One More Catch-Up Post...

I can't believe that the last time I posted a blog update was July (before my recent one a couple weeks ago)! I missed so many fun things that happened this summer and fall.

So one last catch-up post in pictures:

First of all - our big family trip this summer was to Silverwood (a semi-local version of a smaller scale Disneyland). We spent the whole day there, only going home at closing time. It was exhausting but the kids had a blast.



The older boys kept trying to win toys at the game booths with no luck. Gabe (age 5) kept begging to go to a certain game and win this giant stuffed lemur. We told him that it's very hard to win toys, so not to be disappointed. However, his first attempt up there he won a small toy AND a large toy (he got three balls for one attempt). He was VERY happy and proud of himself. He named his giant lemur Mr. Cuddles.




Billy Jr and Gabe LOVED the little kids' rides. There were a lot more of them this year (little kids' rides)!



Abby got tired of walking (even though we had a stroller with us) so her big brother offered to carry her for a (short)while!



To beat the boredom, one summer day I took the kids to a local "island" walking trail.



Look at Billy Jr's socks!! That was after they played in the water some.



When we stopped to read some signs along the nature trail (talking about the type of native plants there) -  Brayden saw something brightly colored in the weeds. It was a geocache!!



Gabe got a pair of sunglasses from the geocache.



First day of school!!!!!! Everyone was pretty tired in this picture from trying to adjust to the new early morning schedule. We have a 10th grader, 7th grader, 5th grader, 2nd grader, and kindergartner!



Gabe's in kindergarten now!

Billy (dad) made us an awesome homework station!  This was just after it was completed, but now it has books on the shelves below and some lamps. :)

That brings us to....Halloween! 

Carving pumpkins:

Billy jr didn't want to touch the pumpkin guts so he tried wearing plastic bags on his hands:

Abby even helped!

Four of the finished pumpkins....

The kids' costumes: Owen was a scary clown, Gabe a ghost pirate, Brayden a werewolf, Billy Jr a ninja, Abby a princess/Elsa, and Eden was a pink poodle. Also two extra friends pictured here... :)

Crazy Owen!

The candy haul! The boys were trying to play a game where they traded/bet candy. Surprisingly it didn't end up in a fight. ;)

Then mommy and the girls went on a road trip to visit their Auntie and cousins (including a new baby cousin!) This was actually my first time taking a long trip alone with the baby, but also my first time driving over the mountain passes and on a freeway. Yikes! My Garmin GPS did a very good job helping me though. :)

We went with the cousins to an aquarium. :) 

Abby and her cousin hugging...awww. What the picture doesn't show is Abby trying to claim EVERY animal there as HERS. "Mine!" she'd say, and try to edge out her cousin from even getting close to the glass/fence. 

Cute Abby :) 

Pretty fishies!

And a petting zoo too!

 The end for now! We had a lot more adventures that I didn't get pictures of. However, I'm going to try to do much better at that in the new year! :)

Until next time....

Hot hot hot! Fires, Feingold, and Fun

Well, fire season 2014 has begun! Several fires have begun within just the last couple weeks. The  morning after the Fourth of July, my husband woke me up at some early AM hour to show me that the hillside across the river from us was on fire. It was quite breathtaking of a view. I attempted a picture, but my camera skills aren't so great that early in the morning.



That fire didn't last very long thankfully, since it did get awfully close to some houses (like in t he back yard of a couple houses up there!).  Currently, the biggest one is just about 15 miles from here and over 20,000 acres, but the good news is that no homes or lives have been lost. Its been pretty close to town though! (See pic below...NOT my pic)

It doesn't help that the weather here has been HOT HOT HOT! We've had a couple triple digit days already, and next week is forecast to be ALL triple digits: 103, 105, and even as high as 110.  Yikes.

We tried to cool off the kids by taking them to the river. You can see how smokey it was in the background. I think the boys had fun though, although they complained the water was too cold. Amazingly, my wild energetic 5 year old was the first to get wet. That child has no fear. Good or bad thing, I don't know yet!





Love how the boys always help watch out for their sister(s).



And lastly, I forgot Feingold Friday, I know. I had planned on getting that post done last night while baby was sleeping, however I got suddenly busy. We are currently ripping out our front overgrown flower bed and putting in an awesome patio...stay tuned for before and after pictures (and by WE I mean my husband...). Last night we bought the stone for the patio. Then my husband worked into early morning preparing the ground and digging up roots (because its much cooler at night then during the day!).
Back to Feingold though...its going! I did my first shopping trip, and it was stressful. Things were going well until I left the healthy/organic foods section. It seems every brand we usually eat is full of the bad stuff (aka not real food). So...it's going to be a long learning process.
I'd say we are 80% Feingold this week...and 20% junk still. I bought the wrong hot dogs, it was free slurpy day at 7-Eleven yesterday, and I wanted to eat up some non-Feingold foods this week because I hate to waste. Next week will be better though! I have my meal plan done through the month. However we are going camping next weekend, and I have no idea how to go camping with a large family on Feingold. The organic hot dogs were $8 for a six-pack. Yeah. Not happening. It will be our last camping trip for the year though, so we might just have to forget about Feingold that weekend. Uggh I hate how easy and cheap junk "food" is. We'll get there though! I do have some recipes for homemade marshmallows...but I'm still working on how to make hot dogs healthy. Maybe that's an impossible feat though...

Summer fun picture overload!

Its been awhile since I updated! We've been busy this summer so far.  Its been a fun summer!

So here is my update, in pictures....

First we had the end of school year picnic for the boys' homeschool "school". Here is Gabe pretending to sleep on the playground.

There was a watermelon eating contest too. Here is Owen with his best bud.

Alex got to set off his rocket he made during rocket class as well.

3...2...1....

Lift off!

But I actually missed Alex's launch so here is another kid's rocket launch. Pretty cool!

Next we went camping! Fun times!

Gabe giving grandma a flower. :)

Gabe standing on the same rock his grandma got a picture of his daddy doing at two also.

The roaring creek!

Not Alex's catch, but he was still proud of it!

No more pictures please!!

A pan full of creek fish and blue gill.

The big fish daddy caught with two little creek fish.

Gabe LOVED the spicy Dorrito chips with Tapatio! Crazy kid. lol

As we were leaving, I caught this great photo of a momma deer and her baby.

Next we had some fun in Cashmere at their annual ping pong ball drop. You catch these ping pong balls from the sky and win prizes. fun fun!

Billy Jr. waiting for the helicopter with his basket on his head!

Nana's idea to catch more ping pong balls!

Here they come!

And more!

Finally we spent a fun afternoon playing in the water this week.