please don't think we're total rednecks, but....

This is the rooster that's been waking us up at various time (3 am, 5 am, 6 am...). Even if it wasn't against city code to have a rooster, he'd have had to go anyway! So....I took care of him, and we had him for dinner:

He was actually quite a lean (yet delicious) little guy. And it wasn't fun. I'm glad I did it, and glad I know how to do it, but I do not look forward to doing this again. Killing things is not fun- there was a point where I was begging Rod to come over and do the killing part because I couldn't do it, but he refused! Once the rooster was dead, the rest wasn't so hard- it was just meat at that point.

The ironic thing? We were woken up by another crowing the next morning- so we have another one. I'm postphoning the inevitable. (I made sure this one was a rooster before taking care of him- I witnessed him crowing. The crowing that woke us up the next day was actually slightly different, apparently, roosters each have their own unique "voice". I haven't identified yet for sure which one this next one is. )

(and no, Lizzie didn't watch, though the night before she asked me, "can I do the killing?"....Um, should I be concerned???)

So I'm finding myself on the couch resting a lot lately....forming a baby in your belly while caring for three other kids takes a lot out of me I'm finding. It's becoming such commonplace I think the kids are starting to lose respect for mom sleeping on the couch. Sometimes absolutely no efforts are made by the kiddos to protect this sacred time! This is Abby with the latest infringement:

Also, we got guns! We've been shooting several times, and I must say, I really love my gun (as much as a girl can love a gun, anyway). It just feels molded perfectly to my hand, I love it! I took my concealed weapons permit class last Saturday, and, though a long 10 hours, thought it was definately worth the time. It was basically about safety, being a responsible firearms owner, and the legalities of carrying a concealed weapon. Before I get my permit, I have to "qualify", which basically means passing a shooting test, where I have to show I could hit what I'm aiming at! I plan on taking the test in Jan. or Feb.

So this my gun (Walther p22):

And this is Rod's (Smith and Wesson m&p 40):

Besides my becoming molded to the couch and becoming rednecks, we are enjoying the Christmas season around here, too. We've developed a tradition of getting our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. So we are enjoying the scent of pine, melodies of Christmas music (which always remind me of you, Mom!!), and delicious English Toffee! I love Christmas!! I love our tree, with all it's kid-made ornaments and ornaments from Grandma Gubler. I love the peacefulness, and the excitement of the kids. I love getting out our nativity sets, baking, and having the kids make paper chains so they'll stop asking me how many more days till Christmas. I love having clam chowder on Christmas Eve (I know me and mom are alone on this one), and I remember how dad would make the fire in the fireplace before we all go downstairs (from youngest to oldest, of course). One Christmas present that makes me smile is the year that Brooke gave me a bunch of clothes-all from her closet- for Christmas. And I was so excited. I still remember feeling sooooo lucky that my big sister would give me her hand-me-downs so willingly!

What do you guys remember about Christmas growing up???

Cool Deal from Shutterfly!

I was blog stalking the other day and came across this awesome deal from Shutterfly. I want to do Christmas cards this year, but they always get spendy by the time I order the cards and send them off. Well, Shutterfly is giving 50 photo cards away right now with this promotion they are doing. They do have some really cute cards, in addition to their Christmas collection, they have some cute birthday stuff and stationary too. Now that I found this deal, all I have to do is get a picture of everyone looking happy and at the camera. Sigh. I think I'm giving up scrapbooking, I'm SO far behind, and all my pics just sit on the computer. So I might do some photobooks- here's some cool ones, or regular albums. Anyway, I'm glad I found this deal, feel free to spread the news. Thanks Shutterfly! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Cameron + Grass = No more Pants

Cameron has always been hard on clothes (well, pretty much anything that is with or on him for any amount of time). This year he has taken it to a new level. I've thrown away 2 pairs of pants since school has started, as you can see by the pictures there's at least one pair that are beyond repairing. So what you see is every single pair of pants he owns...except church ones. Which mysteriously come home with grass stains sometimes. EVERY day his knees are green and I can just see the life being worn out of the threads bit by bit. I'm at a loss, since I can't buy him new pants every week, and I figure why bother since those will just be gone in a couple months. This morning he put on a dirty, grass stained pair and I told him to go put some clean ones one. He couldn't understand why, since they'd just get grass stained too. I had to think about that for a minute too, why bother? I did make him change. I think I feel like a better mom if I at least see his clothes leave the house clean. So this is my dilema with Cameron. He says he just loves to play football at every recess. I could also do a similar post about backpacks. He goes through at least 2 a school year....Devon has had the same one since Kindergarten and it's still in great shape. I think his is better quality than the cheap ones I buy Cam, but it hurts to think of spending money on things that don't last-which is everything around Cameron. I took these pictures last week of each day he came home from school.

OK, is this picture better?

Travis' eyes were closed and Dad is taking his Superman role VERY seriously! We just aren't a photogenic bunch - what can I say?

Pumpkins!!

Here are the kids pumkins. Caitlin and Lizzie came up with their own ideas of what they wanted to carve, then they drew them on the pumpkins themselves and Rod helped them carve them out. They were very proud of their pumkins!

Happy Birthday Carrie!!

Happy Birthday Carrie!
Carrie is wonderful because she is hilarious, smart, beautiful and a great baker!
She always finds a reason to laugh and makes those around her happy.

I had to put a picture of her offspring on the blog.. just to show what cute babies she makes! :)

Why do you love Carrie?

Hotel Del Coronado, Go Giants, and Hans Solo

A beautiful hotel built in 1888 on Coronado Island in San Diego.

Maybe a future girl's trip?

Go Giants!

Travis as Hans Solo. He did NOT take the gun to the party!

Travis' pumpkin he carved.

We need to see some pictures of grandkids!

Animal Farm

Since our house is small, and our family is growing, we're exploring all our options here. This is the girls' recommendation:

Our Animal Farm!!

This is called a golden-laced wyandotte. Isn't she pretty? I have 2 of them.


This is a silver-laced Wyandotte. I have two of these, too. One of them is the boss of everyone else, though I'm not sure which one.

One thing I'm loving about chickens is that they are essentially garbage disposals. When I prune a plant, I just throw it back there, and it's devoured. Veggie scraps, uneaten lunches, cleaning-out-the-fridge-produce-I-find-at-the-bottom-of-the-crisper scraps...it all goes to them and they love it. I haven't been able to add anything to my compost bin in awhile because these ladies are so good at using our scraps!

This is one of my Silkie Bantams. I have 5 altogether, 3 brown like this one, one black and one white. This one is Rory. Rory has kinda a sad story. We only had him a day or two when Lizzie comes to me and says, "Mom, the chick isn't moving his head." After more inquires, more details follow....she had had the chick in her bed, under the covers and kinda smooshed him all over. He couldn't walk straight, or even keep his head up! I thought for sure he'd die in a day or two....but he didn't! He recovered somewhat, though seems to still be a little wobbly sometimes. So that's Rory!

Rory's Side Shot

Aren't they funny looking?

Our bunny has a funny relationship with the chickens. She seems to really enjoy their company, she always goes back to where they are (she can get in, but they can't get out of the dog run). She seems to charge them occasionally, but I've seen her get charged by one of the silver-laced bosses (she's even been pecked near her eye, drawing blood!). Yet she continues to keep their company! I don't get it. At night she'll go right in the coop with the chickens. If the chickens get let out into the yard, she won't leave the yard- I can't tell if she territorial or what, she just seems to feel the need to chaperone them or something.

We love our animal farm!

Whittle update

I have been without my computer for almost a month, so sorry if it seems I'm MIA. I should be getting it back next week. Troy brought his work one home for the weekend, so I thought I'd post some pics of our recent happenings. The first of October we went down to the sandbar, which is just a big sandy penisula in the Columbia River. Cool thing about it is that I can see it from my kitchen window, and it's a 2 minute drive. It's like our own private beach! Kite boarders also use it too. I remember last year I posted a picuture of the first of Oct. in Big Valley and it was snowy and cold. Much better this year! It's super shallow for quite a ways, so its fun to just let the kids run around and go crazy. Speaking of crazy, we found this nasty salmon on the beach...I'd hate to meet one of these in the water. I guess this certain breed has sharp teeth. They boys were in heaven. I had to put my foot down when Cam wanted to bring it home.

Look what I inherited, for free! I'd been wanting a KitchenAid mixer for a long time, and I am loving it! A lady in my ward (whom I hadn't met yet) called my friend in the ward and asked her if she wanted a mixer (apparently she had 2 of them). Since my friend already had one, she mentioned me (somehow the topic of KitchenAid mixers came up in one of my conversations, with her, and I'm glad it did!) and VIOLA, me and my new BFF. As if I needed any more encouragment to make cookies.

Mom, here's a few pics of our RS meeting. This one with the cute old ladies is the only one from that night, you can't really see the food table decorations, but we had vines, flowers, apples and acorns in vases. Pretty much everything came from the sister in the black shirts' garden.

These were the centerpieces, styrofoam cups spraypainted and filled with dirt, branches with small pears, and painted acorns. I think we tucked a little greenery in them too to add more color.

Audrey lost her first tooth! She was super excited and wanted to Skype Caitlin and Lizzy right away...but alas, no computer :( I told her she could call them, and I keep forgetting. Whenever Audrey reminds me it's always too late, or too early or just something!

Devon has been enjoying band a lot. I know Troy is pleased that he chose to play trumpet. I have no idea how Troy's mom tolerated all the noise. Let me paint a scenario: trying to make dinner in a hot kitchen. Audrey and Alex fighting at my feet, which involves lots of crying and whining. Cameron bouncing a basketball on the floor around the house and Devon walking around BLARING his trumpet and wanting me to listen to a song he's been working on. If he doesn't get it perfect he starts over, if he sees me glance away he starts over....oh my hairs are standing the back of my neck just writing this. I remember always complaining to mom and dad whenever I'd have to go to one of Carrie's 'dumb' band concerts. It's payback time I guess.

And just for fun, someone gave Troy this HUGE apple at work. Serioulsy, the picture doesn't do it justice. It is massive!

Hope everyone is good and enjoying Fall!

Remember These?

Remember these little treasures? Carrie, I don't know why I have yours, but I do. I take it to work. If you want it back I understand. I love that we used to take these to school everyday. Just think of the love that went into hand puff-painting these. Mom, you are SO great! You were so ahead of the times with going green.

Our Chicken Coop!

The nesting box is blocked off for now, when the chickens are old enough to lay, we'll finish that part (and by 'we' I mean Rod...)

All the metal was leftovers from Rod's work..the roof, the window screen stuff, and the square wire at the bottom. The wood used for the walls is wood they use to pack the metal in that gets shipped to Noorda. So it was cheap!! (or "cheep" as the chickens would say....okay, let's all groan together on that one, sorry, I couldn't resist!)