Arctic Blast 2008 pictures

Really, a white Christmas is so overrated. I always thought it would be so cozy but when you have rear wheel drive, no snow tires and no chains, it's not so fun! We never finished our Christmas shopping, most of our Christmas plans were cancelled and we couldn't go anywhere. However, when we finally accepted that fact, we had fun.

I haven't seen a foot of snow in Hillsboro for a very long time! Grae looked out the window yesterday and said "Daddy, I see grass!". Yay for melting!

Not again...

Laid off again. Merry stinkin' Christmas.

Ouch...

My throat is on fire. It hurts so bad and has for 2 days. Nothing is helping at all. Ellie had this a few days ago and now has a bad cough. Grae and Ava have it as well. It's not slowing down Grae but is making him grouchy.

Welcome to cold and flu season.

Easy letter for you to sign & send

Here is a great site with a form letter you can email your congressman about the new regulations affecting small business. Let's not make crafters criminals in our zeal to protect children.

Sign the form now!

Please help save us...

Please read this letter and sign the petition if you agree. My business may be shut down as well as thousands of others.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/economicimpactsofCPSIA/index.html

Puberty stinks...

So first off, Brian got his job back as of this past Monday. We're glad for the paycheck again! We did just fine financially using our savings and cutting back and ended up with some money left in savings.

So I was just thinking of how I couldn't wait until my girls were older. I could carry on a conversation with them, they would be helpful around the house, blah, blah, blah. Well the girls are older. Lauren is 13 and Maddie is 12 (almost). OH MY GOODNESS!! I didn't factor in hormones. Man oh man. Surely I wasn't like this at that age.

They both get sooooo moody and snap at each other and their siblings. They don't dare snap at me. Fortunately Lauren only gets grumpy for about a week but it's a whole 'nother ball game with Maddie. When she was a toddler, we nicknamed her "Moody Joy". Her name is Maddie Joy but really Moody was more appropriate. She seemed to outgrow it but it's back with a vengence. It's really true that teenagers (much as I HATE that word) are like toddlers. When asked to do something that she doesn't "feel" like doing, Lauren slowly closes her eyes as if to say "my patience is wearing thin, lady." She does do the chore and does get reprimanded for the eye closing.

Most of the time they are okay to be around so that's good. We are studying Beauty & the Pig in school. Excellent book on true beauty as described in the Bible. Beauty in speech as well as action. They have many opportunities to practice patience and kind speech with 5 other kids around all the time.

So anyway, my vent is over. Boy each stage of raising kids presents new challenges and just when you think you've got it down. Keeps me humble I guess ;)

*Edited to add: Don't type a vent post when you yourself are going through PMS. Things seem so much worse than they really are ;)

Presidents

Me: "Hey Grae - who's our president?" I'm expecting he has no idea.

Grae: "George Bush."

Me (after I picked my jaw off the floor): "Who's our next President?"

Grae: "John McCain."

Me: "Nope, I wish. Do you remember who won....Barack...

Grae: "Brocko Bama."

Brian: "Barack Hussein Obama."

Grae" "Oh yeah, Brock Insane Obama. That's right."

hee-hee

For I am the Pirate King!

No, I'm not going to say much about the election. God has seen fit to put Nobama in charge for His (God's) own glory and who am I to say that was wrong? Praise God for His wisdom and power even when I don't understand.

Now to our Pirate King. Grae dressed up like the Pirate King from the movie version of Pirates of Penzance. He got out my boots and strutted around. Strutted isn't the best word, more like hobbled.

Sorry for the grainy pictures. I bumped the ISO up because it was so dark in there.




"Do pirate kings do this when they need to go potty?"


Oh and no work for Brian yet, but not for lack of trying.

More info...

The initial shock has worn off and I'm excited for the future. Financially, we'll be okay until January. My business is slow right now but still going steady. Brian is getting 3 weeks vacation pay so that will help and will go right into savings. We are cutting back on all things and not buying anything. We had just begun saving our 3-6 emergency fund but didn't get very far. However we're not in any credit card debt, our vans are paid off and so far nothing major is coming up.

God has been good to us. Our stove blew up the other day (before Brian got laid off) and I called Brian at work. He mentioned it to one of his co-workers who just "happened" to be getting a new gas stove the next day. She told him we could have her electric one. Guess what, it's the exact same one that we had but better condition. So the girls knew how to work it already.

Brian went to pick it up that night and got to use the company truck to haul it back to our house. When he went to unload it, who should show up but his Dad! So I didn't have to help out ;) All things worked out so well. Thank you God!

Lauren needs braces and we had the appointment scheduled for next week. We put it on hold for now until Brian finds a new job. Thank goodness we didn't already start and drain our savings account paying for it.

It's nice to have Brian home. He taught school the other day while I ran some errands. The kids had fun (and I think Brian did too). I'm taking on all kinds of custom orders that I didn't have time to take on before. That means more $$ but it's also fun. I love sewing and creating.

So we're doing great so far. Thank you to all that are praying for us. Brian is applying for two jobs that are local and sound interesting. He enjoys delveloping software to solve business problems and he's good at it. He's so creative that it would be nice for him to be part of a company that has some money to put behind their ideas.

So that's the update. I've got some pirate Grae pics to show you that are so funny but I'm too lazy to edit them right now. So maybe next time!

well...

Brian just told me he's laid off. Oh man.

Learn to take better pictures!

***Update: thank you all so much for signing up. I only need 2 more referrals and then I can get the GC.***


I've been a member of a great photography site for a few months and wanted to share it with you. It's Clickin Moms and basically it's a group of women interested in taking better pictures or wanting to start their own photography business.

There are tutorials and how to's on composing a picture, how to use the settings on your camera, lighting, etc. I've learned quite a bit. I'm also fond of browsing the pictures the members have taken. So stunning!

Anyway, here is the link: Clickin' Moms

Oh and now is a great time to sign up! The site is running a referral contest. So if you sign up under my link, I'm eligible to win a $50 GC to Pottery Barn/Williams Sonoma, Gymboree, Gap, Barnes and Noble or Starbucks, or BP Gas stations. I just need 10 new sign ups and I already have 4.

So if you become a member, you can also participate and get your own gift card with your referrals. The contest ends Oct. 31.

Even without the contest, it's a great site.

Pork - it's what's for dinner...

Included in our "bailout" bill.

Wooden arrows: This tax break, backed by Oregon's two senators, would benefit an Oregon manufacturer of wooden arrows for children by $2 million over 10 years.

Racetracks: Earmark would allow auto racetrack owners to depreciate their facilities over seven years, saving the industry $100 million over two years.

Rum: Offers rum producers in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands a rebate on excise taxes worth $192 million over two years.

Wool: Reduces tariffs for U.S. makers of wool fabric that use imported yarn, worth $148 million over five years. The measure was pushed by Reps. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., and Melissa Bean, D-Ill.

Exxon Valdez: Plaintiffs in the suit over the 1989 oil spill could spread their tax payments on punitive damages over three years, cutting their tax bill by $49 million. The measure was backed by Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska.

American Samoa: Allows certain corporations to reduce their tax liability on income earned in American Samoa, at a cost of $33 million over two years.

Hollywood: Extends a tax break for film and TV companies that keep their production in the United States, worth $478 million over 10 years. The provision was originally pushed by Rep. Diane Watson, D-Los Angeles.

Source: Taxpayers for Common Sense

Look at my guns...

Grae: "Hey Mommy, look at my guns." He pulled up his shirt sleeve.

I admit I was a little shocked to hear this. Since when did he start calling his muscles "guns". And where did he hear this from?

Then I remembered a little present Grandpa B sent him.







Tattoos and a jolly roger do rag. He loves both.

Fairness?

I am soooo sick of a certain political party talking about "fairness." Look, life isn't fair. Some people have more, some less. Don't tax those who have worked hard, sacrificed, put hours into making money and give it to those who aren't making that kind of money.

What's up with a tax cut that reduces taxes for those making under $250,000 when over 40% of the "low income" households don't even pay taxes. What they will really be getting is a tax credit. Free money.

How is that fair?

A little help from my friends...

Friends are so great. This past week I've been blessed by my friends.

See this cup:



My friend Amy gave it to me. I LOVE it. It's so me. I've already told the kids not to touch it as they have had a bad habit of breaking all of my favorite glass things lately. And this includes my vintage Pyrex. Grrr...



Also my friend Janna taught me how to can applesauce and now the girls and I are going to town filling our pantry shelves with applesauce. We have big plans next year to can everything we can get a hold of. Canning is a lost art and so very practical. I'm so glad I had the chance to learn and the girls are learning.

So it's been a great start to the week. It can only go downhill from here. ;)

Well sort of...

Ellie: "Daddy, what's your favorite type of fruit?"

Dad: "Ummm, blackberries."

Ellie: "Mommy, what's your favorite type of fruit?"

Me: "Strawberries."

Ellie: "Grae, what's your favorite type of fruit?"

Grae: "Ummm, schoop (soup)."

Ellie: "Soup isn't a fruit."

Grae: "Uh-huh, I had it one time and it was good."

Our little garden....

You can not believe how excited I was when I saw these...



Our first potatoes! I wanted to grow potatoes so we cut up a yukon gold we bought from the store and planted each piece in each corner of the box. I can not believe they actually produced anything. Those potatoes were from one plant.



Grae had to inspect each one with his "scope".


We're also growing blueberries, carrots, tomatoes, grapes, squash, eggplant, pumpkins, cranberries, elderberries, plums, pears, and various cut flowers.

Here is a carrot that Maddie pulled up. Why they can't wait until they are ready, I don't know!



It's red on the outside but orange in the middle.


Molly was in charge of washing everything.


I wish we had enough space to raise some chickens. I would love farm fresh eggs everyday!

I like Sarah Palin...

Just finished watching Sarah Palin's acceptance speech for VP on the web. Funny, funny, funny! She has spunk. My favorite part is when her youngest daughter (is she about 6 or 7?) was holding Sarah's 4 month old and right in front of the camera, licked her whole hand and proceeded to smooth down his hair. (the girl did this, not Sarah.)

I wasn't really behind McCain as I disagree with a lot of things he believes in but with Sarah Palin on the ticket, I am a little more excited!

We did it!

Well we made it last week on $7.00 and we ate well. By Sunday night I had to get creative with the meal but it was still good. The best thing was we didn't use our credit card although it was tempting. I can't wait to get 6 mth emergency fund going and we will cut up the card!

More Graedon!

Grae fell down on his bottom the other day and I heard him say "Ouch, I hurt my feelings."

We were talking about tatoos and how one of my relatives has one. Grae didn't think this was a good idea and told me the God had a pressure washer and could wash it off. He has a thing for pressure washers ever since he saw Brian washing the house.

Molly is 14 mths old and is starting to say some words we can actually recognize! She says: Daddy, bye, cracker, snack, na-na (for nursing), ama (when she want's something), Mama, Ellie, Aba (Ava), Grae-Grae, baby, cheers (we touch cups together), nana (banana), gookie (cookie), Tin-Tin (for the book), Gah (God), ay-n (amen), mm-mm (food) and more I'm sure. I love this age!

We are over halfway done painting the house and it's only the weather that is stopping us. Either it's too hot to paint or raining. I can't wait until it's over.

Well, I'm off to make dinner now. My least favorite chore of the day. Maybe I can convince one of the girls to do it. We'll see.

Can't think of a title.

Hey, I checked our online banking and we have $6.21 to last us until Monday's paycheck. Woohoo! Brian said he had $7.00 in his wallet so that should buy us milk until then. Oh we do need salt too. I didn't know how hard it was to live without salt. I have low blood pressure and salt helps keep the dizziness away.

Anyway, back to sewing. I have some diapers and wool covers selling tomorrow here...if you want to check them out.

Hey look what we're doing

Wowsa....

You HAVE to see these pictures Rebecca of CatchlightsNW took of my kids. There are many, many more that she took and is currently editing. I can't wait to see them.

She is sooo talented and so very nice. My girls loved her and had fun.



You can see more of them on her blog...http://catchlightsnw.com/blog/. Scroll down one post or if you are like me, look at every single post.

If you're in the Portland/SW Washington area, I would highly suggest you book a session with her. Did I mention how talented she is?

Oh happy day!!!

This is paid off today!! I put every available penny toward it and paid it off in 1 and 1/2 years. What a relief. Praise God we are out of debt except the student loan. That will be paid off next and then we'll start saving 6 months salary. Yay for the Dave Ramsey plan!

the schoolroom

*September 2011 update! I'm redoing the schoolroom. You can see the progress here!*

We cleaned up the schoolroom today so I could finally get pictures. Of course it doesn't look like this now. ;)

Here is the view from the stairs.


And from the otherside in the hallway.




And standing in front of the sliding glass door.


The chair I recovered in Michael Miller Dick and Jane fabric.


I love these curtains. I took yellow polka dot quilters fabric and bleached it to a mellow yellow and then used the back side to further mellow it out.


The kitchen that Brian built for Ellie and Grae. Molly plays with it everyday.


View going up the stairs. This is the kids gallery. It's just clipboards that we covered with decorative paper.


And there you go.

Fun outside...

We're prepping to paint the house this week (or we were when it decided to rain for the first time in months). I was taking a break and thought I would take pictures of the kids playing.



Ava's a little big for the slide.


I asked Grae if I could take his picture and he said I could take a picture of his Crocs. I really wanted a picture of his hair.


Extreme close up of Molly.


Ellie in her new dress.




The other girls being "boring" according to Ava.

Not a threat....

I noticed Grae had a penny in his mouth. I quickly went to him and told him to spit it out. He did.

Me: "Don't put money in your mouth. You might swallow it and it could get stuck in your throat. Or it will end up in your tummy and you would have to poop it out and that might hurt. Do you want to poop out pennies?"

Grae looked at the ground for a minute and then up at me with a big smile on his face.

Grae: "Yes."

Oh great, I'd better guard the change jar.

My pirate is 3

My sweet little boy is 3. I love him so much that everyday I want to just eat him up. When I tell him this, he just tells me I can eat his arm and then he can have a hook.

So what did my birthday boy want? Let's see if you can guess....yep, a pirate ship, a pirate cake, a pirate shirt, oh and a Spiderman shirt. He has no idea who Spiderman is except that his colors are red and blue.

Brian took the morning off and escorted Grae, Ellie and Ava to the Children' Museum. The even rode Max all the way there and back(our lightrail tram thing). When they arrived home, it was Grae's naptime. Then the fun began. Ava and I decorated his pirate hat cake. Maddie actually made the cake but the recipe she used made the cake crumbly. So Ava and I did the best we could and it was delicious but not very pretty.



He was thrilled and kept opening the refrigerator to see it. Like 20 times an hour. After dinner couldn't come fast enough for him.

Look at that face:


He ended up with a pirate sword and knight shield from Brian, an amazing pirate birthday card (with $15 in it) from Grandpa B and 3 birthday spankings from me. We haven't a clue where the shield ended up, the sword isn't far from him and the pirate birthday card goes under his pillow at night.

Happy Birthday Grae - please stop growing up.

We don't like Bratz

Overheard at our house:

Grae to Ellie: "Put down my pirate sword down or I'll get you a Bratz doll for your birfday."

Ellie promptly dropped it. She may have shuddered at the notion of owning one of those nasty looking dolls.

Hey, it's July!

Wow, it's July and my last blog post was June, oops. This will probably be a totally random blog post as I'll just type as I think.


First, Molly is walking! There's nothing cuter than a baby walking with their hands up in the air for balance, a big smile on their face and a staggering step. She loves this new freedom. She thinks she's quite the big girl! I do have a video of her first steps and maybe I'll get that posted later.

Graedon is such a good boy. Just yesterday I gave him a pop tart (I know but they were on sale) and I reached back in the package to give Ellie one. I turned to hand it to Ellie when I noticed that Grae had split his in half and gave one half to Ellie. So sweet. Molly has a runny nose right now and I was looking for a "snot" rag. Grae piped up, "I have one." He got it out and wiped Molly's nose for me!

He is sure to tell us if a boy hits one of his sisters, he will protect them and hit the boy and tell him to leave his sister alone. That's my boy! However he does embellish the story sometimes and tells me that he will have a flaming pirate sword and will run after the bad boy.

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On a completely unrelated note, what's up with this? I admit that I think sposies are gross now but this is one of the most disgusting things I have seen. You change the pad at the back but leave the diaper on. Pampers claims that the moisture is pulled to the back leaving the front stay dry. How? Magic? There has to be some urine soaked in the front. I'm going to buy some stock in Desitin as this is sure to give babies/toddlers even more diaper rash. Do you know that ever since Molly has been in cloth, she has not had one diaper rash? I'm sure it's because her skin can breathe in the cotton or bamboo and we change her right after she wets.

Anyway, they are trying to promote this as a quick thing to do. Hey you don't even have to look or interact with your child to change their diapers. Wohoo! I don't know about you and your baby but Molly and I have fun at diaper changes. I sing to her, play short games and give her lots of kisses. Okay, done with that rant. ;)

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We've been having fun in school lately. I really enjoy teaching the girls. (we do school year round so no summer break). Our science curriculum is really good. It's Apologia and the Exploring Creation series. Very comprehensive but understandable. I love doing the experiments with the girls. The best thing is that it acknowledges God as creator. Very important to us as we do not seek to seperate God from our studies. That would be impossible as God made 2+2=4, as well as ordered history, made all things, created language, laws of science, etc.

I'm going to be adding an art series to our school program but I need to find a time to squeeze it in. The following may not seem like a lot but it takes all morning to get through. We don't do these all on the same day.

Right now we're doing (with links):
Saxon math 65 (Maddie and Ava)
Saxon 76 (Lauren)
Student Writing Intensive Group B (Lauren, Maddie, Ava)
Exploring Astronomy (Maddie & Ava)
Apologia General Science (Lauren)
Proverbs study (Lauren, Maddie, Ava)
Catechisms (all kids)
Veritas Press History: Ancient Greece and Rome
Beginning reading/writing (Ellie)
Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing (Lauren, Maddie, Ava)

Will be adding back Shurley Grammar 7
Lauren will be starting Traditional Logic

We just finished a world geography course and will be adding in a poetry course. There is so much more that I want to do but it's so hard with Grae, Ellie and Molly awake and roaming the house, lol.

Okay so this post was totally random and I've had to get up 4 times to tell the girls to be quiet so Grae can sleep. Off to make Bri and I some dinner or at least to dish up the low carb cheesecake ;)