some xmas

We had a good Xmas. The kids have been pretty good for the most part. I haven't been asking myself when school is going to start back yet, so that's good. I am actually kind of sad that school starts back Monday. The big kids week off has gone by pretty quickly. Maybe I'm still used to the 2 weeks we used to get off. On Xmas Eve we ate out at Famous Dave's with Poppie and then came home and the kids opened their sibling gifts. Starting last year we instituted sibling gifts- the kids each draw a name and get that person a gift for $5 or less. They love it and are usually really excited about their gifts.







Xmas morning, everybody was up at 6:30. The kids set their alarm the night before and sure enough they were up and ready to go as soon as it went off. They originally had it set for 4am, but I made them change it. Santa came and nobody got coal. As a family we got some light sabers for the Wii and a Lego Star Wars game. We also got some movies- Sky High, Pinocchio and the set of all 4 Shrek movies. Plus Pictionary Jr. We LOVE board games and family game night is something we do a lot of, so Pictionary Jr. has been a hit! Santa also did stockings and everybody was happy with what they got. Since a friend suggested it when times where a little rough, we have been doing 3 gifts under the tree each year. A god way to explain it is that Jesus got 3 gifts, so that's what we do. 1 gift is the sibling gift, gift 2 is always PJs and gift 3 this year was a toy for the boys and jewelry stuff for the girls. Kaitlyn and Emma got hanging earring/necklace holders and Mia got supplies to paint and decorate a wooden jewelry box and they each got 3 earrings. Jude got Jingle the Pup with his interactive book (from Hallmark) and Coen got the interactive My Pal Scout. We have been playing games and watching movies like crazy and we have had a very white xmas, so we have been having tons of fun.

How the Gifts came out and sledding

These are the gifts I made. I think they turned out really cute. Jarrod's bosses family will be getting one of the Jack Frosts Not Lost games and Emma's teacher and Kaitlyn's HR teacher will be getting sets of coasters. Kaitlyn's other teachers are getting small boxes of chocolate.





The past two weekends we have gone sledding. One time in the ditch in our neighborhood (with an awesome snowball fight), another at Blue Mountain and another in a neighborhood (I didn't get pics at this one). Sadly we won't be going this weekend since the snow is slushy and melting now, but it was fun while it lasted.
Here are pics from the hood. I'll do the mountain in another post.

Gift Ideas....

So, it is that time of year again. Time to come up with something cute to give my kids' teachers. I want to do something cute and simple (and cheap!!). So, this year I am leaning toward this-

http://homemade.tipjunkie.com/homemade-tile-coasters-diy/

I found it on Tip Junkie's new Homemade site. She has put a lot of stuff on the site that has been very helpful for gift ideas. I also get alot of my ideas for Make and Takes. I got a really cute gift idea for a family too. I am going to make one of these for our family and Jarrod's bosses family.It was linked from one of the many e-mails I get that's craft related. I can't remember which one though. It looks really fun.

http://family.go.com/holidays/pkg-christmas/article-949256-jack-frosts-not-lost-game-t/

Well, if anyone who still reads this has any gift ideas let me know. I'm also having a hard time coming up with gifts for Coen. We have Xmas coming up and about 2 weeks later it's his first birthday. It's hard coming up with stuff for the 5th kid since we still have some stuff from the others he can use. Any ideas?

TodaysMama Giceaway Plus my Meme....

Check out TodaysMama for an awesome giveaway.

From TodaysMama-
TodaysMama and GameStop are giving Santa a run for his money this year with a pile of presents that any family could love.


Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme

TodaysMama (link to: http://bit.ly/tmwishlist) and GameStop (link to: http://bit.ly/gamestop10) are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What is your holiday wish for your family? For good health, happiness and lots of love to go around.

2. What is your Christmas morning tradition? Waking up opening gifts and stockings. Eat breakfast and hang out and play all day.

3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be? A spa day or a babysitter for our 5 little ones so Jarrod and I could go on a date

4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money? We play lots of family games and go check out the Christmas lights.

5. What games did you play with your family growing up? Monopoly and trivial pursuit

6. What holiday tradition have you carried on from your own childhood? We open one gift on Xmas eve.

7. Where would you go for a Christmas-away-from-home trip? A week in a cabin somewhere

8. Check out GameStop (link to: http://bit.ly/gamestop10) and tell us, what are the three top items on your GameStop Wish List this year? A new DS for our oldest, Family Game Night 3 and MySims Secret Agent

One of my faves...

One of my favorite things right now is how Jude will say he "got for" something. Here it is in context-
Mommy- "Jude, did you turn out the light?"
Jude- "I got for to turn out the light. I go turn it off."

As a bonus, here's another funny story.
Yesterday the kids watched an episode of The Cat in the Hat Knows a lot About That. In this episode the Cat's friends helped a beaver fix her dam. So later on, Mia and Jude are playing. I hear Mia say "Jude, hurry and fix the dam!". Then, she runs off to go get something. Jude says, "I can't!". When asked why he can't he tells us that "There is no dayum here.". Then, after a little while Mia runs upstairs to go get something and I here Jude say, "Fiiiine, I'll fix the dayum." and he grabs his Handy Manny hammer and heads of to the corner to fix the dam.

Oh and here's one more. Last night Jude hit his head and came over to tell me and Jarrod. Jarrod asked if he wanted him to check it out. Jude said, "No, my brain is broken". So, Jarrod did a little touching and massaging of his head and told Jude he fixed it. Jude walked off holding his head and said, "No, it still broken".

Beard Watch 2010

Jarrod is on day 12 of Beard Watch. He decides to grow a beard out every winter and now that we are up north in the land of frigid temps but hardly any snow known as Missoula it works out well for his face. It usually lasts a couple of months and then it starts to annoy him and he shaves. So this year, I thought I would keep track of how long he lasts and update with pictures. The growing season started October 1st and we will see how long he goes. Maybe I can convince him to grow out his hair for me too! One can only hope =)

The skin on your elbow

During Emma's Birthday dessert, Kaitlyn asked if we knew what the skin on your elbow is called. We said we weren't sure and she told us it's called the Wenis. We looked at her and said that someone obviously told her that in order to get her to say it b/c it rhymes with another word. So, she came into the living room to look it up and prove us wrong. Here is how the rest of the encounter went:

K- "Ha! I was right. Here's the definition- The wenis is the skin on your elbow. If you pinch your wenis it will not hurt at all. If you pull it it will strech pretty far."
As she is ready this definition to us, Jarrod and I are almost dead we are laughing so hard. As she finishes up with the stretching part Emma adds her 2 cents from the living room- "Look, I'll pull my Wenis right now". As soon as that comes out of her mouth Jarrod and I are laughing so hard that I am in tears and he is pretty much maroon.

All in all it was a memorable conversation and we have learned something new- the slang term for the skin on your elbow is wenis, but the medical term is olecranan skin.

Little ones first day

At our house, the little ones get first day of school clothes too. They also will be going to Mommy school during the week. I started with Mia last week and will be working with Jude some this week and fully starting with him next week. Coen is gonna hang out and have fun.

First day of school

I know, I know, I am a little late, but so far thsi is only our 2nd full week of school (we started the Wed. before Labor Day).

This year Emma is in First Grade. She absolutely loves school (definitely my genes there) and has been asking to go back since August. She was so excited to go to school. I told her that we were taking them both the first day and she was not happy. Kaitlyn didn't start the whole not wanting me to walk her in until 5th grade and it's already started with Emma. So, we compromised and only I walked her in so she wouldn't be embarassed. Daddy stayed in the car with the other kiddos. Here are a few pics and if you notice the one at her table she is sooo embarassed (that's why she won't look at me and it was my last pic).

Kaitlyn started 6th grade this year. Unlike Emma, she has not been counting down the days to school starting. She was also not happy she didn't get to ride the bus, but since we were already taking Emma and she got to sleep a little later she let it go. She is in Band again this year (she plays the Clarinet) and she also has the chance to play a couple of sports with the school this year, so she will be playing Soccer in the Fall and running Track in the Spring. She may play Basketball in the Winter, but we haven't officially decided on that yet. Here are a few pics from her first day. We did end up with one of her walking into the school bldg. from our car (that was as close as she'd let us get!). She also showed off her new school shoes-she's in a size 7 now! That's the same size as me! It also means that when you go by soccer cleats you don't get the youth discount package anymore b/c the kids foot isn't youth anymore.

My new best friend....

is a 1st grader. I was helping E put up her backpack and another little girl needed help finding hers. So, I told her where hers was and then we headed back to the classroom. Along the way the other little girl was just chatting it up. She asked what neighborhood we lived in and before I could answer that question she asked if we lived by Chelsea (street/person who knows). I told her I didn't know Chelsea. She then said, "So who are you anyway, her aunt or something?". I said. "No, I'm her Mom.". She then replied, " Really? You look really young.". I Love Her!

HA HA!

Getting into bed-
Jude- Can I sleep in your bed?
Mommy- No
Jude- I going to lay down in your bed.
Mommy- No
Daddy- C'mon Ash, he'll probably lay down for awhile and then go get in his bed
Mommy- I don't feel good, I'm tired and we have a TINY bed (Coen co-sleeps w/us in a Full size bed)
Daddy- Jude you can lay with us for a little bit
Jude- HA HA Mommy, Daddy says I can sleep in your bed. HA HA I sleep in your bed.
Daddy- Jude, don't rub it in Mommy's face
Jude- HA HA Mommy, I rub it in your face. (crawls over to me and starts rubbing my face) HA HA, I rub your face. I rubbin' your face.

Needless to stay he lasted about 30 min in our bed and then got in his and passed out. He is a cutie.

where do you buy your brain?

Jarrod- Jude, where's your brain?
Jude- Right here (rubs head). I just buyed it.
Jarrod- You just bought it? (questioning to make sure he heard correctly)
Jude- Yeah.
Jarrod- Where did you buy it?
Jude- Walmart.
Jarrod- Was it cheap or expensive?
Jude- Yeah.
Jarrod- That's not an appropriate answer for the question.
Jude- Not cheaper, cheaper

Update!

Ok, so here is my promised update-
the day before school got out we left for Seattle. Jarrod had a seminar and since we aren't really doing anything this summer I thought it would be fun for us to all go and spend the day before the seminar sight seeing. We drove up Thurs. after school and made it by 9pm. We went out to dinner and then to the hotel. On Friday we rode the ferry over to Port Angeles and then made our way to a couple of hikes in Olympic National Park via Forks and La Push. We did the Moment in Time hike by Lake Crescent

Then, we made our way to Forks and La Push. We ate lunch in Forks at Pacific Pizza. You should definitely eat there if you get a chance. It was super yummy! I shopped a little and then we went to La Push. The sea stacks were awesome! We definitley want to hit a few of the beaches next time we go. This time we passed b/c we didn't quite have enough time, but definitely next time.



After that we did the Hall of Mosses Trail in the Hoh Rain Forest it was absolutely gorgeous. I still can't get over how green everything was and how clear the water was everywhere. Olympic National Park was great.

On Saturday Jarrod had his seminar, so we hung out at the hotel and then went to Claim Jumper's for dinner. It was delicious and I finally got to try the Eclair for dessert. It was greatness! The thing was the size of a football and even with 6 of us eating it we couldn't finish it. We left Sunday morning and made it home in great time. On our way out we drove by the fish market and we even got to stop at a Sonic (yay!).












Father's Day- We made homemade doughnuts for breakfast and gave Jarrod his gifts and for dinner we had Five Guys.











Coen also started eating baby food. I make his baby food and so far he absolutely loves it. He is also crawling like crazy (no more military crawl) and sitting up. He has started pulling up on things lower to the ground (the bottom stair and the back of his bouncy seat).













For the 4th Jarrod made homemade biscuits and I made a blueberry pie. We had hot dogs for dinner and then we headed over to the mall to watch the fireworks. Jarrod had monday off, so we turned our garage into a movie theater, had popcorn and watched one of our family faves -RV.













Oh, here's a pic of my Bday peach cobbler. Yummy Yummy!