Our ridiculously interesting lives...no, seriously

Lately

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 03:14:00 +0000

Things have been going alright lately. We've had lots of good days, except for poor Calvin who has been sick for like 5 days with what I am fairly sure is a mystery virus. We should find out tomorrow morning since I am taking him in to get checked out.

He's just had a fever (like 103 to 104 range) for 5 days straight (it goes down with medicine but then comes back up later) and has been clearly not feeling well when he hasn't had ibuprofin or whatever. After he gets the medicine he perks up and runs around like normal. The usual not feeling well stuff. But 5 days is feeling excessive. I was going to take him this morning since our clinic has walk in hours on the weekends, but he woke up with no fever and I didn't give him any medicine and he did great. Until about 4, when he and Sophie both started to get fevers and have melt downs right in the middle of dinner at our good friends' house. So, home we went to tuck them into bed. Guess we'll be heading to walk in hours tomorrow.

Poor little Calvin, he is already kind of (ok, more than kind of) a mopey guy, so I honestly can't tell when he is genuinely not feeling well, because the way he acts when he is sick also happens to be pretty much the same way he acts when he is over tired or upset about something. So he has had a pretty rough week. But he has had a lot of happy times while medicated, which has been nice. We've spend time playing with cousins, we had Grandpa and Christy and Benjamin and Carolin come stay for the weekend so we got to play and go swimming with them, we've had outings with friends, etc. It's been a nice week in between doses of pain reliever :) And actually even while little Calvin hasn't been feeling great, at least he has wanted extra mommy snuggles, which has been sweet.

In other news this week I lost my phone (sad), got a new one (happy), got a new calling at my church (Primary chorister?? Major score!--translation, I get to lead the music for the little kids and its like the best job in the church. Not even kidding.), made a new friend, made meatloaf for the first time since 11th grade, did a newborn photo shoot with a really darling little baby, and organized my kids closets (thanks, AnnaMarie!). So its been a pretty good week. AND starting Saturday we get to spend some time hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa Walton, so the kids are certainly thrilled about that.

So, here are some pictures from our recent adventures. Enjoy!

Here is Ryan, leaving a note for Calvin on their bedroom mirror. He is such a sweet big brother.

Here is Sophie, tucking in some of her friends for their naps. It is so fun watching her think of cute new little games to play, even if its all by herself.

The boys keep all of their legos in this chest. This time they all decided to climb right in.

Michael always comes up with the best things to do with the kids. Did you see that stop motion movie he made with Ryan? Seriously, he is the best dad. His two jobs and church duties keep him really busy, but he really knows how to make the most of his free time :) Thanks for being such an amazing dad, Michael! On this occasion, he helped the boys take apart this keyboard tat the kids had broken, just so they could see how it worked. The kids had so much fun.

Then he set up little circuits with motors and taught the boys how to touch the wires to the batteries to make them go. They loved it SO much.

Guess what? Calvin is officially potty trained! He got to go to the toy store, pick out a toy, and then go pick out a treat. He picked this gigantic sucker for a treat and decided he wanted to share with Ryan (by the way, Calvin is such a sweetie pie when it comes to sharing. He always shares his treats. He offered to share the sucker with me, too, but I politely declined.)

This one is actually from the day after Christmas. Benjamin watched Sophie for me while I napped one day, and when I woke up, I found her like this! I think Benjamin has a bright future ahead of him as a stylist. Also, I think this picture is soooo funny.

A couple of weeks ago we went down to Eagan to visit. The weather was nice and warm (like maybe 45 or 50) and all the kids wanted to do was play outside in the muddy puddles, splashing around. They were SO wet when they were done, but they were all smiles.

Sophie really liked tasting the puddles. Gross.

I love this picture. Sophie is so lucky to have her little cousins. She loves them all, but especially Jane and Lily, who are both 6months older than she is. She gets SO excited when she sees them. They can cheer her up like nothing else can. I love this one of Sophie and Lily. So sweet.

Two Little Pirates Take a Sail

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 03:53:00 +0000

I helped Ryan make a stop motion video tonight. Ryan wrote the script, did most of the sound effects and did the main pirate voice. He also took about 1/2 of the pictures, and moved the guys for the other shots.

A very very good day.

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 04:16:00 +0000

I loved today. It was nothing really out of the ordinary, just a good day to be a mom. It was one of those days where, here at the end of it, I can't remember any of the things that frustrated me today or any of the messes I cleaned up, but just the giggles and goofy grins of my sweet little Sophie, the one on one chats I got to have with the boys about all of their favorite things while I snuggled them in their beds, the sweet little pictures Ryan drew for me with his glitter crayons, the way Sophie loved it when I laid down on the couch today because she could pounce all over me and give me as many hugs and kisses as she wanted, the way Calvin just kept telling me over and over today how much he loved me. It was such a nice day that I am tearing up just thinking about it.

Sometimes I think I forget how good I have it. What a sweet family I have.

(An oldie, but a goodie)

Oh, and P.S., Michael, you are my hero. Thanks for letting me sleep in this morning.

Merry Christmas! And a Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 03:28:00 +0000

Wow, I am so so sooooooo behind on blogging. Sorry. For the last few months I have been planning a (really awesome) wedding, and so all of my free time pretty much went to that. Well, mostly to making these...

(skirts)

But Abbey and Spencer's wedding is a whole 'nother post!

The wedding was in Chicago, so we drove the 8 or so hours there, then 3 and a half hours to Grand Haven, MI for the reception, and then about 12 hours all the way up through Michigan, over the Mackinac Bridge, across the entire upper peninsula, trough a bit of Wisconsin, back into Michigan and finally to Ironwood! The kids were troopers, though (especially considering we didn't bring ANY toys since we knew we'd have about a million waiting for them in Ironwood for Christmas), and the weather cooperated. It was actually a really pretty drive.

Anyways, we pulled into Ironwood late on the night of the 23rd and it was so nice to be at Grandpa's house. What's not to love, really? They have lots of space, lots of aunts and uncles ready to play with them, lots of treats, lots of Grandpa time, it's the best. So our vacation actually pretty much began on the 24th, and we had so much fun just hanging out and getting ready for Christmas. We got the traditional Walton family rolls all ready to rise overnight for our Christmas feast, made the cherry-berry pies, wrapped a gazillion presents, Ryan got to make sugar cookies with just him and Grandpa, which we all later decorated for Santa...and his elves...

It was so nice to be all together. I love Christmas! The kids went to bed around 7 or so, just completely excited for Christmas. They got to open their new pajamas and wear them to bed. there's something about all of my little darlings in matching pajamas that I just love! Anyways, we tucked them in and then the rest of us just got to hang out for a while talking and having fun. It was lovely. We didn't even have anything to assemble! A great Christmas Eve in my book!

Opening the pajamas:

Love these little goofballs:

Decorating cookies:

Leaving cookies and milk for Santa:

The fun started with Sophie bright and early at 4:30. We warned everyone that with our kids it was going to be an early Christmas morning, but 4:30 is just ridiculous. But Sophie wouldn't be reasoned with, and since she and Calvin were both sleeping in the attic with us, Calvin of course woke up, too. We kept them up there until 5, when Calvin just couldn't bear to wait any longer. So we sent them downstairs to wake everybody up! It's a Moore family tradition that everyone is showered and dressed and looking their best before going downstairs on Christmas morning. The Walton family way is to come down in our PJs with dishelved hair, etc., which I think is way more fun, but arguably less photogenic.

So everybody got all ready and then we finally came downstairs to check out the stockings and presents. The kids were duely impressed. They were thrilled about the stockings and of course the gifts. This year was the first year I think we didn't have way too many presents to open. Michael and I tried to scale back on our shopping. I think it was 2 years ago that we had to force our kids to open their presents and it wasn't very pleasant! So this year went much better. Well, Sophie crashed about halfway through and we took her up for a nap, so she finished hers later. But Calvin and Ryan's presents were just right. It was so much fun watching them open and get excited about everything. It was a lovely Christmas morning.

Getting ready to go downstairs:

Distributing presents:

Calvin in his shark face:

Happy Michael!

Carolin with her big boy!

Everybody watching Calvin open his big present from Grandpa--a little tykes car he can ride in! He LOVES it:

Calvin flying his dragon (Toothless from "How to Train Your Dragon):

Sophie loved Calvin's remote control car:

A happy little Ryan:

After opening all of the presents, we had the Moore family traditional Christmas breakfast of pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream--right up my alley! The we headed off to church. The kids were crazy, but who can blame them when they wake up at 4:30! After church we fed them a quick lunch and sent them off to bed for naps. Ryan and Sophie slept like babies. Calvin, on the other hand, was a pretty sneaky little Christmas elf, and found Christy's makeup instead. This is how he came downstairs about an hour after we laid him down:

Sneaky little guy! He was sad that he had been naughty and after a little talk, he went right to sleep. And then so did I! Whew! A Christmas nap really does a person some good. Then we got all the final things ready for our dinner and ate around 6. It was such a lovely Christmas, and so very nice to spend it with so many people we love! Hope you all had an equally lovely Christmas!

Ryan's First Ski Trip

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 21:00:00 +0000

I took Ryan skiing for the first time today. We had a great time on the bunny hill. He is quite confident in his abilities and wanted me to let him go off jumps after just a few runs down the hill.

He ended up learning to go up the tow rope by himself. He only liked to go about 1/3 or 1/2 the way up the hill though.

And he could make it down the hill...usually...

...at least most of the way.

And here are some videos of him going down the hill.
Part one...

Part two...

Weirdest dream...

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 01:57:00 +0000

We had an awesome Thanksgiving weekend up in Ironwood. More on that later. I'm usually a vivid dreamer, but last night I had one that takes the cake. Here's how it went:

I was sitting by a lake and saw a small shark swimming around. I grabbed it right out of the water with my bare hands. Why, you ask? Because it had the face of a baby. Like a real live baby.

So, I took sharkbaby home. When I got there, I was unsure of what to do with sharkbaby. I filled up the bath tub and put it in. But I immediately felt guilty. It had the face of a real baby, and you wouldn't stick a baby in the tub and leave it there, right? So I took sharkbaby out. I thought about putting it in Sophie's crib, but that seemed pretty gross. So I set it on the changing table for a minute while I pondered what to do.

That's when I saw a zipper down its tummy. I unzipped it and the shark part came off and it was a whole real baby, with legs and everything. So, I diapered him and named him Samuel. And then I wondered what to do with Samuel the sharkbaby.

I remembered I had some friends who really wanted to adopt, so I called them up. I explained the whole story, and then said, "But he's a real baby! I mean, he's got legs and everything! He'll probably need to go to the doctor for a checkup or something, but he seems fine!"

They said they needed to go run an errand but that they would come over soon to meet him. Somehow while I was waiting for them to come, a letter showed up from them. So I opened it up and briefly looked it over. The front of the letter started out saying how grateful they were for this opportunity, but there was a lot of writing so I flipped it over to the back and it was a BYU basketball season schedule and a little chart about all of the different players and why they liked them. I thought that was weird, so I flipped it back over to the front to read the rest of the letter, but just then Calvin woke up crying in the middle of the night, so I woke up, too.

I remember thinking as I woke up, "I hope this kid goes back to sleep soon so I can read that letter!" No such luck, though.

Interpretations, anyone?

Happy Thanksgiving!

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 03:39:00 +0000

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! We had such a great day today. We got to spend it with Grandpa Moore and Christy, Benjamin, James and Carolin, and it was a blast! I spent pretty much the entire morning making food, but with oodles of people around to take care of the kids, it was actually really enjoyable! Dad brined the turkey (we used my bff Liz's turkey recipe) and W.O.W. did it turn out lovely. Thanks, Liz! We made Winnefred Jardine's 12-hour Butterhorns (best rolls in the entire world...), sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, asparagus, butternut squash, stuffing, lots of pies and a festive (and gigantic) batch of wassail! I pretty much fell asleep immediately afterwards. It was delicious and so much fun. The kids were good, the company was excellent and the food was way too much, but delicious! And I don't complain about Thanksgiving leftovers, mmmmmm!

The kids had lots of fun with the big kids. Sophie slept for a good part of the festivities because she was up from about 10:30 until about 1:30 last night not wanting to sleep. Fortunately for me, Michael and James were up and graciously agreed to play with her so I could go back to sleep. Thanks, guys! So I was fine today, but Sophie slept a lot. But the boys got to do all kinds of fun things. Our dear friend sent us off yesterday with a kit for making turkeys out of apples,marshmallows and jelly beans, so the boys did that today, which they really loved! They also got to build a giant snowman and a snow fort, have a big snowball fight, build ferris wheels with tinker toys with Christy, play angry birds, you name it!

What a great day to spend with people you love. I am so grateful for all of the wonderful family and friends that we have. I think I am feeling most grateful for that today. We are so blessed. It is so fulfilling to love and be loved. We love our family! It was a great day! Here are some pictures!

Pictures of our Thanksgiving feast! Here are the table settings with the place holder pears:

Turkey, rolls, cranberries!

Carolin with the turkey!

She's a vegetarian but she did try the turkey. Way to go, Carolin!

Michael, carving up the bird!

Pies!

I was especially proud of the cherry-berry pie. Thanks for helping me make it pretty, Carolin!

The boys making their apple turkeys:

Can you tell they were having fun?

Building the snowman!

Calvin wanting to try the nose:

Putting on the coal buttons:

Jamesy and Calvin:

James and Christy decorating the snowman:

The whole gang with Mr. Snowman:

Christy and Mr. Right:

Ryan in the snow fort, getting ready to chuck that snowball at Michael:

He was sad when he got one in the face:

Carolin helping out with the snowball fight:

Calvin sure has fun with James:

I love this picture:

Ryan got really into it :)

Calvin having fun:

Ryan's First Book (as an Author)

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 01:32:00 +0000

Ryan wrote and illustrated a book this morning all by himself. He started by stapling several pages together, here's the story:

Cover: "Christmas"

Page 1: One frosty night it was Christmas.
Page 2: And everyone in America was sleeping.
Page 3: Illustration of a snowed in house (no words)
Page 4: And everyone woke up.
Page 5: The end.

Random Summer Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 03:17:00 +0000

I still have a bunch of things from last summer that I never posted, so here is a big post of some of my favorite random pictures from this summer! Enjoy!

Michael and Sophie sharing some spaghetti:

Uncle James falling into the Sophie trap:

A beautiful but very windy day at a park. Sophie was so happy to just stand by the bottom of the slides, hoist herself up, sit there at the bottom for a while, then hop off and repeat.

Ryan really liked this window:

Me and my girl:

Ryan had his little friend, Vanessa, over to play and he was in heaven!

Added bonus: she brought Reese's to share.

To celebrate AnnaMarie's birthday, we made her a giant KitKat bar!

Uncle Benjamin and the kids with the awesome fort he made for them. They LOVED it!

Back when Sophie was still more baby than kid. I remember taking this picture because I wanted to remember the way she always slept with the binky half out of her mouth and an iron grip on the sippy cup (she's now graduated from both the binky and soft-topped sippy cups):

I really like this picture of my happy little Sophie:

Ryan loved playing in the sprinklers this summer:

On a walk as a family to a nearby park. It was SOOOOO HOT! But we had fun!

And out for a walk again on a cooler day:

Sophie and the giant pink bunny that her Auntie Janny gave her. Janny, she loves this bunny! This particular day she just carried it around everywhere and had it do all kinds of different things with her. It was too funny!

Cute brothers:

Benjamin brought me back some Zopfmehl from Zurich--the super secret special flour you need to make the most delicious bread in the entire world. So we made some! And it was just plain amazing! Thanks, Benjamin!

And Ryan showing us his biggest carrot of the year from his very own garden. He was very proud!

I love fall.

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 19:01:00 +0000

Fall is far and away my favorite season. I love the temperatures in the 50's. Not too cold but just right for a sweater. I love the leaves changing colors, the way they sound when they crunch under my feet, and the way they swirl around with the wind. I love watching Ryan try to catch them as they fall from the tree. He has yet to be successful, but he sure makes me laugh! I love apple cider and hot cocoa and carmeled apples. I was meant to have a fall birthday. It's like a big birthday present for a couple of months straight.

Lately I've been toying with the idea of trying to start up my photography business again in earnest. But I've felt like I wanted to become a better photographer before I do that. So I have been using my lovely munchkins as my subjects while I practice some techniques. Mostly things like trying to capture the true color of their eyes and making sure I have the lighting right. No wonder I usually shoot in automatic--you can find the perfect spot but those wiggly little kids just can't stay there if their lives depended on it! Anyways, here are some of my favorites from the last couple of days!

And this one is just for fun, because I like the funny face she is making. Not so great photographically, and disregard the goobers.

Happy Halloween!

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 17:51:00 +0000

We had a great Halloween yesterday. The kids woke up very excited at 5:30. Later, they all napped! After naps our Halloween festivities began with sugar cookies and then carving pumpkins! The kids were pretty funny. Calvin was a trooper, and pretty brave with getting all the stuff out of his pumpkin. Ryan, not so much. He spent pretty much the whole time gagging and giving a really grossed out face. And Sophie was just confused! But we all had fun, and the kids really loved the finished products.

After pumpkin carving the kids all played while I hunted down all the pieces to their costumes. We had a quick dinner and then headed out to do some trick-or-treating! The kids had such a great time. Sophie got the hang of things very quickly and was very polite, always saying thank you after someone gave her some candy for her bucket. She had an iron grip on that thing and refused to let anyone else touch it. She was pretty serious about that candy! Ryan and Calvin had a great time seeing all of the decorations and of course getting the candy. Our neighbors across the street had an awesome display where the husband was a mummy in a coffin and he sort of "came to life" when the kids went over there to pick out their treats. I assume that for the older kids he really tried to scare them, but for our kids he just sort of slowly sat up with a quiet roar and then said "Hi!" They loved it! Calvin jumped back about 3 feet, but they all thought it was pretty cool. Sophie was still confused and just said "Hi" back with a rather concerned look on her face.

We have such a great neighborhood. I love our neighbors. They are all so great. And our street is just the right size for trick or treating. We went down until it curves and then came back up the other side and the kids' buckets were full and they were d.o.n.e. It was a great Halloween! They had fun dumping out their buckets and surveying their loot once they got home. What a fun night!

Our pirates!

Checking out their loot:

Ryan really did not enjoy the pumpkin carving...

Sophie decided it looked pretty tasty...

But then had second thoughts...

She did manage to pull a few seeds out on her own though:

Calvin had a great time with the pumpkins:

Here is the finished product! Ryan designed his own face. His is in the middle. He kept saying, "Mom, just WAIT til you see my face. It is so scary, you won't even believe it!"

Our pumpkins with our pumpkins!

Ironwood in July

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 02:05:00 +0000

In July we were so very excited to get Michael's brother James back from his mission to Peru that we decided to head up to Ironwood with him once he got home so we could spend a little quality time all together! We were all so happy to have James back! He spent tons of time playing with the kids and they were in heaven! We had such a great time visiting with Grandpa, Christy, Benjamin and Vick, too. The kids got to spend good quality time with Auntie Janny and Aunt Sherry, too. It was such a fun trip. It's always fun to go to Grandpa's house! We are so happy with live close enough to visit every now and again! So here are about a million pictures from the trip, since I just don't have it in me to narrow down my selection any more!

Uncle James, doing sidewalk chalk with the boys:

Auntie Janny, reading the boys a book. I love how they both look so worried. I think the gingerbread man is about to get eaten...

Sweet hugs from Janny:

This was funny. Sophie was so upset in her crib, so Michael snuck her out and gave her a popsicle. Boy did she like that.

Michael taught her how to turn her stick into a mustache;

She was nice enough to share some with Daddy, too:

I like this one a lot. This girl sure loves her Daddy:

I like how they're making the same face:

Happy girl with her happy Dad:

Checking out James' headphones:

And Benjamin's cell phone:

I think its pretty funny how huge Benjamin is next to Sophie:

Smooches from Uncle Benjamin:

Playing with James. She loved having him toss her on that lovesac!

Getting stuff out of the pantry used to always be Christy's job. Now look how tall she is! Time to pass the torch to Sophie, I guess!

Or maybe not.

This was definitely a highlight of the trip. We went to visit Uncle Brett and Aunt Sherry and while we were there, Ryan found out that they had a convertible in the garage. Ryan has been in love with convertibles for a while, so he was pretty ecstatic to see one up close.

Here he is, just looking at it!

And you betcha Sherry gave them a ride! Can you see their faces? Ryan is the happiest boy alive.

They thought the roof was pretty amazing. You can see their happy little faces through the windshield:

Giving Sherry some hugs:

Sophie literally hanging out with Uncle Brett.

We went to a little festival while we were there and the kids got to dance their hearts out. These might be some of my favorite pictures of all time. Pretty amazing moves.

Janny got them treats, tickets for the bounce house, you name it! They had so much fun.

A happy little Sophie with her Auntie Janny:

James and Sophie:

Nice brothers:

More nice brothers!

It was such a nice trip! We had a great time! We love you all!

I was a hoot.

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 16:41:00 +0000

So, the other day I found a diary of mine from 1994. It had one entry in it. Here is what it said:

************************************************

4/12/94

I've decided to keep a diary. My name is Sarah Caroline. My parents wanted to call me Caroline, but they wanted to name me after my Great Grandma Sarah, too. They didn't like the name Caroline Sarah so that's why my name is Sarah Caroline. I'm known as Caroline. Plain old Caroline. I've got two sisters. 12, going on 13 year old Danica and 15 going on 16 Kelly. I have a dog and a cat. My dog's name is Keano, and my cat's name is French Fry. Danica has a bird, Bright Eyes, a cockatiel, and a teddy-bear hamster named Beaver, and 4 fish without names. I've got 3 goldfish, Tommy, Peaches and Cream. I want a bigger pet. I'm used to birds, hamsters and guinea pigs. Kelly has no pets.

My mom, Susan, and my dad, Mark are Mom 36, and dad 39. A long time ago Danica and I stuck together like 2 pieces of paper glued together. Now Danica and Kelly are best buddies. I'm always left out. Danica is always telling me how she can do things I can't. Well it just so happens that yesterday I got our church showcase window to lock when she couldn't. My mom couldn't either. Danica also is always critisizing me about how I chew my food. I hate it when she does that!

I go to Cook Elementary School. I'm 10 going on 11 years old and am in the 4th grade. My teacher is Miss Sharon Wesolowski. She's nice. This year I'm probably going to be on a Woodcrest Elementary School soccer team. I hate being on another school's soccer team. Last year I was on Siebert's team. i play softball also. I'm on Ace Hardware. It's a good team. It's Cook, too. Finally a team from my school!

My best friend is Becky McCarty. She has 6 sisters, Margie 16, Heather 14, Aura 12, She is 10, (like me! She's only 14 days older), Alison 8, Katy 4, Chelsea 2, and her mom is gonna have another baby. Our two main differences are #1 we go to different schools. #2 she started kindergarten when she was 4 so she's in 5th grade. She's great, but sometimes it seems like we're growing apart.

My other friends are Katie Webb, Beth Koski, Anna Turek, Keegan Yaroch, Ashley Campbell, Jill Donovan, Terese Muto, Sita McInally, Megan O'Laughlin, Tiffany Case, Carrie Lockwood, Emily Sweetman, Sarah Shubatowski, and Raeshum Bailey. I don't have a crush on anyone. I think that Sita and Joey are going out. I was born on **/**/****.

************************************************

Wow, right?? It made me laugh so hard. I guess I see where Calvin gets his mopey-ness. I was a hoot, huh?

STRAWBERRIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 03:33:00 +0000

So, in the spirit of catching up on posts I was supposed to do this summer, guess what I did in June?

BOUGHT 208 POUNDS OF STRAWBERRIES AND TURNED THEM ALL INTO JAM!

This might be surprising to those of you who don't know me well. to others, maybe not quite at shocking. well, the jam part might still be shocking, but not the buying 208 pounds of strawberries part.

It all started when I went to a discount grocery store only to find strawberries on sale for 32 cents per pound. What?? So I bought a flat. Then Michael said i should probably go get a whole car-full. Not needing any more persuasion, I hopped back in the car and bought 12 flats. When I got back home, Michael suggested I go get another car-full. So I did! Then we spent about 4 days straight turning it all into jam. Well, except for about 15 gallon sized freezer bags which we froze. (Those are now all gone, by the way. I miss opening my freezer and seeing all those strawberries waiting for me...)

And yes, even after all of that, strawberries are still my very favorite food ever. Pretty much the best summer ever.

Here are some pretty great pictures.

Look at all those strawberries!

This picture pretty much sums up my feelings about strawberries in general:

And Sophie feels pretty much the same way:

Now that's a happy girl! Like mother, like daughter!

Hard at work on the finished product. It was a messy endeavor, but well worth it!

Fall Pictures!

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 01:32:00 +0000

The weather was so beautiful today. It hovered just around 60 and was so gorgeous out. I have been meaning to take my kids out and do fall portraits of them for a while now and so today I seized the moment when Sophie decided she didn't want to nap. Normally, that would be a recipe for disaster, but I decided to try my luck anyways. And I'm very glad I did! We went on a walking trail just a few minutes drive from our house and it was perfect! So here are my favorites from the outing. Enjoy!

Calvin with a fairly cheesy but cute nonetheless smile:

Now there is a real Calvin smile:

Blue eyed baby doll:

I like this one. She is a funny girl.

This one is a little fuzzy, but I love it so much that I threw it in anyways!

What's that? A picture of all three children smiling? And it wasn't even photo-shopped? Yes indeed!

I love these little goofballs:

I like this one of Calvin:

Sophie going for a stroll:

My handsome Ryan:

I love this one of them running through the trees.

Probably my favorite picture of the day. I love this one of Ryan. He is so grown up, though, it makes me want to cry.

It was a lovely day!

Idaho in July!

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 01:46:00 +0000

Back in July I got to take Sophie back to my old stomping ground in Boise, Idaho for a brief but wonderful trip with Grandma and Grandpa. We had such a wonderful time! Since my parents haven't lived in Boise for like 7 years or so, I don't get back often to visit, but it was so very nice! I somehow forgot how much I love Boise, but I really do! I have some really wonderful memories there!

My main purpose in going was to celebrate my cousin being sealed to his beautiful wife and adorable new son. It was so fun to celebrate with you, Kirk and Amy! Little Jack is beyond adorable. We love you guys!

It was so much fun to catch up with family and old friends. I so wish there was a way to live close to everyone I love and miss. It seems like they are all over the place! I guess the upside is that pretty much no matter where our future jobs, etc., lead us, there is most likely someone amazing that we love there. At any rate, I had a really nice time with everyone!

I especially had fun spending time with my parents. I have the best parents ever. Period. And can I just say how much fun it is to just have one kid around for Grandma and grandpa to dote on? Don't get me wrong, I love all my children and nieces and nephews, but it is so great to have one on one time with Grandma and Grandpa. Sophie had the time of her life.

So here are some pictures from the trip, mostly just of Sophie at the park where we had a little party for Kirk and Amy. Sophie was in heaven, as evidenced by these pictures!

Sophie showing Grandpa where his eyes were, in case he didn't know:

Having way too much fun with Grandpa:

If Sophie could do one thing forever, I am positive it would be playing in these fountains:

Hahahaha!I love this one of her getting quirted in the face. She didn't mind a bit, in fact she thought it was hilarious.

I like this one with her trail of soggy little footprints. She was SO wet, but very happy.

Playing with Grandma:

Getting a quick drink. Yes, I am aware this is probably gross, since the water is probably re-circulated, but this girl would not be stopped.

Getting in some quality Grandma time:

This was my view for most of the party. Hanging out with everyone at the pavillion while watching Sophie playing from a distance. She was so enthralled, she never wandered off once. Just stayed at those fountains all afternoon. How much do you think it would be to have them installed in my backyard? Even if I were only able to use them 3 months out of the year, it might still be worth it.

Kirk, Amy, Porter, Finn, Brandon, Livy and Baby Jack at the Boise Temple:

Kirk and Amy together at the temple. Congrats again guys!

Scurvy Dogs

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 02:39:00 +0000

A certain pirate lass turned four last week and we all had such a great time at her pirate party! I was a little dissappointed in my kids, though, because all the way to the party we worked on memorizing some great pirate terminology but not once did I hear them call anyone a scurvy dog or a rapscallion. But the party managed to be great anyways--AnnaMarie really outdid herself, it was amazing! She even turned their swingset into a pirate ship. Very cool. I wasn't going to dress my kids up, but the boys have been pretty into pirates lately, so my fun side got the best of me and I was up 'til all hours of the night before the party sewing some pirate outfits. by the way, guess what my kids are going to be for Halloween??

Anyways, the party was so much fun, and it was fun to see Katie so excited about it all. We sure love her and are so glad we get to be so close to watch her grow. So happy birthday, Katie! We love you!

Here are some pictures from the big event!

Pirate Sophie had a little bit of a tough time figuring out that eye patch:

The whole pirate crew:

I just loved watching Sophie try to make sense of it all.

Katie with her awesome pirate ship cake and proud mom and dad:

That was about the extent of what I got on my camera, so these others are borrowed from AnnaMarie's blog.

Of course Pirate Calvin was unhappy when he lost one of the games. However he felt much better when he learned that he had to walk the plank for losing.

Tyler got this great shot of Ryan with his teeny tiny spyglass. Classic.

RyanandKatie walking the plank:

Sophie and Jane trading gold doubloons:

Good old Ryan. Pretty fearsome.

And here's an added bonus! Apparrantly I will never find extra time to catch up on my summer blog posts so I am going to try to stick one on the end of each new post. Exciting, right?

This summer Ryan got to check something off his bucket list--riding the commuter rail across the street form our house to a Twins game with Grandma and Grandpa! He was so thrilled. He got to go with Grandma and Grandpa and Luke, and he loved every second of it. Ryan was especially excited that he got to watch one of the players break a bat while hitting the ball. He talked about that one for weeks. He sure had a great time, so thanks, Grandma and Grandpa! You guys are the best!

Here are some pictures of everybody after getting home from the game. The boys were thrilled with their new Twins hats and shirts.

That's one happy boy!

Cousins and the temple!

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 01:30:00 +0000

The other day I went to our church's temple in St. Paul to go take some pictures for a friend (more about temples here), and AnnaMarie and the girls met us there to walk around. I love being on the temple grounds. It's such a peaceful, happy place. The kids had a nice time pretending to be squirrels and playing around with each other (well, all except for Ryan, who was at school). I love watching these kids together. I love having cousins close!

Here are some pictures from that lovely morning:

Love these two crazies!

Sophie and her microscopic pigtails in front of the temple:

Jane and Sophie playing around:

My great big Calvin boy:

A Real Live Saturday!

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 03:58:00 +0000

This week we had a genuine, real live Saturday at our house! We haven't had one of those in a while. We spent all day together as a family and worked on projects around the house and played with the kids. It was such a wonderful day. Case in point--later that day Michael was talking about the upcoming deer hunting season and what would happen if he got a deer and I maintained that he would definitely take it to a butcher shop to have it processed while he argued that he could just do it himself. This is not something I am cool with at all, but I did tell him that he could if in return every Saturday could be a real live Saturday where we do everything together. That's how much I loved this Saturday!

We took the kids on a walk at the nature center near our house and they all had such a great time. The boys each had a pair of binoculars and were scouring the forests for animals. Calvin is a pretty observant, keen-eyed kid (much more so than Ryan) and saw a couple of deer right away off through the trees. Michael and I didn't even notice them, but Calvin did, and he was very proud of himself. It was about a million times cooler, however, when later on during our walk a doe walked right out onto the path about 15 feet in front of us to nibble on some leaves. The kids just stared huge-eyed until she wandered off. Then a buck came tearing through the trees right after she left, so they were pretty impressed by that, too. They also saw squirrels and ducks, did some bird calls and had a great time finding colorful leaves and running down the paths. It was such a great time with our family all together. I loved it. What a great Saturday!

Here are some pictures from our lovely outing:

A happy little Sophie girl:

Happy Calvin with his binoculars:

Calvin wandering the trails:

Michael pointing out some nature to the boys:

Love this girl. When I ask her for a hug she makes this face and runs tome as fast as her little legs can take her. She is so sweet:

Calvin and Sophie having some tender moments:

Our kiddos on the trail:

Look, a deer!

Kids on a fence:

I think this one is funny. I like her tutu and baby legs hanging out the back:

3 rocks, 3 kids, coincidence? I think not.

Sophie trying her best to climb a rock:

Happy little Calvin:

Sophie trying to climb on a rock again. She purses her lips like this sometimes when she's trying really hard to do something:

Then I guess she firgured as long as her lips were that close, she might as well...

And here's my great big Ryan:

I really got a kick out of these ones of Michael throwing the kids in the air:

Me and my girl:

It was really a wonderful day. I wish every day could be a real live Saturday!

How wiggly are kids?

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 01:34:00 +0000

We spent the afternoon at the Springbrook Nature Center. The kids had a great time, but we didn't get as many good pictures as we were hoping. Why not?

Well...

A Great Summer

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 04:32:00 +0000

Well, it was indeed a great summer. In summary, we went all over the place, did all kinds of things and had lots of fun. More posts on that to come. But some of my very favorite pictures from the summer are just some everyday pictures of the kids having fun together here on lazy days at home.

Being a full-time mom is a big job. And if you are a mom, then you are a full-time mom, whether you stay at home or work somewhere else, whether your kids are at school for most of the day or not. You're always worrying, always wondering what the top items on your to-do list ought to be, always tired, always wanting to give more quality time to your kids and always wishing you had the time and energy to do at least one thing really well instead of everything half-way (on a good day!). A lot of parts of the "mom job" are pretty thankless, and while some parts are wonderful, others are kind of frustrating.

But with the right perspective (which sometimes comes right away, and sometimes comes after they have all been tucked into bed and the house is finally quiet), the frustrating moments are fleeting, and can pretty much disappear with even just one of those sweet mommy moments. You know the ones I'm talking about, right? Those moments that just make you happy. Like when they say they love you for no particular reason, or show up at the back door with some dandelions that they picked just for you, or when you sneak into their rooms when they're asleep just so you can snuggle them when they will finally stay in one place (some days it's easier remember how sweet they are when they're unconscious, anyways), or when they learn something new that just makes you so proud, or you walk into a room to find them having fun in some ridiculous way that only a kid can do. I love those moments. My summer had oh so many, and I think that's what made it so great. I love my sweet kids, and I truly love being their mom. I have the best job.

Sophie loves to lounge. She kicks backs and relaxes on just about anything. Here she is relaxing on the bongos:

I just think she is so cute in those (very teeny tiny miniature) pigtails:

The boys making a Sophie Sandwich. can you see her in there? She's the slightly worried-looking one with the sippy cup. These boys love their sister.

Sophie and Ryan invented a new game called "pass the car". Ryan is so good at playing with Sophie. He's a great big brother.

The kids kicking back with a movie in the basement:

I always think it's fun when I find them playing made-up games with random things from around the house. I think they were playing house in this one:

Sophie loves keys. We have a metal air vent cover by our front door, and if she gets ahold of a set of keys, she will go straight there and stick the keys into the slots trying to open it or something. I think it's pretty cute. It keeps her occupied for at least 20 minutes at a time.

I came into Sophie's room and found this. she had woken up from a nap crabby, but when the boys heard her, they ran in and hopped in the crib with her to read her some books. She was very pleased.

What a nut.

Our kids have all figured out earphones, even Sophie. We have a little iPod shuffle that we don't use anymore and put a bunch of kids music on it, and they LOVE to carry it around and listen to it. And sing along, of course.

Lily teaching Sophie how to bust a move:

A very sweet hug from my great big Ryan:

The rest of sports class!

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 03:48:00 +0000

In May, Ryan, Calvin and Katie had their last couple of sports classes at the YMCA. Boy did they ever love going to those! The last couple were balloon volleyball and tumbling, which the kids loved, of course! It was so much fun to watch them trying so hard to master the task at hand. well, at least Katie and Ryan. Calvin was kind of in his own world, but still had a great time. Here are some pictures:

Katie in her poofy skirt jumping off the spring board:

Calvin running to give me a hug because he jumped off the spring board!

Katie showing off her mad balloon bopping skills:

Calvin needing some hugs:

Ryan and Katie walking the sissy version of the tightrope:

Calvin showing me how high he can jump:

Playing with the balloons:

Hiking the "Y"

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 03:39:00 +0000

Also when going through some pictures, I found some from Ryan's adventure hiking the 'Y" while we were in Utah in May. here he is with my parents, my sister and Ryan's cousins, Luke and Evie. He was a champ on the hike (or so I heard), and still has his white rock that he took from the top as a souvenir. Thanks for taking him, guys! He felt very big.

Ryan's Preschool Graduation (a few months late...)

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 03:35:00 +0000

So guess who finally went though all of their pictures and got them ready to blog? Oh,me! So since Ryan has now started Kindergarten (absolutely loves it, by the way), I thought maybe I should post some belated pictures of his preschool graduation in May! He was so very proud of himself, and it was fun to watch! Enjoy!

Ryan's teacher, Miss Jenny, giving Ryan his diploma:

Me and Ryan:

Calvin giving Ryan a congratulatory hug:

Ryan with his diploma--all that hard work cutting and gluing and fingerpainting finally paid off!

Ryan and his cute little (girl)friend, Vanessa:

First Day of School!

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 16:01:00 +0000

Oh my, how time flies. Not just this summer (which has been completely jam-packed and for which I owe you many, many blog posts), but basically the last 5 and a half years!

That's right, Ryan started Spanish Immersion Kindergarten today. He has been mostly very excited to do kindergarten in Spanish, with a couple of bouts of nervousness about not actually knowing Spanish yet. But he's done great at the open house in April and then again at his orientation this week when they did some all-in-spanish exercises and activities. His teacher seems like a really nice guy, and Ryan already really likes him. One funny part from orientation was when his teacher was talking about how they had extra snacks on hand just in case, because sometimes some of the kindergarteners spill their snacks on accident and then cry and are really sad. Ryan raised his hand and exclaimed, "I really don''t think I'm going to be one of THOSE kids."

Oh how I love my great big Ryan. I am so proud to be his mom. I can't believe he is already big enough for school. Well, I can actually, because the kid is a giant, but you know what I mean. We set out his new outfit last night and read a cute book we got at his orientation called "The Night Before Kindergarten" and I tucked him into bed with promises of a delicious snack for him to bring to school the next day (homemade cinnamon tortilla chips with fruit salsa). His last words before bed were "Wow, Mom, do you think you could pack me a double helping of that???"

This morning he pounced on me when he woke up an re-enacted the scene from Finding Nemo (chanting "First day of school! First day of school!") and then proceeded to ask me every 30 seconds if it was time to go yet. Michael called to wish him good luck (he is on a business trip), and once we were all dressed and fed and photographed, we were out the door!

I held it together pretty well. We talked about how much fun he will have and how he will make new friends and have fun with his good friend Tommy who is in his class. I reminded him to use all of the Spanish words he knows and to look for kids who don't have any friends and invite them to be his friends. Then I knelt down, told him I was proud of him, and then told him about how every morning when my mom dropped me off to school she would tell me to "Be a leader!" I explained what that meant and then told him to be a leader, and then I really started to lose it so I sent him over to the fence where all of the kids from his class were lining up.

Right then his friend Tommy arrived and those two boys started telling jokes and whispering "secrets" (I asked Ryan what they were about and he said that it was about an old fashioned convertible and a pickup truck Ryan saw on the way to school) and giggling together. Of course, Ryan was delighted to be going to school and (true to his form) didn't have an ounce of separation anxiety. I'm so excited to see what he has to tell me when he gets home! He's going to have a great time. I'll miss my buddy, but I have it easy, since it's only half-day kindergarten.

AnnaMarie is also starting a joy school at her house and at a friend's house so it was also Calvin's first day of "preschool". He was just as excited as Ryan, and felt like such a big boy with his backpack on. I really love my boys and I am so grateful to be their Momma. Here are some of my favorite pictures from this morning:

Great big Ryan:

My boys:

The Calvinator:

Ryan in front of his school:

With his buddy, Tommy:

Me and my Ryan:

Giggling and telling secrets:

Heading off!