A bump in the night

One morning about two weeks ago, I went to grab something out of the truck and stumbled upon this scene....

Hmm... are those tail-light pieces under my bumper? Oh wait the bumper is cracked and hanging a little weird and the license is all mangled up.... Yep, I think someone really did hit the truck! No note left, so I called the police and reported it as a hit and run.
Later that day I went out for a bit and then returned home and found this guy in our parking lot...

HaHa! I found you! I had no clue which neighbor this was, so I had to search them out... Turned out to be the guy who lives right next door to me! I spent most the next day stressed about having to confront him and on more than one instance decided to let Josh just deal with it, but I knew it was my responsibility. I prayed for God to ease my nerves, give me the right words to say and to protect me from any danger. Then when I saw his car back in our lot, I took Elli with me (no one can be angry with her cuteness around) and  I headed over to his apartment. At first he played dumb but agreed to give me his insurance information. Then I explained to him that a police officer might contact him, because technically this was a hit and run (his girlfriend wasn't too happy with him about that one). But, if we could just get the truck repaired I wouldn't press charges and this could be done with. The last thing I want to do is create strife between my neighbors and I. They were both thankful for my attitude and were very cooperative with me.
After getting their info and talking with their insurance, I took the truck into Olsen's and had an estimate done, $1000 worth of damage was done and it would take almost a week to get it fixed. So, a rental car would be available for me. This is what I ended up getting...

2012 Chrysler Town & Country... Now note; I am one of those people that HATES mini vans. But, man! This thing is fancy! The keys have buttons to open and close the back doors and the trunk, satellite radio, leather seats, dvd system and more than enough room for my family and all our accoutrements.  Since we had such a plush ride this week Josh decided to go check out the new Cabela's over the weekend and visit his brother in Auburn. The kids and I have been looking forward to our daily errand runs and enjoyed a trip down to Skagit County to check out the tulips. 

Look at all that space they have! I'm definitely going to miss it! I'm not going to miss the V-6 engine and an average of 18 mpg! My Jetta TDI has ruined me, if it doesn't get close to 45 mpg, I don't want it! Yes, I know I can't get 45 mpg and fit a family of 6 in the vehicle, but a girl can dream right? Maybe Josh can design one and make us millions! LOL

January 2012

Not a lot of time for blogging lately. Seems when we've been staying home we've had one sickness or another and I don't really feel like blogging at those times. Other times we're constantly going-going-going and I'm exhausted at the end of the day and don't feel like even thinking, let alone blogging. LOL

Below is a picture recap of the month of January...

Josh and I went shooting with some of the guys from Conoco Phillips (his new job). I shot his Glock and his AR and was getting pretty good with the Glock, but at one point I had my hand in the wrong spot and the slide part came back and took a small chunk out of my knuckle on my thumb. Josh got to shoot the other guys' guns like the dessert eagle pictured above.

I signed up online to get a unit study from Panda Express about the Chinese New Year and it came with a DVD, craft papers (making lanterns above), worksheets and 32 coupons for free kids meals! Seriously we still have like 15 of those coupons left, I've been giving them out to anyone I know. If you would like some, let me know and I'll give you some. (It does require the purchase of an adult meal for each free kids meal.) 

On the 14th  Joshua turned 11! Seriously, I have an 11 year old people! I can't believe it! He's showing of his new winter coat we got him in the picture above.
Some stats on Joshua...
Height: 5'1"
Weight: 115 lbs
Shoe Size: Men's 10
What he want to be when he's grown: Chef

I find it hard to plan birthday parties for Joshua. Being just after the holidays and the cold unpredictable weather at that time of year, seems to ruin any plans I make. So this year we just took him down to Burlington to Chuck E Cheese (where the pic of Eli and my dad was taken), played a ton of games and ate pizza (salad and knitting for me!), then we headed back to Bellingham and took him out for a game of bowling. While Josh and the boys were bowling I went to Dairy Queen and picked up an ice cream cake, per his request and took it back home to thaw. We came home, had cake and if I remember correctly played more video games. 

 The day of Joshua's birthday was the start of our big snow storm of the year. Some places closed during the storm and schools were cancelled, so we stayed home and played outside with the neighbor kids. 

The boys built a snow fort wall for snow ball fights and Eli kept filling her bucket and adding to their wall. 

After the cold winds came in we decided it was too cold and stayed inside and admired the snow from the warmth of the apartment.

We finished off the month with the snow melting away just in time for my sister to fly in from Texas. We had just over a week to visit with her and my nephew Tristan. I didn't take a single pic while they were up. We were having too much fun playing with Tristan and catching up. =)

Stay tuned if I find a few more minutes this week, I'll get some posts up here of what has been happening this month. 

I'll get you Murphy...

... and your little "law" too!

Today I was supposed to go to Titus Two, but Josh had to work

I have one Saturday every few month that I schedule something and inevitably Josh will have some opportunity too good to pass up on that Saturday.

Made Cinnamon Rolls for Titus last night & they turned out ok, but the ones I made for the fam this morning were perfect... only difference was the pan I used!

Little tip; unglazed stoneware is not recommended for baking Cinnamon Rolls!

I decided I'll just drop off the Cinnamon Rolls I signed up to bring to Titus, but the truck wouldn't start

(the switch on the amp was left on and drained the battery, don't worry mom, your truck is fine)

Called Mrs. D @ the church and she had Mr. D come and pick up the cinnamon rolls (Yay!)

Tried taking a shower and all the hot water ran out

it's been over 2 hours since Josh took his shower

Had both my contacts roll back behind my eyes at the same time and had to work them back out

So now I'm sitting here, with icicle cold hair, a headache from poking at my eyes trying to retrieve my contacts, the kids are all hopped up on sugary cinnamon rolls and I'm worn out and ready for a do-over day.

Praise the LORD, I get to spend this afternoon/evening visiting with my sister and her family and going to Stoneyridge Farm! So hopefully that will redeem this day from it's horrible start. I'm off to blow a bunch of money, eat junk food and run my kiddos ragged! Hope your Saturday is off to a better start than mine! ;-)

Busy with school

It's been over a month since my last post and I swear we're all alive and well over here. We're even doing lots of fun stuff, but we've been so busy focusing on school this year I haven't been getting online much. Last school year kind of fizzled out around the time we moved in may, so we decided to hunker down and get caught up and just skip ahead in some subjects. This year we have a 5th grader, 3rd and 1st graders and Elizabeth is doing pre-pre-K (i.e educational playtime). 

I planned a back to school party and a first day of fall party for the kids, but neither of those came to fruition. We've been doing some fun projects and been working on some really exciting new endeavors for our family.I hate to tease (actually, no... I love it), but I can't divulge that information at this time. I'll let you know later. And NO! We are not pregnant, it's something else. ;-) 

Hopefully now that we're getting into our routine for the school year, I'll be able to get on here more and get more posts up. Oh, and just a note... I've deleted the couponing blog I've been doing. I'm not able to do all the deals others were getting in the larger metropolitan areas, so I just decided to quit the blog.

Resting and Planning

I feel like this summer (or lack there of) we have been sick more than any other! Mostly just allergy/cold type sicknesses that come with this damp Washington climate, but non the less we've had lots of sick kiddos lately which doesn't lead to many interesting blog posts, sorry! We've just been lounging around getting lots of rest and not doing a whole lot, trying to reduce risk of getting sick again.

Here's a little sneak peek at the projects I've been working on lately. Elizabeth is turning 3 on the 15th and we're doing a small party for her on Sunday. We chose the theme "vintage cowgirl" and below is a collage of my inspiration photos. Most are from TomKat Studios and I don't remember where the rest came from (sorry again). Elizabeth is very excited and for the first time is really understanding that this party is for her. Now I just hope it's fun enough for her that she's not disappointed when she doesn't get the "weel hosie" (real horsie) she asked for. LOL



Lynden City Park

 Last Friday, we needed a little change of scenery and some fun. So we headed up to Lynden to hang out with my mom and headed over to the Lynden City Park.



Elizabeth loves the "tot park"





My kids love this park! I haven't been since I was a kid and I almost drowned in the creek. (I went with a friend and her family and they were letting me do stuff I shouldn't have since I couldn't swim, I lost my footing and almost got washed down the creek) They've gone with Grandma a few times, but I've never taken them.

Maybe Zaccheaus will work with Grandpa & cousin Joseph when he gets older!

One of the things I love about this park is that the community really banned together to build it. They didn't just expect their city to do it for them. They donated materials and labor and the result it a huge fun place for the kids to play! (and they widened the creek & added some bridges to cross it now)



I want this in my backyard when I have a house!



Friday Funnies

In order to reduce distraction amongst my students here at the Price Academy, I have decided to instill a strict dress code requiring a specific school uniform. I find this will lead to more pride, loyalty, and equality among the student population.


Tell me what you think?


Boys Option



Girls Option

 HaHa, obviously I'm joking and poking fun at the stereo-types of homeschoolers, but honestly this is our school uniform most days. When all your bookwork is done before lunch time, why not just wait to get ready for the day. ;-D

Enjoy your weekend everyone! Hopefully we get some sunshine!

Mmmm... Chocolate =D

I need to get started on dinner, but I have failed at my weekly meal planning this week and have no idea what I'm going to throw together tonight. Plus, I'm feeling a little something coming on that is making me just want to eat things like these;

http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen-blog/2011/05/cookies-and-cream-cheesecake-bars/

http://thefarmchicks.typepad.com/farmchicks/2011/05/peanut-butter-chocolate-bars.html

http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/desserts/coffee-cake-literally/

You had to post that coffee cake today, Ruth! I've wanted it since I saw the pic on Facebook! LOL

http://www.bakerella.com/got-milk-i-hope-so%e2%80%a6/


My kids will survive one night of being fed chocolate cake for dinner... Right? I won't be scaring them for life will I? LOL

I should go to bed

But instead I'll blog a little to let you all know that we're still here, alive and well. =D
I thought it would be kinda fun to recap the last 24(+/-) hours and give you an idea of how crazy it's been around here lately;

• Took kids to Awanas last night on way back home Elizabeth falls asleep (6:30 pm) and stays asleep when I bring her into the house.
• Go back & pick up boys and this time on the way home my engine light comes on. Which isn't all that alarming, but if it's indicating what Josh thinks it's indicating the manual suggest "do not drive up any large hills or carry heavy loads" which translates into only one person in the car at a time and if we leave... we can't come back home (ie we live atop a large hill).
• Elizabeth wakes up at 11pm... just as I'm dozing off and is rearing to go! Take her downstairs to the pull out couch (thank you Schisler's for getting new furniture!), put on a movie & tried to sleep next to her. Finally got her to sleep around 3 am!
• Woke up to everyone's ecstatic cheers of "SNOW!!!" around 7am. <-I was not as excited!
• Get a call at 9 am from a realtor asking if she can bring her client over at 11!!! No that will not work was my reply. Scheduled for them to come between 4 and 5.
• Got a call at 10 saying plumber is coming soon, don't get in the shower, the water will be shut off.
• Remembered that today is Thursday and I am watching my friends kids at 3.
• Josh took a quick look at the car, not anything simple... something in there has to be fixed and of course it will be a lot of work to get to whatever it is. Darn compact cars!
• Phone rang non-stop all morning and I think I sent/received a record amount of texts today.
• Got school done and house mostly cleaned by noon!
• Josh made lunch! <- Oh, how I love him so!
• Weird people were stopping and looking at the house all day, one guy even walked around the property for about 20 minutes.
• Friend's kids came over...we played, watched movies and relaxed.
• Realtor shows up right at 4 while friends are still here to show our house to a single guy while there is 7 children in my house. Ahh! Poor guy! We're not even the big families in our circle of friends, LOL!
• Did a Costco run with all my kids and Josh and all we needed was laundry soap...Why did I go to Costco only needing one thing?!?! Spent too much money, Josh bought dinner and we came home and crashed. Well all crashed but me, I'm still up and energized from all I had to get done today.

The clock is just hitting 11pm, so I guess I should head off to bed. Josh has an interview in the AM at a local company and then my mom, Elizabeth and I are off to my sister's house for two days! Yay! Girls weekend!

To all my prayer warrior friends please pray that this interview tomorrow goes well and that we can find a reasonably priced place to rent soon.

I ♥ my mom

When I got up this morning I checked my phone and saw a text from my mom that read;
"Please have Eli look outside the door when she wakes up"
We open the door to find a giant gift bag with the movie Tangled, a Rapunzel doll, party supplies and treats for the kids, so we got the table all set and had our breakfast on our Tangled plates and Pop-Tarts that were in the bag and then watched the movie.
It was the perfect pick up for the kids, life has been rather boring around here lately and I have just been exhausted since the Women's Retreat last weekend. Here's some pics of the morning, thus far.


Pop-Tarts, eggs and sausage for breakfast on Tangled plates



Her new favorite doll

And yes I know my phone camera is still messed up. Someday I'll have a new camera and there will be some decent pictures on here. ;-D
I think I'm going to make some pretzels or something for an afternoon snack & then it's time to get working on our Awanas verses. Thanks again mom! Love you!

If you give a mom a muffin....

This little poem was shared in my book study class yesterday, I enjoyed it so much I wanted to share it with all of you!

If You Give a Mom a Muffin

If you give a mom a muffin,

She'll want a cup of coffee to go with it.

So she'll pour herself some.

The coffee will get spilled by her three year old.

She'll wipe it up.

Wiping the floor, she will find some dirty socks.

She'll remember she has to do some laundry.

When she puts the laundry in the washer,

She'll trip over some snow boots and bump into the freezer.

Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan supper for tonight.

She will get out a pound of hamburger.

She'll look for her cookbook. (101 Things To Make With a Pound of

Hamburger.)

The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.

She will see the phone bill which is due tomorrow.

She will look for the checkbook.

The checkbook is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two year old.

She'll smell something funny.

She'll change the two year old.

While she is changing the two year old the phone will ring. (Of course!)

Her five year old will answer it and hang up.

She remembers that she wants to phone a friend to come over for coffee on

Friday.

Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.

She will pour herself some.

And chances are,

If she has a cup of coffee,

Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

Written by Kathy Fictorie



Based on If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff

We can rebuild him, We have the technology

Yes! I'm back online baby! After my computer started dropping components like flies and quit cooperating with me, I have had to resort to using Josh's little netbook and it just wasn't cutting it! With some big help from my sister we are online and I got a sweet printer on sale black friday, so the print shop is back in business! Look forward to more posts to come and hopefully I can start following everyone else's blogs again as well.

P.S. Check out my sis's computer repair company's site, here.

Snow and Giving Thanks

Our first snow has come and gone here in Bellingham. Elizabeth had a being pulled around in this little sled. While her dad and brothers were a bit more adventurous and took another sled down ever hill in our yard.

 The next morning we had the most beautiful sun rise over Lake Whatcom!

It snowed again overnight before thanksgiving, but I didn't get any photos. :-(

We had a great day on Thanksgiving. We took the kids to see Tangled with my parents. Then we all came back to my house for our turkey dinner. Josh attempted to deep fry a turkey, but it didn't turn out so well. Thankfully, I did a second in my roaster oven, that turned out delicious! The older two spent  two nights out at my parents, so Josh and I could do some black friday shopping, I finally got a new printer, but other than that wasn't too impressed with the sales this year. Saturday, I baked some yummy spritz cookies that can be seen over on OH starting on Wednesday. Then we set up the tree and decorated it. This is the first year we did a fake tree. One of the best parts of having a Christmas tree is the smell, and it's just weird that mine doesn't smell. Maybe I can find a pine scented candle, hmm? Sunday we all started coming down with bad cold and stayed home from church. Which, brings us today. The last of the leftovers are gone, all the dishes are clean and put away and we're all feeling better. Looking forward to the Christmas season ahead! What are you looking forward to?

We're still here!!!

Man! I have really let my blog go! We have been having crazy busy days around here lately. We had to update all of our programs we are on and let them know that Josh was working and just as I finished that all up, Josh got let go. We knew there was a possibility that his job may not be permanent and the more days he was there the more he realized this would be a "until the next one comes along" kind of job. Now were just waiting on Intalco and applying for more jobs. Talks of making a trip over to Wyoming have started up again too.
My poor dinosaur of a computer no longer has Internet so I will be doing all my blogging from our netbook. Elizabeth got to our good router and then our back up one met an unfortunate fate falling from where Josh had it perched. Hopefully we'll get that fixed soon, but until then we won't have many pictures on here.
Hope everyone is doing well! TTYL!

Never a dull moment here...

Today was a day just like any other day. Fed the kids breakfast, got some coffee going and when I sat down to drink my coffee in the living room I notice this guy messing around with his car. My thoughts were that's so sad that he's having car problems. Then he starts beating on the car, yanking stuff out and pouring stuff onto it. (may have just been water, I'm not sure) He begins to walk away from the car and we start to see it smoking. Then the smoke starts billowing out. I call 911 and when the firetruck got here the engine compartment was a full on blaze!

The fire department quickly got the fire under control and just as I'm typing this the tow truck is hauling the SUV away. I've come to the conclusion that we will rarely get those calm serene mornings that we dream of. Even when we're calm and quiet, the outside world comes smashing in! Enjoy your day!

Pizza Al Fresco

Today Josh was gone most of the day and I wanted to do something extra special for him when he returned home. I thought a picnic on the patio would be perfect since we are finally having some nice weather today. But, alas...I have no picnicy foods in my cupboard. I did however, have everything to make homemade pizzas! So here is what Josh came home to...

We enjoyed a nice evening on our patio and the kids ate inside with Grandma Faith. Josh got his pesto/feta pizza again and everyone else had turkey peperoni with pineapple. I made cinnamon dessert pizza, tossed green salad and fresh squeezed lemonade.

I broke out the fancy Goodwill china, camping silverware and used some scrapbooking paper for place mats. My favorite bandanna matched perfectly and the table cloth is half of our old bed sheet that Josh put his toe through. LOL! I even had the boys pick some flowers for our little table. Sorry anyone from church, the boys wandered off beyond our yard and took those purple ones from in front of the Ed building. Again, Sorry! ☺ 

I hope you all enjoyed the sun today! 

Sick No More!!!

You may have noticed my absence from blogging recently and I wish I had some fun tale to tell as to why I haven't been on here, but plain and simply we were sick. Actually no "we" but just the male members of the family. They all battled some bacterial infection that presented itself in a number of forms with each person. I'll spare you the details! But, thanks to medicine and lots of rest everyone is feeling 100% again!

Here are some photos from events of the last few weeks that should have been blogged about...

We rescued this little lady from Sunset Square, She was unable to fly and we kept her safe and fed her until she could again. The boys looked her up in their bird book and determined that she is a SHE and she is a house sparrow.

Mama don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys...

Gabriel turned 7 in May and this is what he got with his birthday money from Auntie Shandi. We celebrated his special day by watching this movie...

And we took him out for Round Table Pizza, where he ordered the "king arthur supreme" and then back home for his yummy cake that  I made him.

Hope everyone out there in the blogosphere is doing well!

Monday Moments

Monday again already? Wow last week went by too fast!

Started off the week with Gabriel's soccer practice. The weather here has been so crazy! Rain and sun at the same time, but the beautiful result of all the craziness is lots of rainbows to take pics of!

Here is Elizabeth saying "pica boo" at Boulevard Park. It was so sunny on Thursday, we skipped out on school work and had a fun day going around with Josh. Had a picnic at the park and got a lot of errands done that day.

And lastly, we finally got a huge "to-do" checked off our list! The deck has been pressure washed! I can't wait for bbq's and just relaxing out on the deck this summer. It's so beautiful up here! Now all I need is some Adirondack chairs and some lemonade and I'll be set!

Monday Moments...

A new feature here on my blog is going to be "Monday Moments". Just a few happenings over the past week, that I want to cherish and share with everyone. Mostly pics I've taken on my cell phone, so no critiquing my photography! Nothing too exciting...Just our life ☻

The Pesto/Feta/Veggie Pizza I made for Josh

(I forgot to get a pic of the chicken BBQ one Joshua made for everyone else)

Elizabeth and her friend Esther at the church softball game

(these two are 1 month and 2 days apart)

Lemon Blueberry Scones I made this morning, so yummy!

(recipe here)

Friday March 12, 2010

A friend of mine suggested I write down the events of last Friday to "preserve" them. I figure sharing it with the world is just as good ;-)  So, I'll paint a picture with words of how our day played out...

There we are having a lazy day at home. Schooling was finished and I was sitting at the computer while my oatmeal butterscotch cookies baked. Josh was out working on his truck. Just as the timer is going off for the oven. Josh comes in running holding his hand and proclaims...I cut myself!!! AHH!!! I spring into action and follow him into the bathroom and get out the First Aid kit. He is washing his hand in the sink and pouring peroxide over the wound...I sneek a peek at the damage (yikes) and begin to feel a little light headed, but push on looking for some little gauze pads. "Darn, we're all out", I thought "Guess we'll have to make do with some band aids". I was certain Josh needed stiches, but since we have no insurance and already have hospital bills from my last visit. I knew Josh would not go. Still feeling a little light headed I hear Josh say "Hey, Babe...If I hold this open can you pour on the peroxide". He looks over and I'm leaning on the bathroom door. "She must be taking a breath", He thinks to himself. Then I slump back into the cabinets and onto the floor. So...There I am passed out on the bathroom floor. Josh is bleeding all over the sink. The cookies are burning (bet you forgot about those) and the timer is blairring. Which woke up Eli from her nap and now she's screaming. Josh wakes me and for one split second I had no idea where I was and how I got there. It all came streaming back to me and I burst into tears and started laughing at myself.
I have become such a wimp in my adult life...I have no idea what happened to me...LOL!!!
I have also discovered that even when unconcious I have praises for my LORD. When I was knocked out at the doc's office back in high school I dreampt I was playing "what child is this" and this time around I dreampt of a song that has been playing on Praise 106.5 lately. How funny is that?!?!

On the plus side the truck is running better than ever! Hurray for having two vehicles again!!