Taking down the tree and santa mouse

We are going out of town for the weekend so today I wanted to get some cleaning done and a head start on the "undecorating" that needs to happen around here. First I spent a while helping the girls really clean their room. Their idea of clean and mine are totally different and I have not been there helping for a while so there was a lot of cleaning to be done. Then I started taking the ornaments off the tree. This year I did not decorate that tree - our family tree. I was behind I felt with the decorating because of working on my other projects so I let the kids decorate it totally on their own while I finished decorating other parts of the house. That was big for me. They did a great job - again not done the way it would have been done if I was there - but for them it looked beautiful. When I hang the ornaments I am always taken back to the people or places I got them from. I love the memories every year. I did not realize how much I had missed out of that part of my Christmas until this afternoon when I was putting them away. I have always loved decorating the tree - I remember back to when my mom would hand each of us an ornament and we would get to place it on the tree. It was magic for me. I do not have a themed tree for our family tree. I have other trees I decorate around themes but this one is filled with handmade ornaments, ornaments from family and friends and mixtures of fancy, vintage, and plain. I laid them all out on the floor as I put them carefully away and thought about where each one had come from and what it meant to me. It was wonderful! I again felt the magic I had felt as a child. That magic I felt also a couple of days before Christmas with Autumn. Because we did Christmas different this year we did not do "Santa"gifts under the tree. I know that is weird but we were trying to have a simple Christmas and things centered around family so that is what we focused on on Christmas day. But a couple of days before Christmas as we opened our "twelve days" present Autumn said "We could make that for Santa - he is going to love it!" I said, "Autumn you know that Santa probably is not coming to our house this year, there are so many houses and other kids who need him more than us." Autumn replied, "I know, you say that but I have been praying for Santa to bring me something and I just know he will". Well, I got to thinking about this. This child has great faith - how do I handle this and the one thing I did not realize was that she still "believed". So I asked her what she wanted Santa to bring and she told me she could not tell me and if he brought her a "homemade" gift then she would know it was me and there was no Santa. I asked the kids to help me find out, finally Chloe got it out of her what she really wanted - a dog that walks on a leash. (Not a real dog - thank goodness- but a toy one). Chloe and I had a long talk and she said I had to get it for her. Christmas would be ruined if we let Autumn down. So I took all the bottle money I had and some other cash I had for something else and went and bought her that silly dog. That evening I read her a cute book about a Santa mouse who falls out of the sleigh and finds his way to a lighted Christmas tree with his gift waiting for Santa to find him. The gift was wrapped in a yellow ribbon. And the story says if you find a present wrapped with a yellow ribbon then you know that the Santa mouse came with Santa. I had bought a cute mouse to go with the story because I had intended to use it for something else. I showed her our Santa mouse and she hid it in our Santa tree. I told her he would be watching her all of Christmas Eve so she had to be good in order to get a present from Santa. She promised she would and also asked if we could keep it a secret - she did not want Hayden to know for some reason. I had a talk with Hayden and Taylor about it and they agreed it would be great fun to do this little surprise for Autumn. Sure enough she tried really hard to be good all day. She was the first one up Christmas morning and found the gift under the Santa tree wrapped with a yellow ribbon. "Mom, mom guess what - the Santa mouse came just like the story said - but I know if the present is "homemade" then you did it!" I acted like I had no idea that it was even there. It killed her to wait until everyone got up (another advantage to our "twelve days" was that everyone slept in!) Sure enough Santa had brought her the exact dog that she wanted. She was in so happy and sure now that Santa was real! What magic this time of year brings to all of us. We had as much fun watching her be excited than if we had each had a gift under that tree. It started our day out just perfect. I will remember this story and how I felt today as I put the tree away for a long time! Santa at our house has always been the spirit of giving and I feel we did that this year! Santa was still a part of our Christmas!

Day 12 - Twelve Days of Christmas

So for our final day of the Twelve Days of Christmas David and I wanted to give something that would really let our children know how much each and everyone of them mean to us. Hopefully we succeeded. David and I have kept a family journal since we got married in 1980. David has been the keeper of the "plates" for the most part. Over the the past 30 years he has recorded all of our family happenings. This was a big project for me because David does not type and so I had to type up the three volumes of journals he has kept. There is a fourth one and when I was getting close to the time of needing to be done with this project we made a decision to do just the first 25 years - a volume one of our family life. He summed up pretty much all that we wanted them to know in the introduction -

"Life is an interesting pathway through time. It's like walking gingerly on stepping stones, some are rock solid and some are loose and unstable.

I find that decisions I've made have shaped me into the man I am and that the choices all of you have made have helped shape you and placed you on the spot in the world where you now stand.

In our family journal I've tried to capture moments in our lives that were defining for that time and place. It's about who we are and how we got there!

Ashleigh, Toshia, (Andrew, Adrian, Luke, Jonathan, and Reagan), Chelsea, Seth, Paige, Chloe, Chad, Noah, Taylor, Hayden and Autumn, we dedicate this work to you. Enjoy. Read it and learn more about yourselves, each other, mom and dad and what it means to be family."

I guess this gift has been in the making for the last 30 years and continues on. We will someday complete volume two and add to what they have gotten this year. I hope as they read they really can feel and know the love that we have for them. As we celebrate the birth of our Savior this year I hope that we have been able to capture the pure love of Christ through our gifts to our children. They were only small tokens of love to help remind them that to us our family is the most important gift we have.

This has been very fun for me this year. I don't think I can remember a Christmas that I have enjoyed so much and not felt the pressure of the season. This Christmas is definately on my top ten list! Merry Christmas to all!

Day 11 - Twelve Days of Christmas

What would Christmas be without new pajamas! I do have to confess I only made the little girls pj's this year - but I did add to my list my four sweet grandkids so that was a lot of pajamas to come up with and when I was sewing lots of other stuff I treated myself to "black friday" specials:) Maybe next year I will treat David and myself to some new pajamas - boy would he be surprised! Happy eve of Christmas Eve!!!!

Day 10 - Twelve Days of Christmas

Day ten brings this cute tree with lyrics from one of my favorite Christmas songs. David and I put these together one Saturday afternoon. He is so handy with a saw. Now this might seem a little boring of a gift for the littlest ones - so I was prepared that under the Christmas tree was another gift for those with small ones. At Toshia's house they got some games and books; at our home there was a gingerbread house kit. Now we do gingerbread houses almost every year - you know graham crackers with frosting and candy - this year I thought it would be fun to do a large one from a kit. I will post pictures of the completed project later. As we wanted this year to be about family time I also thought this one was great because we could do it as a family. This one was also hard to keep from Toshia - I had to have her help with the vinyl but did not tell her what I was using it for - I am sure she is smart enough to have figured it out. Two more days left.....

Day 9 - Twelve Days of Christmas

I have waited all week for this one because I love to make cookies. I especially love cut out cookies. It brings back such great memories for me. So I know I cheated by buying mixes but I could not figure out how do do this one using our favorite recipe without it getting spoiled - so I figure with the mixes at least the little ones can do this one on their own. So my plan at this house of children is to make cookies this afternoon and hopefully save some for David for his dessert tonight! David almost called in sick today just so he could help make them - at least that is what he wished he could do - no time off for the UPS man he's got Santa's work to do! Happy 9th day of Christmas to you and I can't believe this fun is almost over!

Day 8 - Twelve Days of Christmas

"And the stockings were hung by the chimney with care..."

Today the children opened their gift to find new socks for each and every one of them. That is a lot of feet to cover;) Taylor was so happy she commented.."This is all I wanted for Christmas, I am so happy!!!" Had I know that would be all it would take to put a smile on her cute face I would have bought socks months ago! Also, it does not really take much to make that sweet girl happy. I can hardly wait for tomorrow - more family time!

Day 7 - Twelve Days of Christmas

Tonight as we cozy up by the fire with hot chocolate and popcorn we will be reading our new Christmas book. I made a snowman ornament to go with each book.

I love childrens books and have quite a collection of them. The last few years I have been adding to my Christmas collection of books and next year will have enough to do a new tradition. For the countdown for Christmas I will wrap each book and we will unwrap each night and read together before bed. My wonderful friend who shared this idea with me also enlightened me by reminding me of the local library. I have waited to do this until I had 24 books - she just checks out what number of books she needs from the local library to fill in with what she doesn't have. Smart girl!


Happy 7th day of Christmas:)

Day 6 - Twelve Days of Christmas

"Oh, the weather outside is frightful, and the fire is so delightful. And since we've no place to go; Let it snow, Let it snow, Let is snow..."

How did I know that last night was going to be so cold and that this morning we would wake up to the traces of "snow" on the cars? What a great morning to have hot chocolate and marshmallows! I could not have planned the timing of this gift any better if I had tried! Half way through the Twelve Days of Christmas and we are having so much fun!

Day 5 - Twelve Days of Christmas

Grab your pillows and blankets tonight is:


Movie night! What better fun than family time together eating popcorn and watching old favorites! The kids are so excited about this one - they can hardly wait for David to get home so we can have a movie marathon (I think this house got five movies!) What a great way to start the Christmas break:)

Day 4 - Twelve Days of Christmas

Day four and "super soft" blankets were under the tree! At my house there is always a fight over the two blankets that are on the back of the couch during scripture time. We thought it was high time that everyone had there own "super soft" cuddly throw to make scripture time more meaningful. (Do you think it will work?) If not, at least they will be warm while sleeping through scripture time:)

Day 3 - Twelve Days of Christmas

"The children were nestled all snug in their beds, with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads".

Today's gift a Christmas pillowcase. Each one made differently and each made with love.

Day 2 - Twelve Days of Christmas

Is there anything better than homemade fudge? It has been a few years since I have made my Christmas fudge. David and I thought the kids would love this little treat. Personally I think David wanted fudge this year and this was his way of insuring that he got some! Funny little story though about the fudge. I use this family secret recipe for my fudge - you know the one found on the marshmallow cream jar - anyway, they have changed the recipe. That really through me for a loop. I was trying so hard to remember how it went together, changing the couple of things that looked different to me. Then talking to Toshia she informs me, "Oh yeah, I went on line and found the original recipe." "You can do that?" I said. The last thing I think of when I need help with something is "google" and my kids that's the first thing they do - I think there's a generation gap there and I swore I would never be "old" to my kids:) With that this 2nd day of Christmas I think the fudge turned out pretty darn good!

Day 1 - Twelve Days of Christmas

We are doing a very different Christmas this year. For a couple of years now we have wanted to scale back - make things simpler. David and I wanted to focus more on giving - the giving of time and service. So we are starting a new tradition. We are doing the "Twelve Days of Christmas". How this works is that for the grown children not living at home they received a tote last night full of their twelve gifts. For the ones at home we are bringing them out one at a time during scripture time every morning. On Christmas morning we will gather for our name exchange - the kids draw names every year - and have a brunch and probably go caroling or something together as a family. I made quite a few of the gifts so I have been working fast and furious the last six weeks to get this all done by yesterday. I was totally finished on Saturday with all of our Christmas stuff so now I can sit back and relax and enjoy the holiday! David and I are so excited about this. I know the older kids not living at home will enjoy it - I do worry about Chloe, Chad and Noah as they are at that in between age and just don't see the point in some of it. But they will get over it as they move on and start their families. This morning Autumn was so excited - as everyone was still very sleepy she said "This is going to be so fun - I can hardly wait for each morning!" In addition to the gift - at my house I also have a small gift wrapped with a scripture attached. We read the scripture then feel the gift and try to guess what's inside by the clues read in the scripture. Now that woke up a few of them as they got to feel the gift. They liked opening up chocolate coins-treats in the morning always make you happy!



Today's gift:

The "Service" pillow. Every year we try do some sort of secret service to each other. I usually have some little thing that gets left behind then when you find it you do for some else and leave it for someone else to find. This year I made these cute pillows. I learned to do some quilting this year so applied those new skills to this Christmas pillow. David wrote the following poem that I attached to the pillow - (he's so clever with things like that)

The Christmas Service Pillow

Like the branches of the lovely willow
Spreading their influence through the air
Lives will be touched by the Christmas Service Pillow
Service shared is sometimes rare
Leave behind the pillow to show you care
Then with your pillow serve another and pass it along
This opportunity will fill your heart with song!

Happy First Day of Christmas!

10K Run

Saturday I ran in the the first annual "Reindeer Run". I placed 7th overall in the the 10K run. Even though there were not that many runners I was very happy with my time. I came in second in my age category. I wanted to do the 1/2 marathon but I had been sick the couple of weeks before so played it safe with the 10K. I don't know how many more years I will be able to do these fun runs so I want to take advantage of it every time there is one. My son-in -law Andrew did very well also - He came in first for the men and third overall. I hope next year more of the kids will run this one with me - now that would be a race with lots of Weitzels running in it!

Thanksgiving 2010

Weitzel family Thanksgiving! (minus - Ashleigh, Chelsea, Seth and a couple of other cousins Rachel and Meagan) I am so grateful for family gatherings like this. We had a great time and everyone had fun playing in the snow and playing games inside while we waited for the food to be ready. Last Sunday we had our own family dinner with all the kids and celebrated miss Autumn's 7th birthday. What an event that was! I have to say this has been the easiest Thanksgiving dinner preparations ever for me. Everyone helped bring food and so I just made the turkey and a couple of side things. It was so wonderful to gather and have David record what we were all thankful for this year. I am loving the holidays this year!

Lessons learned during a sleepless night

I really do have about a hundred and one things I want to blog about - but that would give away all my holiday secrets:) I have been really working very hard at a very special Christmas surprise this year. I will share all of it with all of you when the time is right. For now I don't want to spoil it for any of the children that might just happen to be reading in on my blog. That said I just wanted to take a few minutes tonight and write about some things that have been on my mind lately.

There was something that I was listening to late one night a couple of weeks ago. I was having a hard time sleeping and was worried about some things going on with some of the children. I always seem to worry about them because I want them to be happy and "choose the right" so they can feel all that Heavenly Father wants them to feel! Each child has their own kind of trials and struggles - some personal - some work related - some relationship related. As I was listening to this guy speak about how God helps us with our trials I stopped flipping through the channels and listened for a few minutes. Most of what he said made a lot of sense. I got what he was teaching about and then shut the program off and started searching the scriptures for examples of what he was teaching. I had an "ah ha" moment. I love it when that happens. So funny though because I was the one learning for myself when I originally thought I would be using this to teach to my children. I will eventually but for now I needed the lesson for some of my own struggles I am having at this time. What is it - well Heavenly Father uses what is close by us to help us through our own situations. When David had to fight Goliath he used stones that were on the ground. Heavenly Father did not give him something to use that he was not familiar with. He fought a great battle with some simple stones. Moses is another example. There are several in the Book of Mormon - Nephi, The Brother of Jared, Mosiah to name a few. I am sure if you think about other stories in the scriptures you can see that the prayers were answered using ordinary objects that were familiar to the person receiving the answer. Maybe you all realized this before but I had never seen the simplicity in what we can use to overcome the challenges that we face. As I read further into some of these stories I realized that in all cases faith proceeded their actions. I am sure if I was facing Goliath and looked and saw a few small stones lying on the ground my first thought would not have been to pick them up and use them - those would kill the giant - no I dare say I would not have thought that. I would have been looking around for something larger, or even someone else to fight off the man. As I read again the story of the Brother of Jared I realized that whatever uncertainty he had about himself he never doubted the Lord's abilities. When these scripture heroes of mine succeeded it was by "small and simple things" The scripture in Alma 37:6 states "that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass - (and I love this line of the scripture) and small means in many instances confound the wise." Now I will be honest I have never thought of this scripture as an answer to how to solve any trials I might be going through. I seem to always look for some big answer from the Lord. And yet when I look back on how my prayers have been answered - really it was by "a small means" - a word or song from a child - a note in the mail - a friendly phone call from a friend - a verse from the scriptures that I had never seen before (don't you do that sometimes, wonder where that little gem had been hiding all this time?) - a thought in my mind as to the right words to say at the right time. As I have been reading my scriptures this past week I have been looking for these "small things", these things that are right there - close at hand. I think that is what I noticed also is that the things were close at hand. I know that even if I doubt myself I can rely completely on the the Lord's abilities and recognize those things as He places them before me. As I have been studying the Doctrine and Covenants this year again to teach in seminary I am reminded that He is "in our midst". No matter how alone or dark we feel He is there waiting to help us all we have to do is "knock". Think about it - how close are our hands to us - we just have to "knock". I know that we don't literally knock on a door but the thought of folding my arms and down on bended knee seeking for the door of my heart to be opened to His will I can see how my hands play a role in that process. Another phrase that jumps out at me a lot this time is the one to "pray always" He reminds us to do that a lot.

So I guess in short as I look for an answers to my problems I will notice how the Lord uses what is familiar to me, what is close to me , and that His abilities go beyond anything I could do on my own. A nice little lesson learned for one sleepless night:)

Facing my fear

Today I did something that I have never done since moving here over five years ago. Drum roll please....... I ventured into Washington all by myself! I know that does not sound that exciting but believe me it is a big deal for me. I have a little anxiety when it comes to leaving the state. Even from my old home I never ventured north without an escort of some kind. I know that sounds silly but really I have always gone with someone and the thought of navigating those streets on my own was a little scary. But just so you don't worry - not that anyone is - I did it and did not get lost and found every store I was looking for and even managed not to get turned around heading home. I guess I really paid more attention to things than I thought. I did try to get a couple of girls to go with me and made some phone calls even but when it came right down to it I had to just put my "big girl panties" on and just do it. I am very glad I did. I now have overcome the last of my big fears and will probably make more little jaunts that way. Oh no, this is not good for David's wallet;)

Mondays

Fall is in the air! These last couple of months I have been canning like crazy. I've canned jams, peaches, pears, applesauce, apple butter, pickles and yesterday got to pick some grapes for grape juice. The only thing I did not get done that I really wanted to was salsa. But I know that next year will be a better year for the garden. At least I hope so! It has been especially fun because Toshia and I have been sharing the work load and working together. We have been spending Mondays together trying to get this all done. And in between we've been doing a little crafting! These Mondays have been the highlight of my week since school started. I have enjoyed the little babies being under foot - I guess because I am not stressed about being the "mom" of them. Being the grandma is much more relaxing! Then I am loving the chaos of things that start around 2:30 in the afternoon as everyone arrives home from school. They each come in a few minuets apart and then things don't settle down until everyone is snuggled tightly in bed. Mondays are an exhausting day but I would not trade them for any other day of the week right now. We've decided to keep this little tradition going during the school year. There are plenty of crafting things to keep us busy. I am so lucky to have her so close. I am going to enjoy these moments because you never know when things in her life might change and she might not live so close. But you can know that if I have anything to say about it all my children are going to stay close and we all are going to grow old together!

Grandkids!

I LOVE being a grandma!

10-10-10

I was on my way up to bed when the thought occurred to me that I had better write a little something on this historic never to happen again for another hundred years day! 10-10-10 just has a certain ring to it that calls out to me for some reason. Conference was last weekend and was so wonderful! What a blessing it has been to travel to Utah for the last 10 years to hear it in person. (We have traveled there many times before but with breaks in between.) There is something about hearing the music live in the conference center that just brings chills to my spirit. I LOVE it! So in honor of 10-10-10 I thought I would list my top 10 favorite conference treasures.

1. President Monson announcing 5 new temples!

2. Sis. Wixom taught us to take our children by the hand and lead them - lead them to scripture reading, prayer, and family home evening!

3. Elder Costa taught that a prophet tells us what we need to know not what we want to hear. Prophetic priorities are God's priorities!

4. The Tabernacle Choir singing "Tell Me the Stories of Jesus"!

5. Pres. Uchtdorf wisdom as he counseled to proceed at the optimum speed for our circumstances! Do all things in wisdom and order!

6. Elder Hales teaching us that if we use our agency in righteousness we will become closer to God!

7. Elder Scott taught that faith is not obtained during times of great adversity, that's when it is utilized, needed strength is drawn from it at that time!

8. Boyd K Packer as he made a remarkable statement that "moral standards can't be changed by battle or by ballot", he went on to say that you can not vote to change moral values and standards set by God - changing marriage or moral constants by a vote of the people is as feeble as thinking you can change other laws of God such as gravity!

9. Pres. Monson reminded us that an attitude of gratitude helps us recognize our blessings. Pride brings selfishness, humbleness brings an attitude of gratitude!

10. Music and the Spoken Word - it was so beautiful Sunday morning and the message sung through the music just touched my heart!

It was hard to pick just 10 things because so many things touched my heart - I love that we have a living prophet on the earth today with 12 apostles by his side and his two councilors! How thankful I am to live in this time and at this place so I can hear their words! I have made a resolve to "ameliorate" (improve) over this next six months!

A little of this a little of that

So I think it is really weird to not have any pictures to upload when I blog - I really need a new camera for Christmas Santa! That said here goes another random update.

The children have been doing really wonderful in school. They seem to be settling into the routine of things very well. I think I have been getting the hang of my routine or at least trying to have a routine. I really have been so very busy with projects that yesterday when Toshia said lets make applesauce I thought to myself I just want to do nothing today. She came over (we have been having a great time getting together on Mondays canning and crafting) so we continued our "mother/daughter Mondays". She worked on her little guys Christmas present and I did a "trick or treat" banner. So for not wanting to do anything I still managed to get some creative thing done. We will get the applesauce and apple butter done when I get back from Utah next week.

Thursday Noah has to have a little surgery on his lip. He is a little nervous about it but looking forward to missing school on Friday.The little girls have started up again with piano. We took half of July and all of August off and it has been somewhat slow getting back into it since school started. Hayden in her most dramatic tone ever said, "I don't ever want to play the piano I only want to play the violin and if I can't do that then I just don't want to do anything!." I am not accomplished enough on the violin to teach her anything - I still need lots of teaching myself - so in my most dramatic tone I replied, "I would be the worst mom in the world if I let you quit - and quite frankly I don't think I could stand to hear you scratch the notes out on the violin!" She huffed off and said, "Oh well, it was worth a try." She then had another similar conversation in front of Toshia and I tried to get Toshia to let her know how unhappy she would be if she quit because when she grew up she would always wish she had stuck with it. Toshia did not quite catch on to what I was going for and said some totally random thing that did not help my cause at all. Even Chad is back at the piano and Noah is still working very hard at the guitar.

Reagan was blessed last Sunday and it was so sweet to have all the family here (except Chelsea who had a previously planned trip) for dinner afterwards. Paige was home for the first time in several months - it was nice. Lots has been going on with that little one. That is for another blog post in the future. I made Reagan's dress and bonnet and even though Ashleigh thought the bonnet was a little over the top -(it totally was not!) I think it turned out so beautiful. Toshia picked the pattern and I went from there. Lots of tucks - I love, love, love tucks on baby clothes!

I have been substituting in Seminary and teaching my sweet Sunbeam class. It has kept me in the scriptures a lot. It has been fun preparing for the two totally different kinds of teaching you have to do with the two different ages. I also have read three books in the last couple of weeks and loved all of them - "Rhett Butler's People". "The Mysterious Benedict Society", and finally I read " Goose Girl". I have also started making Christmas presents. I think we are going for more homemade again this year. It is so fun to search out projects and work on them with each person in mind. I also started a sampler quilt that I will work on with some other lady friends each month.

There has not been a slow day yet since school started. I look forward to the lazy days of summer but really have been enjoying the busy days of fall!

This and That

I have not had a chance to sit down and write for so long! The end of summer was such a whirlwind of activity and then school starting this really has been the first time I felt like I could spend time here. While on vacation my camera broke:( but fortunately Toshia was able to get lots of pictures. While I have those now on a CD I have not downloaded to the computer so I won't have any photos for this post.

Needless to say, our vacation was wonderful and fun and very relaxing. We enjoyed lots of time with family and really enjoyed "Disneyland". It was such a journey getting there (with the free ticket thing falling through) but I have to say it was worth every penny just watching the children's faces and hearing their laughter. It was also fun to be with Toshia and her sweet little family. We stayed from opening until closing. It was a long day! I am glad that we saved that for the very end of the vacation. We swam at my mom's pool. We spent time on the California beaches - the water was actually warm! We played at the park, spent time with cousins, aunts, uncles, second cousins, grandma and papa John, time at Aunt Kelly's house and her fabulous pool and backyard (a park in and of itself!), eating great food (thanks mom), going to the movies, surfing, and star gazing on the beach late at night. The kids were great and really got along well for such a long car ride. (David does not believe in stopping much - so we drove straight through in record time) I was glad to get home though because we had so much to do to get ready for school.

This school year will be a very different one for me. It will be 29 years since I have not had small children home during the day. Miss Autumn started first grade this year and that leaves me with as she tells me "six whole hours to myself". The first day I wanted to take everyone like I usually do but the little girls wanted to ride the bus. While I implored and pleaded with them to let me make sure they got to the right places on the first day Autumn informed me that "I am so over that mom". So with much apprehension I let them do it their way. I kind of worried all day until she came bouncing in the door at 2:38 all excited and happy about her first day of school. They all got where they were supposed to and things seem to be going pretty smoothly so far. As for my "six hours" of free time I have managed to fill up every minute until today. Without even trying there seemed to be some kind of project or activity I was needing to be involved with that the days have just flown by. I am hoping to get to some of the things on my "to do" list that I made during the summer next week. I kind of thought the quiet would drive me nuts but it has not taken me long to embrace the quiet. In between everything I have even managed to get a great book read!

Yeah for life right now! yeah for school! yeah for wonderful children! yeah for my hard working husband! and mostly yeah for all the joy this mother of eleven feels at this moment!

First two weeks of August

I finally got all the pictures downloaded of the first two weeks of our August. It has been a very busy and fun two weeks. We started with our annual family reunion we have every August. This year we went to the coast. We borrowed David"s brothers boat and spent three days at the lake.

I love this picture of Noah. He is such a cutie!

And for some reason I have lots of pictures of Jonathan drinking his capri suns!

Here the kids are on the boat ready for riding the inner tube.

David loved playing on the boat and driving on the lake whipping the kids around in the wake!

Chad taking a little rest from all the activity. (Can you see the boat in the background?)

Reagan getting a little sun. I can't believe she was only a week old here!

Our little guy snacking away again.

We headed for the beach to roast hot dogs in the sand. What would a cookout be without a little sand thrown in!

David cooking hot dogs on these stupid things we have had for years and never used. Now we know why we never use them and promptly threw them away after this night!

Hayden and Autumn enjoying roasted hot dogs. We had smores also - those were so good. You also might be wondering why we are all bundled up in August at the beach - well you know the Oregon coast:)

Reagan snuggling with Toshia.

Andrew and Adrien flying a kite. They had the coolest kite!

Saturday morning we had a surprise baby shower with all the sisters and Grandma Weitzel at a cute little restaurant. This picture is so darling - Grandma with youngest grandchild and new great granddaughter!

Chelsea brought Duke down to the lake for a little fun!

After everybody went home the girls and I stayed for the rest of the week so I invited some friends down for a couple of days to share the place with us. All the kids had a great time on the beach.

The girls had a mini makeover late at night. They were gorgeous!

This last weekend Ashleigh graduated from Pacific University. We are so proud of her and all her hard work!

She has been in school for so long - and it was so fun to celebrate with her! We love you!

I couldn't resist adding this picture - our future graduate!

So much going on so much still to do - August is definitely the busiest month for all of us here. We leave for California in a couple of days and when I post again I will have all the updates from that part of our vacation! The sad part is when all this fun is over we start right in with school. - Now that will be a new chapter of life for me!