He's Four!

Andrew, my baby, is now four years old. Four! I certainly don't feel four years older so how can he be? I find it interesting that with each passing year, changes in adults are so gradual, so sometimes it feels as if time stands still. I know it doesn't. And I am reminded about that fact all the time when I see a child who looks like they've grown up overnight. Boy am I glad that at my age I'm not growing up overnight! :-) But my baby is certainly growing up. I took him to his 4 yr. well child check-up and he is in the 95th percentile for height and 75th percentile for weight. He's no petite boy and it won't be long before he surpasses Cameron. Andrew is such a joy to our house and sure brings in a lot of energy. Here are a few questions I asked him.

What do you want to be when you grow up? A Storm Trooper

What is your favorite color? Blue

What is your favorite food? Pizza, Steak & Apples

What is your favorite toy? McDonalds Kung Fu Panda Happy Meal Toys

What is your favorite movie? Kung Fu Panda 2 and Cars 2

Who are you going to marry? Josie

Who is your best friend? Josie

Tested, Tried & True

I have to share this awesome home remedy. While doing a little baking one day I found myself being careless and grabbed a hot baking stone without any protection. Yes, dumb, I know, and it hurt pretty badly. The tip of my finger got it the worst and I instantly put it under cold running water. My Step-Dad told me he heard a rumor that if you burn yourself you're supposed to immerse the burn in flour. Flour!? For real? He heard that it's supposed to take the sting away and prevent blistering. Shoot, who am I to dispute that? I decided to give it a try and put some in a cup. I swiveled my finger around in the flour for about 5 minutes and can you believe it ... it worked! Who would have thought? The stinging was gone, absolutely no blistering, and I was shocked. This remedy is tested, tried and true.

New Family Photos

Camo Girl

One Sunday Spencer was in Elder's Quorum and the lesson was on Eternal Marriage. They were discussing how it's important for spouses to do things together. One question was posed to Spencer. "Spencer, how did you get your wife to bow hunt with you"? Well what the guys don't know is that Spencer has been trying for 12+ years to get me involved in any of his outdoor activities. While dating he bought me a fishing pole. Our first Christmas together he bought me a shot gun. One Valentine's Day he bought me hip waders. Romantic huh, need I say more? The truth is, I do enjoy all of those things once in a while, but not as much as he does.

Spencer finally hit the target when he picked up bow hunting. I knew from going to girls camp that I liked archery. We started target shooting out at the Ridgeway's house a lot this spring and I couldn't get enough. Spencer jumped on that as fast as he possibly could. In fact, his Father's Day gift actually turned out to be a gift for me. He bought me a bow. I felt bad that I made out with a present instead of him, but apparently he felt like it was a good trade.

Family Reunion at the Beach

Our family isn't always consistent with family reunions, but we try our best. This summer we were able to pull one off and went to Newport, OR and almost everyone was able to attend. We camped at South Beach State Park from Thursday till Sunday. Family camping trips are the best, especially when the Madden family joins us and our group gets even bigger. We love it!

The food was just about as good as the company! It felt like we ate and ate and ate. Thanks to Groupon, we were all able to go to the Oregon Aquarium for dirt cheap! The kids had a great time there. Another afternoon a lot of us went to the OHSU Marine Science Center which was a smaller version of the aquarium, only FREE. Playing at the beach was fun too. Dan's family, and Mark, rented surf boards and also did some skim boarding. The weather was beautiful, windy, but beautiful. Tanner, Megan and Erynn all brought their guitars and had a jam session and brought music to the campground. All of our camp sites opened up to a large field and everyday there was either a game of football, frisbee, or baseball; or a combination of all three at the same time, young and old. I enjoyed my early morning runs on the beach with Marie and Megan.

Family is definitely a blessing! I am grateful to belong to two really good families, mine and Spencer's. I cherish these memories of when we all get together!

Halloween 2011

Clark Kent, Obi Wan Kenobi and a Storm Trooper

Those are the costumes the boys sported around our house this Halloween. Well, except Austin. I had to bride him to wear this Clark Kent get-up. It's sad, this young generation doesn't even know who Clark Kent is! I asked Austin to humor me this year and wear this costume to the nursing home we Trick -or-Treat. Sure enough, those guys got it. As promised, he came home and changed into his "scary ghost" costume for the rest of the evening.

This year my parents came down to enjoy the holiday with the kids. They were here for 5 days, the longest period I think we have ever had them stay. The visit was really fun! My Mom and I watched old movies like we used to, while the guys watched football. We of course had Grandpa's famous tacos, because it wouldn't be a proper visit if we didn't. Grandma & Grandpa were able to see both of the boys play in their soccer games and attend Cameron's end of the season party. On Halloween, we attended the Trunk-or-Treat in the church parking lot and then Spencer and I were able to take the kids around the neighborhood while my parents manned our door. We were, yet again, extremely fortunate to get dry weather. Super cold, but dry!! I am very thankful for the effort my parents took to come down and enjoy this holiday with us. We sure had fun!

Young Crushes

As a Mom, I think it's so much fun when my boys relate to me the girls they have a crush on. Only because they are young, and don't read my blog, can I get away with this post. So yesterday, and I'm not even 100% sure how it came up but, Cameron started talking about the girls he has a crush on. There are 3; Belle, Lyndie and Nalani. I've known for a while now that he has liked these three girls, but he was finally able to admit it out loud. While Cameron is relaying this information, Andrew pipes up and shouts, "I'm going to marry Josie"! Repeatedly! It will be very interesting to see, if these kids all grow up together, how their friendship will change. Will Cameron and Andrew be the brother they grew up with? Or not?

Back to School for Everyone!

This year our household has a 4th grader, a 1st grader and a pre-schooler. A pre-schooler! Two thoughts come to my mind: 1) How did he get to be so old? and 2) Mommy gets 2.5 hours of FREE time twice a week! Whoo Hoo!! Granted it's paid FREE time, but still... All of the boys have great teachers and they are all doing very well. And Andrew LOVES pre-school. No separation anxiety at all.

So here's a funny story about Andrew. Over the summer I bought him some really cute back to school clothes and dressed him real sharp for his first day. Just minutes prior to us leaving for his school he comes walking out in these red shorts and under shirt. There's a reason that this is so funny to me. Those little red shorts are Andrew's go to outfit. He will wear them day and night. If he leaves the house in jeans because we dressed him that way, the minute we come home he gets those shorts right back on. It doesn't matter if we make him put on jeans 3 times a day, he will still change as soon as we turn our backs. It's quite comical. So I was a tad bit disappointed when he comes trotting out on school day in his favorite pair of gym shorts. But really, what does it matter? If these shorts make him happy so be it. One of my favorite parts of back to school is the reunion of siblings once they all get home. Despite the things they may say about each other they really do miss one another. I love to see the brotherly love. It melts my heart!

Day Trip to Seaside

You just never quite know what kind of weather the Oregon Coast will bring, but regardless, kids don't seem to notice or care. I just don't know how can they go out in the freezing cold water and play, but they sure have fun. As we were nearing the end of our summer vacation, Jodi and I thought it would be fun to do a day trip to Seaside. We had lunch on the beach and played for a few hours. On the way home we stopped at Dairy Queen for ice cream. It was a super fun day!

The BEST kind of Thank You!

Saying goodbye to working with the Mia Maids was really hard. I love being so close to those girls. They are such amazing young women! And so very thoughtful. The morning after I was released from my calling there was a knock at my door. Cameron and Andrew opened it, then came to find me, and they were holding a plate of cupcakes. They said, "Mom, someone left you cupcakes". There was no note so I went to the door to see if I could find any clue as to who could have left them. When I opened the door I found a large heart shaped note taped to it. It was the sweetest letter from the Mia Maids. The boys then pointed out that there were little hearts placed along the house and then in the front yard. We walked out to the grass to read what the hearts said when several of the girls jumped out from the other side of my vehicle, and yelled surprise. Sweet Winnie had picked up the girls and helped them execute this fun plan. I was overcome with joy and shed a few tears as we all hugged. Those girls will forever hold a part of my heart. I love them and am grateful for the example of righteousness they have been to me.