Halloween pictures

So Alexis was "autumn", Merrit and Jaxson were ninjas, Makayla was a wind fairy and Chelsea was a midnight fairy. We had lots of fun, but I'm glad it's over now.

lies lies lies!

How do you teach a three year old the difference between telling the truth and telling a lie? It's been a frustrating problem.

House update

Here is how the niche looks with the granite in it (and me too).


Here are the two colors in the kitchen. You'll notice that we put granite on the half wall too. The upper cabinets are supposed to be here this Thursday and hopefully will be installed on Friday. Then the back splash will be done on Monday. They still have to install the new front door too, then the renovations will be finished. I'm so ready to move back upstairs.

great pictures

I stumbled across these today and laughed out loud, esp when I saw Hillary. Thought I should remind you how cool we all are! The second one is saved on my computer as "We Hate School."

Maybe we could do a repeat after the baby blessings? Right there on the floor of the gym? :)

discussion

I love the holiday season! I love Halloween (what are your kids all being?) and Thanksgiving (esp. this year because I don't have to make a thing!) and Christmas. Yay! I love having our house smell like cinnamon.

So...Kari and I spoke yesterday and I guess I should clarify what I was hoping to do on our "family day" over Christmas. Here it is...NOTHING. I just wanted to hang around, play a bunch of board games, maybe really do a craft this year?, eat some good food, and enjoy seeing you all. I know we'll be spending time Sunday after church together (is that when we want to do the gift exchange/white elephants?) but because Mom and Dad have late church, I figured we wouldn't all get to be together for long. I simply wanted one more day to all spend together. Kari and I discussed Wed. as being optimal as her in-laws will be gone by then, if that works for everyone. And because we'll just be at the house, if you can only take off the afternoon from work, that would probably work too. I was just hoping for one "whatever" type of day.

Jason and I won't be getting in until Saturday (we're not sure if it will be morning or night, depends on if we feel up to driving through the night) so I hope "family day" will work out. If not, I'm sure we'll still be able to see everyone. We will be leaving on Thursday.

And is everyone ok with wearing white/black/red to church on Sunday for pictures?

Summer 2010 Pictures

Here's the post you've all been waiting for! Our summer in pictures. I ended up just putting them all in one slideshow, because some of the "events" were only two or three pictures and I didn't feel needed their own. Remember you can make the slideshow full screen by clicking the little box with arrows that appears in the corner after you start the slideshow. Enjoy!



I'll put up another post with pictures from Harvey's birthday soon.

Christmas List

Hillary and I picked names for Christmas at Harvey's party last night (Kurt swears he'll post pictures soon). Here's the list. Person on the left is the giver, person on the right is receiver.

Alexis - Addie
Merrit - Macie
Makayla - Chelsea
Chelsea - Baby Peterson
Jaxson - Merrit
Harvey - Noah
Addie - Harvey
Macie - Jaxson
Baby Hair - Alexis
Noah - Baby Hair
Baby Peterson - Makayla

Does this work for everyone? Hillary insisted on her kids picking their siblings' names if they were drawn. We did draw the line at them picking their own names.

family monsters

Noah has started drawing things that really resemble other things-it is really fun to watch his imagination.  He started drawing monsters on Sunday, but now he says they are people he knows although they are pretty much the same drawings as the monsters.  He draws almost everyone in the family, but the ones he draws the most are Kurt, Heather, Grandma, Grandpa, Jim, Eric and me, and himself.  Today he drew these three treasures.  He told me the names before he drew them, so this is his interpretation of what you look like.  And don't feel bad, we pretty much all look the same in his eyes.

yummy fall recipe

We had this delicious soup for dinner last night. The hardest part is cutting up the butternut squash (does anyone have a trick that I don't know of?). Very creamy and very fallish and very very very good.

YUMMY BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

6 tbsp chopped onion
4 tbsp margarine
6 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash
3 cups water
4 cubes chicken bouillon (or 4 tsp)
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/8 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese (we used low-fat)

1. In a large saucepan, saute onions in margarine until tender.

2. Add squash, water, bouillon, marjoram, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Bring to boil; cook 20 minutes or until squash is tender.

3. Puree squash, broth, and cream cheese in a blender or food processor in batches until smooth. Return to saucepan and heat through. Do not allow to boil.

Baby goats pictures

Here are the baby goats.

Halloween party pictures

Here are pictures from the Halloween party.

Family pictures

I'm trying a new slide show. I hope it works.
Follow this LINK.

Fillin' Ya'll in

So I have some news to catch up on...
All the girls got hair cuts a couple of weeks ago. We all went shorter, some more short than others as you will see in the photos. The photos are our most recent family pictures. We had Charlie's sister, Hannah, come take them for us at a local park on yesterday morning. It was an absolutely beautiful day. I'm so glad we decided to take the pictures on that day. I just wish the kids had been glad too. Our sons gave us the most grief. I was hoping that because the kids were older that it wouldn't have been so bad, but I was wrong. They acted like we were torturing them. I can't say that I was too excited when we were finished. But I'm glad we did it. I think we have a few good pictures out of the ordeal.

Charlie received a new calling last Sunday. He is the young men's president again. Our good friend, Dan Bachmeier, took his place in the bishopric. They other counselor was replaced also. It was about time for him since he'd been in for over eight years. Although Charlie will still be pretty busy, I'm glad he has a change and now I get to sit by him in church again.

We have new baby goats. Two of them came on Thursday night and the last one came on yesterday morning. They are all girls. We were hoping for all boys. Oh well. You get what you get. The first two are doing really well. The last one isn't doing so good. She doesn't want to seem to eat. We've spent the day today trying to force feed her. It's been so fun, not. I really hope she catches on soon otherwise we may lose her. We decided to name them girl names, beginning with the letter of the alphabet their birth order dictates. So the first one in Annie, and the last one is Candy. I haven't decided on a "B" name for the second one yet. I kind of like Barbie or Bambi or Beauty. Any suggestions? I don't have pictures of the kids yet. Every time I think about it they are sleeping. I'd like to get pictures of them standing so you can see them better so I'm waiting.

We had our annual Halloween party on Friday night. We had the most people their than we have had any other year. It was lots of fun. Jim actually came with Cameron. We were sad that Kurt and Heather couldn't make it, but totally understand not wanting to come with a migraine, Heather.

Makayla has begun playing the viola and Merrit is playing the trumpet. They are pretty excited about it and I'm glad they are wanting to try new things. I just hope they stick with it since the instruments aren't that cheap.

Charlie interviewed for an assistant principalship at Beecher last week. He hasn't heard if they have offered the job to anyone yet, but we are pretty sure he isn't going to get it. Out of all those interviewed, he was the only one without his masters yet. Plus, his current principal was running the interviews and the next day the principal told Charlie he was dissappointed in the way Charlie has answered questions and that he didn't correlate all of his leadership positions in the church with being a principal. He told Charlie he wanted to help him fix it so he would do better in his future interviews. Although Charlie wasn't happy that his principal was disappointed in him, we both feel that this was a great learning experience for him and hope that it will help him get a job more easily in the future.

And, so, it's late and I really don't want to take the time to download all the pictures right now, so I'll try to do that tomorrow. So, stay tuned...

gardens and flu

So...this weekend I came down with the stomach flu. Ick. Good thing it was on Saturday so Jason was home to take care of the kids. I couldn't keep anything down, even water, and was feeling very very weak. Today I feel better, but am still pretty weak. Making dinner tonight completely wore me out! Hopefully I'll feel normal by tomorrow. Sick moms are the worst, but I'm happy I was the only one sick!

On Friday I took the girls with my neighbor to the Botanic Gardens. The pictures are from that fun, little excursion. Unfortunately you're not allowed to buy fish food once the water gets down to a certain temperature, something about the food and the cold water making a bad chemical reaction (maybe Heather understands?) because that was really the reason for the trip. Oh well, the kiddos had fun and the adults got to talk!

Teaser Pictures

The kitchen is all torn out and partly tiled.
This is the new color of what used to be the yellow room (you are looking into the closet).
This is the living room looking into the hall. These are just a little glimpse of what is going on in the house. I thought you might be interested. Thanks to Kurt, Charlie and Hillary for their help in tearing out the kitchen. We couldn't have done it without you. By-the-way Kurt, where is the blog about your summer activities?

new family pictures

Yesterday we took family pictures...I look pretty awful in almost all of them because I'm enormous, but I thought you'd like to look at them.  My friend just gave me the raw pictures and last night I spent a few hours photoshopping them and I must say it was a blast.  Here's the link for the Snapfish album, but here's a few to just look at.

Cholinergic Urticaria

Kurt has plans to do a big picture post soon but I thought I'd put up a post in the mean time. I'm not sure if you've all seen them, but Harvey has had chronic hives this summer. They are big and scary and raised red welts on his skin though they don't seem to really bother him at all. We finally took him to the doctor yesterday and she told us he has Cholinergic Urticaria which is heat hives. She also thinks he might have pressure hives. Today, for the first time, Harvey told me his hives hurt and itched. I'm not 100% convinced he didn't just pick up from the doctor's visit that he should be telling us they itched but I gave him some Benedryl anyways and he didn't complain after that. It's crazy how many things there are out there that can affect your kids and how helpless you feel when they do. I feel physically ill when I touch Harvey when he has a fever. Motherhood is amazing and terrifying. Anyway, the doctor doesn't think it will be too much of an issue as long as he isn't uncomfortable. Now we just need to convince our day care lady not to send him home every time he has a break out.

So, that's my brief update. I'll leave the summer re-cap to Kurt. Also, for those in Michigan, Harvey's B-day Party is going to be October 23 at our house. It might be snug but I'm sure we'll have fun.

Sorry for the long absence in blogging. I can't get the pictures to load, so once it's working again, I'll put up some pictures. Here are some snippets from our life:


We love this house. LOVE. I wish we were going to be here longer to enjoy it. It's amazing how much a little more space can help a family's happiness.


I crimped Addie's hair for church this last Sunday. It's amazing my pink Vidal Sasoon crimper from 5th grade still works! Jason wasn't as sold on it as I was, but after her nap the poof was considerably less and he came around. Several people told me how much they liked it, and she loved it and kept looking in the mirror, so overall it was a success.


Jason scraped rust off of someone's cornea today. I'm so proud!


My belly seems much more heavy this pregnancy, and by the end of the day I have to be sitting down to function. I'm carrying this little guy lower than my girls. I've gained less weight overall and am excited about that, but between a sore stomach and ridiculously painful sciatic nerves, this has been my most uncomfortable pregnancy. I have it so easy, though, compared to many so I shouldn't complain. I'm finally looking forward to him coming. I want to see what a Jason/Jana boy looks like. Probably blond, blue-eyed, and skinny--like his big sisters.


Macie is walking fairly well, and communicating with several signs. She signs more, please and all done. She doesn't really say anything out loud, though. She used to say uh oh and I'm pretty sure she was attempting Addie the other day, but usually she just babbles--a lot.


Addie can't get enough of the swing in our backyard. Too bad the mosquitos can't get enough of her.

On Labor Day we went to the Delta Fair with some friends. While it was not worth the admission fee, we did have a good time and Jason and I came out with some pretty sweet looking sunburns. His forehead has started peeling. I guess we learned our lessons. At least we were responsible enough to lube up our children. We watched a demolition derby at the fair, and one of the cars kicked up HUGE clods of dirt...directly on my face! I had a huge clump of dirt stuck in my teeth! Some went down my shirt, stuck to my cheek and arm. Macie had some on her face, too, lucky for Jason he was holding her and blocked him! I couldn't stand the dirt in my teeth long enough to take a picture. One of the friends we were with was laughing so hard at me that he had to go behind the bleachers to calm down. It took three very full baby wipes to clean my face off, and I tasted dirt in my teeth for the rest of the day. It was pretty funny.

School back on for me

I have started classes again too. I have a class (BUS 211 Statistics) on Tues. and Thur. mornings from 9:30 am to 10:45 am and another class (ENG 338 Business Communication) on Mon. and Wed. from 5:30 pm to 6:45 pm. The last week of classes is the week of Dec. 13th. I'm glad to be back in classes and back to a routine again. I like having the summer off, but I prefer to have a routine to follow from day to day.

This morning I had to get up super early to take our whethers into the butcher. They only take animals on Tuesday mornings. They wanted me to bring them around 9 am, but I had a class I needed to get to, so I asked if I could bring them earlier. They thought it wouldn't be a problem. Usually they have so many big animals in their stock area that they want to wait to have smaller animals brought in later in the morning. They felt that there was enough room for our goats earlier today so agreed to allow me to bring them. Thank goodness, because I don't know of another time during the rest of this school semester that I would've been able to take them because of my class. Heavenly Father surely does bless us in little, but significant ways. We took them to a butcher in Caro. Also, when I called to set everything up, the woman I spoke to told me that she had had a man call asking for goat meat and that that hadn't had any. She gave me his number to see if he wanted to buy one of my goats to eat. I did call and he came to look at them yesterday. He agreed to buy one. So we were able to recoup some money. Again, another little but significant blessing. I know Heavenly Father loves me and watches over my family. So by Thursday we should have a lot more meat in our freezer.

First Day of School

Yeah, it's finally here. The first day of school. Even though the summer flew by and the kids really didn't have much time to be bored, I'm still glad to have them back in school so we can all get back into a routine. I function much better in a routine. Here are the kids on this, the first day back.

Lexi is in 8th grade and the top dog at her school.

Merrit is in 6th grade and the top dog of his school. He also has new glasses, which is what he is holding in the picture. He only needs to wear them to see the board with. I'll have to take a picture of him wearing them so everyone can see what they look like.

Chelsea in in 2nd grade. She's sad that her really good friend from last year is in the other 2nd grade class, but I'm sure she'll make more friends.

Makayla is in 4th grade and she also is sad that her friends from last year are in the other 4th grade classes. She said that she only has one friend from last year in her class this year. But she, too, will be able to make more new friends this year too.

Jaxson's first day isn't until tomorrow, so I'll post his picture tomorrow.