And... I'm back

What a whirlwind it's been.  I kept meaning to get on here and post something, and now it's already the 2nd week of December.  Time has been flying by.  I thought I'd post a couple pictures of a few things that we've been up to since I was on here last. 

 Dan and I went and saw the Zac Brown Band.  This was my 2nd concert that I've ever been to.  The last one I had been to was when I was in 3rd grade.  So it's been a couple years.  ;)

 Here is Emma with one of her newest cousins, Crosby.  He is such a sweet boy!

 My Dad just turned 60 at the end of last month.  We had a small family get together.  Here he is playing a game with the girls.

 I decided this year to try the elf on the shelf.  I figured that Gracie and Jesse were too big for it.  But I was hoping that maybe Emma would have some fun with it.  Her name is Taylor and she hasn't done too much so far.  The first night I put some sugar on the counter and had Taylor make a snow angel in it.  Emma was very excited and tried really hard to convince Jesse that Taylor is real.  Jesse just shook his head and said, "That's a waste of good sugar".  That's Jesse for you.  :)

Last night Taylor wrapped toilet paper all around the tree and got all tangled up in it.  Emma is now fully convinced that Taylor is real.  And just in case Emma needed anymore convincing, when we went to see Santa, Emma asked for a piano and Santa told her that he would have to check with his Elf. 

 Every year the girls in my family head out of town for a couple of days and do some Christmas shopping together.  There were quite a few this year who couldn't make it, but we managed to have lots of fun anyways.  Mom, Lindy and I went to get our nails done after we went out for dinner.  Now I need to get everything wrapped and under the tree.  

 Dan got my fireplace up and running for the first time in 6 years, so I try to hurry and get most of my chores done as fast as I can so I can hurry over and sit by the fire with my coffee.  It's my most favorite spot in the house! 

Weekend fun

  The kids are all back in school.  Wahoo!!!  Time to get caught up at home now.  My list just keeps growing and growing.  People kept telling me that once all of my kids were in school that I would be all caught up on everything and would get be bored just sitting around at home.  I'm still waiting for this to happen.  ;)  My list of stuff to get done around the house is a mile long and I'm trying to get all my editing caught up this week.  I have a big wedding out of state this weekend that I also need to be preparing for.   I'm hoping and praying that I can keep up and that the next two months fly by.  I'm ready for some down time to just get the house all cleaned up and organized again. 
 

The kids all had soccer games this weekend.  Dan was so sweet and let me leave towards the end of the game to go horseback riding.  I know that my days are limited on riding, as the days will get cold and the snow will come before we know it and then I'll be hiding inside until Spring.  ;)

  Last night we watched the Seahawk and 49ers game.  This was Emma gearing up for the game. Haha! 

Jesse wouldn't let me take his picture, and Gracie was too busy playing with her cousin Belle to even put on her jersey.  But she wore it this morning to school and will be sporting it around for all to see!  :)

Emma's in the kitchen

  It's only the 2nd week of school and I've had at least one of my kids home at some point all week!   Gracie was tested for Strep and it was positive.  So she was home for a couple days recovering.  About the time that she was starting to feel better, the other two started to complain about having sore throats.  So thankfully the Doctor called in prescriptions for the other two to start on as well.  Yuck!  I guess the school year has officially begun.  Jesse is the last one who is still at home.  I'm hoping he will be going back this afternoon at lunch time.

  Emma helped me make dinner a couple of nights ago.  She LOVES to cook or bake almost more than anyone I know.  So her and I made a Mexican Lasagna that we had found off of allrecipes.com a couple years ago.  It's an easy one for kids to help with and I think it tastes great once it's all dressed up with toppings.

 You fry up a pound of hamburger meat, drain the grease out.  Add in 2 cans of refried beans, and a packet of taco seasoning.  Mix it all together.  Then in a small casserole dish (I use a square on so it fits the flour shells easier)  you put a layer of the meat and bean mixture down, sprinkle graded cheese, layer with a flour tortilla shell and repeat the layers again. 

 We like to put tomatoes, chopped green onions, sour cream, sliced olives... whatever it is you might like on top.  Dan can't eat sour cream so he likes to put ketchup on his. 

Here is our easy dish on a fancy paper plate.  Haha!  With kids being sick and the ones not sick being shuttled to soccer practice I didn't want to deal with extra dishes.  :)

Here's to hoping that all the kids get well soon and that Dan and I don't catch anything that's going around.  I'm ready to get into my new routine of all the kids actually going to school everyday!  :)

Monday

Well, we survived the first week of school, but Gracie is already sick so she is home today.  She got a fever Friday after soccer practice and has been sick all weekend.  We have an appointment today to check for Strep.  :(  I hate having them be sick and miss school and then get homework all piled up.  But what do you do?  So we just roll with it.   Guess it's that time of year.

Soccer games were Saturday.  Miss Emma.  :)

This is what I have been wanting to do all weekend.  I've packed around the magazine with my kindle and have yet to make time for it!  Soon!!!!

But I was able to sneak out of town while the kids were in school on Tuesday and run into get a few things done.  I ordered a new pair of glasses and some contacts.  Walked through the mall without kids!  :)  Browsed through a couple of my favorite shops.  I love Apricot Lane!   I was good and didn't buy anything there!  Can't say the same for American Eagle though!  ;)  

I got to go riding with my Mom, my Aunt and a family friend.  I haven't gotten to ride a whole lot this summer so it was a lot of fun to take the horses out to go check on and move some cows.  

  

And we got our TV hooked back up.   Still not quite sure what to think of this.  But when the Direct TV guy showed up at the house, Dan said, "Direct TV is here" and Emma throws her hands up in the air and yells, "YES!!!"  It would have made the perfect commercial for them!  So cute.  So now I have to monitor everyone's TV time.  :(  The kids are the worst... they love it sooo much and I can't stand for them to sit and watch it all the time.  But it's football season and I do love my husband and with all the kids being at school during the day I figured maybe I could find something to watch during the long winter.   I'm not a TV person at all so I have no idea what to watch even.  Wish me luck!  ;)

Off to school

  Today was the kid's 1st day of school and my 1st day with no kiddos at home!  Very bittersweet to say the least.  It's nice to straighten up the house and know that it will stay that way until the kids run through the door at 3:45.  But I miss having them around as well. 

  We got in a quick picture while we were out at the highway, waiting for the bus to come.

Emma is off to Kindergarten and she is one independent lady!  She didn't want me to take her to school because she is a "big girl" now.  So we compromised and I followed behind the bus.  She didn't want me to walk her in either so I once again followed her into class.  After she was all settled in, I waved from across the room and then she gave me a smile and pointed to the door.  I guess it was my time to go!  Ha!  Like I said, very independent.  Watch out world... here she comes!  :)

Jesse is now in 3rd grade and very excited about it!  He even let me take his picture!  Wahoo!!!  :)  

This is my son who I'm just sure will be a Lawyer one day.  Getting paid to argue would be right up his alley!  ;)  He is a sweet boy, he's just sure that he's always right about EVERYTHING!  Must get that from his Father!  ;)

Here is my sweet Gracie!  She is in the 6th grade this year, which means that next year we move up to Junior High!  Eeek!!!  She isn't as excited this year.  She knows that school will be even harder this year and she is nervous about it.  I'm hoping that they all have a great year and learn so much! 

Here is to a new school year, and a new chapter in our lives with all of my babies away for the day!  May God watch over them and keep them safe!

Running

  We have been running around everywhere, trying to finish up summer and get ready for school to start.  This year the kids don't start school until Tuesday. 

  Where we live we are about 2 hours in any direction from anything!  Haha!  There is no McDonald's, Starbucks, Target, even an orthodontist.  So most Dr. appts, any shopping, things like that you just have to plan to drive a ways and be gone most of the day.

 So the kids and I went out of town and got them haircuts, they each had their dentist appointments.  Jesse saw his orthodontist.

We finished up their back to school shopping.

The Fair was in our area this weekend, so we did 2 evenings of that.  We went down Friday evening to let the kids ride the rides since it isn't as busy yet and then yesterday was Emma's 6th Birthday so after her party we loaded back up and went down to eat, visit and hit the rodeo.

Here is Miss Emma with her new baby doll.  She got this little baby that she's been wanting and a new stroller and car seat for it.  She is a little Mama for sure!  :)

  We are just going to hang out at home today and tomorrow and get ready for school on Tuesday.  Emma will be going to Kindergarten this year, so this will be the first year for me with all of my babies away for the day. We'll see how this goes!  ;)

  Starting Wednesday, soccer practices start up and then we'll be running to all 3 of the kids' different practices during the week.  Each kid has 2 practices a week, so I'll be running to 6 practices a week plus a game every Saturday.  Should get interesting!  I'm tired just thinking about it!  I'm gonna have to break in my new running shoes I guess!   :)

Fun at the lake

 I love this picture of Dan, Emma and Jesse.  Emma looks like she's ready to fight and Jesse he just cracks me up!

 BFF's in the making!  Emma and Shea just love each other!

Dan's parents rented a couple paddle boards for us to use for the day.  We all had a lot of fun using them.  The kids even did great.  They just hoped on and took off.

 Gracie and Belle

I didn't get any pictures of them tipping each other over and all the fun that they had on them, but I was too busy having fun myself to be sitting and taking pictures all day.   :)  At one point I got both of my sisters to get on one of the paddle boards with me.  Hoping there is a good picture of that because that was so fun!  And guess what else we got a picture of.....

My Family

So thankful to have a picture of all 5 of us in one place! 

What we've been up to this year

Since there is such a gap in my blog from last year to this year, I thought I would post some pics of the things that we have done and been up to.  Keep in mind these are my phone pics.  Not the best quality but so thankful that my phone has a camera on it.  :)

Jesse played baseball and also got braces put on.  Emma played t-ball but I don't have a picture at the moment.

Dan and I were able to go to Vegas for a weekend with some good friends!  It was awesome!!!  We saw Ray Ramono!  :) 

This was a kids meal that Jesse ordered at Silver Mt.  Who puts 3 cheeseburgers on a kids meal!?  Of course Jesse thought this was AWESOME!  :)  They were supposed to be mini burgers but they weren't quite mini, not as big as a regular, but big enough that he could only eat 2.  

We celebrated Gracie's 11th birthday at the local pool with family and then she had a friend that lives out of town stay the night with her as well.  She's growing up sooo fast!  :(

This is the first time that I've gotten all 3 kids in a picture in a really long time.  Jesse hates having his picture taken.  I mean seriously hates it!  So this is far from great but I will take it!

 My sister and I in her new jeep.

Jesse got his first dirt bike and him and his cousin have been putting on the miles riding around together.  I love that we live close enough that they just drive across the hayfield to go play. 

He has also learned to fish.  Since neither Dan or I are fishermen his older cousin Austin has been teaching him lots and Jesse is just soaking it up.

Gracie and Emma with their cousin up at the Lake

 My Love!

Jesse with his new gear

 Emma and I

Emma has lost her first tooth and has gotten her ears pierced.  She is feeling like a big girl, especially with Kindergarten starting in a couple of weeks.

Well, there is a run through of some of the things that we've been up to.  There are way too many to put in one post.  I will post another time about our trip down to Palm Springs to visit Dan's parents. 

Back on

  We have been busy living life and at full speed, but I really want to blog again... so I'm back on.  I looked at the last post and it is from so long ago.  I'm not good at keeping a blog at all, but I love when I do it and can look back at old posts and remember things that we did.  In the last post we were still working on Gracie's room upstairs.  Which is done and looks great!  The kids love having their own rooms and space.  I will get some pictures up soon of the finished work.

  The kids and I have been staying in Missoula 2 days a week through out most of the summer.  Gracie is getting some help with her reading and we've been staying with my sister and her family which has been so nice to have a place to stay and to be able to hang out with them.

 Here we are at Apple Bee's the other day.

 Emma was trying pull herself up on Gracie to look taller than her big sister, and eventually they were both giggling.  I love it!  :)

 Here I am with Jesse.  My phone doesn't take the best pictures, but I'm just thankful when I remember to take pictures every once in a while.  We seem to run so much that I never get the camera out unless I have a photo session and then it's put away while we live life.  We are going up to my in-laws lake house this weekend and I'm hoping and crossing my fingers that maybe we can get a nice/decent family photo on the lake!  We shall see.  :)