Grace Is 5!

It's a bit late of an update, but I wanted to post some of the pictures of Gracie turning 5! Her Granny's birthday is the day before so Grace was privileged to have her Granny here to celebrate with her. My sweet girl turned 5 on July 13th!

Granny and Papa bought her a new big girl bike b/c she can now ride with no training wheels! And her Grandma and Grandpa Way bought her the long anticipated Dora doll that can be taken in the bath and her hair changes color, and make-up appears..... yada, yada, yada. She has been wanting this for FOREVER!!!! She was thrilled to get it. And her mama and daddy got her her very own game boy. She was VERY spoiled this year... but hey she's the middle child, she needs a little bit of spoiling!

When I get a chance I will put together a little slide show of her growing up. In the mean time, here are some pics from her b-day party.

Summer is just flying buy! We have been taking advantage of every moment of it!

We've been camping every chance we get. Clint's parents come up in July and they brought our nephew Andrew with them. So we loaded up the trailer and we camping! Just before they came out, Gabe finally learned to ride his bike w/o training wheels! Of course me mentioning that his cousin didn't know how and that he would be able to show Andrew that HE could do it, might have added some sudden inspiration!But it didn't last for long, b/c once we went camping, I taught Andrew how to ride w/o training wheels!!!!! I am sure the entire campground thought I was crazy running behind him and hooting and hollering! But I was soooo proud of him, and it was awesome to see all the kids (minus Abby of course) riding their bikes like "big kids"!


*Sorry Alecia, I don't have pictures of Andrew riding, just video of it! :( I was too busy running to take pics and when he finally got it, I ran and grabbed the video camera instead! I think your dad took pics though.*

Papa and Granny certainly enjoyed relaxing and just hanging out with their grandkids.


This was pretty much how Papa looked the entire trip!


The kids really enjoyed hanging out and playing with each other. I wish they could see each other more often! Here's a few pics of them just being kids...








All in all I think the kids had a great time!

First Campin' Trip Of The Season

We FINALLY got to go camping! We have been wanting to go since early May.... but the weather didn't seem to get the memo that it is supposed to be summer! And in these here parts, we don't tend to have COLD May's.
However, June has decided to play nice so we packed up monday morning and headed to our favorite comping spot. I gotta say this just might have been the best camping trip yet. Our friends decided to join us, so it gave the kids someone to play with, and us someone to socialize with..... which we did 'til 1 in the morning every night! (Side note, I am too old to be staying up that late... ughh.)
We went fishing as a family, which usually irriates me because I LOVE to fish, but when the kids fish, it is impossible for me to fish. They are always tangling their lines, or reeled in the line and want me to cast, or they are waving a hook around a sibling and fighting! So this time I decided that instead of fishing myself, I would just man the kids poles and help them. It turned out to be far more fun, because all the kids caught fish. Watching their excitement was so much better than catching one myself.
Abby was particularly funny, when she gets excited about something she tends to shake her hands while her whole body is stiff and shakey! But it is nearly impossible to reel while shaking, so she would reel for a minute and then stop and shake for a minute all while yelling, "I gotta fishy, I gooooootttttaa fishy"!
Too stinking cute.... oh, here's her fishy.





Gabe learned how to cast while we were fishing. He still needs some work, but he's getting the hang of it. This is the first time he took a real interest in fishing, which of course makes his daddy so proud.



And the big news of the trip is that Gracie learned to ride her bike without training wheels!!!!!! I must note that Gabe has yet to accomplish this milestone so there is even more pride for Grace that she beat her big brother at something. I'm not sure what was cuter, her beaming smile as she did it, or her daddy whoopin' and hollerin' running behind her!




We also took all the kids to a little creek to cool off. It was sooo cold, but once the kids were in for awhile they didn't seem to mind. I think they went numb from the cold and couldn't feel anymore! I leave ya with a few pics from that, and hope you are all enjoying summer as much as we are!

Bummer

A few weeks back a baby duck found its way straight from heaven and to our house. She was maybe 3 or 4 weeks old and soooooo sweet! One of the neighbor kids knocked on our door and said they had found a lost baby duck. So we rescued it.
Meet Waddles.


After we rescued Waddles we read that ducks are very social and need other ducks, so we ran right out and bought our 3 week old duck some babies to raise.

Meet Quakers and Peep.



We also went out and purchased 6 mature hens so that we are getting 6 eggs every day until our baby chickens start laying. Which probably won't be until the end of summer. So on this farm we have 18 chickens, 3 ducks, and 3 dogs.... e i e i o!

Until this morning.....

At 6 AM the dogs wanted out for the day. Clint stumbled out of bed and opened the back door and let them out. It was VERY cold and windy out this morning and he wasn't really coherent and didn't want to go out in his skivies to kennel the dogs.

At 7 AM I wake to hear the chickens going nuts....

At 7:05 Gracie comes running into our bedroom screaming "Daddy, Bear has a chicken!"

We leapt out of bed and ran outside. Bear and Bailey had broke into the chicken coop!

There was carnage everywhere! My baby ducks were dead. 5 of my chickens were dead.

I'm not sure its normal to sob over farm animals.... but I did.

I'm pretty bummed about the chickens, but I am really bummed about the ducks. Waddles was soooo sweet. And the babies were adorable. Waddles did such a great job being their "Mama" and not letting the chickens peck at them.

*Sigh* I don't think I'm cut out for farm life.

Rest in peace sweet duckies..... you will be missed.



PS - Anyone want a broken golden retriever and a oaf-ish black lab...... they may come up for adoption soon! Grrrrr Killers!

New Doo

We took Abby into the eye doctor last week and after an exam he informed us that Abigail's eyes are still very healthy, but when they were dilated he did see some need for lenses. So our little girl is sporting a new look. To go with her "new look", I decided that the girls and I would go and get summer hair cuts. So much to the chagrin of her grandmother, Abby is now 7 inches lighter in hair.
But doesn't she look just adorable?!!!!



Here's Gracie my ever-ready-for-the-camera girl. I think she look sooooo much older!
And yes, Clint does own a shot gun, and yes he knows how to use it!



All three lovely ladies.....



On a side note, Clint quit his job with Lithia last week to pursue his own business as a home inspector. Please be in prayer with us that God will mightily bless this step of faith.

I Blinked....

.....and my son turned 7! TODAY! What happened? I really remember the day he was born. I just held him in my arms thinking, "I can't believe he's finally here." My son has taught me so much. He's my experiment for parenting. He is so smart, and sensitive, stubborn, and cuddly. When he was two he used to ball his little fists up and say "Ohhhh you frustrate Me"! All the while I was thinking "No, YOU frustrate me!" I've often wondered while raising this boy if I was doing it right. So many times I have asked God to show me how to be Gabe's mommy. He is so unlike my other two children. But I truly believe it is because he has so much more to accomplish.... he has to raise me. :) I love this little man with all that is in me. I am so very proud of him and who he is turning out to be. I look forward to next year as I get to be with him more every day. And I am SURE there will be times when I will ball up my fists and want to say "Ohhhh you frustrate me"! I thank Jesus that He gave me Gabe. And I also thank Him that he was born so close to mothers day. He is the one who made me a Mama first, so it's always nice that the two events go hand in hand on the calendar. I took some pictures of Gabe's scrapbook and put a little video together of my boy growing up. Some of the pics are very pixally, I apologize. Grab a tissue and enjoy.....

Hallelujah!

The chickens are finally out of the house! Yay!
The weather finally decided to give us a break and Clint was able to get the coop finished. Can I just say how much I love my man and how proud of him I am. I found a picture of a mini barn and told him I wanted to have a coop like that and he built it all out of his head! I am sooooo blessed to have a man that can do such great things!
I know it's a little over the top for a coop, but we both had some side jobs and paid cash for the whole project! I'm fairly certain it's the cutest coop in the town.... er state.... maybe even country! :)
Here's a slide show of the "barn" raising, and how much our chickens have grown.
Now if only I could tell how many roosters/hens we have! UGH!

Invisa-Woman

So I've decided that I am a hero in disguise. Or technically a heroine. Nobody really knows this, and my powers really aren't that outstanding..... but it's the best conclusion I can come up with.
Here's the reasons for my assumption.
1) I drive an invisible car. I can see it. And when it's parked in the driveway, everyone else can see it. Even the birds of the air leave evidence that they can see it. But when I am behind the wheel.... well it becomes invisible. You see, while heading to a photo session this morning, I was clipping along at 65 mph, and someone pulled out right in front of me. Not the typical "I think I have time if I gun it" pulled out in front , but "I'm going to test the bladder control of this woman" pulled out in front of me. Thankfully there were two lanes and the car beside sped up so that I could change lanes and avoid the idiot. Who not only raced out there, but then proceeded to do 30 in a 65!
This is not a one-time thing. This happens ALL THE TIME! Semi-trucks pull out with not so much as a passing glance my way. Pedestrians on foot cross a four lane highway and walk RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!
Clearly my ride is invisible!

2)There are times when my voice can not be heard by the human ear. Time after time I find I am repeating myself. To my children, to my husband, to the DOG! I KNOW it can't be that they are all simultaneously ignoring me. They are all far too loving and considerate for that. So the only logical explanation is that I have some super hero power that enables my voice to go unheard.

So here's my conundrum: how can I use these powers to help mankind?
A soundless voice and an invisible car? Oh and sometimes the ability to make the dirty laundry magically "re-appear"! (Although word has it I am not alone on that one!)

Mull it over and get back to me.... in the mean time I will be yelling for no reason while transparently driving around town! No I'm not mad.... I'm Invisa-Woman!

Parenting 101

Tonight I went in to tell Gabe to get ready for bed. Being the ever cooperative young man that he is, he was giving me some grief about it. Being the ever sensitive and experienced mom that I am, I could tell this behavior was a cry for some one on one time with mom. So I knelt down looked him square in his eyes and asked him, "Gabe, do you know what a wedgie is?". To my surprise he screams "Yesssssss!" and takes off running for the living room holding his buns! Of course the only recourse I had was to maniacally laugh and chase him down.

"Gabe do want a wedgie? Do you? Huh?"

At this point I have pinned him on the couch and am popping his toes as he wriggles to get a away.

"Come on Gabe hold still so Mama can show you what a wedgie is!"

"I KNOW WHAT A WEDGIE IS MOM!"

As I proceed to lovingly give my son a first class wedgie, all the fuss has roused his ever curious sisters and here they come gleefully screaming into the living room....

"I want a wedgie Mom" "Me too, me too" "Give me one"

Well.... what good mom wouldn't grant her children the desires of their hearts....

I tell ya, moments like these....it's the reason I had children!

*rubs hand together and laughs "Muah Ha Ha Ha"*

Sunny Seattle

Clint was privileged to be asked to play and sing at our friends wedding this last weekend. Ona and Andrew were married Friday night and Clint and I flew out for the weekend to attend the wedding. It was a wonderful excuse to get away for a childless weekend! And of course Seattle is always one of my favorite places to go and visit.
The wedding was beautiful. They are such a great looking couple and truly a match made in heaven. She picked a great guy.... bald shiny head, blue eyes, goatee, great smile..... I gotta say she has great taste! Hee-Hee ;) I love the Ahearn family to pieces and it was a blessing to be a part of this occasion!
We had so much fun while we were there. We got to see familiar friends and even reconnect with some that we haven't seen in years. Thanks Shane and Shannon for hanging out! And thanks Jason and Alecia for letting us all hang out at your place! And by the way we are all way to old to be staying up until 2 AM! It totally kicked my butt the next day. But it was really great to catch up! I am still laughing over a few of the stories......("you people are sick!") :)
We were blessed with beautiful weather and a blue-mid-life-crisis-convertible for a rental car! So we took advantage of it and went to the "beach" and chased the seagulls off of the crabs so we could torment them and take pictures. We also went to Pike Place and had my FAVORITE doughnuts and coffee. If you have never been to the market and had the doughnut company's mini doughnuts they are sooooo gooooood! Take my word for it and wait in line.....well worth it!
It was a really relaxing, fun getaway, and we were glad to be home to our babies. Abby missed her Mama a lot. Every time I talked to her on the phone I'd ask if she was having fun with grandma, she'd say "Yeahhhhh but your taking a long time. I miss you." If that don't melt your heart......
Here's a few pics from this weekend.

A HomeSchool Family.....

Clint and I have decided to home school next year....
Please pick your jaw up off of the floor while I explain!
We have had Gabe in private school this last year, and we have really felt blessed. We pulled him from the public school, b/c they really weren't doing a very good job, and with the help of my parents he has attended private for fist grade. Unfortunately with the price of tuition going up, as well as the price of gas for the 20 mile drive to and from the school, we have made a decision to have school at home, and I get to play teacher! :)
While we were in the process of making this decision, I defiantly had some anxiety over it, but once we prayed together and made this choice, God gave me a real sense of peace. I don't take my children's education lightly, and I really don't want to screw it up! But we have found some great resources and are in the process of enrolling the kids in IDEA (Idaho Distance Education Academy). They will give us an allotment per child that will pay for curriculum, as well as "give" us a computer and pay for our internet. Because it is ran through the state, we can't purchase any "faith based" curriculum, but I figure we can always pay out of pocket for that.
At first the thought of educating the kids myself seemed very overwhelming and scary. It's really not in my nature to do this sort of thing. I don't pride myself in being a #1 mom, with the patience of a saint. To be honest there are days where my children flat our irritate me. But I know when I ask, God can give me just enough grace and patience for each day.
Thankfully I have some great people in my life that are currently homeschooling, or have years of experience in it. They have all been very encouraging and helpful. As I am sure you all know, there are many stereotypes that go along with the whole home school thing. One of my closest and dearest friends (said with oozing sarcasm) sent me this little video to encourage and enlighten me on the new adventure we are about to embark on!

We can't wait to become a home school family! :)

Follow the link and watch the homeschool family video!

For Andrew

My nephew wanted to see pictures of our chickens, so here are some that I took the other day. They are really growing fast and I'm thinking we will be building a coop real soon! As much as the kids enjpy them, I will be glad to have them out of the livingroom!






Feel better soon my handsome nephew!

We're ALIVE!!!

So it's been about a year since I last blogged! I'll try to cover the past year in a nut shell (yeah right)!
Grace turned 4 in July. Abby was officially potty-trained in August! FYI - that made exactly 6 years and 3 months straight that I changed diapers!
In August Gabe started 1st grade at Lighthouse Christian School. He loves it there and is doing amazing! He also just lost his bottom front two teeth. Somebody please push "pause" because these kids are growing WAY too fast!
In September Clint went to Seattle for training in a new career. He is now a certified home inspector, with his new business: Structural Integrity Home Inspections. Since then he has been working days as a auto-tech at Lithia and evening and weekends doing home inspections as they come in. We are hoping and praying that someday soon he can walk away from the Lithia and go full-time into his own business. Here's his site: www.sihipro.com
My photography business and been growing and keeping me very busy. I have steadily had 1-2 clients a week, which is about all I can handle while being a full-time mommy, and wife, and cook, and laundry service, and merry maid! :) I thank God every day for how much He has blessed my business and given me the desires of my heart!
Here's my site: www.myphotojenic.com
In late September we added a new member to the family. Bailey is my new baby! She is a beautiful golden retriever with a smidge of border collie in her. She looks like a pure bred golden retriever, who ironically won't retrieve! She is only 1/4 border collie, but instead of fetching, she would rather "herd" our other two dogs as they fetch! We're certain she is going to make an excellent duck dog, as she barks and nips the heals of the ducks and "drives" them into Clint! :) Oh well, at least she's pretty!
We also most recently added 12 new baby chicks to the family. We have 6 Rhode Island Reds, and 6 "Easter Eggers" - Americana's. They are only a week old, but the kids love them and we are hoping to get a coop built adjacent to the garden and have some eggs in about 4-6 months.
Well, that pretty much brings us up to speed. I will try to update this more frequently. I figure at this rate, even once every six months would be an improvement!

Gabe Is 6!

This weekend was Gabe's sixth birthday. I can hardly believe that my first baby is six! In so many ways he is such a little adult, but then again, he's been that way since he was little!
I am so proud of my son. He really is a good kid, with a very sensitive heart. He hates to disappoint us, and revels in our affection. He is so stinkin' smart it's challenging at times. His personality is very strong. There are several times throughout my weeks, that he completely exasperates me, and I know he feels the same about me! But I love my little man. When I look at him, I see so much for his future. I know that parents are supposed to tell their children that they can be anything they want to when they grow up, if they put their minds to it, but with Gabe, I really do believe that he will go far in life. He was created to do big things for God, and I pray that his heart will always stay sensitive towards Him. I could go on and on about him, but I will spare you.
So, for his birthday, he asked to go camping. It has become our new weekend pastime. This was our third trip out since we bought the trailer, and this was by far out best trip. We went to this great campground where we got the choice camping spot right close to the pond. The kids had a lot of fun riding their bikes and climbing the tree. They were totally fascinated with how high they could climb in it! Monkeys!
The pond was really great. It was probably 50 feet wide and maybe 1/4 mile long. Anyway they stock it with some sizable trout, and all together we caught 6 of them. I have become completely addicted to fishing! It is so much fun! Clint caught some very beautiful fish, I on the other hand managed to catch two ugliest trout in the pond! They were absolutely heinous! Here's hoping they don't taste that way!
Funny story, there were lots of people fishing this pond. Some people put their fish on a stringer back in the water, and some were just throwing them in buckets. Well, while we were fishing, we were letting the kids and dogs run around playing and stuff, when all of the sudden we heard this guy yell "Hey"! We turned around and to our horror, our dog Bear (appropriately named) had stolen this 6 lb. trout from this guys bucket and was running off with it!!!!! SOOOO embarrassing!
Anywho we had a blast. Here are some picture of the kids in the tree, and the fish, and the dogs, and the campfire. Needless to say the family is getting real tired of moms obsession with the camera! I didn't take any of Gabe opening his presents and blowing out the candles, I was manning the video camera instead. I will try to get some of those videos posted on out other account. If your interested in having access to those, send me an email and I will shoot you the link. We keep all that stuff private.
Enjoy!

Campin'

Clint and I have been wanting to get a camping trailer for a long time. We set some money aside for one and waited for the right deal to come along. We kept praying that God would bring the right one across our path, and we shopped and waited and looked and waited, and then we found this amazing trailer! God answered our prayer abundantly above all that we asked for! We got the most amazing deal!
So anyway, we took it out a couple of weekends ago, and the kids loved it! We will most likely be camping as much as possible this summer. It is such an inexpensive way to enjoy some family time. Watching the kids play together and really enjoy themselves was so much fun.
We even tried to do some fishing. Didn't catch anything, but it was just nice to get out and try roughin' it! (let me tell you it was rough!) ;)
So here's to a great summer ahead!

Counting My Blessings

I'm not even going to begin to appologize for the length of time that has lapsed since my last post. I'm busy. Get over it.
So we made an attempt as a family to drive out to Seattle to see family for a great vacation. And guess what. We all got the flu. AGAIN! We have pretty much decided that our country-fied, redneck, systems can't handle the city. So for now, unltil we come up with a remedy, if you want to see us, you know where we live.
Since it made for such a lousy vacation, we all came home kinda cranky. Me in particular. I was soooooooo looking forward to all the family fun I would have with my family and niecies and nephew. I really felt like the trip was a total wash. But then my wonderful sister sent me some of the pictures she took, (b/c I never once took my camera out) and when I looked at them I felt sooooo blessed. My children and their cousins make me smile. They really make my heart feel like it's gonna explode! I just love them so much.
So I made a little slide show with pictures of my kids, and niecies and nephew and my man. They are NOT portraits! Just my kids being kids. Infact, they even have dirty faces in most of them. But this is my life, and all my blessings. I am one blessed woman! Thank You God!
Enjoy.

Make photo slide shows at onetruemedia.com

"I'm TWO"

On Sunday, February 11th, our baby girl turned 2! I can hardly believe that she is two already! Of course in some ways she seems so much older than that. She talks sooo much and and is just so BIG. She has been off of the binkie for 6 months at least, and has been in a big girl bed for almost as long. We flew out of the high chair because she wanted to be with her siblings right up to the table, so she could feed herself. Whatever they are doing, she is attempting to do. All with the exception of the potty. She is more than willing to sit on the silly thing all day long, but as far as put what belongs in there in it, no success yet. But I am hopeful that it will come soon.

She is such a great little girl. She makes me smile all the time. Not to say that she doesn't drive me nuts some days, she certainly is a bossy little stinker, but she melts my heart. She is just sooooooooo beautiful, and she laughs with her whole little self. You just can't help but laugh with her.

For her candles this year I used ones that looked like crayons. After she blew one of them out she looked surprised and says, "Uh-oh, I turn off the crayon!"

It's quirky things like these that remind me to try my best to hang on to every day. God knows they go by so fast.

Here's a few pictures of her and her daddy just being themselves! He loves to make her laugh. And I love him for being such a great daddy.

Well there you have it, our beautiful two year old.