Fingerpaint Queen

Pre-crawling at 4 months

2011-12-29T13:41:00.002-07:00

Could someone please tell my daughter that she is only turned 4 months old last week and she should NOT be trying to crawl. She already is not listening to me. Sigh, they try to act older at younger and younger ages. (smile)

Christmas Eve pics

2011-12-27T13:24:00.004-07:00

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-27T12:54:00.006-07:00

Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family! The kids had a very magical, fun christmas where they all got what they had hoped for and more!

We are so very blessed!

Meet Rocky (as in Rocky Road Icecream because he is Chocolate, Carmel and Marshmallow colored)

Elf Antics

2011-12-27T12:39:00.002-07:00

Here are the last of Farkle's antics. There were a few more days in there, but they were not very exciting so I didn't take any pictures (ie was too lazy to get camera). See ya next year Remarkable Farkle Skittles!

Elf on the Shelf Days 14 and 15

2011-12-10T05:57:00.004-07:00

Day 15- Farkle got creative with the graffiti on the kids' pictures

Day 14

Elf on the Shelf Days 9-13

2011-12-07T19:54:00.004-07:00

Here is Farkle Skittles most recent shenanigans!
Day 9- Acrobatics on the cuckoo clock

Day 10- Pumping up (getting ready to lift all of those heavy presents!)

Day 11- Swinging around the solar system that is on Colton and Christopher's bedroom ceiling.

Day 12- Impersonating a pirate- Farkle was found riding in Colton's pirate ship he made (which I think his teacher intended them to make Mayflower's since it came home the day before Thanksgiving) :)

Day 13- Hanging out on our "sparkle" table top fiber optic tree. That is sitting in the place where our "real tree" is going to go. (Yes, I know, I don't have a tree yet... bad mom. We are waiting until dad gets home this weekend!)

Elf on the Shelf Day 8

2011-12-02T11:38:00.003-07:00

So we've discovered that Farkle has a bit of a sweet tooth and dug into the brownies that we made yesterday, but were going to eat today! Luckily there was still enough for everyone to have at lunchtime.

Elf on the Shelf Days 1-7

2011-11-30T21:44:00.007-07:00

Day 1- Our Elf on the Shelf arrived and was named Remarkable Farkle Skittles (Colton and Christopher via names picked out of a hat) Evan was very excited that Farkle Skittles could correspond with Elfie (the Elf that reports to his house).

Day 2 - Dancing with Cinderella

Day 3- Riding a Ceramic Dragon with a toy sword in his hands (he heard we were going to visit Medevial Times that night)! Picture to come!

Day 4- Swinging around the kitchen light

Day 5- Getting a piggyback ride from our shelf frog!

Day 6 (November 30th): Farkle was found wrapped up in our Fall decorations and tearing them down since tomorrow is December and he wants the Christmas decorations to come out! He took this:

And did this:

Day 7: (December 1st) Since we didn't have a tree yet, Farkle thought he would help us by decorating the main floor bathroom. He is very excited to start celebrating Christmas!

Your eyes aren't fooling you, he dyed the toilet water green and put glitter and an ornament inside! Silly elves!

Awana Grand Prix

2011-11-14T18:07:00.004-07:00

Sunday night we attended the Awana Grand Prix. Colton with his car "Road Rage" got first, then second to make it to the final race and finally came in fourth! Christopher swept the race with his "Spiderman" car got first in the Cubbies division and Carson with his "Thomas" car won a few races and recieved first for design!

Colton is already planning on how he is going to pick a more aerodynamic design for next year! :)

Colton sanding his car, getting ready to paint! Christopher with his car getting ready to paint!

Celebratory dance after Christopher's car came in first

Brothers with their first place trophies!

Carson and Christophers cars going head to head!

(Thomas and Spiderman)Colton excited for his car to race

Christopher awarded his trophy. When they put the microphone to his

mouth and asked "what would you like to say?" His reply "I am the winner!"

Carson after it was announced that he won 1st for design.

(Though I am not sure he really knew why everyone was so excited for him!)

So excited about his trophy that he slept with it!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-03T08:21:00.007-06:00

Thought I better post our Halloween pics before it's Christmas! The kids had a great time! This is as close as Carson ever got to wearing his Thomas costume, but once he realized that if you knocked on people's doors they would give you candy. I love that revelation at this age, it's too funny! Except that when we took his tiny over-flowing bucket away to dump it in the stroller, he had a full-blown, two-year-old tantrum screaming at us to "give back canneeeey"!
The pics are in reverse order, but you get the idea :) Now on to Thanksgiving and Christmas projects.

This is our "haul"! Insane amount of candy
Notice the abundance of Almond Joy; Christopher, for some reason, thought they were "Superman candy" and said they were his favorite... ug, you really can't argue with a 4 yo in front of the person offering them free candy. So whenever they let him choose, he would pick Almond Joy. Yuck. Clearly we need to coach them next year on the ones to pick!

Carson in his raincoat, er, costume.

Calista riding in her box-stroller

Super Mario Bros to the rescue. (Colton took off with his friends out the door, so no pics of him trick-or-treating)

Christopher showing how we make the "poop"(tootsie rolls and raisinets) to put in our kitty-litter cake for the neighborhood Halloween party. I think a few brave souls tried the cake!

Calista LOVING her first taste of candy! She happily slurped at the sucker and was *really disappointed* when we took it away!
(Note: I am not one of those parents that think they will be ruined if they taste sugar before they are five years old. Don't judge me!)

Our pumpkins: Auto-bot Transformer (Colton), Spiderman(Christopher), Thomas face (Carson), Baby girl pumpkin(Calista)
These pics were taken when they were freshly-carved. By Halloween the squirrels, slugs and black flies did their job and the rotten nasty pumpkins were dumped into a garbage bag Tuesday morning!

Colton carved the Transformer entirely by himself!

Making the outlines for Colton and Christopher's pumpkins

Christopher cutting out spiderman's eyes

Pumpkins all lined up ready to be carved

Colton's Baptism 10-16

2011-10-19T08:48:00.003-06:00

We just want to thank the Lord
For your step of faith
In coming to Him to be baptized
And to go forth in His grace
We pray God's hand will guide you
Throughout your future years
And keep you faithful in His ways
And in His word and prayer.
May God bless your life
For stepping out for Him
Proclaiming unto others
The faith you have within.
by M.S. Lowndes

We are so proud of you Colton and the choice and declaration that you have made! We pray that you will grow in your faith, be a blessing and a light to others, and you would always trust that the Lord has His best for you. We love you!

First day of Preschool

2011-09-27T18:54:00.000-06:00

Happy first day of Preschool! They had a blast!

Who's the baby?

2011-09-17T06:41:00.001-06:00

So just for fun, I wanted to compare pictures of the kids around 2-3 weeks. It may just be that they are all newborns and "all newborns look alike", but I really can't tell the difference and had to keep going back to see who is who!

Scroll down for the answers!

Photo Card

2011-09-15T11:39:00.001-06:00

Little Birdie Baby Announcements

Announcements for all occasions: graduation, a new baby, or wedding.

View the entire collection of cards.

Baby and bottles and brothers, oh my!

2011-09-12T09:35:00.005-06:00

So today I will attempt to introduce bottles to Calista. I am really hopeful since my last two children never touched a bottle, though I would have to blame it on my lack of "doing".
And as much as I have tried (which really isn't much), I have no idea why blogger keeps taking my pictures and orienting them any which way it pleases. I have tried to fix this and just don't have the time to waste on it anymore. I am sure that whoever thought that it would help people to "auto-flip" your pictures for you, but once again, the computer does not recognize how "I" actually want my pics. So sorry, I really did try to fix this, but couldn't, so you get to view the pics all *dilly-wampus*. Enjoy!

Enjoying her first real bath!

I think I may have a spa buddy!

Woo Hoo for 4th Grade!!!

Calista with her penguin buddy! 2 weeks- for growth reference

Carson enjoying his new toy! (Sheesh look how BIG he looks!)

(Sorry upside-down: read above)
Carson hanging out with Calista

The Princess and the P (for pacifier)

2011-09-07T08:43:00.000-06:00

So Calista gave us two really good weeks of sleep, barely waking up, feeding and falling right back to sleep. Iknow the last thing you want to do is hear about me complain about lack of sleep, but now miss fussy pants feels like she can be awake and use me for her pacifier. I've tried all the tricks and two different styles of pacifiers and (sigh) i need more sleep than 3 broken hours for the third night in a row. Christopher never took a paci or bottle, but i don't remember having such a hard time getting him to settle back down. My other two boys I trained to take the pacifier. Ok, that's all the whining. I'll just try a couple of more styles and hope that something takes. I guess that's why there's so many kinds out there.

Anyway, to catch you up on what we've been doing since she was born:

Day 3: released from hospital

Day 5: walked around Mt. Vernon

Day 6: downtown to see White House and Memorials

Day 7: downtown to see Museums

Day 9 and 10: Kings Dominion Amusement Park

Day 11: Memorial Day BBQ

So maybe this hanging around the house is not exciting enough for her. Is she going to be a whirlwind, fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants (what does that actually mean?) kind of girl like her momma? We'll see! Anyway here are a few pictures of our adventures! Enjoy

Snuggled in bed

Carson with Sally and Linus
(had a pic of Carson and Linus comparing blankies, but it wouldn't upload)

Carson on the bumper cars

Christopher ready to take off on the roller coaster

He LOVED driving these cars around the track.

Calista stretched out by the wave pool

Christopher's favorite ride The Avalanche

Colton heading up the track on the Avalanche

Calista Julianne Atchley

2011-08-26T17:30:00.006-06:00

Ready or not! An earthquake isn't going to stop this!

Calista Julianne

August 23, 2011

7lbs 14oz 20inches

Proud mommy, happy to finally meet her little angel!

Grandpa Jim

Proud Big Brother

Carson loved to kiss her head!

Ready to go home!

Let's go!

Carson adjusting Calista's swing

If you can't keep yourself up, just lean on a buddy!

Beautiful dreamer

Grandma Linda

38 weeks

2011-08-19T05:32:00.009-06:00

So to gain a little perspective, I "dug" through pics of the other pregnancies and wanted to compare belly sizes. I am very anxious and excited to be done and am hoping that this will be my last "belly" picture!

38 weeks

34, 28, and 20 weeks with Calista

37, 38 and 39 weeks with Carson

37 Weeks with Christopher

So what to two children play when both of their moms are very pregnant? This cracks me up!

Can you forgive me?

2011-08-15T13:55:00.015-06:00

So it has been almost three months since you have heard from me on here! I have to blame Facebook for my lazyness. Take pic with phone, add caption, upload, you're done. Not to mention the time consuming effort it takes to upload pics from camera, upload to blogger and then come up with witty, entertaining things to say. So there you have it. Oh, and plus our laptop died (and has now been added to "things Colton gets to take apart"). In the midst of adding another Atchley to the family, I thought I better give you an update so I won't feel guilty that all of my blogs will be dedicated to pics of our new bundle. So much more has happened that I wanted to share, but here are some of the highlights, enjoy!

April:
Colton turned 9 and had a Sonic themed party at the bowling alley!

Christopher turned 4 and had a "yellow" themed party!

June:

Carson turned 2 and promptly embraced his age!

July:
4th of July with Jackie and Shae visiting!

Jackie and Shae (and Flat Shelby) joined us for Mt. Vernon, Memorials and museums downtown DC, the National Zoo, and all sorts of fun!

August:
Vacation Bible School (with a cooking theme) I got to meet Norman Davis, one of my favorite Food Network Challenge competitors

We have been doing all sorts of activities with our neighborhood friends to include mini-golf, strawberry picking, Memorial day picnic, playing at local parks and tons of time at the pool!

Did I mention that we have spent a lot of time keeping cool at the pool?

We really have had a fun summer and are looking forward to welcoming our new little girl, starting school and fun fall activities! I will keep you posted!

California

2011-05-21T20:03:00.004-06:00

Jesse's grandma Althea passed away Easter morning and we flew out the next day. I don't really know what to say right now, I just wanted to get a few pictures up, but I put a ton on Facebook for anyone to check out if you're interested.

PS. Trying to get caught up! :)

The whole group

(This is actually the first time that all of these people have ever

been in the same place at the same time.)

Christopher with a seal pup in the background

Christopher and Katie This was his "best day ever"!

(and we heard about that for days after!)

The boys at Patrick's Point

Carson on the Pier at Trinidad

Happy Easter!

2011-05-01T00:09:00.007-06:00

(Disclaimer: This post was actually written two weeks ago , but Internet Explorer was not recognizing the "Post" button so I am hoping that Mozilla will be my friend.)

Happy Easter to all! This is a little late, but Jesse's grandma passed away on Easter morning and we have been in California since Monday. (more on that soon). I thought I better post some Easter pics before it is pretty old news!

These are a little chronologically backwards since we went to church first, took pics and then had our egg hunt, but you get the gist of it!

I hope you all had a wonderful time celebrating the resurrection of Jesus!

Carson out of his church suit and already digging into the candy!

Christopher excited that he found his basket

Colton barely able to fit another egg in his basket

All dressed in their Easter best!

GQ Colton

Christopher *really* wanting to go play in the mud behind me

Carson and his silly grin

Mom and her gentlemenJesse and his boys!

Sweet baby girl

2011-04-15T07:32:00.004-06:00

Through calls, email or Facebook, I am sure most of you have heard that our newest addition is a sweet baby girl! Jesse and I are completely shocked, since we really assumed that we would be having another boy. It really has been fun looking at the fun baby girl clothes and we are starting a nice little wardrobe for her!

IF we decide to go with a "C" name, we have narrowed it down to:

Calista

Catelyn or Catelin shortened to Cate

Cicely

Happy 9th birthday Colton!

2011-04-05T08:45:00.002-06:00

Happy Birthday Colton! We had his party at Bowl America on Saturday and had a turnout of 17 kids!

Colton helping to decorate his cake. He's adding golden flames

to the back of Shadow (from Sonic) motorcycle!

The whole bunch! Birthday Boy!

After he picked up a spare

Best Buds!

April Fool's Part Deux

2011-04-01T17:40:00.006-06:00

For my grand finale of April Fool's Day, I made a meatloaf cake with blue mashed potato frosting and ketchup (for writing), "fishsticks" made from melted KitKats covered in crushed frosted flakes and "mashed potatoes and gravy" made from natural vanilla icecream and carmel sauce. We really had fun with this and the kids really liked it. Carson even ate the mashed potato "frosting" which he usually spits out. Go figure, I guess I'll just have to use tons of food coloring if I want him to eat mashed potatoes! Hope you all had a fun day!

"Fish sticks"

"Mashed Potatoes and gravy"

"2 Layer cake"

yaD s'looF lirpA yppaH

2011-04-01T05:49:00.003-06:00

So far Colton has woken up with Barbie socks on his feet, Jesse stepped into a shower with rubber cochroaches and Colton has been fooling everyone his package of "rattlesnake eggs". This is what you send for school treats when your child's birthday falls on April 2nd and he gets to bring treats on April Fools Day. Grilled cheese sandwiches (pound cake with orange frosting) and Broccoli Juice (kiwi strawberrry Hawaiian Punch) PS Thanks Jill for helping to put together 24 of them!

Come back later and see what I have planned for dinner! Can't let all of my secrets out!

Adventures in parenting boys

2011-03-25T07:26:00.004-06:00

So last night as I was giving Carson a bath, I hear Jesse clamoring up from the basement yelling that he needed help. Not wanting to neglect the baby in the tub, I ask what was going on. He said "Call 911, Christopher cut his head on the treadmill."

(sidenote: Jesse, Colton and Christopher were "working out" and Colton had been walking at a brisk pace on the treadmill and pulled out the little key to stop it. Well, Christopher wanted on and stuck the key in, when it started going too fast, he hopped off. Before Jesse could stop him, he hopped back on at the quick pace and his feet flipped up and he fell back, allowing the treadmill to launch him headfirst, back into another piece of workout equipment.)

Back to the story:
I sent Colton up to watch Carson, then called the ambulance as Jesse tried to stop the blood spurting out of the top of Christopher's head. We couldn't tell how back the cut was. The ambulance came promptly and bandaged him up to where we decided that we would just drive him to the ER (it is about 2 miles away). Christopher stayed really calm and perked up even in the Peds ER waiting room when he saw all of the toys. They did a fabulous job with him and there was a lady that came and gave him bubbles and coloring sheets while he snuggled on my lap watching Monsters Inc. They got him good and numbed up and popped a couple of staples in. He was a champ and whether it was the two popsicles he had after the staples, or the numbing of the pain, he was bounding all over the ER as we were trying to discharge. He'll have to go back in 10-14 days to get them removed. So that was our fun adventure last night. I am sure there are bound to be more! (knock on wood)

In the waiting room

Excited about the toys

After the staples were in

Eating his popsicle and waiting for the discharge papers

Corresponding Pictures

2011-03-14T18:03:00.007-06:00

Here are the corresponding pictures from the previous post. Only 15 days later... sorry :)

1. Connie and Blake's visit

2. Valentines Day (Christopher picked out this card by himself!)

3. and 5. Colton in his play about Egypt and posing in his Irish shirt for International Night.

6. Trip downtown to the American History Museum.

February Wrap up

2011-02-28T18:33:00.003-07:00

Sorry to all of my devoted fans that have been growing tired of seeing Carson at the top of the page. (as cute as as he may be!) I figured I would never hear the end of it from Connie if I didn't get in a blog about her visit and so I'll do a quick version of all that has gone on this month!

Well. I tried three times and it kept kicking me off of getting any pictures on here. As I type this, I am hoping that it will at least post this! I will get some pics up soon! A quick recap w/out pics:
1. Connie and Blake came for a visit and we had such a fun time! Went up to Medieval Times, ate tons of tasty food, went to a play at the Kennedy Center (sans kids!), downtown to the Smithsonian Mus. Nat. History, ice skating, and lots of hanging out!

2. Super fun Valentines

3. Colton had a production/Concert at school about Egypt. He did a great job saying his line!

4. Two weekends ago went to the NRA National Firearms Museum and had a better time than I had expected! (That was an impromtu trip, so no pics)

5. Colton had International Night at his school and made a big display about Ireland. I made an Irish side dish called Colcannon (think mashed potatoes with chopped and sauteed cabbage, leeks, onion, and bacon. And lots of butter!) It was really tasty and didn't last very long!

6. This past weekend we went downtown to the American History Museum. That was pretty fun. We saw a number of great exhibits from the Wars to Pop culture to a neat interactive science/invention area. We were all worn out!

I'll try within the next couple of days to get the corresponding pictures up! Grrr, electronics sometimes!

Silly Carson

2011-02-04T12:01:00.003-07:00

Carson wouldn't settle down to bed the other night, so Connie and I had fun with him talking on the phone. He was being such a goofball! She only got the end of him "talking" on the phone. I love it when I'm singing Twinkle, Twinkle and he rolls his eyes! Here's a quick video:

A little this, a little that...

2011-01-17T18:31:00.002-07:00

Cubbie bear came to visit this week (Awanas), so we had a little "going away party" with all of his friends he met this week.

Nothing is more highly anticipated than cookies in the oven.

Do you think the person who invented the light inside of the oven knew that this would be the result?

He was trying to sniff the cookies though the glass.

I love the full belly-tickle laughs!

Carson was extremely intrigued by the lobsters we had on New Years.

Christopher was a little leery until he could retaliate with his swords.

On New Years Eve it is sort of a tradition to pick one of our favorite indulgences. For me and Jesse, we had lobster, Colton picked Fruity Pebbles, and Christopher chose chocolate donuts. The sugar rush helped them stay up til midnight.

I will repeat (and you'll hear me say it again), how much I love our LoveSac! This picture of Carson makes him look like a baby bird in a nest! (This was right after it was all fluffed up)

First Pic

2011-01-13T10:40:00.004-07:00

Aww, what a cute little fetus you are! Welcome to existance baby #4! Will you be a boy or a girl? Either way, you will be loved and anticipated!

Our due date is September 3rd, we are 6 weeks, 4 days along!

Psalm 127:3-5 (Message bible)

Don't you see that children are God's best gift?the fruit of the womb his generous legacy? Like a warriors fist full of arrows are the children of a vigorous youth. Oh, how blessed are you parents with your quivers full of children!

High school blackmail

2010-12-30T08:44:00.002-07:00

This has officially been documented and will be used for black mail in High School or any opportune time.
Colton wanted to use some of his Christmas $ to buy a Build a Bear and Christopher chose to pick out an outfit for his kitty (which he LOVES). His choices were a little pair of jeans with a black and white shirt or a frilly princess dress with butterfly wings on the back. Jesse said "Well, at least it's blue". :)

We were never quite sure if kitty was a boy or girl, and now we do. Kitty was very excited to recieve her new outfit!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-28T09:46:00.002-07:00

We had such a great Christmas! Some of the highlights are:
1. I actually surprised Jesse with a Love Sac! He had no idea-I guess it helps when you have a basement full of boxes. We absolutely LOVE this thing, it is truly the most comfortable thing I have EVER sat in!

2. Eventhough Colton didn't get some of the things he was hoping for, he had such a thankful heart and just loved the things that he recieved!

3. After a special present Christopher got, he hopped up and gave me a sweet kiss on the cheek.
(I think they may be buttering me up for next year)

4. I really feel like I was able to put a lot of the focus on Jesus' birth and the spirit of giving more than the commercialism of Christmas. And I feel that they really "got it".

5. Um... with that being said, did you see that I got TWO adorable pairs of boots! I am hoping for a little "weather" so I can break in my new rubber boots.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a blessed new year!

Advent Calendars and Christmas Eve gifts

2010-12-24T23:58:00.003-07:00

So day 24 marks the last day of chocolates from our Advent calendars (though I know I will be hearing from Christopher, why we aren't having chocolate right before bed every night). I was very excited to find an Advent book with each day broken down into a small portion of the Nativity story. This was exactly what I was looking for and each little board book has a string that loops on to our little "sparkle" tree (fiber optics). I hope to continue this little tradition for many years to come.

Tried to use no flash so you could see the "sparkle"
Cookies for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer

Carson loves his trucks. Thank you Evan!

This boy is beaming with pride in his black Spiderman suit! Thank you Kacie!

Colton was so excited for the Hero Factory motorcycle he got from Blake! Thank you!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

(At least for a few more hours. I put the baby gate up at the boys' door and it doesn't come down until after 6 am.)

Happy Christmas Steve!

2010-12-24T06:14:00.002-07:00

This morning, as Christopher was snuggled in our bed, I said "Happy Christmas Eve" and he reciprocated, "Happy Christmas Steve". I thought it was too cute, that I needed to share!

Gingerbread Houses

2010-12-23T12:21:00.003-07:00

So I haven't really established many traditions with our family, but we usually decorate Gingerbread houses and this year is no different. (I also found a super Advent book, but I promise to blog that soon). We did these this past weekend, but I didn't have the camera then. Here are the pics we took this morning so we could share with you all!

Christopher was too bothered by Carson taking the candy off of his house to look up and smile.

Colton's Gingerbread house with Mr. Mint standing guard

The backside of Colton's house with snowman & lopsided tree (with help from Me)

Carson pretty much ate the candy and smashed his house, so this is as close as he'll get!

Pics of the house

2010-12-21T11:10:00.005-07:00

So I was scolded by my family for not keeping a proper update on my blog. I was waiting to take pictures when the house was somewhat presentable. Plus my camera was broken (by Christopher, again) and I was at the mercy of my cell phone camera. So anyway, I "opened" a Christmas present early so now you can look at decent pictures! Hurray!

Carson very happy that I have my new camera!

Hallway: see two posts earlier
Living room (the part that isn't too messy)

Kitchen while standing in the hallway

Kitchen: same place just a different angle to show the "window" into the dining room

View while sitting at the kitchen table.

So far we know 4 whitetail does, 2 foxes and numerous

squirrels, Cardinals, BlueJays, Woodpeckers, etc.
It's fun to sit down and watch out the window at all of the wildlife!

I didn't think that I would have that living in "the city"!

Update

2010-12-02T10:07:00.003-07:00

So we've got most of the living room and rec (dining) room set up, along with bedrooms and surprisingly still have a ton of boxes in the basement. Part of me wants to just take all of the unopened boxes to the thrift store and hope that there is nothing valuable in them. Though I know that this isn't what we'll do. It's tempting. (sigh) I am having a sluggish sort of day after walking Colton to the bus stop and then realizing in the mad dash out the door, I locked myself out of the house. Long story short, I paid a guy $75 (which was only 1/4 of what he was going to charge) to discover that our basement door was unlocked. Grump. So I am taking a "mommy time out" and blogging and playing on the internet during nap time. I may update our GPSs so it doesn't take us on dilly-wampus routes like it seems to be doing lately. It also took us to the middle of the woods when we tried to find a Krispy Kreme. Weird. Guess it was looking out for our waistlines :)

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T02:59:00.002-07:00

The movers came last Thursday, so I will officially drop the title of Gypsy Life. Just got the turkey in the oven and it should be ready at 11:30. Today we get to paint the dining room (which will be more of a rec/toy/sitting/library/piano room, since we have a decent sized kitchen and we don't really see the need to use the space for dining but rather playing. Hopefully after today our main floor will be fairly livable! Hope to get the pics up soon! Have a great Turkey Day!

Gypsy Life: Day 24 (Yesterday)

2010-11-18T04:22:00.003-07:00

Well, my "gypsy life" is coming to an end! The movers are coming today to unload our stuff! What an exciting day. I really enjoy hotel life, but there is nothing like sleeping in your own (king size) bed and just having everything settled. Though I know that there will still be alot of nesting to do before we really feel "settled in", getting into our house will be so wonderful! I apologize for lacking on the blog-front, we have been getting the house ready to move in. Here are a few pics to catch you up to speed on all the happenings this week.

There are few things that a truly hate and one of them is taping trim. I loathe it. And most of the time it comes un-stuck, so it is almost pointless, but we are kind of messy painters and I am thankful for all that it does cover up. Anyway, here is a glimpse of 1) the five rolls of blue tape we used, 2) the "interesting" paint technique in the background that ran from the front door, through the hallway, up the stairs to the bedroom and all downstairs, and 3) our cozy, delicious brown that we chose for the entryway and living room.

my little "helper"Colton cleaning out the ice box

(Is it weird that while traveling I won't use ice that is already in the freezer? I have encountered this situation at a few times at the various hotels and I just can't bring myself to use ice that has been made from an unknown source. I think of the random person that was in the hotel room before us and I picture a villainous sort that would taint the cubes for the next guest, just because they can. Hm, add "ice snob" to the list of things that I am "particular" about.)

So any of you that truly know me, know that this makes me smile... a lot. We have one of these 0.3 miles from our house and it has a playland. (sigh) many a snowy-day lunches will be spent here, happily munching their nuggets while my children play. :)

Gypsy Life: Day 19

2010-11-12T17:52:00.002-07:00

Today we closed on the house, and had planned on getting in there and painting all weekend. But Carson and Christopher both got diarrhea, so we decided to stay in tonight and hopefully they'll feel better tomorrow and we can get to work. So here are some pics from Wednesday night when we played Bingo down in the lobby it was for Give Kids the World. And Colton won twice! Someone at another table won a Coconut Cream pie and shared it with us. Enjoy the pics.

Colton and his "winnings"

Christopher jumping on the bed for a bite of pie

And Carson likes pie

It makes him very happy

To follow in his brother's footsteps,

Carson got into my bag and ate at least 10 pieces of gum.

Gypsy Life: Day 17

2010-11-10T09:15:00.003-07:00

This pic was actually from Monday, Jesse's first day of work. Today is Colton's first day of school. It took us 45 minutes to drive 11 miles to get him to school. We got him settled into his class and met his teacher. She seems like exactly what he needs (Thank you, God!) So we'll find out how his day went this afternoon. He was so excited and ready to get into something "normal" and routine. Me and the two littles ran a few places and now we're lounging in the hotel, we'll do lunch, naps and then go to pick up Colton.

We close on the house this Friday and will probably have the furniture delivered Tuesday or Wednesday. I am also ready to get into something "normal" and routine. I'll keep you posted! Have a great day!

Gypsy Life: Day 13

2010-11-06T21:27:00.004-06:00

Saturday started with a breakfast and then we hopped on the Metro to time Jesse's commute. And since we were downtown, we spent the day in the city checking out a few of the tourist-y things. We asked Colton what he wanted to do and all he wanted to do was go to the Smithsonian. We also ate lunch and then saw the Washington monument and the White House. Later we went to Megamind which turned out to be better than I expected.

The boys on the Metro

It only took Christopher once to remember to hold on when the Metro leaves the stop.

Colton was beyond excited about the minerals at the Smithsonian.

Not sure where that comes from!

(Sorry about the sideways pics)

The boys in front of the Washington monument

Carson spent most of the day riding in the stroller but he was a trooper!

Gypsy Life: Day 12

2010-11-06T21:08:00.003-06:00

So we really didn't know where our evening would lead us when we left the hotel, so we just started to drive. I think we had a little cabin fever. So we started off at a pet store then to Chuck E Cheese (which Christopher has been asking for the last couple months since getting into PBS), then back to the hotel and swimming in the pool. We wore out the kids and they all slept really well.

Colton wants a puppy

Christopher wants a bird
Carson wants a gerbil, or maybe he was just kissing his reflection

Christopher at Chuck E Cheese

Colton and all of the tickets we won

Gypsy Life: Days 6, 7 & 8

2010-11-01T19:38:00.003-06:00

So the original plan was to get to my sisters' house for halloween, do a little trick or treating and then the next day move on down the road. What happened was Friday Colton started vomiting and diarrhea, and did so much that we took him to the ER and he got meds and an IV. We had already checked out of the hotel, but since it was after check out we were able to get back in the same room without getting double charged. The next morning he seemed to be feeling better, so we headed out and made it to Rapid City, SD. We got checked into the new hotel, had dinner, and then it began to hit me. I spent that night miserable (and we won't go into details). Next day (Halloween) we did our obligatory 300 miles and then relaxed in our hotel. Today we made it to my sisters' but only to exchange clothing bins and say a quick hello. Our goal was to make to Iowa City, but about 20 miles from Des Moines the "sickness" hit Jesse, so we found the closest hotel (and we won't go into details). We have three more days and then we'll be in our temporary quarters for a couple weeks then into our home!

What dinner looks like with us.

Colton in the ER before getting "plugged in"

Colton after his IV, he thought he looked like Terminator.

Gypsy Life: Day Three/Four

2010-10-28T23:16:00.002-06:00

*God loves me. See how a broken door handle was evidence that He makes all things work together for good (to those that love Him. Romans 8:28) Story after the pics.

Moving day arrived! Wednesday we were up bright and early to meet the truck that would load our "life" and take it to Virginia. It was a really long, tiring day eventhough all we did was stand around in the wind. (Ug, won't miss the wind!)

Colton taking one last ride on the swingset

Christopher climb on the playland behind our hotel.

Carson could swing all day long!

Christopher and his buddy Benjamin on his last day of Cubbies in MT

You made it past the pics of my adorable children, so I will tell you the crazy time I had yesterday. You can judge for yourself if it was God or coincidence.

For most of the week I have been suffering back & shoulders aches from the terrible hotel mattress, lack of sleep, and (probably) stress. Which finally turned into a headache that just wouldn't go away- not with tylenol, not with caffiene, not with water. Normally when this happens, I just take a "quiet day" and relax, take a nap and that will make it go away. But since this was moving day, I really didn't have that luxury. So I just ignored it and pushed on through. Most of the day was spent standing out in (this horrid) wind, watching the movers slowly take box after box onto the truck. After that I would get Colton from school, his last piano lesson, then pancakes at LBs, then to Awanas, during which LB and I were going to have our fun, laugh/tear-filled goodbye dinner.

But the headache finally caught up to me and turned into a full blown migraine. So as I nibbled at my dinner, I finally had to excuse myself and splash a little water on my face hoping that I could suppress the migraine. But to no avail, as soon as I sat down at the table, the look on my face made LB ask "Do we need to go?" I got a nod confirmation as I hurried out the door and got sick right outside. In that moment I thought "How horrible to walk up to a restaurant and see someone getting sick" So I spotted a patch of grass across the parking lot and proceed to run across, being sick all the way. (comical now, but not at the time) So I don't know what your experience is with migraines, but it's not like when you have a stomach flu and getting sick makes you feel better. With migraines, it makes it ten times worse. So anyway, LB takes me back to the hotel and here's where God stepped in.

During my dramatic exit from the restaurant, Jesse is hanging out in the hotel room with Carson. Somehow the bathroom door got jammed (I say locked) and when trying to open it, the door handle broke off in Jesse's hand. Leaving no access to the bathroom. He had a long, stressful day as well and was very frustrated, thinking "Why is this happening. Don't I have enough to deal with?" And talked with the front desk. They were very accomodating and set us up in a room a couple of floors down for the night until they could have the door handle fixed. Right about this time I called Jesse and told him what happened at the restaurant and that he would have to get the kids from Awanas. It was at this moment that Jesse realized why the door handle had broke. He met me at the door and took me right into the "extra room". (side note: Before I got back to the hotel, Jesse had managed to get the bathroom door open with a butter knife, but he had already had the other room set up. So the boys DID have access to the bathroom). There was no way that I could've slept in the room with Jesse and the kids with a migraine. I would have been sick all night long and into the next day.

So do you think things like this are a coincidence? I don't! Thank you, God!

Gypsy Life: Day One

2010-10-25T22:34:00.003-06:00

We made it back to GF, MT safely and with no major catastrophes. Funny thing that when we got to Minn/St Paul airport for our layover, we walked down to our gate and saw Air Force One land right in front of us. I guess he was in town to speak at the college. Shoot, we should've just got a ride with him!

Anyway, the movers came today and packed everything up in boxes, we bought a GPS and a set of walkie-talkies (I know there is a cooler-more updated name for them, but that is what they are and I can't think of the other name for them), since Jesse has to turn in his work cell phone and won't get another til he reports to his new office. Sheesh, moving gets expensive! But we have our first night at our hotel that we will call home for five days, until we leave on Saturday. Tomorrow the movers will hit our storage unit and then Wednesday throw it all in the moving truck, not to be seen again until mid-November.

Not sure what else to say except that I have watched too many shows/news about bed bugs and am trying not to get creeped out by it. My step-Dad just had to deal with exterminating them in one of his rental units and with all of the hotels that we have to stay in for the next 20-ish days, I can't help but not get the heebie- jeebies!

Update from DC

2010-10-17T20:26:00.002-06:00

After spending the last two days of walking through 20+ houses, we decided to take a day off. First we walked around Lowes and then said, "Hey, there's an Ikea here, let's go!!!" And that took us here! I had no idea how big it was. Thoroughly enjoyed all of the ideas we got and have already "mentally" bought so many items to put in the new house. We have narrowed it down to 2 and tomorrow we check out the schools near the two we are looking at. Tomorrow we are also planning on putting an offer out there! Prayers are greatly appreciated. God has been amazing and SO apparent in every step of the way!

More on staging a house

2010-09-30T13:57:00.007-06:00

So my intentions were to blog every couple of days about house staging and it would motivate me to keep the house spotless. Well, since we sold the house on the third day, it really didn't stay picked up. Yesterday the appraiser came, so I had to get the house "put back together".

So before these just become old news and get added to the long list of "blogs that never happened", here ya go:

Living room:
Besides cleaning up , we moved the sofa from the left, in front of the large windows, to the other side and opened up the windows to make the room look larger. Got rid of the large ficus, and the over sized entertainment center. BTW, the living room looks like that because while we cleaned up the other rooms it became the dumping ground. So really, I do claim my house to be typically messy with three little boys running around, but this is not our "usual".

So here is the kitchen: We cleared every counter space, and by cleared, I mean EVERY object off except the knife block, an open cookbook and a wooden spoon. Jesse was skeptical when I told him I was going to spray paint the table black, but it really transformed it from unmatching and scratched up, to sleek, clean and modern. Setting up the table with smaller plates and undersized trio of candles tricks the eye into thinking the table is bigger than it really is. Greenery always makes a space feel clean and fresh.

Upstairs bath: just gave it a good cleaning and cleared off kid toothbrushes, soap, etc.

Downstairs bathhroom: Cleaned up and put out a citrus oil thing to give it a fresh, spa-feel.

Bedroom: Set up all of the pillows (filled the shams with cheapos bought at WalMart for $2.50 each) and did a quick vacuum and dust.

Spare room: (was previously the office that need to be defined as a "usable space" and the toy room became the office) We spent $100 on the bed set, and $20 on accessories. My favorite being the little outdoor frog found for $4 on clearance at Target. I put three vintage Saturday Evening Posts into frames (that I already had) to replace our family pics (to de-personalize).

And like I have said in previous posts, to give you a glimpse of my normal day: here is Carson climbing up on the toilet (notice how he is mad that he can't climb any higher), Christopher
in a superhero suit (Thanks Gma Linda & Gpa Jim!)

Colton giving Christopher a ride and Jesse giving the two big guys a ride!

I love my life and am blessed beyond measure to have these wonderful people in my life! Thank you, God for letting me be a part of their lives!

2 Milestones from 2 kids

2010-09-21T16:16:00.004-06:00

Milestone 1: Riding a bike

This has been a source of anxiety for the last couple summers as Colton would see younger and younger kids riding without training wheels. He really is doing great and today mastered turning and working on using his brakes to stop!

Milestone 2: Mastering Walking

SAHMs don't get sick days.

2010-09-17T12:26:00.004-06:00

I have been running myself ragged this past week and eating fast food or low prep meals (that are less than nutritious!). As a result the past couple days I have been feeling pretty crummy, though that has not stopped me. Today I can't keep up this pace anymore. I woke up with a terrible sore throat and bad phlegm (attrative, I know). So along with the gift of snow, I am declaring a day off and hoping that no one calls to see the house tonight.

The only problem with being a SAHM and taking a day off, is that you really don't get "off". I enterained the kids with lovely cable and a basket of toys in the middle of the living rm. But still have to get off my duff and make lunch, do a load of clothes, change diapers, etc. When all I want to do is curl up with some Vicks and a good book, take a snooze and NOT go pick up children in this dreadful snow! (whine, whine, whine!) To make up for things (and since I have to cook anyway), I decided to make our favorite Olive Garden knock off, Chicken and Gnocchi Zuppe! Maybe I can even find a way to re-create the breadsticks!

Chicken Gnocchi Soup

Ingredients:

1 Rotisserie chicken, chopped

4 cups chicken stock

2 cups half & half or milk

1 stalk celery, diced

1 garlic clove, chopped

1/2 carrot, shredded

1/2 onion, diced

1 cup fresh spinach, chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon thyme

salt and pepper

16 oz potato gnocchi

1 tablespoon cornstarch

Directions:

1 Saute onions, celery, garlic, carrot in oil over medium heat until onion is translucent.

2 Add chicken, chicken stock, half and half, salt and pepper, thyme. Heat to boiling then add gnocchi. Gently boil for 4 minutes, then turn down to a simmer for 10 minutes.

3 Add spinach and cook for another 1-2 minutes until spinach is wilted.

4 Optional: (Heat to boiling and add cornstarch dissolved in 1-2 Tbsp water at this point if you want a thicker soup.)

5 Ladle into bowl and serve!

Pic from copykat.com Recipe from Food.com

Add on: Here is the rec for OG's breadsticks right from their site! Enjoy!

1 Cup water

2 cup wheat flour

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp garlic powder

Combine ingredients and mix thoroughly. Roll into breadstick shapes and Bake at 450* for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with garlic salt and serve!

Start the staging

2010-09-14T13:27:00.003-06:00

So getting ready to sell a house is one of my new happy things to do. Probably because it forces you to clear out the clutter and dig through clearance bins! I wanted to show you a quick before/after of what we did with the office to make it look roomy and stylish. First and foremost clear off everything and start with a blank slate. then choose an accent color (clearly I chose a lime green to balance the dark wood. After that, just place items in odd numbers to make it feel balanced. Look at the entire shelf as a whole and don't be afraid to put items off center. It will make it interesting to the eye, but not feel out of balance. Forgive the bottom three shelves since I had to adjust the items to be "Carson" friendly. Which only means that usually the plastic plate of fake apples is all over the floor and I took out the glass from the little lantern.

On the desk, we put Jesse's fancy chess board (to make people think that the people that live here must be really smart and if they buy the house they can be too- HA!), the little desk lamp, the green plant (which makes the area feel clean and organic), next to a few more antique books (using the principal of 3 items). Also we added another pop of green with the little rug that adds balance without being too distracting.

We spent probably about $150-200 on the accessories in this room to include the rug, plant, desk lamp, 2 green bins, fake apples, the limes box, candle, green lantern and (my fav) little pig with wings. Everything was found on clearance and most was under $8, except the pig which was my splurge at $15 and a new celing fan that was $60 at HD. Normally they say that you should "de-personalize" the space and get rid of all pictures of your family so that the potential buyers can see themselves in the space. I decided to keep the three pictures of the kids and the one of all three on the wall. Mostly because I didn't want to spend more to buy/make art for the walls and because my kids are cute! Ha!

And lastly it would not be my blog without a pic of Christopher as a super hero and Carson on top of something!

Just a quick update

2010-09-13T00:45:00.003-06:00

Quick pic-blog to give you a glimpse of the craziness that is my life! :) Still blessed beyond my imagination and happy to be a part of these little lives! Enjoy!

Caught trying to climb onto the toilet for the umpteenth time! Only this time his plan didn't work out so well and he got stuck when the stool slid! (of course I grabbed my camera)

And this week we are Batman

I told you he was a climber!

All the way to the top! (Jesse was on standby incase any mishaps were to occur!)

And helping by painting the floor!

All work and no play

2010-09-08T23:45:00.002-06:00

I should be in bed right now. Since Friday I have been working like a crazy person to get this house ready to sell. I really am enjoying the staging part, but, UG, is it a lot of work!

I am excited to show you before and after pictures, though!

I have a new addiction. It is going online and browsing through the many, many houses in DC area. I had to actually stop saving houses on one site and start a new one that were homes that I would actually live in, and of course, cross reference it with the distance to the Metro and GreatSchools.com. I only have 18 saved in this one, so hopefully when the time actually comes we know a little bit about the area and what to expect in our price range.

Any way I am so exhausted, going to bed! Just thought I would post real quick incase anyone is still reading this-- leave me a hello comment so I know that I am not just talking to air!
Later :)

10 pics of randomness

2010-09-05T00:53:00.003-06:00

Carson has mastered the ability to slide *anything* up

to things to achieve higher (unauthorized) items.

This time he chose a tray to reach remotes.

Me (looking lovely), Ms. S D, and Colton at the fair

imitating Jurassic Park with the animatronic dinosaurs.

Christopher truly was terrified by the giant robot dinosaurs. Just happy to be me.
Christopher sporting his "Wolverine hair" for the Downpour Festival

Colton and Evan (my nephew), rolling at Giant Springs Icecream cone massacre
Ran out of beds while cousins were visiting

*sigh* the sweet quietness of 4 little boys

Typically Carson will sneak to the bathroom and climb the toilet (to unroll toilet paper and other various mischeif). Well we had friends over 2 nights ago and somehow the lid was left up.

Carson was actually sitting inside the toilet, but had to grab my camera quick!

Thank you, God for not being head first and cleaning products!

He likes to climb... *sigh*

A year of "firsts" and banana cookies :)

2010-08-31T11:46:00.005-06:00

So it has been just over a year since my mom passed away from her fight with melanoma. We got through all of the "firsts" with out her (first christmas, birthdays, etc.) and are continuing to heal. For the most part I have healed and loved and moved on and squeezed my boys for her. But occasionally I still miss her, have a little cry in rememberance (esp. after losing the baby and my Aunt Bev to melanoma a couple weeks ago), those times when I "just want my mommy"! :) God is so faithful and loving through it all and I am constantly comforted by His love and strength. We are so hopeful for the coming year and pray for God's guidance through it all! So excited for our move to DC and all that it entails. New beginnings, new hope, new joy...

Anyway, I had some ripe bananas getting pleasantly brown on the counter and I remembered the most delicious recipe for cookies that I would make for my mom when she was on the Gerson diet fighting the cancer.

(Gerson) Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

In a mixing bowl smash 2 ripe bananas

then add:

1/2 cup Organic Raisins

1 cup Organic Apple juice

1 cup Organic Apple sauce

2 Tbsp honey

2 1/2 cup Raw oats (blended in processer into a powder/flour)

Mix and drop by spoonfuls into glass baking sheet. Bake at 350* for 15 minutes or until bottom is slightly brown.

(This is a "soft" cookie and will have a nice chewyness)

Thank you to Mike Brockery at sMelanoma, caner stinks! for making this and all of these Gerson approved recipes available! Keep up the fight!!!

So good to be back!

2010-08-25T11:19:00.002-06:00

Oh how I have missed you! Like a little vacation from home and the first nights sleep in your own bed. *sigh* feels so nice!

Well, (as I settle in) where shall I begin?
Our crazy summer of visiting the midwest (& Sugarland!), Glacier and the in-laws and searing marshmallow pokers in eyes (thank you again Lord for your protection!), the fair, "D" girls visiting for two weeks, Downpour Festival (where it really did pour on us!), now today is the first day of school and we still have my hilarious nephews visiting in a couple days!

Hmm, maybe I'll start with our prayers being answered by our news of moving to Washington, DC!!! We are SO excited! Can I get another !!! :)
So the move, and all it entails research-wise, has finally made it a necessity to have a reliable *ahem* and working laptop! And my husband prefers to have a wife that is not informationally challenged. Either way... Here I am! Back! Blogging! *another sigh* :)

So we are hoping that we will hear soon Jesse's official report date because we pretty are at a standstill until we get that. Once we have it, many things can happen-
-we can put our house on the market
-we can go on a 10 day, house hunting trip (sans two oldest children), with all expenses paid by uncle Sam!
-we can make official plans for holidays, packing (weather-wise), donating, planning, lists (oh how I love lists), donating more...
Do you feel my excited energy? It's coming through.

Any way, just wanted to share our happy news and let you know I'M BAAA-AAACK! :O

Well, can't post from my blackberry, so this may be the end of my posts for a while. I hope to pick it back up as soon as I can!

2010-05-01T11:17:00.000-06:00

9544 Miles

2010-04-10T23:40:00.001-06:00

9544 Miles

2010-04-10T23:40:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday Colton!

2010-04-02T08:35:00.003-06:00

Eight years ago today Colton arrived onto this world. Who he is and the great things that he will accomplish are slowly unfolding everyday.

I am excited to be a part of the plan that God has for you!

Oh, the places you'll go!

Happy Birthday

The Hoosier state

2010-03-31T20:41:00.000-06:00

Not quite sure what a Hoosier is, but here we are in Indiana. Six more hours and we'll be sitting still, at least for a couple of days!
Since Jesse stayed at a hotel for 168 days, we racked up so many points that he is a "Platinum" member at Marriott. Basically we get the royal treatment when we walk into the hotel. So today we are staying in a jacuzzi room and the kids thought it was so cool to watch tv and swim in the hotel room. I'm just ready to NOT be in the car!

Off like a herd of turtles

2010-03-30T11:51:00.000-06:00

So after some desperate manipulation, arranging and re-arranging, we did not leave yesterday. We had to spend $ to ship (which costs twice as much going across the US), a trip to Once Upon A Child and then Goodwill. I did eat a slice or two of humble pie, but everyone made it through the ordeal mostly unscathed. We all got a good night sleep and we got going this morning and should make it to Buffalo, NY tonight. Jesse is already anticipating wings!

Moving Day

2010-03-29T05:49:00.000-06:00

So let's just say that I don't have a stellar track record with the day that we pack up and go. I become what some (Jesse) would call a "Packzilla" and get impatient and moody with anyone in a 20 foot radius. Really, you think I may be exaggerating it but truly I have a weird obsession with packing a car(and the loading dishwasher too, but that is a whole other counseling session). I actually take great pride in my packing abilities and deem it as some sort of tetris-like puzzle to solve.and to receive help would lose the challenge. I am fully aware of my oddities. Unfortunately it doesn't stop there. Once we are loaded in the car, I have to get as far as we can, as fast and efficiently as we can. The problem with this, is that when you have a (some would say) big family, NOTHING gets done fast or efficiently. And so you can see where I come to a dilemma. I can't get away with a stinky attitude. At least if I want to survive the ride in the car without Jesse and the boys re-arranging suitcases and putting me in the storage thing on the top of the car. And so, with full disclosure of my short comings I will strive:

-to be nice
-to smile
-to allow input and receive help
-acknowledge and ask for forgiveness if I fail
-release the expectations
-pray internally and vocally (if needed)

Pray for me and Jesse and the kids too!
(Smile). :)

Days 77-82

2010-03-27T22:37:00.000-06:00

So I'm not sure why it won't let me add pics from my phone, so you will just have to use your imaginations!

Day 77-Tuesday:(Boston) We went to Plymouth,MA to check out Plymouth Rock and a Pilgrim and Native Plantation, which was like going to a museum come to life! My little history-lovin heart was just jumping with joy. The entire Plymouth village was completely authentic. Each actor represented an actual person from the original village!it was so much fun and really solidified history for me (and hopefully Colton). From ther we went on a replica of the Mayflower (equally as cool) and took pictures in front of the official Plymouth Rock. Which is surprisingly smaller than I expected(about the size of sofa). We finished the day having dinner at a seaside restaurant happily munching all sorts of treats from the sea! (Of course lobster!) This day has, by far, been one of my favorites!

Day 78-Wednesday: On our way out of Boston, we realized we were only about 20 minutes out of our way from Salem and thought "while we're here". I am so glad that we went! We saw AMAZING architecture (which also set my heart a-flutter). We went through a very tasteful Wax Museum that was a great representation of the not-so-great history of the Salem Witch Hysteria. It sparked some great conversations with Colton. I want him to learn that some times "real" history isn't always great and to learn from others' experiences.

Day 79-Thursday: Jesse and Colton went to see the play "Shipwrecked!". In typical "man" fashion, all I could really get from them was "It was good."

Day 80-Friday: Drove to Stowe,VT (20 minutes) to the Laughing Moon chocolate shop to make truffles and chocolate bunnies! It was a fun experience and I am making them save them for their Easter baskets! I know, mean mom, right?!

Day 81-Saturday: Laundry. Hey, it can't all be fun and games! Though we went to "How to Train Your Dragon". Definitely one for the Home DVD library! Loved it!

Day 82:Sunday: Plan on going to Shelburne Farms to see Maple Tree sugar tapping and taste some maple syrup! Finish packing everything up and load up the car!

Day 83: Planning on hitting the road! Our Vermont adventure will be over!

Posting from my Blackberry

2010-03-27T22:27:00.000-06:00

Well if anyone is out there checking up on our adventure, we were praying that we would have the opportunity to stay here in Vermont for another quarter. We got confirmation that we would definitely be heading back to Montana. Luckily we are heading back the week of Easter and will be splitting up our five day drive to spend Easter and Colton/Christopher's birthdays (April 2nd and 22nd) at Coco Key water park!

Day 74- Bahhhhston

2010-03-21T11:48:00.002-06:00

Our computer crashed so I'm not sure how often I will get to post anymore. In the meantime, we traveled down to Boston for Jesse to attend a meeting we will play around here today, down to Plymouth tomorrow to see pilgrims and then back to Vermont on Tuesday. I am on the hotel computer, so you may have to wait until we get back to Montana to see any pics. Only a week and a half left here and then we'll spend Easter with family in Missouri/Iowa/South Dakota, then be in Montana Friday the 10th. Wow, if you think there are a lot of states in just a few sentences, try driving it! See you soon!

Day 72- Carson's First Haircut

2010-03-19T05:41:00.002-06:00

Before After

Day 70 continued- St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-17T19:42:00.004-06:00

Hope you all had a great day! It was absolutely gorgeous outside today! We went down to church street and ate at RiRa's Irish Pub and Restaurant. Jesse had Corned beef and Cabbage and I had Lamb Stew. Sorry lambies, you were delicious! They had a traditional Irish band and Christopher and our little friend Abbey had a great time dancing and entertaining everyone!

Afterward we took a nice walk along Church St (outdoor walking mall) and enjoyed the weather!

FYI. Though you may think Christopher's BK crown is very festive for St Patty's day, it's actually his 5th day in a row of wearing it.

Jumping on the rocks along Church St.

There were some girls (8-12yo) doing an Irish dance
and Christopher couldn't help but join in!

Making the Irish soda bread (see previous post)

We pulled this out of the oven, topped with a little butter and I actually liked this a lot.
I had never made it before and was pleasantly surprised.The Sponge Pudding (aka Spotted Dick) didn't really impress me.
Though it wasn't too bad, it tasted like gingerbread with old raisins and
had the consistency of undercooked brownies. It was fun to try new foods!

PS. (for Rachel) Jesse had a pint of Guinness with his lunch, just to be festive, you know! :)

Day 70-Top O' da Mornin to Ya!

2010-03-17T06:47:00.004-06:00

Happy St. Patty's day! How long do ya thinks me can git away with talkin like this. Not be sure if'n I sound Irish or like a pirate! :)

Today we are going to go to the local Irish Pub RiRa's to listen traditional Irish music and have some tasty food. Here's a sampling of things we plan on trying that I found in the "Irish" section at the grocery store. I was surprised that they had an "Irish section"! It was small, but had some interesting choices. Today we're going to have Irish soda bread, Spotted Dick sponge pudding, and an Aero mint chocolate bar.

Have a fun day!

Catch up

2010-03-16T11:07:00.002-06:00

Sorry for having to do three posts in one day. The horrible "Notme" goblin broke the keyboard, so our computer was pretty much worthless until we got a $10 keyboard from Walmart. We think it could also have been done by the "Ididnt-doit" fairy, but no one saw it happen, so we don't know who to blame.

Day 67- Sat Mar. 13th- Drama club and Irish Festival

2010-03-16T10:53:00.002-06:00

Colton as "Flying Eagle" the Indian Warrior/Hunter (Saturday Drama Club)

Flying Eagle became Soaring Eagle when he went on his
quest through the many lands, defeating many foes.

Christopher, Carson and I went to the Irish Festival

Christopher playing the Bodhran, an Irish drum

Making an Irish necklace

Playing the "spoons"

Day 66- Fri, 12th- Got sugar?

2010-03-16T10:45:00.002-06:00

In our study on where sugar comes from, we experimented with some sugar cane. They were not impressed with sugar in it's purest form. This weekend we are going to go to see how they tap maple trees and make syrup and brown sugar.

Day 65- Thurs 11th- Spring!

2010-03-16T10:38:00.001-06:00

Day 64 (Wed)- Awana Grand Prix

2010-03-11T20:32:00.005-07:00

Yesterday, Colton participated in the Grand Prix at the Awana club he has been attending. We have been working on his car for a couple weeks. (read: it has been sitting on top of the microwave in partially constructed condition for weeks) Which has been an interesting endeavor since we received his bag with a block of wood, four wheels, and four pins for the wheels. Back home we would've cut it out, sanded it down, painted, etc., but with not even a hammer, we were at a loss as how we were going to turn a little block of wood into something we could race down the track. Thankfully they had (wonderful) people bring in the necessary tools to at least cut it out for any kid that didn't have the resources. Colton decided on a design and I got to figure out how to make it happen. He chose the Batmobile for his design, so I found some usable Batman stickers, glossy black spray paint, I little poster putty (to reinforce the stickers) and a trip to the lobby to borrow a hammer for the wheels, we put together his car. Besides painting it (hmmm, Colton with a can of glossy black spray paint... yup, I painted it), and reinforcing the stickers with poster putty, it was all him.

From this:

To this: The Batmobile!

After a little disappointment from not winning a trophy for racing, he jumped out of his seat when his name was called for 3rd place for his design!

Day 62- Eric Carle Puppetry

2010-03-08T18:53:00.003-07:00

Today we went to see The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Little Cloud, and the Mixed-up Chameleon "play" done by black light puppets.

It was really neat and I was completely impressed with how they brought these stories to life. The puppeteers were completely in black and they used black lights along with vibrant colors to make the "puppets" explode with color!

Day 59- First tooth

2010-03-05T05:47:00.002-07:00

Mr. Carson has his first tooth,
though he declined comment to the paparazzi.

You just wish you could do this! :)

Day 54- Burke Mtn Sled Dog Dash

2010-03-01T06:18:00.002-07:00

Sunday we went to the Burke Mtn Sled Dog Dash. We have never been to any dog sled races, even though there are some in Montana. Earlier this year we read with Colton "White Fang" and "Call of the Wild", so this was a pretty cool experience. We got a late start, so we missed out on the kids getting to ride in one of the sleds, but they still had fun watching the races and having a snowball fight with some other kids.

P.S. Need your feedback: When I have a quite a few pictures in a post, do you prefer that I use this method (a slideshow) or do you like it when I put them right on the page and you can click on them to view it larger?

Day 53- Saturday Play and Mardi Gras Parade

2010-02-28T15:27:00.004-07:00

Colton in his play "Toys Are Us". It was only him and another little girl that came (school was out this week). The story in a nutshell was that she was a stuffed bunny and he was a stuffed teddy and they wanted new outfits so they ran away to the Build a Bear. The toys changed outfits a few times, danced around (a lot), then some new kids tried to buy them, but they didn't have any tags to be bought, so they got put back on the shelf. They danced around more and then went back home to their children. He had a lot of fun!

I was a little nervous about taking the kids downtown Burlington, but our new friends/neighbors helped me. I am so thankful because it was crazy (and pg, thankfully), and a ton of people!

A few of our Mardi Gras decorations

Two cute revelers.

Mom wouldn't let him have any beads.

It looked this way for 5 blocks!

Sleepy

Day 51- So close to crawling

2010-02-25T14:09:00.002-07:00

Carson is ready to start zooming around the room!

And enjoys life sitting up with out mom putting a pillow behind him.

Day 46-Activity on Church St

2010-02-20T13:09:00.004-07:00

Quiet cheery conversation. The competitive barks of two dogs determining who is greater. Hollow clangs of the church bell notifying everyone that it is 11:00. A passionate petitioner trying to convince others to support his cause. Lively discussions occurring in little groups as they walk along window browsing. Store owners preparing their window dressing for the Mardi Gras celebrations this week.

Colton had his Saturday drama club today and Jesse wanted to relax at the hotel with Christopher, so Carson (by nursing default) and I took a leisurely walked down Church Street to pass the time. It's sometimes fun to just observe people and absorb all of the sights and sounds that are happening all at once.

This week we went to our typical weekly activities and also checked out Open Gym at the local Gymnastics center. Christopher has been obsessed with "fuzzles" since he was 6 months old. These foam blocks were beyond his ability to resist. Here he is picking the little bits of fuzz stuck to the cubes.

Colton had a great time in the blocks too!

Today Colton's play was called "Hide and Seek". A boy played hide and seek with his friend, looking through many strange rooms in his huge mansion. Rooms such as "the Black Hat Room" where strange figures danced with black top hats and bowler hats on, a room with "zipping midgets", a tea party with ghosts, a circus room (colton was a dog?!) and finally a "frozen room" where they were all frozen statues. It was pretty cute/funny.

Christopher wishing he could join his brother on stage.

Carson enjoyed the show.

Day 42- Ten on a Tuesday

2010-02-16T06:29:00.007-07:00

Oh, with all that is going on, I don't know where to begin. So I'll do a list... Ah ha, ten on Tuesday!

1. Happy late Valentines Day! We went to church, had lunch at Olive Garden, and relaxed the rest of the day! I will be enjoying my Massage today!!!

2. We like ice cream. With the B&J factory so close we get the freshest icecream! (Not sure if it works that way with frozen stuff, but it seems creamier... yummier!)

3. Jesse and I are trying (as hard as we can-see #2) to join some of my family and friends in the the Biggest Loser competition!

4. Guess which boy is learning how to use the potty? Though has issues with change and does not prefer to switch from the white diapers to blue Pullups or, heaven forbid, underwear. It has brought him to tears. Though here he his post-pottying, enjoying his candy reward!

5. On Saturday, Colton made his acting debut on the stage. In three hours the kids created a 10-15 minute play and then performed it for us. (I tried to get it on YouTube to add to this blog, but the slow internet kept giving me problems, so you only get a single picture.)
May I introduce Colton as the Council Warrior in the play "The Vanishing World". We'll see what they come up with next week!

6. Some one is in a big boy car seat (not yet turned forward). My back is happy that I will not be toting around the baby carrier anymore.

7. He REALLY likes ice cream. Mmmmm, ice cream bliss...

8. Having fun with my camera in the car. Christopher is the photographer, Colton, the very willing subject. (Suits their personalities more than you can imagine)

9. Learning to crawl is hard work, but I am determined to find and eat stray Lego or
Bionicle pieces.

10. One of our favorite relaxation activities. Get into our jammies, snuggle into our bed (I really miss my king size bed), and watch a movie. Our new favorite series is Planet Earth by BBC.

Day 37- Ice rescues

2010-02-11T11:02:00.005-07:00

Latest update: Just plugging along with Colton's school and day to day life. We hope to go to New York in a week and a half. We only have a couple days (since Jesse can't take days off) so we are trying to prioritize what we would like to visit the most and then plan another trip later- if we are able to stay longer!

Carson giggling

Rescuing our snack from the clutches of the Ice Bandit

Christopher eating a grape he rescued

Colton pointing at the strawberry he plans to rescue next.

Carson as SuperWhy

Oh No! The Ice Bandit stole all of the Bionicle
Masks and froze them in a block of ice!

Colton rescuing masks

Hurray! All of the masks have been freed!

Day 32-(or more like week)

2010-02-06T16:10:00.009-07:00

This week has been pretty crazy trying to figure out our schedules for homeschooling, naps and time for "energy release". Jesse and I had a powwow this morning to figure out to make the days run smoother, get a more concrete routine and still have time to do the normal stuff. Like laundry and meals. Besides Christopher has been taking between 2-3 hours per night to finally fall asleep. This is the most frustrating of all. And yes, we have consistently tried everything.

Anyway since I couldn't do "daily" posts, I'll just recap the events of the week starting with today. We went down to Burlington Winter Festival, conveniently right downtown on Church Street and saw all of the cool ice sculptures. Colton wasn't with us on the last one, so he thought it was pretty neat. Unfortunately there was a bitterly cold wind that I wasn't prepared for, so we had to stop twice to warm ourselves up. First time was in the chocolate shop where they also served piping hot cocoa and the second was in the bagel shop with warm bowls of soups!

Click on pic to see larger

Yes. It was REALLY cold.

At the candy shop (taken by Colton)

Bionicle Battles

Wed. Colton's first night at AWANAs. He picked out the design of his car

(more to come. It's a secret) and had a great time.

And this little guy has been scooting all over the place and getting up on all fours!
Except that every time I grab the camera, he stops!

Day 27- 1st Day of School with a field trip!

2010-02-01T18:39:00.004-07:00

Today was our official- unofficial first day of school at Atchley Academy. Mostly just an Math assessment to see where we need to start off, a "study" in what happens to things when they freeze (actually over the last couple days), and a field trip to the best place to check out frozen stuff. Yup. Nothing says first day of homeschooling like a trip to the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory. Hope he doesn't think that every day of school will be like this!

Frozen juice!

Learning is yummy!

Colton with the vintage ice cream scoops

Jesse and Christopher on the tour

(We actually do learn a lot on the factory tour about production and entrepreneurship- you just can't take any pictures about that part of it!)

Day 23- Colton completes the picture

2010-01-29T08:30:00.002-07:00

After a weather delay, Colton spent the night in DC and got here on Thursday the 28th. For the last week, Christopher had been asking "where's Colton" or "Colton coming?", finally I got to tell him- "Today!"

Somewhere under the spiderman and vehicle stickers it says Welcome to Vermont. He loved making it for Colton and was so proud to show him!

Watching Colton arrive

Hurray!

You can see it on their faces!

Rub a dub dub

Day 20- Sushi or not Sushi, that is the question.

2010-01-29T08:10:00.002-07:00

Sushi

Not Sushi

but rice is good!

or baby food!

It all started with the boots

2010-01-25T10:18:00.003-07:00

It all started with Spiderman boots. Handed down from Colton, through cousins Evan and Blake, to Christopher. Which he loves. And has been known to sleep in.

...which lead to an excited find in our recent box of hand-me-downs...

...which lead to jammies we found at our favorite (pre-owned) store...

...and a $5 Spidey rug (used to put Carson on and
cover an outlet in the middle of the floor)...

...which lead to us getting a Batman game for his Leapster...

...and, finally, lead to his Fuh-huh-havorite jammies (also found at OUAC),
that he is SO proud to be wearing. (he is very humble and rarely shows pride,
but his little smile can't hide it!)

and it has a cape!

Day 18- Stowe Winter Carnival

2010-01-23T17:09:00.004-07:00

Today we went to Stowe Mountain Winter Carnival, about a half an hour drive from us. They had events throughout the week and today was the 10th Annual Ice Carving Competition. It was Christopher's first time to a ski mountain and ride in a gondola. He actually broke out in tears when we had to stop him from heading towards all of the skiers and heading up the chair lift to the top of the mountain.

It was really cool to see them cutting into the huge blocks of ice with everything from chain saws to hot irons. We also went to the Kids Carnival at the local elementary school and Christopher had a great time winning prizes at each booth!

Though we didn't get to see the winning sculptures, there were ice sculptures all around town that we got to enjoy.

We are really excited for Colton to come here this Wednesday and join us on all of our adventures!

Christopher's first ride in a gondola.

Watching the artist at work.

One of the sculptures in the town.

Jesse standing next to the sculpture (to give you the idea of how big it is)

Day 13- Mon 1/18

2010-01-18T17:16:00.003-07:00

Welcome to our home. Here's the 10 cent tour of our abode for the next couple months.

Here's Christopher warming up by the fire.

Ok, so standing at the front door and moving from left to right, you can see the fireplace, tv, computer (ours from Montana and the desk from the upstairs bedroom). Then the double doors into the "master bedroom" where Jesse was sleeping so you don't get to see. Off set a little to the right you go straight up the stairs, then around to the refridgerator, sink and stove. You can see a bit of the table.

At the top of the stairs, you look left there is the bed.
(Note the headboard on the left where the bed is usually up against the half-wall.
Uh, we had to rearrange.)

And to the right is the mirror, sink and 2nd bathroom.

And here is the view from the top (why we moved the upstairs bed away from the wall) and you can see the kitchen and table(with Carson having a little snack).

Thanks for joining us! We feel so blessed to have such great accommodations, especially to have the only room available with a fully enclosed room for Jesse to sleep during the day (since on night shift).

Day 17- Sat, 1/16

2010-01-16T20:30:00.004-07:00

Nothing ruins a good Saturday like getting your appendix cut out!

So Jesse went off to work at 10:00 last night with a bit of a stomach ache, so he took a couple of Tums and off he went. He came back this morning at 6:00 and still had a pretty bad stomach ache, but it was a little more sharp and slightly unbearable. So after a little research we found a clinic that is open on Saturdays and just hoped that our insurance would cover it. Driving around for a half an hour, not being able to find the clinic, we said forget it, just go to the ER and we'll figure it out later!

So I drop Jesse off at the ER and took the littles to Dunkin Doughnuts (they are everywhere here!), since I figured he'd only be about an hour or so. He called me and said that they think it might be an appendicitis, but they are going to do a CT scan just to be sure it's not something else. All signs pointed to appendix and it was confirmed afterward. So long story, short, Jesse got his appendix removed. He is in the hospital tonight and they plan on releasing him tomorrow morning. It's been a LONG day with the two little ones, but they actually did really well!

Does this convey how happy Jesse is that he is there,

and that I am taking a picture of it? :)

Since they don't schedule operations on Saturdays,
we had the entire OR waiting room to ourselves...

...which I used to my advantage and had Christopher

do laps around the sections of chairs.
It was about 10 hours at the hospital at this point.

Publish Post

Day 9- Thurs, 1/14

2010-01-15T16:14:00.006-07:00

Since last week Christopher has been asking to go skating again. This time Daddy and Carson joined us. Jesse is happy to announce that he didn't fall once, although he did have to abandon the refuge of the wall when Christopher fell and Jesse had to go to the middle of the ice to rescue him!

Christopher was a little more adventurous and found himself on the
ice a few more times, but still had a great time!

Jesse heading back to the wall

Carson had a great time!

Weeee!

Suite life Day 7

2010-01-13T15:22:00.004-07:00

Ben & Jerry's Factory tour

Apple Cider Mill tour

(taken by Christopher)

Suite life Day 6 continued

2010-01-13T15:12:00.002-07:00

Christopher says "oh, Cuuuute"!

I say, "Mmmmm, dinner!"

Suite life Day 6

2010-01-11T14:39:00.002-07:00

Someone likes to chew on his toes

Someone else is learning to (un)dress himself

Today Christopher and I went to the Burlington ice arena and did a little ice skating.
I had never seen them teach kids using 2 milk crates glued together. It was ingenious!
They balanced so well and Christopher was cruising all around the ice by himself.

He loved it and was so proud!

Tonight Jesse and I are staying in and picking up a few lobsters for dinner! We just got a few new movies from Netflix that we'll watch and hang out in our cozies.

Suite Life Day 4

2010-01-09T21:23:00.005-07:00

So I am not ready to give you a tour of the place, gotta get settled in! But just a quick note and a few pics.

I am still trying to make this feel home-y so had to stop and get a new shower curtain liner (cause ewww, gross), a set of screwdrivers (to replace toy batteries), kids bowls and cups, a little Dirt Devil vac, an internet wifi receiver (duh), and other various random things that you take for granted when you are at home. Jesse doesn't get all of the things (and some that fell into the random category), but he gives me the sideways glance and understands that my little bit of "nesting" will make life easier for all of us! :) Thanks, babe, for not fussing too much!

Cute:
Wherever we go Christopher keeps asking "Where goin, mom?"
Me: back to the hotel
CJ:oh, yea, the home-tel

It's too cute to correct him, and he's kind of right! :)

The kids sitting at the table
Carson is very proud to be included in dinnertime!
He's been eating Baby Mum-mums (flattened rice cakes)

Little blue eyes

Carson can't help but reach out and touch Christopher's stuff.
But there are 3 other places to sit and Christopher chooses to sit next to Carson, so...

So Christopher has been pushing Carson out of "his space" and
I just let them figure it out. It's a sibling-territory thing, I understand.
(As long as it doesn't get too rough!)

Our suite life- Day 2

2010-01-08T14:42:00.002-07:00

Here's the new look, with a temporary title!

We got in safely yesterday, right before a storm hit. Colton is visiting his dad in Colorado for a couple weeks and then they will fly out here! We're just trying to get settled in and then my blogs might be a little more exciting!

Stay tuned!

Christmas Morn

2009-12-28T12:40:00.003-07:00

Here is a few pics from celebrating Christmas at my sisters in KC.

Putting out the cookies, milk and carrots for Santa and his reindeer.
(the Christmas jammies were ALL ME!)

Santa Baby

Christopher getting what he hoped for:

Colton getting what he hoped for:

Carson eating what he hoped for: :)

Merry Christmas Eve!

2009-12-24T09:37:00.003-07:00

So I have decided that the 12 days of Christmas countdown is just not going to happen unless we stay in Montana. Hmmm, maybe next year! I wish you all safe travels and that you all get to enjoy the warmth of someone you love! Merry Christmas!

8th Day of Christmas

2009-12-18T17:42:00.002-07:00

Yea for cousins!

(We made it to my oldest sisters' house today!)