Thanksgiving

As some of you know, Ben has been interviewing with a Hospital in Baker City Oregon. He has another interview on this upcoming Wednesday. With much anticipation, we decided we would go visit the area, to get a feel for it, and decide if it was a place that we could live. It's only about a 2 hour drive from Boise, so it wasn't that bad getting there, but we did drive around a lot of the time, which made the kids crazy. I, being camera dumb... again, forgot we had the camera, and didn't start taking pictures until the ride home. You can see just how happy the kids are!

Nice Head Shot, HUH... JK... I don't post many pictures of myself, so I thought this might be a good time.... ha ha ha

On Thursday, of course, was Thanksgiving. We spent the majority of the day at my mom's house. I couldn't help but take some pictures of Ady in her outfit I made her. Hayden and Ady had fun spending time with their cousins!

You can't really see it, but I painted a Christmas Tree on her shirt, which matches the fabric on her sleeves, and her skirt.

Ady loves getting her hair done. She will actually sit for me on the bathroom counter and will let me do whatever I want. Her hair is still very fine, and it doesn't take to curling very well, but I did what I could... she sure liked it!

I am thankful for...

My husband! I don't tell him enough how thankful I am for what he does, who he is, and what a good father he is. I appreciate the time he takes, and believe me it takes a lot of time, to make me happy.

He is always willing to lend an ear and listen to me gripe. He also always gives words of encouragement when I know he is feeling down as well. Life isn't always easy, but I am glad I am going through it with him.

Ben makes our family, and saves our family, a lot of money. He is the sole provider. He works all day and comes home to more work. With our luck, their is always something to fix, or figure out, and he does it without thought. If something is broken, he learns how to fix it. If something needs replacing, he replaces it. He fixes computers all day, and comes home to fix everything else. He even cleans.

Our kids can't wait for him to get home everyday. Every afternoon they wait for the sound of the garage door opening, and as soon as they hear it, they have it open and stand waiting for him to arrive. Ady and Hayden both yell "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy" until he picks them up and gives them loves. They look forward to him being home and being DAD.

Ben, I love you more than words can say. I hope you know what you mean to me! Thank you for being my husband and putting up with me as I am. I love you forever and always!

After he fixed the shocks and struts on his car!!! He's not afraid to get dirty!

Multiple Posts.... please read!

As you all know, or maybe you don't... I have been sewing a lot lately. My older sister, is having a craft bazaar at her work this week, and I have decided to put some of my crafts into it. I want to see if what I am making people will buy. I took some, not so good, pictures just as a preview, to show all who read this blog, what I have been up to! (also not pictured... I have made infant/toddler beaded baby bracelets!)Infant/toddler shoes... like robeez, but not leather... also a lot cheaper!!! (not yet complete)Toddler Size 2T shirt!Crayon Caddie! Rolls up and ties so it is easy to carry just about anywhere!Another Shirt!

Also, My nieces birthday is coming up on November 20th. She is a huge fan of "The Nightmare Before Christmas." I got an idea to make her a one of a kind bag for her birthday. I wanted to make it a little more personal, so I painted a few things on it. I hope you likes it...

Multiple posts... Please read!

This weekend was not quite eventful, but fun filled! On Saturday, Ben held a LAN Party, with all of his computer friends, here at our house. I took advantage of that time, to spend with my mom and sisters, shopping and eating! We walked around the mall, and went to Cheesecake Factory...thanks Mom!... and ate some yummy food. We don't eat out much, so any time is a real treat!

On Sunday, we spent the whole morning cleaning house. Not fun, but very needed. We accomplished quite a bit. I finally got to the kitchen floor that has been much neglected. Later on in the day, I went out with Tiffany and got some xmas shopping complete. I came home to the Christmas tree set up, waiting to be decorated. Ben had taken his time with the kids, and had set it up for me. He mentioned that the kids enjoyed this task... I wish I could have seen them setting it up. Tiffany, Darek, and Caylee then came over for Taco's and some crafts for the kids. First off, The kids decorated glass ornaments. All we did was pour a few different colors of paint into each ornament, and let the kids have at it. They basically shook them until all the inside glass was covered. Ady didn't understand, but Caylee and Hayden sure did!

Caylee and Tiffany pouring paint!

Caylee showing off her ornament!

Mommy helping Ady Shake it!

Hayen and his ornament!
Ady wanted to do it all by herself!

After the quick painting of the ornaments, we let the kids make fruit loops necklace's. Hayden and Caylee knew exactly what to do, but Ady just wanted to eat them... It made her angry to have them on the yarn. Needless to say, she enjoyed it! We got pictures of the kids with their necklaces on. We had fun!

Ady's putting on the Fruit Loops... Love the hand!

Hayden working his little heart way!

Mommy helping Hayden!

Caylee Stringing along!Ady...can't decide whether to eat, or string!?Making her MAD!Eating Once Again!Proud!Yummy

Priceless!

Jumping, Jumping

Hayden and Ady's favorite thing to do lately is jump on the trampoline...weather permitting. I am a worry wart when it comes to them on the trampoline. I always fear that they are going to fall off, so I decided to lower the trampoline to 1 foot off the ground and now they are happy to jump and I am worry free.!!! They were having so much fun today, I had to get my camera out and take a ton of pictures!!! I hope you all enjoy.

One, Two, Three, Four....

I declare a butt war!

So cute!

They love playing together!

I don't know what they are doing?!!!

Refinished Product

I have really started to enjoy refinishing furniture. Although I am not a "great" re finisher, I do enjoy it, and am very happy with the final outcome. My mother found this very old high chair for me at Savers, minus the tray. I think she paid around 5 bucks for it, and brought it to me. See, Ady has not been liking her highchair, because she is "restrained". At my mom's house, she has a red chair, that is slightly higher than a normal kitchen chair, and Ady sits on it every time we are there. I think it makes her feel like a big kid! So when we found this one... we thought it would be perfect for her. With the weather so nasty it took me some time to paint/stain/sand/paint/stain/seal

and let it dry. But it's finally done. The wood tones are the same color, the camera doesn't do it justice! I did take a before picture, but can't seem to find it on either of our PC's, oh well. (It was painted white, with every ring on chair a different color... It was quite ugly!)

Where has the time gone?!

We are keeping busy lately... So much to do and so little time to do it. A whole weekend has passed once again, and I have yet to blog.

This weekend we had fun. We went to Hayden's friends birthday party, then headed to the mall to do some shopping. I really needed a few pair of jeans since all of mine were falling off constantly... Hopefully a good sign of what is to come. It took some time, and some persistence from both my Mom and Sister, but I finally found 2 pairs of jeans the fit perfectly for only 32 bucks total... I had fun spending time with my family, and was glad that I was able to accomplish what we had set out to do.

Ady's normal hair do! Not really, but her hair always seems to be flying one way or another!

The tongue is another story.

On Sunday, Ben had to go out to Nampa to do some computer work with a friend. The kids and I went along with him for the ride, dropped him off, and went browsing around town. After that, we met up with Randy, Cathy, and Breann for lunch at Fridays. We enjoyed the conversation and fun that was had.

I haven't taken a lot of pictures lately due to my kids being sick, but I thought why not, get pictures of how they are... for reality. So I did. In most of the pictures I took recently, You can see Ady's yucky nose. Yes I know her nose is running in the pictures, please ignore it. She, and Hayden, seem to be doing better now, hopefully the illness will be gone soon.

I told Ady there was a dog in the camera lens so she would look in it and I could take her picture. She decided she needed to get her finger in there to make sure...

Hayden, as usual, didn't want his picture taken, and was very reluctant to smiling?!

Cute Anyways

Ben has been worrying a lot lately about his Job at Micron. He doesn't officially work at Micron, he works for a company called HCL America, based out of India. I guess they will be going into a "slow down" period where he may be laid off, or be required to take time off without pay. We are currently in the process of looking for a new job for Ben, once again, and hope that he will be able to find something that he will enjoy and be able to succeed at. If any of you reading this, know of any good Information Technology Positions open Please let us know. He does have his Bachelor's degree, project management certification, and plenty of experience. At this point we are willing to relocate so that he is able to have a good career. Thanks in advance!






Along with thinking about Ben's Job, I have also been thinking about the upcoming holidays, and what they mean to me. I want to be able to explain to my children the full and true meaning of the holidays, and know that they understand why they occur. I find Hayden constantly saying that he wants this and that from Santa, and realize that he doesn't know anything else about Christmas besides receiving gifts. While I love the fact that my children enjoy Christmas, I want them to have the spirit of Christmas within, and know why we celebrate what we do. I better get working on it. Christmas will be here before we know it.





I have been doing a lot of crafts lately. My older sister, Dana, works for Citigroup, and they are having a craft bazaar and we decided we would try to sell some things to see if people will really buy them. Everything is either made by my sister, or me. Some of the things we have for sale are Infant/toddler shirts, bracelets, headbands, "robeez" like baby shoes, made out of fabric, crayon caddies, Felt Gingerbread houses (for kids to play with) and such. It seems like a mismatch of things, but I think for me, I am trying to figure out if people would actually buy the things I make. We will see how it goes!

This is a shirt I painted, and then sewed for Ady.

It's a little big on her, but she absolutely loves it!

We will see what I come up with next!

The last week... finally!

What a week it has been! We have had so much going on, I have not been able to update like a regularly do. So here it goes.

Starting with Thursday, We were invited to my mother's ward "trunk or treat" We have never been to a function like this before, and now know why kids like it so much. Hayden enjoyed walking around to every trunk and getting candy. Ady didn't understand that the candy goes in the bag, and not in her mouth. She was quite angry the first few times I put the candy in the bag, and not to her. There were so many cute costumes, and we had a ton of comments about Ady's chef costume. It was a big hit! The kids got enough candy to fill up our Halloween hand out bowl. Yeah!

Friday night, of course, was Halloween. We had a little get together with our family and friends. We all ate yummy food (pot luck). I made 2 slow cooker soups, and everyone else brought side dishes. Everyone seemed to enjoy the soups I made! I am glad they turned out so well!

After everyone was done eating, the kids beat down the pinata I had made!

Here is Hayden and Caylee before trick or treating!

Paisley was a chef... I made her costume too!

Not a very good picture of Ady, but hey... It works. It also shows her "bling-age" she had to wear!
After the trick or treating was all said and done, the hubby, me, Cathy, and Levi headed to a Haunted house we had found in our neighborhood. I absolutely hate scary things, so you can imagine the noise that came out of my mouth. I had Cathy as support, and ran my way through! I thought Ben would be there to help me... but he just chimed in and scared me before it even got scary!

Saturday, Ben surprised me with a date! We took the kids over to Mom-In-Laws, and we headed on our way. The kids love any chance they can get to spend with their grandparents, but don't get much time to do so. Ben had planned for us to go on a long walk on the greenbelt, but due to weather conditions... we were not able to. It kinda depressed Ben a bit, because we both love to take walks, but we got over it, headed to the mall and did some walking, and shopping there! We went out to dinner at the Copper Kitchen, Or was it Copper Kettle? I don't remember, but the dinner was delicious! We had Filet Mignon with a side salad, veggies and potatoes. It was quite wonderful to have some time to ourselves, and know that our kids were in good hands. We treasure these few and far between times! Thanks Mom!

Hayden enjoying Grandma's House!

Ady loves the dolls Grandma has!

On Sunday, we celebrated my Mom's Birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM). My dad did a good job of planning it, and even had all of the dressings there for Banana Splits. They were a hit with all of the grand kids! I hope my Mom enjoyed the chaos of everyone there. We sure had a good time!

Sorry I don't have more pictures. (thanks Becky for all that are posted today) for some reason I was camera dumb this weekend and didn't think to get ours out! I promise to take some this week!