Eat Your Veggies!

I was never exposed to too many vegetables when I was growing up.  Unless you count french fries and onion rings, but I am pretty sure they don't count.  In fact, I never knew of many vegetables until I started working with produce.  In the last couple of years I have grown a taste for most veggies, even beets.  I used to vomit at the sight of them.   It was really important to us that our kids have a love or at least like for veggies.  We didn't do anything fancy, just exposed them to vegetables and let them make their mind up about them.  And for the most part we have veggie eating kids.  Today Wyatt stocked me around the kitchen, "more q-comer (cucumber), mama."  And he still had a full plate of chicken nuggets left.  I was a proud mom at the moment.  Then after making a carrot, cucumber, radish and lemon smoothie for myself, I had 4 kids following me around asking for more sips and they would have finished the entire thing if I didn't pull it away from them. Let's just hope their veggie love doesn't die anytime soon.

This and That

Landon had his check up today and is doing great.  He is still in the 80 percentile for height and right around the 50th for weight.  His murmur is still audible, but it is very light.  He enjoyed getting out of the house by himself, but he wasn't too happy to find out where I was taking him.  :)

I was excited today to receive a "friends and family" discount from Fred Meyer.  It is good until Thursday, so I am going to put a big dent in our Christmas shopping and save a ton of money too!  This year we have decided that Santa Claus brings only 3 presents per kid.  Just like baby Jesus. One gift will be useful, one will be educational and the other will be something fun.  We will also be adding the gift of charity when the kiddos are old enough and make them volunteer their time somewhere.  It is very important to us that our kids learn how to give and receive selflessly.  I know that they are way too young to grasp any concept of that, but we wanted to start the 3-gift tradition now, while they are still young and won't know any better.  So our Santa brings 3 gifts to help remind the little boys and girls about Jesus.  When you are a parent you get the right to change the story a bit. :)

My Top Five

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I will be busy shoving my face with food, so I thought I would take the time to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving now. So, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!
I am thankful for everything and everyone. I decided to narrow it down to the top 5 things I am thankful for.

1. The most important, Jesus Christ! Without him I would not have eternity in Heaven. I get to live my life down here to the fullest and then go kick it with Jesus when I die. How great is that?
2. My Husband. He is my best friend and I love him so so so much.
3. My kids. They keep me employed and pay me with love.
4. MM and G-Ron. They watch all 4 kids and manage to survive every time.
5. All our family and friends. I am thankful for each and every one of you and I love you all.


I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Don't eat too much! Who am I kidding???? EAT UP!!!!

Our turkey is nice and plump and ready for the oven:

A Christmas Warm-Up

I am well aware that Thanksgiving is still 2 days away, but it is never too early to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. He gave us the ultimate gift and for that I am thankful.

A Little Marriage Advice

Marriage is not about finding a person you can live with, it’s about finding the person you can’t live without.

It's a Boy! And Another Boy! And Another Boy!

I can only hope that our sons are like their wonderful daddy. Our kids have been blessed with the most wonderful father and a Brad Paisley look-alike (according to Aurora). :) That may be why I get very emotional when I hear this song. I remember when we were finding out if Aurora was going to be a boy or a girl, Russ said he didn't care either way. But when I was pregnant with the twins, he said he wanted at least one of them to be a boy. So when our doctor actually gave us a 85% chance that baby A (Wyatt) was a boy before the big ultrasound he wore the biggest grin. But the day we found out that both of them were boys, he was ecstatic. He couldn't wait to tell everyone. Landon was just icing on the man cake. To this day I can tell he is proud of all the testosterone flowing in this house. And as I watch them wrestle and break just about everything in the house, I am reminded of this classic line from Jurassic Park:




:) What a ride it will be!

Pumpkin, Pumpkins..

We love Pumpkins. Pumpkin Bread. Pumpkin muffins. Pumpkin Pie. Pumpkin Seeds. Pumpkin Pancakes. You name it I will probably be cooking it this week. We still had a few pumpkins that we didn't carve from Halloween. So we spent some time yesterday, cutting, boiling, pureeing and freezing pumpkin. My first task was roasting the seeds this morning. They turned out delicious and I have been snacking on them all day long. Hopefully there will be some left for Russ when he gets home. :) My next project is in progress right now. Pumpkin Bread. I found a healthy or I guess healthier recipe online and I just happened to have all the ingredients. So, Aurora and I whipped it up and threw it in to the oven. I guess we will see if it was a success here shortly. Next on the list: Pumpkin Pie. My first attempt at making one with real pumpkin (meaning not from the jar). Most pumpkin pies aren't made out of pumpkins anyways, it is usually a smaller winter squash of some sort. So we shall see. Russ and the kids are my guinea pigs, and if they give it a thumbs up, it will be coming to Thanksgiving dinner. I love to bake, but I hate the cleanup. Which reminds me, I have a sink full of dirty dishes. Off I go. :)

A Numbers Game

10 days until Thanksgiving

19 days until ? (A little surprise for the Birthday Boy) :)

26 days until our 6th wedding anniversary

36 days until the old man officially turns 30!

40 days until Christmas Day.

46 days until New Year's Eve.

60 days until my Birthday.

216 days until the boys turn 3.

251 days until Landon turns 2.

271 days until Aurora turns 5.

722 days until Obama gets voted out of office. ;)

6,095 days until our youngest turns 18.

7,191 days until our youngest turns 21.

Let the countdowns begin! :)

Be My Aurora!

Russ and I found this song when Aurora was a little baby. And I love, love, love it, for obvious reasons. :) A lot of people think that she was named after sleeping beauty, but she wasn't. I had no clue of sleeping beauty's name until after I picked that name. The real story is a lot less glamorous but special none the less. There used to be a soap opera called "Santa Barbara" on. I was probably only 10 and there was a character named Aurora. She had the most beautiful curly hair and wore all these pretty dresses. I loved her name so much and her character was my favorite. So that name just stuck in the back of my mind. The strange part is that our Aurora would have probably fallen in love with the Santa Barbara Aurora because of her pretty hair and dresses. I have been trying to find a clip of her on youtube, but no luck yet.
So now you know my dirty little secret. :) And I will continue to smile and keep my mouth shut when someone assumes she is named after sleeping beauty.

Are You Kidding Me?

I usually run to Amazon.com for everything. I have been buying diapers from them for awhile, but today they did something that pisses me off. I am not sure how I feel about boycotting them, but this is something that definitely needs to be addressed. They have a feature that allows you to publish a book and sell it on their site, they have no rules or regulations, anything goes. Well, they are selling a book about pedophilia that encourages it and tells you how to find children and how to get away with it. The guy writing the book claims his reason behind publishing it was to help pedophiles from resorting to murder. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME? Amazon is refusing to take it down because it would be censorship. GIVE ME A BREAK AMAZON. Last time I checked pedophilia is a CRIME AND AGAINST THE LAW!!!! Taking it down has nothing to do with censorship. Grow some balls Amazon and do what is right. Because I really don't want to boycott you and your sister store Target. If I were you I would consider getting some rules up for your self published books. So very disappointing.


I stand corrected. They have rules and regulations and they are choosing not to follow their own rules. Utter Bullshit Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=help_search_1-1?ie=UTF8&nodeId=15015801&qid=1289425548&sr=1-1



A little update: I emailed a few of the local news stations asking them to run a story on this. I guess we will see what happens.

What Exactly Are We Saving?

Oh, Daylight Savings Time how I hate you. You are so stupid and it is taking all my strength not to use an expletive when I talk about you. If I were President the first thing I would do is obliterate the Daylight Savings. It was only implemented to torture parents and mess with your brain. It is cruel and unusual punishment and I will resent you until the day I die. Can you please tell me what are we saving? It couldn't be energy, because we are using more. It couldn't be my sanity, because you took that away. I don't think it is the enviornment, because that is still going to pot. And for heaven's sake you aren't saving daylight, you are taking it away. Who is up at 4AM anyways? Please, please tell me what are you saving? Because this mom has had enough!!! Plus you are killing people. Over nine hundred Americans, from the years 1987-1991, are estimated to have died purely because of Daylight Saving Time (DST).

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/gurley/detail?entry_id=59078#ixzz14ieKz2KY


I think your ship has sailed and it is time to pack your bags DST. I am coming after you and I won't rest (mainly because of you) until you are gone.

Boot Scootin Boogie

I ordered these Thomas boots over a month ago and they finally arrived today! The boys were so excited. Of course Aurora had to go get her boots on and I couldn't resist getting a picture. As you can see, Wyatt didn't want to be bothered. He is reading the 2010 Toy Catalog. :)

You all should be familiar with the froggy boots. :) Landon has 2 pairs to chose from.

Landon didn't want his picture taken anymore. Plus I took his ninny and told him to smile. The only logical thing to do was throw a fit. :)

Rock N Roll

He loves to play the guitar to any song that plays.  I turned on the radio and he ran and grabbed the guitar.  I love that he sticks his tongue out when he plays. He also seems to favor his left hand, just like his Sissy.

Happy Halloween!

We took the kiddos to The Troutdale Outlet Mall for some trick or treating. I don't think Wyatt and Trevor had a clue what was going on, but they were intrigued with the candy. The best part was it was at 3pm, so we had time to go home have dinner and hand out candy. Aurora was our helper and she loved handing out candy to the kids. She would compliment all the kids on their costumes and got quite a few herself. We handed out play dough with our candy. It was something different and the trick or treaters loved it, even the older ones. We turned our porch light on a little late and got about 40 kids. All in all it was a great Halloween.

Not Too Shabby

My election predictions weren't too bad.  The casino didn't pass and marijuana wasn't made legal, but the republicans (in the east) took over.  I am very disappointed in Oregon.  The rest of the country was angry and ready for some real change, but Oregon wants to go down the same road for the next 4 years. Go figure!  The Kitzhaber/Dudley and Murray/Rossi races are still too close to call.  It would be interesting to have some republican Governors in these two states, but I'm not holding my breath. 
I was hoping for a Senate majority along with the house majority to repeal this horrendous health care bill, but no such luck.  I guess it is time to look forward to the 2012 election.  But please, please, please don't start with the political ads anytime soon.  Give us a break! :)

I almost forgot the best part, Nancy Pelosi is no longer Speaker of the House!! Hallelujah!!

Political Predictions

I am going to give a few of my predictions for tonights election.  Just for fun.  The local news is calling the Dudley/ Kitzhaber race too close to call.  My prediction:  Dudley in a landslide.  Yep.  I just have this feeling.  And since I voted for neither candidate, I have the right to complain when the winner sucks at the job. :)
I think Washington State is going to be close, but I have a feeling that Dino Rossi will pull it out. 
Rand Paul will take Kentucky and we will finally have someone in the senate that hates Washington D.C and all their bull crap.
So pretty much all Republicans (especially Tea Party candidates) will win their races.  You want to know why?  Because the Democrats disturbed the hive.  They pissed off the silent majority and they aren't so silent anymore.  53% of Oregon voters have already returned their ballot.  Now we probably won't touch the 85% turnout we had in 2008, but anything over 60% is a good turnout, in my opinion.
Will the republicans change anything?  Probably not.  I have high hopes for Rand Paul, but the others will just fall in to the same old, same old category.  They will pretty much block Obama from getting anything done. 
I am hoping that the Republicans can pull together and come up with a "can't lose" candidate for the Presidential election in 2012.  And no that does not mean Sarah Palin.
Some local measure predictions:  The casino will probably pass and we will have a casino in our backyard and will pretty much slap the Indians in the face, yet again. 
The medical marijuana measure will probably pass.  And I am predicting that California will make it legal.  Which might turn out to be a good thing.  If it works for them, I see it coming to Oregon in the next few years.
I do think Ron Wyden will keep his job.  Probably since he bought like every commercial on TV and I haven't heard a darn thing from Jim Huffman.
So there you have it.  My wonderful election predictions.  I guess we will see how well I did tonight.
Anyone else want to share their's?