Feels like fall...

Labor Day weekend we went to Pig out in the Park. It was Morgen's 1st time & she was perfect! JaCee had a great time going on the kid's rides. She went down this HUGE slide and I love the look on her face. She was fearless at the beginning but when I asked her if she wanted to go again she said NO - that scared me. Poor thing. Glad I got this picture.

Adorable & always smiling Morgen --- with her Daddy --- Happy as can be!


Morgen's had some accomplishments the past 2 weeks. She's up on all 4's rocking. Still army crawling for "real" movement. She is trying to pull herself up to things. I caught her trying to get to her sister in the bath tub the other night...

She FINALLY figured out the how the Sippy cup works and loves to use it as a chewing toy. One of her top teeth is coming...and I'm sure the other top tooth is not too far behind. All this teeth business...bath time...she's tired & I can STILL GET THIS SMILE FROM HER! She's amazing!

I'm just starting my adventures in canning! On top of our garden goodies...I buy boxes of fruit in the fall to make things with...here is some of what I've done with my box of Pears so far and some garden goodies too. Pickled Beets. Canned Beans. Italian Stewed Tomatoes (Spaghetti Sauce basically). A Pear Cake to Freeze. A pear cobbler and last but not least ... some purred baby food for Morgen!

And here's JaCee after "helping Mommy" bake goodies! JaCee's doing good. She has her 2nd thumb surgery Tuesday. I'm a mix of emotions. I know this will be the last thumb surgery & I know what to expect since we've been through it, but it doesn't take away the butterflies I have over it!

This is what my yard looks like! Well looked like. Part of it. This is only one corner of our house. The back yard looked like this too. Blah! They took down part of our fence, we had to take out all our concrete edging & plants including tree's, etc. We had to get hooked up to the sewer & off septic (city requirements). It's over now & the grass is put back in place, now the replanting (and praying for the plants to live) and cleanup begins.

Yes, that's my Japanese Maple buried. =(

And Matt --- Well, it's hunting season --- so he's --- well ---- been hunting --- just in the evenings on the weekends, thankfully for me. He did take a few day's off this week & went Steelhead & Salmon fishing on the Columbia with some of his buddies. He brought back some nice fish for us eat!

And again --- the cutest smiling baby you've ever seen! What a doll!

So that's what we've been up to. Everyone is healthy & happy ... fall is just around the corner. Our Pumpkins are already Orange & I'm teaching JaCee about Trick-or-Treating....and that you have to say that to get a piece of candy! The other night after dinner, she came to me & said, "Mommy --- trick or treat?" I said what? It's not that time yet...she said, "ya, can I have a piece of candy?" She's too smart for her own good!

Deer Lake Vacation

We spent last weekend & part of this week at Deer Lake with Matt's family for a vacation. His Mom (minus his dad who was farming), sister, brother in law & their 5 kids. That means with our 2 kids it was 7 children, ages 10, 7, 5, 3, 2.5(JaCee), 17 months & 7 months (Morgen). Wow! There was Never a dull moment! The kids had a great time playing together. The weather was warm enough to spend some time in or by the water, every day, for at least a few hours -- but a good part of the time we were in sweats! We went for adventure hikes, had Smores, went for boat rides and ATE a LOT of good food! It was another great family vacation for the books!

Here are some pictures of the weekend in no specific order.

Matt, his sister, brother in law...all the kid's --- Minus the 2 youngest babies

Matt & his mini-me...


The babies of the group. They are 10 months apart!

Matt's dad did take a break from farming Sunday & came up to spend the day with us...and get some love from his grand-babies! Here he is with Morgen...

Momma...you so craaaazy!!!

Matt & JaCee went for a paddle-boat ride one morning...

And we all went Monday afternoon

JaCee chasing the ducks. These ducks came to visit every time we were on the beach...I guess they knew where kids are...there is FOOD!
Morgen & Brianna
Family photo before we left...

Morgen 7 months old~

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Wiggle Worm~

A few pictures from the last week... The biggest news is Morgen is moving! Not crawling yet...but she can get where she wants via: wiggling, worming, creeping, frogging, army crawling over one arm, rolling & squirming. It's possibly the funniest thing to put watch her work toward something so hard. I'm not ready for her to crawl just yet, but I know it's coming soon! She's sitting really good now & plays for a long time if you surround her with toys. Or...if JaCee "stops" by to play ...

Here is JaCee teaching Morgen how a cell phone works!

And giving some sisterly love...

Just plain CUTE~!

My Hawaii baby!

My nights lately....

10pm go to bed
11:30 pm - Morgen's crying, can't find her Binkie - up to put it back in
12:30 - JaCee fell out of bed, crying ---- console her
1am - Morgen's lost her binkie again & is crying...out of bed to put binkie back in
1:30am - JaCee is crying in my room - "I have to go potty" ... off to the potty we go!

**I am working on this with JaCee, I cannot figure out why she cries when she has to get up & go potty. I think it's because she's mad she is awake --- so my conversations are usually like this...

Me: JaCee don't cry...it's OK
JaCee: Crying as her binkie is falling out of her mouth
Me: JaCee --- stop crying...your going to wake up Morgen & then we'll have BIG trouble! And give me your binkie...your going to drop it in the potty...and why did you bring your sippy cup with you.
JaCee: Hands me her binkie & the cries are louder
Me: Putting Binkie back in --- JaCee stop crying! Why are you crying? There is nothing to cry about.

By now we're done with the potty process...and I'm walking JaCee back to her room. She is now begging to sleep with me....and this conversations lasts for a couple of minutes...we all sleep in our own beds. Morgen's in her bed, I'm in my bed, you are in your bed. You only sleep with Mommy on special occasions.

JaCee: Loud crying...I want to sleep with you!
Me: JaCee, close your eye's & if I have to come in here again because you are crying, you will be in big trouble!

2am - JaCee is back in my room again..."mommy I have to go potty again!" and...Take 2!!!!

230am - Morgen is crying - figuring she's hungry, and ready to have a bottle, up to feed her.

245am - Me, laying in bed thinking....I'm ready for a NEW stage from both girls!

Minus JaCee falling out of bed, which is her 1st and only time so far...the routine has gone just like this ...luckily I don't have to get up at 5am for work!

As I was driving today listening to PLR, one of the lady DJ's says, I'm SO tired! My "almost 2 1/2 year old is now waking up at 4am and has for over a week now." She has 2 little girls exactly the age's of mine & I had to laugh to myself...as bad as I think I have it...it could be worse!~

August Fun!

The past couple of weekends have been spent like this....

Morgen chewing on her 1st ear of Corn & Loving it!

We bought our 1st boat!

The 1st time I've been water skiing in probably 10 years...

JaCee had her 1st ride on the jet-ski's!

JaCee & daddy caught their 1st fish together!

It's been a busy 2 weeks! We bought the boat, went to MT for the weekend to test it out...came home for a few day's & then headed back over last weekend for our annual Bow Shoot weekend! While we were home for a few day's JaCee had her appointment with the new Hand Specialist Doctor at Shriner's hospital to see why her one thumb has not been released. He determined that the 2nd pulley in line of her thumb tendon has another nodule & needs surgery to be released again. Unfortunately, we are about 3 months out on when her surgery will be, unless they call us from the wait list. We'll see.

Morgen's doing good. She is sitting up on her own pretty well...scooting herself on her forearms and spinning in a circle to get the toy's she needs. Still no crawling yet though.

JaCee is good. We had Hand Foot & Mouth disease go through our house...and she fell victim to it, although it was not a bad case at all.

What else? Hmm...a low key week this week and then we're off to another family vacation with Matt's side of the family.

Happy 65th birthday Grandma Candee

Last weekend we had Matt's mom's 65th birthday party at our house. It was in the mid-90's that day so our covered patio was a nice break from the heat. It was just immediate family, Matt's parents, his sister & her family. The kids loved playing on the swing & the swimming pool...we had BBQ'd Shish-Ka-Bob's...and Ice-Cream cake from Dairy Queen! What a fun day. Nothing better than sun-kissed, tired kid's!

Matt, Rod (Brother in law) and 2 of his girls playing volleyball...

Denny (Matt's dad) & baby Morgen!

Grandma Candee, Monica (Matt's sister) and JaCee~

Grandma Candee & ALL of her grand kids.

Happy Birthday Grandma Candee!