the cutting of the head was even more disgusting.

Cale's 10th Birthday

2011-07-27T08:43:00.000-07:00

We tried our hand at fondant on this cake. Turns out it's not as daunting as we originally thought.

Five cakes

Such big helpers.

Mom, do you recognize this hairdo?

2011-07-27T01:37:00.000-07:00

5 bags of miniature marshmallows, four three pounds of powdered sugar and our cake is almost done. We started decorating at 8:30 pm and its now 1:36am. Will post picture later in the morning. I am TIRED!

Update on our lives

2011-07-26T10:49:00.000-07:00

As many of you know Don was injured at work in October and has been working light duty in Springfied since then, that is until Thursday almost two weeks ago when his employer decided they didn't have enough work to keep him busy so he was sent home until this work related injury is resolved. Needless to say our income is being drastically cut, we lose health benefits, and well, isn't that enough? Anyhooooo, with Don's physical limitations he is unable to do many of the things he enjoys doing like yardwork ha, working on our rigs, or generally mark anything off his to do list. It is a possibility that he will not be able to get back in a truck but after having him home nightly for the past nine months we dont want him gone anymore. So we brainstorm about what kinds of businesses we could start together, or generally what the future holds for us. Who needs a midlife crisis when on is thrown in our laps =) We are excited, scared, prayerful as we face the unknown but know that God has a plan for our family and look forward to seeing where this all ends up. So yep, prayers would be coveted! Oh and Don sees an orthopedic surgeon on August 3rd to find out if surgery is next, I will keep updates on here as they come up. Thanks for reading =)

"New" bar stools

2011-07-26T10:41:00.000-07:00

Well, we finally splurged a whole $9 and bought new vinyl to recover our 1920 Samsonite bar stools. I love the way they turned out, very stylish compared to the funky beige weird patterned stuff they originally came with. Thanks Don for checking that off your to do list.

Devil's Punch Bowl

2011-07-26T10:37:00.001-07:00

That is not me with the white hair =) That would be my mother in law

2011-07-26T10:32:00.000-07:00

Wow, how sad that I haven't posted on here for almost a month! I was asked to not broadcast the fact that my mother in law was here for a while so her home would stay safe. Well, it's been 5 and a half weeks and finally feel it's alright to let the world know =) She goes home in four days so hopefully nothing happens to her house between now and then ha! Anyhow, we've been camping three times while she was here, we bowled, went to a demolition derby that included school bus races, that was as redneck as I think one can get =) Here are the pictures of our bowling excursion. The kids earned two free games plus shoe rental because of their reading program at the library, yeah!

2011-06-27T14:52:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went camping again, had a great time, the weather was awesome, so good in fact the kids got soaked playing in the ocean, we of course had hot chocolate and showers when they got back =) We go again in two weeks, woohoo!

2011-06-20T09:16:00.000-07:00

Following is a slide show of the pictures Brock took at the flower garden, interesting nope but hey I told him I'd put them on here so here they are. He also caught a picture of a lady with a walker who was walking around the garden yelling "Jean" "Jeanie" over and over and over. It has become a joke around here to start yelling that name randomly, she finally found her daughter after we also started yelling Jean's name =)

The yeller

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-19T17:07:00.000-07:00

Today I am thankful for my awesome husband who loves our kids to pieces. He helps keep them young with his child at heart personality. He and I got to sleep in til almost 9:30 this morning and had the house to ourselves until 10:45, it was weird but nice! We headed to the ever celebratory and oh so special breakfast spot of Subway =) Seriously if you've never had their breakfast sandwiches they are yummy and served all day long. We love the egg, bacon, and cheese, yummy! Next up was another super exciting spot, the farmers market =) Got to look at some exotic fruits and pick up some of Bob's Red Mill supplies that we can't find anywhere else. Let's see, we also visited a car lot to "look" no interest in buying but an old pastime of ours. We also went to a car show where the kids got ahold of our cameras, following are some of the pictures they got, interesting and funny to see what they found important to photograph. Don't know what the rest of the day holds but thankful for the kids in my life and that because of my husband it was all possible in the first place. Love ya Don!

Iris Garden Tour

2011-06-19T16:59:00.000-07:00

On our way home from Portland yesterday we stopped at an iris farm and toured their gorgeous gardens. I think considering these photos were taken on my phone, they turned out pretty amazing.

A sad, sad day

2011-06-17T12:01:00.000-07:00

Morgan asked for a summer haircut today. It was so hard to cut that hair off, but I know it will grow back. She looks beautiful no matter what but man I'm gonna miss those long locks!

2011-06-17T10:31:00.000-07:00

Anyone know of a job Don or I or both of us could do to be able to live out of our travel trailer. Every time we head out for a camping weekend conversation always turns to selling everything we have, head out on the road, traveling from town to town making enough money to just continue on to the next stop. We would definetly need a big trailer that we could bring along our homeschool stuff and enough clothes and food for more than a few days. I know it's a dream, but hey it's my dream and it matters =)

My opinion of the day

2011-06-17T10:04:00.000-07:00

Well, there's been some interesting things going around on facebook lately and I thought I would weigh in. Don and I had a discussion last night about it and he kind of seconded my feelings so here goes. People have been complaining about how some people are being shallow, materialistic or self involved, when there are starving children, famine, cancer, etc. going on in the world. The thing that got to me was even when all those things are going on around us it should not minimize what is going on in our lives, my hangnail, broken toe, flat tire is important to me, it should not be minimized and your feelings glossed over just because it isn't as big as something else that's going on. Yes there needs to be less self focus in the world, however to look at someone and think that their issues, feelings are any less important to God is wrong. We may not always agree or want to hear all the little problems going on in other peoples lives but if we truly call ourselves friends that's what we are there for, to listen, to share, to help, and to come along side, not to tell someone whatever they are going through isn't important, right? Facebook does ask, what's on your mind, right? Well, instead of trying to make yourself look all high and mighty maybe it's time to be honest. Kind of like cleaning your house before someone comes to make it look like you are a good housekeeper, when in fact we are all human right. Time for a little mercy, grace, and yes I am preaching to myself as well, I need a little humility in my life too!

Cale's project and Brock's art

2011-06-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

For some reason Cale was in a crafty mood this morning, so he got out some scrap fabric, along with some old jean material and made this cool star on a loop. He did a great job! Brock hauled out my old chalkboard and has been drawing on it non stop for the past couple days. Fun to see their creativity.

Brock's pig

Brock's self portrait

Getting ready

2011-06-15T13:19:00.000-07:00

The last few days we have been preparing for a visit from my mother in law. Seven people in a three bedroom house means all the kids are sharing one room while grandma gets her own. I am preparing myself for lots of talking at bedtime, fights, and lots of attention and fun times with grandma. They are so excited and can't wait for camping, berry picking, canning, and whatever other fun adventure we can come up with. So we have been decluttering both kids bedrooms, one to accomodate four kids and the other to give Mary a little more room to herself. This past weekend we went to our favorite hangout (Camp Adair) besides camping of course. The kids and I rode our bikes while Don walked the dog. I was surprisingly not tired after two hours of riding, its so much easier to ride than walk =) Then just yesterday I got an extra day off during the week which is unheard of so we did some errands, etc. in the morning then after naps headed to Springfield to hang out with Don at work then head to the new Cabelas, it wasn't as exciting as we thought it would be but fun to visit none the less. Oh I drove Don's Volkswagon Cabriolet convertible home also, fun, fun, but man not quite warm enough for that just yet =)

Brocks version of a ribcage

Surprise, surprise more camping pictures.

2011-06-06T08:21:00.000-07:00

We had another great weekend, nice weather and very relaxed. Saturday we got up early to head to the beach for low tide and ended up staying on the beach for three hours, we found a ton of starfish and moved them to deeper water, it was amazing. Later in the afternoon Don ended up with a huge headache so I took the kids back down to the beach for a couple hours and they played in the water, it was the first time for all of them, of course playing in the water constitutes sandals and shorts and going in no deeper than your shins, but we all had an awesome time. The two little hiccups were the coast seemed to be infested with super sized flying carpenter ants, they were all over the beach and the campsite, luckily only found a couple in our things when we got home. The other was while the kids and I were on the beach in the afternoon we saw a seagull with a broken wing, it broke Ty's heart, think he may have some veterinarian learning in his future. He cried while I tried to explain to him that we couldn't fix it and all about the circle of life, it was sweet to see his heart for animals. We don't go camping again for three weeks, can't wait!!!

8:30 am Saturday morning, super low tide, sunny and 70

More water for the weird dog =)

That's a starfish hanging off the rock.

Cale exploring a cave you only can get to during really low tide.

We are assuming this is a squid someone made.

Bugged out Morgan.

Up high.

Smore around the campfire.

Waiting in the dump line. And yes our poop does stink =)

2011-05-31T10:26:00.001-07:00

I have to give credit where credit is due.... Don took down the Christmas lights yesterday, the house looks so sad now boo.

After front yard

2011-05-30T18:43:00.000-07:00

Before front yard.

2011-05-30T11:26:00.000-07:00

Yes we are ghetto we still have our Christmas lights up =) With one hubby on work restrictions it just isn't doable right now. We don't turn them on, don't worry.

Front, I have some roses, a few unnamed plants and some pansies or something that survive yearly.

Roses and bushes.

More roses, along with a hydrangea beneath the tree.

After Garden or part 2

2011-05-30T11:19:00.000-07:00

This bed holds, basil, onions, and cucumbers.

This one has seven tomato plants.

This one has one tomato plant, and six pepper plants.

This bed has ten miscellaneous peppers.

The final product!

I didn't do anything

2011-05-30T10:44:00.000-07:00

Garden part 1

2011-05-30T10:43:00.000-07:00

Well, I was lame enough not to take any before pictures of our garden so you will have to imagine, literally 2 years worth of weeds. We didn't garden or do anything back there last year so it was a pretty big job getting it cleaned out for this year. This first batch of pictures is us at the nursery and later today will add some of the finished product and pictures of before and after of the front yard.

Cale making breakfast

2011-05-30T10:29:00.000-07:00

Cale is my go to guy for breakfast, he makes pancakes, waffles, and muffins so well, I may just be replaced someday.

2011-05-24T08:42:00.000-07:00

Wondering if after yesterday if anyone will be reading this blog =) The post wasn't meant to offend anyone but man it felt good to put it in writing.

Thought I would give an update on the kids. Morgan is growing like a weed, she's 5'1'' already and her feet are officially bigger than mine now. She is just finishing up with her 5th grade curriculum and to be honest I think we are both glad to be finishing up with 5th grade and taking a little break this summer! Cale will finish his 4th grade curriculum this week and has really enjoyed it. I don't think either one of us are looking forward to 5th grade, well I'm not anyway. Ty is finishing 2nd grade and we will be continuing some handwriting and spelling over the summer. It seems to be what he struggles with and they are easy so hope to make it fun. Brock is still a firecracker. He is obsessed with counting everything and is learning his letter sounds. He is hoping to be reading by the end of summer =)

This coming weekend we are hoping to plant our garden which means we have a major amount of weeding to do in our back yard, yuck!!! I am so looking forward to a three day weekend! Hope anyone who still reads this is doing well, send me a text or an email and let me know you are still alive!

2011-05-23T15:10:00.000-07:00

Look, a blog post that isn't about camping =) I have been feeling quite overwhelmed lately. I think the reality of Don's limitations have really finally hit me. I have had to do pretty much all the yardwork, housework, and most of the cooking. I had to sweep the driveway of all the tree droppings, it was the first time I have ever had to do it and then it hit me, holy cow I have a lot of stuff on my shoulders. I know that Don is struggling with not being able to do a lot of things he usually does. We dont' have any idea when this injury and limitations will be cleared up if ever and it just got to me. I know adding to Don's stress was me telling him how overwhelmed I was. I am glad I told him but man it was tough. I am trying to remind myself that I don't have to do all this stuff all at once and to take it one day at a time but it's going to be tough. I am so thankful for him being home nightly and how close all of us have grown it's just hard with 20 pound limits on his left hand and no repetetive motions on that side also makes many household duties difficult. My circle of support has dimished to well not much except for Don and the kids. It's weird I am not feeling sorry for myself just kind of a weird reality of a pretty lonely existence. Hoping this phase of my life will soon pass but if it doesn't I am thankful for the people I had in my life and hoping to find that part again as time goes by. It's my blog and I'll whine if I want to =)

Memories

2011-05-20T13:50:00.000-07:00

I so wish I could have taken some pictures of the kids going through their clothes bins looking for things to wear this summer. They were so cute showing off for each other and each one remember that whatever it was used to be theirs or remembering when someone else wore it. I am again thankful for my garage/bin shopping extravaganza! FREE FREE FREE! Well of course my eleven year old who is in a womans extra small body has outgrown many things so it looks like we will be heading to her favorite second hand store soon to replenish her very sad wardrobe. Oh and don't get me started on shoes, seriously the oldest two need some serious shoe renewal, ha! I have learned to buy the more expensive higher quality shoes because they are better for their feet and last longer, which in Cale's case means three boys will wear the shoes and in Morgan size I can wear them when she outgrows them SCORE!

Sorry no pictures but the house looked like a tornado and didn't think they would appreciate half clothed pictures of themselveson the internet =)

Big boys (wink, wink)

2011-05-18T08:56:00.000-07:00

2011-05-17T08:32:00.001-07:00

More and more camping

2011-05-17T08:31:00.000-07:00

Seems all we do these days is talk about camping or go camping so thus continues camping pictures. We had an awesome spot this time and already reserved it again in three weeks. There was a huge grass area behind the site where the kids could run, we walked to the beach twice, the first night it was cold and windy but Saturday it was actually fairly calm and not freezing which was such a nice change. Don has begun calling the coast and camping his own personal version of yoga, relaxing I guess =)

More camping

2011-05-04T12:51:00.000-07:00

I have a funny feeling many of my posts for the next forever will be us camping. We had another great weekend. The weather was gorgeous. We ran out of propane on Saturday morning luckily so we were able to run into Newport and have it refilled or out little trailer would have gotten pretty chilly Saturday night. Oh and we couldn't cook on the stove which isn't that big of a deal considering we cook most everything on the bbq. We took a long walk on Saturday and found a cool area with tons of starfish, sea anemones, thankful again for our times to get to do these things together.

Easter weekend

2011-04-25T13:42:00.000-07:00

What a glorious weekend it was! Sunshine and beautiful weather Saturday, church and a somewhat cooler Sunday. Don got out the smoker and we had chicken Saturday and brisket Sunday YUMMY! Thankful he enjoys doing it as much as we enjoy eating it! The kids colored some eggs and we all just enjoyed some family time!

Don't you have one of these in your kitchen, too?

2011-04-18T09:13:00.001-07:00

Our first camping adventure

2011-04-18T09:10:00.000-07:00

We survived and had the most amazing time. I can tell you I feel so relaxed after a few days away from the house doing super fun things! Oh and it only rained Friday night and was overcast Saturday until mid day when the sun tried poking through. Of course Sunday was beautiful but I can honestly say I wouldn't have cared if it rained all weekend. We had a blast!! Can't wait to go again.

We left town at 6 Friday night and got to the coast at 7:45. We found our beloved campsite, with a few huge puddles and rain coming down. We left the kids and the dog in the suburban while we tried to set up the trailer. Our first "issue" was someone left the water faucet open so when we turned on the outside water the inside sink filled and overflowed all over the floor in the bathroom. Thankfully I brought a ton of towels and we used at least half to clean that up. Finally let the kids and dog out and Brock started looking a little iffy then ran to the bathroom and managed to throw up on the lid and the floor of the toilet but none actually made it in (yep more towels) He ran a fever on and off all weekend but was in pretty good spirits and slept well. He went to bed last night at around 6pm and didn't wake up this morning until 7.

We got up with the birds on Saturday and had our meals, went to check out another campsite, a little visit to walmart for some things we didn't realize we would need like marshmallow roasting forks, duh who forgets those =) Oh get this I have yet to find myself a pair of rain boots, my little feet are too wide so I spent the weekend in my hiking boots which aren't really meant for sitting around, oh well, my search will continue for those. Saturday night we bbq'ed burgers and then roasted marshmallows yum!!! Sunday we slept in a little then decided to pack up because we didn't know how long it would take to load up and with the unknown sewer dump looming we decided to start early. Well half an hour later we were at the sewer disposal which thankfully went off without a hitch, maybe a little gag here and there but no leakage, spillage or other yuck, unlike the guy in front of us who splashed something yellow on his shoes, YUCK!!!

We got home around noon, started what turned in to nine loads of laundry, did a little yardwork. By 5 we were all exhausted but of course Morgan and I after some thrifty coupon clipping headed to Albertsons were we got $20 worth of stuff for $9 along with two coupons, one for a pound of free frozen veggies, and another for a 24 pack of water. So with those two items my $9 spent and then getting free water that is usually $4 and veggies that are usually $2. I got $26 worth of stuff for $9 Woohoo. We have two more trips planned before Wednesday to Safeway and Walgreens. I will admit to the fact that I am buying things that we need and will use like Don is almost out of razors and I will get those free at Walgreens and then Easter items at Safeway!!!!

Wow, that was a long post, I will put on a slew of pictures to counterbalance my overuse of words =)

Don cooking our bacon and eggs

Cool tree near our trailer.

Someone took a lot of time building this shelter almost exclusively of driftwood.

Don teaching Cale to use a hatchet.

Oh Ben did awesome! So thankful for how well he did.

Helping Daddy!

2011-04-13T08:42:00.000-07:00

Well sort of... Don was cutting up wood for leveling things for our trailer for our upcoming camping trip and the boys decided to "help" They were so cute in their ear protection.

Geocaching with the family

2011-04-08T08:35:00.000-07:00

Craft time!

2011-03-30T12:48:00.000-07:00

So much fun gluing tissue paper to cardboard. They had a great time.

Images from Spokane

2011-03-30T12:46:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple pictures for those who care =) The green house was our amazing neighbor Gen, it hasn't changed in color since I was little. The brown and white house was the very first house I lived in until I was 7 or 8. Awesome house, they have eliminated the front yard grass and put in a nice fence. I remember learning to ride my bike in front of this house while my brother played in the grass in his little playground. Lots of great memories there! The last picture is of the court house, I never really thought of it as a beautiful building but man driving by it this weekend, it's gorgeous. I didn't realize how lucky I had been to live around so much history and beauty until being gone for six years or so.

Gorgeous clouds

2011-03-30T12:38:00.000-07:00

On our way out of town Friday night I noticed some gorgeous clouds. Seeing God in nature is always such a attitude boost for me!

More pictures

2011-03-24T12:42:00.000-07:00

I will admit I've been having some issues getting my computer to let me download pictures off my camera. Lo and behold I changed anti-virus software and all kinds of things are working better. I do have a new company I am using and it is catching things the other didn't it is just more compatible so now I can put pictures on this here bloggy thing =)

Someone fell out of bed and continued sleeping on the floor =)

Brock helping Don fix our leaky pipes.

Love and silly putty

2011-03-24T08:43:00.001-07:00

Feeding the ducks

2011-03-24T08:39:00.000-07:00

Finally had a nice night and some extra time so we headed to the park near our house and fed the ducks. They made the weirdest noises, didn't sound like ducks, more of a cross between chickens and song birds, didn't hear a single quack. We had a great time and got rid of the nasty tasting wheat bread from Costco =)

Pictures

2011-03-09T12:09:00.000-08:00

Ben sitting so nice waiting for our walk.

I think this turkey was a little puffed up about the dog on the other side of the fence. We should have called the turkey Smokey =)

This was the funniest sign. Before we got to it Cale came running down the path asking me what Norses were haha!

Ben enjoying a little tromp in the water.

2011-03-08T10:01:00.000-08:00

You know when you have four kids, stay home all the time, homeschool, are sick so you can't go to church, oh and have a daycare you just feel isolated? Well, that's how I feel lately. I know it's winter, I know this season of life will pass but the one shining light in the whole thing is Don is home every night, we are enjoying having him home still!!! I know a lot of people have asked me if I am sick of him and ready for him to go on the road, I don't see how anyone could say that. Yep I'm married but I want to see less of my spouse?!? Whatever, well, we've been having some fun times lately we headed over to our favorite stomping ground in Corvallis last weekend to let the dog and the kids get rid of some energy. I think we walked 4 miles and got a little wet but it was fun. Don is starting to get in to this outdoorsy thing =) He is still on light duty, his doctor has him on some different meds and he has been getting acupuncture type treatments but she is injecting lidocaine into the needle points and it seems to be helping somewhat. I think the biggest thing we have to remember is that it took a long time for him to get to this point and it may take that long to get full use and painfree living back. I can't get pictures to upload today so will try and add some later.

Snow day 2011

2011-02-24T15:32:00.000-08:00

Probably the only snow we'll get this year, but we had a blast playing in it. Ty said it was the most fun he'd ever had =)

Fun in the snow day

2011-02-19T18:53:00.000-08:00

After being cooped up in the house all day Friday, we headed to the hills Saturday and found some snow to play in. Wished we had warmer clothes but had a great time!

Trip to the Science Factory

2011-02-15T10:12:00.000-08:00

Much needed haircuts

2011-02-15T10:10:00.000-08:00

Beautiful scenery shots

2011-02-15T10:08:00.000-08:00

Loved the clouds just sitting on the hill.

Out geochaching with the dog.

Sunrise

Fun day with friends

2011-02-15T10:05:00.000-08:00

We had some friends over for the day and it was fun to see all eight of them play together so nicely. They haven't really played together in quite a while, but it didn't take them long to get in a groove, we actually had no meltdowns or fights the entire day =)

Hot/Cold elbow treatment

2011-02-15T10:02:00.000-08:00

So for part of Don's therapy he had to do dips of his arm into really hot water then into ice cold and of course the kids wanted to get in on it. Let me just tell you it was rather uncomfortable in the cold.

2011-02-15T09:47:00.000-08:00

I don't know if anyone still reads this but we finally have our computer back!!! So I will be downloading pictures from the last month and a half from my camera and then putting some posts on the blog. Whew, feels good to have the computer back, now I don't have to share with Don anymore =)

Wednesday

2011-01-26T13:40:00.000-08:00

What a difference a day can make. I took the kids for a hike in Corvallis yesterday, in the sunshine, then headed to Papas Pizza to use our free pizza coupons. Amazing to have them sit and do their schoolwork now two days in a row without arguing, so so nice. I think I just needed to get outside, oh and some much needed vitamin D was awesome also! Tonight is Kidmo so Don and I get our weekly hour and a half date! Starbucks and some quiet are in order!!!

Where I use a lot of punctuation

2011-01-25T10:56:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's almost been three weeks since I posted last, that's a long time huh? =) Well, something that we've been struggling with since the first week of January is we received a letter from the workmans comp board denying part of Don's claim, they've only approved the elbow but denied that the back, neck, and shoulders is work related. Soo, we ended up having to hire an attorney and file an appeal (the hearing isn't until April 8th.) Luckily an attorney in a workmans comp case is no charge unless we receive a settlement which we aren't looking for anyhow, we just want the state to see that his pain is work related and help us deal with getting Don better. Needless to say it's been a bit stressful here along with the fact that I currently only have one daycare family (I have an interview Thursday with a new family that would also be part time but still its something.) We have been spending time lately looking at camping stuff for the potential of being able to purchase some kind of trailer this spring, it's been fun, and free (yeah) Of course we've found quite a few dream trailers but we must bring our reality into the mix, we hope to find something to fit seven to eight people so we can bring grandmas or friends along. It seems to be the only way we will be able to go on vacation with our kids and it was something I really enjoyed doing growing up with my family.

The kids are all doing well, losing teeth, building legos, painting on the carpet (ugh.) We still don't have our desktop back, we went to pick it up in Salem and found that somehow in their shipping they broke the front faceplate to the whole thing so they are sending it back again to repair that. I am a little concerned that if something that harsh happened to it that the interior repair they did may not actually still be fixed, we will see. So we are continuing to use Don's laptop and I have a few pictures on my camera and some video but will have to wait til we get our regular computer back to upload them to the blog.

Hmm, I am rambling, just doing a little catchup on some of the highlights or lowlights, you decide. Hope you all are doing well.

Don's at it again!

2011-01-07T23:46:00.000-08:00

Our neighbor asked us to make her daughter birthday cake this year and I think it turned out so awesome! Leave it to Don to outdo himself yet again. Oh and he's letting me download pictures on his laptop, woohoo!

Couldn't leave out the dog =)

What's been going on!

2011-01-06T10:56:00.000-08:00

Well obviously our Christmas was great, then my mom left the 30th and later that day so did our desktop computer =( Don was surfing the web and it shut down so we tried a few more times and it kept doing the same thing. Then we praised God that we had purchased an extended warranty for our computer that is set to expire the end of March! So to Salem and the trusty Geek Squad we headed. They took the computer along with $100 because of course I am horrible about saving pictures to anything but the hard drive and I couldn't be certain what was or wasn't on the computer. Yes I will figure it out after the picture thing when we get it back but for now I know all my pictures are safe and on disc!!!! So needless to say I am thankful for Don's laptop but will not be adding any pictures to the blog until our regular computer gets back (I don't want to have to figure out how to save those somewhere also) So anyhow we have been busy with schoolwork, cleaning, enjoying the sunshine when it decides to appear and also continuing to have Don home nightly! Continued prayer in that area is still requested =) Oh and I got to go to a movie all by myself!!! I followed the example of a friend of mine who also goes by herself often. It was a much needed break and an awesome movie. HARRY POTTER ALL THE WAY! =)

Christmas 2010

2010-12-27T08:59:00.000-08:00

Okay instead of posting 48 pictures individually I posted Christmas in a slide show! Enjoy, I know we did oh and we are still putting together legos...

Santa Visit 2010

2010-12-27T08:40:00.000-08:00

Well, we had a little visit from Santa and his reindeer on Christmas...pictures of the aftermath are in the slideshow. Crazy Ben and Chet had a grand time destroying the house =)

Here's a copy of the letter Santa left the kids...wonder what he will do next year. You will have to click on it to make it larger for some reason it won't upload on blogger so you can see it all.

Continuation of Morgan's Birthday

2010-12-27T08:30:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday Morgan

2010-12-23T06:44:00.000-08:00

It's officially Morgan's birthday! I can't believe she's 11 already, seems like just yesterday! Morgan, thanks so much for your sweet heart. You are growing so fast (stop it already by the way!) I miss baby Morgan but am loving getting to see the young lady that you are becoming!

Here's a preview of her cake and of course more pictures will follow once we do presents and candle blowing, etc. =)

Hurray

2010-12-17T06:42:00.000-08:00

For the past two months there has been a black cloud of worry and stress hanging over Don and I regarding his workmans comp claim and it was finally, finally lifted yesterday when we got the best letter in the mail telling us that it was accepted! We knew God would provide either way but to have two words in black and white "CLAIM ACCEPTED." Both of us slept better last night for sure! It was kind of hard looking at Christmas presents, etc. not knowing if we should save any and all money we had to start putting towards MRI's and physical therapy but now, we are free, woohoo! Not to go crazy mind you on presents but to at least feel like we aren't in limbo anymore=)

In other news, MY MOM IS COMING TUESDAY! We haven't seen her since August and I am dying for a Mom hug!!! Merry Christmas!

Just a wee bit of flooding!

2010-12-13T09:53:00.000-08:00

We went down last night to check out our old swimming hole, needless to say there was just a little bit more water than during the summer. It was fun to see how much the river has gone up with all the rain we've had lately.

This summer kind of a before picture =)

The redish tinged trees in the center left were where you used to be able to get into the water.

Storybook land

2010-12-12T10:21:00.000-08:00

I promise we all went, Brock just refused to go anywhere near Santa =) We did all have a great time though.

Christmas tree 2010

2010-12-12T10:16:00.000-08:00

Someone got a haircut

2010-11-30T10:08:00.000-08:00

Well she finally did it. It doesn't look like a lot in the pictures but trust me it is! We cut off around 5 inches at her request. I will post some pictures of it washed later today.

Back before

Front before

Front after

Back after

2010-11-29T08:59:00.000-08:00

Hello again, I haven't really felt up to posting on the blog, not feeling like I had anything to say and overall feeling tired and worn out lately. We haven't been super busy lately, Don has been home every night for the past six, almost seven weeks because he was injured at work and they have him working light duty. It has changed our lives in a pretty major way as far as having him home at the same time nightly. We still don't have an exact diagnosis on what's going on with his back, shoulders or elbow but they are going to do an MRI in the next few weeks on his neck to see if they can pinpoint where the pain is coming from. Please be praying as we have approached his employer in hopes of them creating a position for him that would take him out of the truck completely. They want him to heal first and then will discuss it but pay, hours, expectations would all have to fall into place as this would be a total God's will kind of thing. We of course know how we would like His will to go but alas we aren't in control =)

Here's some pictures from the past couple weeks and I will try and post more regularly (Sorry Mom =)

Veterans Day Parade

2010-11-13T07:47:00.000-08:00

We headed to the annual Veterans Day Parade and had a great time, it didn't rain which was a miracle in itself. We didn't stay til the end because once the sun went behind the clouds it was super chilly. So thankful to our veterans for keeping us safe and risking their lives for our freedom!

Go Ducks!

This helicopter flew over several times and very close, it was pretty cool.

Add caption

They really did look like the Blues Brothers

All about Brock

2010-11-13T07:42:00.000-08:00

Couldn't resist a picture of Brock's nap spot...he usually lays down and falls asleep instantly in his bed but evidently it wasn't as comfortable as this floor on this occasion =)

We took all the kids out for dessert the other night and we wondered if he wore more than he ate!

All clean

2010-11-09T06:19:00.001-08:00

Hi Mom, just in case you read the blog before you go to work in the morning, have a great day! Love you!

Sunday

2010-11-08T08:48:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a nice day, Don and I got up quite early to start smoking our 22 pound turkey. It was our first and we also thought we should try it before Thanksgiving. I think we will all admit that regular turkey will never quite be as desired as smoked from now on

Brock has really gotten into coloring lately, he's quite good

Ty enjoying the leg of our turkey

Brock requested quite a lot to wash the pots, what a good helper.

Busy Saturday

2010-11-06T15:38:00.000-07:00

We had a busy morning this morning. We headed to Shedd to Thompson Flour Mill (cool place by the way if you've never been.) Next up was the Albany Carousel Museum to see all the new animals and what they've done since we were there a few months ago.

Mill keepers house.

Morgan with one of the sweet mill cats.

Wheat seperator.

The parts in some of the turbines were made of ironwood and lignumvita, they said it held up better than a lot of metal would.

One of the mill stones.

A variety of the flour sacks.

The far dark colored water is Calapooia and the water with the foam on top comes from the millrace.