Sunny August day

I was going to try to document our whole day today. I thought it would be fun, then I forgot about 1/3 of the way through. So...there goes that idea! I started with a picture of breakfast, it just looked to pretty not to take a picture of it.

Scrambled eggs, spinach and tomato's! Mark would be sure to turn his nose up to this. Well actually all the kids did too...

After breakfast we took our friend Rosemary up to Moscow to her Doc appt. The kids and I ran to Safeway scored a great clearance deal on K-cups! Wahoo... Then went back for Rosemary and headed to Micky D's for some lunch. Of course Jackson tried and true all he wanted was chocolate milk and Waylon a few chicken nuggets! These kids are easy!

We got home and had some fun in the sun playing in the pool and with the hose! Jackson loves having the hose on. He's big on making waterfalls anywhere he can, inevitably he ends up doing something he shouldn't like spraying his brother and sister which ceases the hose fun.

A few pool shots...Anna is our water baby she just loves it!!

Waylon, he will play for a little while then he decides its time to relax!!

Our good friends Nate and Megan ended up coming for an impromptu dinner of salmon burgers, caramelized walla walla sweet onions from our garden, some melon, and tater tots (for the kids of course!). The kids all had fun playing together, we missed Cooper who is down in Boise hanging with the Grandparents! Looking forward to the days when Jackson and Waylon get to go stay with their Grandparents for a week at a time!

Lastly we had some fun eating some snap peas from the garden the kids all love these! Its fun to watch them! Anna will chew through the pod to get to the peas, the boys are skilled at getting the peas out and tossing the pods to the chickens! Jackson gets confused and tries to shuck his green beans too. Ha ha, sorry kid, nothing good inside of those!

 I love this Hollyhock, its the prettiest cream and pink color.

 My favorite rose!

The pumpkin patch and the corn!

Don't blink. Really, don't.

I have been looking at these kids today thinking how in the world have we made it so far so fast?? They just keep growing. Everyone always says that they grow up in the blink of an eye and I am starting to see that. I think when they get haircuts it's definitely accentuated.

 This kid especially, Jackson is taking this picture and I think Waylon is attempting to steal the camera back. Or he's crossing his fingers hoping it turns out good.

 Nap time has become somewhat of a world war in our house. Someone is always crying and someone is always playing. I knew this would happen eventually but I am not ready to give up yet. Somedays it takes about an hour to get kids down to sleep, I have mastered getting all three of them to sleep at the same time. Well, that is when I can get the boys to sleep. This particular day I kept hearing Waylon talking to himself. Upon further investigation I found him hiding in his pillow case.. He thought it was so funny...He kept saying "In my pillow Mom, in my pillow" turkey!

 We also were blessed to have Auntie Tiff come visit us for a week in late June. It was so nice having another adult here with me for an entire week. I got to makeover our bedroom including new paint!! I also suckered her into helping me attempt to move a rather way too large piece of furniture into the attic. Ha, sorry Tiff, I promise to never do that again. Fail. We took a day trip to Winchester Idaho and went to the wolf discovery center. Didn't get to see any wolves but we had fun none the less. Later in the week we took another day and went down to Hell's Gate State Park, the kids had so much fun playing in the water! We had a great gluten free week and definitely look forward to our next visit!! Oh and do you see what I mean about the haircuts?!?! They look so little and this was only a month ago!!

Hello, I might be back...

Well, jeez. Its been a while since I posted and I'm sorry. I'm not doing a terrific job of keeping you all updated if I'm not posting. So lots has happened since April. Anna turned 1 and Jackson turned 4.  Poor Waylon still has to wait a few more months till his special day. It's hard when both your siblings have a birthday in the same month and you don't. Poor Way, although I can assure he is not lacking in any love. Jackson was so nice to even let Waylon pick out a toy with his birthday money...what a good big brother. I love to see kindness in my children especially when it is for each other. That my friends is few and far between. But, we will take what we can get. Oh and for the most fantastic news....drum roll please....We...got...a....DISHWASHER!!!!! I cannot even begin to tell the responsible party how thankful I am for this. Its a dream.

Life has just been chugging along, kids are growing and learning everyday. Mark has worked one ten day stint this summer so far. Fingers crossed its the only one. After he got home I had the most wonderful 48 hours without them. LOL...Sounds horrible but it was the first time I have been solo for more than a few hours, other than producing more children. Which does not count. Three of my good girlfriends came with me and we went to my Dad's cabin. I feel bad that I couldn't take all of my "Mommy friends" with me, Lord knows we all need a break. But, it just worked out for the four of us to plan this trip together. A big thank you to my Dad, without the free room and board I'm sure we would have never been able to make it work. We did a lot of relaxing, some sun bathing, some good movie watching, a little bit of driving and a few Mommy drinks mixed in. It was heaven. Oh and by the way, if you are ever going out to eat at Gold Creek Station on highway 410...The fish and chips are awesome just bring A LOT of antacids. Grease Bomb. We made the trek back home and had a delightful little side stop at Chukar Cherries in Prosser. Yum, if you ever see their product its worth it. Chocolate covered cherries and nuts = goodness. We also hit up Houge cellars, but you need an entrie trip devoted to wine tasting, oh and a DD!

Hello Mt. Rainer!

Jackson will start pre-school shortly...goodness it will be at the end of this month. My little bear is growing up. He is such a lover and will not waste a single moment to tell you that he loves you. While Waylon on the other hand...well..he would rather stick his head up to your butt and ask you to "fart me"... I'm not joking. He will do this until I succumb and make fake fart noises. He is a bit more oh lets say wild than his big brother. Together they equal trouble but its fun to witness. Mark got Jackson a toy chainsaw for his birthday. Since he wasn't here on that specific day Mark wanted Jackson to know he was thinking of him and wanted him to open it very first thing after he woke up. Jackson was thrilled with the chainsaw and thought it was so much fun to try and saw all the table legs off our tables. The other night I asked him if he wanted me to include anything special in our nightly prayers. And he says yes Mom. Thank God for Daddy getting me that chainsaw. Ha!

Chainsaw and Tom and Jerry underwear...That's how he rolls!

By the way...my grammer skills are not the best...sorry if this is painful to read! Im a fragment and run on queen and for some reason spell check isn't working. Im doomed.

Saddness for Jackson

Instead of making it to the pre-school child screen, Jackson ended up in quick care getting his first set of stitches! He broke a wine glass and cut his hand, ending up with 3 stitches! He also had x-rays done of his hand. He cried but the nice x-ray technician Bill, let Jackson see the pictures of his hand and he thought that was pretty neat to see his bones! (They were checking to make certain there was no glass in the cut.) After the numbing kicked in he didn't do too bad. However, when we got in the car and were all done he says to me, "Mom, I'm sorry I wasn't brave."  Such a little  man.

He got a nice big ice cream cone from McDonald's that seemed to wipe all the pain away! He was pretty bummed he didn't get to go play at the school. He kept asking me if we could go back. His Auntie Becca pointed out that in no time at all his eagerness to be at the school will change drastically! I will have to remind him of the day when all he wanted was to be at school!

He thinks his new green hand is pretty cool!

Before the stitches fiasco we made it out for another walk...This weather is just awesome! The boys all decided to hold hands and run together...funny kids!

 L to R: Waylon, Charlie, Jackson and Walter

Just the big boys, Waylon had enough.   :)

We got Anna these styling sunglasses...pretty cute. And after putting them on Anna and giggling the entire time the boys each wanted their picture with them on too!

It was quite a day for the kids, doing all that running in the morning then no naps. Our good friend Megan took Waylon and Anna while Jackson and Mom went to quick care. Poor Megan, Anna wasn't too happy to be without Mom. We owe her big time! Needless to say all three of the kids were asleep by 7:15...ahhh...Best part of the day!

Good news!

Well we did end up with about 3 inches of snow. Luckily it was short lived and now we have some daffodils in bloom! Yay! We got out yesterday and made our full 3.5 mile loop from home and back. It was in the mid 60's, so warm compared to this time last week! The kids played outside all afternoon. Its so nice getting them outside...Sanity...ahhhh.

Today we go for Jackson's pre-school registration. Can't believe my baby boy is ready for pre-school. Its only a few hours every other day but I am excited for him. It will be fun to hear about his learning and adventures! Just hope his is well behaved!! We also are registering him for T-ball! They have all there games here in Genesee so wont be too much hassle, just hope Daddy can make it to a few games! He's growing up...I knew it would happen, and am glad to say it is just as exciting as I always hoped it would. It does feel a bit weird to know that someone else will be in charge of my child other than me. I'm sure I will get over that fast. Now just to work on his 13 year old attitude!!!

Being a big brother and helping Anna walk! 

We had a nice Easter celebration. Made it to church and then went over to the Sundstroms for a delicious feast! Our friends Dave and Tamra came with their two boys as well. The kids had their third and final Easter egg hunt and had a blast playing together! Being away from our family is hard but when you have great friends like this it makes it easier! I made Easter cookies and shared them at fellowship on Sunday...they were a hit!

We made Easter crafts. I have been inspired by my Nephew Colton's day care people...They always do fun holiday crafts with the kids. So I hopped on Pinterest and found these. It was fun!

 Waylon wouldn't let me paint his hands so we improvised!

 Anna's bunny

Jackson's chicken

This last bit of news is the most exciting. Anna had a post/pre surgery ultra sound last Tuesday. To check on how things were looking after the surgery and to make certain that surgery on the other side was still needed. Miraculously the side we hadn't had any surgery on looked wonderful! Just about has healed itself! We are so relieved!! I knew when I saw the kidney on the ultrasound we wouldn't be doing surgery on it...Had to wait for word from the surgeon for sure and was so relieved to hear that it looked as good as I thought it did!!! I was worried that the side we did do surgery on wasn't looking that good. I was expecting it too look like the other side and it didn't! But the Surgeon said he felt it did look substantially better. So we will wait a few more months and do another follow up US. It is possible that we will need to do a few more kidney functioning tests in the future. But hopefully we are done with invasive surgeries! Hallelujah! Mark and I had the biggest grins at this news...it was just a huge weight lifted off our shoulders! 

Another sunny day....with possibility of snow.

Spring is finally here on the Palouse! Its nice to see the sunshine and the temperature constantly above freezing! Oops, spoke too soon 1 - 3 inches of snow on its way Thursday! Bah!!!! Anyways pretend its spring...The flowers are all growing and shrubs are budding out. Wont be long and we will be in the 70's and 80's maybe 90's then we will all hope for fall and cooler weather! Such a vicious cycle, or maybe some of us just cant be pleased??? Its nice to be able to get the kids outside again, they love it! This morning we are going to attempt to get back in the grove of our morning walks. Which means it will probably snow tomorrow! Yesterday I got out and finished up the aesthetic touches on the chicken coop. I like it, I think the ladies do too!

Sadly Marks Grandma Stutzman passed in mid March. We took a trip to Oregon to celebrate her life and attend her funeral. Every time I get around these people it makes me count my blessings, I couldn't have asked for a better family to marry into. While we were there Grandma's wedding dress was brought out and I remembered something I had pinned on pinterest...A keepsake for Anna and something to display at her wedding...

Also much to our surprise the first day we were there it snowed and snowed and snowed. Of course it never crossed my mind to take our snow clothes, why would it? The boys got out a few times and played with their cousin Brayden and had fun! Soaking wet, but fun!

The attempt at a snowman ended in pint size chairs! Wishing it was different circumstances but we did have a great visit!

March madness

Of course to most people March madness means basketball. To me it means we are having snow in March and that's madness. LOL... I actually hate sports. I watched Nascar with Mark when we first started dating and I don't mind watching it every now and then but I cant remember who drives what now and who for and blah blah blah....It changes too much. Don't get me wrong I like change but I got used to my randomly picked favorite driver Ryan Newman driving the # 12 Alltel Dodge. Now, I don't know what he drives but he is still my favorite! Ha...that's right dedication. The kids are all doing well! Anna has recovered nicely from her first surgery and we are hoping and praying surgery number 2 does not have to happen. Of course I'm trying not to get my hopes up but its hard not to.

Carly and the kids took of recently and went to her Mom's for the week and attended a family baby shower. They had a good time, and as always a quick and busy visit! Mark has been working out of town again...back to the same old grind!

       Great Grandma June!                                Cousin bath time!

Not too much else is new. Anna is holding on to things and trying to walk. Wont be too long and she will be cruising around her like her brothers were at 10 months!