Geo Bee

It seems every year I hear about the Geo Bee and the Spelling Bee from Blake. This year was a first, we got to hear about it from Jacie. The Geography Bee was a couple weeks before the Spelling Bee so it gave her good practice. I never thought I would experience more nervousness sitting in the audience than being on stage, but it did happen. She did a great job.

Unwilling Leader

Carter was an unwilling shepherd this morning. Though he had two followers he did not want to touch them. Our favorite annual day is here again. Blake's "Excuse Note" assignment has our family in a tither. As you know from past posts, we have a hard time getting ready for school and today was no different. Between shepherding and digging in a receptacle for free Farm Show goodies we barely got to school on time. We are all eager to see how creative these students are this year!

We are finally at the stage where we can go trick-or-treating and we don't have tired kids but it's always a bit rushed on a school night. We usually enjoy going to Opa and Oma's for pizza and going around their neighborhood. Our tradition every year is to visit our neighbor Betty at her daughter's house so she can see them dressed up. Next year will be extra special since we don't live by her anymore.

Four Lil' Pumpkins

After a few busy weeks of packing up, fixing things, moving, and unpacking we needed a little reprieve from all the "house stuff." We went to our local pumpkin patch for a little break. We almost missed it because the patch was almost done, as it was towards the end of October. It's amazing how God provides even with little things. It was a nice afternoon for our family and every thing was free thanks to the family who owned it. We enjoyed dinner, a hayride and free pumpkins to adorn our new home. What a generous community we live in and what a wonderful husband I have. We are often on the receiving end of generosity thanks to my wonderful teacher husband and thankful parents to him.

On the hunt

Sometime during our summer Blake and I decided to start looking at houses. Who knew how busy we would become with all that entails?

Park

October still had mild temperatures. We enjoyed an afternoon playing kickball, skating and rip-sticking around.

Walk thru

California. That's what Jacie's grade got to do in October. It was actually a very neat way to learn all about California. I learned a few things too. It was very interactive and all the children participated with a part they had previously memorized even though at the time of memorization they didn't know how it was going to be part of the program.

Camping?

Hmmm, it looks like we are camping if you were to take a quick look at this picture. Children. . . brushing their teeth. . . outside. But we aren't. It's just a typical day for us. Sometimes we have a hard time getting things done in the morning before school. One would think we lived on a ranch in Oklahoma where we had to rustle up cattle or train our horses before we scurried off to school or sumthin'. T'weren't the case though. The closest we have to cattle is having relatives who live on dairies. Nope, we just can't wake up sometimes or dress ourselves. Or today, we just didn't get to brushing our teeth before we left for school this morning. Fortunately for us, we've been spending a lot of time at the orthodontist for Kenna's spacers this year so we were prepared with toothbrush and toothpaste. Those weekly visits have built up our travel-size hygienic supplies.

Plate Night

Blake and I like to try new things, especially food. It is also hard to go on a date with 4 kids at home. We dubbed the night "Plate Night" for a date and cooking at home. We made ceviche, carnitas and homemade tortillas. Delish!

70

Oma celebrated 70 years end of September so she and Opa asked all of us to go to Bass Lake to celebrate. We had a great time swimming, playing games, eating and hanging out. One day we went on a little hike near the lake. We ended up turning around at some point because we didn't know if we were going to end up in Coarsegold or what.

10

Wow, Jacie turned 10. I can't believe how quickly time is flying. I know people told me it would go quickly but when I had 4 children under the age of 5 at home, it felt like people were lying to me :), now I see they were not. We dipped marshmallows in white chocolate to bring to class and picked up cupcakes for her big day.

Day of Labor

Labor Day saw us at the Kostelyk's new abode. The kids had fun swimming and swinging at the pinata.

Carter is 5

So. . . I guess it's been awhile since I've posted anything. I will have to be behind for awhile, at least picture-wise though, because I get this printed out for the children so things can't be skipped. When last I left off, the kids were off to school from summer break. Immediately following that was Carter's birthday. He turned 5.

Fab 5

I don't know how much my little heart can handle this week. This boy has had a momentous week. First week of preschool and now his birthday today. He turns 5 today. He was sooo excited he couldn't sleep last night. I went to Bible study but Blake said he kept coming out and saying he needed to "go potty", "needed a drink of water" routine so he could come out and hopefully espy his gifts.

1st Day of Preschool

Carter did a great job going to school today. He greeted them and hung his lunch up on his hook. He went right away to some kids on the floor and started playing. He was very excited when he came home too. He had fun on the monkey bars and playing with new people. I however, had a harder time adjusting. As soon as we walked out Avery started crying. She said she would miss me but I know her tender heart knew she would have a lonely mommy. She offered to stay home with me while the other kids went to school a couple times this summer. I was fine until I got home. I shed a few tears and prayed for my babies! God has blessed us greatly.

First Day of School

It seems like just yesterday children all over America were uttering some rendition of, "No more pencils, no more books..." It's hard to believe we are easing back into the rhythm of school schedules. My husband authors a blog. In this blog on August 3, 2012, he pens a letter that we would, and have given our children's teachers. If you wish to read it, click on "The Write Project" blog located on the right-hand side of this page located 3rd down on my blog list. Only 129 days, 4 hours, 55 minutes, and 12 seconds until Christmas Break.

Fountain of Youth

Ashland, Oregon has a fountain in the middle of the "town square" where sulphery, soda water bubbles forth. At some point in history Ashland tried to forge it's way as a spa town but things didn't bubble up to their expectations. It's suppose to possess many healthy minerals for all things healing but bottling it was not a success. Apparently people did not want to drink stinky water. We all had a lap of it. Upon first taste, well. . . it stinks. We all know how olfactory and tasting senses are in an iron-glad partnership. It smelled like rotting eggs and it tickled the tongue. I wasn't prepared for the fizzy, soda-like effervescence that prickled my tongue. But I have to admit, once I got past the sodium-like, stinky, bubbly taste, I still didn't like it. My oncoming cold went away though. No, that didn't happen either. It was however, a fun experience that I'm sure the kids will remember. I've heard that taste and sounds and smells play a big part in connecting with our memories. I have to think that some day when my children get the opportunity to drink rotting soda, they will think fondly of that day.

Emigrant Lake

We camped here for a few nights. It was in Ashland, Oregon. It was a great spot to swim since it was warmer than our other spots. The only disadvantage to the place was the wind. It was quite windy, it really picked up in the afternoon. Blake and I spoke with the camp host and he said they have been there since May and he hasn't seen a day without wind. This is also the place where Blake threw out his back. It wasn't fun for him to hobble around for the next few days. Fortunately we didn't have to leave for a few days so his back was good enough to pack everything up when we were ready. He was a trooper and hardly a complaint came out of him. He still went to the lake and swam in the water with all of us.

Redwoods

Not a Happy Camper

Camping together isn't all peaches n' cream. We had a great time together and really enjoyed exploring things but not without a few glitches along the way. We came back home with stories of stinging nettle, bee stings, raccoons eating a lot of our food one evening, time-outs, and a sore back (Blake threw his out and hobbled along for the last week). One of our biggest stories of the trip involved Carter. In the picture collage you can see our third place we camped was in Ashland, Oregon. We had a beautiful site overlooking Emigrant Lake. On the first day we arrived we realized we needed some flotation devices if we were going to enjoy our time at the lake. One of the devices was a floating, golden chair. We called it "the throne." Meteorologists probably could have forewarned us that it gets pretty windy in Ashland. It was warm enough to want to swim but there is quite a breeze blowing through too. One day we were at a cove that we had to drive to but it wasn't far. We used the wind to our advantage by swimming out a ways and letting the wind usher us back to the cove. The next day I realized we were right by a nice cove of our own which wouldn't have public access, with the exception of fellow campers. So we set up camp and the kids hopped right on their tubes and thrones. On this particular day the wind was blowing the other direction though. Carter was sitting like a king on the throne and wearing his arm floaties. Soon enough though he started drifting. We told the girls to get him. But the wind kept taking him beyond their reach. Blake, with his sore back, took the bright pink raft and ran into the lake after him. A man and fellow camper offered his long board to Blake but we didn't want to bother him. So off Blake went paddling his little heart out trying to stay afloat on the flimsy, pink raft. Soon our good Samaritan realized Blake was not going to reach Carter and even if he did, it would be too long of a swim back. So he set off on his long board, passed Blake up and was able to get both of them. By this time though, they had almost reached the other side of the lake. An onlooker with a boat offered them a ride back to shore, thankfully. I knew Carter was never in danger but I know it was more panicky for Blake to try to paddle to him and have him always a bit out of reach. We learned not to drift very far that day. Not after Kenna gave him a little shove a half an hour later or so and he started drifting again. Carter was never worried but he did declare after Blake dove in AGAIN to get him, "I don't want to float that far again."