The Scheib Family

Kindergarten Christmas Party

2011-12-23T04:54:00.000-08:00

Along with Alyssa's birthday celebration at school, we also had Ethan's class Christmas party. It was fun to finally make it to one of his class parties.

Earlier in the day, the class had made Christmas tree headbands to wear during their party. The room mom had put together some great things for the kids to do during the party and it was fun to be a part of. Our first project was to put together Snowman soup bags (bags that had a package of hot chocolate, a few marshmallows, a few chocolate chips, a candy cane, and a little poem).

Our second project was to make melting snowman cookies. We frosted cookies with white frosting, added a marshmallow for the head, used chocolate chips for the eyes, black frosting to finish the face and for arms, candies for buttons and a piece of fruit roll-up for a scarf.

The last project was a snowman sucker. We put three marshmallows on a stick and used frosting for a face and pretzels for his arms.

It was a fun time being with all the students and parents.

Happy 10th Birthday!!

2011-12-21T21:43:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe 10 years ago we welcomed our precious Christmas gift!! Alyssa wasn't suppose to born until the new year but God blessed us with her birth just 10 days before Christmas in 2001. Having a newborn at Christmas that year made everything about Christmas a little more special!

We started her birthday with our annual "waking up the birthday child with Happy Birthday". From there, we sent her off to school and joined her later that day for a little celebration with her class. Her class plays a little trivia game with questions regarding the birthday student. It was fun because we got to come up with some of our own questions for the class.

Later that evening we celebrated her birthday with family. She was so surprised with her gift that many of us went in on for her. She got her new American Girl "look like me" doll and named it Noelle (Alyssa's middle name).

It was a great day and we had fun celebrating with her!

First Band Concert

2011-12-21T21:18:00.000-08:00

Brenna decided that she wanted to take band this year. I was thrilled when she said this and thought for sure she would want to play my clarinet. Nope, she decided she wanted to play the flute. We borrowed a flute over the summer, got her a fingering chart, and set her free. She was really picking up on it fast so we went ahead and researched on Amazon and found a great deal on a flute for her. She was so committed to learning this instrument that she volunteered to take after school tutoring with her band teacher. It has been so fun to listen to her play. Every once in awhile she will play along with Jason while he is playing the piano. He pulls the hymn book out and away they go.

When we met with her band teacher for conferences he said that nobody would ever be able to guess that she was a first year flute player. She has caught up to those who started last year in 6th grade!

December 8th was her first band concert. It was fun to hear the difference in each of the bands. The kids advance so much each year and you can really hear it in the music that they each played.

4th Grade Christmas Party

2011-12-21T04:56:00.000-08:00

Friday was the last day of school before Christmas. I love that our school lets the kids wear their pajamas to school and then the secretaries make hot chocolate for all of the kids and, with a little bit of learning, they all have a fun day together.

Both of the 4th grade classes started their morning out together in the cafeteria for a brunch put on by all of the room moms. Getting both classrooms together is rare so the kids were pretty excited about the idea. Between all of us room moms, we had quite the spread of food.

Later in the afternoon, Alyssa's class had a gift exchange. It was a very fun way to end the day.

Ice Cream fun in the COLD

2011-11-11T20:37:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, our Children's Pastor announced a spur of the moment ice cream night at Edaleen Dairy in Sumas...his treat! Our kids reminded us every day that Thursday night was ice cream night. They were not going to miss out no matter how cold it was outside. It ended up being a fun night even in the cold!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T20:33:00.000-07:00

Halloween this year was a little different for us. Brenna and the Jr. High Youth Group were working at Noah Nite and they had to be there early. So, that meant that we took Alyssa and Ethan trick-or-treating without her. It was weird only have the two younger ones. They had fun visiting the grandparents and then going to Noah Nite and playing all the games there. Things are really changing for our family...WOW!

Pumpkin fun and last Volleyball game

2011-10-30T20:24:00.000-07:00

Friday, the 28th, was Ethan's very first Halloween party at school. The kids didn't dress up but they made Pumpkin headbands to wear during their party. I wasn't able to go to the party because I had been asked to work in the Preschool but Jason had the day off so he went and spent time with Ethan and his class. I'm so glad he was able to get some pictures for me.

Saturday was Brenna's final volleyball game. We ended the season taking 2nd place. Brenna did a great job this season and her team was a lot of fun to watch. They really came together as a team and played hard. We were so proud of each of them.

Later that evening we went to the neighbors and carved pumpkins with them. It's always fun to get together with friends. The kids had a great time and had fun coming up with ideas for their pumpkins.

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

2011-10-20T20:08:00.000-07:00

This year was this mommy's last year for a Pumpkin Patch field trip. Ethan and his class went to Stoney Ridge...something that only the Kindergarten classes do. The kids all had so much fun riding the wagon out to the pumpkin patch, exploring the corn maze, going through the hay maze, seeing all the animals, learning about how apples grow and how the bees help pollinate the apple trees and pumpkins.

{September 2011}

2011-10-01T19:48:00.000-07:00

Labor Day Weekend was spent with mom and Duane out at Birch Bay Leisure Park. The neighbors had just had a new baby so we took their oldest daughter, Emma, with us. The kids had tons of fun swimming and just hanging out.

September was also the start of the LYS Volleyball Season for Brenna. She has improved so much from last year. It's been fun to watch her play and we can't wait to see how she improves more through the season.

{August 2011}

2011-09-21T22:43:00.000-07:00

**Be prepared for picture overload!! =)

Our August was busy but fun! We started the month off by taking Brenna to Camp Gilead. She spent the week there with her best friend EmmaRae. They always have such a great time together at camp. Their counselor this year was Jessica Hittinger, as very neat gal from our church. They had a great week together!

The kids had a camp out in the backyard with the neighbor girls. Emma and Callie spent a lot of time with our kids this summer. Callie loves to be with the big kids, especially Brenna, and tried to join in on the camp out but didn't make it all night. She was having a very hard time falling asleep. It was fun to have her a part of night even for just a little while. The kids did great in the tent and we didn't hear from any of them until morning.

Next up was the Northwest Washington Fair. This year, Alyssa entered one of her canvas paintings that she completed in Art class. She was thrilled to find a blue ribbon on it. After going through some of the hobby exhibits and all of the animal barns and seeing a few of our favorite animals, the kids spent most of the day in the carnival area. I don't think the kids did more than one or two rides in the smaller carnival. We pretty much spent our ride time in the BIG carnival. There were only a couple of rides that Ethan couldn't join in on. He attempted the zipper with Alyssa but after the first go around, they were both in tears and we had to convince the guy to stop the ride and let them off.

Tyler called and invited three of us to join him and Wayne on the boat to go crabbing. Last year, Jason, Brenna and Ethan went and Jason and Brenna ended up getting sea sick. So, this year I went with Alyssa and Ethan. It was a beautiful morning out on the water and we had a lot of fun. Ethan and Wayne spent a lot of time eating snacks. Good thing Tanya and I each packed a lot of food. These boys didn't stop eating all morning. Tyler let the kids help pull in the pots...we even caught a few starfish in one of the pots. When we got back to Tyler and Tanya's, Ethan learned how to prepare the crabs for cooking. He was pretty proud of himself!

Later that same evening, we had a surprise 60th birthday party for my mom. She totally thought she had things figured out but boy was she wrong! Happy Birthday Mom!

We ended the month with the start of school for the kiddos. Brenna started 7th grade. This year of middle school is very different than last year. This is her first year of having 5 different teachers and having to change classes throughout the day. She also had to start the year out by learning how to open a locker and get in and out of it in her 4 minute "passing" time between classes. That was interesting but thankfully she was never late to a class.

Alyssa started 4th grade and got a very favorite teacher of ours. Mrs. Crane is such a great teacher and loves her students so much. Alyssa is going to have an amazing year!

Ethan started Kindergarten this year. He got the same teacher as both of the girls did for Kindergarten. We are thrilled that he will get to spend his first year of school with another one of our favorite teachers, Mrs. Hoekstra. He is so ready for full day school, a little disappointed about not going every day though.

Our July 2011

2011-09-19T21:27:00.000-07:00

Well, I realize it's been quite awhile since I've given any sort of update on life with the Scheibs. Sorry about that! The summer was crazy and we were playing, when the weather cooperated, outside with the neighbors until late into the evening. During the day we had cousins and friends over a lot, or we were going to their house.

We started July with the annual Groen Family BBQ at Uncle Deryl and Aunt Shari's. We always have such a great time there and with the kids getting older we are able to visit more with the "older" bunch while they play with the younger ones. Uncle Deryl and Aunt Shari are great hosts and have a beautiful yard that they love to share with all of us. The boys spent most of their time by the pond watching the fish.

The next day we celebrated Ethan's 6th birthday. Hard to believe that my precious baby boy is now 6. He has changed so much this past year and we love him more and more each day. I love the little things he comes up with. I love that even at the age of 6 he still enjoys moments of cuddling with his mommy. I cherish those moments because I know there will be day that they will end.

Saturday afternoon was spent with a few friends, before the big BBQ, and then Sunday was his actual birthday spent with lots of family!!

Here are a few pictures of how we celebrated his birthday.

Nintendo DS from Dad and Mom!!

A little swimming by the kids to get the party started.

Leave it to my Aunt Lyd to make sure Ethan gets all his favorites!

Wayne was right there with Ethan checking everything out as the gifts were opened.

New rollerblades from Grammy and Papa Duane!!

And at the end of the party, the biggest kid of all, my brother, decided to start a water fight.

4th of July was spent out at Birch Bay for a couple of hours for a BBQ and a little swimming and then home to do fireworks with the neighbors.

My niece, Paige, had a blast in the pool with the big kids...she was quite the little fishy!

I decided it would be fun to take the kids out to the strawberry fields and actually pick berries this year. I didn't really think this through going alone with the three of them. They started out strong picking but after about 20 minutes, it was no longer fun and they were ready to go. I, on the other hand, still had a couple of buckets to fill and just begged the kids to hang tight. They really did well overall, it was just a longer morning than we had anticipated.

We came home with this...

...and made this! There were also some sliced berries that were in the freezer.

Later in the month, we spent some time at John Deere days. That's always such a fun place to be and there's great food to enjoy. The best part...it's all FREE!

It was a busy month and we are so glad that the weather decided to cooperate so that we could enjoy the outdoors.

Weekend to Remember Conference

2011-08-09T14:18:00.000-07:00

I realize I am very behind on blogging about our family and hope to get that caught up this week. However, right now, I wanted to take a moment to invite you to attend a marriage conference this fall.

Jason and I have attended this conference the past 5 years. While the material may be some what the same, the speakers are different and all have something a little different to offer during each session. We come away feeling blessed and our marriage rejuvenated. It gives us time to just stop and focus on the two of us and evaluate where our marriage is and where we would like to see things in a year.

If you would like more information on these conferences, click here. For every 5 couples that sign up, we will have the opportunity to bless a couple who wants to go but can't afford to with a free registration.

Gift certificates for the conference make great wedding gifts!!

Contact us if you would like more information! Those who are reading and live in Whatcom County...we hope to see you in November at the conference!!

It's been an AMAZING 14 years!!!

2011-08-09T13:20:00.000-07:00

14 years ago today, I married my best friend!! I am so thankful that God gave Jason to me to be my husband and that through all of the trials that have come our way, I have Jason by my side!

1997

2010

(Sorry...this is as recent of a picture we have of us together)

Early birthday SURPRISE!

2011-06-30T23:33:00.000-07:00

Ethan has been eying a red-eared slider turtle. He sees it every time we go to Petsmart for Brenna to pick a little something up for her hamster.

Right before dinner tonight, I was browsing through some facebook posts and saw that a girl from our church posted that she was looking for a new home for her red-eared slider turtle and that it was FREE and included everything needed to care for it. I could not believe it. I immediately called Jason over and we did a little chatting, trying to not let the kids hear what we were discussing. I went to our room, so the kids couldn't hear me, and called the family to get a little more information. They gave me the run down on the care and I told them I would call back in a few minutes. Jason and I chatted a little more and decided that we would head out to look at the turtle. We finished dinner and loaded the kids, they had no idea where we were going.

Once we arrived at the families' home, Jason and I went upstairs to see the turtle. After a few minutes, we decided that it was a definite go and we went down to get Ethan. We took him up alone so that we could give him is early birthday present. He was in complete shock. In fact, he was in such shock that there really was no facial expression from him. He just kept saying, "cool". I don't think he really believed that he was going to be taking the turtle home with him.

Once he finally realized that the turtle was really going home with us, he was excited to show his sisters.

He just sat and stared at the turtle for more than half way home...

when he finally announced, "Mom, I have the perfect name. I'm going to name him Jack!" We were so proud of him for coming up with a name all on his own. I loved that he took this so serious and really just took it all in. After the name announcement, he gave me a thumbs up! He was absolutely thrilled and couldn't wait to get Jack home and settled.

Tomorrow we will make a trip to Petsmart to get some water purifying solution...thank you City of Lynden for putting chlorine in our water. Thankfully he had enough water in his tank to get us through the night. I'm sure Jack will be thrilled to have a full tank of water tomorrow and Ethan can't wait to watch Jack be able to do lots of swimming.

I love how pretty his shell looks!

Field Day/last full day of school/Family Fun Night

2011-06-14T22:37:00.000-07:00

Today was the last full day of school. This also meant that it was FIELD DAY! Our kids love Field Day at school because it means lots of fun activities all day long. Alyssa's class had Field Day scheduled for the morning. It was fun to just go hang out and take pictures of all the kids having tons of fun! Alyssa's class won the tug-a-war for the 3rd grade classes.

Brenna was bummed that middle school doesn't get Field Day but thrilled that Isom had Family Fun Night tonight so she was able to go on the inflatables. I love that Isom offers Family Fun Nights. It's a great time to get together with the Isom families and have a great time with some good food!

Stocking up!!!

2011-06-09T23:23:00.000-07:00

Tuesday evening, my sis-in-law and I took off for Albertsons. We had put together a huge run. We had gone through the Albertsons ad the week before and figured out our stock up deals and then got on to ebay to find the coupons we were needing. Yes, we purchased coupons from ebay. Once we knew we were able to get the coupons we needed, we called the store and placed a special order for each of us.

We have built up a great relationship with the store manager and they do an amazing job at having everything ready for us when we arrive.

Here is what I purchased this last run...

I had two transactions and combined purchased...
70 boxes of Ronzoni Garden Delight Pasta (combination of spaghetti, rotini, and penne)...FREE!!
20 jars Peter Pan peanut butter
40 jars Ragu pasta sauce
50 bottles of Wishbone dressing, variety
6 Pop Tarts
6 Sprayway glass cleaner
2 Orbit gum (needed as a filler)
3 pints of Starbucks ice cream (not pictured)

My out of pocket was $58.53, my savings was $562.55...making the shelf cost for all of these items $621.08. That, my friends, is a 90.58% savings!!

Do you notice that some of these items are in boxes?! When you special order you get your items in cases. It actually makes storing these items easier because I can just stack them in the garage next to the shelving unit that I'm already using for my overstock.

I can't wait for our next stock up deal. It's nice that I actually have items that I can cross off of my grocery list for at least the next 6 months...probably longer!

Last Day of Preschool

2011-06-07T23:08:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was Ethan's last day of Preschool. He has had an amazing year and absolutely loved his teachers. Ms. Karen, Ms. Gidget, Ms. Janet, and Ms. Nancy...THANK YOU!! (Sorry the picture is blurry. I don't know what happened. Too bad we can't do a re-do.)

The last day was a play day and ice cream party. It was also our day for having Wayne, Weston and Wyatt at our house and Ethan's amazing teachers invited them to join in on the fun.

We started out by playing in the gym. The boys loved the rock wall. Ethan didn't have a problem climbing this wall alone.

After some time of free play, Ms. Gidget pulled out the parachute. There were 3 of us moms there and we were all asked to participate. It was a lot of fun but I wasn't able to get any video or pictures of the action. It was neat to see Weston and Wayne interacting with all of Ethan's school friends. Wyatt, well, he just hung out in the stroller.

Once we were finished in the gym, we went back to the classroom. There, the kids sang a few of their songs that they sang throughout the year. Their favorite was the "chicken dance". We found out at the party that our son added his own little twist to part of it...a hand wave.

After their "performance" we all had ice cream with lots of fun toppings and cookies.

It was a great afternoon but very sad when we left. Ethan is the baby in our family and today was the last day of Preschool for all of us. It's hard to believe that we are officially finished with Preschool.

Farmer's Day Parade...Pool Goes Up!

2011-06-04T22:56:00.000-07:00

Today was the Farmer's Day Parade. It was a beautiful day!! Last year, Jason was working on the day of the parade and I had some how been able to keep the kids from knowing it was parade day and we slept in.

This year, however, was different. Brenna was in the parade this year with the Middle School and High School choirs. There was no skipping the parade today. Jason, once again, had to be at work so he wasn't able to join us. We also had Brenna's BFF spend the night Friday night so that she could attend the parade with us. The kids had a blast. We had to be at the parade route early to get Brenna where she needed to be. So, we found our spot, laid out the blankets, called the rest of the family members that were going to be joining us to let them know where we were and then got Brenna to her pre-parade location.

I am so glad that Tyler and Tanya thought the 10:30 parade started at 10:00 because they arrived just 5 minutes after us and were able to help entertain Ethan before the parade.

We were right in front of the post office and liquor store. In between these two buildings, there is a nice section of grass with some shade. The boys were able to just run and get the wiggles out before the parade started.

Brenna hung out with Wyatt for a few minutes before meeting up with the choir. Brenna loves helping out with Wyatt. I mean, who wouldn't love to spend time with this adorable little guy?

Ethan's friend Connor, and his family, were walking by to find seating and the boys decided that Connor and his family needed to sit by us. It was fun to have sweet Connor with the other boys. He's not use to having cousins/family around so he had a real eye opener. They seemed to have a lot of fun though.

There were several entries in the parade and the kids had fun watching all of the different entries pass by. This was the crew of kids watching...Paige, EmmaRae (Brenna's BFF), Wyatt, Alyssa, Ethan, Wayne, and Connor.

Paige spent much of her time standing like this. Her eyes were glued to all the action. The only thing that broke her stare was the candy flying through the air.

She was so proud of her little bag of candy.

This was our favorite parade entry...

Brenna met up with us after the choir had gone through the parade route. It was fun to have her with us watching the rest of the parade. At one point, all of the kids stood up and I just couldn't pass this picture up.

There was also a Farmer's Market type area in one of the parking lots. It included some food booths as well. Lynden does such a great job putting this day together. There are activities all day downtown.

We didn't stay downtown after the parade because I was determined to get the pool set up and start filling it before Jason got home. I wanted to surprise him. Well, that didn't happen as planned. We discovered a few holes in the upper ring that I needed help with. So, once we got the holes patched, we moved forward with getting the pool filled. It was great to be outside enjoying the beautiful weather!!

Early birthday celebration

2011-06-03T22:31:00.000-07:00

Because Ethan's birthday is during the summer and he won't be in school, his teacher allowed him to celebrate a month early with his Preschool friends. He was so excited to bring treats but so confused as to why they were singing "Happy Birthday" to him when it wasn't his real birthday.

It was a beautiful day so the kids all got to sit outside to eat their popsicles. I had found these mini popsicles at Safeway. They were the perfect size for the kiddos, especially since they had just had cupcakes for another summer birthday earlier in the day.

It was also Show and Tell day. Ethan loves Show and Tell. He usually creates something really neat with his legos to show his friends but today he wanted to take his dinosaur. They each get to share about their toy/item and then they answer three questions, asked by classmates, regarding their toy/item.

This is Ethan's Preschool buddy Connor. They are really hoping to be in the same Kindergarten class this next Fall.

My first BIG Albertsons purchase

2011-05-31T23:43:00.000-07:00

(**Long post but totally worth reading if you are newer to couponing and wanting to know the details on how I did this.)

So my SIL and I have been working on putting together an Albertsons run. We've heard about these great "Twice the Value" (TTV) coupons that Albertsons offers every couple of weeks and we wanted to take advantage of them. So, after hard efforts of collecting enough "Twice the Value" coupons, we each put together our shopping lists, matching up our manufacturer coupons with the Twice the Value's. We knew we wanted a lot of the Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce so we actually called the manager and put in a special order. This way, we were assured enough bottles when we got there. We also ordered mfr. coupons for a very small price...this is how many couponers are able to create stockpiles and get the number of coupons needed.

The store manager was amazing. He was very helpful and ended up opening up a lane just for me. Normally, you are allowed three transactions at a time and you are allowed only three "Twice the Value" coupons per transaction. After three transactions, you have to go back and get in line again. I was prepared to go through the line 3 times. Yes, I had 8 transactions. However, I was so thankful that the manager was willing to just do my transactions himself back-to-back. It was the smoothest check-out I've had with such a large amount of items.

Here's what was included:

Transaction #1:
2 Jet Puff Marshmallows (mfr. for a b1g1)
1 6-pk Hershey Chocolate Bars (mfr for $2.00 off)
1 Honey Maid Graham Crackers
3 Nestle Drumstick ice cream treats (TTV used w/ each mfr. coupon)

OOP: $4.49
Total Savings: $19.24 (each line of savings includes store card savings & coupons combined)

Transaction #2,3,4 & 5:
10 Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce (three TTV used w/ five $1/2 mfr. cpn)
(when you special order, you get the items in boxes and not bagged like the rest...that was weird!)

OOP: $0.00
Total Savings (per transaction): $27.00

Transaction #6:
4 Clorox Toilet Bowl Cleaners (2 TTV w/ mfr. cpns.)
1 Best Foods Mayo
3 Crystal Light (b2g1 mfr. cpn)
2 Oscar Meyer Turkey & Cheese Hot Dogs (TTV w/ mfr. cpn.)

OOP: $6.27
Total Savings: $29.39

Transaction #7:

2 Jet Puff Marshmallows (mfr. for b1g1)
1 6-pk Hershey Chocolate Bars (mfr. for $1.00 off)
1 Honey Maid Graham Crackers
3 Kraft Cheese Deli Deluxe Cheese (3 TTV w/ mfr. cpns.)

OOP: $6.96
Total Savings: $16.17

Transaction #8:
10 32 oz. Gatorade (10 for $5)
1 Nestle Drumstick ice cream treat ($1.00 mfr. cpn.)

OOP: $6.93
Total Savings: $17.19

Yes, that was a lot of transactions. I went with no children and I took my time. I had my coupons separated out by transaction and had a sticky note on each pile so I knew exactly what I needed to pull out of my cart for that transaction.

Here's our first special order purchase from Albertsons a week ago. We knew they were having a sale on the Ronzoni Garden Pasta...$1 a box. We also knew that we could purchase for just a couple of $$ some $1 off each box coupons. So, we ordered coupons and called the manager with our special order. Here's what I got and my SIL got the same.

10 boxes of spaghetti noodles
10 boxes of penne
10 boxes of rotini

OOP: $0.00
Total Savings: $30.00
**This will be great for pasta salads this summer!!

Good bye training wheels!

2011-05-30T22:14:00.000-07:00

We have been talking with Ethan for awhile now that this Spring he was going to learn to ride his bike with no training wheels. He has been very nervous about this. He really hasn't ridden his bike much because he didn't like that training wheels were uneven and it would rock a little as he rode it.

Last Friday, the 20th, was walk/ride your bike to school. As we were leaving Preschool, I brought to Ethan's attention that one of his good buddies was riding his bike with no training wheels. Of course, Ethan was quick to point out that Connor's mom let him wear knee and elbow pads...along with his helmet. So, of course, I asked Ethan if he would be willing to learn how to ride with no training wheels if he had knee and elbow pads. He took me up on my offer. So, that weekend while we were in Bellingham we picked up a set of protective pads.

This afternoon, while the girls were gone spending time with my mom, we told Ethan it was time. He was so excited to learn. I thought for sure we may have a little resistance. He jumped in to help Jason get the training wheels off. The excitement was almost too much. We got all of his gear on and went for it.

He took off riding his first attempt. Jason held on for a short bit and then just let go.

The trick now is getting Ethan to continue pedaling fast enough to keep himself balanced and going. It was a bitter sweet moment to watch my baby riding his bike. I am hoping that we will be able to get him a bigger bike this summer. He is growing like a weed and really is ready for a bigger bike size wise but learning on a bigger bike would be harder and I don't want to discourage him.

Our "little" artist

2011-05-26T21:47:00.000-07:00

Alyssa has been taking art classes since September with Brenda Calvert. Brenda is a very talented artist and an amazing teacher. She has taught the kids so much. I'm not sure how it came about but Brenda was able to work with the library to display art work from her students for a week. Tonight was the actual Art Reception and was open to all of the students' families and friends, and anyone from the community that wanted to view the art as well.

It was fun to see all of the students showing off their art work. They were all so proud of what they had done. They each got to choose a piece that they had done at some point during the school year. Alyssa was stuck on which piece to enter so we had Ms. Brenda help make the decision.

We are so very proud of Alyssa and each of the art pieces she has created this year. She amazes us more with each new project. The picture below was on a bulletin board displayed with other photos of students with their most recent projects. May was "Student's Choice" month. Alyssa found this picture of dumbo on google images and decided that she wanted to paint it. So, we printed it and she drew it on the canvas, free hand, and then painted it to match the picture.

Alyssa's teacher is taking the summer off from classes, which she totally deserves! However, she put together summer art kits for the students to do over the summer. Of course, Alyssa got started the night we brought her kit home. We are having a hard time getting her to wait until school is out before diving in. I need something to help keep her busy once school is out.

If you have a child that loves to draw and paint, I would highly recommend getting them into one of Brenda's art classes this next fall. Let me know if you would like her contact information.

JAM 6th grade graduation

2011-05-23T20:51:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that next fall Brenna will no longer be a part of our children's ministries and will be moving up to the Jr. High group.

Sunday was "graduation" day for all of the 6th graders at church. Our JAM/Children's Ministries is amazing and we all had a great time together. We were served a delicious lasagna lunch with garlic bread and caesar salad. For dessert, we had a variety of cheesecakes to choose from.

After lunch, we all moved up to the JAM room for a "graduation ceremony".

Pastor Ken shared a little bit about what they had been learning this past year. He had also asked one of our seniors to come and share with the kids. Bryer Young did a great job talking with the kids and had some great advice for them.

Pastor Ken paired each of the 6th graders up with a buddy and had them share the meaning of a verse.Brenna was paired up with a very sweet girl Emma Clarke. Emma is a part of a family from our Christ Group and she and Brenna have become great buddies!

Our time together ended with each of the 6th graders entering the room individually and being presented with a Bible from Pastor Ken and Tammy.

And before everyone left, we got a picture of all of the 6th graders there. We were missing two...one was sick and another was gone with their family for the weekend.

It was a very special afternoon and I am excited to see what God has planned for each one of these kids.

**I'm not sure why some of these pictures look a little grainy. Our camera is newer and I'm still learning all of the settings.

Ethan lost his first tooth!!

2011-05-21T22:12:00.000-07:00

Tonight, while sitting on the couch, Ethan was wiggling his very loose tooth. He jumped up from the couch came running to me and said "uh". I looked down at him and saw his mouth opened and his tooth laying back and a little sideways. I calmly said, "Here buddy let me fix that for you." I just picked the tooth up...no blood, no tears, nothing. It was the easiest moment of a tooth coming out in this house in a very long time. I guess this is the difference between boys and girls. The girls are so dramatic over loose teeth and Ethan, not at all. The only thing he wanted to do was call Wayne but because Wayne was already in bed, he told Auntie. His next phone call was Grammy. It was so cute to see him so excited.

My baby is growing up! Now...the tooth fairy can't remember to do her job tonight...HA!

Ethan and the Pumper Truck

2011-05-10T21:54:00.000-07:00

Today was a very exciting day for Ethan. I had been called in to work at the school so my mom was taking Ethan. It just so happened that today was the day that Duane was going to be out at Todd & Trisha's with his concrete pumper truck to help pour footings for their remodel job out at their Loomis Trail house.

Mom had me put Ethan in play clothes and then pack clothes for school because they were headed out to watch the pour. Ethan has been wanting to see Papa Duane's truck in action for a very long time. Well, not only did he get to see it in action but he got to be a part of the pour. Now, I don't know if there was really concrete coming out of the tube when he was holding it but the boy didn't care. He was just thrilled to get to touch it and learn all about the truck and see it in action.

I put together this scrapbooking page for him to take to show and tell next week. He can't wait to show his friends what he got to do.

Garden prepped...finally!!

2011-05-09T21:43:00.000-07:00

Due to the very WET spring (leftover winter...HA!) that we have had, we haven't been able to get the garden ready as early as we normally do. We usually plant the garden Mother's Day weekend...not this year.

Jason has been working up the garden on any dry day we get and then my brother helped us get some compost today to add to the dirt. It happened to be another nice day so Jason took advantage of it and got the compost onto the garden and wasted no time pulling out his favorite "toy"... his tiller.

I had decided a few days ago that even though we couldn't actually plant in the garden, I needed to find a way to plant our seeds. My mom had read about planting seeds in egg shells so I had already been saving those just in case. Well, they came in very handy and I actually didn't have enough for what we needed to get started so I used another empty egg carton and just lined it with plastic wrap. Excited to see the little seedlings to start popping up and get them planted in the garden.

And, while out and about in the yard, I found more signs of spring!! My lilac tree is starting to bloom!!

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-09T21:12:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day was a great day! We went to church in the morning and then had some time to just relax at home before heading out to Birch Bay to have dinner with my mom's family.

The kids each had their own little gifts for me. Brenna made me a poster at Art Club and then later bought me a frappuccino at Starbucks before we headed out to Birch Bay. Alyssa had made me a card and picture frame in her Art Class. Ethan MADE me a bouquet of flowers in Sunday School that morning. They are still in a glass sitting in the window above my kitchen sink. I love that these flowers won't die and I can look at them forever!

It was great getting hand made gifts from each of the kids this year. I will cherish them forever!

After some down time, we loaded up and headed to one of my favorite places to shop...RITE AID... for some amazing savings and then to Starbucks and Safeway (needed french bread and a garlic spread). Then it was off to Birch Bay, to my aunt and uncle's. Thankfully, it was nice enough to be outside. Uncle Dick and Aunt Mar have a beautiful from their home!

The kids had a blast playing on the big anchor. They spent a good hour climbing on and off of it with the other kiddos there.

I'm not sure who started the rolling down the hill but it was tons of fun for them. Paige even decided to get in on the action. I'm not sure what her mommy thought about the grass stains but hey, who cares about grass stains when they are having!

There were even a couple of trips made down to the water. Uncle Dick and Aunt Mar have this amazing pathway down to the beach. The kids love to go down and throw rocks into the water and look for sea creatures.

We stayed out at the bay longer than we had planned and the kids were tired when we got home but we all had a great time and enjoyed some amazing food!

And even though the job of a mom can be tough some days, I am so thankful that I get to be mom to these three amazing kids EVERY DAY!

More signs of Spring & early Mother's Day

2011-05-07T20:43:00.000-07:00

Today we spent more time outside enjoying the sunshine. I picked up some annual bedding plants first thing in the morning from VanderGiessen's nursery while with my sis-in-law...the amazing flower/plant expert in my life!

When we were finished, I met Jason at True Value to pick out my Mother's Day basket. I was thrilled that this is what he wanted to get me. I love having a basket hanging on the front porch and I didn't really need anything else.

I was ready to get outside and start perking up the yard a little more. Here's what I accomplished:

My hanging basket up and looking great!

I purchased alyssum and lobelia to put around my fountain by the front porch

Here's the view of the entire thing.

I have mums planted in my planters by the front of the garage and added some lobelia and yellow million bells to them for some color this spring and summer.

And then, while walking around the yard we noticed that the apple trees are getting flower blossoms!!

Soccer...

2011-05-03T20:30:00.000-07:00

We finally have a little soccer player in our family! Each of the girls played soccer for a couple of seasons when they were younger and neither one of them enjoyed it. We were hesitant to do soccer with Ethan because we didn't want to do another season of watching our little player just standing on the field watching the other kids play the game.

Well, we have nothing to worry about! Ethan is constantly running and trying to get in the mix to get his feet on the ball. This game, he scored a goal!! We had one excited player on our hands!

Working the ball down the field.

Getting ready to...SCORE!

Ethan (#6, grey hoody) and Wayne (#9) on the field together

Signs of Spring!!

2011-04-30T20:05:00.000-07:00

We finally have had a few days of dry weather and the sun decided to visit!! The neighbor kids had pulled out a big box from their garage and all 5 kids worked on making a little house. They used sidewalk chalk to decorate the inside and outside of this box and were out there forever working on it. With the nasty, wet weather we've had lately, the kids haven't seen much of the neighbors so today was an exciting day!

I was excited because it was dry enough for our lawn to finally get mowed. This last fall, Jason worked with a friend of ours who owns a lawn care business for a couple of days and learned a few "tricks" so now we get a professional looking lawn job!! (Thanks Mark!)

I enjoyed a walk around the yard seeing all kinds of signs that Spring really is going to come!! My tulips make the front yard look so cheery!!

This tulip is a part of a red and yellow grouping and this year, we got a blended tulip. I have never seen anything like this.

This is the neighbor's cherry blossom tree is starting to bloom...this LARGE limb hangs way over the fence line and is starting to interfere with our apple trees so it will have to go.

My chicks and hens survived the winter and are really starting to look alive again!!

This is a plant that I got from my mom for my birthday. It's a type of mini daisy and the exciting thing is that it will get bigger each year. I have it in a spot that really needs some color during the spring but tulips don't do well in so this is just perfect! I absolutely love the coloring of the little flowers on it.

And last, but not least, my climbing hydrangea. I can't believe how many blossoms I'm finding on it this year. I'm use to seeing only 3 or 4 but this year there are already at least 7 that I can find. All my hard work with this thing is finally paying off! Can't wait for it to bloom this summer!!

Ethan is a busy guy!

2011-04-27T21:54:00.000-07:00

This month has been a big month for our 5-year old! He started swimming lessons and soccer all in the same week.

Monday, April 11th was the beginning of it all! He has been so excited to start swimming lessons, unlike his sisters when they started. He was ready to leave the house about 20 minutes early.

Ready to hit the showers before heading out to the pool.

Waiting so patiently for the teacher to call his name.

The cheering section up in the observation room...Wayne got to come along for our first day to check it out. He gets to start lessons in just a couple of weeks.

Ethan didn't have a problem doing anything that his teacher asked him to do, even putting his face in the water.

He had a blast and was so excited to return on Wednesday!! It's so nice to finally have a child excited about swimming lessons. It sure does change Mommy's attitude about going...HA!

Tuesday, April 12th was the first day of soccer. This was a big day not only for Ethan but for Mommy too. The YMCA was short coaches. They originally called Tyler and Tanya to help out with coaching. (Wayne and Ethan are on the same team!) With Tyler's work schedule and Tanya being at the tail-end of tax season, they suggested that I take the head coach position and they would rotate with assistant coaching. I was a little reluctant to take the position because I have never coached soccer before, let alone played it. However, I am having so much fun with this team of 10 5-year olds. They are all motivated to learn and they don't have a clue that I don't know what I'm doing.

Here we are ready to go to our first practice.

The boys waiting so patiently out at the fields for practice to start.

I'm excited to see watch these boys play and learn this season. They are quite the little go-getters! We always tell them the more dirt on their elbows and knees, the harder they played! Now, it's a competition to see who can leave with the most dirt on the body.

RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY!

2011-04-27T19:58:00.000-07:00

We've had so much rain in the month of April that our yard can hardly handle the rain that continues to come...

The water eventually made it half way up the patio.

Easter 2011

2011-04-26T22:35:00.000-07:00

This year, Easter started on Saturday, April 23rd, for us. The Silves boys were in Lynden for soccer, Trisha and her girls were out and about, so we all gathered at our house for Grammy to give all of the kiddos their Easter "baskets".

The kids were all so excited for their special treats. We caught two 5-year olds trying to peak before Grammy had a chance to pull everything out.

It's been awhile since we've been able to get a picture of Grammy and all of the grandkids. So, we took advantage of the situation and told the kids that once we had a picture of everyone with Grammy they could then have their treats. Not too bad of a picture. It's a little hard to get 8 kids all looking and smiling at the same time.

Everyone was so excited to finally get their bags with treats in them. My mom, for the past couple of years, gets each of the kids a t-shirt/muscle shirt (for the boys) and a pair of flip-flops. The rest of their bag was candy and other fun non-candy treats. They all had such a great time together!

Once all of the cousins left, our kids were ready to color eggs. It was fun to watch them all show their own creative sides.

These are only a few of the eggs. We had picked up a set that made your eggs look crackled and speckled. The eggs were looking very cool!

Because this day was also my birthday, Emily came to hang out with the kids while Jason and I went to dinner. We didn't do much else because we had two batches of rolls to make. So, we came home after dinner but asked Emily to hang out for awhile. She colored a couple of eggs with the kids (yes, we colored eggs twice) and had birthday cake with us. We told her that we were celebrating her birthday also because her birthday was earlier in the month and we hadn't been able to do anything for her until then. It was fun to have Emily just hanging out with us. The kids all love to spend time with her.

Easter Sunday was a busy day but we all survived. We started out at church very early and then enjoyed a wonderful brunch at church. After church, we spent some time at Tyler and Tanya's before heading to Grandma Silves'. (Saved us a trip to Lynden and back...church and Grandma's are both in Everson.)

Thankfully the rain let up so the kids could do the big Easter Egg hunt! My aunts do an amazing job each year. Each child was allowed to find 19 eggs. These eggs are filled with candy, little toys and coins.

Ready to go!

I'm not sure what's going on here but I remember thinking that they were too close to the busy road for my comfort!

This year, there were specially marked eggs and anyone finding one of those eggs received a special prize at the end...we ended up with two of those specially marked eggs.

We eventually made it home for a little down and to give the kids got their Easter baskets from us before gearing up to head out to the next family gathering.

I love how they, Ethan especially, try to hide their eyes and wait so patiently. Needless to say, there was a lot of giggling going on while waiting. The anticipation was killing them.

We kept it simple this year. We found miniature sock monkeys for the kids with a few other little items and of course, jelly beans!

It really was a great weekend! As much as we had fun with the coloring of eggs, Easter baskets and egg hunts, I am so thankful that our kids know the real reason we have Easter. To think we have a God who loves us so much that he sent His son to die for our/my sins and then to have him raise from the dead. I am forever grateful!

Celebrate with family!

2011-04-12T21:14:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, April 9th, we had family over to help celebrate Brenna's birthday. It's always fun to have the cousins over, they all love celebrating birthdays and get so excited for the birthday child!

They were even more excited when they saw the hamster cage on the coffee table. They had a blast watching "Buddy" on his wheel and just running around his cage.

Brenna requested a volleyball themed party. My mom helped out with some of the decorating and I am so thankful!

Brenna helped me make two ice cream cakes and wanted one of them decorated like a volleyball. She found the perfect picture for us to use to draw the lines on the cake. I'm thrilled with how it all turned out!

She received so many great gifts and felt very loved!

Thanks to all who were able to come and celebrate!!

Our "not-so-much" baby is 12!

2011-04-12T20:42:00.000-07:00

April 5th was a big day in our house! Our "baby" turned 12...preteen...AAGH!!! Where has the time gone? Brenna is becoming such a beautiful young lady. I absolutely love our one-on-one time, she is such a joy to chat with and just get to know better each day.

Because her birthday was during Spring Break, we were all home. Jason even had the week off! We continued on with our tradition of waking up the birthday child with singing Happy Birthday and pictures. It wasn't too early I promise!

We had a great relaxing morning just hanging out, having a little breakfast and then opening gifts. Of course, the birthday girl had a breakfast request...French Toast.

Alyssa and Ethan each had a little something to give Brenna. We then gave her our gifts and then finale' was her Hamster cage.

She was soooooo surprised! She has been asking for a hamster for so long. I had her convinced that we would never have a "rodent" living in our house. It was the best surprise!!

After lunch, we headed off to Petsmart for Brenna to pick out her hamster and "adopt" him. Of course, I forgot my camera but here is a picture of our new family member once we made it home.

Later that afternoon, Brenna's BFF, EmmaRae, came with a gift for Brenna and had a little something in it for her new hamster. I love that EmmaRae's mom and I had chatted about what Brenna was getting and they jumped on board and wanted to get her a ball for her hamster to run around the house in.

All in all, Brenna had a great day!

Next Coupon Class: Wednesday, April 20th at 6pm

2011-03-26T12:41:00.000-07:00

My good friends and I have been asked to teach another coupon class! We will be teaching a "Coupon 101" class on:

Wednesday, April 20th at 6pm

Nooksack Reformed Church

If you are planning to attend, please email shannonvandalen@hotmail.com to RSVP! It should be a fabulous night full of fun, laughter, and COUPONING! :-)

It's been awhile...sorry!

2011-03-16T21:37:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling bad that I have left you hanging with our van situation. God has been so amazing through this process and has blessed us immensely.

On February 10th, our van was hauled away. It was a sad day, however, we knew God had something in store for us and it was just a matter of time. Little did we know that two days later we would be going to Edmonds to look at van and end up driving it home.

Yes, we bought a van but not without the help of some very special people. You see, we were not, and still are not, in the financial situation to replace our van. God knew that when all of this happened and he was already working out the details and working in the hearts of some very special people. To this day, we do not even know the names of most of those involved but I hope that they know just how much we appreciate them and how loved we feel. We had committed to a $$ amount with our income tax return but knew that wouldn't be enough. God provided the overage of that amount and we were able to purchase a 2001 Chrysler Voyager van. WE LOVE IT! I have a picture to share, it's not the best. I keep forgetting to take a picture for the blog and so I just went out to the garage to take one. (Nevermind the shelves full behind it. That's a work in progress!)

Every time I get in the van I am reminded of how God really is taking care of us!

Other things happening... We've just been going along with life. Jason is starting to get busy at work again so that is always a good thing. This is the time of year when he has special projects to take care of in order to get things ready for the new orders that will be coming in. He has a week of furlough coming up so he is trying to get most of these projects completed or as close to completed as he can before that week. It will be nice to have him home during the week of spring break with the kids and we are hoping that we can maybe do at least a one night get-away as a family.

I've been keeping busy with running "Mom's Taxi", working a few hours a week between the bakery and helping out some friends with their business, and then "Auntie Day" with my nephews 1-2 days a week. "Auntie Day"s are my favorite!! I get all three nephews and we just play all day. I love that they get excited to come and see Auntie! I've also been involved in Women's Bible Study at church. We are doing a 10-week Beth Moore study, "A Woman's Heart - God's Dwelling Place". This study has been absolutely amazing and the group I am in is a wonderful group of women! We have been studying the Tabernacle and every detail about it and the things in it. What a blessing this study has been! I have learned so much and it has really applied to so many different things that we are going through. Each week I am reminded of God's grace and how much he really does love us and that he really is caring for us. Things may not be happening in our time and we just need to trust him.

Brenna is loving 6th grade and is really doing well. She just started 3rd trimester today. Hard to believe that we are on the homestretch of finishing her first year of middle school. She has a birthday coming up in a couple of weeks, April 5th. She is going to be 12 and mom and dad are feeling old. We are officially pre-teen stage...AAGH!

Alyssa is also loving school however, right now, she is really enjoying her art class that she has been taking the past couple of months. We have a very talented 9-year old...yes this mommy is bragging a little! I love it when she brings her projects home at the end of each month. Her art teacher is Brenda Calvert and I highly recommend her! She has a love for art and a passion for teaching these kids. Alyssa looks forward to every Thursday afternoon!

Ethan...this boy is growing so fast and has really become a sweet boy! His favorite days are when he gets to spend time with his cousins and loves them like they were his own brothers! He also loves going to preschool. This week has been pretty special!! Our baby has started to read. YES...READ!! He is so proud of himself. We started him the "Dick and Jane" books that the girls started with. It's been fun to listen to him! Today we got a pack of "sight" words from his preschool teacher to start working on. Below is a video that we took tonight of him reading...be sure to pause the music before playing the video.

A conversation to remember!

2011-02-15T13:06:00.000-08:00

Today is an "Auntie" day! This is when Wayne, Weston, and Wyatt get to come play while their mommy and daddy are at work. We don't like to call it day care because it's a play date for the big boys and I get lots of snuggles with Wyatt!

Our morning started out with the big boys at the piano. I knew this meant LOUD but hey, they were happy! The "noise" stopped and I began to listen to Wayne and Ethan as they were talking.

Ethan: "Wayne, I'm going to play a song for Jesus now."

Wayne: "But Ethan, I want to play a song for God. We just need to play our songs together."

Ethan: "Wayne, Jesus and God are the same person."

Wayne: "Huh?" (the music continued.......)

I love it! I love that the boys want to do things for Jesus! I love that they, already at this young age, are wanting to do things that please him. At this point, I was not going to stop the "music". I wanted them to be proud of that "joyful" noise they were making for their Jesus, their God!!

The final goodbye

2011-02-10T09:53:00.000-08:00

This morning we said our final goodbye to the van. It is being hauled away as we speak and never to be seen again. Ethan is pretty sad that the van will be smashed. He wasn't thrilled that Wayne's grandpa was going to smash our van...at least that's what Wayne kept telling him as they watched the van being loaded. I had to sit the boys down to explain that Wayne's grandpa would not be smashing the van that he was just taking it to it's "new home". That seemed to stop the debate and I now have a happier 5 year old.

I think the weirdest part for me was driving it up on to the ramp of the truck. I didn't think I would have to be involved with this process, or was hoping I wouldn't have to be. However, there was nobody else around to help so I had to do the job.

As I was getting ready to start the van, I began to question our decision. However, once the van was started and I was listening to it run I quickly realized that it did not sound "healthy". We have been babying this van along for a couple of years and it really is time to stop pouring money into something that is going to have continual problems.

The replacement search has started but nothing has been found up to this point. We are grateful for the vehicle that is being loaned to us to use until we find a replacement. God's timing really is perfect! We could not have planned things to happen as they did. So many people have stepped up to help in any way possible. They will never know how much their help means to us. There are no words that express how we feel. We are completely overwhelmed with the love that has been shown to our family.

Here are a couple of pictures of this morning's event.

Being chained down for the ride it is about to take down the Guide Meridian.

Final safety check happening...I think it's funny that the Lynden Security guys were driving by in their LPD car. As if they knew this was going to be happening and needed to make sure things were going as they should. HA!

A Rite Aid run to share!

2011-01-30T14:27:00.000-08:00

So, today I made a Rite Aid run with my dear sis-in-law. To be honest, I didn't even have a list put together before leaving for church. Tanya asked if I wanted to go with her so we quick stopped at my place to big up my binder and grab today's inserts and then headed to Starbucks for a coffee and took a few minutes there to put together my list and gather the needed coupons.

Here's the break down of this amazing purchase!

Transaction #1:
4 - 1.5 qt. Dreyer's Ice Cream...reg. price $5.99, on sale for $2.99, receive $2.00 ups for each
2 - Colgate Total Adv. White Toothpaste...reg. price $3.69, on sale for $2.99, receive $2.00 ups for each
...just noticed that my toothpaste actually rang up for $2.95 each...not sure why but I'll take it!

Used $1.75 in coupons for the toothpaste and 6 - $1.99 ups rewards from lightbulb purchase last week.
(coupons were from smartsource...1 - $1.00 off one and 1 - $0.75 off one.)

Total out of pocket - $4.67 (inc. $0.50 tax) and received 6 - $2.00 ups rewards to be used on my next purchase.

Transaction #2:
4 - Lays Stax...reg. price $1.79, on sale for 2/$2 = $1.00 each, receive $1.00 ups for each (unadvertised)
4 - Chex Mix...reg. price $2.99, on sale for 2/$3 = $1.50 each, receive $1.00 ups for each (unadvertised)
6 - Pringles Super Stax...reg. price $2.29, on sale for 2/$3 = $1.50 each

Used $7.50 in coupons for pringles and chex mix and 5 - $2.00 ups rewards from transaction #1.
(coupons for pringles...$1 off two...were from this weeks P&G insert and coupons for chex mix were from Safeway's Joy of Football coupon book...$1 off one...and one was a Rite Aid Video Value...$0.50 off one)

Total out of pocket - $1.50 and received 8 - $1.00 ups reward and a $5 ups rewards for purchasing $15 of participating products...all from from the grocery aisle.

**I tried to be very clear on the coupons used and sales they were applied to from today's shopping trip. Let me know if you have any questions on how I did it.

We were thrilled with how stocked Rite Aid was today. You can tell that their store manager is really working hard on getting a good amount of stock in for us serious couponers!! Now...get out there and save! My husband was thrilled that I profited $11 on today's purchase. Yes, that is all in Ups Rewards for Rite Aid but no doubt that I will be back there for more product! It's my number 1 store that I shop at these days.

Happy Shopping!

Saying goodbye & a week of blessings

2011-01-29T22:49:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, we said good-bye to our van. We had driven it for the last time. We had been having issues with it and took it in to the shop only to find that fixing it would be more than the van was worth. After having a few consults on the situation we decided that we were better off getting rid of it. We didn't have the money to fix it, we don't have the money to replace it, but we know that God has a plan for this.

So, once Jason got home from work on Tuesday, we headed to the shop to get everything out of the van. The kids had been sad at different times on Monday and Tuesday...Ethan was crying while we were talking to the shop owner. Of course, he chose Tuesday to name the van...bad timing!

We had the kids join in on the clean-out. They had seat pockets to empty...lots of little treasures to be found. It took us about 20 minutes to go through and to make sure we had everything. This would be the last time the kids would be in the van.

We took one last picture before pulling away.

As much of a tragedy as this has been, we have experienced a week of blessings! We have a very dear couple in our Christ Group who has loaned us their car for two weeks. (I'm scared to death to have the kids in it because it is a very new car to them and has more bells and whistles than I would ever dream of in a car. This leads to much curiosity for the kids and I am constantly reminding them to not touch any of the buttons.)

Today was filled with another blessing, we were blessed with a very special gift and feel very loved! We also got some encouraging news on replacing the van. I don't want to go into any details but I know one thing...THIS IS ALL A GOD THING!

This past week has been nothing but a great week of teaching tools for the kids. Yes, I had my moments of tears over the van but I assured the kids that I 100% trust that God is going to provide for us. What mom wouldn't be upset over losing her wheels for getting the kiddos to and from school, after school activities, etc. Yes, I've been able to borrow a car this week but it's just not the same.

I'm just so thankful for the people that we have in our life and that they love us enough to want to help in the tough times. I'm thankful for a Lord and Savior who has promised to take care of us and is doing so as I type. I'm not sure why we are having to go through these tough times but I do know that they are making us stronger.

I would ask that you continue to pray for us as we are going through this "stuff". We just made our first mortgage payment for the modification process. We continue to try to put together a budget that is going to work. A little tough to do with fluctuating work right now. We did list the van on CraigsList in hopes to get a little more for it than what the scrap yard has to offer so pray that it sells quickly. And, as we begin the search for a "new", to us, van. We want our attitudes to remain positive and be reasonable in what we look for. We don't need all the bells and whistles but yet have some requirements for seating, etc. It's a hard thing to balance.

We will keep you posted on our journey!

FINALLY! Some good news!

2011-01-16T22:26:00.000-08:00

Yesterday afternoon, we were out running errands, etc. I mentioned to Jason that I had yet to get the mail for the day. So, before pulling into the driveway, Jason pulled up to the mailboxes. He stood out in the rain going through the mail piece-by-piece. He handed me a pile of mail but I noticed that he had kept a piece of mail. He informed me that it was from GMAC and that he would let me know what it was about after he had read it. In other words, he wanted to be prepared in case he was having to give me bad news.

Well, it definitely was not bad news. Just the opposite! OUR LOAN MODIFICATION HAS STARTED! Nothing is final as we have guidelines to meet over the next three months but we are at least on the right path! This was such a relief to us. It has been a long 4 years. However, we know that this waiting is all a part of God's plan and we continue to trust Him through this process.

We would ask that you continue to pray with us through this "trial period" and that things continue to move forward smoothly. We love our home and would love to be able to keep it. This loan modification will be the only thing that will make that possible.

Thanks to those of you who have already been praying with us through this process.

More deals to come but for now....

2011-01-10T15:03:00.000-08:00

You are invited to a coupon class! This class is FREE and you will learn exactly how myself and a few others have started to save, save, save! Let me know if you are wanting to join us on Thursday, January 20th!

$.09 Fruit Snacks and more!!!

2011-01-09T22:54:00.000-08:00

These past couple of months I have been discovering the world of couponing. This has been huge for our family budget.

My sister-in-law and I made a trip to Safeway on January 3rd for an AMAZING deal on Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks and Nature Valley Granola Bars. We were a "well oiled machine" going through check-out. In fact, when we got to the check out lanes, they had a gal "directing traffic" and we told her that we each had multiple transactions and we were profiling our cashier! Profiling your cashiers while using coupons is very important!! You do not want anyone up-tight and unwilling to work with multiple transactions. She called for the asst. manager to open up a lane just for us! WooHoo!

Tanya and I had planned our transactions ahead of time and had our coupons bundled together "by transaction". It really did go smoothly and we paid very little for what we got! Here's a picture of my purhcase...

Transaction #1:
5-Betty Crocker Fruit Snack/Roll-Up items ($0.99 each)
5-Nature Valley Granola Bars ($1.77 each with store coupon)
...club card savings = $16.60, coupon savings = $4.00, out of pocket = $9.80!!
I also received a $3.50 Catalina for the 5 granola bars and a $3.00 Catalina for the BC fruit snacks/roll-ups.

Transaction #2:
5-Betty Crocker Fruit Snack/Roll-Up ($0.99 each)
5-Nature Valley Granola Bars ($1.77 each with store coupon)
...club card savings = $16.60, coupon savings = $4.00, Catalinas used (from previous purchase) = $6.50, out of pocket = $3.30!!
I also received a $3.50 Catlaina for the 5 granola bars and a $3.00 Catalina for the BC fruit snacks/roll-ups.

Transaction #3:
5-Betty Crocker Fruit Snack/Roll-Up ($0.99 each)
...club card savings = $9.00, coupon savings = $1.50, Catalina used (from previous purchase) = $3.00, out of pocket = $.45!!
I also received a $3.00 Catalina for the 5 BC fruit snacks/roll-ups.

Transaction #4:
5-Betty Crocker Fruit Snack/Roll-Up ($0.99 each)
4-Mission brand tortilla chips ($1.49 each)
4-Totino's Pizza Rolls (2/$2.99)
Simply OJ ($2.49)
16-Yoplait Yogurts (10/$5.00)
2-Johnsonville Sausage Patties ($3.99 each...BOGO), buy one get one
2-Johnsonville Sausage Links ($3.99 each...BOGO)
...club card savings $31.99, coupon savings $6.70, Catalinas used (from previous purchase) = $6.50, out of pocket = $25.63!!
I also received a $3.00 Catalina for the 5 BC fruit snacks/roll-ups

Later that day, I went to Rite Aid. I had a few things I wanted to get.

Transaction #1:
2 Frosted Mini Wheats (2/$5.00)...used mfr. cpn.
2 Rite Aid brand cotton balls ($1.29 each)
2 Zicam ($12.99 each...these were a BOGO item and I had a mfr. cpn for additional off)
2 Scunci hair items (BOGO 50% off)

Wellness Card Savings = $19.07; Coupon Savings (this includes any UPs Rewards that I had from a previous purchase) = $25.00; Total Out of Pocket = $1.30. My subtotal before tax was $.05!!

Transaction #2:
2-Lysol Wipes (2/$4.00)...used mfr. cpn.
1-Garnier Shampoo ($4.99)...used mfr. cpn.

Wellness Card Savings = $5.48; Coupons Savings (this includes any UPs Rewards that I had from a previous purchase) = $8.00; Total Out of Pocket = $1.67. My subtotal before tax was $0.99

**The only information I'm missing here is exactly how many UPs Rewards I received for each purchase. I'll try to get better at that but can't promise anything.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-09T22:03:00.000-08:00

New Year's Eve was spent with friends from church again this year. It's become an annual thing and every year we look forward to getting together with everyone. It's probably one of the only times that we really get together and it's always a fun time!

Wayne and Janet VanWerven do a great job of hosting and always have fun things planned. We all bring appetizer type foods and any goodies that we have left from Christmas. It's a great way to get all of the sugar out of the house to start fresh for the new year.

The kids end up doing a variety of different things but this year spent most of the evening watching movies while the adults played games.

By the time midnight came around we were all so exhausted and thinking that maybe we were getting too old to continue staying up until midnight. It was tough this year to keep going. Even playing games wasn't helping, especially when you had to really think. I was coming up completely blank...I had nothin'. The kids were all starting to wind down. However, we were all still awake when 12:00am came around.

We all said "Happy New Year" and quickly loaded up to head for home. I think this year we all actually left earlier than any other year. I tell ya, we are getting old!

New's Year Day was spent at Grandma Groen's. It's become our annual pizza day and sometimes game day. I hope this tradition continues on for a long time! It's a great day to just wind down from all the holiday hustle and bustle and just hang out. We didn't get any games out this year but we had a great time!

Catching up continues...Merry Christmas!

2011-01-09T21:39:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning was very relaxing! We had absolutely nowhere that we HAD to be. Once all of the kids were up they emptied their stockings. Brenna decided to sleep in this morning so the other two were getting a little impatient waiting but I refused to wake anybody up. We had nowhere to go so we had no set time frame.

Once everyone had breakfast and were dressed, we headed for the living room to open gifts. This year's gifts contained mainly clothing but there were a few fun things in the midst. Ethan is still at the age that I can find cheap toys. The girls on the other hand, they have hit the age where their "toys" are not so cheap. Oh my. We had to have a little chat before starting..."Ethan has more gifts to open but we promise we spent the exact same about of money on each of you." The girls accepted the news well. I'm sure the time will come when it will be one gift under the tree for each of them. The more advanced the electronics get the more expensive the gifts get!

A couple of weeks before Christmas, I had worked for a friend for a very big catering job they had. Jason and I decided that we would take a little bit of that to do Christmas for each other. The kids were so upset earlier when we told them that Mom and Dad didn't need anything and we were okay with no gifts. Imagine how excited they were when they found out we were exchanging gifts. Alyssa had gone with Jason while he shopped for me and I took Brenna with me. They loved being a part of this!

I loved the deals that I found to be able to really surprise Jason with some great gifts...Huskies hat and sweatshirt, a capo for his guitar, and Maden '10 for the Wii. I thought I "out did" him for sure...we get a little competitive when it comes to gift giving...who can surprise the other one the most. Well, this year...HE WON! He totally disguised my gift and I was shocked when I opened my very heavy, squishy box to find an envelope letting me know that I was getting a new computer program for scrapbooking. He couldn't actually purchase it because once you purchase it, it is a downloadable program and I'm constantly on the laptop so I would have discovered it early. I have an AMAZING husband!!

At about 1:30 we decided that we would head over to Grandma Groen's to see what was happening there. We knew Mom and Duane were there with a couple of my aunts and uncles for lunch with Grandma. We spent a couple of hours there just hanging out and then came back home to play with more of our Christmas toys!!

I think this was one of the best Christmas' ever! We had time to just enjoy each other, spend quality time at home together, and didn't have to rush off any where. We hope that you had an amazing Christmas as well...celebrating the real reason for Christmas...JESUS!

Part 4 - Getting caught up little by little!

2011-01-09T17:08:00.000-08:00

We worked hard on gathering the information we needed and on December 23rd, we faxed all paperwork requested for the loan modification to the mortgage company. It was nice to know that it is now our of our hands and it is just a matter of waiting to hear from the bank now.

We worked hard on getting things ready for Christmas with my family. It was our turn this year to host and we were all looking forward to having everyone here. My dear, sweet sister was great in coming to help with the table set-up and decor. I just don't have much of that and wanted the table to look great. I was excited that we would be able to use our china again. It's the only time we ever use it so it's always fun to try to "tie it in" with the table decor.

Christmas Eve morning came and everyone arrived...except for Tanya and Wayne. =( Wayne had come down with the flu the day before and they were hoping he would be feeling much better by morning but that just didn't happen. We all jumped in to help Tyler with Wyatt and Weston. This now was even a better reason for it to be our year to host. These boys are so use to spending time here that there really was no need to worry about what they may be in to, ect. (This has kind of become a second home to them while Daddy and Mommy work and I love that they are so comfortable here. So much so, that Wyatt went down for a nap mid-party and didn't even hesitate going to sleep in the playpen.)

The food was absolutely wonderful! And even though Tanya wasn't here, she was up early preparing what Tyler was to bring and it all tasted so good...made us miss her that much more!

Once we had the tables cleared and the extra table out and away, the kids joined us in the living room for gifts. It was so nice and relaxed with sweet little pauses in between the gifts so the kids could enjoy each one for just a little while.

Once gifts were finished, TyTy and the bigger kids moved to the family room to play a little Wii. Tyler doesn't have one of these so the kids were having fun beating him at the games. I think Alyssa totally out-bowled him!

By late afternoon, Wayne was feeling so much better so on our way to church that night we stopped by so Wayne and Ethan could have Christmas together...they had each others names in the name exchange...and yes, that was totally rigged!

All in all, it was a great day!

Part 3 - Still behind but getting caught up!

2011-01-09T16:43:00.000-08:00

December seemed to come so quick this year. We started the month out making some crucial decisions. We met with our friend who is a realtor and started working on the process of putting our house up for sale. We knew this part was not going to be quick. We were going to have to put together a short-sale proposal for our bank and our friend needed time to come up with a solid price and do some research of his own on the process we were about to embark on. We continued to pray that God would make this journey clear and that we would continue to feel peace about our decision.

We tried not to let this consume all of our time because this was an exciting month in our home also. The kids had their Christmas program, Alyssa was turning 9 on the 15th, and Christmas!

Sunday the 12th was our Christmas program at church. Of course, it wasn't until we were about half way through the program that I realized this was Brenna's last Christmas program EVER...AAGH!!! Brenna was an angel and read a passage of scripture and Alyssa was one of the sheeps in the group choir. Ethan's class came in part way through the big kids' program to join them in a few songs.

We also celebrated Alyssa's birthday on the 12th with family. We knew that this would be only day to do so with Christmas parties starting on the 18th. This year, Alyssa was sure to NOT wish for snow. (Last year she wished for snow on her birthday and then ended up getting so much snow the day of her party most people couldn't make it to our house to help celebrate and those that did didn't stay long because they needed to be able to get back home while there was still daylight.)

It was great to have cousins here to help celebrate and Alyssa received so many great gifts! We had the lady at the bakery make her cake this year...mommy was just a little too busy to get it done and since I work at the bakery, I have connections! =)

It's hard to believe that 9 years have gone by since this precious gift was given to us. I remember her birth clearly. I must say it was the absolute best of the three...if any birth can really be "the best".

To celebrate on her actual birthday, the 15th, we headed to Billy McHale's for dinner. Alyssa had received a post card for a free kids meal and once we were there, we realized all of the kids meals were 50% off!!!

It was a fun family night and when we got home we gave Alyssa a gift from each of us. Boy was she surprised to open her gift from Dad and Mom!

It was just after Alyssa's birthday that Jason made probably the most important phone call of all regarding the house. It wasn't that he was putting this phone call off...our friend had just come across some very informative information and it had a phone number for us to call. During this phone call, the financial counselor was asking Jason different questions and at the end wanted to know why we weren't requesting a loan modification from our mortgage company and just jumping straight to a short-sale. Jason informed him that we had applied for a loan modification earlier in the year that we were denied. The counselor did not understand why until he had Jason read him our denial letter and it was at that point that our plan changed. We were denied a loan modification because we were making mortgage payments. This counselor advised Jason that no matter what, we were to not make a payment in December and because we had already missed November's this would give us the two missed payments needed to be considered. He was going to put all of the loan modification in the mail the next day and forward all of the notes from the conversation to the mortgage company so that they would be made aware immediately that we were serious with the initial request and now have assistance with this loan modification request. Jason called our mortgage company the next day and sure enough, they had all the information from the counselor. They too sent us information on what needed to happen next. They gave us a deadline of December 28th to have all of the requested information in to them and we assured them they would have it before that!

We continued on with life and started Christmas on the 18th with Jason's family for lunch and then my mom's family for dinner. This was the first year in probably 4 years that Jason's family has all been together for Christmas. We made sure to get some pictures of us all together! It was great to just spend time eating and catching up with each other and the kids. We hadn't seen Jason's younger brother and his family in several months...wow those boys have grown up!

(Love self-timers on cameras...otherwise, the family picture would have never happened!)

The evening was spent with all of my mom's family, I think there were close to 60 of us. Grandma enjoys every minute of having us all together. Jason and I had the "job" of making the rolls again. Everyone loves the homemade rolls so we are happy to do it!

The day was great but the kids were absolutely exhausted by the time we got home. It was nice to know that we didn't have another Christmas party until the 24th and we could just focus on spending time together as a family and working on the things that we needed to do. Jason was off for two weeks and the kids were home from school. Much family time to be had!

On the 22nd we had our annual cookie baking day with "Aunt" Janice. The kids always look forward to this day. In fact, Brenna was already asking on December 1st if I had set a date with "Aunt" Janice for baking day. We start our time out with a little lunch and then the kids each take a turn cutting out cookies with "Aunt" Janice. Once they have each cut out their cookies that will decorate to take home they go watch a movie while Janice finishes up with the rest of the dough...cutting out goes a little quicker at this point!

By the time the dough is all cut out and baked the kids' cookies are cooled and ready to decorate. This year, Alyssa's artistic talents totally came out. The girls are usually both very particular about how they decorate their cookies but this year was to the extreme with Alyssa. She was very proud of her cookies...each of the kids were proud of their cookies!!

Part 2 - I'm so far behind

2011-01-09T15:36:00.000-08:00

The rest of November was spent praying and meeting with people regarding what our next steps were going to be. We got names of contacts and made phone calls. It was nice to have the support of so many people.

We also had Thanksgiving in the midst of all this. This year, we woke up to a White Thanksgiving.

We spent Thanksgiving with my family at my Grandma's house. It was a relaxing day and fun to be with family. Jason and Duane got the honors of carving the turkey this year. Grandma had some of her aprons laid out and ready to go. The guys couldn't wait to get the turkey carved and to get these beauties off...HA!

November was also the month that I started my major couponing venture. It has been quite the learning process but I was determined to start saving us money in any way possible. I started out with doing research online and finding different blogs and coupon site to follow. Here is my Thanksgiving day purchase. Unfortunately, because I am so far behind on blogging. I don't remember how much I paid for this stash but let's just say it wasn't much...I think around $10.

Couponing has really changed the way I think when I sit down to put together any sort of shopping lists now.

Part 1 - I am so far behind!

2011-01-09T14:57:00.000-08:00

Well, I realize it has been a couple of months since I actually sat down to put up a real post.

I wasn't sure I wanted to keep posting. I got to a point of just not feeling like posting or doing much of anything really. Today, I've decided that I need to get caught up with things and really start posting about life. Even if it's for nobody but myself to go back and read some day.

I will start with the end of October. We finished off Brenna's season of volleyball. We enjoyed watching her team play and had fun watching her improve more and more each week. Her team ended the season in 2nd place. We were actually tied for 1st place but because the team we were tied with actually beat us earlier in the season they got the 1st place trophies.

This brings us to Halloween. This year, it was just Alyssa and Ethan doing the real dressing up. Brenna has decided that she is too old to dress-up but didn't really want to give up on the trick-or-treating. We told her if she was going to go trick-or-treating than she needed to come up with something. So pajama girl she was.

We went trick-or-treating on Saturday night this year because with Halloween on a Sunday, that's when Lynden was doing it. We headed over to Todd and Trisha's so that the kids could spend the evening having fun with two of their cousins. It was fun to see them all enjoying themselves...especially fun watching Paige trying to keep up with all the big kids. She caught on very fast to what was going on.

Sunday night, the 31st, we spent the evening at the church for Noah Nite. This year, our family actually helped with one of the booths but Brenna and our friend, Emily, ran it most of the night.

By the end of the night, all of the cute little scarecrow heads that we had cut out, colored, and laminated had all fallen off. At least these bowing pins started out the evening by looking cute!

That brings us to November. I think this was probably the toughest month for us yet. We had been talking about what to do financially and whether or not we were going to keep the house and if we didn't what our options would be.

Jason and I headed off for the weekend of Nov. 12-14 and attended the FamilyLife Weekend to Remember. Thanks to Mom and Duane for allowing us to stay at their place in Birch Bay and a free registration that we had earned by putting together a group, the only thing we needed to worry about for the weekend was food and gas. The two of us can get away with not eating a lot and we had a gift certificate to use for the "date night" portion of the conference so we were set!

Friday night was a huge night for us. This was the first night of the conference. We thoroughly enjoyed the speakers and when we got back to the trailer we started talking about our marriage and how that was holding up through all of this financial stuff. Thankfully, things were and are great with us so it was mainly chatting about how we weren't going to let this financial stuff take over and ruin a good thing. We started talking and realized that God really had been carrying us through this past year financially and that realistically we should have never been able to make one mortgage payment all year but God had carried us through. However, the money for the mortgage just wasn't there for the month of November and we both felt like God was telling us it was time to take the next step and figure how to best get out of the house and be mortgage free. Paying rent sounded much more appealing than continuing with the dreaded mortgage payment.

We went through the rest of the weekend feeling at peace about our decision and would figure out the details once we got home. The rest of the weekend was spent at the conference and just enjoying the time alone for the two of us. We went to Bellingham on date night and went to dinner, walked around the mall for a bit people watching and then picked up ice cream and headed back out to Birch Bay for a movie and ice cream. As much as we love our kids and missed them, it was great to just have a weekend away to focus on us and not worry about being parents for a few days...thank you to those who had our kids!!

2010-12-03T10:33:00.001-08:00

Contest details

Louie Giglio - Laminin

2010-10-22T20:48:00.000-07:00

If you have never seen this, we would encourage you to watch it! We showed it to the kids tonight. They are learning about Creation on Sunday mornings during JAM (our Sunday School hour) and we thought this would be great for them to see. The girls are in complete AWE right now.

HUGE Savings...

2010-10-19T10:44:00.000-07:00

at Rite Aid this morning! I had my list and refused to purchase anything not on the list. I had gone through the sale flyer and had my coupons ready. At the register the cashier was shocked!

**Before sales, Rite Aid +Up Rewards card, and coupons = $63.16 (before tax)
**After all of the above were taken into account = $26.22 (before tax)...that a $36.94 savings!!!

$14.84 of that was just for having a Rite Aid Wellness +Up Rewards Card... and the other $22.10 was from coupons. I spent about 45 minutes on Saturday watching little 30 second video clips on the Rite Aid website for products I knew we would use as a family.

I also left with 3, $1.00 off coupons because of specific purchases that I made.

I'm still in the learning phase of this and hoping to figure out ways to save even more! While at Rite Aid, I was purchasing Cheerios. I had 2 different coupons that I could use. (1 for just the box of Cheerios and another for purchasing a ...box of Cheerios and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.) I pulled the box of Cheerios off the shelf and just happened to glance back up at it's spot on the shelf and noticed a box behind the box I had taken with an instant $1.00 off. Guess which box went with me to the register?! You got it...the one with that coupon and a bonus savings for me!

Just had to share! Now it's time to get things put away.

Have a great day!

"Chalk Walk"

2010-10-07T22:13:00.000-07:00

So this afternoon, once we took Ethan to school, the boys (my very special nephews) and I had lunch and then made a quick trip downtown Lynden for about 10 minutes to see Alyssa and her class as they created their Harvest Art on the sidewalks of Front Street. This is an annual event that the Lynden Chamber of Commerce puts on each year for all of the 3rd grade classes in Lynden. (These classes come from Lynden Christian and Lynden Public schools.)

Alyssa's class had walked from Isom Elementary to Front Street. They got their store front assignments and off they went! Some of the students had thought out what they wanted to put on the sidewalk and had their plans drawn out on paper.

Some of the drawings looked very similar but they were each unique. I was shocked to see that Alyssa and her BFF, Kylie, had almost the same "plans" and they don't even sit near each other in class. I guess it's a GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE kind of thing. They ended up right next to each other on the sidewalk though.

Our little artists got busy fast...

I wasn't able to stay long so tonight, Jason and I took her back to where her drawing was so that she could show us the finished project.

If you would like to go and see her art in person...it is directly in front of Chad's Jewelry on Front Street. It's fun to go and see all of the creativity brought to the City of Lynden. Many of these kids are true artists!

"Aunt of the Year" Award!

2010-10-07T21:54:00.000-07:00

I WON!! At least according to Wayne I did. He told me that I was the best auntie ever! I love that boy!!

Now, you might be wondering why I "won" this award...

I couldn't handle hearing that Wayne was going to miss his field trip because it was happening on a non-school day and on a day that both his daddy and mommy had to work. So, since I was having the boys any ways, I volunteered to take all 4 boys to the Everson Fire Hall today so Wayne could join his class on this special day.

Our plan was to be in Everson by 9:45 so that we could take a leisure walk from Tyler and Tanya's house (we needed to get the double stroller on our way for the little guys) to the fire hall. It was a nice plan but didn't totally work out. We ended up taking a very fast walk to the fire hall and were a couple of minutes late but didn't miss much. (We were only 3 minutes late, but Fire Fighter Ken had started promptly at 10:15.)

The boys had a great time watching one of the moms be dressed up like a firefighter. Fire Fighter Ken explained what each piece of the fire suit was for and why each piece is so important.

The next thing the class got to see was the BIG pumper truck. They were in complete AWE of this truck! There were so many neat things to look at. The best part was watching how the fire fighters get the ladders off of the truck. There is a lift that lowers the ladders. (I didn't even know how this happened. Did you?)

Fire Fighter Ken took the kids over to the Ambulance next. They all got to take turns sitting in the back of the ambulance. I'm so glad that I got a picture of Wayne because I totally missed Ethan in the back of the rig.

We eventually made it outside to see the big tanker truck...this is the truck that carries water to fires that don't have a fire hydrant nearby. (Okay, this part I already knew but the kids didn't...HA!) This is also the truck that leads the way to fires and aid calls when there is snow on the ground because the firefighters keep "JAWS", the snow plow, hooked up to the front of the tanker truck to clear the roads so they can get to where they need to go.

Towards the end of our time at the Fire Hall, Fire Fighter Ken asked for a couple of volunteers to demonstrate Stop, Drop and Roll. I was so proud of Wayne for being the first one to raise his hand and volunteer. Here he is, with 2 other boys, showing his class how to do it...

The boys all had a great time with Wayne's class. These two little guys did amazing...they were in such amazement of the big trucks they just sat staring at everything and everyone.

I am so glad that it worked out to participate in this fun activity. Thank you Tyler and Tanya for allowing me to spend time with your boys each week and for allowing me to take Wayne to his special field trip. I love your boys like they were my own!

Bump, Set, Spike!

2010-10-07T20:55:00.000-07:00

We have been running to practices and watching games. What an exciting time! This year has been better than last year for volleyball. Last year was Brenna's first year and she wasn't really sure what to do. This year, she got more serves over the net in her first game than she did the first half of last year. The girls are really starting to go for those crazy serves and not backing away from them as much. We are really hoping to find some camps for her to attend to help her improve even more. Brenna loves volleyball and we don't want her to not be playing through high school because we didn't get her as involved with it as we could have. So, if you know of any camps out there...LET US KNOW!!

Here are a few pictures from the past couple of weeks. At this point, we are 2-0!! Go team!

Game #1:

Game #2:

Practicing before the game started.

Wait for it...

Got it! And, YES! It went over!! Go Brenna!!

**Thank you Tanya, my sil, for the tips on camera settings and Photoshop tricks to get these pictures to even look this good. The lighting at the middle school is horrible so the pictures come out very yellow. At least this year I feel like I have some decent photos to scrap with!

A weekend away...

2010-10-06T17:18:00.000-07:00

Did you notice? I just added the Weekend to Remember promo videos on the left sidebar.

FamilyLife Weekend to Remember conferences are amazing! It's a great time to get away with your spouse to do a "tune-up" on things and re-connect. Or, maybe you are in a marriage that is at "rock bottom" and you are looking for a "last chance" event. Consider attending the conference!

When registering, mention our group "SCHEIB" and receive a huge savings! The group rate is $79 per person...the non-group rate is $159 per person.

We would love to answer any questions you might have.

He's been waiting for this day!

2010-09-14T14:32:00.000-07:00

Today could have come a whole lot faster for Ethan. He was been waiting for this day for weeks! For awhile, he was convinced this day would never come and that I was keeping him from it. What day is this day???

PRESCHOOL!

We have talking about Ethan going to a new Preschool this year for several months. He has been asking daily since the girls have returned to school..."is today the day?" "are you ever going to let me go mom?" We saw Ms. Janet one day (she is a good family friend and also one of Ethan's new teachers) and she was able to convince Ethan that it wasn't time for school yet because the classroom wasn't ready for any of the kids to be there. That helped for about a week. And then, cousin Wayne started preschool. Ethan didn't think it was fair at all.

Friday, we were able to visit Ethan's new class and see some of his classmates. He was a little overwhelmed but was even more ready for today to come.

So, before the cousins arrived this morning, we took our "back-to-school" picture. I just knew that with extra kiddos here, I would probably forget to take this picture.

When we arrived at school, he took off and acted like he didn't me there.

That is until we arrived to the classroom. Once we got there he wanted me by him and helping him. Of course, with this being a new preschool to our family, I wasn't sure of the arrival routine. Thankfully, Ms. Janet was there to assist and Ethan responded very well to her.

We started out with the "check-in". Ethan had to move his name from "home" to "school". Miss Gidget is in the picture here helping each of the kids.

Once he checked-in, we headed over to the hooks to hang up his backpack. He found his name and hung his backpack up in the corresponding section.

(Hey...looks like the reflectors on his backpack really do work! Glad the flash went off to help us check this minor detail. HA!)

Next, he got to choose a tub of "table toys" and then he needed to go find his name tag on a table so he knew where to sit.

He looked so big sitting there ready to go. I have no worries that his first day is going to be great!

Wayne is excited that he gets to ride with me to go get Ethan from school. We can't wait to hear about Ethan's day. It is going to be so fun having the two boys together and hearing about each of their Preschools and how they compare them.

Now that Ethan is back in Preschool, it's time to get a solid daily routine set around here. I still have not found a job and am trying to make the most of my time at home but these past couple of weeks, I have just been enjoying my time with Ethan

Cement Truck = 4 very excited boys!

2010-09-09T23:59:00.000-07:00

Today was "Auntie Day"! This is the day when Wayne, Weston and Wyatt get to come and spend the day with us while their daddy and mommy are at work.

Yesterday, the neighbors were having some work done at their house and they ended up tearing out their entire sidewalk. I kind of wondered when the hole was going to be filled in but didn't think much of it today. I was too busy caring for 4 boys to worry about what was going to be happening next door.

At about 11:30, I heard the beeping of a truck backing up. I remembered then about the project going on next door. I asked Ethan to go look out the window and to tell me what he saw. I didn't want to announce what I thought it was just in case it was just the garbage truck coming later than normal. Well, my initial thought was right! Ethan was quickly yelling, "It's a cement truck Mom...it's a cement truck." In no time at all, I had the three big boys up on the couch. I walked over with Wyatt and he instantly wanted in on the action. I couldn't resist getting this picture...

Yes, I realize that Weston has no pants on. He was in too big of a hurry to get back to playing after a diaper change. And, yes, I realize that Ethan is still in his pajamas at 11:30 in the morning. It's days like this that he rarely gets dressed. He loves to be in his pajamas and the days that the cousins are over are a good excuse to just stay in them. No worries though, he was dressed within a few hours of this picture because we had to go get Brenna from school. And, Weston had pants on by then as well!

Okay, back from that little rabbit trail. The boys had so much fun watching the guys outside working. I couldn't believe how long Wyatt actually stood there with the boys. No worries, once the picture was taken I was right behind Wyatt!

I wonder if there will be anything exciting happening in the neighborhood next week when the boys are back? I should see which neighbor I can convince to have the cement truck back...HAHA!

I love these days with the boys! It is so fun to watch them all interact together. It's always a great time for Ethan to be able to spend time with his "brothers from another mother".

Thanks Tyler and Tanya for letting us take care of your boys while you are at work. We love having them here!

First Day of School 2010

2010-09-01T23:24:00.000-07:00

Another year of school has started. This year wasn't like the past couple of years where both girls were going to Elementary and everything about the school was familiar. Nope! This year, we were starting our first day of school at the Middle School.

Brenna was so excited to get to school and get her year started. She has grown up so much this past year and we knew that she was ready but it was hard for this momma to believe that we were headed to middle school already. Where have the years gone?

Brenna's teacher this year is Mrs. Revak. And, yes! I got my annual picture of student and teacher on the first day of school. I'm sure this was the last year for this picture to happen.

It was hard to leave her at school and I am so glad that I wasn't the only momma walking her 6th grader to class and not wanting to leave. Another mom and I decided that we would walk out together. We just needed that extra support that our kiddos were growing up and they would be fine. There's just something scary about middle school.

When I picked Brenna up at the end of the day, she had nothing but great things to report. I was so thankful. Of course, it was a little weird for her, having to change classes and all but she really seemed to enjoy it. I just hope this continues all year!

Once I had Brenna at school, it was time to focus on Alyssa.

Alyssa is a 3rd grader this year and was finally headed down the "big kid" hall. Her teacher this year is Mrs. Boyd. Alyssa had been hoping all summer long that she would get Mrs. Boyd as a teacher and we had only found out a few days before school started that she in fact got her.

Mrs. Boyd is an amazing teacher and we are excited about our year with her! She just became a mommy earlier this year and realizes now just how special these types of pictures are. (I'm sure deep down though, she is dreading the day she has to start taking these pictures. HA!)

We got Alyssa settled in her desk, making sure she had all of her supplies where they needed to go. She was thrilled that not only was her BFF, Kylie, in her class but Mrs. Boyd had put their desks next to each other, not know that they were BFF's.

Alyssa was excited to get back to school and to start learning again. It is so nice to have a child who loves school so much that they "play" school all summer long. I am looking forward to watching Alyssa grow this year and am excited about all the things she will be learning. It was a great feeling having her come home after her first day filled with excitement and great reports on how things went!

Ethan and I headed for home once we had the girls at school. It was weird having just my little boy home with me, alone. We decided that our house was too quiet and met some friends down at McDonald's for some play time. From there, we decided to do a little school shopping for Ethan. I had picked up a few things while out shopping for the girls but wanted to have some special time shopping with Ethan and letting him pick out a couple of things. As we were getting in the van, he asked if he could invite Grammy to come along. I called Mom, she was just finishing with her hair appointment so we met her at her house after her appointment and we headed to Bellingham. Unfortunately, the trip wasn't as successful as I had hoped. I love getting things for Ethan at Old Navy and they were wiped out. There wasn't much on their racks in the boys section. And Target really wasn't much better. I guess we should have gone earlier...oh well! We found a couple of cute things.

A day at sea...

2010-08-29T23:08:00.000-07:00

Earlier in the week, Tyler called and told me he was taking Wayne crabbing on Saturday morning and wanted to know if we had three people from our family wanting to go along. I told him we would have no problem filling those seats.

So, at 8:00 Saturday morning, Tyler and Wayne pulled up and Jason, Ethan and Brenna headed out with them. I put Brenna in charge of pictures because I knew that the dads would be pre-occupied to take any pictures. She did get Uncle Tyler to take this one!

They had a great time even though some sea sickness was involved. Once the pots were set, they headed over to Lummi Island to let the kids get out and stretch a little. I'm sure Ethan and Wayne were in much need of some running around. They all had some snacks and waited for the time to come when they would head back out to pull up the pots. They put out six pots and this is one of them after being pulled into the boat.

Tyler measured each one to make sure they were keeping only legal sizes.

By the time they were finished pulling the pots, they had limited out and had a full ice chest and 5-gallon bucket.

I'm not sure what Uncle Tyler was thinking but he decided to let Brenna "drive" the boat a little on their way back in. I guess each of the boys helped Tyler "drive" also but Brenna and Jason weren't feeling very well when it was Ethan's turn so there is no picture of him "driving" the boat.

I'm so thankful for the beautiful weather they had. There had been a chance of rain but that burned off and they had blue skies!

Later that evening, we headed over to Tyler and Tanya's for crab and corn for dinner! You can't go crabbing and not eat any of it. We ended up with about 13 cups of crab from this trip in the freezer to be used for yummy meals throughout the fall and winter. Can't wait for crabbing season next year! We are going to have to get in on a trip again...hint, hint! Tyler, thanks for including our family on this little crabbing adventure. Next time, I will make sure my crew takes their Dramamine before they leave the house!

A trip to Harborview

2010-08-22T22:22:00.000-07:00

Saturday afternoon, we headed down to Harborview to visit Nathan. Nathan had to have another surgery on his leg to help get his hip and knee moving more. (For those of you who might be new to the blog...Nathan is a family friend who was in a serious motorcycle accident in April.)

When the kids heard that Nathan would be having this surgery they all requested that they get to go with us to visit. We didn't take them with us during Nathan's initial hospital stay and they were pretty bummed. They just didn't understand how serious things were then.

Nathan was so ready to see the kids...especially Ethan. They've become cartoon watchin' buddies.

"Aunt" Janice loved having the girls there.

It was great to be there to visit and to help pass the time. We were able to see Nathan stand and Ethan's mouth about dropped to the floor when he saw Nathan standing. I think Ethan had envisioned Nathan having to just lay in a hospital bed like before.

Eventually, Nathan had to use his special machine to help bend his knee and handed the controls over to Ethan. Nathan is one brave boy! He had shown Ethan the stop button and Ethan would push it when Nathan would tell him to. Ethan thought this was great! They also spent some time together playing Ethan's video games.

**Nathan...you mean the world to Ethan! God has done so many miracles with your body and we are praying for more!

Before leaving we had to get a picture of Nathan and the three kiddos.

I am so glad that we were able to make the trip down to Seattle. Yay, the drive was long, but it was so worth it just to see these four smiles!

A day at the fair!

2010-08-20T22:01:00.000-07:00

Thursday was our day to go to the Northwest Washington Fair here in Lynden! The kids were excited to go and see the animals and ride on the rides. Jason and I were more excited for the evening event! HA!!

We started our time out by going through the small animals barns. We like to get these out of the way first because the chickens are always so loud.

When we went through the cow barn we came upon a calf that had just been born. We had only missed it by a couple of minutes. Ethan was super excited to see a brand new calf.

The kids had a great time at the "Animal Experience". They were able to pet the animals and hold some of the smaller ones. Ethan's favorite was the donkey.

We eventually made it to the rides. This was our best year for rides yet. They had so much fun together and not once did we have any upset because they had to ride with someone they didn't know if they were all unable to fit in the same seat. The girls just took turns riding with Ethan.

I can't believe we let Ethan go on this next ride. Where has our baby gone? It just seemed wrong that he was able to ride on the "big kid" rides. Aagh!

We headed for home with the kids and got them started on dinner and settled until the neighbors picked them up for movie night at their house.

Jason and I couldn't get back to the fair fast enough. When we arrived back at the fair, we grabbed dinner and headed over to the grandstands to watch the horse shows. After the horse shows, we made our way back out to the Grandstand Entrance to wait in line for re-entrance for the Casting Crowns concert.

This was an amazing concert! We were so excited in March when we found out they were coming to the fair. We decided then that this would be our way of celebrating our 13th wedding anniversary. Our seats were ground level and we were in the 7th row. What a night!

Quick but fun camping trip

2010-08-18T21:29:00.000-07:00

Our poor girls weren't even home 24 hours before we headed out for a very short camping trip.

Jason headed to church Sunday morning to lead worship while the kids and I stayed home to finalize the packing. We pulled out around 1:00 and were off to spend a couple of nights at Beachwood, a campground near Birch Bay.

We got our tent up and held off on pulling much of anything else out before taking the kids to the pool for awhile.

Monday was our first full day camping and we were finally beginning to feel settled. And...we are now, officially a TWO tent family.

After breakfast on Monday morning, we headed down to the playground to get in some volleyball and time at the playground.

While at the playground, somebody was very sleepy and took a little nap while the kids played. (I wonder how long it will take for him to find this?)

We were eventually able to convince Ethan is leave the playground and headed back for some lunch. After lunch, it was time for some more swimming! We were all so hot and couldn't wait to get down to the pool.

After dinner, I received a very big surprise! The girls wanted to do the dishes. Brenna had been helping some already but to have them offer to do the entire job on their own was great! I did help with the bigger items and the knives but other than that, the girls were on their own.

Once we got everyone cleaned up for the night, it was time for s'mores! This is always the highlight of camping. We do s'mores with the kids, tuck them into their sleeping bags and then Jason and I get to sit out by the fire and just chat. It's my favorite time of the day!

Tuesday morning, we got up, had some breakfast and then started to pack up. It was a quick trip but great to have a couple of days away from the phones and computers and just be together as a family. It's all about making memories!

Bringing home the girls!

2010-08-15T21:11:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning was an exciting time! I headed down to Camp Gilead with Trisha and Paige to get the girls from camp.

When we pulled in to camp this is what we found...

The staff was attempting to find homes for all of the lost and found items that had been collected throughout the week. So thankful we had nothing in that pile.

And then walking up to the cabin to find our suitcases, sleeping bags, and who knows what...

We only briefly saw the three girls from a distance before they had to head off to breakfast. We decided to head up and meet them at the dining hall. They were so excited to see us and we couldn't wait to hug them!!

Before the campers were dismissed to their parents, they headed to the chapel for closing ceremonies. It was so neat to see the chapel full of kids, singing. They announced the winning teams, heard some final words from their pastor for the week, and watched the DVD put together of the weekly activities.

We pulled out of camp around 10:45 and stopped for an early lunch in a little town before getting to the freeway. The girls were out by the time we did get on the freeway (about 30 minutes from the town where we ate lunch), they were TIRED!

It was so good to get them both home and to be together again as a family. We missed them so much while they were gone but were so thankful that they were able to spend a week at camp, having fun with friends/cousins, meeting new friends, and most of all...learning more about our Lord and Savior. They were so excited to share with us everything that they had learned throughout the week.

1st sleepover!!

2010-08-13T22:28:00.000-07:00

Ethan has been begging to have Wayne over to spend the night. We decided the best time to do this would be while the girls were at camp. So, Thursday evening we picked Wayne up and brought him to our house for their 1st official sleepover. Now, just to clarify...these boys have spent the night at each others homes but only because the parents of one or the other were going away and needed a place for the boys. This sleepover was simply "just because"!

We met Wayne at his other aunt's house and to say that Ethan and Wayne were excited is an understatement.

Once we got back to our house, these two boys played and played and played. By the end of the evening, they were tired and dirty. So, before bed, they had bath time and I had water all over my floor. Oh well! I'm glad they were having fun!!

After bath, we had a snack and then it was off to bed. These boys were so excited to be sleeping in the tent (in the living room).

Yes, the boys have the same pajamas and insisted on being twins. I'm so glad that I had just washed Ethan's!

Once we had them in the tent we had quite a bit of lantern fun going on in the tent.

Eventually, I ended up reading them a story and then snuggling with each of them to get them to fall asleep.
Before going to bed myself, I went to check on the boys and this is what I found.

Crazy boys!! I'm just thrilled that they slept all night!

For breakfast in the morning, we had waffles

Thankfully the weather had started to get nicer and the boys were able to go out and play in swimming pool. They had so much fun out there together.

Ethan loved having Wayne here! The boys played so well and I love watching them interact with each other. Ethan is really hoping Wayne can come for another sleep over soon.

Down with the swingset

2010-08-11T22:22:00.000-07:00

We have really noticed this summer that the structure of our swing set was really swaying while the kids would play on it. We decided that it was time to bring it down.

It was sad to watch it come down. It's yet another thing to remind me that our kids are growing. They have had so much fun on this swing set. We thought it would be best to take the swing set down while the girls were at camp. This way, there would be no discussion about it. Ethan was a little bummed at first but quickly got over it.

Here is Jason separating the sections.

I wonder how long it will take for the girls to notice?

A week of camp!

2010-08-10T22:16:00.000-07:00

We spent this last weekend packing the two girls and getting them ready for a week of camp.

The last two summers, Brenna has gone with her BFF to Camp Gilead in Carnation, WA...about 20 minutes east of Monroe. This year, we decided that we would send Alyssa along with Brenna and her BFF. It's a year earlier than we sent Brenna but decided that if they were in the same cabin she would be fine. We also requested to have a counselor that attends our church so we felt even better about sending her. Our niece Brenna was able to join them and go as Alyssa's friend. The girls were so excited to get to camp!

We left just after 7:00 Monday morning and arrived at camp around 9:30. We got the girls settled into their cabin.

Brenna, our niece, went for the top bunk and Alyssa decided that wanted a bottom bunk for the week. She sleeps on the top bunk at home all the time so she was wanting something a little different I guess.

Brenna and her BFF went to the opposite end of the cabin so they could still feel like they had their own space and weren't "babysitting". And, of course, they went for the set of top bunks with no divider...this could only mean trouble, HA!

We left Brenna and EmmaRae up at the cabins and took the two new campers, Alyssa and Brenna, for a tour of the camp. We stopped for a quick picture.

They were pretty excited to be wearing their new sweatshirts that they got that morning. I'm sure they are going to have a blast this week.

Before leaving, we got one last picture of our girls.

It's going to be a long week for Ethan. He is already missing his sisters. We can't wait to see the girls on Monday and to hear all about their week. We are checking the camp website daily for pictures of the the activities they are doing. (If you click on the link to the pictures, make sure you choose Junior Camp #2 in the Summer 2010 section. You will have to choose Next Screen on the bottom right to find Junior Camp #2.)

I am so glad that the girls had this opportunity to attend camp. It's weird that this is the only summer that they will be there together. Next year, Brenna will be attending Teen Camp...aagh, weird!

I would give anything for the kids to be able to attend camp each summer. It is such a great time of growth for them spiritually and in maturity. I attended this same camp while growing up from 3rd grade - 12th grade. I pray that our kiddos will be able to do the same.

I am reminded of some amazing memories every time we pull up to camp. Saturday can't come fast enough!

From the park to the river

2010-08-05T21:24:00.000-07:00

After spending the first half of the afternoon at the park, we didn't even make it in the door at home and our phone was ringing. Brenna quickly answered it and was talking with Wayne. They had a short conversation before he was wanting to talk to Auntie. He had a question for me. He wanted to know if the kids could go to his house and swim and if I would have coffee with his mommy. I told him we would be there soon. We chatted a little more and then Tanya took the phone from him. During our conversation, we discovered that Wayne had invited us over without Tyler and Tanya knowing about it. We got a good laugh and decided that Wayne actually had a great idea. However, we decided that taking the kids down to the swimming hole at the river would be a lot more fun for them. Tyler and Tanya live across the street from Riverside Park so it's very convenient. The kids all know that our time of fun always starts out with a picture.

Once we got the best picture we knew we would get, we headed down to the river. It took our kids a few minutes to actually grasp that this was safe to do and that it wasn't deep. Wayne and Weston had been to the swim hole before so they knew to just run in.

Before we knew it, the kids were all in the water and having a blast!

Of course, this auntie made sure that Wyatt was able to join in the fun. We went from this...

to this!

The girls started carrying logs over to where we were to try and ride them. However, the water wasn't quite deep enough. With both girls sitting on the log, they bottomed out.

And to make sure we fulfilled all of our plans the moms made sure we had our coffee in hand!

While we were all playing, we had a surprise visitor! Tyler decided to ride his bike over.

I thought I was just giving him a hard time when I asked him if he had to dust the bike off. Little did I know that he really did have to dust it off and not only that, he had to pump up the tires. The bike eventually ended up in the swim hole for a little bath. Not exactly the type of water I would use to wash something off with but whatever works I guess. The kids thought Uncle Tyler was pretty funny when he attempted to actually ride the bike through the swim hole. That was one workout I was not willing to do.

The girls decided that it would be fun to cover themselves in river mud. We teased them that they had their own spa going. Uncle Tyler tried to bribe them with $5 each if they would cover their faces but they didn't go for it. I was sooo happy that they didn't go for the idea.

Alyssa found the best mud and had the best coverage. It amazes me at how this girl can go from being such a princess to getting down and dirty. These kids had so much mud on them.

When we got back to Tyler and Tanya's we sprayed each of the kids off. It's a good thing they have warm water connected to their outside hose because spraying each child off took awhile. I could not have imagined spraying them with cold water.

Thank you Wayne for thinking of this great idea and for inviting us over! It was a wonderful day spent with the kids! They were all completely worn out by bedtime.

I'm hoping for a few more days like this before school starts. This summer has gone so fast and our days get filled with babysitting and other stuff. It's all great stuff but I don't want to miss out on the days with just the kids at home with me, or where ever we decide to spend our time. They are all growing so fast. I still can't believe that Brenna starts Middle School this year. She has become such a beautiful young lady!

Just Mom and her kiddos!

2010-08-05T20:52:00.000-07:00

The kids have been waiting for a day of no extra kiddos and an empty calendar. Today was that day! I had been promising the kids a day at Hovander Park, or at least a couple of hours.

We packed our lunch and blanket and headed out just before lunch time. The kids had fun packing some of their favorite things to eat. Once we arrived at Hovander, we found a nice spot under the trees to have lunch.

After lunch, the kids ventured up the to the top of the tower.

Brenna was such a trooper trying to make it so I could see her while holding Ethan up so that I could see him also. She has become such an amazing help and very protective of her little brother. I'm loving it!

After the tower, we walked over to the barns to check things out and then spent a lot of time over by the animals. Ethan could have spent all day there.

After vising the animals, we went over the playground and then found another tractor to play on. Ethan enjoyed being on the tractors so much! He would have loved it if I would have towed one of those tractors home with us.

We eventually made it over to the flower garden and I let Brenna loose with the camera. She has really taken an interest in photographing flowers. It's been fun to watch this interest grow. I think Aunt Tanya may have someone to join her in the photography world some time soon. Here are just a few of the pictures that she took that day.

It was nice to spend the afternoon with the kids. Our summer has been so busy and I had been feeling really bad that they hadn't had a day with just their momma. I'm so glad the weather was nice and we could just get away.

We were all so warm when we left. I surprised them with ice cream cones from McDonalds on the way home.

Hot Sunny Days = Swimming Pool Fun!

2010-07-28T14:26:00.000-07:00

Today has got to be one of the funnest days. We have been in our pool a lot over the past couple of weeks but today tops it! Today, we have Dillon (our friend) and the three boys (Wayne, Weston and Wyatt). Everyone was wanting to go in the pool first thing this morning but I was able to hold them off until after lunch. Once they were finished eating, they all had swimsuits on and were heading out the door. We got sunscreen on everyone, the pool cover off and ladder in, and let them loose.

I was able to catch this photo before they got too wild.

They all had tons of fun jumping off the ladder and seeing who could make the biggest splash.

These two were having a blast in the pool...can you tell?!

Brenna was amazing with Weston! I was a little nervous about putting him the pool with the big kids. We had all talked about how we needed to be safe with the little ones and needed to watch out for them. Brenna took it to heart and protected Weston from the big kids. She would swim around with him on her back and when he was ready to get out, she was right there with him. What a girl! She is making her momma proud!!

I love the fact that Brenna couldn't get his arm floaties off so she just wrapped him in the towel with them on. He looks like he's ready for some football!

Wyatt was amazing! He just hung out on the grass, crawling around checking things out.

He found the cord for the pool pump and that seemed to keep him occupied for a little while. Eventually, we decided that he needed to be a part of this pool party also! We couldn't just let him sit and watch the big kids.

He loved dangling his toes in the water and at one point decided that he wanted to splash a little with his hands. It was so cute!!

I love how Wayne was right there making sure Auntie wasn't going to let Wyatt fall in. He kept saying, "He is too little to swim Auntie." He is such a great big brother!

I'm so thankful for the fun that we can have with our friends and cousins. I'm looking forward to many more days of this!!

The King of Worms

2010-07-25T22:11:00.000-07:00

So, Ethan spent some time over at Uncle Tyler and Aunt Tanya's on Saturday. Go here to read about his day. Only boys would do something like this!

So glad he could go and spend a day with boys and have a break from his sisters. He really loves to be the 4th Silves boy!

A noise I never like to hear...

2010-07-15T08:29:00.000-07:00

At 12:40 am I was awoken by a sound that I always dread hearing coming from Ethan's room...the sound of croup. I ran to his room and he was crying and making all sorts of unpleasant noises while breathing along with a cough that sounded like it ripping it throat to pieces. I picked him up, grabbed my bathrobe and a cold glass of water for Ethan, and ran for the front door. Thankfully it was a cool night with a breeze. I had him start taking deep breaths. The hardest part was that he was so upset that he might have to go to ER and he was crying so loud that we couldn't stay outside long. (His crying and harsh cough were echoing throughout the neighborhood. Anyone with their windows open, heard him!)

We eventually made our way back inside to the house only to go sit in a very steamy bathroom. By now, Jason was awake and fully aware of what was happening and took Ethan into the bathroom so I could get a few other things. We both got the "gut feeling" that he was going to need something other than the cold/steam treatments to help get him through this. Thankfully, our doctor had given us the medication to keep on hand. I just knew that if I didn't get it in him we would be on our way to ER. So, I crushed the 5 little pills scooped them up with yogurt and fed Ethan what he thought was yogurt. He ate it like a champ. I took over with Ethan so Jason could at least try to go back to sleep...he had to be up early for work.

5 minutes in that bathroom and I was nothing but a sweaty mess but it's worth it for my baby to be able to breath! Ethan kept saying over and over, "Mommy, I don't think this is a good plan. I just want to go to bed. I just want to feel better." I tried to convince him that Mommy's plan was going to work. And then he says, "Mommy, you just need to give me my medicine. That's what the doctor would do." I informed him that when he ate his two bites of yogurt that the medicine was hiding on the spoon and that he already took his medicine, we just needed a few more minutes for it to start working. His eyes got big, he wrapped his arms around me and said, "Thank you mommy, thank you! Now can I go to bed." He didn't like to hear that we had a few more minutes in that very warm and steamy bathroom and then had to go back outside.

Things eventually settled down enough after our second visit outside for me to feel comfortable putting him back to bed. I pulled out the humidifier and have had that going all night. Now, I get to call the doctor's office, of course our doc is out on vacation, and explain everything and let them know that we will be needing another prescription for the medication. I just hope that our nurse is in the office and that I can talk to her. She will be able to explain to the on-call that we don't need to be seen for this prescription.

So much for growing out of croup by age 5! (Every doctor we have seen for croup has told us, "Once he's 5, he should be grown out of this." Not Ethan!) I am really hoping that tonight will be uneventful and that we will all get some good sleep. Too bad there's no time for a nap today.

It's a beautiful day!

2010-07-14T16:36:00.000-07:00

Yes, it is indeed! After getting a few things done around the house this morning and then a trip to the library and a few errands here in town, we are spending our afternoon in the sun! I decided that sitting in the sun sounded a whole lot better than vacuuming...a chore that did not get done this morning. It has been awhile since I have just gone out to SIT in the sun. I put on my cute little sun dress and headed out with the laptop. However, the glare was so bad that I couldn't see the screen without draping a towel over my head and the laptop. So, after a few minutes of online "shopping" with Brenna, I decided to shut the computer down and just enjoy being outside listening to the kids play in and out of the pool while I did nothing! It felt so good!!

Dillon, our extra for the summer, and Alyssa are currently playing with a ladybug. I remember being a kid and playing with ladybugs. Now, I can't stand to feel them crawling on me. Ethan has a bug farm that they have this ladybug in. It is kind of fun to watch it crawl around all the different obstacles.

Okay, it's back out to my recliner and the sunshine. I came inside for a little break and something cold to drink. Good thing it's pizza for dinner tonight...I really didn't want to turn on my oven.

Happy sunning!

Summer time fun!

2010-07-12T00:05:00.000-07:00

So, I realized that I have no pictures to go with this post...oops!

With the heat that we had this past week, and I'm not complaining, we spent a lot of time either in the swimming pool or having water fights.

I love that we have neighbors with kids and that they all play so well together! One set has a pool like ours so the kids go back and forth between the two pools. Thankfully we each have the same rules when it comes to the swimming pools so it's easy to transition between the two. I think the best part about the two pools is that Alisha and I both get a chance to enjoy the pool to ourselves while the kids are at "the other pool". So, when they are here, Alisha is laying out in their pool and when the kids are there, I'm in ours! LOVE IT!

We have worked really hard this week to tidy up the house each night so that we aren't spending any play time having to clean the house.

I think yesterday was the best day of the whole week! It may not have been the hottest day of the week but the events of the day made it the best.

As I mentioned earlier, the kids were doing their usual back and forth between the pools between our house and the Ramermans. At about 5:00, Alyssa came running home with the biggest smile on her face. "Jeff and Alisha want us all over for hot dogs. Can we PLEASSSSSE go?" Of course, we didn't turn this down. We love spending time with the Ramermans and the Seigmans but the Seigman kids have all been sick. Hoping they will be well soon. Any way, I quickly started going through the cupboards and refrigerate. Pulling out chips, fruit, anything that I could find to take. We was a great spur of the moment dinner! The kids barely finished dinner and they were heading back to the pools.

By the end of the night we were all over in our yard roasting marshmallows and making s'mores. We introduced the Ramerman family to making s'mores with Recess Peanut Butter Cups. I hear these are now on their shopping list!

We will definitely be doing this again! The kids all had fun, the adults had fun. We are so thankful for neighbors that we can call friends!

**I'll try to do better at getting pictures of this week's summer time fun!**

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-11T23:38:00.000-07:00

This year, Mom and Duane invited opened up their place out at Birch Bay Leisure Park to anyone who wanted to stop by. So, once Jason got home from work, we loaded up and headed out. The girls swam (for about 10 minutes...it was cold and raining) and the kids played with Paige and my cousin's little girl, Samantha.

It was mainly family from the Silves and Groen families. We all had a great time just hanging out and chatting!

Duane barbecued burgers for everyone and then those of us that were there all brought salads or whatever else it was that we wanted to share that day. We had quite the spread of food!

The girls didn't really leave Paige's side, especially Miss Alyssa!

Once dinner was cleaned up, some of us walked down to the beach. We had fun trying to get family pictures and pictures of the kids. The kids had more fun searching for "treasures" to bring home.

Once we got back to the beach house, Brenna was in the kitchen helping Grammy get a dessert ready. Grammy put her in charge of decorating. She was suppose to create a flag out of berries. She looks so big here!

We had to get a picture of the dessert before serving it. I think she did a great job!

It was a great day to just sit and relax. We ended up going home before the fireworks started down at the beach. Jason had to get up very early and was exhausted! Thankfully, we have neighbors that put on a pretty good show so the kids didn't miss out on seeing any of the big fireworks. We got home and unloaded the van and then sat out in our front yard and watched the few different "shows" going on around the neighborhood.

Happy Birthday Ethan!

2010-07-11T23:21:00.000-07:00

Saturday, July 3rd, our baby officially turned 5!

I have a tradition of waking our kids up on their birthdays and videoing them while singing happy birthday. The kids are all at a point now where they expect this the morning of their birthday so it's really not as mean as it sounds. Sometimes, they are laying there just waiting for me to come in.

We celebrated with a few of Ethan's little buddies the morning of his birthday. He was so excited to have his friends here. The boys immediately started playing with the Legos that Ethan had received the night before.

Once the boys became comfortable in our home, they were ready to get started. We had Ethan start with opening his gifts from his friends. They were all so cute to watch as they sat there watching Ethan open the gift that they brought. We have a tradition in our home with the friend parties. The birthday child sits with the friend that gave them the gift they are opening and then we take a picture of the two together with the gift. It's fun to look back and to see how each of our kids and their friends have grown over the years.

After gifts, we gathered a few things and took the boys out to the garage for some pinata' fun. Three boys blinded with a metal bat, let's just say...SCARY! Thankfully, I had Brenna and Alyssa there to help remind the boys that we all needed to stand back while the one blind folded swung the bat at the pinata'. They had so much fun doing this!

We collected all of the candy and moved back into the house for cake and ice cream. I wasn't sure how singing would go with the boys...not all boys like to sing. However, these boys did not hold back and "belted" out Happy Birthday. I loved it!

They loved the cupcakes and ice cream...some left the evidence on their faces! :)

The weather was so nice so we headed outside after they finished their cupcakes and ice cream and had some fun with bubbles. We pulled out the Bubble Rocket that Ethan had received the night before from Uncle Ryan and Auntie April. It was a huge hit with all of the boys.

The boys headed home around noon and I was able to get everything picked up and dishes done before Jason was home from work that afternoon. (Yes, my dear husband has been working 6 days a week, which means working on Saturdays.)

We took time in the afternoon to celebrate Ethan's birthday with just the five of us. The girls had each picked out gifts for Ethan. It's neat to see how they have really started to put thought into the gifts they get for people, especially for their siblings!

Alyssa gave Ethan a Buzz Lightyear...yes, Toy Story characters are his new favorite toys! It's fun to watch how his imagination go so many new directions now that he has seen the movie!

Brenna gave Ethan a set of Crayola 3D Sidewalk Chalk.

And, from Daddy and Mommy, Ethan received some fun things! We gave him a new Lego set, Toy Story cereal, a Veggie Tales Bible with a Veggie Tales bag and coloring book. And then, he got his new tent! He use to have a little "one man" tent but one of the poles broke. We have searched and searched for a replacement pole and have not been able to find one. Ethan loves having a tent because he can close the door on it and have a place of his own. We decided that we would just get him a new one for his birthday and he was so surprised! Now that Daddy is finished working weekends, or we are hoping he is, Ethan and Daddy will have camp outs in the backyard. Ethan can not wait for this!

We set the tent up in the living room so that we could sleep in it. However, he only lasted for about 30 minutes before deciding to go sleep in his own bed.

At least he looked cute in it!

Later that evening, we headed over to Uncle Deryl and Aunt Shari's for dinner with the extended Groen family. They have a beautiful new home and a great yard! It was fun to have everyone together. They were all so sweet and sang Happy Birthday to Ethan...thank you Aunt Tanya. She tricked Ethan into standing on a chair and then told everyone that it was his birthday and that's when they all started to sing. The poor boy was so embarrassed but he did very well!

Our baby turns 5!

2010-07-11T22:33:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that it's been 5 years already since God blessed our family with a beautiful baby boy. We never imagined our family changing as much as it has with this little guy now a part of our family. He has brought a whole new level of energy to our lives and we wouldn't change it for anything.

Friday, July 2nd, we celebrated with family and friends.

"Aunt" Janice and Nathan came before the party to give Ethan his gift. (I have to add...this was Nathan's first time to our house since his accident! We were so thrilled to have him walk through our front door!! Okay, back to party stuff!) "Aunt" Janice took care of "something" outside while the rest of us kept Ethan busy. Aunt Tanya was getting set up with her camera for pictures of the most exciting moment. (Thank you Aunt Tanya!!)

Once "Aunt" Janice joined us in the house, they gave Ethan his gift. He pulled out a box that had a picture of the real gift on it but inside was only part of the gift. Nathan had fun tricking Ethan for a bit but eventually we convinced him that he needed to look at at the swimming pool.

"Aunt" Janice and Uncle Tyler had put the actual gift in the pool. Nathan made sure it was inflated and ready to go..."Thank you Nathan!!" Ethan was so excited when we saw his new Pirate Ship. He wanted to be in the pool so bad playing. Uncle Tyler went ahead and put him on the ship but mommy had one request, "Please stay dry." Eventually, Wayne made it on the ship with Ethan and they had a little bit of fun. After a short time on the ship, we got them off and onto dry land!

Ethan gave big birthday, thank you hugs to "Aunt" Janice and Nathan and then they had to leave but the fun did not end!

Uncle Tyler ended up in the middle of a big wrestling match. He better watch out because eventually, Wayne, Weston and Ethan are going to be big enough to actually take him down. It was so fun to watch them play. The best part of the whole ordeal was watching Paige's reaction. She wasn't too sure of what was going on. Wyatt, he just crawled around watching all the action.

We eventually got started with the birthday party. He received so many wonderful gifts.

I had a very hard time getting the candles lit because the wind had picked up a little. Once I got them all lit, we had to sing Happy Birthday pretty quickly. I don't know that I've ever sang that song so quickly. We were all laughing by the end of it!

It was a great night of fellowship with people who love Ethan and were excited to celebrate with him. He has so many special people in his life. Thank you to those of you who were at the party for coming and celebrating with him!

Cohen

2010-06-30T21:54:00.000-07:00

This precious baby boy was born with several heart issues and after several surgeries within a few short days he went to be with Jesus.

Thursday, July 1st his Daddy and Mommy will be burying him. Please remember to pray for them and the extended family during this very difficult time.

To read the adventure this family has been on click here http://www.inthiswonderfullife.com/

**More Scheib family updates to come soon...sorry for the lack of blogging!

A day of surprises!

2010-06-28T22:00:00.000-07:00

Saturday, June 26th was a day full of surprises! Jason had worked from 6 until 2. The kids and I met him at work and then we went to go do what the kids thought were some errands. Jason dropped me off at the front doors of the mall and then went to find a parking spot. I met him and the kids back at the van and told Jason our secret plans were a go! The kids gave us funny looks and then we told them they needed to get out of the van because we were going to see Toy Story 3. I wish I had been able to record their reactions. They were totally surprised and had no idea that we were even thinking about doing this.

Once we got our tickets, pop and popcorn, we made our way to the theater. The movie itself was great! While sitting there, I realized that this was the first movie that the five of us had been to together. We had Ethan on one of those booster seats that they offer, which I highly recommend to those of you with small children and thinking about taking them to the theater. Any ways, with Ethan sitting on the booster, it gave me a view of what things are going to look like in a few years. It was scary and exciting all at the same time. The kids are growing so fast and I don't want to forget these moments together as a family.

After the movie, I got a call from my "sister from the other mister" (Tanya, my sis-in-law). She and Tyler were taking the boys up to Sumas later that evening and was hoping that our family would join them. After a little discussion, Jason and I decided that because he had been up so early all week and that morning, it would be best for him to go to bed and miss the fireworks. He gave me the go ahead to take the kids up and enjoy the fireworks display. I was bummed that he wouldn't be able to join us but the kids were so excited...and that's an understatment.

We eventually made it home from Bellingham and had a couple of hours before the kids and I needed to load up and meet up with Tyler and Tanya. I spent my time getting snacks ready and making up the back of the van for the kids to lay in while watching the fireworks.

We made it to Sumas and had everyone settled with snacks by 9:00.

Ethan went back and forth between our van and Tyler and Tanya's Denali.

Uncle Tyler had purchased some amazing Kettle Corn. The kids loved it and Tanya and I had a hard time keeping our hands out of the bag. HA!

Needless to say, the fireworks were a great way to end this very fun day. It was a late night for the kiddos but they all did great and we look forward to doing this again!

Field Day 2010!

2010-06-17T23:56:00.000-07:00

We love Field Day around here! It usually always marks the last full day of school.

I took the girls to school and then dropped Ethan off at my mom's for the day. From there I headed back to the school to get my assignment for Session #1...the 4th & 5th graders. It was kind of a sad morning because this was Brenna's last field day.

I love that our school rents these really cool inflatables for field day. We usually have 5 or 6 of them there and then the rest of the activities are obstacle courses and games that our PE teacher comes up with. The big kids don't have to do any kind of rotation through the activities. It's a free for all...however, they are encouraged to do each activity at least once.

This was a new inflatable for us this year...the Rat Race. It was harder than it looked. I raced Brenna through it and came out with a "rug" burn on my elbow...I must have rubbed along the stitching some where. I forgot how bad those things hurt.

The other favorite for the kids is the Bungee Pull. The kids put harnessed on a harness and then are clipped on to a bungee cord. The goal is to see how far you can stretch that cord and place a Velcro marker along the upper side edges. The kids love to see who can their markers the furthest.

Alyssa's class was in the second session.

This was the first year that the 2nd & 3rd graders had a free for all. They usually go around to each station with their class. The kids loved it! These kids seemed to be a little bit better with making sure they went to each station and boy was I glad! My friend Janet and I were at the "Tractor Roll". The kids climb into big cardboard boxes and crawl in them to move the box down the field. This isn't a real popular station with the kids so we were glad to see the kids making sure they hit all of the stations.

Later in the day, I went back to field day to see Brenna again. She had been chosen to be a peer student and help with the Kindergarten & 1st grade session. We were so proud of her for being chosen to do this. She earned this, and didn't know it, from excellent behavior and great homework habits throughout the year! Way to go Brenna. She had a lot of fun helping the younger kids!

Later that evening, the PTA held our annual Family Fun Night. They provide dinner and all of the inflatables are up for the kids to play on one more time. Alyssa was so good about making sure Ethan got to go on the inflatables. She and Kylie took him any where he wanted to go. Such sweet girls! Here's Alyssa getting ready to come down the slide part of the Rat Race. Of course, Kylie was racing them through and I have them stop for a pictures..."Way to go Mom!"

All in all, it was a great end to the school year! The girls had to go Tuesday for a half day and since I was the room mom for Alyssa's class this year, I made sure we ended with a little celebration. I showed up around 12:30 with Popsicles for the kids and they were all out of school by 1:10!!

We are ready to start summer vacation and are hoping the sun decides to shine for more than one day at a time.

We set the pool up on Monday, because it was such a gorgeous day, and had it filling with water while we were at Family Fun Night. We finished filling it on Tuesday but haven't been able to even attempt to get in it because the weather got cold and rainy again. :( Here's hoping for some warm weather...and soon!

Have you given up on me?

2010-06-14T23:01:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in posts. I can't believe its' already the middle of June. Where has the time gone?

It's been a little busy around here with all of the "end of the year" activities and stuff.

Last Friday was Alyssa's 2nd grade Pioneer Cookout. I was so grateful that it worked out for me to be able to attend this! It had been raining all morning so I thought for sure we were in for a very wet cookout. Thankfully the rain had pretty much stopped by 11:00 when we were starting the fires. (There were four firepits that were brought to the school for this special day.) By 11:30 the kids were outside ready to roast hot dogs. Our teachers do a great job at organizing this event and provided chips and pop to go along with the hot dogs.

Here's Alyssa with Kylie and a few of their classmates...we paired the kids up to make the roasting go faster...2 hot dogs per stick!

It got a little too smokey for the girls so they got creative with their bandannas.

We had laid blankets out on the sidewalks, which were undercover, to help keep them a little dry. It wasn't raining at this point but it was very muddy!

Once the kids were finished with lunch, they were able to roast marshmallows and make s'mores! A cookout is not complete without s'mores. Although, I'm guessing the Pioneers did not have the pleasure of making s'mores. There were so many parents there for this activity which helped make the work light for all of us. We had everything cleaned up within about 10 minutes.

More end of year stuff to come!

A special birthday celebration!

2010-06-03T23:12:00.000-07:00

Update 6/20/10...So, it was brought to my attention that I made a typo. And, of course, the birthday boy himself had to be the one to catch this. Nathan, I am so sorry!! I know you are 22, not 23. I obviously did not proof my typing. "Aunt" Tanya promises to not make this mistake again! :)

Today was Nathan's ~~23rd~~ 22nd birthday! This called for a special celebration!

God spared Nathan's life from a very serious motorcycle accident just over 6 weeks ago. Ethan has been very concerned about his Nay-Nay ever since the accident and would like to spend more time than he's been able to with his Nay-Nay. So, when I told Ethan that it was Nathan's birthday he made sure that he was going to be able to see him! He wanted to take his Nay-Nay a birthday donut.

I had arranged with Janice earlier for this little visit to we didn't show up at the house while Nathan was away at Physical Therapy.

When we get to the Korthuis home, Ethan goes to Nathan's bedside and this is what Janice and I find...

Notice Ethan isn't looking at the camera...he is too busy watching cartoons! Nathan is so good about immediately finding a cartoon show for the two of them to watch together.

Once we got the boys settled, we brought in the needed items to start this celebration.

We left the boys to eat their donuts and Janice and I headed out to the kitchen for coffee, donuts and some chat time.

I am so thankful that Nathan loves spending time with Ethan as much as Ethan loves to spend time with him. The sad part is is that we haven't been able to do this as much as I had hoped. Between Nathan's PT appts. and Dr. appts. and the crazy schedule of the Scheib family, we just haven't been able to make the two schedules line up.

Here's hoping for another visit soon!

...a restful ending and the trip home.

2010-06-02T19:24:00.000-07:00

So Sunday we all got sleep in! I didn't get out of bed until 9:30...it felt great! We just sat around all day doing nothing. I spent a little time out in the sun, did some reading, was on the computer, colored with Grace, and just rested!

On Monday, we had Becky's parents (I claim them as my second set of parents!), Frank and Wanda, Becky's Grandma Thompson, and also Becky's cousin, Kristin, and her family over for lunch. It was a very relaxing morning and afternoon. It was nice to spend a good chunk of time with Frank and Wanda. We had spent a little time here and there with them but not as much as we had hoped for because of all the icky sick bugs floating around.

Monday night was spent making sure I had everything packed and ready to go...or as much as I could pack at the time any way.

Tuesday morning I was up bright and early and caught the 9:15 shuttle from Prescott Valley down to the Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix. Our driver got us there in record time. It was a good thing too! I was riding with a bunch of retired people and those women needed to back off on the perfume! I thought I was going to get sick from the strong smell.

I was so amazed at quickly I was getting through ticketing and security and then the delay came...I kept setting off the security alarm. I was sure to not wear any jewelry, other than my wedding ring, and I had nothing in my pockets. We could not figure out what it was. So, after the third time of setting it off I was asked to step into the holding area. They called for a female security guard and then it all began! I was taken to a different area...thankfully with all of my stuff that had gone through the belt...and they used the wand. Again, it kept going off. We ended up determining that Victoria Secrets needs to use a lighter gauge wire for their under wire bras! I will be sure to thank them the next time I'm in there. Go figure... my bra set off the alarm. The funny thing is, I wore the exact same bra but different color on the way to Arizona. So, my next question is... are the sensors in Arizona just stronger than the ones in Seattle? Makes me wonder!

When I finally arrived in Seattle, Jason was already there waiting for me. It was so good to see him. We stopped for dinner in Lynnwood. The traffic was starting to get heavy so we decided we would rather sit and eat dinner than sit on the freeway starving. It was good to have time for just the two of us to chat about our weeks before getting to the kids.

The kids were all at my mom's place and were thrilled to see me when I walked in. The girls were hanging on me and Ethan was being a "pill". He just looked at me and said hi and continued with the computer game he was playing. I got a good "love" from him later!

We got everyone home just before 9:00 and I was so thankful to be able to finally crawl into my own bed! I slept great! However, it was very hard to get up this morning!

Not exactly what I was expecting...

2010-05-29T23:05:00.000-07:00

Well, the past couple of days hasn't been exactly what I expected for my vacation but I'm so glad that I've been here and have been able to help!

Thursday morning, my dear friend's husband got very sick with the flu. This poor guy has a bread route that he does and has to deliver to grocery stores and restaurants about 90 minutes away from home. There was no way the route was getting done. So, Becky and I loaded Gracie up in the van and headed for the bread depot to meet a guy so that he could at least deliver the buns to McDonalds and Burger King. Once we got home, we finished making the grocery list and headed to town to do a few errands. By that evening, Gracie got sick...she had been sick earlier in the week before I arrived and we figure she just ate the wrong things too early for her little body.

Yesterday, Friday, Chuck was well enough to go to work and took their son, Robert, along with him to help. They were able to get a good chunk delivered but had to quit early because Sheffy was graduating last night. While they were working, Becky and I stayed home all day with Gracie cleaning everything from those who had been sick. (I'm so glad I was here to help. My poor friend is exhausted!) I was also able to get some good tanning time in!!

It was nice to just be able to sit outside and enjoy the warm weather because from what I hear from my family, it's cold and raining at home. Yuck!

Friday evening was graduation for Sheffy and I am so glad that I was able to attend. Sheffy's class had about 35 graduates. She attended a college prep school.

...this is Gracie and I before graduation. She was starting to feel so much better!

...Sheffy and Chuck after graduation...

Isn't she a beautiful girl! It has been great spending time with Sheffy and getting to know her better. She got a laptop for graduation so this afternoon, she and I spent time together getting things set up!

Speaking of today, Becky got a call at 6:30 this morning. Of course, I was thinking it was someone calling with a very early birthday wish...HAPPY BIRTHDAY BECKY!! I was wrong. It was Chuck, he was feeling worse than last night and there was a ton of bread to be stocked because of the holiday weekend. He was feeling bad for asking because he knew that I was here to be spending time with Becky but he desperately needed our help. So, Becky came in to my "room" and told me the situation. Of course, I was totally willing to go and help. That's what I do...help in the time of need. So, we left the house by 7:40 and headed for Sedona...a 90 minute drive. Sheffy came along for the extra help and she's stocked the bread at the grocery stores before so we desperately needed her help! We were able to get it all completed and headed for home by noon. It was actually kind of fun. The three of us girls had some good laughs. I was joking with Chuck and Becky that I've now earned my room and board and I have something new to add to my resume.

Tonight, Becky and I took Gracie to In-N-Out for dinner. Chuck was home in bed and Sheffy and Robert both had to work. So, it was just the three of us.

I have been craving In-N-Out since I have been here. I bet looking at this picture, you are wishing you were here with me! :) (The most amazing cheeseburger, the best french fries, and a great tasting Strawberry milkshake.)

After dinner, the three of us girls headed over to Frank and Wanda's, Becky's parents, for birthday cake. Wanda and Gracie made Becky a cake this morning while we were in Sedona. Becky always has a strawberry cake with powdered sugar frosting. She has had this for longer than I have known her. It's tradition. She was a little worried this morning that the cake was maybe not going to be made once we found out that we needed to go help Chuck. Thank you Wanda for making Becky's cake...it tasted great!

Here Becky and I are after our long day...

We were both so tired! It has felt good to just be sitting here kicking back relaxing now this evening.

Tomorrow and Monday...WE ARE DOING NOTHING! There are no bread deliveries so we won't be called in for back-up and we have decided that we all just need to skip church tomorrow morning and stay home for some much needed rest. I'm planning on lots of time in the sun...or as much as I can handle. I've been successful at avoiding any sunburn up to this point! I am definitely getting some color but am determined to not get burnt!

Really, it's been great being here. I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm so glad that God has allowed me to be here during this time. Robert and Sheffy keep joking that I really picked a bad time to visit. I keep telling them that I'm glad I'm here to help Becky. It's what I do.

Thank you Chuck and Becky for allowing me to come and stay with you. It's been so long since my last visit and in no way do I feel put-out for having to help with the different things going on here. Love you guys!