Life Lately

Jar and I took Mom to a local craft fair. She loves those things. Jar and I goofed around together.

Michael painted the vinyl top of Cam's car. It looks so good now.

Jar and I had to pick up some groceries on Sunday. Here we are waiting for Michael and Cam to pick us up at the store parking lot.

This is what Michael wore to church on Sunday. I really like the outfit.

This is where Zena loves to be...out front with Michael.

Michael and Cam buffing and waxing Cam's car.

Jar spent this past week watching the Harry Potter movies again...he is so goofy.

I got my fall decorations out...it is one shelf worth. (Mom, it really is much easier than lots of boxes)

I organized cupboards in the kitchen. This is my stash of vitamins for the whole year. Most of them are Probiotics, Turmeric, Fiber, and Magnesium.

Here are some photos of my organized cupboards/drawers.

Jar photo bombed Cam's photo.

I made tacos last night for dinner. They were so yummy!!

Our little Munchkin

Pumpkin cream cheese bread

This morning I made pumpkin cream cheese bread. I actually made a pumpkin bread recipe, and then I made a cream cheese icing to put in between the bread. I love pumpkin with cream cheese.

The boys absolutely loved it. I can see that I will have to make this quite often. It is such a wonderful fall dessert/snack.

Our Three Campers

When we first moved here to Oregon over nine years ago, Michael and I wanted to either get a boat or a camper for our family to have something to spend time in together. We decided on a camper...longer season of use.

We bought our first camper in March of 2008...just 1 1/2 years after moving here. The boys were just 11 and 8 (they were small). We loved that camper...well we thought we did. After about a year of use, Michael and I knew that we needed a bedroom for ourselves...and the boys needed a permanent bed, not a table that folds into a bed. Hey, we were newbies to the camper world, so we were just learning. And we really did learn a lot in that first year. Here is our first camper. It was so cute. (and look, there is the first Keesha)

In March of 2009...just one year later...we traded in our first camper for our second camper. We thought for sure we knew exactly what we needed. Michael and I got our own bedroom, and the boys got bunk beds in the back for themselves. This was a cute camper as well. There were really only two things we did not like about this camper...the awning and our bed was not a walk around bed. Michael had to climb over top of me to get out of bed. That actually got annoying very quickly. We took this camper all over Oregon. We had both Zena and Keesha when we had this camper.

What we forgot to put into the equation when we got the above camper was that the boys were not full teenagers yet...they were just 13 and 9 years old. That first year that we got the second camper, Cam grew over a foot in a year. We learned very quickly that we really needed a slide-out because the boys were going to be full-grown adults at the age of 13 because they grew all of their height early like Michael. Michael began our hunt for a large camper with slide-outs that was light-weight. That is not easy to find. Michael found this camper on a Tuesday (4/26/2011)...we made a trip to Bend, OR that night (I was so sick with a cold). We went back on Saturday (4/30/2011) to trade in our camper (remove our 'real' mattress from our old camper and put into our new camper), and then we drove back home, dropped off the new camper, and immediately went to trade in our SUV for a bigger SUV. I was sick this whole time. It was quite the whirlwind over the course of four days. This is the camper that we ended up with...and boy has it been great. The boys both got big by the time they were 14 years old. It would have been really cramped camping without this camper. We have two slide-outs (the couch and table slide out, and the boys room slides out). Michael and I have a bed that we can walk around each side. And, the awning is really nice...no legs that go down to the ground (which you continually run into when you are outside). We have gone to so many wonderful places over the past four years...we have been all over Oregon and also to Canada. I have loved all of our many adventures over the course of the past 7 1/2 years of camping. We certainly have been to so many places that we would not have been able to go to if we had not had our campers.

First Day of School

Today was Jar's first day of school of his Sophomore year. He opted not to have his usual Dairy Queen biscuits and gravy (he said he did not like them any more), but instead he decided to have a chicken basket and a shake from Dairy Queen.

He was not excited to begin school today, but once he got going, he got it done in record time.

Season of Changes

We are in a season of changes in our family. It is really a difficult thing to get used to. Change in normal family life can be really hard.

One of the reasons that we chose homeschooling was that we could come and go when we wanted to...any time. We have really enjoyed being able to come and go when we want. If we wanted to take a day or two and stay in a motel on the coast or take a 10 day camping trip, we could just do it. We have gone camping or stayed in a house or motel so often on the many holidays...like New Year's Day, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas. We have enjoyed planning trips on these long weekends.

Now that Cam is working and doing online college, and Michael is working a new job, it has been really difficult to plan ahead for our time away. We truthfully cannot plan trips...it has to be last minute.  (anyone who knows me knows that I am a big time planner...way ahead of time planner) Because we don't ever know Cam's schedule, we cannot do trips like we used to. I have come to accept this as a season in our life...but Michael cannot seem to come to grips with it. I admit it has been sad for us. I would say that less-often family time is the most difficult for us to accept...especially family time away. For us, this is really disheartening...family time means everything to us.

I thank God every day for this wonderful beautiful family God has given to me. They are such a blessing!! I love all three of my boys so much. 

~~"A mother with all sons will be surrounded by handsome men the rest of her life."~~

Glimpse of my Weekend

Here is what has been happening around here lately:

I have been juicing at least 3 days a week for the boys and I

I got some new books at the Library

Jar got his new computer parts with his birthday money

He loves his new computer case

I had some BBQ chicken and tomatoes with fresh basil (I have been eating the tomatoes with basil every day now)

I gave Jar a new style haircut

Lily naps in the cutest positions...and she is an Oregon Beaver fan

Now that Cam is working a job at Roth's, he eats all of the time...and a lot at a time. This was his plate the other night (he brought a hot dog and brats home from work)

Michael loves my soft cozy leopard print blanket (his mom thinks I should buy him a Nascar one)

We celebrated my birthday early with a trip to Red Robin (using our free hamburger coupon, we got out of there for all four of us for $14.00 including tip)

The boys wanted to buy shakes at Red Robin, but I did not want to spend $5.00 a shake there. So we made homemade ones, and they got to choose their flavor--plus I could make 3 huge shakes for each of the three boys for the price of each of them getting one.

Jar chose an Oreo shake
Cam chose an Andes mint shake
Michael chose a chocolate malt shake

Cam's new style haircut

For Labor Day brunch I made German pancakes...these are always the craziest looking things when they puff up

Here are some of the other things we did this weekend...

1. Michael prepped the house for painting (replaced nails that were popping out of siding for screws and caulked)
2. I did laundry
3. I worked on a pile of papers on the dining room table
4. I payed bills
5. Cam worked on college work...took test and wrote an outline
6. Cam worked on Friday and Saturday
7. Jar got up early on Friday, so he and I watched The Bates Family from 6-7 a.m. It was so much fun. I really enjoyed it.
8. I boiled a huge pot of chicken and made pulled BBQ chicken sandwiches
9. I cut all three boys hair
10. Zena got to run around in the yard while Michael worked on the house...she LOVES her new ball and playing fetch with Michael every night
11. We had pizza and watched the TV version of the movie Contagion on Sunday night
12. I made burgers on Monday afternoon

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September/October Goals

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These are my September/October Goals:

1. Go to a local Farmer's Market/Farm
2. Take evening walks
3. Start new devotional
4. Put out fall decorations
5. Get into the groove of school
6. Get some home projects done (paint house and trim, trim bushes, finish fire-pit, paint kitchen shelf, clean garage cabinets, and fix backsplash)
7. Go for drives and take photos
8. Go see Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
9. Go see The Martian
10. Spend more time outside
11. Celebrate Amy's birthday
12. Celebrate Michael's birthday
13. Go to Red Robin for our birthdays
14. Go out with Mom
15. Give boys new style haircuts
16. Go to Oktoberfest
17. Take fall photos
18. Go on a hike
19. Watch college football
20. Rake leaves
21. Make pumpkin bread
22. Go to trampoline park with friends/cousins
23. Play outdoor yard games
24. Play four-square
25. Play board games