Pictures of the whole famn damily

Here are some pictues from my 10th High School Reunion.

All right fine.

It was my 20th.

I look exactly the same as I did in high school so I didn't even need to wear a name tag.

Ahem...

Chicken Pot Pies

On my days off...

I cook.

And cook.

With some laundry and baking thrown in.

Here is proof that the kids help...

Chicken pot pies...

All from scratch...

Even the whole wheat crust...

One of our favorites and they freeze really well!

Yummy!

If you haven't started cooking and freezing meals...

Why not?

I can't even tell you how much this has helped me.

I'm working on a post about the nitty gritty about how to do this and also how much this will benefit your family...both financially and nutrition wise.

Stay tuned...

Utah Vacation

This summer Corey took the kids back to Utah for 10 days to visit with his family.

Sadly, I wasn't able to go visit with all my in-laws because I had to work.

I even said that with a straight face.

Man...I'm getting good.

It was nice for the kids to get to play with all their cousins and to spend time with Corey's parents.

The kids got to do all kinds of fun things like carnivals, bowling and arcade games.

They had such a wonderful time and it was a really nice break for me too.

Michael stayed home with me so that he could watch over the garden and chickens.

I have never seen a kid more bored.

It was kind of humorous.

And, I think it made him appreciate his siblings.

At least for the first hour or two that they were back home.

Thanks Utah crew for taking good care of my kiddos!

This is why you don't leave your camera laying around...

Because when you download pictues you find things like this...

Happy Birthday Matthew!

For Matthew's birthday he choose the ever popular Ice Cream Brownie Mountain.

He is such a tiny 7 year old with a big personality.

Everyone loves this kid.

He cracks us up all the time.

I have the best parents and Nana ever!

They never ever forget any of my kid's birthdays.

We are so lucky.

Here is Matthew with his birthday presents.

When he opened up the card from my parents and saw all the dollars bills ($30) he yelled, "Oh yeah baby!  I'm in the green!"

Love that kid!

Happy Birthday Matthew!

The Neons...Part 2

Remember the Neons?

Now they have decided that they all need a "signature color".

Apparently Neon Green gets the majority of the chicks but...

They are feeling the need to branch out.

My boys went with me to the fabric store and choose fabric.

One of their friends choose blue and he and his mom made a very cool vest!

Love that kid!

Michael decided that pink was his color of choice.

He cut out the fabric and I sewed it right up.

Ok, not really right up...more like over a period of time.

I was pacing myself.

Now, I just have to find time to get the other boy's vests done.

Sigh...

Happy Birthday Levi

Levi's 5th birthday was actual the day before Joshua's birthday which was in April if you must know how absolutely behind I am.

He asked for a strawberry cake which we all love.

Good choice son.

Levi adores Luigi so he was so thrilled with his Luigi shirt.

He wears it all the time.

Love this kid!

Happy Birthday Levi!

Happy Birthday Joshua

Joshua's birthday may or may have not been several months ago.

I'm not sayin...

Joshua has a weird and strange obsession with candy corn.

I often find that someone Joshua has added "candy corn" to my shopping list.

As if.

However, since it was his birthday and all...candy corn was added to his cake at his request.

Not all of the kids share in his love of candy corn.

Like nice little kiddos, they picked their candy corn off their slice of Ice Cream Brownie Mountain and gave it to Josh to eat.

Happy way way way belated Birthday Joshua!

More Vacation Photos...

Yes, these are vacation photos from May...

While down in sunny California, we took a day and went to the beach.

What a wonderful change from the Oregon coast where you have to bundle up in snowsuits to enjoy the surf.

Move along people...nothing to see here...

I was pleasantly surprised when I downloaded pictures and found that my husband had carved this into the sand and then taken a picture.

We miss sunny California!