I Got My New Hat On and Suddenly Everything Is Right!

This was Molly's little treasure that she found yesterday. For some it is new shoes, sunglasses, or purses. For Molly it was this hat! She wore it all day and had to show it off to her Daddy when she got home. He loved it by the way! It is not quite the hat I would have pictured for her but I absolutely adore it on her.

A blog worthy day.

I have no pictures to put with this post but we had such a fun day. I called Mom and asked what her plans were for the day and she was thinking maybe Boise. I suggested that if it were just a need to get out of town maybe a quick trip (there is no such thing as a quick trip anywhere) to McCall would be fun. She agreed so we loaded up and hit the road. We made our first stop at Miss Jean's house only to find her not home, bummer. We then headed to lunch at Lardo's where Molly insisted, very loudly, on having salt poured into her hand so that she could eat it like Daddy does. Next we hit the thrift store in search of great treasures. We found Miss Jean, she happened to see Tallis first and then Mom. She said 'That baby looks familiar, oh that's one of my babies!'. I was tickled that we got to see her and I need to make a point to get up her way more often. I don't know if anything we found could be considered GREAT but we found some really fun things and I will have a post with pictures coming soon. We finished our outing with a few milkshakes and all in all it was a lot of fun. I have been given a gift of having my Mom as a great friend and it is something I will not take for granted. Thanks Mom!

A little bit of happy...Clippy chick style!

On Monday evening just as I was getting kids into the bath there was a knock at the door. I looked down at my dirty clothes and wiped sweat from my forehead and thought "GREAT". I had done an afternoon mowing of the yard in 100 degree temperature and I was rocking that look of a frazzled Mom that hadn't started dinner yet. Mowing my yard is easily becoming a two hour ordeal, lecture all the kids on how to behave, set up the little pools, pull out four towels (that for some reason are laid out under the pools by the time I get back and are soaking wet), enlist the bigger kids (consisting of a seven, six, and four year old)to keep an eye on the two little ones (two years old and four months old) with the promise of pay if I can actually mow nonstop. My sanity,a few dollars,and a nicely mowed lawn is so worth that pile of dirty laundry (and kids), they wash. As I made my way to the door I heard the familiar voice of Krissi saying, 'It's me'. She had gotten an order of clippy chicks and in her words was 'Sharing the love'. I'm going to get that big red flower in Tallis's hair! Well to finish off this long winded story when we got home from Ontario yesterday afternoon (which a whole other post entirely) Maggie disappeared and when she came back out this was her attire! She informed me that she was putting on a fashion show and I could take some 'posing' pictures if I wanted to. She wore this outfit for hours and I have to say it grew on me! Thanks Krissi!

Sidon turns 6!!!!

Oh my tough little man! You will stand toe to toe with Bo and (usually) will not back down. These six years have gone by so fast and you are ready to go to school. When I asked you if you would like to just stay home with me for one more year your response was, as always, completely honest. "I think it will be nice to have a break from all the girls", oh if only that were true. You are truly protective of those girls of yours! I'm so glad I have tough boys to look out for, and fight with, their sisters! You will never outgrow being my BooBaa. You are honest, blunt, handsome, stubborn, and soft-hearted all rolled into one tough little tow-headed kid. You definitely see things as right or wrong and I love that about you. Happy Birthday!

We spent Sidon's day at Lost Lake. I have to say that he is clever, when I asked him what he wanted for his birthday dinner his answer was 'Fish that we catch'. Tricky, an outing and a meal! Well we ended up compromising and had a picnic at the lake and Papa brought this awesome raft that provided hours of entertainment. While we played I had pork roast in the slow cooker to make pulled pork sandwiches for dinner. The best tasting dinner is one that is cooking while you are playing!! Grandma made the cake in the morning and we decorated once we got home, Transformers of course! Bo took all the kids in the raft for a tour, I was impressed! Papa was a sport and paddled the boys out so that they could jump out and swim to shore. I made Craig take me on a not long enough trip in the raft. The wind was blowing and without a lot of rowing we would have ended up on the other side of the reservoir, on a Saturday after a long week of work rowing was not high on the priority list! We headed for the bank. We ended our day with dinner and cake and icecream and dip in the two pools that Grandma and Papa brought for Sidon to share with his siblings! Great day, memories, and birthday!




Sidon looking tough!

Bo on one of his many trips!

Molly and her 'Pillow Head'.

Tallis enjoying her day.

Maggie warming up and 'just watching the water'.

Papa and the kids.



Bo tossing Sidon grapes!

A fun night!

Craig has been promising Sidon that he would catch some crickets and take us fishing at Ben Ross. So as promised Craig brought home a bucket of huge smelly crickets and we loaded up and went fishing. On the drive out we came across these bucks eating alfalfa as if to say 'It's not hunting season so look all you want'! The one on the left was a four by five and the one on the right was a forked horn. The kids haven't seen any bucks this close up so we enjoyed this little treat.
We skunked out on the fishing and we had a few meltdowns by the Tater but we did get some cute pictures and what is an outing without blogging material anyway?

< href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_Ds2CaWKTfqpFnTPXU57HrT4tvWc7KvRC8_Y6G81yGi84kxNQ_9Oh_jk9uTM9Qt1erwu92z6XF8OjMJe7kkVegYwFRyuGyoeVlPwgvy1iHa7700LNWutAnOFkyxGiJE7B2VLEL-Zv06zV/s1600-h/P1010095.JPG">

How about that fourth bedroom!

The boys broke out the tent and it has become Sawyer's little home. Sidon hasn't actually made it through a whole night. Maggie has tried a time or two but in the end I guess Smed has his own bedroom, even if it is short-lived!

The Fix.

I found this little dress or skirt, we are not quite sure which, on one of our thrift store hunts. It was so cute and the price was right so we brought it home and did a little tweaking to make it work for the Maggers. Too cute, and we love to pose!

Tye-Dye!

Krissi took on an ambitious story hour on Thursday and tye-dyed shirts with the kids. For having twelve kids to tye and dye for the process went fairly smooth. These are a few pictures we took of the kids showing off their creations.

Little Earl and Little Jeanette

I could not pick a favorite picture so I just posted them all. We laugh about how Gaige is as boy and fair as Tallis is girl and dark. They do have a striking resemblance to their great grandparents.

Cousins-Round Two!

Shortly after the Wards headed home for Oregon we had the Gossard clan come in from Wyoming! We had a really good visit with lots of cousin time. I am so grateful for the family that I have, I know I say that alot but I mean it. Uncle Levi brought water balloons for all the kids and as you can see from the pictures Lindsay and Bo are very much still part of the 'KIDS'! Papa and Levi filled balloons and put them in the cooler while all the little guys tried to get the big kids wet. Even Molly thought that this was great fun, or I hope that all that screaming coming from the yard was fun noises! It was a good visit.

Sawyer won a trophy!

Sawyer won the junior division choker race at the logging show. This year they broke up the kids into two different groups so that the little guys (and girls) didn't have to compete with the big kids. Sandy made up some trophies and they were really neat. Grandma and Papa donated water bottles so that every kid who entered would walk away with a prize for their effort. It was really fun to watch all the kids and adults participate.