Dad's night in

So my dear friend Katrina and I went shopping a few weeks back on a Saturday. We went to lunch and then hit a few Goodwills and last we ended up at Hanna Andersson outlet cause they were having a great sale. We found some good deals everywhere and were so excited. We were gone for about 7 hours and the guys did great with all the kids. Of course when we leave them to figure out meals for the kids, they might end up with something interesting. But at least the kids are fed and happy and we all had a great time.

Summer pics we never got on here

So this year we broke down and got a BIG pool. The kids absolutely LOVED it during the hot late summer days. We didn't get it until August but here in OR we didn't really need it until then. It took us 5 days to fill it on our well. We would fill it 3 times for an hour each day. Of course when we drained it, it only took one night. :o)

Girl's night

Since the boys have a boy night every other Tuesday night with their Alert Cadet group (kind of like boy scouts but Christ centered) us girls at home decided to have some girl time. Mia has been almost begging me to teach her how to sew. So thanks to Katrina who told me about this program, we started last night and she was giggling the whole way through. She has almost completed her first project and is loving it. She can't get enough of it and has been working on it during her free time. So fun. Lily just got to hang out in her high chair and eat popcorn, watch Mia and do other things in her chair so I could keep an eye on her and didn't have to run around the house after her.

We are looking forward to the next Tuesday Girl's night. She wishes it was tomorrow.

Our mishap with the wash

So one late afternoon I was finishing up a load of laundry and I walked past the washing machine and glanced at it, and low and behold it was full to the brim with suds. Now, this machine is a low suds machine so I was quite alarmed when I saw this. I was wondering how in the world did that happen. Thankfully Dave came home a few minutes later and after much thought we decided to just open up the door and see what would happen. The suds just started falling out. WOW! I've never seen so many before. Dave scooped more and more out. He was looking around in the basin and I saw this yellow bar sticking to the side of the tub. He pulled it out and behold it was my bar of Fels Naptha soap that I use to get stains out. I normally put it up in the cupboard where it belongs but that day I had put it on some rags/dish towels that were needing to get washed. Well, rags kept getting piled on top of the bar so soap and in my quick haste to load the washer with the towels I forgot that the bar of soap was in there. Word of caution. Don't leave a bar of soap on top of the washer. It took a total of 2 full wash cycles to get the soap suds out. And we had to stop it twice to pull out more suds. Of course the kids thought it was great fun. I was j

ust thankful that my washer wasn't broken.

Morning cuteness

So Lily does not like to sleep in. It is very rare that she sleeps in past 6:15. So we usually get about 30-45 minutes to ourselves and we get lots of cuddle time and reading time in during then. One of her favorites places to sit in the morning is one her pick chair with her blanket and pulls out her books and starts reading. I love these moments and I try to remind myself that she won't always wake up before the sun comes up so I

treasure these special times with her now.

Settlers of Catan

So while we were with my family at our annual trip to Eagle Crest in August, we taught the boys how to play Settlers of Catan. They were so eager to learn and they picked up on it so quickly. We teamed up while we where there but since then we have played it with just the boys, Dave and I and they played by themselves and they did great. It is amazing at how fast kids can pick up on games that seem so complicated to us. I remember it took me forever to figure this game out. One more thing that we get to enjoy sharing with the kids.

One Month Whole Foods Challenge

So the past few months Dave and I have been wanting to do a whole foods challenge with the family.We felt like the month of Oct would be the best time to do it. Right after vacations and right before major holidays. Here is the website with the rules that we are following. This family did it for 100 days but we are just starting with 30 days. http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/real-food-defined-a-k-a-the-rules/ We thought if we posted about it we would be held more accountable to follow it. So if you see us ask us how it is going. Thanks.