OH MY FINALS...

Paper, pencil, laptop, coffee, quiet, focus, the need for toffee! All these things are my life lately as I prepare for a finale!
So next week is finals week for me. I have a grueling schedule of final lectures study hall and cram sessions to get in before the weekend...not to mention that it's Miss Alison's 5th birthday tomorrow! LOTS going on, but I am really going to enjoy the two week break when I'm done. If my schedule goes as planned, next term I will have only two classes on campus instead of three and I will be taking one course online. Hopefully this will help lighten the load at home for John and the need for additional childcare at least through the winter. It's very hard to get out of our property during those heavy snow days so the less I have to travel and cart the kiddos around the better! Although, come spring I will probably be looking forward to getting out of the house ;)

(John, Dan, Cara and Derrick at our Family Life Harvest Party)

Yay for Thanksgiving next week! I say it every year, but fall is our favorite season :)

The kids are doing great in school. Jeremiah continues to do well in first grade and loves lunch...haha...he just started eating lunch at school (we qualified for free lunches) and loves all the choices. Alison is doing very well in preschool. She just moved up from the preschool math curriculum to Kindergarten Math. She has started reading some words and I have a feeling that by the end of the school year if not in early spring, she will be 100% Kindergarten. Hosanna is doing good in preschool, but at her age it's mostly just social. She is recognizing some letters and doing really well overall.

Judah is getting busier and busier! He is talking up a storm, loves Mickey Mouse Playhouse and is absolutely adorable when he dances along with the music!

Classes are going well for me....2 A's and one B....I think at my age, that's pretty good! lol

Changes...

Life has been crazy lately...to say the least. After much prayer and many conversations, John and i decided it was time. Time for me to stop putting off going back to college and just do it. I applied for financial aid, thinking I might get a couple hundred dollars. We prayed that whatever happened I would at least get to take one course. A week after applying, I received an email stating that I had received a Federal Pell Grant in the amount of $5000! In order to get all the money I would have to attend full-time....wow. After we thanked God for providing....reality hit that He was really going to work out all the details. I didn't have any idea what I was going to do for daycare and schedules...but He worked it all out. I registered too late to get into any online courses, which would have been ideal, so I am on campus four days a week. One of my courses is an evening course so two days of the week are really long...and thankfully, starting out, John is on day shift. Things will be slightly different when he switches to graveyard next month, but we will work it out. It has been an exciting journey so far....
The kids are doing well in school. Alison loves preschool and is excelling in her subjects. They have been moving her up pretty quickly and she has even been reading a little....at four years old...amazing! Hosanna loves preschool as well, although for her its just a lot of fun at this point. She is gaining good social skills and by next year she will be doing great in all the other academic areas. Jeremiah is doing well....it is very different from last year. He doesn't have nightly homework like he used to but he does read each night and its getting much better.
Judah is keeping us all busy. He is literally running around here all day jabbering. Between our wonderful daycare provider and home, Judah is becoming quite the Spanish-speaking little guy. Our daycare provider is a friend from church and is from Mexico. She still speaks heavily with an accent and has been teaching the kids a new word each time they visit...but she also mostly speaks to them in Spanish I think. Judah, Alison and Hosanna have answered her questions in Spanish with English...they are understanding more ;) I have a cute video clip of Judah at the end saying all his Spanish words.
It continues to be a crazy life we love...we wouldn't change a thing <3

Hosanna's Birthday

Hosanna turned 3 on September 2nd! Time flies by way too fast.

While we were in Belligham visiting John's parents a couple weeks ago, we went out to lunch with his brother Dan and his wife Elizabeth and their munchkin Savannah. John talked to the waitress and arranged for the crew at Red Robin to do their birthday thing for her. She was a little apprehensive, but ultimately she shared her sundae with the whole table.

The week we returned home we had Papa, Nana, Grammy and Bud over for cake and presents since Papa & Nana were going to be out of town on her birthday. She had so much fun and was a very blessed little girl.

Her first full day at PreK was on her actual birthday so I made a cute shirt for her that said "It's My Birthday". I had a small gift for her at breakfast too. Then last weekend we went out to our friend's house to ride Dandy(horse) and Paris(pony). She loved it! Of course there were a few tears when we were done...but that's just how it goes. That evening we had several friends and family over for cupcakes. It's obvious that she is being trained well to celebrate all week long of her birthday! I have to train her right! She is amazing and we love her so much...our Hosanna Banana.

School Days

School has officially started. Jeremiah is in 1st Grade at Helix School and loving every minute of it. Alison and Hosanna are both attending Three R's School here in Pendleton. Alison is going three days a week and Hosanna is going 2 days. It was an adjustment for Hosanna, she cried the first day and I walked straight out and tried not to laugh....she gets soooo dramatic and I knew she would be fine as soon as I left. They are all learning so much already-it amazes me. In the midst of it all Jeremiah has lost three teeth! He is so adorable.

Jeremiah ready to go!

Alison is all ready...and so pretty!

Rhianne(good friend) and Alison before school.

Hosanna right before we went into school for orientation.

Working hard...She didn't want Mommy to leave orientation :)

SUFFERIN' SUCKATASH!

Jeremiah lost a tooth last night! He looks so silly and way too big now without his teeth. He is probably going to be losing several more over the next few weeks...he had a cleaning yesterday morning and the tech said that he had several very loose ones! lol

Mishaps and More fun

Lately it has just been a lot of the same...up early, play hard, bathes, dinner and bed. Phew! Makes me tired just typing it.

So much has been going on around us...church is gearing up for our yearly Back to School event, Day of Hope. We provided school supplies, backpacks, shoes and haircuts for free for families that need them in our community. Last year it was huge success and we are excited to see what God does through this event this year. (If you live in the area, we are taking donations of new backpacks, shoes and school supplies...as well as monetary donations. If you are interested in donating, please contact the church office: www.pendletonfirst.com

Last month John's brother Josh and his wife Meghan who are missionaries in Spain, welcomed their new baby girl Gabrielle. We were able to Skype with them once so far and see her beautiful, sweet face. They are doing some amazing work over there, but it still makes me sad that we won't see them for at least another year.

My grandma, Yvonne, moved from her home in Adams, into Pendleton following the loss her brother Maurice who she lived with. It was a long process and I am sure she is glad to be getting settled in now. She and Uncle Bud(family friend) have both been attending Pendleton First with us, along with Aunt Doris and Uncle Jerry (Bud's SIL and BIL). It's nice to have so many family members in the same church. The kids love seeing them every Sunday...and so do John and I.

My brother, Aaron, moved back to Nashville...something he has been trying to do for a couple years now. God has blessed him with a place of his own and a job. He is doing great! We miss him TONS...but we know God has a plan for him.

Yesterday, Alison was holding a picture of Aaron and singing a little made-up song about him when she turned to me and says,"When is Aaron going to get a mother?"

"A mother?", I said.

"Yeah, you know a mother." She replies.

"Well he has a mother, its Nana. Do you mean a wife? Like Daddy has me for his wife." I asked.

"Oh yah! A wife! When's he gonna get one of those?"

"I don't know Alison, maybe you should ask him next time you talk to him."

"Ok. I will. He needs one of those." She ran off with her picture of him still singing her little Aaron song.

So....Aaron...when you read this you better call your niece. She has some important stuff to talk to you about!

I have been doing all kinds of homemaking lately. Getting more and more into herbal remedies, healthy eating, sewing more, creating more. It's so refreshing to know that I can make things for my kids to eat, wear or heal with and I also know what they are made of! One of my favorite new things to use is my own homemade deoderant...I know, sounds a little crazy, but it's great. I know every ingredient that is in it (there's only three main ones) and I can make it smell how I want to smell. Plus, never in my life have I had softer, smoother underarms...seriously! I used that Dove Smoothing stuff for almost a year and had zero difference. After one week of my own homemade deoderant I had super smooth underarms. This is a little bit personal for some of you...but hey-this is my blog! lol I got my recipe here. On the flip side, I attempted to make my own toothepaste from the same sight....it was not so good!

I have also been sewing quite a lot since my birthday last year when my wonderful parents gave me a new sewing machine. Since I did not have a dedicated space for crafting, my kitchen table was overtaken. No worries, we eat in the dining room so it was not a huge deal. Although, everything under the sun ended up on my table. Well, when Grammy was moving I inherited her sewing table and storage cabinet. I have been trying to find a corner somewhere in the house for me to claim (haha...john says the whole house is my "claim"). Finally, I decided to make some space in my already-cramped laundry room. My hope is that by having some crafting space in there, I will in turn, also keep up on the laundry! We'll see if that actually happens. :)

A couple of weekends ago we went to Hoodriver, well Parkdale actually...for a family reunion. It was so relaxing and fun. The kids got to play with their 4th cousins(crazy). John and I enjoyed the day playing and relaxing. It was Bentley's first car ride and he did great. He even jumped into the river!

And our latest trauma...Alison hooked Hosanna with her fishing pole...and reeled her in. Yikes! After cutting the line and getting her to the ER I decided I better take a few pics. The injury wasn't as bad as I initally thought, but it's still a good thing I took her in. I probably wouldn't have been able to get the hook out as gracefully as Dr. McQueen (that's right, his name was McQueen!). Here are some before and after pics.

Well....that's it for now...I must go out and capture more entertaining moments!

Summer Lovin'

So things are hot here in Eastern Oregon...I don't mind it so much, if it weren't so hot! lol I'm sorry but I have to say....I'm ready for fall. No suprises there, John and I have always loved the fall more than any other season.
Our biggest and greatest news is that we have a new member of the family!!! No, John did not permit me to have another beautiful-precious-wonderful baby....but we did get a dog. Bentley or officially named- Henley's Amazing Black Bentley is now almost 10 weeks old. He is a good puppy and a full bred labrador. He has been training very well and we hope Jeremiah will truly have his bird hunting dog with Bentley. He has been talking about this for quite some time! Even though at the end of the day Bentley is a family dog...he really is Jeremiah's dog.

The kids have been enjoying the sunshine. Just the other day they were out playing in the sprinklers. After they came in and dried off, John was asking Alison what they were doing outside. "Oh we just were baptizing each other in the red wagon Daddy." I love thier imaginations and that they can bring what they have learned into their play :)

Along with various VBS to attend and home school as well as a visit from their cousins over the holiday weekend they have really been enjoying their summer. We will be getting ready for school before you know it and I can't wait!!

So things, as usual, have been very busy! John has been working hard....as usual....he had a good Father's Day, even though he worked and we enjoyed giving him the extra hugs and kisses. He's getting ready to switch to 12 hour shifts which will be really good in the long run with how his days off are going to work out.
Jeremiah is finishing up whiffle ball this week...he is doing awesome! He can hit that ball pretty stinkin far! I think we will be ready for baseball before we know it ;)
Both Alison and Jeremiah have been homeschooling this summer. This has been so wonderful. I have really enjoyed teaching them and they have enjoyed all the fun. They are also doing any and every VBS we can get them in this summer...no lazy kiddos in this house! They have been having lots of fun with all the activities.
Our calander continues to be full...both with family activities and church...just the way we like it. Hopefully we will have some time to spend away soon though....I can smell campfire in our future :)

First words...

So lately Judah has been talking up a storm. One of the silliest things he has discovered is how to tell me when he's pooped. Everyday when I go in to get him out of the crib he says..."uh-oh...stinky...I pooped" I think its pretty hilarious, but I'm his mom! This video is a little long and I think I probably asked him if he pooped a few too many times, but...I'm his mom and he is just so cute!!

Life in April...

Obviously I am not doing so great at keeping up with our posts....but at least I'm maintaining a monthly post! Hahaha

Things continue to be exciting around here...a few weeks ago, John decided that he would use one of the nice burn day's to burn out some bushes above our house. He spent time preparing by soaking the area around it with water and trimming, ect. I planned on helping him out after I got out of the shower that morning...as I stepped out the back door I could smell the smoke and then I saw.....flames and lots of FLAMES...flames so high one could not see the house above us! John was working as fast as he could with the garden hose to keep it contained and did a great job of keeping it from spreading to the carport. Someone in the neighborhood called the fire department and said our whole house was on fire....apparently from the highway before, the flames above the house concerned a few people..haha The funny part about the whole thing was that about a half an hour before all the commotion, I had called my dad to ask if we could borrow a ladder. He said he just got off work and would run home quick and then be up.....little did we know he would be driving his BIG red fire truck! John had the fire knocked down pretty well by the time the guys got there, but they helped him finish the job....lesson learned: John + fire = great blogging material! (Love you John :))

I went up to Wallowa in the end of April for my mom-getaway and scrapbooked for a whole weekend....it was wonderful. I was able to spend time with my mom and some really great girlfriends old and new ;)

Three of the kiddos had their annual well baby check-ups and everybody is healthy! Growing very fast but very healthy. Judah and Hosanna are still only a pound apart, Judah weighing 27lbs and Hosanna weighing 28lbs! Jeremiah finally broke over the 50lb mark and Alison is nearly square weighing 42lbs and being 43inches tall ;)

Judah has gone from running everywhere to climbing on everything! He is pretty good at though and I have only suffered a few minor heart-attacks. He is a non-stop talker saying all kinds of things...momma, dada, stop it, down, go, hot, please, thank you, cracker(his fav), ect. It's pretty cute...but he's very cute!

Hosanna and Alison have a new profession....hair stylists. Alison decided to cut Hosanna's beautiful curls off last week, leaving only two precious locks on her head. She let her sister take a turn on her hair, but only held out a small portion from the underside of her head so she wouldn't look "silly". I didn't get very good pics, but there are a few. I had to take Hosanna to my stylist to get things evened out because the same night this all happened we were headed to Jeremiah's spring concert...I was not taking her into public looking like that :( It turned out great and after grieving the loss of her beautiful curls I am doing much better now! Ha! Thankfully she is a curly-headed angel for life, so by fall they should be grown back.

BEFORE HER "ALISON" HAIR CUT

AFTER HER "ALISON" HAIRCUT

All in all everything is grand around here...living our crazy circus of a life and loving almost every moment of it!