Pumpkin Artists

After having our pumpkins for the last week and a half, we FINALLY got to carve them! It was really funny because Jace absolutely would not use his hands to take out the seeds, but Paityn jumped right in (almost literally) and we had to keep telling her to stop eating the top piece. They have such different personalities it is hilarious.






Here are their completed masterpieces! (You can't really tell, but Jace has a sucker in his mouth, thus the funny smile.)

WE LOVE AUNT MANDI!!!!!!

My kids and Tim recently had a battle with the lovely H1N1 Virus. Paityn did pretty good, she just had a fever for a couple of days and was a litte (ha ha) cranky. Jace kind of scared us because he couldn't keep anything down, including fever medicine, which meant not only could we not get his fever down but he was dehydrated. The doctor said he looked the worst out of the 20 kids she had seen for it. She called to check on him several times that evening to determine if he was going to need to be admitted in order to get some fluids in him. He was finally able to keep down a crushed up popsicle with medicine mixed into it and the next morning he woke up like he had never been sick. Amazing. That same night Tim started feeling sick and ended up staying home from work for 2 days with all the same symptoms the kids had. Fun!!!! Anyway.. No, I did not get sick and was able to take care of all of them, thank God.
My sister is so sweet, she sent the kids a "Surviving the Swine Flu" gift and they are so excited they can't hardly contain themselves. Here they are in their new stuff...



Thanks Auntie Mandi, we love you!

Ode to Summer

Oh my sweet, dear summer. To say goodbye is such a bummer. You came too late, you went too soon. Now all I forsee is doom and gloom. Your friendly glow shown so bright, you made the day so much longer than the night. Now it gets so dark and dreary. With my kids locked inside the house I get so weary. As your light and warmth fade, so does the beautiful bronze of my skin shade. Why oh why must you go? I can't hardly bear the thought of snow. Please come back soon. Next year I would prefer to see you in May, not June. But for now, I'll do my best to keep my fingers and toes from getting any number. Until we meet again, my dear, dear Summer.

Jace's 5th Birthday

Wow, my little (ha ha) man is another year older. His birthday was on the 23rd and he got to celebrate that day with the Younts in Priest River. Then on Saturday we had a little get together here for him. He is so grown up I can't even believe it!







Jace had a hard time figuring out what theme he wanted for his party. Right after his party last year he decided that he was going to have a Thomas party this year. He stuck with that for a long time. Then he started getting into Pirates and decided that he would have a Thomas AND Pirates party. I was just thinking "Okay, whatever, we'll see what he decides when it gets closer.". Well, he couldn't decide and then he added Spiderman to the mix! SO, if I had gotten a better picture of the cake you would see that it has Thomas, Spiderman, AND Pirates on it! Side note - I didn't put that many pirate flags on the cake, that was Jace's special touch.



After the party, everyone went up to a baseball field just past our house and Jace got to show off his new motorcyle riding skills. He has had the motorcycle for about 2 months and he just got his riding gear for his birthday (Thanks Grandpa Dave and Grandma Janis!). He thinks he is pretty sweet and was doing his best to show off for everyone watching. There were a few times that we were sure he was going to crash because he was watching us instead of where he was going. I'm pretty sure if I looked hard enough I would be able to find several grey hairs from all of the times my heart has skipped a beat because he scares me to death! I'm sure it will be that way forever though.

Cleaning Time

Phew! I am finally done with my 4 weeks of subbbing in the same class, hooray! I don't have any subbing jobs lined up for this week, although I am hoping to get called at least a couple of days. Yesterday we took the kids to Pendleton, OR and met Tim's mom so she could take them up to Priest River for the week because our evening babysitter has been really sick and not able to watch the kids while I am at Albertson's. I have to work Monday - Friday this week and we thought it would be fun for the kids to spend a week with Grandma and Grandpa. Thanks Ann! Anyway... Here I am without kids for 5 days! I have a huge list of things I need to do. Tim has been so awesome about keeping to house picked up and the dishes done for the last 4 weeks, but we are having company this weekend and I have spare time on my hands, so I will be spending my days shampooing carpets, mopping floors and wiping down every square inch of my house. I love having a clean house!