New Shoes

It's that time of year again - school shopping! Today, we needed new shoes - and because the sale was buy one, get one 1/2 off, everybody got new shoes! Talin was SOOOOOOO excited - he even had to take his nap with them on :)
I was laying with him and he kept stopping and saying, "I like-a shoes, Mom!" Cute, huh? He won't even need them until October, so I bought them a little big.

Pickles!

The CO-OP this morning offered pickling cucumbers, so I decided to give it a try! I read on the internet that if you soaked them in ice-water for at least 2 hours they would be crispy pickles - we'll see if it works?!? Aren't they pretty, though?
Getting ready to be canned.......

The ending product....... I couldn't believe how much one box made!

L - R : Dill Halves, Dill Spears, Dill Hamburger Chips, Dill whole pickles, and Bread and Butter Chips. I was only going to make a few B&B but I still had more cucumbers and more B&B brine left, so I made more. I only had one not seal - ahhhhhhh, now we get to try them!!!! Well, after 24hrs. It was fun!

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! (Read as Weeeeeeeee......)

Yesterday, I had gotten out the Wii Fit and the kids kept taking turns on it. Ethan was having a turn and Talin literally stopped and watched Ethan the entire 40 minutes he was doing it. He was glued! He notices video games, but never like this! Then, he decided he would just do the excercises with him, so here's the boys doing push-ups. It was great on the games to here him council and cheer Ethan (Ethan wasn't as excited about it - I thought it was so cute).
He used a floppy flyer as his own little mat, and apparently he thought he needed his own remote, too :) I love the truck.

Monsoons!

I LOVE Thunderstorms!!!!! I wait all year for Monsoon season for the thunder, lightening, wind, dust, and hopefully rain! Last night and Sunday night we got a great dose of Monsoon - beautiful!!! Of course, I don't like it when people actually get hurt or damage occurs and I'm always grateful we were safe, but I do love a good storm. (P.S. - I didn't take this picture, but it was taken in our area of the Valley)

New Pictures

I FINALLY took Kelcie and Ethan in for their pictures - Kelcie for her 5 yr. birthday, and Ethan for his 12 yr. birthday. We do pictures every year til they're 5 and then monumental birthdays after that - 8, 12, 16, etc. I usually go to Kiddie Kandids, but recently they've gotten really expensive and they actually want to know how many picture you're going to buy before they take the pictures - shouldn't that depend on how good a job they do????? Anyway, these are JCPenney and I was pretty happy with them:

Harry Potter

O.k., so the LONG anticipated movie is out, and, no, I haven't seen it yet (not much for midnight showings of ANYTHING!), but Ethan got to see it before anyone else!!! His Orthodontist did a contest for Sneak Preview tickets and Ethan WON!!!!!!! Isn't that cool? So, Ethan and Lafe saw it Tuesday night - Lafe thought it was really great and that Dumbledore - who we haven't cared for because we LOVED the first one so much - actually did an awesome job in this one! It was so fun for Ethan.

Camping

Over the 4th we had a family reunion and then we decided to go camping. Sorry there's so many pictures - it was hard to choose. Here's our campsite - Erin and Ethan wanted to sleep in their own tents, which actually helps the crowding in the trailor!

Playing gamesReady for bedFish Hatchery - SO FUN! We were the only ones there and were there during feeding time - really cool! Plus, they had a pool were you could feed them and it was so fun to watch them go crazy for the food!Fishing in the creek near the hatchery
Playing in the creek - REALLY cold, but so fun!
Cold toes - they were all red from being so cold.
Daddy and Talin on the Hammock
Smores
The Swing - they loved this!
This cool huge log

Apples!

So, yesterday I got a box of Granny Smith apples from the Co-op, and so this is what I did all day.........

Thanks goodness for apple peeler/corers!!! So, I decided to make dried apples (with jello sprinkled on top - YUM!)...................and some applesauce - the brown is cinnamon applesauce and and red is cherry applesauce. I've never made applesauce before, so it was an experience, and I even canned it, which I think I was more excited about :)

So........ I still have MANY apples left, so I think we'll make more Jello apples, and Apple Taffy Pizza - YUMMMMMMMMMM! We'll see.

OH - and I forgot to mention - remember those chicks? (way back in January) Well, now we have 5 chickens and we're really enjoying these:

I'm back!!! Some things you missed

I FINALLY HAVE INTERNET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can't imagine how much you use internet until you don't have it! Anyway, here's an update on some things you missed - I'll try to make it short :)

Easter

McCormick Railway Park

Lafe had a conference in Scottsdale right by this really fun park, so I took the kids over to meet him for dinner and fun!

Scamper

Yes, a new member of the family. He's really cute, but a little honery (sp?).

Erin's Art Show

She did the Mickey one - she loved Art this year and they had some great projects!

Ethan's Science Experiment

He did a great job!!! He compared the decomposition of wood, a flower, meat (yuck!), and paper. Not the easiest thing to do while transitioning houses!!!

HOUSE DONE!!! (mostly)

If you look close you can see the wagons with boxes from moving our stuff across the street. I'll have to put on a more updated picture with the shutters and stuff.

We had no electricity for the first weekend - and therefore no air conditioning in 108 degrees - but we could get one room working with fans with an extension cord so we all slept in there. If you look close you can see Talin snuggling on Jamie - funny huh?

Kelcie's 5th Birthday

Ethan's 12th Birthday

Ethan turned 12 three days before scout camp - he was so excited. G & G Starr give a tent for the 12th birthday - he LOVED it! and even used it for scout camp!

Homemade Wheat Bread

I did it! I'm determined to figure this out! It turned out nice, I just think my pans are too small, or I need to make more loaves than the recipe said. It was yummy, but I like it a little sweeter or more taste or something - I'll welcome any suggestion/recipes!

Ethan's new Frog - Martian

Ethan has to keep a reptile or amphibian for a month for one of his merit badges, so we settled on a tree frog - cute, huh? He loves him!

I'm still here!

Just a quick note to let you all know I'M STILL HERE - I promise!!! We're in and have electricity and gas, but no phone or internet yet ( You would not believe what we've been going through to get Qwest to hook us up!!!!!!!!) So, please know that I want to browse the blogs and post some more, but I really can't yet :( Hopefully soon! And, I want to put on picture - anyone know if that's safe if I'm public right now, or should I switch back to private to post those??? (Don't worry, you're all still on the private list) Thanks! Wish us luck!

WE PASSED!!!!!

We passed inspection!!! On Thursday, after much stress and calls, but we're sleeping there - without electricity (Arizona, 106 F) and only half our stuff , and touch-ups to be done - but we're there!!! I want to put on pictures, but we're getting the "we don't provide internet there" from everyone - AHHHHHHHH!!!!! Hopefully soon - I miss being able to blog!!!!!

Carpet!

Hey!!!!!! We have Carpet!!!!!!!! We have a few little things left - other than touch-ups- so we're hoping to get final inspection on Tuesday! We'll fail, of course, but then we hope we'll pass really soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pictures soon - as soon as my computer is hooked up and on the internet! Woo-hoo!!!

House update

O.k., I'll try to get pictures soon, but I wanted to let you know we're still alive and the house is coming along. They're finishing all the tile today, all the cupboard and counters are in, and they're putting in the lights today - isn't that so cool???!!! Soon, the plumbing fixtures, paint the outside, and concrete outside - getting closer! Oh, and they're sculpting the yard today, too - Talin loves that tractor. We're just hanging in there. It's hard to remember stuff to blog when I'm so focused on the house. Kids are swimming - ah!, growing, and gettting very ready for summer.

Talin - 2yr. old pictures

I finally got Talin's 2 year old pictures today! He was really unsure and shy, but the girl was really good and he finally warmed up to her. This is the one I ended up getting - one like this and then a close-up on this same picture for the wall. I usually try a little harder and I was a little frustrated with the place, but this year with everything going on, I just needed it done. I do like it though, because it's SO his little giggle. And, it's fun because Ethan has a picture in this same outfit - one of the very few that actually got passed down to his little brother!

One more!

Sorry there's so many posts in one day - I have to wait until I can get to a computer! But I have one more - the other day Laura got hurt outside and by the time we got to her, Talin was asking her if she was ok and had sat down on the stairs with her with his arm around her consoling her - ahhhhhh!!! It was one of those moments you don't want to forget, so I had to blog about it - he's so sweet! He has good examples ahead of him.

Brick

The brick is all done on the outside!!! We love it!!! It's just what we were picturing!