Can you believe this sight?

My boy in back in his skin again.

It's cause I'm not home. I'm actually far from home.

Far enough to feel the sun again.

Happy Easter 'yall!

My Grandma holding My baby.

I hope I look this great when I am a Great Grandma.

It was exactly 2 years ago this Easter since we have seen everyone on the farm.

It was sure good to be back on Grandma's homestead.


Mercy.

Seriously,

Ageless beauty right?

Her fabulously Great Aunt:

This Easter marks 2 years since We've visited Walla Walla as a clan.Another four generations on Easter.
Can't believe it's been this long:
http://http://www.lovinmypeeps.blogspot.com/2010/04/four-generations-on-easter.html

A sign of the times.

Well, as much as I try not to be,

I am a crammer.

I cram too many things in too many spaces.

I am also a compartment girl.

Always have been.

Thrifty compartments and shabby crates are my first materialistic love.

I am so compartment oriented, is disorganizing, messy, and sometimes downright dirty.

I tend to blog in the same way (as of late).

Intending for every milestone to be paged.

Not so.

As the randomness of this post will back up:

This is a picture of the very last sunny day we have had.

Because it has been raining solid for 8 days.

I said 8.

Remember the vinegar post?
Well I couldn't find the link to it (couldn't find the right compartment),
but basically, I use it to clean everything.

My dear sweet husband tells me its too stinky.
And lately has been voicing it more and more.
He is tired of sitting down to his ramen lunch and smelling it.
So, on that same sunny day- 8 days ago,
I made that pretty concoction in the bottle above.

Lemon buds and rosemary leaves in vinegar.
Smells much better.

Husband also asked me to start dusting.
No promises.


Claire got her fairy on.
Then the paint dried and she couldn't move her face much.
A short lived fairy.
She did love how she looked in the mirror.

A spring time craft:

Found on Pintrest.

Because I am newly addicted.

It has given me a new craft idea every day!

Sometimes 2 a day.

Lauren is in hog heaven.

It helps to not have to make up my own idea for a crafty craft.

Especially after 8 days of rain.

We recently took a field trip to the recycling company.

It was the chance of a lifetime-

To climb the big mountain of news paper:

(Hey Gram. this is a video. You have to watch it on the actual blog.

Click on the link above or below. Love you!)

This awkward open-ended post shall be resumed on a later date.

In another short blurb.

No promises.

Valentines- catch-up

Silas did something awesomely cool for V-day this year.

Well they all did,

But Silas got documented.

Here's the picture he handed out:

It said:

"I mustache you a question- Will you be my Valentine?"

Then, we gave each person a mustache and asked them to e-mail us

with pics.

Here is some of what we came up with:

A man from the Community Kitchen:

He was a real birthday party magician in his day.



Then,

here is the boy that takes the cake,
And my heart:

Baby Pierce.

So sweet.

Basically the last few weeks have been getting us into a solid habit of:

Having Claire Bear Hotcakes,

Avoiding all our responsibilities to catch up on some

River swimming,

Crabbing up a storm,

(They're really biting!)

And learning new things like,

Silas:

Training for his triathlon this Sunday,

Fluidly reading his books and the beginning of comprehension,

Mastering time telling

Lauren:

Beginning her reading excursion

One..Letter..At..a... Time.

Picking to make her own blueberry jam

Tying her shoes like a pro.

And Claire:

Learning to use glue-stick like chap-stick,

Practicing scissor strokes

(All fingers still attached)

And exploring yogurt while mom is busy doing OTHER house work

Because life's just too short to have a clean house.

Capturing spectacular moments before Man Cub takes off

For the county Fair's calf chase.

Above: Silas prepares for announcer to say "Go!"

Its pretty hick-genius if you ask me.

Kids chasing calves for a ribbon on their tail.

Every ribbon gets a prize folks!

Silas won a 2nd place ribbon for his painting.
Another 2$ into his "Whatever" fund redeemable by a Man Silas.

Lauren's 2nd place winner.

Category: "Abstract" !

Claire's 2 $ winner:
Category: "figurative"

Titled "Slap fit"
See the figure?

See the slap?

I won 1st place for Marshmallows. 2$

1st place for Grahm Crackers. 2$

2nd place for dutch oven bread. 1$

Grand total prizes: 10 $

Grand total gas : about 16$

Gotta keep tradition alive right?

I have heard about the foolish notion that the fair is a dying event.

Not foolish like impossible.

Foolish like "Why in the world are we letting that happen????"

The American tradition must not die.

The rodeo must go on

SAVE THE HAND DIPPED CORN DOG!

Become a local fair exhibitor.

Picnics and ribs.

We have spent the last few weeks busier than a whirlwind

Swim lessons, scooter rides turned to all day adventure, Family, family and more family visits.

Festivals, parades, watermelon, scraped knees, camping, staying up way too late.

I'm afraid summers half over already.

That's because I guess for school kids

-dare I say..... it really is.

I'm thanking my lucky stars to be officially homeschooling a real live grade school kid this fall.
Seriously it may not even begin until this fall.

I've declared this summer the summer of Picnics and ribs.

Feel free to join.

I am venturing into the world of cooking ribs.

It's gotta be done.

Picnics have become a new hobby.

Like real picnic's.

With a basket and blanket.

There's just nothing better than a good picnic basket (or two..thanks Dad).

I guess the only thing better is when the kids get into the spirit.

They pack the basket whenever and wherever we plan on going.

Seriously... like excessively.

Silas is my picnic wing man.

That boy can pack a mean basket.

Life begins every morning when we step outside.

Were sun bathed more often

Than actually bathed.

Today,

July 5Th 2011

Is officially the day of rest.

Every Peep and their Mom laid down for some shut eye.

Maybe soon, an actual blog update can happen.
Not today, were resting.
Dirty,
and resting.

Embarrassing

This is embarrassing, but for memories sake,

this is Jake and I in our dating era.
This picture was taken by Jake's mom. We were freshly 17 and 18.

At this time Jake's family was expecting their first adopted daughter from China.

I don't think they knew the Chinese name for "boyfriend/girlfriend so I became Jake's aunt.

Jake is holding the monkey only because his mom asked him too (really, I guess they ended up sending it to Anna with the picture ;).

I know, all that explaining doesn't make it any less embarrassing, I just feel this pressing urge to explain some things:

I got these glasses BEFORE Harry Potter came out in theatres!

There is no blood relation between Jake and I ;)