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!