Tears - Toys - Busy - Yummy - FUN!

Our Friday started out with getting out the door 5 minutes late to go to Owen's 4 year well child check-up. He argued with me about getting on the scale and getting measured, he refused the cover one eye part of the eye test, he screamed his head off because the doctor had to get "a big chunk" out of his ear, then he got 3 shots. It was pretty sad/traumatic/exhausting. The best part is we have to go back in two weeks to get the things done that didn't work out today. AWESOME, right? So to settle the tears and relax the situation I told the kids we could go to Wal-Mart to get a little treat (i thought they would want candy). First they asked "what is Wal-Mart?", we NEVER go to Wal-Mart, then they picked out a sprint car, a princess Poly Pocket and a suburban for Daddy. Why does everything at Wal-Mart end with an 8? $2.88?, $3.08? It's always an 8!
We got home, ate lunch (top ramen, mom of the year, I know) then the kids played "fake sleeping". They kinda suck at it. Claire couldn't stop looking at her "beautiful new princess", and Owen couldn't stop laughing. ADORABLE!
While the kids played (for like 2.5 hours without any fighting...CRAZY) I made two double batches of home-made spaghetti sauce to freeze. It made 6 of these freezer containers.
Then in honor of Claire's new Cinderella Polly Pocket, we watched the movie...IN VHS! Claire is showing me she has the dresses from the movie, can you see her holding the little rubber dresses.
For those of you who don't remember....this is what a VHS looks like. I had to dig the VCR out of the shop (and if I may brag a little, I hooked it up BY MYSELF).

Harvest

We have added apples to our 2011 harvest list. We have had a strange growing season this year but a fairly successful one. We have learned a lot as this is the first year we have really committed ourselves since we have lived on this property. We are so looking forward to putting to use what we have learned towards next year's crop.

Harvest List
Burpless Cukes, Lemon Cukes, Zucchini, Peas, 4 different types Tomatoes, Beets, Strawberries, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Lettuce, buckets and buckets of Blackberries , and Apples.

Welcome Fall

As most of you know, Fall around here means HUNTING SEASON! I used to look forward to this time of year because Brad LOVES it and I would have free time to craft and read and watch the tv shows I wanted. And lets not forget that fall food it THE BEST! But now i look forward to this time of year for different reasons. I still enjoy the food, and it still makes me happy to see my Sparky excited, that hasn't changed. But as for the me time...pretty much non existent! Now I'm really enjoying our family scouting trips like this one we took Saturday up to the area Brad will be hunting elk. We drove, stopped for lunch, visited a mountain lake and let the dogs swim, shot Brad's muzzle loader, and picked huckleberries. It was a great Fall day!
Can you believe this old girl can still do this? She never even hesitated when Brad threw the stick off the ledge. It was probably a 5'-6' drop.
Owen LOVES shooting with Daddy. He sits in his chair with his earmuffs on when Brad is shooting and as soon as it's time to check out the targets he is up and running telling Brad how good or bad he did. He is going to be a great little hunter someday.
Claire and I opted for some berry picking while the boys were shooting. We made huckleberry shortcake for dessert....DELISH!
Berry picking was more Grace Ann's style as well!!

Good Bye Breakfast

Sunday we went out for breakfast before all the family had to head home. It was a super fun birthday/shower/family "camp out" weekend. I love these pictures of all the little conversations that were going on at our table for 19.

Baby Shower - Celebrating Clayton Robert

We had fun celebrating this little guy on our rainy Saturday last week. There was lots of family and lots of fun. He was snuggled and squeezed and smooched all day long. This was day 2 of the Sprague family weekend, and we had a great day. A baby shower, dinner, and a few hours of cards before our "campout". Welcome little Clayton Robert to this crazy, loving family.

Another Little Family Birthday

We had a nice little Sprague family birthday party for Owen last Friday. This was to be the kick-off to a Sprague family weekend. We had birthday cookies, pizza and of course some gifts. Owen had a blast and so did the rest of us. After gifts and cookies Owen took his bike for a spin (making 2 actual revolutions - PROGRESS!) I think it was the new horn Auntie Molly got for him. Yippee for bike horns, there will be paybacks for that one! It's official, I have a BIG BOY.