Happy Halloween 2007

This is the longest day of the year! Three school parties, a trip to Goodwill for last minute costume emergencies, family photo shoot and trick or treating. But I wouldn't trade it for anything. I am going to be so sad when my kids are too old for Halloween.

Lightening My Load

I admit that I have a bit of a problem with stuffitis. It seems like I accumulate things faster than I can get rid of other broken, outgrown, unused things that we have hanging out around the house.

I've been purging the playroom for months, trying to get rid of the toys that have accumulated over the years. Everytime I clean the room I haul at least 2 bags out for goodwill. Somehow the toys and stuffed animals seem to multiply and replenish while I'm not looking, but my efforts have made a bit of a dent and it's easier to keep the room clean.

Pile of stuff from my most recent purge

In the basement, underneath our stairs we have a storage area. This is where I keep all the kids outgrown clothes. I am really good about keeping their closets cleaned out and try to only keep outfits in their rooms that they are actually wearing. Whenever I do laundry I make a little pile of outgrown or out of season clothing and toss it under the stairs. Our little storage area was bulging with shoes and pajamas and all kinds of clothes that are useless to us but I keep thinking I will hand down to one of kids. Problem is, the room is such a mess that instead of using what's in there I just make a quick trip to Old Navy and take care of the kids clothing needs.

I didn't realize how much this storage area bugged me. Everytime I opened the door and threw clothes in I just added to my burden. A couple of weeks ago our ward announced that they were doing a clothing exchange. At first I thought that there was no way I wanted to participate. It sounded like too much work to get it all together but then yesterday I got the bug and thought this is my golden opportunity to give all these clothes to a good cause. It took me all afternoon (and I paid the price big time for letting Lily and Jack entertain themselves while I sorted clothes) but I went through every single box of clothing and every singcle closet in my house. When I was done I had four shopping bags of clothes for goodwill, two boxes to send to my sister and six boxes to send to the clothing exchange. I kept one little box of keepsake outfits and that is all that is left in my storage room. It is now EMPTY. It was the best feeling in the world to load up the back of my car and purge my house of unwanted things.

Book Review #14 Life Of Pi

My bookgroup read this book a while back but it just didn't sound interesting to me. I had heard great things about it but the thought of reading a book about a boy stranded at sea with a tiger didn't appeal to me. So I skipped it for bookgroup, but now that I'm dedicated to reading all the books on my shelf that are unread I picked it up again at the end of the summer.

I am a very fast reader but this book took me almost three weeks to read. It was as tedious as I expected although I must admit the author did a fabulous job of conveying what it would be like to spend day after day at sea. Tedious as it was, I was determined to finish and I'm so glad I did. The last third of the book suddenly grabbed me and I was hooked. I found the part on the island with the meerkats fascinating and rich with symbolism.

When I finished reading the book I wanted to talk about it. Jason had read it a couple of years ago and enjoyed it so he indulged me with a little discussion. I then spent a couple of hours surfing the net reading what others have written about this book. To me, a book that leaves the reader searching for answers long after the last page is turned is brilliant writing, even if it takes this reader time to get through it.

Homebody

I've spent the last two days lounging around the house and it's been so fabulous. Wednesday I did laundry and tried to organize our storage room (this will take several more days to complete) and yesterday I decided to get dressed. My friend Kelly brought her youngest son Max over for me to watch while she and Tony went to the temple. He was so easy to watch and the kids had a great time playing with him. While spending so much time at home I decided it was time to re-do Jack's room. I brought out Eli's old train table from the storage room and set it up in Jack's room. When we brought Jack home from China we bought a cute little toddler bed so that we could set it up in our room if Jack needed to be near us for comfort. We also bought a twin size bed so that he would have it in his room. He became so attached to the toddler bed that he has slept in it ever since. A couple of weeks ago I asked him it he wanted to sleep in the big bed and he said he did. He's been sleeping in it ever since so I decided to move the toddler bed out. I listed it on Craig's list and it sold immediately. I wasn't prepared for the emotions that followed. Since Jack was 2.5 when we adopted him I haven't gone through the pain of taking down a crib and realizing it was my last baby. We sort of glossed over all that stuff knowing we would have more children but not realizing how old our youngest would be when he came home. Anyway, I got a little emotional taking down that toddler bed and realizing that my youngest is 4.5. Where has the time gone? It has flown by in a blur and I'm sure that every milestone of my youngest kids will be this way. With their close proximity in age I am sure to be a mess when Jack leaves home.

Tomorow is family picture day. It is so much work to get 8 people looking good all at the same time. Our appointment is at 4 pm and I am sure it will take us all day to get ready. Last Friday the boys got haircuts and Jason and I got ours done today. I usually have the girl who does my hair do all the little girls but she wasn't able to this time. This means I have to risk Great Clips and spend a small fortune. Everybody has something to wear except Eli and Jonah. Hopefully tonight I will find them something.

I've gotten so much mileage out of last year's family pictures that it will all be worth it.

The Family Home Evening Phantom Strikes Again....

And other fun Fall family traditions:

Our kids love to do the Family Home Evening phantom. This year they went all out and dressed in ski masks and dark clothes to be more stealthy. They had a great time ringing doorbells, dropping off treats, running and being chased.

Lily is absent from the picture because she was gone with Jason

We've been so busy enjoying fall that I haven't had time to blog about it all. Here's what we've been up to:

Weekend Away with The Rolands:

My camera was out of batteries so this was one of the few pics I took--KariAnn and Anna on the three-wheeler.

A few weeks ago Chad and Kariann invited us to their cabin. We had the best time hanging out around the fire and playing games with the kids. The weather was so beautiful (I love fall!) and all the colors had just started to change. The kids enjoyed playing outside and it was so hard to drag them away. We ended the day with a fun bike ride along the lake. We were so tired when we got home. KariAnn and I ended the weekend by going to the Relief Society Broadcast together. We are grateful to have such great friends who are so generous.

Oregon Coast 2007:

Notice the spelling of "coast."

The Clan

Gorgeous Sunset

Gorgeous Family
The "Cousins"


The Boys

The House

Every year we go with our friends the Lundbergs and the Hughes to the Oregon Coast. The kids love this tradition with the "cousins" and ask for weeks before the event when we are going. This year we stayed in another great house that was across the street from the beach and had great views. Each couple had their own bedroom and the kids bunked together in two other rooms. It was one big slumber party and it took us a week to catch up on our sleep. Here are the highlights of our trip:

• Visit to the most awesome sand dunes. We had so much fun climbing the big dunes and then rolling and jumping down them. The views were amazing.



Jason catching some air






The climb up



• The most perfect weather. On Friday it was sunny with no wind. It felt so warm. The kids played outside all day.




• 
  
  Time with the girls. What would I do without my friends?
  
  
  

  Notice Kelly & I in our matching shirts



• Time with the cousins.




• Visit to the Tillamook Creamery for the best ice-cream and cheese in the Northwest.







• Watching conference on the big, comfy sectional.

This is truly one of our best traditions we have established as a family. We are lucky to have such great long-distance friends.

Jonah & Wilson were the last survivors of the beach.

Greenbluff

Yummy Pumpkin doughnuts

For the past ten years we have been going to Greenbluff in the fall. This is another treasured family tradition. We have got it down to a science and head straight for the line for the yummiest pumpkin doughnuts. It is amazing how this place has grown over the years. The line of cars heading to the pumpkin patch was unlike anything I've ever seen.