BIG NEWS TODAY!!!

I am sure you all thought I had left the blogging world, but alas the fast is over. I also got my sister to post too! :) Love ya Mary!

Ok, and the big news stories today are... I started a new blog, yes I am crazy, it is a Nature blog. I hope you'll all check it out and enjoy it! :)

But the most EXCITING news is... Riley became a Tiger Cub Scout today!!!! Riley is so excited! I saw in the paper that all the town Girl & Boy Scout Troops were having a Camporee this weekend, so we went out to see it this morning, I asked all my questions and when it was all good we asked Riley if he wanted to be a scout. He gave me a huge smile and went for it! We put him in a city troop because the troop at church does not have Tiger cubs, they wait until the kids are older. So it will be interesting, Dan is now the Cub Scout Master for our ward troop at church, plus it will be interesting to see if Riley chooses to stay with he city or change to the ward troop in a couple years.

Here is Riley with our new bumper sticker that he is DIEING to put on one of our cars. We'll see.
Jake was full of the "me too's" today, so here is a picture of Jake too!

It was hard to not go talk to the Girl Scout Troops, but I have no time to volunteer right now, and I still have to wait 3 years before Fern is even Daisy age! But you better believe we'll be there, and maybe I will get another run at being a leader! :)

I have a million pictures from the last 2 weeks, so I will get them up soon, and hopefully Mary will keep up! ;)

Fern's Big Day!

Fern has had a hard time with the fact that Riley and Jake got new boxes of crayons for the new school year and that she had to use the old broken crayons. So the other day Fern and I went to the store and bought her her very own (and first) box of crayons! As soon as I gave them to her she wanted to open them, but I told her that she could not until we payed for them. So then she started saying, "Pay, Pay" in her own sweet way! :) Here we are at home, first things first lets dump them out!
So many colors!
And like the sweet thing she is, she put them all back into the box! What a fun girl Fern is!

More! More!

The continuing saga of our family outing... Here we are with two grumpy babes outside, but still on Liberty Island! Then we hoped back on the ferry and rode over to Ellis Island!
There are NO pictures to do justice to the building at Ellis Island. This is the room upstairs where immigrants were sent to be processed. One thing I really loved there were all the pictures of immigrants. There was a man who worked there at Ellis Island but was also a novis photographer. He enjoyed taking pictures of the immigrants in their traditional ethnic dress. They have blown up many of these pictures and have them on the walls. I would have loved to take these home, good thing I did not look too closely in the gift shop they may have had a book of them. Oh I would love that!
Here is one of the pictures behind Fern and I, isn't it beautiful that mamas have carried their babies throughout time.
Now here is a story for you! When we were in the big hall pictured above they had a large jug full of jelly belly jelly beans. There were two signs on it, one was how many immigrants were processed on Oct, ?, ????, I know bad mama can not remember the date. Then below there was a sign that said, how many jelly beans? It was good for the kids, although individuals with stories are nothing like a jelly bean! :) the answer was 11, 4??. Bad again! Oh well. Anyway Jake saw them and WANTED them! We saw the rest of the place and he was having a hard time at that point, he was tired and being the youngest boy you can imagine how that can go. :) So I thought I'd give him a leg up, so he and I went to the gift shop and bought 3 bags of jelly bellys! He gave one to his cousins Sam & Jarom, shared some of his bag with Mama, Fern, Dad, Alicia, & Aubrey. Of course all the boys scarfed them down fast and went after Jake, he shared a few but then I said Ok these are Jake's! He was so happy! So here he is outside on Ellis Island happy as can be, how many other little boys stood there happy as can be but for another reason?
Here is our ferry back to New York.
Jake savoring his last few jelly beans on the ferry. I brought home one pack to enjoy later! What a cutie!
After we made it back to N.Y. we parted with Donna, Jody and the kids, they made their way towards home, and we thought we would head home too. But N.Y. had other plans for us, we sat in traffic for an hour (our kids peacefully sleeping) and never made it past Manhattan! (We only live an hour and a half away!!) So we made a detour, and went to Times Square! We had dinner at Planet Hollywood (we let the kids pick other wise we would have gone to the European Cafe) but we enjoyed our veggie burgers and fries very much! It was fun to walk around and see where all the shows are! It was tourcherus not to go!! I have never been to New York City it was quite the adventure! We got to go into the Billabong store there in times square and see a few of Aunt Marys bags!! I almost bought one! :) Silly hu! :)
Here are the kids and I crossing the street in Times Square! It was a good day to go to N.Y. , between it being a Monday during the school year, a rainy day, and the day before Sept. 11, it was not too crowded.
As we were driving out we went right past the Empire State Building, Grand Central Station, and the United Nations Building. And then thankfully there was no traffic going home! We arrived home 14 hours after we had left! With a bit less money, (parking was the most expensive part, even more than dinner) some sore legs, super tired, but with a whole bunch of fun memories!

So What Did You Do Yesterday?

We got crazy! Aunt Donna, Uncle Jody, and the kids all came back to our house Sunday night, then we all got up early and went to New York City! I downloaded my pictures this morning, all 89 of them! So here are a few, and I will post more later today or tomorrow!Ok from the back left, there is Aubrey, Donna, Trevor, Alicia, then in front, Riley, Sam, & Jarom (that is the tip of Jake's head, Dan took this photo while I was nursing Fern)! This is the ferry to Liberty Island, Dan managed to not get sea sick!! Yea!!
Riley really enjoyed his cousin Aubrey, he held her hand all day. With as many little boys as we had we had to institute holding hands with someone older OFTEN! After Fern's meal on the ferry she enjoyed watching anything the other kids also found interesting!
And Fern and Mama, oh yea and I had Donna chop all my hair off Sunday night! :) But after being on a boat, in the rain, and walking quite a few stairs don't look for great pictures of my new do! :)
Here is our family in front of the original torch, with the electric light. This is before we got to the 156 stairs!This is a replica of one of Lady Liberty's feet! Here are all the "little" kids! From the left, Jake (3), Sam (7 I think!), Fern (22 1/2 mo.), Riley (6), & Jarom (6).Here is after we made it up the stifling hot, and tiring stairs! When we got out there it was pouring rain! But the cool air felt so good after the stuffy stairs! That is downtown behind us!Here was our view from up there of Lady Liberty!

More to come!!

The Day That Had to Come!

As much as I really did not want to and have put off, Fern needed a hair cut. Most of the time we could not see her eyes, and she refused to wear a barrette. None of the pictures came out well, but what do you expect, a 22 month old getting her first hair cut! Here is my girly girl sitting so well for Aunt Donna! We got a great treat, Aunt Donna, Uncle Jody and their kids left at home got in late last night and then we got to spend some time with them. They have since fled CT. for Mass. but we get to enjoy them again Sunday into Monday! :)
It has been impossible to get a picture of her hair cut today, I have tried several times, this one at least she is smiling and she is not wearing her headband! We ended up cutting the back a bit shorter than planned to make it all the same length. It is a cute little bob. It will grow out much nicer than it was! My baby is getting TOO big!!!!

So there is our fun for the day! Thanks Aunt Donna!!!

Riley's Favorite Thing... right now!

Before my battery died I got this video of Riley doing what he does almost the entire time he is outside! This was this afternoon, after I took this he got all the way around the table (where I was sitting) then around the shed and back up to the tree house!

So how do you like the new blogger feature to put a video up vs. photo bucket? :)

HAPPY SEPTEMBER!!

Look what is starting around here!!! Fall is creeping up on us!!!

Especially since today was our first day of school!

For Labor Day yesterday we went to the ward picnic, it was at a great park!
Jake and Fern RAN for the playground!
Riley quickly found a friend. :) Her name is Megan. Later in the day she set up her chair near where Riley was skateboarding to impress her. :) He got a couple scrapes, but did not fuss over them. It is amazing, the power of a girl!
Fern noticed that someone had very cute pink chairs, she immediately occupied one!

All in all it was a fun day, it was great when the bishopric pulled our a water balloon launcher and let the missionaries aim at the Bishop! Fern loved the water balloons, every time she dropped hers and it broke she fell apart into tears, and then someone would quickly get her another! :)

Toes!!!

We were all outside enjoying the cool evening (until I was being swarmed my mosquitoes) and Fern was of course in her swing! I had my camera out taking pictures of the leaves and bugs and such when Fern decided I should take pictures of her toes! She kept saying toes and pointing at themHere she is quite happy about her toes!
I had to steal one of her face up close, she still thought I was getting her toes in!
This one made her very happy, how cute is her foot!! For being as small as she is she has good size feet!

I have some great picture of leaves and spiders and such, but I am thinking of starting a nature blog to put such things on, it would be a good school project/resource! We'll see I am still toying with it, what do you think?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAN!!!

After our yummy birthday dinner of kale & kraut sandwiches, macaroni salad, and BBQ potato chips, we had DESSERT!Here is Dan and Jake with the birthday peach cobbler, we learned the hard way not to put candles in hot cobbler. They melt.
Birthday wish time! Last years wish came true, he is flying an airplane full time, I wonder what he wished for this time! :)
Group picture in front of the fish tank! Notice Dan's "Super Dad" birthday sticker!! :)
And Fern and mom this morning on the way to church in our pretty new duds from Mexico via Olveria St. in L.A. Thanks Grandma!!

Dan is Home!!

Dan got home this week, and we have been busy playing, (do we do anything else you ask)! :) I got fun treats from his travels! A little model of the Parthenon, olive oil from Italy, olive oil soap from Greece, and a painting he bought from the artist near the Leaning tower of Pisa. It is of the sunflowers Dan said are all over the Tuscany countryside! He said it looked just like what he saw! I really need to put some money aside to buy frames, I have quite the collection of art needing frames at the moment! :)
Dan's birthday is tomorrow, but we could not hide (or keep Jake quiet) our gift. So Dan got to open it the night he got home! See how surprised he was!!
It is a fish tank and all the fixings! Sometimes you have to splurge! He is lucky there is not a new kitty too, there were quite a few cute ones visiting from the Humane Society, and I wanted one too! :)
Checking it out!

He has it all set up now with the filter running, as soon as the water is all set he will be getting NICE fish. (I have specified no fish that may eat another!!!)

I had a great accomplishment yesterday, there are now curtains on every window!!!!! I finished Fern's yesterday!!! YEA!! I also found a magnetic curtain rod so I have a curtain on the little window next to the door! I'll put pictures up soon, it is REALLY humid and gloomy so not great for window pictures.

Backyard Fun!

For a snack the other day I cooked a couple ears of corn, and then skewered them on a chop stick. This went over VERY well! :)Here is cutie Fern so happy to be just like the boys!
YUMMY!
Mr. Snazzy eating corn!
And cutie patutie!!!

A really fun thing to get use to here are the sounds, so I thought I'd share. Video number 1 is during the day, you can hear our one lone cricket who chirps all day. He lives in my flower bed, you can also hear a crescending buzz, hum thing those are the cicada. They are up in the trees and sometimes they get really loud. It scared the boys at first but now they just go on playing! Then video number 2 is at night, also in the back yard, here you can hear the crickets and frogs (or toads I am not sure).

Girly Girl!

It is so fun to have a girl, boys are fun in different ways! Yesterday Fern was definitely my girly girl! After Fern's nap she and I and her three babies sat in the rocking chair for a bit, I then had to go to the bathroom so I set her in the chair. She stayed there and held her babies all wrapped up in two blankets. And then she agreed to a few pictures!
Do you see her little had holding so tightly on her baby. It was so sweet!
Fern flat out refuses to let me put barrettes or such in her hair, but she found this old head band and decided she would make herself so pretty.
Here she is painting with water, don't you love her hair do, it makes me smile!! :)

TRUCKS!!

So yesterday a friend called and asked if we wanted to get out, of course that is usually a good idea! So we went to their favorite place, The Trucking Museum! It is a great place for boys, and Fern enjoyed it too! Here are the four of us in front of the thermos truck!
And the 3 kiddos in front of my favorite, a cool VW truck! Even powder blue, our favorite VW color right mom! :)
Here is Jake in an antique fire truck, it was nice that there were a few they could get in! They also had a great little play area, books, play kitchen, cars, art stuff, lots of fun.
And Riley in a big rig that had one part cut out so you could really see in it, even the bed in back! Right around the corner they had a little area with tables so you could take a picnic, and they had cookies out for us!! Yummy!
Here are the kids with Tractor Mac. There is a local artist who writes a series of children's books all about Tractor Mac, so they had a display of his art on the wall and then a tractor like the one in his books, they even added eyes to make it look like the character!
Fern LOUDLY refused to leave her perch, maybe I could rent her out to a local farmer!

We also went to the Naugatuck farmers market yesterday on the town green, it was a bit smaller than I am use to (3 vendors), but I got local onions, peaches, and blueberries so it was worth the trip. We ate all the blueberries today for snack, and used an onion for dinner, stone soup again! :)