better late right?

sorry i am just getting around to posting our halloween pictures. i can't believe how fast time is flying by. well let me just tell you...wyatt was the mastermind behind these costumes this year. he wanted to be peter pan so bad for halloween (which i was so for, his alternative was a zombie, how would i have done that, besides i want him to stay cute for as long as i can get him to be). so once he decided, he informed paxton that he was going to be a pirate and to round out our peter pan characters, ky was to be tinkerbell. it turned out good and the kids has a great time. i am so proud of paxton for being such a good sport! not many big brothers would let their little brother pick out their costume! Paxton aka "Captain Hook/pirate"
Wyatt aka "Peter Pan"

Kysa aka "Tinkerbell"

One big Happy family!

Witchespalooza...

we finally had our Witch party that was one year in the making...last year my mom came up this idea to have a witch party. she was so excited about it. so the planning begun.

for our first annual party we decided to decorate witch hats. i wasn't so sure how it was going to go, but it was a total success. everyones hat turned out so cute and different. i was really happy with how mine turned out too.
here are the party planning people. my mom, me, steph, and kate. the party was so much fun, but the getting ready for it was just as much fun. what a great looking bunch of witches huh? it was fun to see what costumes everyone came in. i really liked mine. my wonderful mom helped me make it.

the three witchy sisters! me, steph, and kate

this picture isn't very good, but we all went to breakfast at midnight, dressrd in our witch costumes and newly decorated witch hats. it was so much fun. you should have seen how packed the resturant was. we had so many stares and questions of what 16 grown women were doing dressed as we were and at village inn no less! we had so many fun laughs.

after eating we went back to my moms and had a sleepover. although we didn't really sleep. we ended up going to bed at about 3am! it has been a really long time since i have stayed up that late. when we woke up we ate homemade cinnamon rolls, chocolate milk and fruit...yum. but we can't forget the awards we gave out to each witch. everyone left with a "witch" themed gift!

i can't wait for next years party. it will be fun to see what fun and creative things my mom comes up with!

Mostly Sweet...

here is ky. she is a fun little girl. i am very glad she is mine, and this was one of those times when she reminds me just how lucky i am to be her mom. not always is she the sweet, charming ky that we know and love, but this day she gave me a sweet little gift...

we were having a great time watching paxton's soccer game and out of the blue ky jumps in my lap and says in her cute muttled two year old voice, "me duv you mom". talk about melting my heart. this was the first time she said she loved me without me have to pry, bribe, or tickle it out of her.

ps. i have mis-placed this jacket that she is wearing. if i happened to have left it at your home, would you kindly give me a call. thanks so much!

gardner village
here we are at gardner village. it was during the wee-witches weekend...so much fun. we were getting some inspiration for our witch party that was to be held the next weekend.
thanks girlys, i had a fantastic time and can't wait to do it again next year.
pictured above is: my sister steph, me, my mom becky and my grandma dixie!

i love the fall...i took this picture on our way home from bear lake. the trees were in full glory. it was so beautiful. i love the fall. why can't it last a little longer???

peach rasberry jam...
every year as peaches come into season, me, my mom and my sister get together and make this jam. it is sooooo good and is pretty easy to make! so i wanted to share. go ahead, give it a try with all those yummy peaches that you have been wondering what you are going to do with.

**my moms jam **
4c. smashed peaches
4c. sugar
1pkg. frozen rasberries
(you can used fresh, about 1 1/2 baskets)
1- 3oz. pkg. strawberry jello

first get yourself some peaches. i got this entire basket full and i ended up making about 8 batches.

next you need to take the skin off your peaches. this is a good tip i got from my friend kasie, get a pot of water boiling and drop your peaches in for about 30 seconds. take them out and let them cool just a bit. then the skins will slide right off! so much easier then to use a knife!

once you get the skins off, wash and cut in half.

instead of smashing my peaches i put them in the blender and pushed the chop button.

put 4c. of the peaches, 4c. of sugar, and 1 pkg. of rasberries into a pot, stir altogether. bring to a boil, make sure to stir constantly. once it is boiling reduce the heat to med/low and cook for 25 minutes, stir occasionally.

after you have cooked the jam for the 25 minutes, take it off the heat and add the pkg of strawberry jello. stir it in and then pour into your containers. then plop those little babies into your freezer and use as needed.

Volia! now you have a nice supply of homemade, yummy, fresh, peach rasberry jam!

hope you enjoy! let me know if anyone tries it!

Bear lake -trip#2 i love that my parents have a condo in bear lake, it is so much fun to take the weekend and go have some family fun. this trip to bear lake was focused on Halloween. we tie-dyed these pumpkin t-shirts. they were so much fun. the kids loved them. my kids wanted to wear them all three days we were up there.

for dinner we make a "spooky" meal. this is a bloody monster foot created by Waha (my mom).

and of course it wouldn't be halloween without some creativly painted pumpkins. so much fun!

ps- the downside of the trip...i freaking got stung by a bee. (or hornet, i am not sure) i had a allergic reaction and my arm swelled up and got a yucky raised welt on it. can i just tell you, it still hurts/itches, mind you this was three days ago. shouldn't it feel better by now?

don't mess with me... paxton got invited to one of his friends birthday parties. it was a superhero/villian themed party. how fun for there little boys! they were supposed to come dressed up. paxton couldn't decide what he wanted to be. even up until the day of the party we were discussing it. so finally dad suggested "the hulk". paxton was so excited and i was all for it. we had everything except the green face paint, but with a quick trip to the halloween store we were set. pax wore a ripped up white tee and some of his little brothers shorts (to make them look small, and believe me, they were), some green face paint and some black hair dye (extra from last halloween), and volia! the hulk was reborn and in our kitchen no less!

i told him to give me a "mean" face, i think he looks more worried then mean, but what do you think?

take me out to the ballgame... go raptors, go! we had been planning on going to a baseball game all summer and finally we made it to the very last one! well we picked a good night to go, they were giving all kids 14 and younger a free bike helmet.

here is wyatt sporting his new helmet and waiting to catch a foul ball. he didn't end up catching one, but one of the dads we were with did, and being the nice guy he is, he gave it to wyatt. how exciting. wyatt was so happy, it totally made his night, that and the snowcone!

say cheese. the kids loved their helmets and ended up wearing them just about the entire game. ky wanted to wear hers to bed until she learned how uncomfortable it is to lay down in!

this was such a fun, free, family night. we will for sure do it again!

preschool rocks! wow, where does time go? my little dubby is in preschool. he was so excited and so ready to be in school.
this year i decided to get involved in a neighborhood preschool. it has been so much fun. there are six kids and they rotate houses each week. and the moms are the teachers. wyatt thinks this is really cool, he always teases paxton that he has more teachers then him!

wyatt and mia posing on their first day!

getting ready to walk to school

isn't wyatt such a handsome boy...i just love him! sending wyatt to school has been a little bittersweet for me. i love that i have a little more freedom with only having ky at home, but dub is such a fun little boy. he is the first to want to play a game with me, first to give me a hug when i have had a hard day, first to help with the cooking, the first to fetch a band aide even with no blood in sight, the first to cheer anyone up with his selection of jokes. although, he is the first to get his feelings hurt, the first to get into the canister of sugar and eat it with a spoon, he is the first to tell me he doesn't want a bath, the first to get out of bed when it IS bed time, the first to flood our side room, the first to draw on the neighbors car (it was washable marker, thank heavens!),the first to cut his own hair. as active and energetic and mischevous as wyatt is i love having him at home with me. but he is a big boy now and he reminds me everyday!

isn't the imagination amazing...
the treehouse is such fun place for my kids to explore. we hadn't been in a while and got an invite from some friends to go with them. of course we jumped at the chance.
this is a picture with wyatt and his "girlfriend," maddie. she is such a cute girl. wyatt really likes her. infact she was wyatts "first kiss". what a little stud i have on my hands! maddie and wyatt go to preschool together.

there was so many new things this time we went. one of them was the wild wild west. the kids loved it. there was even horses that they got to ride. of course they had to get in the cowboy/cowgirl get up!
wyatt named his horse bullet!

giddy up, little cowgirl!

Its what fun is...

we love lagoon. we try to buy season passes each year and this one was no different, although we haven't went as much as we would have liked this year! oh well live and learn huh? we had a great time on this day. wyatt was feeling especially brave and decided to go on his first roller coaster!

the bat...

seriously i can't believe my little boy is big enough to ride this ride. at the beginning of the summer we had measured him to see if he would be tall enough for the ride and he wasn't...what did summer do to my little boy. he is tall enough now! Wow!

wyatt loved the ride. i don't think that we will go to lagoon again without wyatt going on

"the bat"

minnetonka cave

while we were up at bear lake we decided to do something that i hadn't done in years. we went to minnetonka cave. my kids had never been before and i remember loving to go here when i was a kid. well, can i just tell you that i didn't remember the hike being so steep. i kinda got a little bit of anxiety while inside. it is a good thing i had my family there to help me with all my little ones.

here are all the kids with papa perry and uncle nate. this is when we were walking on the trail to get to the cave. we saw some cute little squirels. the kids would put some peanuts in their hands and the squirels would come right up and sit in your hand and eat. it was so much fun. i wish that i would have taken a picture!
steph was such a lifesaver. ky was a little nervous inside the cave and so steph ended up carrying her most of the way. although i did help a bit.

here is when we got to the very back of the cave. they called this the bridal room. when you get here, they turned off all the lights to show everyone just how black pitch black really is. it was kind of a weird feeling not to be able to see your own hand in front of your face.

this is the only stalagmite (sp?, i am not sure this is exactly what it was, but i think so) that you can touch. the oils on your skin turn them black. i thought that it was going to be wet and really rock feeling, but it as satiny smooth and dry. it was really neat.

Yeah, we finally made it out of the cave. it was 444 steps in and 444 steps out. the kids did so good, i was really proud of them. there were just a couple of places that i got a little nervous with my kids, but they were oblivious. so much fun. if any of you get a chance to go, do it!

We love bear lake
we go every year with my family to bear lake, and we always have a wonderful time. normally we don't go until later in the fall, but this year we were able to get the condo in june.
Who needs swimming in the lake when we can just fill up the tub. here are all the little crazies after a long day at the beach. you should have seen all the sand and sea shells that came out of four little swimming suits.
paxton is getting so good in the water. this has been his year for being really daring and full of courage. normally i still put a life jacket on him, but we had a great spot at the beach this year that were like little mini ponds of nice warm water. it was so perfect for the kids. they kept saying it was their "hot tub".

Dubby too loves loves loves the water. he was pretty excited this day because his cousin kade had brought up a pair of brand new swim trunks that didn't fit him and gave them to dubby. he was so excited. they were sponge bob, can't get much better than that!

ky freaks me out around water, she is so daring. you have to always have an eye on her because she will jump in to any amount of water. that is another reason why this spot was fab.

Aunt stephy bought all the boys these matching swim shirts. they loved them and were so excited they they all matched. thanks steph!

well bear lake was wonderful. we had great weather and great fun. i can't wait until we go back in september!

My baby isn't so much a baby anymore...
gosh, this seems like it was only yesterday. me at the hospital getting all strapped up to machines, drips and all sorts of pleasant things. it was all worth it. look at this beautiful, sweet, little girl. she was the best prize at the end of a long 9months. just look see for yourself....ky was such a fun baby. i loved every minute of it. she has been the dream little girl. she loves to have her hair done and be dressed all up. look at that head of hair she came home with.

my little one is now two. she turned two on the 28th of june. (sorry i know i am behind again.) isn't this the cutest cake you have ever seen. one of my most tallented cousins...mindy, made it for us. it tasted as wonderful as it looked. thanks so much min.
getting ready to "spit" on some candles. ky is just learning the right way to blow out candles. she sometimes tends to leave some "special extras" after the blowing is done. it was pretty cute, this year instead of dousing the flames, she simply licked them. what a nut. she was shocked that they were HOT!

opening some of her loot. she had a great time and got all the best things little girls need. she got high heels, a pink princess chair, purses, tutus, new big girl panties (have yet to try and potty train, but we have the supplys for when we are ready), a potty, and big girl bed.

sorry it is side-ways. ky showing off her new heels.

it was a great birthday. thanks to everyone who came and celebrated with us.

happy birthday day baby girl, i know you are not so much a baby anymore, but you will always me my baby girl. we love you and are so glad you are a part of our family