Oh, The Classics!

Shiloh played her first game of Candy Land with mommy today! That little stinker beat me twice!!

Is there any one who hasn't played this all time favorite board game? I remember playing it as a kid, and now I have played it with all of my kids. I am thinking about getting all sentimental and saving it so I can one day play it with my grand kids.

Board games are a family favorite around here, and right now the boys are in to playing CLUE with Daddy. Mark and I used to play the video version of CLUE when we were dating. That was a fun game--I wonder if they have it on DVD, now? It would be much too complicated for the boys, now, but maybe in a few years?


Board games really do bring families together, don't they? Let me pause while I wipe the tear from my eye.

In all seriousness, do you have great board game memories you would like to share? Let the nostalgia begin!!


*My grandpa and I used to play SORRY! when I was a little girl. Those were fun times!

*My friend, Sara, and I would play Master Mind for hours on end.

*I loved playing Parcheesi with my mom as a kid, and as an adult, I love to play Boggle with her. If she just weren't so darn good at it!!

*I absolutely loved the game, TABOO, and would play it with any group I could get my hands on.

*Life was always a family favorite. Boy, has that game had a makeover! We bought the game to play with our kids, and I must say it is a wee bit different.

And Liquid Gold Fell From the Sky

Well, actually it was just water. But you would have thought it was pure gold by the way my family was acting this evening! Folks, we haven't seen rain in a long time, so we celebrated with much glee!The dark clouds rolled in and the heavens opened. Ragamuffin was beside himself!!!
The boys had a blast playing in the rain. Boy, did they get soaked. It was quite a heavy shower with whirling winds.

Uh oh. The wind yanked one of our stakes out of the ground, so this poor, young tree was touching its toes! It was amazing how fast the streets flooded. It was like the boys were wading in a creek or something. Watching them play in the rain brought back memories of when I was a little Arizonian about Mullin's age. Seriously, playing in the rain here is a rare treat!

Shouts of joy and jubilee could be heard from all the excited neighborhood children. The storm left as quickly as it came. All is calm again. And thankfully our electricity wasn't out for very long.

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Poor Shiloh didn't get to join her "bubbies", for she has spent the first few days of being three sick. :(

Monday night after a full day of fun--seeing Kung Fu Panda, no napping, eating dinner at Chili's, and helping to make home made ice-cream with Paw, she threw up all over the couch, rug and tile floor. At first we just thought it was from too much junk and too much fun, but she continued to throw up during the night and once the next day. A low grade fever set in, and she just looked so pitiful. Today at 10:30 am, she just went upstairs, tucked herself in bed, and slept for 3 hours. You know a toddler is sick when they voluntarily take a nap!!

She seems to be on the mend, and I am really hoping this won't get passed around to the entire family!! I don't think I can do another "get only 2 hours of sleep night"!

Oodles of Apples

Making memories at Grandma's house. The kids look forward to this every June!!!

Apple picking...




Apple washing...

Apple juicing...

Apple drinking...

Apple peeling and coring...

Apple dehydrating...

Apple trail mix making...

Good times! Oh, and the taste of freshly juiced apples is delicious! Fresh dehydrated apples are a tasty treat as well. Mom, thanks for the many bags of apples and all of the apple fun!

Memorial Day Fun

We enjoyed a nice, relaxing Memorial Day. Since Mark was doing ALL the cooking, I was able to run a few errands and spend some time cleaning. The weather was absolutely gorgeous! Temps were much more pleasant than last weekend.

I am so glad, as I am sure the kids are, too, that this is our last week of school. We have just a few subjects to finish up, and I need to finish "Spring Cleaning"!!

Birthday Celebration

Both my mom and brother share the same birthday--May 3rd. My sister hosted a fun birthday party with a tropical flare. The kids had a blast soaking each other with water balloons. I had a blast eating my second favorite candy--Jelly Bellys!!!
The kids had fun playing ring toss on Blake's head. Guess which amazing aunt got to hold baby Easton while they played??
See that cool baseball cake my sister is adorning with candles? I slaved over it for my brother who, by the way, will be enjoying his very last year in his glorious 20's.
A close up of the adorable baby Easton. I can't believe I didn't even get a photo of the twins. :( I have to admit, I wasn't a very good picture-taker at this party.

A Bit of Backtracking

Well, I had to do at least one post today since my sweet, hardworking hubby mentioned to me as he was heading out the door this morning that my blog should be up and running.

Well, it is old news but I have a new nephew as of March 4, just 3 days before my birthday!! Little Easton is so cute. Fresh babies just make me melt, but holding someone else's will have to do. My quiver is full.

Easton's household will be a busy one since he already has 18 month old identical twin brothers. Yikes, a house full of boys!!

Yes, It Does Snow in Arizona!

Our family took Monday off from work and school and headed up North in search of snow!! We found some about 2 hours away and had a blast! For a while it was just us. It was so peaceful, and the view, breathtaking. We even had a picnic in the snow. My kind of picnic--NO BUGS!! It wasn't very cold either, which was nice. At one point I just had short sleeves on and felt great. The kids did get a little cold, though, since they completely soaked their clothes. I packed plenty of extra clothes, but the one thing I did forget was sunscreen. Poor Daddy, Lincoln and Shiloh suffered from some sunburns. All in all, it was a super day. A day our family needed very much!


SLEDDING: We bought some cheap, round sleds that made for a lot of hill-sliding fun. I was first to try out the steep hill, and goodness me, I had no idea how FAST I could fly. It had been a while since I had been on a sled. My backside is a bit sore today, to say the least. Didn't stop me from sledding a bunch more times, though! Mullin and Lincoln were so brave climbing way up the hill to sled half way down and then bust!! Shiloh loved flying down the hill in Daddy's lap.

PLAYING: There is just something about seeing a little, pink bundle in the snow. Shiloh liked eating it. Lincoln tried making a snow angel, but the snow was just packed too tightly, which, thankfully, kept our feet from sinking with every step.

SNOWMAN: It sure has been a very long time since we built one of these. Some of it had already been done by someone else. We just finished him.

BATTLE WOUNDS: I was trying to show off my owies, but they didn't really show up very well. When sledding down the hill one time, I forgot to push my longsleeves down, and I ended up busting. Basically, I got "Snowburn"--sort of like rugburn, ya know.
SNOWBALL FIGHT: The snow was packed pretty tightly, so it was somewhat difficult for the boys to form snowballs. One time, Daddy hit Shiloh right in the buns with a snowball. I am sure it felt like a love pat, but she didn't like it and let everyone know with her crying and whining.

What a fun day this was. I hope their will be lots more of these trips in the future!

Happy Birthday Paw!!

Hope you are having a wonderful day!!



Even though I can honestly say that I don't miss the Beans-n-Rice meal, :) I miss being able to celebrate with you. Even the boys are wishing they could be at your birthday dinner!



Glad to hear you and all the rest of our TN family is okay after such devastating weather. We were thinking about all of you last night as we watched voting results.

Is It Back to School Already?

The past 3 weeks have gone by much faster than I thought they would! Rivendell Academy starts back up on Monday, and I haven't even looked at my lesson plans. I'm a bit behind on my to do list since I have been sick this week. =(

Just thought I would do a quick recap of all our Christmas fun. The kids have been very occupied with all of their new toys, much to my satisfaction!!

Here we are on Christmas Eve. It is tradition for us to eat tacos, read about the birth of Jesus Christ, sing a few Christmas songs, and then open presents from out-of-town family. We used to go light-looking as well, but this year we did that on a previous night. It made for a not-so-rushed Christmas Eve.

Shiloh and Lincoln want to "help" Daddy play the guitar.

Mullin was thrilled to open a bunch of new Harry Potter characters from The Order of the Phoenix.

Shiloh loves her new Pet Shop pal!

I love that moment on Christmas morning when all is silent and the glowing tree is surrounded by presents just waiting to be opened!

The kids know that all of those presents are from us. They know that the magical, modernized Santa is just pretend. I had planned to do a whole post on just that but didn't get around to it. Maybe next year?

Shiloh finally got the Care bear she'd been talking about all month--Grumpy!! She now has quite a collection. She loves them to pieces!

Mullin had a Star Wars Christmas. New ships, new men--he is all set to have some new battles!



Lincoln wanted all army stuff, so he is pretty excited about the jet he just opened!!

Later we went to my Mom's for a yummy Christmas brunch. Unbelievably, I forgot my camera!

Hope every one's Christmas was as wonderful as ours!!

Baking With Mom

Last Saturday my mom and I slaved in the kitchen from 7:30-4:30 to bring forth many, yummy, Christmas goodies! Here I am making our traditional Prize Sugar Cookies, and I am holding up 2 very sentimental cookie cutters--they used to be my grandma's. And the apron I am wearing was given to me by my mom after my grandma passed away over 2 years ago. This apron is also very special to me because my mom made it for her mother when she was about 14.
















Thanks, Mom for taking the time to bake with me. We really missed not having my sister or my sister-in-law there this year!
















While filling the kitchen with sweet smells, we listened to Christmas music and talked about everything, of course. It was a cloudy, rainy, yet very, refreshingly cool day!















Just a photo of some of the fruits of our labor. I actually sent this plate to work with my husband. The only treat not pictured was the amazing toffee my mom made--I wasn't about to share any of that!! In fact, I ate the last piece today! YUM, YUM!

Just a little reminder--vote for my Holiday Cheer picture tomorrow!!! (Only if you think it is the best one, of course.) I could really use the prize $!

Dreadfully Busy!

"Busy, busy, dreadfully busy.

You've no idea what I have to do.

Busy, busy, shockingly busy.

Much, much too busy for you!"

This is the Veggie Tales song that has been playing over and over in my mind like a broken record since Thanksgiving! (I have made the assumption that all of my readers know what a record is.) I have been busy decking our halls with Christmas decor, getting my kids back in home school mode after a 4 day weekend, wrapping and packing up presents that need to be mailed to what seems like a galaxy far, far away, cleaning and scrubbing, planning for Friday dinner guests, updating addresses for Christmas card mail outs, gathering up recipes for a baking day with my mom and sister, etc, etc... All good and fun things, well most of them anyway, but still all things taking up every precious moment of my time. Blog land had to be put on the back burner.

So glad to finally have all of our Christmas decorations up. The kids had a fun time trimming the Memory Tree. I love Christmas ornaments! Good thing, too, because several of our beloved family members give us each new ornaments every year! We all anxiously anticipate what they will be and can't wait to find a spot for them on the tree.

Mark and I also like to exchange ornaments with ourselves and the kids. From now on we will open up our ornaments from each other right before we decorate the tree,instead of waiting until Christmas, so we can enjoy them all month long! This year I gave Mark a Smore basketball player and a Starbucks mug. He gave me a jeweled cross. Mullin got a Smore baseball player, Lincoln a Smore soccer player, and Shiloh got three since she hardly has any ornaments to her name yet--Wish Bear, Strawberry Shortcake, and a Victorian baby buggy.

We all LOVE the ornament tradition!!!

For a more thorough post on our family's Christmas decorating weekend, see my husband's post.

Thanksgiving Memories

Mark with Livi and Shiloh. The only girls!
My mom and me. Thanksgiving was at her house.
My sister and her husband enjoying turkey and cider.

The 2 girls have their very own princess table! Shiloh loved it and couldn't wait to show her cousin!
The boys table--where goofiness abounds!! They had so much fun together. Tried to get pictures of them playing football with Grandpa D, but they didn't turn out. :(
And here are those adorable twin faces!! They are both walking around and getting into everything! Though they are identical, Kenny (right) is always full of smiles and Ryan is a bit more subdued.

Christmas Decorating

Don't panic! It isn't December yet--still just the middle of November, but we are a little excited about putting up our decorations this year since we weren't able to at all last year. My mom has wonderful decorations, but it just isn't the same when they are not your own!! I usually like to wait until after Thanksgiving, but really, putting up decor a little at a time is a lot less stressful, at least for me anyway.
We even turned on some Christmas tunes, and Shiloh wanted to dance with Daddy. Oh that face--it's adorable!
Lincoln was in charge of putting on the very top part of the tree.
Daddy and Mullin check to see if the colored lights still work. Most of our white lights didn't. The ones that did, Mark decided to put on a tree outside.

Silly Shiloh. Lincoln calls her "Samanthaclaus". I have no idea why? She is cute whatever her name is, though!
Lincoln holds the chair still while Daddy strings the lights around our tree out front. Mullin helps with light hanging. What a team. Momma's inside giving Shiloh her bath.
That's it for now. Will post more as we continue the decorating process...

Twins' 1st Birthday

Happy Birthday my dear, sweet nephews, Ryan and Kenny!



















They did not like having their faces shoved in cake. Spoiled the whole thing for them!




















Hard to believe, but the twins will be big brothers in March. My brother and his wife are expecting another boy. Wow, 3 kids in less than a year and a half. I am getting tired and worn out just imagining what that will be like!

Strawberry, Arizona

Saturday road trip. First stop, Strawberry, Arizona. After a couple of hours in the car, it felt good to stretch our legs, and breathe in the fresh mountain air!
A little education--I guess that means I can count this as school!
What is this I see? A tree starting to change colors! Yea!
Of course, Shiloh didn't want to cooperate during picture taking time.
My wonderful husband and me sitting on the bench together. Awww, how romantic.

Pine, Arizona

The desires of my heart were gratified this Saturday in Pine. Just look at us surrounded by the amazing autumn beauty!! My soul feels revived after drinking in the incredible views.


There was a cool breeze, so it felt like fall. The leaves crunching beneath our feet made it sound like fall. There were lots of evergreens and a few campfires, so it smelled like fall, too. And with all the fiery colors, it definitely looked like fall! The only things missing were my homemade Pumpkin Bread and my homemade Harvest Apple Cider, and then it would have tasted like fall!!
Shiloh and the boys had a blast just throwing rocks into the stream. Experiencing nature in Pine on Saturday was definitely worth the 2 hour drive.

Football With Dad

Vacation Day

Actually, I don't think there is such a thing as a vacation if your kids are with you. Anyway, I let the kids have Friday off, and we all went swimming at my sister's house.

Of course the kiddos had a great time, but couldn't understand why mommy and aunt didn't want to get everyone back out in the pool after lunch. They just have no clue how much work it is especially when there are 4 out of 7 who can't swim!! Lincoln is almost there, though!

Shiloh loves Care Bears and she knew exactly where to go to find her cousin Livi's Care Bears!

Babysitting My Twin Nephews

Tuesday, our second day of homeschooling, I lent a helping hand to my brother and sister-in-law by watching the twins. Ryan is in the green and navy stripes and Kenneth is the one in the light blue and green.

Kenneth loves to smile for the camera! Though the twins are very good babies, they were constantly on the move, and they had their cranky moments, especially Ryan, who refused to take a nap until 4pm!

That is why there are more pics of Ryan--it's not b/c I thought he was more cute! They are very much identical, but I can tell them apart pretty quickly now.

The boys thought they were big stuff helping to feed them their food, and Mullin got to help later with bottle feeding. Shiloh even tried to help entertain, but she needed lots of attention, too. I could not imagine having any more babies of my own!! It was such a treat to have the twins for a day, but then be able to say good-bye at the end of the day.

Having more kids would definitely help me stay skinny--I barely had time to eat!

Arizona Family Picture

Top row: Kenneth, Lindsay, Blake, Ryan, Shiloh, Brandi, Mark, Brooke, Livi, Matthew

Bottom row: Darrell, Mullin, Christian, Aiden, Lincoln, Jacob, Teela