Halloween 2011

We have been soo blessed with hand-me-downs for Jackson. Amazingly enough, there was a halloween costume that fit him perfectly! He is a dinosaur. Or dragon. I'm not really sure, although I'm kind of leaning towards dragon. He was sooo cute! Our church had a harvest party and I dressed like Jem (the 80s cartoon...Jem and the Rockers...), and Luke was a hill billy. Our life group had a "Redneck Horseshoes" booth where you threw toilet seats at giant plungers. Almost everyone dressed like hillbillies. Luke looked quite exceptional. I wish I had a picture!! :( Of course, I made both of our costumes. Nothin like throwing it together at the last minute.

Pics 10.15.11

Our little man was in the hospital! He was breathing funny one night after crying really hard and throwing up everything he had eaten, so we took him to the ER. The respiratory therapist made sure we checked into the hospital and they kept us there from Sunday night til Thursday midday. Our best diagnosis was viral. He just had a respiratory thing going on and we had to wait until his oxygen was up on his own before we could go home. They tested for RSV, Flu, etc. etc. but nothing was positive. It was a long week for baby, Mommy, & Daddy, but we survived and he is doing much better. Still a little tired and fighting off whatever, but doing great.

We have a little blow up tub for Jackson. It is perfect. Its just the right size so that he can sit up and Im not worried about him falling over. Plus, the back of the duck is slanted so that he can lean back while I wash his hair. And if you squeeze the beak the duck quacks

Speaking of ducks, how cute is this kid in his little duck jacket?

Adventures in Apple Cider

A few weeks ago Luke made the mistake of saying we should make some apple cider. In his mind he meant "let's go get some apple cider and put some of the cider spice in it to enjoy on this lovely fall day" (paraphrase). In my mind I heard "Lets go get some apples and make apple cider from scratch!" Guess whose idea won out. We bought a bunch of local apples from the store and proceeded to core them, cut them, and process them in the food processor until they were like liquid applesauce. Then came the fun part. The recipe said to use cheesecloth to strain the apple cider from the apple mush. Cheese cloth didn't work. So what did I come up with?

Thats right, Pantyhose. I found an old kneehigh nylon, washed it for peace of mind, and then Luke scooped the sauce into it and I squeezed the juice out. We ended up getting almost a gallon of cider plus a bunch of apple mush without the juice. So I made apple cake with the mush. The cider was delicious! It was a tad bit tart but with a little bit of cider spice it was perfect.

So would we do it again? Maybe. If we got the apples for free. And I figured out an easier way to drain the juice. But it was fun, and even though it was probably the most expensive apple cider we'll ever drink, it was even better based on the work we put in.

Jackson's Photo Shoot

A friend of mine that I grew up with started a photography business in Thompson Falls. I really liked her work and wanted some nice pics of the kiddo so when Jackson and I were in TFalls last week working at the Ledger he had a photo shoot and I wrote a story for the paper on Sunlit Photography. The photos turned out really nice. She did a great job, especially considering he was only 6 months old, not very good at sitting, and had zero attention span, not to mention it was during our regular nap time. (Good planning, kels!) We are just thrilled with Jenny's work! I thought I would share with you all. I think I got the friend discount, but it was so affordable (business expense, anyone?), and she just gave me a cd with all the pictures on it. Then I don't have to spend a gazillion dollars just to get prints. yay!! So, if you want a copy of a pic, just let me know. I'll try to upload more in the coming days. The files are big so I couldn't upload more than like 2 at a time. There are a few on facebook, too.

Jackson Update

Here are some recent pics of Jackson. Hes 7 months old now and so much fun! Hes playing a lot and giggling and smiling. He can sit up for the most part, only falling sideways occasionally. He weighed 17 lbs at his 6 month check up so hes probably close to 18 now. Hes eating cereal and baby food, which is really fun. I love giving him new things to see if he likes it. So far weve only had a problem with the green beans that I made. I dont think he liked the texture. And sweet potatoes that I made are kind of up in the air. I usually mix them with applesauce or something so he'll eat them. He must like them with brown sugar and butter like the rest of us. Hes a really good eater though. Right now he has a cold, which means lots of snot and lots of cuddling. I dont mind the cuddling part. Sucking snot out of his nose with a bulb syringe is not the most fun. Especially when he screams. :) We love this kid!!!

New House!

Since Alli has been asking for pics of the new digs for awhile, I thought I'd finally post since I remembered and took pictures and the house was kind of clean. Here we go.

Our bed...The quilt is pretty! It was made for our wedding by one of my quilt leaders from 4-H.

The dining room area...

The kitchen. Very open! Lots of cabinets and counter space.

My favorite area....the LAUNDRY Room!!!!

Living Room - Thanks Vicki for the fun shelves!

Little Man playing in his exersaucer. This wall has pretty much become Jackson's area. He has way too many toys.

More Living room...

Entry Way

Hallway. I put the word "family" on the wall and am doing a collage of family pictures. Its still in the works, obviously.

Going down to the basement where Bob lives.

Jacksons room...My dad made the crib for me when I was born. I used it, and Scott and Mark both used it. Now Jackson uses it. Its still in excellent shape and I love that my dad made it. Its so special.

more Jackson's room. Were in the middle of changing out sizes of clothes. Hes moving into the 9month in shirts but still in 6 month for bottoms, plus its still kind of summer so I haven't really taken out all the shorts yet. Its basically just a cluster at the moment.

This is the guest room/sewing room. There was a bed in here but its in the closet currently because we had to clean out the room for kiddos to play in while we host life group. Luckily this week they played outside.

More of our room. I didn't take pics of the bathroom because I just couldn't get a good angle. We have a guest bath and a master bath.