Pics from Previous Posts

A couple weeks ago I made these candy corn cookies inspired by this post. I however made my regular sugar cookie recipe. They were fun and delicious. Timothy helped me decorate some of them.

A few weeks ago the boys spotted a woodpecker on the tree in the yard and begged me to take a picture of it.

Can you see it on the trunk? It was eating little insects that were all over the bark. The leaves had started to turn colors and fall. Today that tree is almost bare.

Last Sunday I found Amy upstairs surrounded by books. I love it!

Remember the grapes Melissa Abby and picked?

They filled the back of the van

The fish Aaron, David and Timothy caught last Tuesday

Some of the juice I canned

Morgan and Amy playing together

carving pumpkins

Amy got a kick out of digging out the pumpkin guts

The finished jack-o-lanterns

Our busy life

I am so far behind and so many things deserve their own post. But I'll start with Aaron and see where I end up.

Monday Aaron was taking his boards. The first half was brutal, but he feels he did better on the second half. He got to see most of the other former residents and about 10 of them went out for dinner together afterward. He got home late. He was able to stop in a Trader Joe's and got some yummy cheese, fresh basil and dark chocolate peanut butter cups. He got up early on Tuesday to go fishing with Daren again. The guide had told them that he'd take them out again since they didn't catch anything the first time. Well the only thing Aaron caught this time was a native salmon, so he didn't get to keep it. He had canceled scouts in case he didn't get home in time. However he did get home in time, but elected to take the boys fishing when they got home from school. That fishing trip was successful, and between the 3 of them they caught 7 fish. We had the small ones for dinner and froze the two larger ones.

Wednesday was back to work for Aaron. It was a long call day. Immediately after clinic he had to go to the hospital and didn't come home until about 9:50 pm. Then at about 10:30 he had to go back in. He was home by about midnight, and thankfully didn't have anymore calls that night. The rest of the week was good for him. And Saturday he got to work on the car a little, and watch some football, and take care of the kids while I was gone. Sunday night he did some Home teaching with David.

I spent Monday morning shopping with Amy - I spent way too much of course, and most of it was on food, but I also got some Christmas presents and household items too. I helped out in Timothy's class on Wednesday and watched Morgan afterward. Wednesday night I had to take David to and from Cub Scouts. Saturday was our Stake Relief Society Activity. It was set up like a county fair. Each ward had a booth with all sorts of themes like scripture study, family and personal history, gardening, soap making, how to use dried beans, fitness, temples, and a few more. There were food booths from the two Spanish branches - one had 4 different salsas and were making fresh tortillas. One had 3 different drinks - jasmine, fruit punch and horchata. Some booths had games and prizes and handouts. They served lunch and had a talent show. I got to make some bracelets, and learned how to make flowers with icing. I was a little late getting home, but it was a great outing for me. I got to talk to a lot of people, but a lot of my friends weren't there, so it was a little lonely. I had hoped to meet more people through my friends, but I guess I need to be more proactive about meeting people. I missed following the BYU game while I was gone, but I was pleased to hear that we did beat Wyoming, even if it was too close.

My lesson for the Young Women went pretty well. I knew it would be short, so I was glad when I remembered that the Laurels had been asked to plan the Young Women in Excellence program. So that's what we did for the rest of our lesson. I've been battling tension headaches again, they aren't fun, and I hate taking pills every couple of hours to get rid of them. At least it's not migraines I hear they are horrible. I also stepped on a scale on Monday, for the first time in about 4 months, that was a little disturbing, and hopefully I'll quit snacking, and get back to exercising again. That's the plan anyway.

David has had a great week. He lost two teeth, one at a football game, and one at a friend's house. He also got to play goalie in their last soccer game. I wasn't there (I was at the RS activity), but Aaron (and coach Abby) said he played really well, and got a few great saves. They lost 5-3, but it was still a good game. He also spent a lot of time with Lauren this week. They are really into playing a computer game right now. He was at her house for 2 hours on Friday and 3 hours after the soccer game on Saturday. He would have gone over there again yesterday, but they were going to the pumpkin patch.

Timothy is doing pretty well. He still throws fits a lot, and gets distracted when I ask him to do things. He doesn't get a lot of outside play time because he takes forever to put away his things. He does love to read. And he usually helps out when I ask him to. Although often it's after David has gotten in trouble - to show him up :(. Timothy is also having fun at soccer for the most part. But he doesn't like to lose, so he often complains when he loses the ball control games at practice. He was very pleased to have won the Yahtzee game we played for our family activity last night.

Amy has hit a new milestone. Amy took forever to go to bed Sunday night so I decided it was time to get rid of the binky. I cut a little hole in it. However she didn't seem to notice it at nap time. At bed time I asked her if there was something wrong with her binky and she said "no". But she could tell something wasn't right. She didn't cry, but it took her a really long time to get to sleep. Nap time was the same the next day, so at night I made the hole a little bigger. Finally she conceded that the binky was indeed broken and agreed to throw it in the garbage. Then she proceeded to ask "Where's my green binky?" She was not happy that there were no more binkies. At some point that evening she picked it back out of the garbage can - ick! However by the time we headed to bed it was back in the garbage. I made sure she couldn't find it in the morning.

The next day she didn't take a nap. She was a wreck that evening, especially since I had to take David to cub scouts since Aaron had to take care of a patient while on call. After I put her in bed she fell asleep quickly. She did wake once around 9:15 crying about something, but I soothed her and she slept - the whole night! She did wake up at 6:00 am though. But she took a normal nap on Thursday, so I thought the worst was over. Friday - she refused to nap. Not good because we went to the football game that night, and didn't get home until almost 10:00. She was cranky before dinner, and beyond tired at 9:00, and eventually fell asleep on my shoulder.

Saturday wasn't any better, with two car naps at 12:00 noon and 5:30 pm. Sunday - she didn't nap at all, and still had a hard time going to sleep. Yesterday she fell asleep in the car at 1:50 and I woke her up at 4:00. I hope it gets better. She still needs a nap, but it takes her a long time to fall asleep, in the mean time she dumps all of her toys and empties her bookshelves. I might be able to put her toys in the closet, but what do I do about the books? I hope we get a schedule figured out soon.

On the upside I finally got her 2 yr check up done yesterday. I took her in to see Dr. W*, one of the Family Practice docs where Aaron works. I made the appointment a few weeks ago thinking I could get her to take an early nap. However since the binky is no longer part of her routine and napping is a struggle right now she was tired and non-compliant. Aaron was on his lunch break so he met us in the waiting room, brought us back, and stayed with us until he had a patient roomed for him. Amy wouldn't stand on the big scale (that's when I got on and noticed my weight). She didn't sit well for the infant scale either, but we did finally get a weight for her - 27 lbs! That puts her back in the 50th percentile - yay! She also screamed when they tried to see how tall she was. They did get it, but I don't remember what it was. 83 cm or something, but still short. The head circumference was even more difficult. That again was normal. Since I neglected to get her medical records transferred before her appointment I didn't know which immunizations she needed. However we did get a flu shot for her. I talked with Dr. W* about Amy and recommendations for a dentist, and that's about it. I stayed after for a bit to get her medical records transferred, and finally headed home just before 2:00. She fell asleep on the way home.

As for the rest of the week, we carved pumpkins on Thursday night. Friday we went to another home football game. It started of with two quick scores from the opposing team, but eventually we got into a rhythm, and won the game. The kids were actually well behaved. Amy was only fussy for a bit before she fell asleep, and Timothy was great and eventually he fell asleep too. Saturday Brian U* (one of Aaron's co-workers) invited us over for dinner on Saturday night. We drove up to the city (Amy fell asleep before we got to the freeway) and had a great dinner. We met Brian's wife and his two younger children. Analee is in 8th grade and has offered to babysit for us if we are up there for a date night. David lost his second tooth of the week while playing a game with Analee and Timothy. It was a fun evening, even though Amy broke one of the toys they were playing with. It was a late night, but only Timothy fell asleep on the way home.

I have really enjoyed the cool weather. I love all the colors of the trees in the valley. It makes the drive up to the city more fun. On Saturday the boys wanted to rake the leaves in the yard - even though the owners take care of that. They had a nice big pile, but most of it got messed up with the wind that has been blowing for the last few days. The wind makes it pretty cold, and we've had to make sure we have jackets and we even turned on the heater this week.

I'm sure there's more that I've missed, but I can't think of anything right now. I'm working on a post with pictures, and hopefully I'll have that up soon.

From apples to grapes and everything in between

This week has been pretty normal I suppose. We've had soccer practice MWF, and I helped out in Timothy's class on Wednesday. I also watched Morgan for a couple hours after I picked up Amy. They had fun in Amy's room, and then watched a video. Tuesday Aaron spent most of the day studying, until his new toy arrived by Fed Ex. We got a free ipod touch for switching banks. We had to switch banks anyway when we moved (the nearest branch of our old bank was 20 minutes away, and the new one is down the street. We also hosted scouts once again. Wednesday was cub scouts for David. Aaron was also on call, and had to go in at about 11:00 just as we had both fallen asleep. He returned less than 2 hours later though.

Friday after Aaron came home, I told the kid that Daren K* had called because they had an abundance of pumpkins in their garden, and wanted to share. So after dinner we went over and picked from a wheelbarrow full of pumpkins. We didn't go inside because they had sick kids. So we got home at a reasonable hour, and listened to a bit of the high school football game before the kids' bedtime. We won again!

Saturday we cleaned up the house, played for a bit and then went to the soccer field. It was picture day so they told us to come 30 minutes early. We were about 5 minutes late, but I should have waited even longer. Apparently only individual pictures were before the game, and the team picture was at half time. Our coach told us that a parent volunteered to take a team picture for free, so I thought I'd buy some individual pictures for the boys, since I didn't do school pictures again this year. However by the time I dragged the kids over to the other end of the field David was mouthing off to me, and both decided they didn't want pictures taken. We'll I'm not going to buy pictures of grumpy kids, so we trudged back to the other end of the field.

The problem with taking team pictures at half time, is the half time is only 5 minutes long, and taking two team pictures pushed the second half back about 5 minutes each time. So our game started about 15 minutes late. The team we played was very good. The age range is 5-8, but I don't think they had any 5 or 6 year-olds on that team. However I don't they have played a team as good as ours either. Considering their size and the number of good players on their team I am not ashamed of our 6-3 loss.

I took the kids home while Aaron headed out to do some more fishing/studying. Amy was exhausted (way past naptime), so she went right to sleep. I started on dinner. We were feeding the missionaries, so I planned a large meal. I started on the lasagna. Once that was done and in the fridge I started the apple crisp for dessert. I had to hurry and put it in the oven so the lasagna would have enough time to cook after ward. Then I started on the breadsticks. Once those were rising I finally had time to clean up and think about what else needed to be done. Amy was awake by this time. I avoided following the BYU - TCU game. I was sure we'd lose, but was surprised that it was only 3-0 with a couple minutes left in the half. That's when everything went downhill. I guess the consolation is that TCU is ranked 4th in the polls, and 5th in the BCS poll, and we only lost by 21 points.

Before I knew it Aaron was home and I was scrambling to get everything ready. We found about 10 minutes to 5:00 we were ready, so Aaron jumped in the shower and I got in my Sunday clothes. After dinner with the missionaries we headed to the adult session of Stake Conference. We hired a babysitter so Aaron and I could actually go together. I was looking forward to the 30 minutes drive to and from the stake Center alone with Aaron. Instead the missionaries asked (earlier in the morning) if they could hitch a ride with us. So the four of us made the drive and talked a lot. They are both new to the area, and had a lot of questions about the members in the ward. We had to remind them a few times that we've only been here 3 1/2 months, and we don't know very many people yet.

Stake Conference was great. And apparently the kids were good for Rose (one of the young women I teach on Sundays). We went to bed late, but had to get up early this morning to get everyone ready to the General session of Stake Conference. The boys were mostly good. Amy was good except for the last 20 minutes or so. I took her out in the hallway. Aaron entertained them with a few new apps he put on his new ipod touch.

After we got home I attempted to get Amy to eat some lunch but she was too tired. So she napped while we had some leftover lasagna. Then Aaron packed up and doubled checked everything, and then left for our former hometown. Tomorrow he takes the boards!!! Everyone pray for him. He has to pass, or the last 7 years will have been for naught! I'm sure he'll do fine, but it will be a great relief to have it done and over with. He asked me today what he was going to do with all of the time now that he's done studying. I suggested he take me out on a few dates:)

While Amy continued to nap I played dominoes with Timothy and Monopoly with David. He won again. We had a simple dinner and that's about it. The kids, especially Amy, were not behaving at bedtime. As I discussed this with Aaron when he called, he queried if we could hire a nanny for an hour each night to put them to bed. On a night like tonight that sounded like a great idea!

Now for this week: Monday while we were making apple cider with the K* family Shannon told me about another friend who has grapes to pick. Their harvester somehow missed a whole row of grapes. I guess it's not worth it to get the harvester back out so she said we could come pick grapes for free. They are Concord grapes, great for making juice. So Abby and I plan to go out this week and pick some grapes. Now I just have to ask Shannon how to make grape juice.

Apple Harvest

It seems I'm always forgetting things. I just thought of two more things to blog about. Monday David wanted to invite Benjamin K* over after school. I figured it might be too late since he lives about 10 minutes away and they had soccer practice in a couple hours. But I called anyway to set it up for a later day. Shannon said they were planning to go apple picking but that Tuesday would work. So I decided to take the kids to the library instead. However Aaron has discussed with her a few days ago about going apple picking with them, so while I was at the library he called her back and asked if we could come too.

Aaron tried to call me to let me know to come home, but for some reason I didn't get cell service until I got out of the library. So we hurried home, we threw everything in the van and headed out to the orchard. Sister A* has some apple orchards. They have already picked red delicious for market so we were allowed to go through and pick anything that was left. They also have a few golden delicious trees in the middle of the orchard for pollinating purposes. They hadn't been picked at all.

Amy hadn't taken a nap that day. She had barely fallen asleep when I sneaked in to get something and as I left I heard, "Mommy" and that was it. I was dreading dealing with her in the evening when she was exhausted. However it worked out that she fell asleep on the way to the orchard (only 7 minutes away) so we could pick while she was sleeping in the van.

We had brought a few boxes to put the apples in, and the K* has brought a few as well, however we dumped them all into some huge coolers and other barrels, and went back for more. I had to leave to take the boys to soccer, but I left Aaron there with Shannon and her kids to finish. Aaron rode back to their place in the back of their truck. After soccer I went back out to the K*'s house. They were already making cider. Remember last year when we were out here interviewing and made some fresh cider? We paid $5 for half a gallon. Well this year after a couple hours of picking with friends we made 18 gallons of cider - for free. They have a cider press just like the one we used last year. While the kids were outside in the cold washing apples and tossing them in the press, Amy and I were inside chatting and getting dinner ready. We brought some corn dogs and she baked up some French fries. The kids had a lot of fun, and we stayed up a little late, but we came home with 4 gallons of fresh apple cider. We let the K* family keep most of it because they have 6 kids and a lot of freezer space.

So the second thing was that Benjamin came over to play yesterday. I went to the school to pick him up and then he and David played together for a few hours before he went to football practice. I haven't been taking pictures a lot, so I don't have any to post. I guess I'd better take some, maybe this week.

Time for another update

I am so far behind I don't even know where to start. The last three posts were just highlights, I don't know if I can even remember everything that happened in between. I am blaming my lack of blogging on a new project. My friend Heidi has been talking about making her blog book on Blurb. I attempted to make one last year, but at the time they didn't support Blogger. Well now they do, so I slurped away and have been working on it most evenings.

I will attempt to review the last few weeks. I am now helping out in Timothy's classroom once a week in the morning. I get to read with some of the students and test them on sight words, and things like that. The first time I had Abby watch Amy, and the second week Aaron was home - studying for boards, so I just left her home with him, and told him to put on a video for Amy when he needed to concentrate.

I also got to watch adorable Cecil for Crystal while she worked her her daughter's preschool. He was so easy and even napped most of the time. That also meant that she watched Amy for me while I dig a lot of shopping in the city. Amy doesn't like sitting in the shopping cart anymore, so it makes for very long and frustrating shopping trips. I was able to hit four stores in less than 2 hours, without dealing with a toddler!

I got to attend Standards Night with the Young Women. Our ward was providing the musical number, and they wanted me to help the girls sing the alto part. Aaron was on call, and we made the switch off barely. He was supposed to attend the court of honor at the same time. I got there right at 7:00, and walked the kids over to the nursery where they were to play until Aaron could come get them. Unfortunately the court of honor was being held in the nursery room. I wasn't sure what to do until a friend came out and offered to have the kids sit with her until Aaron came. Timothy was all for it (she typically has candy hidden away). Amy didn't want to go with her (pretty typical), however David didn't want to go with her. I told him the only other option was for him to sit in an empty classroom by himself. That's the option he chose. Um, OK? Luckily I sat in the chapel with Amy for about 2 minutes before Aaron arrived. He took Amy and found the boys and went to the court of honor. I got to the sing with the Young Women, and hear most of the keynote speakers' talks. The Bishop W* caught my attention, and I walked out as he explained that Aaron got paged and had to go back to the hospital. So I had to drag 3 sugared up kids out of the church, while Aaron went back to work.

We enjoyed watching General Conference. Aaron was on call, so he had to see patients in the morning and made it home just as the first speaker began his talk. After the first session we ate lunch and then went to the boys' first soccer game. It was over at about 1:00, so we hurried home and got there just in time for the first speaker of the second session. Aaron didn't get called in all weekend. He took a few phone calls, but that was it. I don't know how long our good luck will last. Probably until flu season starts.

Aaron has been studying on his days off, and on the weekends. He had his first camp out with the scouts. He had two other adult leaders that came with him but split the time, one couldn't be there until late since, he was reffing a high school football game and the other had to leave early for a Union meeting that happened with 3 days notice. Aaron said it went alright except that they stayed up way too late, and then were awakened at 4:00 am when one of the boys discovered his tent was soaked through with the rain.

We also got hit with rain, and it made for a wet soccer game. At least it wasn't pouring. I didn't have the camera with me, because Aaron had it on the campout. So I didn't get a picture of David scoring a goal. One of the 15 that were made by our team at that game. The other team didn't get a goal.

Friday night while Aaron was heading out with the scouts, I took all 3 kids to the homecoming game with me. I wasn't sure we were going to last. Especially after Timothy claimed he was tired after 5 minutes. The game was against a big rival, and although the other team isn't doing well this season, anything can happen at a rival game. When we punted on our first two possessions the crowd was a little worried. However we soon started scoring and by halftime it was 36-0 or something like that. I was able to appease Timothy with a min- etch-a-sketch I found in the diaper bag. We had popcorn and goldfish. After the half-time festivities we went to visit with a friend at the top of the stands. Timothy thought we were leaving and wasn't too happy when we sat back down. He was tired and I let him rest on my leg, then Amy rested on his back, and we all thought that was funny. The other team did eventually score, but we won 58 -8. I was getting ready to leave with 2 minutes left in the game, but then Amy kicked her shoe off and it dropped underneath the bleachers. Thomas the mascot came to the rescue again and found it for us.

We've still been following BYU football, even with our horrible losses. However we did manage to pull out a win on Saturday. I'm sure there are many other things that happened, but I can't think of anything out of the ordinary. So I guess that's about it for tonight.

Soccer time

Well, first Amy wanted her picture taken after she climbed on the computer desk.

OK, now onto to soccer. Today was the boys' first soccer game. They are the gray team. They were kind enough to schedule the game between Conference Sessions :) So we ate lunch at 11:00 and then got to the park around 11:45. The game started around 12:00. Amy entertained herself with the camping chair and a bag of Teddy Grahams. Aaron had to run over to the clinic (across the street) for a bit but was able to see most of the game. I've seen their practices, so I wasn't sure how well they would do. I was pleasantly surprised that their team scored a goal pretty early.

Timothy playing defense.

David waiting for the ball to come to him.

Timothy running after the ball.

David chasing the ball.

Timothy actually making contact with the ball.

Timothy chatting with a teammate.

The boys played pretty well. There some pretty aggressive (in a good way) players out there, but the boys didn't get in there as much as I thought they would. David had a good handle of how to play the game, but mostly waited for a good opportunity to get the ball. Many of the younger players tried to get the ball, no matter who had it. It was funny to see a huge clump of players all trying to kick the ball. There were several kids on our team that would take off with the ball, and try to score a goal. The other team had one or two. Our goalies were pretty brave and made 3 or 4 saves. Their goalies, didn't go after the ball much. As a result our team scored about 13 goals, and the other team didn't get any. I don't know if the league keeps score, but I know David did. I'm just glad the kids had fun. Hopefully they'll want to go to practice more. Here's to another busy week of soccer!

And we were only 15 minutes late for the second session of conference.

State Fair

On Monday there was no school. David earned a free ticket to the State Fair by reading for 300 minutes. Timothy had the same opportunity, but somehow I never got the message, so he didn't get the free ticket, even though he read for more than 300 minutes as well. There wasn't a good day where Aaron could come as well, so I decided to take the kids by myself. I'm not sure it was worth the money, but the kids had fun, and were really good. I left a little early, to try to find street parking - no such luck. So we shelled out $7 for parking. I had to take the umbrella stroller because the big stroller had a popped tire that was unrepairable. So instead of storing everything on the stroller I had to carry it in the diaper bag.

The hardest part about the whole event was after arriving (25 minutes before it opened) and waiting in line for 20 minutes before we got our tickets. I took my time getting the kids out of the van, and when I got up to the ticket booths I found four lines. One was really short, so I got in that line. It was very close to the street, but the cars were all coming from the other direction, so the kids were fine to be that close. I guess everyone else figured there was only one line, that split into two. But no one told me I should move, so I didn't. After the line started moving other people got in line behind me. I was glad I didn't have to wait more than 5 minutes after the ticket booth opened.

As soon as we got in we took a bathroom break, and walked around the booths inside. The kids were fascinated with the fake snow - a powder that you add water to, and it feels like snow. But at $20 for a small box, I wasn't going to buy it. When we got outside the kids found this interactive art piece.

They had fun banging on the different things with the mallets provided.

We saw an animation exhibit.

Amy didn't want her picture taken though.

Surprisingly the boys did.

They were mesmerized by all the cartoons being shown all over.

Then I put my camera away for a while. We walked around and saw a few things, like the different entries: food, quilts, 4-H, art, photography etc. Then the kids were hungry. So we ate lunch - I'm still pinching pennies, so I brought PB & J sandwiches, and told them we'd buy a treat later. At 12:30 there was a dog trick show, which was kind of lame, but they kids enjoyed it anyway. Then we walked around and saw all of the animals: pigs, goats, horses, cows, rabbits, chickens and ducks. The boys got to pet a cow, and a little pony. As we walked around trying to find a snack Amy fell asleep. The boys wanted fries and ice cream. I could think of better fair food, but that's what they wanted. I told them they couldn't have both, but they couldn't decide which one they wanted. I finally made a deal, that I would buy them fries, and a drink if they could wait on the ice cream until McDonald's on the way home. They agreed. So we bought a huge basket of curly fries. They were nasty, but the boys gobbled them up. Amy was asleep.

We heard about the farm follies show, so we went to watch it. I found lemonade for a decent (for the fair) price with refills for $1. So we all shared, and I quickly got a refill. The boys thought it was funny to have them drink out of the same cup at once, but they never did it long enough for me to get a picture. Just as the show started Amy woke up. So we watch farm animals do silly tricks. Goats, llamas, and donkeys. Afterward they got to pet the llama. That's when we noticed Benjamin (from Timothy's class at church and school) and his mom. We talked for a few minutes and then we headed home. Amy had a really short nap in the stroller, and I had plenty to do at home. We weren't going on any of the rides, so there wasn't much else to see.

They did bang on the art piece one more time though.

The kids were really good about staying close by me and the stroller, and stopping and going when I needed them to, so we stopped by McDonald's on the way home for 50 cent soft serve cones. I tried to convince them the Tillamook mint chip in the freezer was better, but they didn't agree. So I had it all to myself. Too bad I actually forgot to eat some when we got home.