Catchin up...post #1

...So here we are 2 weeks later...

Aunt Susie was here for a week after we moved and helped us get all kinds of stuff done and kept the house and Me from falling apart. :D It was like a little vacation before our actual vacation. :) The day I spent cleaning our rental house she took care of the kids at our new house.

Baking cookies was at the top of our priority list. ;)

Thank you to our beloved A. Susie!

We got to have yummy treats while she was here...

and tea parties...

and toasty fires!

Remember I mentioned the heat went out...

We had some cold and dreary weather immediately after (of course) so we spent a day and a half clipping up all of our yard debris and burning it in our fireplace to try and up the temp of the house. It made a great roaring fire...

Aunt Susie would put a pile o sticks on...

light 'em off...

and a short time later they would ignite into great leaping flames!!! (NOT KIDDING)

I was oblivious to this for the first while as I was out in the yard clipping branches as fast as I could. I found cause for a wee bit of concern when I saw a few flames licking out the top of the chimney and heat waves radiating outward from it...

A short time later Sus came out and mentioned that these sticks were burning really great after the initial 10 min of waiting for them to actually ignite...THEN... FWOOOMP!!!

And 5 min after they ignited it was time to add some more. :D

Hey, at least we got rid of the 2 giant piles of sticks in our yard...

even if it took us a day or two of running back and forth. :)

Kate was facinated by the fire and enjoyed helping (or hindering). ;)

It made for cozy evenings anyway.

These 2 pics remind me that my little girly is always watching and learning from whoever she looks up to ...

...and then teaching it to her little bro.

We so enjoyed having Aunt Susie with us for the week...

And we were glad that we got to go back home with her when she left.

HOORAY FOR GRAMMAS HOUSE!!

The only day I got my camera out was the day we went to feed the ducks. The other days were filled with running here and there, shopping, seeing Uncle AJ's new house, visiting cousins and such.

So here's "feeding the ducks".

Down to the river we go, hi ho!

These mallard drakes are so pretty when the sun shines on them.

A few mixed breeds in there.

Watching the drakes harrass the lone female that joined them.

And then this big old goose arrived on the scene...

"Here Kate, here's some bread to feed the goose..."

"Or...eat it, if stale bread sounds so irrisistably good." :)

"...and then you can feed the extra to the goose"

...AND REPEAT

Hooray for hills to run and jump down to make our pigtails fly!!

...and then we climb back up so we can do it all over again. :D

Time to head back to the car.

Miss Kate had to stop and pick a daisy for A. Susie...

and another for Gramma Jo.

Back at the car we found our little man awakened from his nap and peering around.

Back at Gramma Jo's house the kids were happy to play with balls...

and airplanes..

...and babies.

Apparently the baby needed a bit of discipline. :)

Then a little comforting time...

and then all was well again. ;)

Kate loves for A. Susie to plays her songs on the piano.

Thanks for the fun times!

Hopefully I can get another post out tonight after the kids are in bed.

Busy Days

I can't believe August is almost over already. Seems like I was just waitin for that baby to come and now he's been here for 2 weeks. And what a busy 2 weeks they have been. Here is the short and sweet summary of them all before the collection of pictures. Boppa and gramma Jo + A. veevee and U. Andrew came the Saturday Elliott was born and then they all left again on Sunday afternoon except Gramma Jo. She stayed about a week and a half. While she was here she canned 14 quarts of peaches for us, we had Mr Tech and Sjo +3 come and visit us. They stayed with N&V but we had all to dinner Fri. night. Seven kids, all 2 and under in one small house is pretty hectic. :D But we all survived. Dana did great dealing with 4 toddlers wanting her attention at once. Sat. we went to the park by N& V's to get out of the house, and that evening A. veevee came to join us. Sun. the family came to dinner one last time before heading back to Seattle. for a few days. Monday gramma Jo went home for a break after spending hours of baking canning and shredding zuchinni and preparing garden vegetables in my kitchen and A. veevee took over. She made jars and jars of blackberry & blueberry jelly after getting off to a bad start with that project...but we won't get into that story. And she spent abv few days sewing for Kate and I. Thursday I ended up running out to collect Mr. Wise Guy from work because he dislocated his finger tip and needed to go to the hospital for an X-ray and such. (he rode the bus so didn't have a car) He now has a brace to wear for the next 2 weeks. Thankfully I had just fed Elliott, and Kate was finishing up a bath when the call for help came in so I was able to leave them all with Susie and run...and Susie was just finishing up the jelly so all worked out fine. Boppa & Gramma Jo came very late thurs. night to pick her up and left Fri. evening. I decided to go peach picking with them at a field in the near vicinity Fri. morning before they left, and ended up picking 4 more boxes to add to the 2 boxes the Muncks had generously picked for us. Susie stayed home to finish her sewing before she had to leave so I left Elliott with her. Kate did amazingly well for a hot tired toddler in a peach field and fell immediately asleep in the car on the way home. That evening after my family left we went to the fair for a couple of hours and Miss Kate enjoyed all the animals. Those pics will come in a different post than this one tho. Sat. we spent the day canning peaches. Mr Wise Guy ended up doing most of the peeling and cutting (in spite of his finger brace) and many hours of work later we had canned a total of 35 quarts of peaches. And here we are 2 weeks later... I have been feeling great most of the time, only lacking in sleep a little. But my wonderful husband is very thoughtful about making sure I get as much sleep as possible. Seems I never get to bed before 11 or 12 these days...but at least I get to sleep in. Now for the pictures.

Miss Kate have Bible reading with Puppy, Ellie, & Ruffy in Gramma Jo's bed at night.

Taking care of ElliottWearing an apron to fool us into thinking she is helping in the kitchen and hoping we won't notice that she is actually getting into mischief.

Lovin her breakfast of oatmeal and peaches!

(That is inherited from her mommy)

Ridin to the park at U. nathan & A Vi's

Elliot's first time at the park. :D

1 wk oldKate and Cousin A having fun on the slide

La-La lovin it too!

Testing her climbing skills.

Practicing for basketball with her guy cousins next time we visit Vancouver. ;)

This basket seems to be a little more their size.

Happy go lucky La-La

having fun with the wagon.

And then these guys showed up ...

and brought A. veevee with them. :)

THE END