HOT, HUMID, & MUGGY!

I know no kid pictures, our computer is on the fritz so Dan, figuring I might go into withdrawals left his laptop for me! But so I have no clue how to put pictures on here, so I thought I'd share these!

So I have been thinking of Virginia the last few days, not only because I think of it often but because it has been so HOT, HUMID, & MUGGY!!! It was not one of my favorite things about Virginia in the first place, and I don't like it any more here in Calif.!! Gross!
So the top picture is of the blue ridge mountains, aren't they beautiful! I miss the drives Dan and I took up on the parkway when we lived in Buena (B-you-naa)Vista. It was a frequent "date", that or walking up dink mountain, around town, or Walmart. I bet you all didn't know Buena Vista's night life was so exciting! (unless you've been there, then your nodding and smiling now!)
The second picture is why I went to Virginia, Southern Virginia College (now University). Pretty hu! I lived in the very top turret, that was my dorm room! Awesome hu! I miss it. I just thought I'd share. The time we spent there we had a "Great Books" curriculum, we really enjoyed it and I wish they still had it. I never really desired to read Plato etc. but I am grateful to have read it, and I think about reading many of the books again! We are planning to homeschool our kids and I read this great book,(A Thomas Jefferson Education) it reminds me of the Great Books curriculum from SVC, so Riley and I will probably dive into some great classics together! Along with all the fun stuff too, we can't neglect Dr. Seuss!
Hope you all are having a great day and that you are cooler than I, even Riley is working up a sweat playing library! Have fun!

Girly Girl!!

Fern was hamming it up for the camera today! I just love this dress so I wanted to take a picture, and Fern started posing, smiling, just over all being way too cute! And I figured everyone else wanted to see her too!! So here is my sweet! It is fun having a girl, and a mama's girl at that!!




Then I also had to share my latest read! I just finished this last night, it is soooooo good! I highly recommend it! Mr. Campbell did one through study and made some amazing correlations between diet and common "American" diseases. And gives great insight. It is not too medically written, but dose not "dumb" it down ether! I checked this out from the library (and it is over due), but this is a good one for a personal library, I will probably invest in a copy. A hard cover is a little pricey, but a soft cover is a bit less. Nutrition is such an amazing (and logical) way to keep our body's healthy. This was great! If you read it I'd love to discuss it with you! Next I am going to read Fast Food Nation, my SIL Anna highly recommended it. After that I think I'll do some pleasure reading, for Mother's Day I got the sequel to Eve and The Choice Made in Eden, I enjoyed the first and look forward to the second. Riley and I read his first chapter book a few weeks ago, Charlotte's Web. He loved it, so I think we will start another, I was thinking maybe Tom Sawyer! We'll see what is at the library this week!

Too Fast!

Well Fern's second tooth broke through! She is just getting so big! Too fast. So I thought an old (8 mo.) picture would be good! Sorry it is so dark, and the knee in the way, this is the first picture after Fern was born, look how little her head was!
What a wonderful experience having her at home, I could not have asked for more. If any more little spirits come to our family, I hope they will be born at home too.
I think I have decided to get my Child Birth Educator certificate, so then I can share, and help other families find the perfect birth for them. How much more fulfilling it is to have the birth you want.
What a blessing children are (most of the time)!

Fern's first tea party!

Yea, two post today, this was just too cute not to share!!

Fern had taken these two friends to bed for nap time, then when I went to get her up we did not forget them. So we sat down to nurse and I tried to set them down, but nooooo Fern would have none of that!
Our friends had to be right there with us. Dan thought this was so cute he went running for the camera, so there is amazingly a picture of me here! Ha Ha!

What a blessing to be able to nurse Fern, I thank Heavenly Father everyday. And besides now Fern has a very cute picture of her first (B.Y.O.B.M.= bring your own breast milk) tea party.
Have a great day!

Too cute in June!

How cute is this!! Riley and Jake got their new sandals for summer this past weekend, and they were too cute modeling for us. It's nice to see the hugs (and capture them for proof), between the other "brotherly activities"!!









Here is sweet Fern, she is wearing the too cute dress Grandpa Myers got her for Christmas. I realized I had no pictures of her standing yet, so I took quite a few! Dad kept distracting her, so no smiles for the camera, just googly eyes for Dad!!

"What do you do in the summertime..."

Well Jake's hair had gotten so long that he had to tip his head way back to see, and not very well even then! So Mama got out the hair scissors stolen from Grandma J., (sorry mom!) and gave Jake a summer do! You can't really tell, but it is much shorter in the back. And not too bad, even on a moving target! He is of course too cute! Sorry this picture is a little fuzzy, I'm ready to throw this camera out the window!



And another summer activity, reading! I just finished this book last night, very good!! It was written by a San Diegan too. It's a bit "tree huggerish" but not over the top, plus a great one about kids and their needs for nature. Not doom and gloom ether, he gives some great ideas, and spurs all to do more for our children now, and future generations. I highly recommend it. I checked it out from the O.C. library, but I might just invest in a copy, it was that good! Powell's has it for only $9.50 in paperback! Happy reading!

Sunny San Diego!

Well we are back from our vacation, so I thought you all needed to see some great pictures!!

We start with Fern on the beach, she had a great time crawling all over the sand, and playing in the water! This was Thursday, we camped at the Carlsbad State Beach.

Then we were off to the San Diego Zoo, Jake was so excited to see a bear just like his bear. He put his arms out and said, " I get bear"! It was so cute!





Then on Saturday we got to go down to the USS Midway with Grandpa Myers! Here is Riley all ready to bunk in for the night! (In the Jr. Officer's quarters of course!)





Here is our gang! Minus Riley's face, it is under there somewhere! :) We are on the USS Midway, there are a couple active aircraft carriers behind us. We had a great time getting to hear a few of Grandpa's experiences while he served in the Navy. And Dan and Riley had a blast looking at all the military planes they had on board. Tons of fun!! Thanks Grandpa!

On the Hook news front, Fern's 1st tooth popped through yesterday, and the second is just about to come through. It has been a blissful 7 mo. & 23 days of no teeth for mama, we'll see how this new milestone goes! Wish me luck!

"Lots of good fun that is funny!"

Here are a whole slew of pictures to tide all you Hook kid fanatics over while we go on our mini vacation! :) Love ya all!

This is a warning to all of you working on your year supply! WATCH OUT OR IT MAY ATTACK YOU! I was inside and heard Jake calmly calling, "Mama I stuck", so I said just a minuet, and when I got out there this is what I found! His feet were not touching the ground!


Riley and Jake requested this photo, this was yesterday, they are all excited about having "PB&J tacos", they went fast so mama was happy!

This is Jake today, he was so happy, he found an inch worm. He'd be disappointed to see you can not really see the worm, but his smile was much much cuter than the worm, so I aimed high! :)

"I call this game FUN-IN-A-BOX,
Said the cat.
In this box are two things
I will show to you now.
You will like these two things,
Said the cat with a bow."
-Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat.

Yummy in my tummy!!

This is Aunt Mary and Fern on Aunt Mary's birthday last March. But the reason I put her up, is last night we had a couple families over for Family Home Evening we did dinner too. The kids ran like crazy animals around the back yard, all 8 (well Fern did not run)! It was a lot of fun, so what to make for 3 families, with all of our family's dietary excitement? I of course turned to the great new cook book Mary gave me for Christmas, Feeding the Whole Family (second one down). This book has been through the trenches since Christmas, it is well loved and looks like it! It's not way out there, but it is new and fun! SO check it out if your looking for something new, and healthy. Some of our favorites out of it are; Sloppeh Joes (this is what we had last night), Split pea soup with fresh peas and potatoes, the latest one we tried Red Lentil Soup w/ East Indian spices (Masoor Dal) SO YUMMY!!, and if I am talking about Mary I have to include her favorite, Red Bean and Quinoa Chili (for the most part I only have to call and say I am making this and she comes to visit, Magic!!) There are many others, but I thought I'd wet your taste buds, and share what's cook'en in my kitchen! Thanks Mary!
Love ya all! Danna

:)

So far there are some good reviews of this new endevor of mine! Here are more pictures of our beautiful kid-o's!

This is Fern in her hat from Russia, complements of Grandma and Grandpa Hook. It was a few weeks ago.

This is a picture of Riley in the back yard, he always wants his picture taken.


And this is a picture of Jake up a tree all by himself on our camping trip. He was so proud of himself! And me being the tree climbing lover that I am, equally as proud!

Can you guess...

who dressed Fern today? Not very girly, but at least her Steelers bear is wearing a skirt. This is the first cloth diaper Dan picked out for Jake about 2 years ago! But this is the first time Fern has gotten to wear it, Dan said she was NOT aloud to wear it during the season, and heaven forbid, during the Super Bowl! Jake wore it once during a game, and then the Steelers lost. :( So we'll just support the team during the off season! Fern just goes crazy for her bear!

Here we go!

So here we go, a blog, I bet you all didn't think I was so crazy! But I thought this would be a good way to keep you all up to date on us, and to give me a place to put some of my daydreams! :) Hope you all enjoy!
Here is a picture from our camping trip at Carlsbad State Beach at the begining of May. Too bad Fern is not looking at the camera. I'll do a couple post today, then who knows how many I'll be posting or when! :)