I think it is time...

4 months.

That is how long it has been.

4 long months.

I think it is time to get my act together and start blogging again.

Good grief it is already December 10th.  Where did the year go?

If you are still out there, tune in later today.

I may actually have blogged something!

Friday vs. Mom (aka me.)

So glad to have my hubby and Emma home!!!

After starting a few loads of their dirty STINKY laundry it was time to head out in the gorgeous NW weather and do some yard work... 

This is something I really don't enjoy until AFTER when it all looks nice.  I am the person who likes to lay on the chaise lounge with a book and look at beautiful grounds... not make them beautiful.

Anyway.  Kids were pressure washing and helping load weeds, juniper shrubs, etc. etc.

When I walked up to the wheel barrow and step HARD on a rake and it came up and seriously whacked me in the face.

I now have a rather nice egg on my left temple...

This was after I ran into a low tree branch on the same side of my head.

After the tears began to flow Josh said why don't you quit and go get your parents at the airport?

Nice idea... until their Excursion decided to die in the MIDDLE of traffic and WOULD NOT START back up.

My awesome father had to get out and push the Excursion across 3 lanes of Friday afternoon Portland traffic to the smallest shoulder ever... we were hanging into traffic.  

For fun it was 90 degrees and AAA said it would be 90 minutes until they could get there.

Almost an hour into our wait Dad tried for the millionth time to start the car... 

and amazingly it started and we milked that sucker home.  

Simple blessings.  I am so glad we didn't get in a wreck our something.  

There is always something we can be thankful for when things don't go the way we hope.

In other news:

1.  After the car situation my thumb got smashed while getting my parent luggage out. :(  Good news is I hope to keep my thumbnail and it was my left hand instead of my right!  See... thankful!

2.  Allen and Bruce took McKenna and Sydney out to the lake and taught them both how to water ski - - Syd even going over the wakes and learned to wakeboard as well :)  Bad news about that is that Josh and I didn't go... Personally I was too busy smashing into things.  I think the lake would have been softer for sure.

3.  I enjoyed watching Emma and Jack and Libby run through the sprinklers.  The simple joys of summer!

4.  Cleaned out a HUGE area of weeds, shrubs, and my kids pressure washed the fencing in that area.  A huge relief and sense of accomplishment for me.  Do you know what I am talking about?  That feeling of pure exhausting yet the thrill of knowing that you actually accomplished something that makes a difference?  My feet, legs, FACE, arms are all showing their battle wounds!

5.  Tomorrow my hubby leaves again for Tennessee this time.  Teacher Convention.

I will miss him.  It is also the day that would have been my grandmothers 95th birthday.

I miss her too.

Goodnight.

Mom vs. Teenage Room

So Sam is away at Teen Camp at Big Lake...

And while I was wiping down the doors inside our home with Green Works I got sided tracked when I entered the room of my eldest teenage daughter... and was hit with the reality that now was my time...  (I should mention that I already overtook Emma's room when she was at camp!)

My arsenal....


So what you can't see here is that the corner by the nightstand is all kinds of water bottles, socks, bags, stuffed animals...  and a lot of dust.

This is her desk area and I must say I already moved a bunch of stuff like her chair out of the way to start the cleaning process...

I spent like 3-4 hours cleaning & scrubbing & moving furniture, while blasting Group 1 Crew, Brit Nicole, and Jamie Grace.  I hope no one was standing outside her window!

This is the end result...
I hope that she loves it when she gets home from camp.  I did not go through any drawers, so she is going to need to finish up on her own... but she has a good head start now. :)  Oh and since this photo  I moved the guitar by her dresser instead of my her desk.  AND I washed her sheets and made the bed.

Why I ask myself is it so hard for a teenager to make their bed????

I think I need to have a "room check" slip like I was faced with in academy.  Seemed to do the trick for me...

Food for Thought... I think yes.

In other news I am still loving the Olympics...

Shedding tears with all the great stories they find on the athletes.

I wonder why can't we find those types of stories instead of all the bad things that are going on?

and EMMA AND JOSH ARE HOME!!!

Whoot!  See you!

What's in your bed?

Sam is at Big Lake Teen Camp...

Josh & Emma are at Auburn for NBC Camp...

McKenna & Syd are asleep in their own beds...

and the Dude is in mine...

He knows that when Daddy is gone its his chance to cozy in bed with mom.

Only problem is that I like my own space and the boy loves to cozy in.

We have a king size bed and I almost fell out of it last night because I think I was trying to escape the heat of the little man.

I am looking forward to Josh coming home tomorrow... which means no room for the boy!

--------------------------
Summer news, since my last post a month ago.

1.  The olympics are on nonstop at my house.  I LOVE it!

2.  Our house has been lifted.  Twice.  We pray it works.

3.  Josh painted all the black trim.  On a 30 ft ladder.  I am glad he's done.

4.  We went to Seattle for a day... and visited the gum wall amongst other things!

5.  Spent the 4th of July in Yachats :)

6.  Spent a week in the motorhome at Campmeeting.

7.  Spent 6 days in Sunriver and visited with good friends the Dickinsons.

8.  Rearranged and cleaned my eldest two daughters rooms.  Wow.  What a job.

9.  Picked blueberries.  Froze Raspberries and Blueberries.

10.  Made Jam.

11.  Worked a few days.  No official job yet... but I work whenever I can, and trust that God will meet                                                   our needs.

12.  My mom's sister from Kansas came for a visit and stayed a couple nights with us.

13.  Oh almost forgot... finally got the window replaced in the library... its been broken since we moved    
       in 4.5 years ago.

14.  And how could I forget... SKY Vacation Bible School.  5 nights.  Just under 200 kids.

Wow.  Summer Love.  Feeling lucky and blessed.  Enjoying the blue skies and warm sunshine!

Hope this finds you out enjoying your loved ones and enjoying the sunshine!

Cousins

 The cousins are in town and WOW what a blessing that has been!

I have barely seen them for they are off running through the trees and fields building forts,

planning "Amazing Races" (and running them!)  hanging out, playing Wii, talking, laughing

giggling, holding kitty "tobymac" and eating... lots of eating!

Today the middle two headed to Costco with Papu.

The older two headed to the mall with Grandma & I for a couple hours.

Tonight we packed for a day at Wild Waves tomorrow...

And this is where I just left them getting ready for bed.


The middle two "Emma & Kaysa"

the older two "Kirsten & Sam"

"the triplets..."

and well the little dude was fast asleep...

But let me just tell you he is in HEAVEN with all the girls running around.

He of course thinks he is the boss of everyone... but you've got to learn sometime!

So blessings, noise, chaos, fun, and lots of memories happening at our house.

I love it!

Cologne

A view from my bathroom countertop.

For years my hubby has smelled deliciously yummy wearing his "Fierce" cologne.

The little dude always would come into our bathroom and want a "squirt" of cologne on the front of his shirt... and then would rub it all over.

As I mentioned a month ago when Josh and Sam went on 8th grade class trip...

The cologne disappeared.

Jack was sad, very sad.

So, I just happened to be at the mall looking for Sam's graduation dress...

and there was the kids version of Abercrombie & Fitch... Abercrombie.

They had little bottles of "Clutch" for boys aka "little dudes"  

You know I can't say no... 

Came home with a bottle for the little man...

and now my counter looks like this & both the men in my life smell yummy!

Skateland

Today our family ducked out of church a little early to head north for a family get together.

(can I just say super adorable kids promoting in SS this morning... amazingly adorable baby dedication for sweet Corbin... and a wonderful baptism for Jordan "bsff" Best Saviour friend forever... loved it)

We may have gone skating at "Skateland" for his nieces party.

Josh's childhood skate rink.

I don't think that anything has changed in the last 30+ years.

There was no signage or anything on the outside of the building...

You kind of had to guess that you were at skateland... it was a bit weird.

Anyway,

this dude went skating for the first time.

man he is cute... and he was pretty scared and didn't stray too far from the wall.

here is a shot of the sisters doing the hokey pokey, they had a blast skating in circles.

Honestly I got a little dizzy watching them go around and around.
(can I also mention here that "older" skaters who go 50 mph around little kids trying to show off that they still "have it"  oh my... wow.  I am speechless really.

Dinner out in the country with Josh's mom...

we think it has been 5 years since we have been there.  

But we have been to her Cali house many times in that 5 year period...

Before you get in a panic!

She may have cut the boys hair...

There may have been a drunk man throwing beer cans at cars on our drive home...

My kids were terrified.  We had to back down the main road... drive down a different road and then ended up passing him anyway...

I don't think they will ever drink....

and I would be very pleased if they didn't!

We had a blast with the nona and were sad to leave when it was time to head home :(

In other news of the day my brothers girls are coming to spend a week with us and my girls are BEYOND delirious with excitement!  In fact I hadn't even said anything to them when they started squealing out when they got text messages from their cousins.  Oh my... technology.  Can't even keep secrets anymore!

Quiet.

As of today there is no more music on my blog :(

They no longer allow me to stream my songs onto my blog and I am a little sad about that.

It seems so quiet and I don't like that.  The music speaks to me and expressed things that touched me.

I guess I will just have to figure out a new way to get my tunes on here.

Anyway,

This week has been a whirlwind and it has been anything but quiet...

I miss all the commotion of friends and family crowding around in our home.

This girl graduated 8th Grade on Tuesday night and we celebrated her accomplishments.

 Everyday she makes us proud...

But how wonderful to hear all of her academic accolades 

High Honors, Presidential Award Winner, and Salutatorian for her class.

"Shows Jesus in all she does"

I love that her classmates said that about her...

What a QUICK road it has been from notes like this...

 She wrote this to Janet Rich in 1st Grade...

Here she is with Janet at graduation...

I get teared up thinking about it.

We now have Macs on both sides of the streets!!!

 I know that I am biased... 

but seriously, 

I am BLESSED!!!

 Family Photo - June 2012

(yes it is true... both girls are within a 1/2 of me..)

 my firstborn...

 second born... (who is actually within a 1/4 inch... I am wearing my "super shoes"

 Sam's 2nd family and our best friends.

I hope to see this photo again with different color outfits in the future ;)

 The happy graduate with her Salutatorian medal

 My parents :)

Oh how we all wished that Grandma could have lived to see this day, she would have been so proud of Sam and the beautiful and smart young lady she has grown into.

 Nona :)

So thankful that she could celebrate the moment with us all!

Finally after 8 years we got our other good friends the Champlins up here from Cali.

What a treat to have such great friends that they travelled all that way to support our precious kid!

In other news this week...

• 5 chickens were brutally murdered in a 24 hour period in our coop...  we now have 2. :( 

(really ticked about this)

• We got a new kitten (which will join the other two outdoors when it gets a little bigger)

We named him Toby... aka Tobymac... :)

Libby is officially in love and the kitten has been sleeping in the kennel with her the last few nights!

• I spent the day at the mall with these kids.

Oh my goodness... I was EXHAUSTED at the end of the day.
I was like their personal shopper grabbing all kinds of things I would never put on my own body.
We had a blast and the girls all found something cute.

In case you are wondering... the neon pants didn't make it home with us... this time!

a little Yo-Cream before dropping Haley off at the airport.

• Lastly, Please keep the prayers coming.  God is so good and I know He will provide.  Along with Sam's Salutatorian award she received a $500 scholarship which will take care of the first month of tuition!  I just put the final touches (or the last two years) on my resume and will be dropping it off at one school and mailing one to another.  My heart is in teaching and I know when God sees fit I will make an excellent addition to some fabulous school, until that time I thank you for your words of encouragement and your prayers that my dream can become a reality.

So... now that summer is here I hope to be a little more regular with posts and updates on life.  

Hope you all have a fabulous Sabbath and a great weekend!

Memory Lane... Part 2

So I am still walking down memory lane trying to wade through years of photos... well at least the last 8 years of photos...

and WOW... not an easy thing to do.

It's emotionally draining I tell you!

Watching your kids grow up in a day is tough...

Watching the last of your children be born and your Grandmother pass in one afternoon...

Elating...  and Devastating

Of course I have found hundreds of photos that are just absolutely priceless to me,

and I realize that I have recently stopped taking as many photos as I once did...

So watch out people I am on a mission to start documenting my kids again.

Time slips away and you don't even realize that your kids are growing, you are changing, the world adjusts... right before your eyes... and in a blink really.

Tonight I wanted to share these because since Christmas with the loss of my Grandma I have really missed her.  She was an amazing woman and I was so lucky to be able to call her my Grandma.

 Grandma in her late 80's swinging with my kids outside..

She totally rocked.

 and here always ready to play tea party with the girls and their dolls.

She would sit for hours and let them serve her.

She always loved that the kids played with dolls and took time to be kids and not grow up too fast!

 Before leaving our house for a Canadian road trip with mom and dad.

 Loving on sweet Jack.

I feel so lucky that I can hopefully keep some memories alive for him.  

He turned 5  just a mere 2 days before she passed.

I have tons of photos of the two of them together.

She played and played with him for those first 5 years of life.

I know that he will remember because I will attach memories to those photos...

Being without Grandma for the this first Mother's Day was rough.  

She was the matriarch of the family and the one that kept everyone connected.

A true mother to so many.

I miss her.

But before I go getting emotional again...

I found some other pics that I adore... and one that is just plain random but has a great story!

 Emma and Jack.  

Cried when she found out "he" was going to be a boy...

and has been his closest buddy since birth.

I love that I have photos of their relationship through the years!

get ready for random...

 My mother's right hand.

She has no pinky.

This always fascinated and terrified my kids all at once...

especially when she would stick the pinky in her nose...

yeah

gets the kids every time!

anyway, long story but as a child she got her little chubby baby finger in/on and electrical plug in and severely damaged her finger.... years later the damage being so bad they ended up amputating.

Most people don't even notice that she is missing a digit.

But it made for a great lesson on why we don't touch electrical stuff to our kids when they were little.

I think that is how the "terrified" got into the equation!

 One of my all time favorite "sisters" pictures...

California trip and Elizabeth put make-up on my all to willing girls.

When they came out of the "make-up van" all the adults lost it!

It was too sweet for words!

Might be my all time favorite "Grandma" photo of my mother and girls walking on

"our beach" at the Adobe in Yachats!

 This photo is classified under

"moments I wish I could have back"

and

"thank goodness I took a photo so I can remind myself of what angels they are!"

This photo was taken the morning after an all night drive 

from California and our dearest friends the Dickinsons.

They all piled into Sam and Emma's queen bed and slept like babies all night...

This photo still holds true to sleep patterns.

Emma doesn't like to cozy and will sleep in her queen bed all alone every night.

The other 3 love to cozy and will crawl into each others beds and sleep over any chance they get.

And lastly...

Mr. Happy who has completely and totally stolen my heart.

Thankfully for all of you (and me) 

my collection of photos for the 8th grade slide show has almost come to an end...

Finding all these photos while looking for pictures of all the 8th graders ...

oh my.

I don't know how much more I can take...

Must FREEZE my children right now in this moment.

Be present in the moment.

And start taking more pictures so that I don't forget any of it!

Memory Lane

So Scott wants us to all look for photos of our 8th graders for pictures of their time at mg...

This is a real problem for me.

Seriously?

It just confirms the fact that my firstborn is growing up.

and that my other children are as well...

I am not posting any of the school pics... saving those for grad...

However I am going to post some of the gems that I found of my kids and leave it at that.

I sure hope that these kids realize how lucky they are in more ways than one.

They have built in playmates...

A family who loves them...

No need for anything...

A God who died for them....

Seriously lucky.

I may shed a few tears while posting these... just saying.

yep... I am done for.

Did I mention that the duder aka "future heartbreaker" got some cologne today?

long story...