Just Days Till The Fat Man…

We have been busy with play, work, shopping and more play it seems. Very busy but all good!We walked to the corner of 14th to watch the Holiday Parade this month along with most of our block. We took a chair down for our neighbor Francis (sitting behind Jo) as well, and we all gathered in our warmest to watch all the floats pass buy. It was a long one this year but quite a bit of fun and I think the kids got more candy from this than they gathered at Halloween.Happy Birthday Oma!
We headed to Myrtle Creek for the weekend of Oma’s Birthday to watch the Truck Light Parade and then join in a Christmas party at the Grange Hall with Rachelle & Connie. The Light parade was GREAT! Recommend for next year! Wow!!! The party was a lot of fun as well with a family atmosphere that for me just feels like family since we know quite a few of the folks.A growing moment for Jo.
While listening/watching some music at the Christmas Party Jo saw a kid look through the curtain on stage. She asked me “Momma…can I go on stage to play?” and I told her, “After the singing was all done,” as I knew there were kids’ getting ready for the live nativity. Then another kid poked their head through the curtain and Jo got very excited…”Momma!…There are costumes on stage…Can I go pleasssse?” I then told her to go ask Connie…Jo did just that! The next thing we saw, Connie and Jo at the stage door…when the curtains were pulled…well…There she was…a lamb on stage and was she ever smiling! Ok…I almost cried! She wanted something, she asked for it and then actually did it! All on her own! She is the lamb on the right by the way.Our tree is up and the kids did an awesome job of placing decorations all over…asking to be picked up to put some at the top along with standing on the couch to reach up high. It sure is fun for me this year to watch the kids…they just “get” so much more and it makes me smile inside. (ok, as I reread this I am a real sappy mom…when did this happen?)I grabbed some sugar cookies from the store…cheating…they are already cut out and came with frosting. But the kids had a good time painting and eating the cookies…or was it just eating the frosting? About all the painting on Jo’s cookies you see here…that’s about all she painted…the brush was in her mouth more than on the cookies. Anyone want a cookie?The kids are done with school until after the first of the year and Oma is done on Wednesday.
I think we are ready for the holiday…Hope you are as well.
Stay warm and we wish you Love.

Turkey & Snow Days

The turkey has come and gone…finally! Sheesh, even with family taking leftover turkey home we still ate on it for a week, finally re-cooking it in the crock-pot with bbq sauce for a change. Family might have been quietly laughing at me for buying the 22lb turkey, well I am laughing with you now.

As you can see we had Jill’s family at our home this year, which was a nice change for us not having to drive in any direction for the gathering. Jill’s parents parked their RV in the driveway with Dan & Carol crashing at night with them and all the kids sleeping in the house. We brought in our six-foot table for the big meal and, as you might notice, a wonderful fitted striped sheet for the tablecloth. Hey…we can be formal! It was cloth after all. (fyi, we found two table cloths stashed away after every one was gone…note for next time)

There were other funny things during the day that our home did not quite provide, not enough “nice” plates to go around, not large enough bowls for the stuffing or potatoes to be mixed in, and at the last minute Oma had to run next door and barrow chairs for everyone tushies. I don’t recall any complaints, we all just worked with what we had and ate a good meal enjoying the family company. Thank you Sandy and Carol for all you did as well.

To top off a wonderful meal with a wonderful family…the Dolphins beat the Lions!

We had a good night of snow last week, it didn’t last very long and was not very deep but we know how to make the most of what we get. A few beautifully crafted Snow Angels and one Snowman named just Bob was pulled from our front yard. Though the Angels disappeared within hours of creating them, Bob hung out for days and days finally becoming an ice skating rink for Jo and a large snow mountain for Cole and his batman car.
With Christmas heading our way now the kids have each had a chance to look at the Toys R Us catalog and given the colored coded marker for each to circle what they would like under the tree. Well just like a good kid…not one toy has gone unnoticed! Sure does not help to narrow down what they “really” would like to have but sure funny.

Tree yet to get - Santa yet to visit…But our lights are up and we are feeling the holiday spirit.

Chair – Arrrrg

Well as most of you know we have not been frightened to do projects around the house and some of them have been very large. Not knowing what you don’t know can help you tackle things you just shouldn’t at times.Neither Jill or I had ever upholstered before and we had no idea what we were doing, well it sounded like a good project for us.

The whole job went really smooth, we both figured out what we did best and just worked together like a fine oiled machine. No backfiring on this engine…I know, hard to believe. Jill did an awesome job on cleaning the chairs and then she took Jo to pick the upholstery out. Good Job Oma and Jo, Moma approves!ARRRRRGGGgggggggg!Cole and one of his new dress up characters. A cowboy hat with staples, necklace and a bandana and Cole becomes “Jack Sparrow”. No sword so he uses his light sabor...he is happy.

Ok, while typing this up the kids just came out in this! I laughed hard! I have no idea on this one! But they said they looked “Hot!”.One day I think I will take a photo of the kids every time they change their cloths in one day. Some days it can be a LOT. It’s only 10am right at this moment and Cole has changed four times and Jo is working on her third. Gotta Love It!

Parade and Cows

We loaded up the van for a weekend down south and this trip we loaded two extra bodies for the ride down and back. Cousins Derian and Hannah were getting to go over the river and through the woods with us to Grandma’s house, Grandpa’s too. All four grandkids spent a night together with just Gma & Gpa and were very excited. The ride down was sure different, more conversations in the back seats than we are use too and some of the discussions were funny. The older all the kids get the more fun they sure seem to become, purposeful funnies from them.
On Saturday they went to town for the parade and were lucky that the sun shone on them for at least that part of the day. They all had little sandwich bags for caring the candy that they picked up but those just were not large enough. The gentlemen that were standing behind them yelled and hollered that candy needed to be thrown their way so all four kids hauled quite a load. Oh, and I hear that Cole has been recruited into the Marines now and someone tried to get him to promise the Army but they were told he was already spoken for.

The twins had a great time with Gma & Gpa, ending with the new Santa Clause movie. They fell asleep as Oma drove them down to Rachelle and Connie’s for the rest of the weekend. Worn out for sure!
We took a walk to Connie’s folks place down the road to feed, pet and ride the cows. The kids were excited and sure seem to enjoy walking down there more than I can get them to do at home. I guess country living suits them.
The apples were red and the kids were throwing them on the ground for the cows, well Jo’s boots were red too…see where I’m going with this? She had a couple cows try and eat her boots right off her feet. She got a little scared but they only gummed her boots before figuring out they didn’t taste good and she laughs about it now. We learned that red rubber boots are not the best choice to wear into cow field.

COUNTING DOWN TO TURKEY!!!

Trick or Sick?

Well, we had a fun time on Halloween, the kids were so excited that it was hard to get them to eat dinner and, WOW, were they chatty!
Once there was a little good food down their tummies the kids got into their costumes and headed out the door! According to them we could not get out of the house fast enough. Our first stop was the McBee’s home to pick up the first bit of candy and presents that come as well. Francis always buys them gifts for Halloween instead of just the candy. New books and some squishy balls to play with, a photo or two and out the door we ran.

We meet up with a neighbor kid to walk with, Savannah the Princess. We crisscrossed our street as we headed toward the church at the end of the block, trying to time the party the church had starting at six. The three kids almost ran from house to house and we said hello to the neighbors that passed out the candy. The church was fun, a few games and a couple small plays to watch and more candy. Yummy!

Home after that to hang out and eat candy, and did they eat!! Cole not so much but I guess Jo ate more than we thought because around 5am she woke throwing up. We have been battling some colds here at the house so we thought that hey…she might just be getting sick. But then when she got up at 9 and it rushed out of her other end…well lets just say that she is very limited on candy today.

YIPPY...TURKEY MONTH!

Star Wars – Pumpkin Carving Party

Ok, Jill had a teacher workday on Friday so we pulled the kids out of school and headed to OMSI to play for the day. They have a Star Wars exhibit right now and, well, anyone who knows Cole knows we really could not miss this opportunity.
We had an exhausting day spending hours in the Star Wars exhibit alone. It was great to see the costumes, light sabers (handles) and ships for the movies. Some made us laugh with the pieces they used to construct them and others were just jaw dropping. I know for myself I was very tickled to see R2D2 and C3PO, made my heart jump and a smile came on my face.

We played with anything and everything we could, creating hovercrafts (using magnets) and riding on a hovercraft as well (that used an air cushion). We played a neat 3-D interactive game, building a colony only to find we had more war break out than we did live in peace. Jo even tried to make robot legs walk which was very difficult to do, they had robotics stations amid the Star Wars ones.
The Star Wars day was ended by a ride in the Millennium Falcon! It was not really a ride but it was a replica of the cockpit so there were only the four seats and a bunch of buttons and switches. It even had the microphone which Cole leaned over too and talked to the X-Wing Fighters that we were following. There was a movie screen surrounding the ship and we shook a little as we jumped to light speed. The kids both think we really went into space and saw all those planets and asteroids. Way fun! Oma and I missed most of the “movie” because we were watching the kids and their reactions. Oh, and Mom played with as many switches as I could the short five minute ride we had.

If you want to see all our Star Wars photos click here or click the link in the right hand column.

Jill took the kids to some friends Sunday Night and they all carved pumpkins. They had a wonderful time doing this together. The kid’s pumpkins are very small but they had a very good time and hope to do this activity in the future. That is pumpkin a carving party.

First Field Trip

The kids went on their first field trip with their school this week to the pumpkin patch. Mom filled out a chaperone form and got to meet up with the kids for my first chaperoning gig. Whooohooo…I’m a school Mom. I remember my own Mother showing up at school one year wearing a witch’s outfit and bringing snacks to my homeroom. Well I didn’t go that far for my first time but I sure can see doing something like that in the future. Though, I don’t think it’s politically correct to wear a witch’s costume to school any more. Sad really.

Any the way, the kids had a good time playing in the hay maze, at one point the whole class climbed on the walls, running and jumping from one wall to the next. It was only two bales high so I don’t think any of us were worried. Then onto the tractor-pulled hay ride to the field.
(by they way, this is Jo’s “Bestest Friend Ever” Yvonne) The ride was not a slow moving one at all, and heard it was ‘mellow’ because of the age of the kids’! Wow, don’t know if I could hold on if the little ones were not on board. He bumped us along going along the sides of hills, around trees that almost hit our heads and through the corn fields making a new path as he went. Cole thought it was neat that the driver would throw a rock every now and then at metal targets set up along the drive, it would make quite the noise when the farmer hit them. Then he would drive straight for the scarecrows only to turn out of the way at the last second. I truly believe that this farmer enjoys this time of year and looks forward to it all year long!

Cole and Jo wanted to get the “most biggest” pumpkin in the patch and of course Mom said to go for it. But that whichever squash they chose they had to carry it to the wagon and also to the bus. Cole ran right out and grabbed one that was very large. I was impressed that he actually was able to pick it up but when he could not take a step with it he decided that another would be better.

Jo had a good time in the dirt/mud and every now and then she would come across an already smashed pumpkin and would enjoy helping the composting process by smashing it just a little bit more.

Smiles all around, even me…I got to enjoy their first field trip. Ok, I am a little mushy but I don’t care!

Scarecrow Friday

It was dress up like a scarecrow day at school. Rachelle and Mom ran to a couple stores including the dollar store and this is what we came up with. The kids had fun getting dressed up and were excited to go to school.

We thought these might be good trick or treat costumes too but we don’t think they will go for it. Jo has her sights set on being the pink unicorn again this year and Cole changes his mind every time we ask him. Oh he has his standards as in Batman, Luke Skywalker & Darth Vader but then he has added Peanut butter/Jelly Sandwich, Booger and a Vampire. No matter what, this year should be a fun one and we’re excited!

Same Old Things & Our Birds

Well, we received more hand-me down cloths this past week, mostly for Jo but there were a few shirts that we could pass along to Cole too. Jo feels very special at times opening sacks of cloths all that she can wear. At times it’s like she gets to empty out her drawers and start with a whole new wardrobe. This dress & tights set were just received and she just loooooves them. She came right up to me and asked if I would take her picture with her pretty dress on. Who could say no?

We have been very fortunate with the kid’s clothes with family and friends passing along their used goods. The good fortune is shared by us passing along the twin’s cloths as well, and I have heard that the clothing chain continues after us. So a big THANKS to all those who have helped dress the twins through the years.

Cole spent the other day trying on pants at many stores. He was a very good sport about the whole thing and maybe because he knew he would be going home with some new duds for himself. Some times he doesn’t look like he is growing at all but then the weather started turning a little chilly and out came the pants…well…he was looking like he could wade through the flood waters. All but one pair of pants were a couple inches off his feet. Ha…Ha…guess the Little Man has grown some over the summer. He is happy today wearing a new pair of jeans with a cool looking chain that hangs from his belt loops. Oh, and a pair of camouflage pants just like his friend Mason wears was purchased as well. Happy Guy.
We have been enjoying the birds in our front yard. A couple feeders, birdbath, and a few bird houses line the front flowerbed. We had a large flock land on the bath to frolic in the water and darn near emptid it. It was neat to watch so many at once trying to bathe. We have some sort of bird activity all day long so it’s nice to some times just sit and watch. Though there are some days I feel we just provide a sporting event for one of our neighbor cats. I have tried three different cat repellents to keep her away and once I even managed to spray her fir, she just come back and laid right in the middle of all the stink and or blood stuff. I think she is under there sniffing it and getting high myself. The challenge has been set…can I win is the question?!

Fall is Here?

Once in a while we get a photo of sibling love. We have caught them slow dancing in the backyard which was darn cute too but we didn’t get the camera in time. They sure seem to laugh, love, share and take care of each other more the older they have gotten. We sure love that about them too. Their understanding of each other has grown and we get to hear actual conversations between them now, which is fun and interesting most of the time.

We have been busy the past month or more with friends, family, neighbors and our house. Busy but fun. Our house, or should we say our yard, and garage is full of kids these days, neighbors along with our own. The noise and activity that can last hours upon hours is taking a little getting use too but we like the fact that we have a kid friendly yard.
The boys go from riding scooters around the driveway and over a wood jump to playing some sort of ball in the yard and then falling down in the garage to watch some t.v. and wrestling with whomever else is on the floor. It’s like we have grown from two kids to ten some days when we have to remind them of the garage rules. Like, yes, you can grab an ice-cream out of the freezer but please make sure the door gets shut and eat outside of the garage. And then again we say…PLEASE SHUT THE FREEZER DOOR! Ha Ha! All the boys keep coming back so it must be all good. We know Cole sleeps well at night with all the activity and his scooter riding skills are growing every day riding with the older boys.

Jo gets in play time with the boys too but she still prefers the dirt, bugs and snakes. We actually have two girls on the street now all about the same age so Jo is getting some girl time and that’s good. Here Jo and one of the neighbor kids got to pull up all the carrots she planted. Oh, they had a good time digging them up but then Jo started to find bugs and slugs in the dirt and her real fun began. Jo and her friend, Alexis, ended up picking up every brick and laying them in the grass that lined this flower/garden bed looking for bugs. Just made our stomach flip seeing all the bricks out of place and then laughed thinking things sure could be worse. Still need to dig them back in but other things were on the list to do first.

We have our garage almost done and organized and then we tackled the barn on Sunday and even finished that job. Needing a week or more of nice weather to get the outside ready for winter but we are feeling good about where we’re at. One job at a time and soon the winter list will show up with all new family projects. :O)

Happy Fall To You!

Bakery Tour – KD Lang - Grandpa Lovely

It’s been a busy couple weeks, driving North & South, working on our house, kids back in school and Jill back at work. Some times it’s just hard to keep up…but you all know how that goes from time to time.

I took the kids to the newly built bakery in Glenwood and we just had a good time. Took about an hour or more to get into the door and walk the tour but the kids loved watching all the bread and how it moved throughout the building. The smell was very strong and made us all hungry but Franz took care of that for us too at the end. We sat down to a hotdog meal with chips / sodas and a cookie to top it all off. Franz sure treated us well and hey…we even got cool hats!

Jill and I took a short camping trip down in the Ashland area a few weeks ago, mostly to watch the KD Lang concert in Jacksonville. It was my first time seeing the outdoor stage there and it sure is beautiful. We took the camera but really didn’t take any photos so just use your imagination…Jill and I with quite a few friends all sitting on the lawn…warm air all round us…food all around us…(lots of folks that we didn’t know just passed us their food too)…the torch n twang music
filling the night air as the stars twinkled in the night sky…Hmmmm….Good times.

While camping we got a phone call from my Mother that my Grandfather passed away. This would be my Mother’s Father…Gpa Lovely, or Bud, to those who knew him. I have had a few trips along with my brother to Granpa's home since then, helping out where we could and just being with family and Mom. Grandpa’s ashes were laid to rest with my Grandmother on Mt. Hood over Labor Day. This is where my family has always camped and hunted and I know my Grandfather is happy now, back with his wife who he missed dearly and becoming part of the mountain that he so loves.

Teener Beener will miss him…

Camels, Elephants and Volcano…Oh My!

We have been busy the past few weeks and, though a little tired, we are having a great time. First, a trip south to visit the some Belmont family and a trip to the wild. Jill and the kids rode a camel and an elephant for the first time at Wildlife Safari. The smiles on their faces were great, including the big kid Jill! Next, a mid-week trip to met up with Connie and some of her family to water-ski at a lake that was all to ourselves, with warm water to boot. What a good day that was! Third, we headed north for a weekend of Jill’s 20-year high school. Whewh…and if that was not enough we drove out to Mt. Saint Helens for a day trip on our way home from the reunion.

Did I wrap all that up in one paragraph for you?
We have been so busy and I’m a little tired so short and sweet is good for me.

We are home for now but I have a looooong list of my to-dos and for the past two days have been crossing them off one or two at a time. Adding some things to my list that were not on it just so I could cross the job off that I didn’t plan on doing but did any way. You all know what I mean. Included on my list was to update our blog and now that our computer is feeling much better I get to cross this off my list too.

School is heading in fast along with FOOTBALL season so projects need to wrap up and life will soon be back to our same old grind. All good…all so good.

Swim Lessons

Cole & Jo are taking swim lessons for a couple weeks and are doing well. They both swim under water while holding their breath but they don’t swim with their head above water; or rather they can’t tread water very well. They are learning here how to float on their backs and then to float on their tummies.

Both kids kill time while waiting their turn with the teacher by swimming under water around the step area where they wait. Good/Bad? Well both have been talked to a couple times by their teacher to keep their heads above water until it’s their turn. We laugh at them and smile to see they love the water so much but also talked to them about following directions and good listening skills.

After swim lessons we wait for open swim to start and let them swim for another hour or two. Jo’s first day of open swim showed us how tough and gutsy she can be. After a half hour or so of jumping off the diving board she tried to dive in like the big kids were doing. We both had our mouths drop to the floor as we saw her heading in off the diving board face up and headfirst…shock would be a good description I guess. When she came up she was not happy and her face was quite red. The next day she said she didn’t want to dive in the pool again because the water slapped her face the day before, and she was right, it slapped her face red. :O)

Jo has gotten back on the diving board along with going down the big slide alone. Cole is doing both as well alone and I’m thinking he will ask soon to try the tall diving board…don’t know about that yet.
Swimming…what a grand thing for summer! They are just loving it!!

Lotsa Work and Little Play

Well, as you can see, our house is now blue, Honest Blue to be exact. Jill has been working tirelessly for a couple weeks getting the house ready for paint. Oh, I have helped here and there but nothing like what she has been doing and has done. Larry, our neighbor’s (Dale/Francis) son, offered to spray it for us. The house was ready when Larry and Elaine showed up this week, and off Jill and he went taping and spraying and rolling the paint on. Two days later and before the real “heat” hit us they finished up spraying and back rolling. Whew.
It sure looks different than the tan/beige/off yellow, much brighter and cleaner looking we think. We still have quite a bit to do, touching up hard to reach places and then all the trim again. This will be done in the next few weeks in the cool mornings or late cool evening we hope. What a difference a color can make.
After painting, Mom and Uncle Todd took the kids to Green Peak Falls, just past Alsea Falls, for a needed break of fun. Oma stayed home to sleep and just take care of herself. We all had a good time that day, the kids all ran/walked the trail to the waterfall and after a very short time of walking around the rocks and wading in the water they were wet from head to toe. Cole even tried swimming a little bit in the chest high water they were wading in.

We ended the play at the fall itself climbing on some more rocks, stood in/close to the water falling getting even more wet and then we headed back to the car only adding a little mud to their legs. LOVED IT! Uncle Todd said at one point “When as a kid do you remember going on a hike and being told to jump in, get wet”? That is a whole other childhood story… but I thought it was dang cool to take the kids to a place like this and tell them at one point, “go for it, get wet” and they just had a ball.

I sure love living in and round places like this. We need to hike and play more in our area. Free and Fun!

4th & Stone Soup of Sorts

We had a great couple of days around town and at home.

And you can see more photos of Wonderful Us by clicking on the green "4th & Stone Soup" link here or to your right if your on our actual blog.

On the 3rd we went to watch some fireworks that are shot off after a local baseball game. So we sat with many others on the local softball field (next to the stadium) and played tag, football and baseball with the kids, eating some snacks, getting filthy while we waited for dark and the end of the game. What a fun family time we had. The kids got to watch others shoot off their fireworks around us and then about ten minutes after the 'big' bangs started the kids dozed off in our laps for the night. Go figure.

Then on the 4th we set up a couple canopies in our front yard and had many a neighbor stop by for lunch and then dinner. We, and Linda (neighbor) wanted to have a low key day with lots of food, drinks and just hang out until dark, then watch all the big fireworks around our street. What an exhausting day that was, but really satisfying as well. Early on it was just Linda, Old Jim, Dale, Francis and our family hanging out chatting, snacking and drinking, after which we all went to our own homes for some RnR, I even got in a nap in with Jo.

Around five that evening we pulled out all the food, about ten kids were slip-n-sliding or swimming in the pool… oh, and eating all the strawberries and raspberries they could find. We all ate well and played/visited some more and then the fireworks came out and the “kid” fun really began.

Linda had a ball with the twins letting them pick out which firework to shoot off and then she would light it for them. Cole did this with her for an hour or more, just standing there watching the sparks of light shoot over and over again.
One thing we really enjoyed is getting to know some of our neighbors just a little bit better, especially the kids. For the past couple of days now when the twins see the other neighbor kids outside playing they shoot out the door and start playing with them now. They didn’t know any of them before the 4th so this is a very nice bonus for all of us.

If you are wondering about the “Stone Soup of Sorts” for our title? Well, as we set up for the meal, every now and then we would find that we would run out of or have forgotten something for the hot dogs or burgers but then one of the other neighbors would say “I have that, let me run and get it”. Our Stone Soup Meal…of Sorts!

We sure love our neighbors.

School’s Out!!

Cole had surgery a little over a week ago now, ear tubes in and his adenoids removed. We were a little nervous because it is surgery but really wanted him to stop getting ear infections and have to be on medication every other month. We were also hoping that maybe his hearing would become a little better and his speech would follow. We are very happy to report that he is doing great! It sounds to us that some of his speech is much clearer already. His speech teacher even commented that some of his sounds came out clear this week.

While Oma, Cole and I were at the hospital Grandma Marie took Jo out on a shopping spree for a dress. What Jo picked out is very pretty, as you can see, it’s just not what Gma was thinking when they set out for the day. She loves wearing her new dress and always gets compliments on how pretty she looks, even wearing it to Preschool Graduation. The Twins didn’t graduate this year but all the kids had practiced songs and marching so Gma and Mom took Jo (it was the same day as Cole’s surgery). Unfortunately, she got stage fright and didn’t sing and barley walked out to her chair…(laugh)…it was wonderful to spend time with her this way!

Our neighbors had their 60th wedding anniversary this month. Dale and Francis are like Grandparents to the twins, family to all of us. Their family came from all over and some friends too for a small outside gathering. We were also invited to the family dinner that same evening, which was just an honor. We sure love them and enjoy having them in all our lives.

For instance, the kids know how to use them like any other family member…. Many times during each week one of the kids will ask for candy and if it’s too close to a meal time they are denied. Soon that said child would return from visiting Dale/Francis and in hand?…yes…candy! Sheesh!! Do they know where to get their sugar fix?

And here is just a fun shot of the kids at the park. We have not had to many dry days as of late so this day was a good one to get out and stretch our legs.