when i grow up

on the way down to grandpa bradys funeral, the kids were informing us what they wanted to be when they grew up.
taylor wants to be a paleontologist. he was even able to correctly tell us what that meant!
elizabeth wants to be a horse rider.

clumsy child?

shannon climbed something this afternoon, and fell. she has a nice 8 inch scrape on her belly. don't know how it happened, but i surely hope she doesn't do it again!

pumpkins

i carved pumpkins with the kids tonight. shaun has been SUPER busy trying to catch-up on homework. our friend mark was over and graciously helped me out.

i discovered that when you are the one doing the helping, it's impossible to get process pictures.

but, here they are. we only did 3, the rest, the babies and i will color on tomorrow.

taylors, the haunted mansion.

elizabeths, the cat bat.

shannons, a couple of bats

forays into the baking world

tuesday i had to make bread. i made my full batch, turned half of it into bread loaves, and the other half into pretzel bites. i had found a recipe that said you could turn frozen rolls into pretzel bites. since you could use frozen dough, i thought it would work just as well to use regular dough.
they were good! if i would have let the kids, they would have eaten them all that day. but, i was able to put about 3/4 of them in a bag to save for another day.

this morning i made microwave crumb cake in a cup. this recipe is specifically designed to be made in a coffee cup in the microwave. OH, was it good! it was the perfect size, and went great with my eggs and sausage!

i've found a lot of new recipes lately. some i need to acquire the ingredients to try, and some i just need to make room to make.

one of these days, i'll have my own kitchen again, and not have to worry about other peoples stuff taking up the room!

travel

What a trip. We got to idaho falls to get gas, and the card wouldn't work. Then on the way to walmart to figure things out, we got rearended. While we were sitting in the parking lot waiting for shaun to get things taken care of, taylor & elizabeth were arguing, & taylor ends up with a small cut above his eyebrow. By this time it's almost dinner time, & we are only a half hour into our trip!

woe is me!

ok, once again, my list of things to do is by far larger than my energy level.
i want to clean the house. mainly because it desperately needs it. but also because ashley's shoes have disappeared in the mess that is the house.
i need to do laundry so that we have clothes for the next week.
i need to pack the bags for this weekend. in order to pack, i need to have the laundry done.
i want to make treats.
i need to clean ALL the dishes. that includes pots and pans.

i've loaded the dishwasher, i've picked up all the clothes i can find laying around, and i've sorted and started the laundry. problem is, now i'm exhausted!

new recipes

i found a ton of recipes online the other day that i want to try out. i made one monday night.

individual lasagnas.the idea is that you put them in muffin tins to cook. they were cute and fun, but didn't make nearly as much as a regular lasagna would. normally, i have enough left over to do half of another meal. this time, there was only enough for one person left.

so, although this was fun, i don't think i'll make it again.

poor baby

ashley is teething. with her teething comes nasty diarrhea. and it's acidic. it eats her skin! then add to that that she can easily get to the apples without any help. that only makes it worse.

picture story

i guess i should mention the amazing circumstances that found us with these pictures to begin with.

the school district was doing a fundraiser. family portraits for $5. oh, we so wanted to be able to get some! but, alas, out funds were negligible. a friend from church, who has become another grandmother to the kids, was in charge of it. she asked us if we wanted to do it. i explained to her that although we would love to do it, we were just not in any position to do so. that evening, she called to inform me that she was signing us up for them anyhow, and we needed to pick a time and day.

so, we planned outfits, and went in for our allotted time with the photographer. the kids thought it was a lot of fun.

two weeks later, we went to pick up our picture, only to discover that we had a lot more than that for us. when the lady laid them out on the table in front of us to look at, my heart skipped a beat. there was at least $150 worth of pictures laying there! we didn't have that kind of money!
she then informed us that things had worked out very well to our benefit. our friend who was in charge, gets a free package just for helping out with the fundraiser. she decided that she didn't want it this year, and had given it to us! then the lady showing us the pictures informed us that they also send out the cd that has all the images on it, and a copyright release so that we can make as many copies as we need to!!!!!

we came home very surprised, and very humbled. and with some amazingly beauriful pictures!

 this is the one that they chose for us.

this is the one that we prefer. and everyone else who sees it does as well.

another pic

this is the one of shaun and i that looks the best. of course, the one they handed us was cropped in a lot, but it's still nice.

pics

this is the one of the kids that turned out the best! love that you can see everyones missing teeth!!!

of course, this one also looks good!

hard day

as if today wasn't already hard enough...

first grandpa passes away, then we have the primary program. children's choirs always make me cry. today was no exception, and harder than most.

sad

grandpa brady passed away this morning.
we've known for a long time, like years, that his time was short. but, everytime we thought he was done, he rallied and stayed with us. this time was the last.

in my earlier post, i mentioned that he had fallen and broken his hip. i believe i also mentioned his age, 93. this time, there was no coming back.

he will be sorely missed. but, he's also in a much better place. he no longer feels physical pain, he can walk and run and jump. he's been reunited with family and friends who have gone on before him. even though my heart aches because he's left us, it rejoices in the fact that he's returned with honor, and is now assisting in the work on the other side.

we love you grandpa.

big jump!

taylor had his routine eye exam today. his eyes have gotten worse. a LOT worse. one eye is increasing 4 strengths, and the other in increasing 6. the dr says he thinks it might be from reading so much (he DOES like to read.) he's supposed to take his glasses off when he reads, and not read for more than 30 minutes at a time. i guess we'll have to start setting a timer for when he wants to read.

grandpa reeves brady

my grandfather, fell conference saturday, 10/1, and broke his hip. (he's 93) they got him stable enough to go in and do a partial hip replacement. the following monday, he came down with pneumonia. that thursday he was having other complications. inability to swallow, seeing people that no one else could, and not remembering people he knows. the next saturday, 10/8, he was back in the hospital because he kept puling out tubes. this wednesday, he slipped into a coma. as of yesterday afternoon, he had come out of the coma, but had pulled out his feeding tube again.
when he was fully functioning, he had signed a DNR, and a directive for no feeding tubes. the goal now is pain management until the end comes. when that may be, we are not sure.

i will miss him. even though we lived quite a distance from him, he was still my grandpa. and he was the sweetest little old man you would ever meet.

i love you grandpa! it's time to go Home.

small update

we have had quite the time lately. pretrial was supposed to have been last friday, but apparently, the other side wasn't ready. so, it was postponed until next friday. we will all be SO glad when that's over and done with!

a week ago, we called to change our phone and internet provider. it was supposed to be set up and functioning yesterday. we are still waiting! one person i talked to last night said that the order had been cancelled. this morning i was told that everything should be working. well, i have no dial tone, and even though i can connect to the modem, there is no service. we are waiting on a technician to come and fix it sometime today.

i just discovered the babies playing with the cleaning products. they were both covered with them. thankfully, they are melaleuca products, and i don't have to be concerned about them. they both got a shower, and are now in bed for naptime (if only i had time to take one as well!).

thunk!

the older two kids have been sleeping on the couch the last week. i washed sheets, but am unable to make the bunkbed anymore. as shaun has been extremely busy lately, they just haven't been made.

i was sitting here last night reading a book, when i heard a huge crash. taylor had rolled off the couch onto the floor. the floor is pergo, and not carpet. it was loud!

large update

large hm, where to begin.....
well, this last weekend, shaun got my computer functioning again. he spent nearly the entire weekend on it. it's not that it was bad, but i had no internet capabilities, and trying to navigate anywhere on just the computer, took an insane amount of time. it's now got internet, and it doesn't take an eternity to get places!

we had our 20 week doctors appointment for the baby about 2 weeks ago. we learned that our little is a boy! when i told the kids, taylor's face lit up and i thought he was going to go through the roof! he was so excited! the girls are excited as well, but not nearly as much as taylor is. 


about 4 or 5 weeks ago, shaun decided to go back to school, and he's been super busy, trying to keep up with that. 


taylor started 2nd grade in august, and elizabeth 1st grade. unfortunately, as things got very difficult, and we had to move in with shaun's mom, i was unable to do homeschool this year. i'm desperately hoping that i can do it next year. 


shannon does really well, if i stick tightly to feingold. they gave her a red sucker the other day in nursery, and she was a tornado. actually, this might sound crazy, but seeing the difference again, was kind of nice. not only that, but anyone else who saw it was able to realize what a difference it makes as well. we are in the process of trying to potty train her.


ashley has turned into a little complainer. she things she should be able to do what all the other kids do. run outside & play, climb up on the couch and chairs, get into the fridge, basically, be a big kid. but she's not even 18 months old yet!