what we did yesterday

Yesterday, while the stock market crashed, we did a few other things...

1-learned about the patron saint of France, St Denis

2-celebrated the feast of St Michael...a powerful being to ask for help!

3-brushed our teeth, made our beds, got dressed

4-Joey memorized the 8 and 9 times tables

5-Pauly got 100% on a spelling test

6-had fun at 'recess' on a beautiful fall day

7-watched Anna and 6 other pink little girls during ballet class

8-ate homemade chicken soup for dinner

9-started what I hope will be a long journey through cub scouts/boy scouts

10-ate cake!

11-organized all my full canning jars

Life goes on! When I look on the web at all the bad news, I only have to look outside to remember that what really matter is here and now.

No fear, I will have Anna's birthday pictures on here soon!

oh, here is blog written by a priest that has a lot of good things on it...

Events of the week, part 2

Also last week, we took a trip and spent a few nights away from home. While away, we walked around a beautiful little town and went to an amusement park. This really was one of the few amusement parks our kids had been to, as we have never lived anywhere near one. It was fun and while none of our kids are daredevils by any means, they did have fun on the lower speed rides. How do you like Anna's pink camo pop gun? And, no, that is not a real elk with Sophia!

The events of last week...part 1

Last week we had a visit from Paul's dad. He arrived on a Friday and then stayed all the way through till the next Monday, so we had a nice long visit. We did a lot that week and had a lot of fun! I already posted about the fair, but we also had a second fair visit, a great hike, an overnight trip, a visit to an amusement park, and a 4th birthday to celebrate! What fun!

I will just post about the hike today, and then I will do more in a later post...
We found a nice short hike within 45 minutes from here. We had been wanting to get the kids more into hiking, and this really is a great place to do it. We have been very bad about not seeking out good trails, though, and finally Paul found specifics about one from someone at work, so we were off. It actually was less than 45 minutes to get there, and at the trailhead there is also a campground. We hope to camp there in the future. The hike itself was probably about three miles round trip. The first half was almost all uphill...about 700 vertical feet. It was great and the kids didn't complain once, although I did!
The hike was pretty much all treed, but at the top it opened up to a meadow and a warming hut put there by the forest service. It was a great place to eat lunch. Apparently people do a lot of snowshoeing up there, so they go to the hut to warm up by the wood stove. It was very beautiful, although dry and hazy. I would like to see it in the springtime.
Enjoy the pictures! ps--how do you like Paul's shirt...it is one of my favorites, and it is SO him. tongue in cheek, of course!

Lets go to the fair!

This is my favorite picture from the day...doesn't Anna just look 4?







The other day...Thursday, to be exact, we went to the fair, bright and early, on opening day. This also happened to be Anna's 4th birthday, but I will write more on that later. We had a nice time and just looked at the livestock and exhibit booths, as the rides and games weren't open yet. Our county fair is just big enough to have a good time, but not so big that you feel exhausted afterwards. The kids got free stuff galore...fake sheriff badge stickers, pencils, crayons, ballons, masks, bookmarks, and in exchange for a few pullups, the a poster from the military branch of your choice. What a deal. We had a great time!

A few words from Sophia

Camping, 2008

I don't know how well these pictures are going to come out on the blog, but I thought I would give it a try. I had to scan these, since they were from a film camera and not our digital. I think if you click on these photos, you will be able to zoom in on them. A couple months ago we went camping with the extended family of some of our friends here in town. This was a little wild for us, and I had doubts about going, but I am so glad we went...it was so beautiful in the mountains (we were at 7500') and we can't wait to go back. I am sure you can see in the photos that out of all the kids there, Anna and Sophia were the only two girls. There sure were a lot of little boys running around, as well as a lot of dogs, including our two. What an adventure...hiking, shooting guns and campfires. What more can you want?!