Ian is 8!!

Well, after quite a while of calling him almost 8 I can now officially call Ian "8"! I asked him earlier in the week what he would like to do for his birthday and gave him a few suggestions and he finally asked if we could go fishing. So, we made plans to do just that and got our fishing licenses so we would be "legal." Also, when I asked him what he would like to do about dinner his first response was, once again (that's what he had last year), cordon bleu (I get it from Schwan's so it' not like I make if from scratch). However, I hadn't yet started getting anything from the Schwan's guy here so I told him I'd try but that he might need a backup plan. Well, I tried but the day the Schwan's guy arrived, he had no cordon bleu. When I told Ian he promptly replied, "Well, I guess we'll just have to go to Boston's that way everyone can just get what they want!"

With all of that said, here's an overview of "his" day. Woke up and watched his normal Saturday morning cartoons and played a little play station while Brian got the breakfast ready he'd requested - crepes. (I'm only now realizing a french theme...) After we ate he opened his gifts from us and got 2 games for his Wii plus another kind of controller for it. Then, he got ready for the day and while Brian and I got ready for the day he and Josh had to test out one of his new games. I packed a picnic lunch and we were on our way to go fishing. Although it was a gorgeous day - the wind was pretty fierce and the first place we went didn't have a lot of cover so it was a little chilly. That place also had pretty grassy water so everytime you cast, you got caught in it so it wasn't much fun. After a little bit we decided to try another place and this time there was enough cover that the wind was blocked and it was beautiful. There were lots of frogs around and we played with one for a little bit. The fishing wasn't great (only little fish around) so we had fun just enjoying the area. Since we were going out for dinner that night we brought Ian's "cake" with us. I say it that way because it wasn't a cake. He requested Golden Graham's recipe of "Indoor Smores" as his cake! We got some great pictures and decided to head home for a little bit before heading downtown for dinner. While we were home Ian went to play with some friends for a little bit and after about an hour Brian got a call from one of Ian's friends dads saying, Ian had a bad fall you might want to come get him. Brian went to get him and they were home in a few minutes. He was fine but, apparently, had fallen off his bike and landed on his head that was covered in a helmet so it didn't do anything but put a little scratch in his helmet! Praise the Lord he was fine. Then, we left for dinner. After we got back he opened up his cards and gifts from our out of town family, played Wii for a little bit then called it a night. He said it felt pretty good being 8!

He is quite a character and many feel he seems older than 8 and to be honest he is pretty independent and capable and thinks on his feet better than some teenagers I know. But, I have to remind him he's only 8 and he can't go to the store and swimming pool by himself even though he thinks he should be able to. And, yes, he has great ideas but if I've already asked him to do something he needs to do what I asked - not what he wanted! My neighbor told me he's like talking to a little adult and he really can be that way. It'll be interesting to see how this year goes with me homeschooling him! I plan to try and start tomorrow - say a little prayer for me that I will be covered in love and wisdom (because wisdom leads to patience)!!!

Have I mentioned...

Ellie is walking??!! She doesn't do it consistently but she is definitely getting more and more adventurous with it! We actually witnessed her doing it for the first time the day after our anniversary but I finally got it on "video" yesterday to share with you. Also, her first tooth has finally broken the surface! I felt it (against much protesting) on the 14th but think it might have broken a little before that. She really is growing up! Well, I suppose since she's 14 months now that it's okay - we got to keep her "little" for quite a while. Oh, she is also trying to say some words - ball, juice, please are a few that come to mind.

Josh's School

Well, Josh starts his Senior year tomorrow and he is really looking forward to it. He's been at a different high school every year of high school career and he's handled it all really well. Part of what has him excited about this year is the school itself. It's a school with history in that it opened in 1917. It's a really neat building in the downtown area and we went Monday to check it out and walk his route so he'll have an idea of where he's going tomorrow. We even got to meet some of his teachers while we were there so that was nice. He took some pictures of it while we were there and I thought I would share a couple of them with you. The one on the left is the "main" entrance. The center one is looking down a hallway on the first floor (there are four) and the one on the right is a picture of part of the cafeteria area. Should be fun!

A Field of Sunflowers

Last week a friend took us to pick some raspberries at a field not far from our house. While we were there I saw a field of sunflowers and thought it would be fun to do a photoshoot with the sunflowers. So, although, I would love to say we just happened along this field today and decided to stop and get some quick pictures...I can't. It was a planned event complete with some fussing at the kids! Ellie, however, really wasn't quite in the mood so I wasn't able to get any good shots of her by herself but some of the others came out pretty well. Since there were so many, I've compiled a little slideshow for your viewing enjoyment!! I hope your summer days are filled with fields of sunflowers, too!

Our Ten Year Anniversary

Well, it's been almost a week but I thought I should post something about our anniversary. We celebrated our ten year anniversay with a trip to Minneapolis and the Mall of America. Our actual anniversary was Friday August 8th - yep, 08/08/08 the same day the Olympics began. Rather than go into gruesome detail about our trip, I made a little Smilebox scrapbook since I know how much you love them! :) Before I do, though, I thought I would also say that our anniversary gift to each other arrived the day before we left on our trip. What romantic item did we select for our 10 year anniversary gift to each other? A bedroom set!! It's a long story but suffice it to say that we've never had one and we thought it was time. I'm attaching a picture so you can see it. It's not the best picture because I took it as we were literally running out the door to go on our trip but you'll get the general idea! So, we are spoiled now because we have a new comforter set and a new bedroom set! Exciting stuff - no, really, I am excited because I do love it!!

Neither one of us can believe we've been married this long but have agreed that we would happily do it all again. Three kids, five moves, and we wouldn't change a thing!

Make a Smilebox photobook

Josh is 17!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I can't believe it but my eldest is 17 today. I feel bad because today really snuck up on me with being out of town until yesterday but I think (hope) it's been a good day for him. I let him sleep in but he ended up getting up on his own around 9:30am which I was surprised by - it was probably because he was excited about it being his birthday. We had an uneventful morning (except for a housing inspection and the piano tuner coming) which he likes although I did take the opportunity while Ellie was napping to go to the commissary for some necessary items: stuff for dinner and the all-important cake and ice cream! After Ellie's nap we headed out. I had a couple of errands to run then I took Josh to help me pick out his "big" gift from us. I took him to the music store and let him make a decision between two bass amplifiers. So, he now has an amp to play with and practice. I am also looking at signing him up for lessons in the fall. Tonight he requested his usual for dinner - what we call hawaiian chicken, rice and sliced pears. Then, he invited some people he's met since being here over for dessert and games/movies. We are currently listening to them in the other room while we sit in our living room. There ended up being seven who came so we have a house full! A few of them are new this year, too, so it's nice that they're getting to know some others before school starts next week. Josh has said a couple of times today, "I'm seventeen!" I just have to say "Yep, I can't believe it either!" I gave him a synopsis of his "birth" day, too, and he especially enjoys the part where I asked for drugs during labor and they wouldn't give me any because he was asleep!!!! Must be where it all started - the boy can sleep through anything!!

On a side note we did get him registered for school yesterday and got his schedule. He'll be taking: AP English, AP Calculus, AP Biology, Economics/Government (semester classes), Theatre 2, Computer Engineering/PE (semester classes), and Intro to Computer Aided Drafting. Should be a pretty full year for him. Something I think is interesting is all of his teachers are men! School starts next week on Thursday and I think he's ready so he can meet some more folks - plus it IS his SENIOR YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where Do I Begin?

I shouldn't really be blogging right now - I should really be working on the house some more or starting dinner BUT, the house is quiet, Ellie is napping and I haven't blogged in FOREVER!!!! So, here I am trying to decide where I start and what I should talk about.


I guess I'll start by saying we are in our home! We got the key the weekend of the 19th of July and came in and did some painting. Josh painted one of his walls red and we used that same red to paint some in Ian's room. We were going to do along the bottom of his walls with the red but then it turned into diagonals and now it looks like he has red mountains in the corners of his walls. In Ellie's room I painted one of her walls the same sort of caramel brown that we had in Alabama because I liked how all of her stuff looked on that color. Our stuff was delivered on Tuesday the 22nd and since I got to pack the house up by myself Brian thought it would be good for me to practice unloading by myself (although I'm remembering him being at the doctor's office and all when moving to AL because he'd hurt his back...). So, Josh and I worked together while the guys unloaded and Brian came home that afternoon in time to see them unload the last thing off the truck. Perfect timing on his part!! I worked the rest of that week on trying to get the kitchen and all together so we could stop eating out. Plus, trying to help Ian make sense of his room and getting Ellie's room put together. I was trying pretty hard to get a lot done before I left for my Stampin' Up! (R) convention last week. Unfortunately, life also was happening and I wasn't able to get quite as much done as I would've liked but it was "livable."


I left last Wednesday morning bright and early to travel to Salt Lake City for Stampin' Up!'s annual convention. I was especially excited about convention this year as I had two of my downline joining me and not only are they my downline they are also good friends! To my dismay, though, I discovered the day before I left that my ticket coming home was for Saturday and not Sunday as it was supposed to be. In order for the airline to change my ticket it would have cost me $545 or I could've booked another one way ticket home but that would've still cost me $350 so I had to make the tough decision to keep my ticket as it was and come home a day earlier than I was supposed to. I was pretty bummed but tried to focus on the positive's while I was there. I had a blast this year and am totally pumped to try and get business going here in North Dakota. I am including a picture of me with my roomies (two of them are my downline) after the Awards Night.


Since I came home Saturday instead of Sunday I was able to get a pretty good nap before going to a neighborhood "coyote" party (if the coyote lands in your yard, you're responsible to host the next party). Unfortunately, though, our time there ended with me having to take Ian to the emergency room to make sure he hadn't broken his arm. One of the people there is one of our doctor's and he thought it best to take him just to make sure. So, after spending 2 hours of my first night home in the emergency room we found Ian's arm was fine. I was a little frustrated with him while also trying to be sympathetic - the boy just seems to over do things some times! Because of the late night, we slept in Sunday morning and enjoyed a day around the house. I would like to call it a "relaxing" day at home but it wasn't. It was filled with unloading more boxes and trying to put some order to the chaos. Brian did get a lot done while I was gone but there was still more to be done. Ther are officially no more boxes in the living room but there's still stuff everywhere begging to be put somewhere. It'll come - hopefully soon.


This week we celebrate our ten year wedding anniversary. We plan to celebrate by going to the Mall of America! I can't wait! I've never been and it's somewhere I've always had in the back of my mind that I wanted to visit. So, it should be fun - not very romantic perhaps but fun. Even the boys are looking forward to it.


Well, that doesn't really fill you in on everything but it brings you up to the here and now. I guess no blog would be complete without an updated picture of Ellie. So, here it is. This picture was taken yesterday. She's wearing an outfit that was Ian's!! Yes, she's standing on her own some but still not walking yet and still no teeth!!