HApPy HaLLoWeEn!

Brit, Soccer player-sporting the AMERICAN FLAG!! Sidnee is an Indian girl, many times she got called a hippie (LOL)  I guess she resembles one with the flowers, and the long hair and the head band.  But the whole idea was a young indian girl out picking flowers in the meadows.  But nevertheless she was beautiful!  Addy- was an Oompa Loompa (Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory)  Fun night.  So warm.  Lots of chocolate!

Early morning Breakfast

Alan comes home from work about 10:30 or 11 every night.  So the kids had a couple of days off from school, and Sid wanted to wake up early and fix Alan breakfast, she put arrows all over the house and than right above our bed she wrote, "Sleep in on Thursday ok?"  So I woke her up at 6 on Thursday morning, and she fixed the family waffles and eggs.  I thought it was pretty cute, and very generous knowing she had the day off and still wanted to get up that early and fix breakfast for her dad!

Kitchen Re-do

Kitchen before Pic

Kitchen Before pic /started tearing down wallpaper

Kitchen before pic/back door

Kitchen-after pic, grey blue walls, and grey green door (stained)

Kitchen - after pic, back door, mazy yellow w/blk stain

Kitchen-it looks fab, I must say! Before the re-do it was just an ordinary kitchen in an old farm house (1890's)... The walls were a cream color with trim and in need of a paint job.  The doors were painted white with a matte finish, and were horribly dirty, (would not come clean)  I just thought eeewwhhh [all of those previous renter germs)...so by painting and staining, you will never see the dirt or grime again, and it adds pizazz to the kitchen.  (it is recommended that you use a glaze... But I love to use gel stain-glazes are much easier clean-up)

My new Music/Office Room

So, here is the story of the Black walls, a little different than the norm, but it turned out beautiful.  There is a lot of white trim and windows in this little room.  I told Alan I was going to paint this room black, and he said, "Don't do it..." but I listened to my inner self and went ahead and did it anyway.  I failed to mention to the owners what I was doing.  They showed up on the day I was painting it, EEEKK and I just about died... They said it was okay, but I made them a deal, when we move out, I would paint it over (on my own time, and purchase the paint)  They agreed.  But they never saw the finished product, they walked into my house when it was a complete and a total disaster, and I had stuff strung all over the place, as did the kids.  I was slightly embarrassed, and I braced myself, waiting for their reply... Turned out it wasn't so bad, I asked Carman (the owner) if she liked it? and she said, "Of course, but I have to." (because the paint was already purchased and on the wall).  I think it came together magnificently.. Just purchased some material & at some point in my day... week... month... I will make some valances and hang them.

Brit

Lil Brit, misses his sisters, they are his lil' mothers, They spoil him rotten, if he screams because he wants a spoon instead of a fork, they run to the kitchen to get him the exact color, size, shape he wants.  He is definitely my most spoiled child.  The saying,"when he's good, he's real good, and when he's bad he's real bad.  That fits him to a "T" 

Briton 3 yrs. Old, My little shadow

Picture Day- wanted in on the action ;- )

First Grade School Pic, Mrs. Pankukk

Addy is doing really well in school she is at the top of her class when she was tested a few weeks ago.  She uses big vocabulary at home, and she does her best.  She is a great friend to everyone, but doesn't mind speaking her mind to those around her.  The other day the neighbor boy "Soren" (who lives across the street)  was walking down the sidewalk past our house, and Addy saw that he was not coming to knock on our door to play with her.  She ran outside on the porch, jumped on the swing, and yelled, " SO, your not coming to play with me, HUH?!? She is my tomboy/princess;  I asked her if she wanted to try out a dance class, and she looked at me with her face all scrunched up and said, "Oooh, no!"  We have about 4 boys who come around daily to play with the girls, I look out on the side walk, and they're all on their scooters, and Addy usually is somewhere in the middle of a bunch of boys... with her little bro in tow!

School Pics

 School Picture day.  Life is good in fourth grade, her teacher is Sally Druffel.  The Name of Sid's school is Lena Whitmore Elementery.  Most days sid rides her bike to and from school.  She is really starting to love reading, her favorite subject is music.  Her music teachers name is Mrs. Edwards, she keeps asking if we are related to her... She just joined a band called "All City Band"  She is going to play the piano in the band.  When they perform she will play the drums, bells, or the Meranga.  She is really excited about the band, they are playing at the U of I homecoming in a few weeks.  She is also taking piano from a wonderful piano teacher.  She is very knowledgeable, and she is sweet, but she pushes Sid to do her best.   

First Day of School- A bundle of nerves

Poster reads:  1st day of school "1st Grade"

Poster reads: 1st day of school "4th Grade"

First day of school, here we go!!! We are a couple of about 5 blocks from the school, so the girls hopped on their bikes & we were off the day!  they were excited and ready to go, but once they hit the playground and saw everything around then was unfamiliar, they extrovert instantly became introvert... which is par for the course.... Addy left her little assignment home- and so she just about had buckets of tears, but Alan dropped it off to her before he left for school this morning.  Sidnee was headed into an unknown world of 4th grade.  She is almost the biggest kid in Elem. school, their sixth grade class just moved to middle school.  She has her own locker, and she knows a few kids in the other 4th grade class.  She is so shy, and she was really scared this morning, but I think she will grow to love it. Addy has several kiddos she knows in her class, I think she will get along famously- if she can just remember where she goes, and if she can remember to take her homework to school, and where her shoes are, and where her backpack is... and where her jacket is... the list goes on and on and on.... Hugs and kisses to my girls, I have thought about them all day.... can't wait til 3

Fresh Squeezed Lemonade

Lemonade Stand - Brit Pretty much his roll was to run around, drink lemonade, and destroy things - LOL!

Sidnee was the organizer, and the "Delegate-or"

She also took the money, when she wasn't instructing Addy.... They sold all of their lemonade & made $10 - WOW!

This is Soren (left) our neighbor, and Addy, They delivered flyers up and down the street

..."Fun Summer"

Happy Birthday lil Buddy!

Britton - 3 Years Old

Brit turned three this year, he is getting so big.  He runs around this place like he owns it.  The girls pamper him, and watch over him like two hens...We had a great birthday-Day!  We woke up & opened presents... He got a lot or trucks, clothes, and a hat! We went swimming, and home for a nap, and then on to Pizza Hut that night.  It was a fun day!!!

Sidnee's 9th BIRTHDAY!!!!

 

 

Happy Birthday Sidnee!!!I cannot believe she turned 9 today!  Crazy how life goes by so fast.... Today her wishes were:

• Waffles and Eggs for breakfast
• Homemade Blueberry Muffins (for a snack)
• Iceburg lettuce with Dorothy Lynche Dressing (Nothing else on it!)
• Chinese food for Supper
• Hike in the morning
• Swim Lessons
• Swimming after Lessons (way to cold, had to X that and go to a matinee)
• Bake a guitar cake (we'll see...)
• Eat Chinese in Pullman, take dad a plate of Chinese food...
• Open presents and hang out!               

She almost has all of those things crossed off of her list.... We had a great day, we couldn't find a hike close enough to Moscow, so we ended up at the Arboretum, which is beautiful, it took us about an hour and 15 minutes to get through it, stopped and ate our blueberry muffins.  We headed home, threw on our suits and dived right into swimming lessons.  Sid and Addy had great teachers, and me and Brit were in a baby swim lesson, which was really fun!  He had a great teacher, who loves babies - it was a lot of fun.... We headed home, showered up and walked down to the Matinee, Alan hadn't seen Brave so we took him to the movie... of course we all laughed our heads off at the bear butts....  Addy can't get enough of that, she thinks it's hilarious... cute move!  Alan headed off to work, we've got to throw a cake in the oven! Brittons down for a nap, (clean up-Yikes, things have gotten a little crazy messy around here...)  Then head to pullman a little bit later.  Happy Birthday to the Birthday girl!  She is the best... We love her very much.... [One little side note, at Swimming lessons, they called the kids names out, and when they were calling the baby group out to the pool, they were naming the names, and they got to Brittons name and the swim teacher called- "Britoon?"  LOL, I haven't heard that one before... Funny, but I have to give it to him, there are lots of crazy names out there!

Chocolate Popcorn

Sid had an idea to make chocolate popcorn, it turned out really good, made a huge batch and delivered a lot of it around to neighbors.  We put it in a baggie, tied star, stripe ribbon and some red foil stars for the fourth of July.  Turned out beautifully!

RECIPE

• 1 Stick of Butter
• 1 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1 Cup Karo Syrup
• Bring ingredients to a boil, set timer and boil for 2 minutes and 30 seconds more. 
• Remove from heat add:
• 1 Can Sweet and Condensed milk
• 1/4 Cup Coco Powder
• Pour over:
• 4 bags of popped popcorn -old maids removed.  Stir 
• Lay popcorn out on wax paper, and some options would be to add M&M's, nuts, pretzels, and drizzle with white chocolate.  let chcolate cool.  Bag it up...

Most Disgusting Pizza!

Me and the Kids got home a little later than normal tonight... I like to have supper ready by 5 o'clock to eat.  We got home at 6, and I still had dishes, and had to do all the prep work.... So it was Friday night, and I thought to myself--- I am going to have pizza delivered---(something I have never had the luxury of doing  before)  So I called up the local pizza place in Moscow, ordered online, got their newest yummiest pizza- whole wheat crust and the whole 9 yards... I like to venture out and try new things... So I thought, this will be fun, a bottle of A&W, and a fun new pizza for our Friday night.  It had some things on it I didn't know what it was- several different kinds of sausages - I thought.  7 o'clock, the doorbell rang and their was the nice pizza man with a hot and ready pizza and a cold A&W.  I was so excited, dinner in a box and I was done for the night.  So I called the kids in and they sat around the table, their mouths watering... I opened the box, and Addy said, "mom, I don't like hashbrowns on my pizza...."  I started to laugh and said Addy those aren't hashbrowns, that is sauerkraut.  At that moment I knew I had went a little to far on my adventure for food...  It had two different kinds of sausage, sourkraut, a lil' cheese, some kind of mustard sauce underneath all the uck.... It was the [most all-time, ever in the world, disgusting] pizza I had ever eaten (seriously, it was like a giant hot dog mashed into a large circle).  Addy would not eat it at all, brit had two bites and sid said, "mom, it's a good thing you ordered the A&W huh?"  I apologized over and over, and begged their forgiveness... Lol!  Sid did manage to get through one of the slices, and then went for another one, and said, "I don't know why I'm reaching for another one...." She threw it in the box, and ran outside.  Sorry "Pizza Perfection" I don't know if I will order another pizza again... It will take a while to get over that one!  

Frozen Summer Treat

Recipe of the day:

Fruit Skewers...

[YUMMMMM!]

• skewers
• red grapes
• green grapes
• thick sliced bananas
• blueberries
• chocolate (milk, or white or a combo)
• real fine coconut

Slide fruit on, lay on parchment.  Melt chocolate, drizzle and sprinkle coconut on top.  Place in your freezer until frozen. you could use any variety of fruit. [ex... pineapple, strawberries] 

A super fun activity to do with your kids. 

final step: put a lock on your freezer for about an hour!

Our New Home

This is our new home.... It didn't quite look like this when we drove up to it.  It was all white, it needed a little TLC.... So that's where Big Al comes in.... We arranged to switch payment for Fix-ups on the house.  Which really helps both of us, He has a long list.  Inside there is a little parlor, dining, living, kitchen on main floor.  Upstairs there is three bedrooms and a bath. An added bonus, there is an upstairs covered porch.  I haven't dug into fixing that up yet, but the ideas are rolling.  I love the porches they are fun and easy to make beautiful.  I spend a lot of time on the front porch watching the kids play. 

 

The Big Move!

One of the biggest changes in our lives, happened, May 25, 2012... It was scary, fun, exciting, crazy, - me and Alan, pulled out of the U-Haul place, thinking to ourselves [what are we doing....]  We are uprooting our children, ourselves, and everything we've ever known-we are leaving behind.  We were both a bundle of nerves on the verge of tears, and anticipation at every turn...  Alans parents came along for the adventure- we loaded up the kids and off we went, into unknown territory... (a little nervous) Along the way we experienced, a "white out" in Montana....Other than that it was uneventful. We spent the night in Missoula. The kiddo's had lots of fun swimming, and riding on the slides.  We arrived the next day around noon in Moscow. 
We made it!!!  We had previously not seen any pics of our new home-to-be.... We only had a sketch and a note from the previous renter.  Alan was a little skeptical about the whole thing... he said, "What if we get up there, and the whole thing is a scam...."  Yeah!!! that would of been awful.... but we pulled into Moscow, and drove to the address, and guess what?  The house was actually there, and it was vacant... waiting for us to fill it up with all of our many, many, many possessions..... ha ha ha!!!  We saw a lot of moving vans on the way up, and all of those U-hauls were a LOT smaller than ours.... WHAT WERE WE THINKING.... We had to downsize once again.  The house was a bit smaller than I had anticipated. 

The Elders Quorum showed up and had the U-haul unloaded in about a half an hour.  By this time, I was frazzled.... The Relief Society, (may I emphasize 'Relief") came to my aid with a home cooked dinner that night (yummm....)   All I could do was sit and stare at the mounds and mounds of boxes sitting in the little living room.  Thanks goodness for Larry and Mar, or I think I would still be sitting in the middle of my living room with boxes all around me.  Not the funnest experience I've had... Yet it was an 'experience'

A couple of days later mom, Kerry, Kandi, and her kids came up to help out.  Thanks goodness for family.  They helped get things in working order, and helped me get things a little more organized. 

Three weeks later, here we are, I finally know which direction I need to point my car in- to make it to town.  ha ha ha (I still have to really think about it!)

Spokane, Washington

We got to Spokane on Monday, and we just checked in to the hotel, and Alan went to his meetings.  We dropped him off, and than went back and went swimming... On Tuesday, we went to the Riverfront Park.  It was a lot of fun, They had water kids could run through, but it was not warm enough that day.  They rode the carousel and some other rides.  Sid wanted to ride a ride, but Ad and Brit did not fit the height requirement, and so she rode all by herself.  She was the only one on the ride, and it was a little dragon ride.  Around the first bend, we thought we saw tears... It scared her just a bit-she came out of it with smiles....

Spokane Falls were beautiful.  There is a pedestrian bridge you walk over, it made me a little nervous... walking over those roaring falls.  But it was breathtaking...We ate at the Mustard Seed- Super good!

 

 The Spokane Temple, is a micro temple.  It was beautiful.  When we got out of the car, and walking up to the temple, there was a different feeling there than there was anywhere else in the city.  I asked the kids if they felt a difference between yesterday and today.  There was such a feeling of peace, beauty and a feeling of security.  They had a stake center on the left side of the temple and then they had a park on the right hand side that was church owned.... with a picnic area and swings that kids could play on.

  Later that day we went to the Mobius Kids Museum downtown Spokane.  It was a lot of fun.  The kids had a blast here.  They had Plasma carts, art, bubbles, how electricity works, backhoe operating, a mini playground for kids, a stage, dress-up... Brit is sitting in a Tiki Hut, right next to the hut, it was a little hut you could trade your goods in (all make believe) ... We ate at the Onion a couple of blocks away, it was really good also, They had giant onion rings the size of a donut.... Kids loved those. Another fun day.  

Addy at the kids museum!