October Happenings

October was a crazy busy month! Ben was still making the drive out to 7-Bays on Lake Roosevelt every day (he still is) which means he comes home pretty wiped out at the end of the day. We got the permit to start building our shop, visited Greenbluff and our kids were in my cousin Mandy's wedding. We also had a nice time celebrating Bens birthday with family n friends on the 27th. It seems like every year once we hit Bens birthday its time to hold on for the ride because the holidays are just around the corner......... here we go!

Oregon Coast Trip

We had such a great time on vacation with our good friends the Hopsons. We left at 5am on a Wednesday. We almost got out of town before Jackson had to go potty (Luke was so happy it was our kid that had to go first!) We made it to Portland by 1130 and toured the Portland Zoo. It was nice and warm and we saw so many animals! We ate some lunch and continued on towards Lincoln City where we had rented a house right on the ocean. That first night was probably the warmest weather we had the whole trip and the view of the ocean was clear which we soon found out was really rare. Over the next 4 days we collected sea shells, built some amazing sand castles, toured the aquarium, swam, well sort of swam, in the freezing ocean, soaked in the hot tub and had an amazing time. The drive home was long but overall went really well considering we were traveling with 5 kids. We are already looking forward to our next vacation!

Good times and bad

How is it my babies are now a preschooler and a 1st grader?! Tuesday the 8th was the day after Labor day so a busy start to a schhol week, it was also the first day of school ever for Jackson and the first time Audrey was gone for a full day at school. The morning went well as the kids were really excited to wear thier new school clothes and see familiar faces at school (Audrey knew some friends who would be in her class and so did jack). Packing a lunch was also a new thing, which thankfully we did the night before to simplify things- its a bit of a challenge still as Audrey doesn't eat a ton of typical lunch food: no pb&j or really any kind of sandwhich so we've been getting a bit creative. I dropped Audrey off at school first and she didn't want me to get out of the car :( I was a bit sad and kept offering but she insisted she could do it by herself! I did snap a pic of her walking into the building- the determined little thing never did look back. Next stop was Adventure Kids Preschool with Jack. He walked right in and gave me a hug only because I asked- he was such a big boy! It was like ok mom c-ya! When I picked him up later he just said "I was getting done with that place". Too funny. I think he meant he'd been there long enough for one day. Audrey was happy to see me that afternoon and soooo hungry. Judging by her appetite and the fact that 80% of her lunch was still in the lunch box I think she was too busy to eat. So we had afternoon snack and relaxed for a bit before the kids headed out to play. Here comes the sad part of that day. I hadn't realized that Dirt dog went outside with them too. A neighbor was walking her dogs down our street and Dirt ran out in the road to bark at them. Bad idea. One of these dogs was a pit bull and didn't want to be bothered. He attacked our little buddy and he ended up dying from it. Terrible, awful thing that the kids and i had to go through. So we are now down to one animal, our Charlie Brown cat, aka Mr. Brown. So the first week of school was a bit crazy but we made it and are looking forward to fall routine. Thanks to all of you who have sent us kind wishes regarding our dog- its been much appreciated. :)

Long Lake

I took the kids out to our family cabin at Long Lake a couple Sundays ago just for the afternoon. Just me, my sister and mom and the kids. It brought back so many memories! They were perfectly content to just swim and play in the sand for hours. I can remember swimming until I was called out of the water to eat dinner....oh the days of summer!

Jack likes to help

Both the kiddos like to help mow the lawn yet Jackson seems to have a much longer attention span for it. This last time he 'helped' with almost the entire back yard! Kudos to Ben for being so patient!

Embracing 30

I am turning 30 on May first! I actually think that I was more freaked out about it when I turned 27 and realized it was looming. And yet I felt the need to do something sorta wild. My husband really likes it- a bit much as his first words were "sexy mama" and Audrey repeated it! The kids are facinated- especially Jack who calls it Moms rainbow hair. My Dad said " I don't know about that, I think you need a new hair dresser." Haha. Its been fun seeing peoples reactions!

Spring Break

Was sooooo long! Great ready for a wordy recap of this week with the Petersons. Sometimes I think we are just too busy!
The weather was terrible this week and its difficult to entertain kiddos when you can't go outside. Monday we met our friends the Freemans at Jump 'n Bounce. The kids had lots of fun but Mommy was so done with the noise by the time we left! We came back to the house and I took some precious belly shots of Kristin- she's expecting her little boy any day now.
Tuesday we rode the city bus! Audrey has been asking and asking to ride the bus and it just so happened our friends were planning on catching the bus downtown at the same time we needed to go downtown. It went really well but I still VERY much appreciate my Yukon!!! On the way home Audrey watched a gothic dressed couple make out rather umm intensely. Can't wait to see what questions comes out of that scene! While we were downtown we met our friends the Weavers at Mobius kids. A and J played with the water table, got to paint, ride scooters and and and. Lots of fun! That night was Papa Cliffys birthday. We had Papa, Gramma, Annie and Simon over and made steak and lobster. Audrey could not get enough lobster. We keep giggling and saying she is NOT going to be a cheap date when she grows up. :)
Wednesday we hung out with auntie Amber and Gramma and went to the gym in the afternoon. Daddy started softball practice too. Mommy had coffee with her pals and then went to the new Winco foods- it sound boring but was actually fun with friends.
Thursday our friends Halle and Faith came over to play. Brooke and I put the kids in thier Easter clothes and took pics with her nice camera. I'll post some pics when Brooke gets them to me.
Friday we went to the gym where the kids play in the daycare place. After that we all took a nap. Nice! That night we had dinner at our friends the Hopsons. Lots of good food and fun! Saturday the kids drove out to Reardan with Daddy to see Annie and Simon's property they are building on while Mommy helped Amber work on the house plans. We then had dinner at our friends the Prices.
That brings us to today. Woke up and went to church-great worship and message today! Then we hung out at grammas for a bit. This afternoon we went to an open house for a home that Ben worked on. We came home and the kids played outside- so so happy to finally see some sun. And now its almost eight which means I need to go put the kids to bed! I'll post more pics soon.

Mini Vacation

Our family loaded up in the Yukon (with the new DVD player!!) and headed to the other side of the state. We met up with Amy aka 'the cookie lady' for a nice meal at Red Robin Friday night after we got into town. Saturday morning we went through the Seattle aquarium- we all really enjoyed it and learned a lot. We then went to Ben's cousins kids bday party at a jump-n-bounce type place. After that it was back to the hotel for a quick swim and dinner at IHop. It was Valentines day and we didn't want too a long wait so this worked. Jack was so tired he fell asleep at the restaurant an Audrey was all about the pancakes. Too funny! Sunday we met up with the Sunds again and spent a couple hours at the Childrens museum. Next time you are in Seattle with little ones check it out they had so much fun. It was a crazy busy weekend but so so so much more fun than our last trip over that way.

Pancakes!

Hotcakes, stack of flap jacks, pancakes whatever you want to call them they have become a favorite around here. Jackson could eat them every day I think. On this paticular morning Audrey had spent the night at Grandma and Papa Sheets house so I let Jackson help me make breakfast. He and Audrey are really into 'helping' me in the kitchen these days and most of the time thats a really great thing (others times I just grin in a bear it in the name of quality time with my children!) Its these little moments I treasure and don't want to forget.

Celebrating Christmas Abundantly!

We are truly blessed to have so many friends and family to celebrate our saviour with! This year we had seven gatherings to attend! I know, it still makes my head spin and it's been over for weeks.

We first got together with our good friends the Drapers for a fun dinner at Tito Macaroni's and a Christmas light cruise in C'dalene.

Then a few days later celebrated again with my Mom's family (awesome prime rib dinner!).

Come Christmas eve we took some time to play in the snow- finally. Ben had been plowing so much we hadn't had much time as famiy to enjoy the crazy amount that had fallen. (It was like manna from heaven for us!)

We then had another amazing prime rib dinner with Ben's family and had breakfast together Christmas morning. Of course we had to have Christmas morning first with our own brood.

Then it was more family time with my parents and sister the rest of the day!

The day after Christmas we hosted my Dads family get together and then finished off the craziness with another party at Ben's parents on New Years day with his dad's family. I'm seriously glad the holidays are done! Now it's back to the gym and back to reality!

Hello Charlie!

We have a new member of the fam! Monday before Christmas we adopted a cuddly, cute kitten. The kids promptly agreed to name him ' Charlie Brown Peterson'. Too funny! I was seriously expecting suggestions like sugar, princess or spongebob so I immediately jumped at the name Charlie. He has been FANTASIC with the kiddos. Really. Very rarely does he react when they terrorize him. He even likes the kids- you'll see in the photos...