Take that Martha Stewart.

So I started off fall with making some super tart (not sure that its really edible without adding sugar) rhubarb cranberry jam. And yes, I put in twice as much sugar as I thought I should in the first place...But, oh well things do get better. Then I made some chocolate zucchini muffins, delish! Thirdly it was zucchini-banana bread made with applesauce! YUM! It was gone quickly. And lastly Halloween sugar cookies...This is why on any given day you stop by my house and its a mess...Im always doing things that I don't need to do so I dont have to do the things I need to do.

 My helpers cleaning the frosting bowl!

 These by the way, are Hooterrific!

The cookies that survived long enough to actually make it to the frosting stage!

Craftiness

I've been wanting to use some of that spray/paint on chalkboard paint for a few years now. Never really had anywhere or a reason to use it. I thought once maybe I would paint the fridge with it so the kids could draw on it, but I didn't really want a black fridge. Last weekend I was digging around in the cellar and I found a cupboard door we had removed from the mud/laundry room to make the current woodbox..And I thought, Heeeyyyy, theres my chalkboard!!!



So we took a trip to Michaels and thanks to www.hip2save.com we scored a 50% of coupon. One can of chalkboard paint and a box of white chalk, five dollars and thirty three cents. As soon as Mark got home from work I went to work on creating my chalkboard.

Like my workspace??? Mark says to me, "You're not going to spray paint it in here are you??" To which I responded, "No dear, but thank you for being concerned. Because, if I was, you would need to tell me that was a bad idea."

Moving on to the garage and the actual painting. Between the spray paint smell and the garbage stank it was not pleasant. And of course I am very impatient so I got the hair dryer out and dried it inbetween the three coats. Then they say to let it dry for 24 hours...I gave it about 14 hours...close enough.

I think I might need to paint the border so it pops a little more...We will see after I live with it for a while.

...Its also a little large...I think I would like it better vertical but I dont have a space for it vertical. I leave you with a half naked cowboy who has rejected his sisters pink cowgirl hat (Thanks Ang, he actually loves wearing it).

A few random happenings.

So I am a Bzz agent. Which means a company sends me stuff to sample and I review it and share some samples with my friends. Right now I am sampling Burts Bees Sensitive line. I really like it so far!

<img src="http://img.bzzagent.com/image/burts.jpg?Type=activity&Activity=8693751420&Campaign=6466804197&Uid=1210709&token=d11c15165ec203a8d859483df0f42ad7" alt=""/>(some pretty logo is supposed to show up here)

Anyways...If your interested in purchasing some of this stuff let me know and I will hook you up with some 1 dollar off coupons!

In other news I shared these  photos on FB but for those of you who don't social network, I finally got a picture of all three of the kiddos together!

Second take, Anna was about to not have it anymore!! She always gets her lower lip puckered out before she brings on the noise!

And lastly Waylon has been practicing his phone talking skills...I caught him just before bedtime doing this the other day! Too funny!

Im getting brave

I've been trying to figure out how the heck I want to decorate the boys room. If I hang anything on the wall they pull it down (why wouldn't they???). I wanted to hang some shelves but I imagine monkeys swinging from vines...So I decided to get brave and paint one of the walls. I dont really have a finished vision in my mind, Im just letting the paint brush do the talking...Here's my progress so far...Any creative ideas would be warmly welcomed!!!

 This is the begining....Stars on a blue sheet...Hey, its cool in the dark.

Phase I, trees....complete. 

 3 months old!

This kid knows how cute he is....Its already damaging my attempt at disipline. He got a 1, 2, 3, count today and with each progressing number his head cocked a little bit more to the side and his smile got larger....I was laughing by the time I got to three...Cheeseball.



Gary and the John Deere

Let me first say Gary loves our boys...He has been trying to get Jackson to ride with him in a tractor or back hoe or whatever it may be he's driving in for a while now. Well he finally was able to convince Jackson to at least sit with him. Waylon cried everytime he got near it. Waylon, mind you will cry when Gary pulls up on his four wheeler. They like tractors and machinery--- from a distance and NOT running!! Jackson was cool sitting with him until he fired it up and told Jackson they were going around the block...then he wanted out.

Past and Present...The future will be later!

I've been inspired to be a little more pro-active with my blogging. My goal is to put less on Facebook and more on here. All 207 of our facebook friends proabable dont really care that much anyways.

So in the near recent past we took a trip to Marks family hometown in Albany Oregon. We were there for a nice week long visit. We had a really good time and enjoyed visitng with many of his family members! The kids all traveled pretty well considering it was an eight hour drive! Anna was a trooper and slept alot! We took one day and made it out to Newport beach on the coast. I had a great time and so did the boys. However, I have come to learn Mark found it less than desirable. Which partly was my flub since I took off with Judy to do a little touristy shopping while Marv and Mark stayed at the beach with the boys. Who apparently would not just stay still and play nicely. Oops...Thanks for suffering guys!

We saw sea lions and incidently have a sea lion living in our home town of Genesee as well. Someone's dog barks just like the sea lions and Jackson is quick to tell me he hears the sea lions everytime said dog barks!

On the drive home we asked Jackson what his favorite part of the trip was and he said....Grandma's toys! (:

On to the present....Aunt Tiffany came to stay a few days this past week. For those of you unfamiliar with who Aunt Tiffany is, she is my Dad's GF's daughter. We had a really nice time! The boys LOVED having someone to play with them! I wonder if she is having Thomas the train withdrawls yet?? We went down to Lower Granite Dam on Monday and then drove over the dam to Boyer park! The weather was nice and the boys enjoyed playing in the water!

The kids are all doing well! Anna is a good sleeper, which is heaven for Momma! We are looking forward to fall! Picked our first 4 orange pumpkins with about 14 more in the garden waiting to turn!! Sadly fall time means burning for Mark, he hasn't started yet but will be off and running as soon as we get some more rain! Although, when he is gone I don't have to watch football! HA!!

Welcome Anna June Stutzman!!

Well, its been two wonderful weeks since little miss Anna joined our family! Carly was induced on Friday July 8th. Things started slowly and finally started progressing around 6 pm that night. Auntie Becca and Great Grandma June showed up around 7pm that night and so Mark went off to dinner with them. Needless to say Daddy did make it back from dinner in time but still missed her being born! It went pretty fast at the end and we were thrilled to find out we had a baby girl!!!! She was born at 9:02 pm weighed 7lbs 8oz and was 19 7/8 inches long. Carly's Mom and Step-Dad were here with their motorhome to take care of the boys! Jackson LOVED sleeping in the motorhome!! They stayed for a week and we were all sad to see them go! Jackson especially since he now has to sleep in his boring bedroom!

Anna is a good baby! She has her days and nights a little confused but sleeps pretty well as long as she's is nestled up with Momma! We, will get there! She was up to 8lbs 2oz at her 10 day check up so she is doing just great! Jackson just loves her and Im sure Waylon does too, but he's having a bit of a hard time adjusting to sharing Momma! Momma, however, is LOVING having some pink around, more so than she ever thought!

Yesterday was Jackson's third birthday! We had friends over to celebrate with cake and homemade ice cream! He has been asking for a big Mater for a few months now and was very happy to get one for his birthday! He is almost potty trained minus naps and bedtime. He is growing so fast and makes us proud and mad everyday! HAHA!

Mark starts working out of town again starting this week but wont be too far incase of crisis! Our friends in our community have graciously signed up to bring us meals three times a week and it has been wondeful! I couldn't have asked for anything more helpful then NOT having to cook!!!

Carly and the kids are planning a trip over to the westside August 12th through the middle of that next week. Hope to see some of you then!

 Great Grandma June and her Great Granddaughter!

 Daddy's girl!

 Her first dress!

 Big Yawn!

 Waylon loving his ice cream!

 Jackson and his little Mater.

Jackson and his BIG MATER!!! Notice the smile! 

Blowing out his candles!