Thanksgiving 2018

Since mom was in California to be with Matt Ashley, the boys, and new baby Janie, I got to take over the head chief position for thanksgiving - whoa. I did the turkey, gravy, Martinellis, and stuffing. We woke up early to get the bird started - arriving at PKM around 9. We jumped in cleaning, prepping, chopping, setting, and decorating. Everything was going well - we actually thought we were ahead of schedule...silly us. Turns out we didn’t know how to read the thermometer and the turkey wasn’t cooked. We pulled it out to carve, along with all the other perfectly timed sides....., and it was raw. It had to go back in for another hour. I lost it - hid in the bathroom and cried - went for a drive and cried - then returned. Everyone was so nice - but I was MAD! All that work - ugh. So we are at 2:30 instead and everything was delicious! 

I nailed my grandpas stuffing! It could have used more sausage, but I bought the store out so it was what it was. 

I did a mayonnaise turkey and it was delicious. I rubbed the outside with herbs and mayonnaise. Then I added onions, celery, and a stick of butter to the cavity and baked it until golden. There was nothing left :) it was soooo good!

Becker’s made potatoes and as you can see - they were delicious. We ate until our tummies were full. We had pies and white chocolate covered marshmallows for dessert :)

My mom left bags for each of the kids! Here is the crew. We played games, watched National Lampoons Christmas Vacation and watched call of the wild 2 (a movie from our childhood!). It was a great day.

November Fun 2018

Claire is talking so much these days - new words/phrases almost daily and we are all eating it up! Apparently, I say "Okay, Bye" a lot on the phone :)

This song was handed down to Miss Claire from her great Grandma, who taught it to my mom, who taught it to me, and now we've taught it to Claire. The actions come first, but now she adds her little words and it is so dang cute!!

Claire loves her Auntie Megan and her cousin Chloe - they have a lot of fun together!

Uncle Jerry knows how to have fun too!! 

Claire loves her some AVOCADOS!!

We got to help Jena take the twins to the doctor. They were so cute and we had a great time! The kids were fascinated with the fish tank.

My kiddos were experimenting with making fire! They were having so much fun - I felt bad telling them its illegal to make an open fire in city limits. 

Babysitting River and Evi is always a good time! They are growing so fast and so sweet!! They are crawling everywhere and oh so happy!

 I got to take a last minute trip to California to visit my cousins Mark and Sandra, Aunt Jane, and Uncle Morgan. Usually they live in Albuquerque, but they were in Cali at Stanford University for a study (Mark is very ill). So, I jumped on the train and headed south. This was my first time on a train and I liked it. It would have been better with a partner, but I survived. I learned a lot about public transit too - which was a new adventure for me. I enjoyed the feeling of having to get somewhere you've never been using modes of transportation I've never used. I got a little nervous because San Francisco is so big - but I was successful and it felt great to learn something new! In one weekend I rode the train, the bus, and the BART (like our MAX). I spent most of my time just sitting and talking with Mark whenever he was awake. I loved every minute. I really enjoyed seeing my Aunt and Uncle too that I miss so dearly since they have moved. My soul was filled to the brim and I am so grateful for my mom and Halsy that filled in and made it poccible.

The last day we were there Morgan and Jane took me sight seeing in San Fran! We saw the Painted Ladies from Full House, crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, ate dinner at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co on Pier 39! We had such a great time!!

 

  Cameron read Hatchet and loved it so much we ordered the entire series!! Abebooks.com is my new favorite website and I'm so grateful to my friend for the tip! Books for $1, $3, $5....yes please!

Halsy and I went to a Poetry and Beverage Party! We had never been to one before, but best believe we will go again. It was so much fun and we laughed a lot. This was my original poem and it won the 1st prize of $10 to Cold Stone!! Halsy got 4th place - not bad! We stayed to play games after and got to bed late - so worth it. The kids slept at my parents house so we could stay out late :)

And to finish it off - Claire's sweet dance moves!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving - can't wait for the yummy food, games, turkey naps, and time with family!

Halloween 2018

Halloween 2018 was a success!! The kids all picked their own costumes and paid for them all by themselves this year. We did the Goodwill special and they all came out happy. Cameron is a Pirate, Katey Jane is a Blue Fairy, Landon is the Red Power Ranger, and Claire is a Purple Fairy.

 Everyone came to our house this year so we could try out our new neighborhood. We had a big crockpot of Chili and then hit the pavement for some CANDY!! Beckers came, Jena and her kiddos came, Grandpa & GG came, and so did John, Sierra, and Liam.

 Turns out that our new neighborhood is a total dud! We are on a double cul de sac and so we got 7 total trick or treaters....we were so bummed because we decorated inside and out this year. We also weren't too impressed with the trick or treating spirit - we will probably go back to Sherwood next year. We had fun anyway and the kids enjoyed trading candy after we got home. The kids got to pound candy until 9pm when they were cut off!! We had a visit from the Great pumpkin that following week and the kids were more than happy to give up their candy for presents!! (Love this idea)

October 2018

Lots of Soccer in October. We practice 4 nights a week and have games every Saturday...and WE LOVE IT! Cameron's team is undefeated. Landon's team won more than they lost - which is a HUGE improvement from last season. Both boys have worked hard and gotten to be better soccer players this year. We had lots of loyal fans come and cheer us on. Cameron gets to play with his best buds....Luke and Nolan. This is a shot of Cam and Nolan being goofs. The one above was a sweet shot of Cam with his eye on the prize! (photo cred to Nick Winters) We have had the most amazing weather not a rainy game yet....so crazy for October.

  Katey Jane is really budding as an artist!
The kids were trying to build a fire. I love looking outside and watching them play together. Especially when they are able to play without fighting for any period of time :)

  Claire looking so cute at HGC today :)
  Cameron tried to build a Wall-E and I think he did pretty well.

 Halsy and I started to read the "100 books to read before you die" and this is the start of our pile.


The kids and I are learning about ancient Egypt together in our history lessons. They are really liking it. The Egyptians were very talented goldsmiths, so we made our own golden jeweled bracelets.

I’ve been feeling too much like this sign and so I've started eating healthy and hitting the gym again - feels really good to get my body going in a better direction.

  Family photos teaser :)

Katey Jane asked me if I would dye her hair and I thought it sounded fun. We bleached first and then tinted her ends blue. Looks cool and I'll post a picture soon.

 This is a shot of my craft closet - it makes me happy.

 This is the class I teach at HGC - love these munchkins.

We got to babysit the twins!! River was sleeping so I got to love on Miss Evi all by myself. She is so delicious.

At our church building there are 5 big maple trees and they had just dropped tons of leaves! The kids had a hay day and after Claire saw all the fun she jumped right in!!

Cameron made this mask in his class and Landon fell asleep in the car with it on - kinda looks creepy.



On a walk during Landon's music class.




Pumpkin Patch 2018! We tried a new place this year and liked it! I don't know if we'd drive the Sauvie's island again....but they had fun stuff. We rode the hay ride to the patch, picked out big pumpkins, then we did the hay maze/pyramid, looked at animals, grabbed some yummy treats, squeaky cheese, and veggies from the market before heading home in our muddy glory. I think that was at least three run-on sentences - oh well.



Claire put these on and said "Mommy, I pretty"

 We finally got pumpkins carved on Oct 29th! WHEW We had a great evening with the Hague family. We had dinner, FHE, then carved away. I got to hold their new baby Addy and wasn't sad about that at all. It is so awesome having big enough kids to carve their own pumpkins - we didn't help them at all. They turned out so good!

 I love this kid. He really is a good worker and tries his best. He gets to be the leaf man this year and he'll get $$ to rake em', bag em', and roll the cart out to the front!

I took the kids on my walking route before nap time. We will leave earlier next time because Claire was falling asleep on the way back - sleepy bye baby.

Yes, I'm aware that most of these videos are of Claire - we're all okay with it.

Love how she says Broccoli!

Claire loves to go swimming - just like the rest of the Carter clan. We don't get out unless the pool closes or too cold to stay any longer. 

This video is one of my all time favorites. Anyone else have fights over the front seat? Well now that Cameron has turned ten - he gets to sit in the front. I didn't' realize that then the back seat balance would be so disturbed. KJ complaining that now she sits alone, Landon not wanting to give up his middle row seat, and this video showing how important it is for Cameron to have the front seat. :) :)

Landon is taking a music class called "Lets Play Music" - we love it and we listen to the songs a lot, especially in the car. Well, Claire has been listening because she has started to bust out parts of the songs when we don't expect it. You'll here her say "I got it!" just at the right moment - so adorable.