Happy Birthday John

John turned 36 today.

It was one of the most beautiful days we've had in a few weeks, chances being the last good day of the season.

The day began with Decorations, presents and Waffles for Breakfast...with the missionaries.

John opened his gifts...not the piece of wood McKenna had suggested or the Daddy Book Tyler was hoping to get him, but the nice White Dress shirt with Stain Guard and Wrinkle Free he needed and appreciated with the Tatester around. :)

He also got some therapy Artwork from his Father, a nice shirt and a nice calf tie-pin that was passed down from his Grandfather and a bit of $$.

We then headed up Mt Rainier where we hiked Naches Loop-a beautiful 3 mile loop past a few lakes and then a beautiful View of Mt Rainier as you hike back down. The Fall colors were out and it was gorgeous. The girls and I couldn't put the camera down. The girls did great-McKenna hiked the whole thing, Tyler struggled a bit on the downhill and Tate was a trooper in the Kelty Kid.

these 2 pictures were taken by our Good photographer Tyler

John spent a couple of hours doing yard work and getting our Lettuce box ready for Fall & Winter.

We had tacos for dinner and then his latest fav-Texas Sheet cake.

Unfortunately for him but happy for me-I was able to go to the Relief Society Broadcast.

It was a great day and we love our Daddy!!! The kids love going on their Daddy Dates each Thursday-they're thrilled to have him come home each evening and having him chase them around the house or yard in a thrilling game of 'Can't Catch Me'. I Love him for various reasons...which will be covered in an upcoming post....of a Happy Anniversary!

Man Down

My computer died today. It was a slow death which began yesterday morning with the touch of Tate's finger...over and over again as I tried to put my primary stuff together, Tate would come and turn my computer off when I would run to attend to a child, a meal, or something that called my attention. It couldn't take the unstructured shutting down. He should understand, he can't either. Luckily I was able to save and move all my pictures and stuff on the external drive, but access is limited...so pictures might be limited too.

Thanks to John and his willingness to share his work laptop I still have access to the world...via internet. :)

Thanks Honey! You're the Best!!!

Quarterly...maybe monthly report

Funny I can't think of what's gone on to write or report about.

Things are going well for McKenna and her 2nd week of school. She's really come into her own and has blossomed. Her confidence continues to grow as she completes her school work and she knows her letters. She even tells me about her day rather than just shrug, although its usually when she's going to bed. Maybe a procrastination measure, but I don't care as long as I hear the good and bad of her day.

A couple of weeks ago Tyler got sick with a UTI. It's been a while since she's had one which is good. She HATES and Does NOT taking medicine which at this point is the only way to rid the pesky infection. After fighting and having her throw her medicine up I have resorted to outright lying. I HATE it and tell myself through my guilt it's the only way due to her stubbornness that I have gone so low. She told me the day we tried to start her medicine that she wanted to stay on the couch forever and die. No drama there. After that I gave her the option of taking her medicine or drinking a "berry" drink. Basically we are hiding her medicine in her smoothly which she takes 3 times (with 5 chocolate chips) a day for 10 days. Today is her last day. Phew!

We've been working with Tate on his communication lately. The throwing of food has gotten old, amongst the screams and so we're being a little more forceful, or assertive about using sign language. Him and John had a stand off at breakfast one morning waiting for Tate to say or sign "all done". Wonder where the stubbornness comes from. BTW-John won. Throughout the week Tate has gotten better. I can hear him saying "Yler" and "ank you" when I listen. He's trying to talk, he has such a soft voice...unless he's screaming. We're also limiting use of the binki, although the number of things that go in his mouth has gone up. Everything's a trade off.

John on the other hand is increasing his 'know how' in projects both at work and home. At home he has just gathered about 6 more 50 gallon barrels and since the rainy season has begun he has set them up to collect rain water. Last night he was telling me, "I can't believe I didn't do this sooner". You know with all his spare time.

I have tried to take up a few new hobbies-I'm trying my luck at sewing which I remember growing up thinking I would never do. I'm trying to make a dress for one of the girls out of one of John's old shirts. It looks easy enough, but I''ll have to let you know how it turns out. I also learned out to make applesauce and cider the past couple of days. Ady's new friends in her new ward were teaching her and she invited me to come learn to. In return I have promised to teach them all how to can meat. They know some people to get us some stellar deals on Lg quantities so that will be in the near future. Mom, I'll be in touch on a refresher course for that method. I'm actually very excited to be touching on my Homemaking abilities.

With that hopefully there will be some fun pictures to post soon!

1st Day of School

Yesterday McKenna and I registered for Kindergarten and chatted with her teacher, checked out the room and got the teacher picture!

McKenna was sooo antsy for school to start, today couldn't have come a moment too soon!

We got out the new school clothes which is always a big deal to her and despite the cold and rainy weather she was wearing her new capri's.

Tyler was also excited for her big preschool interview-despite the luck of her new sparkly princess shoes her shyness got the best of her and she didn't dare talk to the teacher...so I guess better luck next year.

Tate on the other hand loves to help his dad with his shoes...every morning. As soon as John sits down to put his shoes on, Tate comes running!

Labor Day-Camp Belfair

Determined to get one more camping trip in this year I recruited The McClellan family to join us in a jaunt out to Belfair Washington for a last minute car camping trip. Well it was more of an over-nighter but it worked for me. You can do anything for 24 hours...and even more for only 18 hours. It was a lot of work but the kids sure did love it.

Belfair is only about an hour away-and on the Puget Sound. Jorelle and I packed up the kids and went up to set up camp. There was a lil beach the kids loved to play at collecting shells (all of which I forgot to take pictures of. John couldn't get off work until 6 so Andrew was nice enough to hang back with their daughter Ava and got there around 8 pm :(

Jorelle made gourmet Tin Foil Dinners-the kids enjoyed or rather didn't enjoy their hot dogs, but made up for it with Cheetos, Doritos and Marshmallows.

The Blackberry Cobbler was well worth the wait. Love being able to just walk around the camp and pick the local blackberries.

and after the pajamas are on more marshmallows...roasted this time

Tate giving in to Sweet Sleep

One of these days I'm going to get a picture of the aftermath of camping...it looks like a tornado hit the inside of your house...or your car just threw all your stuff up in the front room.

Tate

Tate is a curious, mischievous boy. Today after rummaging in the corner of the yard for a stick to torture his sisters with-he was stung by a yellow jacket who's nest I'm sure he got to close to.

This is the 3rd sting in a week, it began with John who was stung on the head Saturday, the following Tuesday Savvy was stung on her cheek, although the cause of both these incidents are unknown (Thinking Savvy's might have happened after she passed a hive that was ransacked by her younger brother).

After running inside to hide from the remainder of the pack and remembering we didn't have any benedryl we made a paste of baking soda and applied it to the swelling sting site. Funny enough Tate only howled and ran during the initial sting and after that it was all hearsay. He's all boy.

A day or 2 later we were cleaning the house-Tate discovered that he loves the vaccumn in a new way-he loves using it. I actually love it too. Take all the help I can get...training them young right?

The following is probably only entertaining to me...and hopefully his grandparents. I'm just impressed he likes it so much.

Corn

For the 1st time in our 5 years of gardening we have a successful crop of corn. We are really loving this thing called Gardening.

There is hope!

Competitve Running

Sometimes do you wish the blog would just update itself already? I'm in that phase, always glad when I do it, but sometimes it's difficult to stay on top of things. Thank goodness for pictures to remind me of what's been going on. Heaven knows my brain is not of much use for these kinds of things.

McKenna received a 'running' outfit for her birthday and loves it. She's taken it to heart and wears it almost daily, when it is clean of Tate's handy work. For school she decided to update her 'running' shoes to a pair with elastic instead of laces (ingenious invention). I often find her out in the front drive running laps. Her and Tyler have actually become quite competitive and often it ends in tears when the individual is not winning.

Someday I'll get my lens cleaned and a clear picture