Spy Gear, Crackers, and Beka

An Invention,  by Gregory Dean

Ready for this??

So here's a door, with a paper plate, and string, and bettery yet, rubber band.

 Notice that the rubber band and string are on the light switch, which is on...

Oh no, someone is coming in the room, without being invited, spying on 

Greg's other classified, highly secret Lego creations...

And??   The light is turned off, alerting Greg to a potential secret stealer.

Impressive, no??  Yes :D

Monkey hats anyone??  We have four, and I must say they are pretty cute, the kids that is, in their hats :D   

They are preparing to brave the snow, notice Kay's broom, only the essentials!!

Story here, note girls, on floor, Cheez-it's in hand.  Also notice dog appearing in background, 

much like Snoopy would in the old Peanuts comics.  I swear he could hear us

chewing marshmallows too!!

Whoops, choked a bit on that Cheez-it, Carolyn is getting that itch in the nose...Bogey appears to

be getting fed....

Carolyn, "What did you feed the dog for?"  Kay, "Look at me, I'm cute,

that's why I did it!"  Bogey isn't commenting, since his mouth is full.

Carolyn, "Mom, Kay Leigh just gave Bogey a Cheez-it, and now he's 

CHEWING it!!"  Kay,  "Mmmmphumbmph."  Bogey is still eating..

Oop, there he is, back again, looking veerry hopeful, if he watches the Cheez-it

closely, it might just jump out of Carolyn's hand.  Kay just noticed that's he's sitting there again.

Carolyn, being who she is, see's an opportunity!! " Let's tease the dog with the Cheez-it!!  

It'll be fun!"  Kay, "Sure!  I'll hold him, you wave it around."

"Aw man!! He got it!"   Bogey, out of the side of his mouth, "Heh heh, fooled 'em that time!"

"Kay, "Uhhhh, I'm not sure that's a good idea, remember last time??"  Bogey, "Hey Carolyn, look at that over there!"

"Hey great idea!  Let's both hold them up!!"  Of course, the dog got more than his fair share of crackers, 

and the girls were entertained for a few minutes.  That's why I have a dog.

I had a story about Greg, and one of Carolyn and Kay, but none of Beka.  She stays

away from the camera, haven't any idea why...oh wait :D

Trampolines, Makeup, and Christmas!

It's that time of year, and I decided to write a post!! Hooray! The house has kept us so busy, that I've out of the blogging habit....maybe this will start me up again :D We've been staying busy, and hope to be finished doing the major home improvements by the end of Januart, haha. We shall see. I will start posting pictures, before and after, soon, I PROMISE!! We are liking the new place though, so much more room!

My mom bought the kids a trampoline, since we now have a more permanent abode, and room for it in the yard...might I say that they LOVE it!! Putting it together was...interesting. Never have I found that the instructions are 100% trustworthy, so good thing my husband is handy!! We only had to take it apart once, and yes we had to take it completely apart :D Fun times. We took a break for hot chocolate before we made the second attempt. That helped.

So, pictures, here we are on the first attempt, setting up the frame, with the kids "helping" :D And of course one must wear butterfly wings while helping, it's so much easier then.

Daddy was so kind and patient the whole time, put up with my "suggestions" :D and even when we had to take it all apart, didn't complain...he's so nice! This was the first attachment of the springs...

Finally we had it all together, although we did run into a problem that will require us taking the mat off once again, but that can wait a bit, we were not in the mood to do it right then :D

So of course Trav had to test it, and make sure everything was kosher.

Once he gave the all clear, there was no stopping the kiddos, they have been doing flips already, and so far no major injuries! They aren't allowed to get hurt :D

Both Grandma's have said so :D

For Christmas the girls got silly string, they went out on the trampoline and had a silly string fight, gotta love being a kid!!

oh, and by the way, if you are having trouble with your office chair sliding around while you are sitting in it....we've got the solution.

That's a free extra :D

I don't have many Christmas pics yet, we celbrated our Christmas on the 23rd, so we'd have the next two days free to spend with family. Greg got his favorite, Legos.

Space Legos. The Best Legos. Tiny Legos.

:D Mom's favorite toy!

He's happy though, and so was Daddy, and that counts a lot!

Kay and Carolyn got play makeup from Daddy, they wore it well...for five and two year olds :D

And Kay being the ham wanted to get closer and closer, and closer...

And that ends my post for today, Merry Christmas!! Hope you all have a great holiday! Stay warm, and have some hot chocolate!

Sand, Swimming, and Hiking

Why all those words? Well, we took a family vacation to McCall, ID, of course. Which is up in the mountains, and average temp was around 65 while we were there. Hmmmm. Well, it actually went better than I expected, we had a fun four days. It was our first official family vacation where we just went and spent time together, instead of visiting someone. Not that that is bad of course, but....this was something we'd wanted to do for a while!

And this handsome fellow made it all possible :D That's Travis, my wonderful hubsand. I like him.

This is Greg, digging a trench in the sand. Why not? He is such a guy, which is good!

The girls are making sand slushies, yummo. As you can see it was a nicer day, probably the nicest while we were there. The sun felt good, now if we could done something about that cool breeze from the lake....I'm a lizard, I feel sure. I'm not happy unless it's above 85. But I live in Idaho. That was my husband's fault :D Actually, I'm very happy here, it's a beautiful state! And the mountains are so close, and the summers are hot, but we still get a little snow...and the shopping is decent. It's really a great place, thanks Travis for re-introducing me!!

It just makes me tear up, sniff. Oh wait, that was sand in my eye!!

The girls found....ROCKS!! What a thing!

Me and the two oldest of my offspring :D and my coffee.

Kay Leigh, lagging behind as usual, maybe it was the handful of rocks slowing her down.

That handsome guy again, a rock in midst of chaos!

Oh, and he also has coffee. It's necessary if you are going hiking with 4 kiddos under the age of 8. Trust me. And get the biggest size they have :D

Beka ready to swim at the hotel. Doesn't she look grown up?

Carolyn WAITING! Can't you tell she's the biggest-stinker-whole-tribe??

Kay, trying out the goggles. They didn't last long, but she LOVES swimming! They all loved it, and may I say that I wish all pools used salt water instead of chlorine? It is so much nicer than chlorine, and doesn't make you feel like you are dying of bleach inhalation after an hour. We spent a lot of time in the pool :D

A really cool dead tree. They climbed all over it of course.

My two nuts. They resemble each other, yes?

A picture together.

Another one. Kay had lost interest by this time. Rocks were more captivating than saying cheese.

Hey, there's me! And the kids. And Beka has her eyes closed :D And Kay still isn't interested.

Ever wondered what it's like to get four kids all together for a decent picture? It's impossible. Well, not totally, but watch, and imagine a good five minutes elapsing.....

rocks...they are so cool...

Is your butt getting poked too? Get closer together...

Hey, what happened? Sit back down, I don't care if it hurts, sit and smile like it doesn't! Oh, don't fall off the edge behind you either. Kay, quit crying!

Ah, yes, there's a good picture!

And one more :D That's all folks! Our trip in a brief nutshell!

Restaurants, Creamers, and Hugs

So, every once in a while, before we made our new budget :D, we'd take the kids to our favorite family restaurant, Shari's. It's our favorite because they have kid's menus, crayons, and good coffee. All you need for a happy breakfast, right? And their food is good too, which is always such a plus! They have these stuffed hashbrowns....mmmmm. Anyway, the kids of course always find great ways to entertain themselves. Carolyn the last time discovered cutting up crayons with a butter knife...notice the intense concentration. I was going to give her a steak knife to help out with the job, but Travis wouldn't let me....I'm kidding of course, I wouldn't really do that :D

Greg and Beka were looking at all the food, Beka reading the names to Greg and he's commenting on all the yummy looking stuff in there that mommy never makes :P Because it's laden with fatty calories....and unhealthy hydrogenated oils....etc. But I don't bother explaining that to them, they just wouldn't get it.

And this little imp, loves the creamers. I used to, as well. Travis thinks it's disgusting, but it's super cute, and keeps her entertained for quite a while :D She's even learned how to open them herself, without splashing everyone in a ten foot radius. That's a milestone to remember!

This departs from the restaurant, but....how can you resist these teeny baby toes :D I painted Beka's toes and mine, and Kay Leigh had to get in on it. Then when I took pictures of our toes, hers needed to be in there too. Her nails are so teeny, it's hard to get the polish on them, go ahead, you know you want to kiss them. Ok, maybe not, but I did :D

A side note, Carolyn does NOT have the patience to sit after I do her toes, so most often, her's go undone. She prefers having her fingernails done, in DARK colors, except I don't allow that :D

Her shirt says I love Hugs, wanna give her one?? With that face??? All covered in who knows what, you should see her when she's had chocolate :D