Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

My parents celebrate their anniversary today!!! I consider myself to be so blessed to have parents that have stayed faithful to each other for so many years!! Thank you Mom and Dad for being an example of what a Godly marriage can look like.

SNOW!

Well, we have snow. We got an inch or so a few days ago and another inch or two this morning. As much as I hate the paraphernalia that goes with snow/winter (boots, coats, scarves, mittens, gloves, snow pants ...... etc) I do love the quiet that comes over my house when all the kids go outside to play outside in the white powdery fun. The hangers have come out and will perpetually have a hanging place in the kids bathroom as that's just about the only place for wet stuff to get hung once coming inside!

This last week was conference week at school. That means that the kids had half days Mon-Fri so I was picking them up by 12:10 each day. Next week is Thanksgiving so the kids only have school Monday and Tuesday.

Conferences went well. Micah is in 1st grade and is excelling in everything. He's solid academically but still needs to work on his handwriting. He's in a hurry too much. He's a huge community contributor and is excellent at helping, volunteering, and assisting others. He's also eager to share his thoughts .... so not interrupting others is an area he needs to work in. He's very self driven and is in competition with everyone.

Carissa is in 2nd grade this year and loves to write. She's her Mother's daughter. She is doing well with writing and reading and loves science. Her area of weakness academically is math. She is struggling a bit - but is making marked improvements as we continue to work on stuff at home more. She's the perfect little helper and student at school. She's got a great teacher this year and is happy to be in the same class with 2 of her best friends. She's making her reading goals for each month and is very proud of that.

Noah is in 4th grade and is also doing well academically. He's showing his strengths to continue to be in math. His weakness is in writing (grammar and mechanics and desire). He's a good speller, but even there has shown sloppiness a little bit. He's in a hurry and doesn't double check his answers. He's a smart one, so easily bores and fidgets as a result. It's always a challenged to encourage his BEST and be happy with that .... but not settle for mediocre work when we know he can do better... He's nearly 10 so we're starting that journey into the tween years soon and all that comes with that. He's recently learned some new words at school (swear words) and has been honest about how he's learned them. He knows them to be "bad words" so hasn't used them, but rather, asked questions about them. I'm thankful that he's feeling comfortable to ask us and not feel like it's too taboo to go there with us. It's partially saddening to know he's learning/hearing words and things that seem more mature than he is. We just hope to keep the channels of communication open... so we can continue to parent and teach him (as well as the others) what is good and pure and right.

A couple friends

The women's conference at our church was last weekend. My friend, Shannon (below) is one of our pastor's wives and she and I have become good friends. :)

We also played a little dress up and wore silly costumes to get our pics done. Shannon is in the middle and on the far right is another woman from our church named Jeri. She's a fantastic woman whom I adore. She serves on the prayer team with me at church.

Just a little fun :)

Apples, hair cuts, and frigid nights....

Well, let's see. October has been a busy month and it's barely started! As soon as we hit pay day I went and got my hair cut. I've been saving up for it and planning this cut for about a month. I am really loving the cut and am getting many compliments on it (which, who doesn't love, right?). Eric even thinks it's cute so I think I made a home run!!! woohooooo!!!

Last night a friend and I went to the Casting Crowns concert in Kennewick. It's about an hour and a half from where we live so we went early and had dinner and then hit the concert. The opening bands were great and it was a good night to just be with Paula and stand amid thousands of other believers and lift our voices and hands to God. Paula sings on my team at church. She's a mom to 3 and a grandma to 3. She's young at heart and is fun to hang out. The more I get to know here the more I adore her. :o) We figured everyone probably thought we were mother and daughter last night. Ha Ha.



During one of the songs an artist came out on stage with a blank canvas and some buckets of paint. Below is what he ended with. It's amazing to watch it come together!!!!

Last week I was given 5 boxes of Honey Crisp apples. Since then I have been processing apples. I've made apple sauce for the freezer. I've canned apple sauce (in pints and hoping to ration in).

I have dried apples in my food dehydrator. One batch with a sprinkle of cinnamon and a couple batches without.



The canner lady :)

I even prepped 3 apple pies. All I have to do is add a little butter and a pie crusts and I'm good to go!!!

It's been a productive week!!!!! :)

School is in session!!

Oh boy! Another school year is upon us!!!!

Here are the darling Nuttlings... all lined up. And tired of pictures. These are actually kind of in backwards order! ha ha ha

Brothers..... (rolling eyes)

I actually love this one!

Carissa's laughing and I think it's so cute!!

She's wearing "dangly" earrings for the first time to school. They were my first pair. Cute.

I can't believe it's his last year at the elementary schools!!! Next year, the MIDDLE SCHOOL!

Micah was up and ready to go at 7:30 am this morning! And he was willing to sit in the parking lot at school if we needed to!!

My stud muffin! :)

Makin' my Daddy Proud!

Today I decided to make whole wheat tortillas! Not as round and pretty as my Dad's. But OH SO TASTY! The kids LOOOOVED them! After the 2 hour process (at least it FELT that long) it sure makes me appreciate the labor of love when he makes them for us (or other family).

Now to get a proper pan to fry them in. I had to resort to my dinky little 6 inch pan! Gotta hunt down some cast iron, I think. :)

I haven't looked at the cost effectiveness of making my own, but it is comforting to know exactly what's in them and know I'm not filling the kids with extra ingredients I can't pronounce.

Hair Cuts!

All the kids got hair cuts last week. Carissa's only consisted of getting bangs though! :) Here they are... all bathed and clean and ready for bed! Amazing.

Micah's Kindergarten Graduation Celebration

Today was Micah's last FULL day of school. Tomorrow they have a half day. This morning was their mini graduation celebration. Micah's teacher is moving to a split 1st and 2nd grade class next year so this was her last year to teach kindergarten. Bitter sweet for her, I think. As she got up to talk about the class and how proud of them that she was, she choked up and teared up and was embarrassed. Through the quiet of the room then you hear Micah say, "Awwww, poor Mrs. Paganelli." To which, we all laughed. My goofy boy. Sigh. He wanted JJ to sit by him so he did. Here they are before he got his diploma.

Micah getting his diploma and hug from Mrs. Paganelli.

The whole class after they all got their diplomas.

Throwing their hats... (made out of paper.. too cute!)

Mom and the Graduate. :) With JJ peeking in on the picture. Ha ha..

Micah with his teacher, Mrs. Paganelli. We've been spoiled to get to have Noah, Carissa, and Micah all get to have her. Selfishly we're bummed that JJ won't get her for kindergarten!!!

Another group shot outside. They are all dressed in their swim suits and outdoor clothes b/c this afternoon at school is field day. They have various stations in the play ground where they do different games and the fire truck will be out to spray them all down. FUN times!

Noah hit the 50 mile club!

Every week at school the kids have mileage club. The kids get a card punched for every lap they run around the field at school. They add up the laps into miles and Noah hit the 50 mile club this last week. If you can make it to the 50 mile club you earn a t-shirt. He earned one last year as well and is very proud of his running. We're pretty proud too. I wish I could bottle his energy!! :)

JJ's 4th Birthday

Four years ago today we were blessed by Josiah James being born into our family!

JJ was excited to open his present from Grandma and Grandpa Burgess this morning. He's caught his first glimpse of the character on the gift and is VERY happy about it! Big grins!

Proudly showing his pillowcase off!!

Carissa ran and got his pillow. Once it was in he hugged it and said, "YEAH!". He then laid with it for the next hour while watching cartoons!

JJ is an ice cream lover. He doesn't do cake, brownies, pie, or even cookies that much. He just wanted ice cream with sprinkles. Okay by me. Makes it EASY for the Momma!! :) He's in a cheesy smiling mode. Evidently today is a NO teeth day. HA HA.

Spring time..... tulips and soccer

Noah has really enjoyed soccer this year. His skills and his confidence has really picked up and it's neat to see him excel with the other boys. Two games ago he scored the last 3 goals. Today he scored the first goal of the game! The Grizzlies (his team name) have won all their games except ONE, which was a TIE game!!! So, I think they're undefeated... :) But, I'm a partial momma. :)

My tulips came up this year. Here's a pic of one of them.

She's packin' heat!

Eric and I had date night yesterday. We decided to head to the hills and do a little target practice. I haven't shot a gun since 7th grade when I think I shot a little handgun twice at some friend's house (my brother was there so no freaking out Mom and Dad... lol). Anyway, I had no clue how I'd do. It was fun and I wasn't so bad. Check it out and see :)

Concentration at it's finest!

So, this was my target paper. This was at about 25 yards out. :)

Here I am with the 9mm. It took me by surprise the first time with the little kick it had. Eric laughed!! My first couple missed the target sheet but then I got the feel of it.

Here I am with my 9mm target sheet. FUN!!! :)

Hello longer, fuller bangs

So, last night at our financial peace class my hair dresser friend gave me an idea with my bangs. They were pretty short and thin and she suggested I cut a few more bangs (as in go deeper onto my head). So, I did. Now they look a little fuller and I cut them just the tiniest bit longer than the short ones so they appear longer and have a natural curl under. I'll work these bangs to my favor yet! LOL

Here's me messing with my photo editing program. Just messing with it and being artsy.

Birthday Wishes

Psalm 91:1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

Today is my Daddy's birthday! Happy Birthday, Daddy!!! For those of you who haven't met my Dad, I'm sorry for that. :) Let me tell you a lil something about him.

He's a strong man of God. One who trust in the Lord - even when times are hard and perhaps it's even a little drizzly. I liken him to the roses pictured above. Roses are hardy and resilient. So is my Dad. As you can see the rain has fallen on these roses... and yet to me, it adds to their luster and beauty. Notice, even where there are several drops that have merged and it looks heavy, the petals continue to hold the weight. The petals aren't drooping and bent over backwards under the stress of the rain. In fact, the rain is necessary for creating such beauty. Without the rain and the nourishment it brings the roses would wither and die.

My Dad has been such a strong example through his life of a man that follows God. When adversity or hardships come - He stands firm. Perhaps the raindrops merge and make puddles even. But, because my Dad is rooted in the Lord, he can stand fast and wait for the rain to stop, the raindrops to soak in and in turn give him room to stretch and grow and flourish.

As for the thorns that come with roses. Well, I liken those to the whisker-seeds I got as a little girl. :o)

I love you Dad. Many Birthday Blessing and Wishes coming your way.

Love, Your Lil Girl

Spring Break 2011

Settle in for lots of pictures. :) As you can see, I wacked my bangs on a whim a few weeks ago. I ended up with them rather, um, short!! This pic with JJ is even with a few weeks of growth! HA HA.

For Spring Break this year we had booked a trip to Seattle (back in November I think). We stayed at the Camlin in downtown Seattle. It's owned now by Worldmark (the group we have a timeshare with). It is an old building from the 1920's. It was an apt. hotel type building. They have restored it and added a few newer conveniences but it's still full of history. Since we took the kids with us, the only apt that would hold our family of 6 was the pent house. So we were up on the top floor (11th) and got a 2 bedroom penthouse suite. It had a king size bed in the master bedroom and it's own master bath complete with jetted tub. Then there was a tiny 2nd bedroom with a queen size bed and dresser and small closet and then a queen size murphy bed folded down in the living room. So all 6 of us had soft beds to sleep in. Although, the last night all the kids slept on the floor side by side. They are so funny.

Here's a typical picture of JJ. He finds himself so funny. I find him quite cute.

I didn't get a shot of the Camlin from the front ... but this is a squire thing on our balcony. I love the details!

This is the sign on the top of the building.

Master bath vanity. Quite posh :)

Part of the living room.

The kitchenette. I was thankful for the fuller size fridge. I had prepped all our food ahead of time and knew we'd be doing a lot of reheating in the little microwave. We took so much food we didn't buy anything while we were gone for 4.5 days and even came home with food!! :0) Sure made the budget happy!!

Eric and I out on the balcony before we went out on Monday.

Monday we headed down to the water front and went to the Seattle Aquarium. The kids had never been there before so it was a lot of fun to watch them see all the great stuff there.

Carissa fed a sea urchin some kelp.

A cool shot of a HUGE jelly fish. OUCH!

Eric feeding Micah to the shark. HA HA HA

Nemo and his dad. :)

Micah riding the Orca.

Carissa riding the Orca.

JJ hanging ON to the Orca.

Noah "smiling" to oblige his mother when he'd rather NOT be standing on the Orca. ha ha ha

Sleepy otter.

After the aquarium we took our packed picnic lunch to the beach on the sound that Eric and I went to all the time when we were dating. It's also where he proposed. It ended up really windy and slightly miserable but that didn't stop the kids from playing.

After the beach we drove to Gas Works park. We walked around there a bit. As you can see it was windy there too. You can see down town Seattle in the background and the space needle to the right in the back ground. Remember too, if you click on the picture it will enlarge it so you can see it better.

Here's the Troll that lives under the Aurora bridge. It's this huge cement monster with his hand cupping over a real VW bug. The kid in blue in the left of the picture is not one of ours :)

Here are the kids sitting on the trolls fingers.

Tuesday we headed to the Seattle Pacific Science Center (similar to OMSI). Again, we'd never been with the kids so they were super duper excited. ESPECIALLY when they found out the Star Wars exhibit was in town!!!

The kids got to take turns driving/riding on a hover craft. JJ couldn't b/c you had to be at least 5. He was bummmming to say the least.

But he got his picture with Chewy so all was well.

Darth Vader with my little hooligans.

Interesting tidbit of trivia about Yoda.

We saw a dinosaur display as well. We had Micah hold this rock. Then we told him it was fossilized dinosaur poop. He then asked me, "Do I need to wash my hands now?" HAHAHA

On Wednesday we hung out around the apartment. We did some walking around down town as well but for part of the afternoon Carissa and Micah spent some time in the "hot tub" in the master bathroom. They loved all the bubbles from the jets :)

Time to go.... Look at all that stuff it takes to get a family of 6 out of town for 4.5 days!!