Bad blogger lady! Bad!

Okay, I have seriously been falling down on my blogging duties lately. I would be surprised if any of you have even stuck around and actually check the blog anymore!
I'm afraid I've been ridiculously busy lately, with school, kids etc. And I am not feeling particularly creative or amusing.
But I am really going to make a concerted effort to be a better blogger lady. And keep all of you updated on our fun, exciting life! (Ha!)
Is there anybody out there?

Coming along quickly!

Less than 1 week later and they already have all the sheeting on and the interior framed as well! It's going very quickly and I'm realizing that I need to start packing. Thankfully, I know a wonderful woman who works for a wonderful company (Mom4Life) and she has graciously offered all of their boxes from shipments and returns! Which saves me from dumpster diving for cardboard boxes! Yay! We have about 4.5 weeks before the move.

We have walls!

First picture

We are planning on taking pictures of the house as it's being built. It will be fun for the kids to see it going up! So since we're in the waiting on permits stage, here's a pic of the lot and the bare ground! :)

Home sweet home!

We are so excited! We're buying a house! We are so ready to be homeowners again, it's not even funny. It's absolutely amazing how everything is just falling into place so perfectly. We're so thankful that God is allowing us to have the opportunity to own again.

The home we're buying is new construction and in a neighborhood we really like. I've been busy running around to various pre-construction meetings this week. I bravely ventured into a lighting store today with four children in tow... crazy, I know, but we're on a deadline! The builder is fast-tracking construction so that it's completed and closed before Nov. 30- since we haven't owned in over 3 years we qualify for the tax credit. So, if all continues to go well we will be posting pictures of our new home in just under two months!

The inevitable question

We are finally ready to announce that in April we will be welcoming a new addition to our family!

And now for the inevitable question- yes, we do know how these things happen. Just thought I'd answer that one in one fell swoop, since it seems to be the question that folks always ask.

I've been feeling pretty sick, as usual for me, and quite honestly we are still trying to get used to the idea that before the school year is out we will have 5 children!! Seems rather impossible. But God is faithful and we rely on Him. We know that our children are a blessing and a gift, and this one will be no different! We do however covet your prayers firstly for a healthy pregnancy and baby- and the strength and wisdom we need to raise our brood!

Is your mouth watering yet?

See these beauties? Aren't they gorgeous?

My family has a long history of scouting the mountains and braving the bears, just to get these beautiful berries socked away in the freezer for the year.

One year my family picked 64 gallons of the suckers.

We used to pick for HOURS.... till our poor fingers were purple and we'd be begging mom and dad to take us back to camp. And then they'd say those fateful words.... "ok, we'll pick our way back to the car now." Two hours later...... we'd finally get there.

Now I get to do that to my kids!

For the past few years I've craved, longed for, deeply missed the taste of huckleberries. Huckleberry sauce on ice cream. Huckleberry pancakes. Huckleberry muffins. Huckleberry fudge.

I'm telling you. Taste them once and you'll never go back to blueberries. I promise.

So this week my mom and I took three of the Fab Four and went on a camping/huckleberry picking adventure.

It rained the whole time and we got soaking wet. But it was fun. And the berries were beautiful! My freezer is now full. Glory be.

And the next people I have over for dinner will be getting huckleberry sauce and vanilla ice cream for dessert!!

Hmmm... I wonder who will be nicest to me... :D

He's done!

You know those turkeys you buy at Thanksgiving that have the plastic timers already in them? The timer pops up when the turkey is done.
Vance happens to have his own built in timer. After a meal he checks his tummy and says...



"Look Mom! My timer popped! I'm all done!"

10 years down, many more to go!

Today is the 10 year anniversary of our marriage. It's amazing to think how much we have grown as individuals and as a couple in the last 10 years. I'm incredibly grateful for my husband- a man who works so hard for his family, who gives the best of himself, who loves me and does sweet things for me and most importantly who seeks after the heart of God. I love you so much, baby! Happy Anniversary!

Handsome Fella'

My kids and my sister's kids are wonderful friends. It's so great to see them have fun together. They have one ongoing game that they play- The older ones and Vance are part of "Spy Club" and the younger ones call theirs simply "Club". They make and bring home the cutest, funniest things as prizes from Club. Abbie always makes these "Spy Manuals" that have things like ciphers, codes and spying methods, and the littler ones make crafts, learn Bible verses and songs, etc.

Anyway, Vance came home with these glasses that Abbie made for him as a prize for Spy Club- he LOVED them and wore them constantly until they fell apart. I just couldn't help but laugh every time I looked at him! He was so proud.

Siblings...

We have our share of sibling rivalry around here. Some times I think we actually have more than our share, considering the fact that we home school and therefore our kids are around each other constantly. But there are wonderful advantages to that, as well. My kids love each other as fiercely as they sometimes fight. The boys especially are inseparable. They call each other their "Best Buddy". Tonight we left Jaxson with my mom for an overnighter. Vance spent the whole ride home and until he finally fell asleep in his bed howling, sobbing and calling for his "Buddy". "My Buddy!! I missed my Buddyyyy!" This happens every time Jaxson is gone. Even when we recently just dropped him off for a birthday party. After a couple of hours, even Ellie was saying she missed Jaxson. I am grateful for the deep love that they hold for each other. I hope that some day, when they're adults, they'll be as close to each other as my siblings and I are. I always tell my children that their brothers and sisters are built in best friends!

What do you get...

......when you have a 5 year old who likes to play Mommy and a 3 year old who still wants to be the baby??

Trip to Sandpoint

Last week Brady had a shoot up in Sandpoint so we decided to make a family day of it. We drove up to this amazing cabin in the woods on the lake. It was so incredibly beautiful up there! Unfortunately, when we got there we discovered that there were people there (they hadn't told the rest of the family who arranged the photos of the cabin that they were going up that day). So the photo plans were put on hold and we decided to just enjoy the scenery and drive. We drove up to Oden Bay and then to Hope. We stopped at the Trestle Creek Rec. Area and let the kids play in the water, which was remarkably warm! It was a great day. It reminded me of going on drives as a kid- we'd all hop in the car (with our books, of course) and drive up to these remote places on these crazy, narrow roads... inevitably we'd have to back several miles down a dirt trail that was barely wide enough for the car... ahhh... good times! ;) Truly.

I may have passed on my OCD

Yes. This is my 1 year old. Dusting.  

Seattle Trip + Tons of Pics= Procrastination

My blog is disgracefully behind. Every time I think about updating.... I get overwhelmed with all of the pictures that I know I need to edit and upload ... and I put it all off yet again. But no more!! Today begins a new day! A day in which I will finally update our blog and hopefully begin to do better at keeping it updated... hopefully...
First our Seattle trip. ( Just by way of warning... I'm going after "the longest post" title with this one.. watch out Mandy! :p) It's been a while since we have been on a 'vacation' type trip with the kids. I think since Vance was just a little one. So we had a lot of fun. Our hotel room was comped by a client of Brady's who was trading for photos. So we got to stay in this amazing suite... that was probably about as big as our house.
Here are Jax and Ellie right before we set off. Don't they look excited?

Lilah was asleep before we'd even left our street.... Sweet thing!

We stopped the first night at Grandma Rothrock and Leonard's house. It was so great to see them!
The boys made themselves at home right away.. I think the first question Vance asks whenever we get there is "Can we play with the toys?".
And Ellie and Lilah went outside to enjoy the swing.
The next morning was mother's day. Jax spent a little while outside that morning.. mysteriously... and when he brought me out to the swing this is what I found!! He's such a sweet son.


Grandma and Lilah spending some quality time together. This picture is just so sweet.

After breakfast on Sunday morning we headed off to Seattle! The kids really do so well on long trips so we didn't really have any major adventures along the way. We listened to books on tape in the car (Narnia) and next thing you know we were checking into our hotel in downtown Seattle!



This was the bedroom.
The living room.
The kids eating breakfast in the dining area.

We did a little bit of sightseeing. Far more than I'll be able to post because uploading all the pictures would take a year! But here are a few highlights...






One amazing daddy with four amazing kids!
The Children's Museum. What a great place that was!

This is in our hotel. Just a couple of cute kids we found! :)

We took the kids on the monorail... talk about cheap entertainment! Vance is doing his signature half smile.

The Seattle Aquarium. Vance once again with the cute half smile.


Vance likes otters.......
What a doll she is!