Happy Birthday Mariska!!

I am a bout a month behind but it has been a busy month. Riska turned 4 at the end of November. We were in E-burg for Thanksgiving and since her birthday was three days later we just celebrated with the family and a couple of her friends.

The big item this year was a bike. She loves it. I feel a little bad giving her something she can't use right away because of the snow. It will be fun to see her finally ride when the snow melts.

Grandma Gail gave her this Princess dress up kit but I think the way she gave it was the best. She had pictures of all the Disney princesses on clues that she hid throughout the house. Mariska had to find them. She couldn't read the clues so her cousin Jimmy helped her out. It was a lot of fun to see all the kids running from clue to clue excited to hear where the next one would be. The final clue led her to the gift. She wears it all the time. Especially the hair. She loves the hair.

John would probably shoot me if he saw that I posted this but I thought it was so funny! He would make a great punk rocker.
Happy Birthday Riska!!!! We love you so much!!

Catching Up

Bear with me there is a lot of information and pictures.
October was a bit crazy and a lot of fun. Mom and Aurie arrived here on the 7th and stayed until the 24th. I am so glad mom remembered her camera. The day they got here my camera broke. All the pictures you will see in the next posts were taken with her camera. Thanks again mom!
One morning on the way to preschool mom saw a sign that said free grapes. We had to pick them but they were free. Yeah!!!!
Yes Jack is in a pink stroller. We ran over the gender neutral one with the car... by accident.


Riska was a lot of help. She couldn't get the grapes herself so she went from me to mom and then to Aurie asking us to give her grapes to put in the boxes.
I think Aurie was a bit disgusted. :)
Riska had her first Primary program. At our church, once a year, the children (3-12) put on a program during the first hour of church. All the kids are assigned a small speaking part. The program is a summation of what they learned over the year. I was so proud of Mariska! She ran right up to the stand and said her little speaking part. My favorite part was when she was walking back to her seat. She looked at me and I gave her a thumbs up. She gave me one right back. I was glad mom was there for that.
Jack has become a great mimicker. He copies everything we do. This is good for us because we have been teaching him sign language and he is really getting good at the words we have taught him. The funniest thing he has imitated so far is covering his ears. Thank you Aurie. I swear she is the best teacher. ;) Not sure what the spinning around is about

Speaking of Aurie, My kids love her!


I was so glad she came with mom. Riska was too. Dad would talk to her and ask if he could come see her. she would tell him that Aurie was. Sorry Dad. I wish you could have been here too.

We had a fun time at Lowe's building a fun house mirror. Mom helped me sew on the patches Riska has received hopefully I will remember how to do it with the new ones. We went again this saturday and saw two kids with at least 100 patches on their aprons. We are building a shelf in Riska's room to display all her projects.
Jack isn't much of a cuddler unless he is sleepy then he gives all the cuddles a mom could want!
John is really enjoying his job. The people he works for are awesome! His boss came to him last week and asked if we were interested in having some meat. Keith (John's boss) brought home a good sized moose this year and they have more meat than they can handle themselves. They gave us two coolers filled with all kids of meat from his moose. He even gave us some gear meat. I am a little nervous but excited to try it all. He wants us to find what we like so he can give us more. Tonight I am trying some ground moose in my moms chili recipe.
I love being at home with the kids. I taught Riska's preschool group for two weeks and had a blast. They are a good group of kids.
I have asked Santa for a new camera and I am hoping to get it soon. I miss having one that works. Feels like I might miss something important.
I was glad to have mom and Aurie here. I miss my family a lot right now. I miss living close to John's family and I miss our friends. I know this were we are supposed to be and I have seen the Lords hand in everything we have done. I am grateful to all of you for your love and support. I hope you know how much you mean to me and my family! Hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!!!

Pumpkins 2010

I love carving pumpkins! I have no idea why. Everything about it is so fun. This year John thought it would be fun to do something different. I am glad we did. Love how the pumpkin turned out.


Just in case... We are big baseball fans our team being the Seattle Mariners.

Success At Last!!

The last two years we have tried to do a ginger bread house. I say try because we failed miserably! Both times we ended up with something that looked more like an homage to Hurricane Katrina.
This year we finally figured it out. (Thank you mom!)


I did the frosting and Riska did parts of the candy. She was more interested in eating the candy!
Can't wait to do it again for Christmas!

Pumpkin Patch 2010

This was the first year Riska has been to a pumpkin patch. We went with her preschool class and had a blast! Riska was so excited to pick her very own pumpkin. We kept it in the kitchen on the counter when we frist brought it home but I ended up moving it because it would disappear. i would always find on the top bunk of Riska's bunk bed. Hmmmm. I am still wondering whether she actually climbed up the ladder with the pumpkin in her arms, or threw it up there. Would have been a site to see either way.
It was nice having some one on one time away from the house with her. She is such a little character.
The Pumkin Patch had a pyramid built out of straw bales. It was big! I was very impressed with all our kids. they were so excited to climb it and even more excited when they got to the top.
I couldn't beleive we got all the kids to line up and stay at the top so we could get pictures.
I will be honest I wanted to do the corn maze. I was a bit disappointed when we arrived at the straw maze instead. I get it. They are little but I would have gone with her. She did have fun trying to find her way back out.
Mariska's school class plus 3. She loves the kids in her class. I do too. They are a fun little group.
I thoroughly enjoyed teaching the past two weeks.

Jack man turns 1!

I have no idea where this year went but Jack turned one on the 23rd of October.I can't take credit for the cake but it was really tasty!When we gave Jack his cake we expected him to dive right in but he didn't he picked at it at first.It didn't take him long to figure it out. :)This is about where I pulled the plug on the cake eating festivities. He was a mess and there was cake everywhere. He got more cake on the floor and down his shorts than he did in his mouth.Mom and Aurie were here for the party. John's mom and dad were able to come for the day. It was so fun to have all of them here to celebrate!
I love watching a baby figure out the whole present thing. Jack was of course more interested in the packaging than they toys and I don't think I have ever seen a kid get so excited about clothes.
Jack is already learning to share. Most of the time it is by force, but he really loves to play with his big sister.
Love you Mom!
I have to say that I am so proud of Mariska! She had a couple of moments on Jacks birthday but for the most part handled it very well. She is a really great big sister and we are lucky to have her.Happy Birthday Jack!!!!!!! We love you!

We are MOBILE!!!!

Jack started doing something that resembled an army crawl. He would literally pull hiself across the floor with his hands. Then about three days after mom and Aurie got here he figured it out and nothing has been safe since!

Jasper

"And they call it puppy love." After a very long day of traveling we arrived home safely with the newest member of our family, Jasper. He is an Airedale and is only 6 weeks old. He is our family Christmas present this year. A little early but it happens. We are very excited to have him home.
He has a very mellow temperament and seems to enjoy the kids a lot. He has been a little nervous all day but it is understandable, everything that he has known is no longer there.
We were not sure if Riska really understood that we were getting a dog but it was very clear to her when we started the drive back home. Everywhere we stopped she would tell us to not forget the puppy.
We have to be a little more careful with Jack and Jasper. Jasper is only a puppy and has some sharp teeth that Jack finds very interesting. Every time we bring them together Jack puts his fingers into Jasper's mouth.
I was a little nervous about getting a dog but as soon as I saw Jasper I fell in love with him and new he was going to be a great addition to our home.

New bed

We have been looking for a new bed to put in Mariska's room and we finally found one. I loves Craigslist! They family we bought the bed from was so nice and they even brought the bed to our house because we had no way of transporting it. Mariska loves it and has already told me that my mom and sister get to sleep on the bottom when they come and visit. We shall see.

First day of PreSchool!!

That's right! Riska started Preschool. John gave her a fathers blessing for the first time the night before and it was incredible. I can't believe how time has flown! We joined a preschool co-op so I will be one of the teachers. Wish us luck!

Kittitas County Fair

Since we have been married we have not missed the Kittitas County Fair and we sure as heck weren't going to miss it this year. We splurged a bit and got Mariska and me a ride all day bracelet and did we get our moneys worth. I had a good time but I am not a teen any more and couldn't do the rides without a motion sickness pill. :( Oh well a good time was had by all.
I personally think this is the only to go when you go to a fair. It brought back memories of when my dad would drape us over his shoulders.
Riska loves anything that is chicken and I mean everything! I wonder if she knows that the chicken we eat is the same thing running around in Grandpa and Grandma's backyard. Mmmmmmm.
We spent most the day with John's sister Anna and her family. It was nice to have them around. John took Jack home and I stayed with Riska at the fair. We did a lot of the rides with Anna and Levi. Thanks again Anna and Jared I really appreciate you!
Anna and I entered Riska and Levi into the Junior Rodeo. It was so fun and way cute. Jack ended up joining in the fun when not enough kids signed up. Glad I have no qualms about looking like an idiot so my kids can have fun.
My Two boys! Love them so much!
Riska did the Barrel Racing. She was a little nervous when everyone started clapping for her when she came out of the pen. This picture is just after she threw her horse. The best part of the Junior Rodeo was the two guys doing the commentating. They were so good with the kids and seem to have a good time. We were laughing pretty hard during the whole thing.
She didn't want to do the barrel racing but was a little upset when I tried to bring her back to the pen. It is so funny how she can be so outgoing one min and so shy the next.
Jack did the bucking bronco's. I felt like an idiot but at the same time was laughing so hard I really didn't care.

Jack was more interested on chewing on the ears and the horn. It was a long fun day and I have ridden enough rides to last me awhile but I am really glad we went!