Want to get a little cash back this holiday season?

I've been using ebates for a while now, and if you don't use it, you should.  Here's how it works.  Go to ebates (just click the blue ebates link) and sign up.  Then, find the store you want to shop.  Click the link, and go shop.  Use it EVERY.TIME.YOU.SHOP!  Then, in a few months, ebates will send you a check in the mail.  If you tell your friends, and they use ebates, you get additional cash back.  It's awesome.  We've done a bit of online shopping in the last few weeks, and in January I'm getting a pretty sizable check. (Like more than $40!) 

Happy shopping!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

We had a super great Thanksgiving day!  The food was delicious, the company was fantastic (Grammy, Papa, and Great-Grandma), and my heart is full!  Clint's grandma made the drive from Chadron (she hasn't made a drive this long in years) and it is so fun to have her here!  I especially love that she's going to be here for Emery's baptism, she sure is special to us!

Two notes about the picture:

1. I haven't taken a picture of my parents with the kids yet--but will on Saturday when everyone is looking spiffy.

2. I love that my 8 year old is the one with his hands in his mouth.

Emery's getting baptized

Saturday at 9 AM at the Cheyenne Stake Center on Western Hills Blvd.  If you're local and in town, we'd love to have you.  If your not local, we're very sad you won't be here.

Beauty parlor

When Saya and Asher are old, I want to remember this. While I was trying to make dinner to deliver in our ward, Saya beautified Asher with the blow dryer and lipstick.  She also shared all her toys with him.  He was happy and content to have the attention. It was adorable, even if his head was covered with angry red blotches from Saya being a bit wild with her beauty tools.

The bees

My patient husband takes all my craziness is stride. In February I was perusing Craigslist (I think for a riding lawn mower) and I found an ad for a local company selling beehive set-ups.  I told Clint I wanted one and he said yes.  In May we picked up everything, including a bike of bees (that's really what they're called...also a cluster, an erst, and a rabble). We set it all up at the edge of the garden.  I read a book about keeping bees and we've done a lot of google searches.  We even dealt with some robbing (another drift of bees was stealing honey from our hive).
We had a little help from our sister-in-law (thanks, Michelle) and harvested the hive in September. We got a full gallon which was thrilling for us.  We took several more frames in October, so in all we collected 2 gallons.  It's beautiful and delicious.  It smells wonderful. 
We're hopeful that the bees will winter well and we can get even more honey next year.

The garden

One of my goals for the year was to get 500 units (bottles, bags, individual squash/onions, etc.) from our garden.  It was tricky with a new baby, but we did a lot!
In bottles:
50 pints of tomatoes
36 quarts of vegetable barley soup
More than 100 quarts of beans
18 pints of zucchini tomato salsa
12 half pints of jalapeno jelly
In the freezer:
50 pints of corn
50 pints of peas
10 bags of shredded zucchini
Stored as grown:
100 onions, tied up in the garage
15 gallons of potatoes
9 huge pumpkins
1/4 row of parsnips (still in the ground
1/4 row of carrots (still in the ground)
More than 100 squash including banana, acorn, butternut, and spaghetti
This doesn't include all the things we ate fresh: lettuce, spinach, peas, tomatoes, pico de gallo, zucchini, bell peppers, cucumbers, and three little raspberries.

Today...

...this is my view and I love my job!

Cooing

Asher has figured out he has a voice.  It's the sweetest thing.  I love this baby!

Let's play who's who

Four babies, all taken between 3-5 months

It's obvious that they all belong, but do you know who is who?

It's great to be 8!!!

My sweet darling boy is 8! I say it at every birthday, for every kid, but seriously, why is time going so quickly?  How on earth have 8 years passed since this little cutie was born? 

 Clint had night class tonight (it seems like he's teaching on every birthday) so we had birthday dinner and cake last night.  Emery chose Italian Mushroom Skillet with bread sticks and salad for dinner and pineapple (sunshine lemon) cake for dessert.  He loved it.

 Today for school treats, we took red velvet cupcakes (he only picked them because he loves red and thought that red cupcakes sounded cool) with butter cream and red sprinkles.  I found a printable of Lego Ninjago figures that I could print, and those went on top.  Everyone in the class thought they were super cool.

Most of Emery's presents this year are tied to his baptism (November 30 at 9 AM and you're invited!) so the only present he opened today was a subscription to National Geographic Kids Magazine.  He's been pouring over it all afternoon and evening telling me all sorts of random facts that he finds fascinating.  That gift came from Chani, Saya, and Asher.  He also got his new suit, but that's kind of a lame gift when you're a kid. 


Emery turns 3
Emery turns 4
Emery turns 5
Emery turns 6
Emery turns 7

Four months

Oh my goodness!  I feel like time is flying by with this little love!  More than with the others, maybe because he's the baby, or because life is so chaotic all the time, or because with kids in school we're so busy.  We're loving every minute of it, though!

At 4 months, Asher is

Not sleeping through the night (normal for my kids)
Going to bed between 6-7 PM
Wearing size 2 diapers
Wearing 3-6 month clothes
Napping when/wherever he can
Rolling from belly to back in his crib
Smiling at whoever will get in his personal space and talk to him
Losing all the hair on the back and sides of his head
Nursing exclusivly
Cooing and jabbering
Still being smothered with love by everyone who lives here

I can't make this stuff up...

Saya was playing with a pull back car and the wheels were sticking. She brought it to Clint and said, "It needs batteries."

All she wants for Christmas...

Chani has lost her top two front teeth in the past 7 days. She can still whistle and isn't very lispy.

Saya says...

Yesterday I wasn't feeling well. Saya asked for cold cereal for lunch and I set her up with a bowl of mini wheats. I then settled on the couch to feed Asher. I couldn't see her, so when I heard a crinkle of plastic, I asked, "Saya, what are you doing." The reply was priceless! "Um, messing around."

She also started calling me Mrs. Reading yesterday.

Halloween 2013

Happy Halloweem from Harry Potter, the resident artist, and Larry Bird!