The PUMPKIN Patch!!!

October has been a blur! We started off with Luke being sick for an entire week (just tummyache, nausea and a little throwing up about every other day.. but no fever or upper respiratory stuff like in the the flu), then Brynley with a fever of 102-103 for 6 days, me not feeling too well (but not "flu" like) and I think we are finally DONE being sick for now! We finally found a day that we were all healthy, and it wasn't raining.. to hit the pumpkin patch! Time was limited since it was getting dark (and starting to rain), but we had fun and grabbed some great pumpkins! Here's a few pics from the day (this is also one of my first attempts at going manual with my camera - not too shabby, but certainly some room for improvement!):

We also had family pics taken this past week by our friends the Drapers, and hope to be posting the results here soon! We have one preview pic of Brynley back that they posted on Facebook (if you're a "fan" of mine on facebook check it out on my page, and if you're not a fan - request me and you'll see it there!)

It's been difficult to keep my head above water with school and kids being sick. It definately didn't slow down enough for me even though the kids were sick.. now I'm FINALLy starting to feel like I got caught up and and where I need to be! I can't WAIT for Thanksgiving and Christmas to get a bit of a break! It's been fun, but exhausting!

Last week I ALSO got an opportunity to visit with a fun photographer - Carly Carlson. That girl ROCKS! I did a mentoring session with her and am excited to get to share my journey in photography with her as time permits. She suggested starting a photo journal to track my progress, so don't be suprised when a few random pics show up - i'll just be super excited to share! I can't wait to buy photoshop and get moving on editing skills! (In case you ddin't know - it's a little less than $200 for the "student version" of photoshop - such an AWESOME deal! I'm totally buying it while I'm still a student and save myself some money!)

Do you need a budget?

I do. Fabulessly Frugal is having 10 days of give-a-ways and today's give-a-way is a FREE download of "You need a budget" software. Check it out on the site. There is also a coupon code good for 15% off the download in case you don't win! www.fabulesslyfrugal.com

FABULESSLY FRUGAL!

I love this website... Fabulessly Frugal. I check them nearly everday to find the latest and greatest in deals and couponing. They are local (Boise) and are having their first anniversary - and a whole string of give-a-ways! What are you waiting for? GO CHECK THEM OUT!!!!!!!!

can you say... SLACKER?!

Yes.. I AM alive.. and a total BLOG slacker. School is crazy and takes up a lot of time. I'm trying to keep my head above water with all the typical mommy stuff, steven's business and nursing school. Anyway here are a few of the more recent highlights ...

1) We put an offer on a house.... the offer sat and sat (short sale) until we finally got fed up and looked around for something else. After a few weeks of searching listings religiously we finally found THE HOUSE! We walked into the deal with bank approval letters in place We signed the last week of July and moved in the couple of weeks after that! SOOO exciting.. finally we are homeowners (or at least in 30 years we will be!) Since we were first time home-buyers we qualified for the $8000 tax credit. SWEET! This house is so awesome and we were very fortunate and blessed to have found such an amazing house at the price we did. The virtual tour is still online here. We payed less than the listing too!! YAY for short sales! It's just too bad the owners lost out on this home. Brynley is in the "second" bedroom, the boys share the "third" bedroom and i get the 4th as MY OWN CRAFT room! YAHOO! It also doubles as the guest room, my office/study space and for anything else we might need it for.

2) The boys FINALLY learned how to swim (their confidence is growing!!) It was such a warm winter and there were SOO many beautiful days for swimming - we spent a lot of time at the pools!

3) We got a puppy. She was a suprise from my parents and the kids had SOO much fun playing with her all summer. Her name is Daisy, she's an irish setter (so she fits in with ehr red hair!) and she's a wonderful dog. She has a great temperment and when all the normal puppy stuff is outgrown she's really going to be a great family dog! The kids love her and she definately loves them!

4) The boys started school up again! They are in 1st and 3rd grades and we were able to get them into a year-round magnet school (it's magnet subjects are math & technology) so our summer was cut a couple weeks short but I am REALLY happy with the school and the boys are doing very well. Their teachers are great and they are both doing extremely well.

5) Brynley started her first dance class with Miss Kim at Elevated Dance Project. That's right - Miss Kim.. as in Kim Machado! She used to teach me in La Grande in high school and I'm SOO excited I have her to teach Brynley. This girl absolutely LOVES dance and loves Kim. She dances all through the house.. and even in the shower! It's so adorable and she's SO excited to go each week. Now if only things would slow down a bit - I could go too! Kim's studio is a little far from our house so right now with school I'm not able to make the drive 2x per week - but as soon as school is done I am TOTALLY back in!

7) We FINALLY made it to the Oregon coast again! The last time we went was a week or two before I found out I was pregnant with Brynley. The boys didn't really remember it and Brynley had never been so it was a lot of fun. They loved the ocean and I can't wait to take them again!

6) I started school back up again. This semester we actually get some time in the hospital. We do a 12 hour clinical in a local hospital 1x per week for the entire semester. So far I've learned a lot and my confidence is growing. It's so nerve-racking that first time you walk into a patient's room! I'm excited to learn new "skills" and eventually get to where I can finally be done with school. It's been a LONG time coming and I'm excited to finally have the opportunity.

I'm sure I'm forgetting things .. and I will add some pics later. But for now - I can say I've UPDATED the blog.. FINALLY! :o) My goal is to do this a little more often - it sounds like a nice sunday afternoon project!

March 20th - MARIO BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!

Luke's "friend" party was held on a BEAUTIFUL day. It was SO warm, so we decided that the kids all needed to be outside in the backyard. It was quite chaotic here for about 2 hours, but the kids had a blast. We did a MARIO theme (again) and Luke wanted an "Invincible Star" cake.

We also had a pinata - a Mario Kart pinata (just a race car with mario's photo glued onto it - which just happened to be the perfect colors!).

We had a nice little game of Mario, Mario, Luigi (Duck Duck Goose).

Through all this, we only had 1 bee sting, 1 minor sprained ankle (she was up walking about 20 seconds later), and one puking incident on the trampoline. Luke had a great time being the center of attention with all his friends. It was so cute when the first guest arrived. He said "YAY! MY FIRST FRIEND IS HERE!" And then it was "MY SECOND FRIEND" and so on, until he was too busy to keep track of how many kids had showed up!

March 19 - HAPPY 6th BIRHDAY LUKEY!

On Thursday, the 19th of March my little Lukey turned 6! Here's a pic of him as a tiny baby and at 3 months (luke came just before the age of the DIGITAL CAMERA!). I can't believe he's 6 already!

He was SO excited to have a birthday. At school he was the snack guy so we brought cupcakes. He is still TOTALLY addicted to Mario Bros. so he wanted invincible star cupcakes. After doing about 6 cupcakes with stars on them I ditched that idea and went for red and green mushroom cupcakes.

MUCH easier! The snack guy for the day is also the line leader and basically the teachers helper that day. ON a day that there is a birthday, right before snack all the kids color a picture to put in the "birthday book" for the birthday kid, w hile he passes out the snack.

Then they all sit down and wait for the "snack song" which starts out "Put your hand in your lap, in your lap.... put your hands in your lap and you're ready for a snack.... " Luke then got to tap each student on the shoulder to go find their place at a table for snack time. (this isn't different than any other day, but it's still cute!). Here's luke is the chair waiting for his turn to "tap" each kid on the shoulder. Try to ignore the kid picking his wedgie. Nice timing huh?

Then they sing happy birthday. Here is luke's expression during the happy birthday song.

I love how each kid gets to feel extra special at least once a month on their "snack" day, and especially on their birthdays. His teacher is excellent and does a wonderful job.

After school we went to Fudruckers for dinner (it seems to be a tradition we go somewhere fun for a birthday dinner), then home for presents. Luke is my artsy kid, so we decided that since we were tired of his "art" being ALL over the house he needed a place to put it. Our cheap solution was a bulliten board to hang above his bed. It was a BIG hit and it's always got his most favorite creations on it. He also got some other fun little things - and of course, it was time for a tennis racket!

March 18 - Recycle Music Program

Michael had his Music Program on March 18th. It had a theme of RECYCLING, and saving the earth. For months his class had been collecting "trash" (recyclable stuff) to use as decor, and to make a very strong point. The gym looked awesome with the kid's artwork everywhere and strings of pop cans, milk jugs, cereal box covered backboards and trash laying EVERYWHERE. We actually had to move stuff off our seats in order to sit down. The program was recognized on the local news and michael roped me into buying the DVD of the program and still watched it all the time.

Time for a Change!

I'm a total slacker in the Blog department. Some might say I have good reason to be a slacker (aka... NURSING SCHOOL, and HUSBAND STARTING NEW BUSINESS, and... well, those are probably enough reasons) but STILL! I'm not really into writing in a journal. This is my form of a journal - my blog. SO... to get me in the mood I decided my blog needed a slight make-over (the snowmen just weren't doing anything for me anymore) and now that I've gotten the header done I'm pooped for the night. Tomorrow will be a perfect day for me to update with all the latest (we have had 2 birthdays, holidays, scout stuff.. etc etc.) For now you can just admire those cute kids at the top of the blog. These were Easter pics I took on Easter Sunday. By the time we were actually ready to go take pictures the sun was getting too high in the sky. Anyone have tips on fixing shady faces in photoshop?

What we've been up to

So our life has been completely crazy for the past few weeks. Steven decided to leave his law firm after deciding it just wasn't working out with the new partners they had recently joined with. He has a little bit of work and some job prospects, but we're trying to figure out what will happen next. If he is not able to get the job he applied for with Ada county, he can continue to be on his own for a while and we would probably just do fine. It has NOT been a smooth transition and there are some disagreements with the firm, so it's been a very stressful and frustrating couple of weeks.

School is going well for me and I really enjoy it. Brynley loves her babysitter (and the 2 babies that she gets to play with during the day) and even gets to go along with preschool with some of the other kids. It makes leaving her so much easier when she loves where she goes and has such a great time. She tells me that Johnny is her best friend - and they have a blast together.

Lukey will be 6 this week - on Thursday! I can't believe it! Can you believe it's been six years since the day we bombed IRAQ? (Yes, I will always remember that Luke was born about the same TIME the first bomb went off over there - it was on TV in the background and Dr. H and the rest of us would turn toward the TV during pushes to see the latest breaking news! Gotta love that epidural!) Anyway, now that you've been educated about March 19th, back to Luke. He's SO smart and his behavior has improved dramatically these past few weeks. We decided to implement the "Stamp" system. He has to behave ALL day (not just in the classroom, but at recess too), no excessive teasing or hitting, and he gets a stamp on his hand at the end of the day (much easier than him remembering to bring home a progress report) For every 4 stamps he gets, he gets his "choice" of what he wants. It may be lunch with mom or dad (at the school), Wii time or whatever he may come up with. Since starting he has really only missed 2 days. (and it's been a couple of weeks). He is so proud of himself and talks about getting that stamp all day long. This is SUCH a nice change from the behavior we had about a month ago. We got several white slips in one month and Luke is such a sensitive kid to weather change and any colds/asthma stuff that I think he needed some extra help remembering to behave himself.

Because Luke and Brynley's birthdays are just a couple weeks apart (brynley on April 6) we are just going to have a joint party for the two of them with family over Spring Break.. We'll probably just decorate the gym at the church half pink and half "mario" so they can still feel like they get their own parties! (Brynley wants a pink birthday with pink presents!) Here's the digital invite I made up this afternoon .. I love playing with photoshop and digital scrapbook kits - there is just SO much cute stuff out there, and it's quite a bit cheaper and less time consuming. I just took the kids out to snap some photos this morning, worked on the invite after church and I'll have these printed up tomorrow at costco and in the mail on tuesday!

Shake it

This was too cute not to share! Brynley is obsessed with this song by Beyonce. She walks around shakin her hips and singing all the time.

Life has been INSANELY busy since I got into the nursing program. I am finally starting to feel like I'm not quite so overwhelmed. I seem to be doing well in my classes, even though I feel like there is just so much information that I could never learn it all. I'm slowly figuring out how to manage kids/household stuff/school/ and eventually blogging will creep back into the picture. I'm definately looking forward to spring break (in just a few weeks) and then summer, when I won't have to take any classes and can do some fun stuff!

Michael is now a boy scout and he is SO excited and loving every minute of it. He finished his bobcat with dad's help in less than 2 days, and was able to "Advance" at pack meeting last thursday. He also did the flag ceremony, which made him feel pretty big! I'm really excited for all he is going to learn and do with the Scouting program

Now it's Luke's turn finally - Luke will be turning 6 on the 19th of this month. More to come on Luke later.. it seems like all posts last month have been about Michael! I think maybe we need more of Luke's art! He's doing REALLY well with trying to spell words and figuring this whole letter sounds thing out. He is reading and still loves to write and draw pictures (and make little books or random things). Today he put one of my flower shaped post-its on my door and wrote "hello" on it. It was cute! (and it's still there).

Will you hit me in the face and knock my tooth out?

Today at recess Michael and another kid were playing a game and Michael (who I remind you, HATES pain, FEARS pain and is totally scared of losing teeth) asked his friend to knock his tooth out. SO.. being the great friend that this kid is, he elbowed him in the face, knocking his tooth out. It is a baby tooth, and it was loose - just not that loose. Then, Michael being the great friend that he is decided that it hurt to have a tooth knocked out by the elbow and decided to tattle on his friend to the duty. She either did not understand what happened, or didn't care because she told them to go work it out. (I think I need to have a word with that duty!) Apparently it's cool to lose a tooth at school because you get a cool little treasure chest, or a tooth shaped box to carry home your tooth in. He also lost his other bottom tooth last friday on the way to school. That one also came home in a little treasure box.



So Michael... was all that pain and blood worth it for a tooth shaped box on a string.. and a dollar from the tooth fairy? Who actually ASKS to have a tooth knocked out? (at least one that's not very loose)

(He's REALLY starting to look like a jack-o-lantern now!)

It's Great to be 8!

Michael's baptism was on Saturday. He was SO excited and a little nervous all at the same time. (mostly because of the water and worrying it would go up his nose). It was a crazy day with lots of family in town. I forgot my camera's battery, so when Michael was all dressed in White and ready to go, I had no way to snap a photo! Luckily my bro ran home, so I was able to get a photo right before he was actually baptized. None of the photos of my family turned out that great, but the one with our immediate family and steven's family both turned out ok. Luke is in the goofy face stage.. and if I would have realized he had made these goofy faces I would have had more pictures taken! We are so proud of Michael and are happy that he chose to be baptized. It was a special day and I hope he will always remember it.

One excited boy with his proud daddy
Our little family

Brandy's Family

Steven's Family

Fisher Family Cousin's

(sorry for the un-edited photos.. part of it is laziness, and part of it is not knowing how to deal with indoor lighting or the BRIGHT sun in the other photos)

AND... a quick birthday cake photo!

Happy 8th Birthday Michael

Today is Michael's birthday... his 8th birthday! I can't believe my little boy is 8 years old already! It just seems like yesterday that he looked like this...

This picture sums up Micheal the best.. even though he was only 7 months old it still rings true for today. He is full of life and energy. He has (and always has had) a very contageous and infectious laugh. He's a very sensitive kid (especially when it comes to pain, losing teeth, flu shots, strep cultures... etc) He is a great friend to everyone and is very kind and thoughtful of others.

He is so excited to turn 8 and be baptized on Saturday. He is ready. He knows the gospel and was so excited to get his first "real" set of scriptures tonight with his name on them. He told me that this was the best birthday he's ever had... because he got "ALL" the scriptures. He's also completely excited to start the Boy Scout program, with his first meeting TODAY on his birthday! He also got some scout stuff for his birthday (I know.. I'm way too practical this year!)

Michael is a great kid and we are so proud of him! We love you Michael! Happy Birthday!

I DID IT!

I can't believe I'm saying this.. but I actually got into the nursing program! They called me this afternoon and apparently some students have dropped, so I made it in! YAY! I've missed the first week of classes, so that's not good - but luckily the bulk of the classes are on monday - and since monday was a holiday I'm not too bad off! I'M SO EXCITED! YAY! :o)

Can he really be almost 8?

That's right!! Michael is ALMOST 8! Just a few more short weeks, and my oldest little man will be all grown up. He is so excited to get baptized and to join the cub scout program. He is especially excited that he gets to go to scouts for the first time ON his birthday!

We've been busy talking about baptism, and tonight we had a Family Night lesson on Baptism. I have found a ton of cute ideas on this website, including the lesson we used for tonight! Go check it out!

I've also been busy trying to create a baptism invite/announcement. After seeing my friend Rachel B's announcement she did for her son (and another friend's son) I was so excited to attempt to recreate it on photoshop. It took me forever since I'm not too photoshop savvy (and I only have the Elements version!) I still never figured out how to put a frame around Michael's cute little face.. but I like the way it turned out, and they looked great when Costco printed them up for me! So THANK-YOU Rachel B. for the idea and I hope you don't mind that I scrap-lifted your design. It was just too awesome not too! Oh - and sorry about all the nonsense in the invite. I hate to add too much personal information on the blog (for obvious reasons!) I had a hard time choosing between the photo above and this one, but eventually chose this one because of the darker background. He is so handsome in both! The one below shows his cheeks starting to turn red. We were literally only outside for maybe 8 minutes and we were freezing! Anybody know how to edit the red cheeks?

Now off to plan a MARIO party. Both boys want Mario this year, so at least that cuts down on the amount of creativeness I have to try and display! Luckily Birthday Express just came out with mario themed stuff.. but since I'm cheap, my kids will probably only get the cool plates.. and maybe the wall clings (since those can be used twice!). If any of you bloggers out there have some awesome mario ideas I'd love to hear them!

Kiddie Kandids wanted my business

I was in the mall making a return today and a lady from kiddie kandids walked up and said they were looking for kids to take pictures of - and were giving free 5x7's just for letting them take my kids picture. So I thought, WHY NOT? I had just gotten her a cute spring/summer outfit from the Children's Place, so off we went! (I think the only clients they had all morning were "free 5x7" clients!) She was loving every minute of her "photoshoot" and of course they turned out cute.. I ended up purchasing a montage of all 3 of the pics. So Here's my illegally scanned and posted copy of the montage I came away with today.

The letter "N"

The letter of the week in Luke's kindergarten class is N. He is in charge of snack today, so here's what we came up with! (Nuts are banned from the class due to allergies, otherwise we'd have used those too!)

Nilla Wafers, Nerds and "N" shaped ham and cheese sandwhiches!