Thursday, April 30, 2009

Yay for me!!!

My new washer and dryer arrived this morning!! Yeah!


I now have a very busy day getting laundry done. I am willing to bet I have 12 loads to do. I will let you know when I have completed the task. (please pray for me today. It really is a lot of laundry! ;-} )
Before:
After:

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Who's calling, please?

This morning my dogs were going crazy! I noticed that they were barking and growling at the front door. NOBODY uses my front door. I thought maybe that a delivery company was trying to get my attention. We are waiting for our new treadmill to come. So, I went to see what they were going crazy about.


I opened the door and this is what I found:








After I took them back to their area, I came back inside. About 15 minutes later, the dogs started going crazy again; this time at the back door. Again, this is what I found:
I opened the door and the dogs went crazy and chased them around the garage. (notice Ruby's ears flopping as she flew off the stairs!)
Since Gordon is at work and I can't seem to keep them contained, even though I tried putting up more fencing, I finally gave up after trip #5 to the barn and put them in the hot fence area with the pigs!
That's my solution and I'm sticking to it!!!

Monday, April 27, 2009

Well, we did it!!!

We did it.

Gordon and I went and purchased a new washer/dryer combo. Our tax money this year was supposed to go towards gravel for the driveway and bark dust for all of our flower beds (when we actually get them in order).
Instead, we just spent it on a new washer/dryer set. It isn't even exciting because this is NOT what we wanted to do right now. I was much more excited about gravel and bark dust, but God had other plans for our money.
I have mentioned before that our dryer puts brown streaks on clothing and our washing machine hasn't worked in a week. I told Gordon we needed to fix the machine so I could do laundry, or it was going to cost about $30 to go to the laundromat. Seriously-I have that much laundry to do!
So, we decided to go look at washers and dryers rather than continuing to nickel and dime our old ones to death. If it's not one thing, it's another with them.
So, with that being said, we are now the owners of brand spanking new appliances! We went with a Maytag brand, front load set. They are white in color because white goes with everything. We opted out of buying the pedestals for now. To purchase those also would have put us over our budget. Maybe with the next litter of puppies we can go back and purchase the pedestals; or I could be white-trashy like and have Gordon build me wood pedestals for now! What do you think?

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Braggin' up our boy!!

Most of you know that we have a very athletic boy. He loves all sports. Usually he just plays one sport at a time, but this spring he is playing or doing three different ones. We are very busy running around to different events. We had to go out and buy new folding camp chairs because we have worn out the old ones, plus we bought new stadium chairs for other purposes. Evan is playing soccer, of course. That is a spring, summer, and fall sport for him. He has practice on Tuesday evenings and games on Saturdays. He also plays baseball. He has games on Wednesdays and Fridays. Depending on what field he plays at, we either use the folding chairs or the stadium seats on the bleachers. Also, motocross season just started. Now he is taking lessons from Kyle again and races on Thursdays. It is a good thing Sierra just finished up ballet and isn't doing any sports until fall. Then she wants to try out soccer also. Evan is really great at every sport he tries. He is very competitive and it shows in all his games. We are very proud of him and just want to take a moment to brag about him a little. We are also teaching him that he is part of a team and it takes the whole team to win a game. He understands, and is really great at making sure everyone plays and has fun. He is having a great time, learning lots, getting good excercise, and keeping us VERY busy!

Friday, April 24, 2009

Fridays with Faith

The puppies will be 4 weeks old on Monday. They are very cute right now. They look for you and follow you around, they are starting to eat food, and spend the day time out in the breezeway where they have lots of room to roam around. Here are this week's pictures.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

To wash or to soak, that is the question...

I have Mt. Kilamanjaro (sp?) in my bedroom. No, not actually a rock formed mountain with a fluffy snowy covering. The mountain in my bedroom is formed by dirty socks, undies, shirts, jammies, pants, shorts, towels, etc. You get the picture, right?
So today was supposed to bed laundry day. My plan was to study and do laundry-all day. About 7:15 this morning, I took my first load (king sized flannel sheets and pillow cases) and excitedly put them in the wash machine. Yes, I am good. This is the start of my laundry day! Ten minutes later, after the machine filled up with sudsy warm water all the way to the top, it stopped! What!?! I am used to it making a ton of noise and working its way across the laundry room floor because it spins so hard and fast. Why is it stopping? This can't be happening!! Ok, breathe, Tracie, breathe. You can fix this!

NOT!!

I have had a very heavy, water soaked load of sheets sitting in my washer since this morning. I can't get the wash machine to work. I can't get the water to spin out. I can't lift the 50+ lbs of soaking flannel sheets out of the wash to wring them out.

So, I guess I will have to let them soak until Gordon gets home to help me. I hate it when everything breaks when he is gone!!
Now, I am assuming that I am going to be spending some money on a new washer and dryer.(Oh yeah, my dryer has been putting pencil thin brown streaks on clothes for a couple of months now.)

Anyone know of some good deals on a washer/dryer set?

Monday, April 20, 2009

Conversations I have had with my kids recently...

Sierra: I have bleach on my hand from the trampoline.

Me: The trampoline doesn't have bleach on it.

Sierra: Yes, it does. Look. (she holds out her hands and I see dark spots on them)
See; it's bleach. All over my hands!!!(exasperated)

Me: Sierra, that isn't bleach, it's called pitch!

Sierra: Oh, well I call it bleach!



And from Evan----

Evan: Mom, I wish you were only 20 when I was born.

Me: Why, buddy?

Evan: Because you're a lot older now and you are closer to dying. If you were only 20 when I was born, you would live a lot longer.

Me: (trying not to laugh)Buddy, only God knows when I will die. I could live to be 100, you just never know.

Evan: Wow, then you'd be REALLY old!!

(Yes, I do write down these things in a journal so I can laugh about them later)

OOPS! Sorry***

Ok, Friday was a busy day and I missed my "Friday's with Faith" post. Sorry about that. Yesterday, I mowed the front lawn and then took the puppies out there for some fun time. Here are a few pictures for your enjoyment.

Jessica, again

My last post was bragging about my niece, Jessica, and the fact that she has turned out to be such a beautiful girl. On Saturday, she had her high school prom. Here are a few pictures of her and her boyfriend, Jeff. They looked amazing.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Happy 17th Birthday, Jessica!!

Today is my oldest niece's birthday. Jessica turns 17 today. I can still remember when Chris and I were looking at bridesmaid dresses for my wedding and I just looked at her and told her she was pregnant. She asked how I knew. I really don't know, but I did. I also told her she was having a girl. I just "felt" it, and I was right. She was barely two months along! Jessica was born a few months later on April 17th, 1992. I missed her birth, but got down to Portland by very long bus ride later that day and spent the next four weeks living with Chris and Tim and helping them out. Then Chris and Jessi came up to our house and spent another week with us up here. Let's just say that Jessi was a very big excitement in our family. She was spoiled rotten by us all! Here is one of my favorite baby pictures of her. She always had this smile on her face. One of my favorite toddler pictures is this one. She was visiting me and decided to wear her mom's boots around the house. She liked the way they made lots of noise when she walked. This next picture is so cute! She looks so cute in her overalls. Finally, this last picture is Jessi on Easter this year. Grandpa could do with a haircut and shave, but Jessi looks really nice!

She has turned out to be such a joy in my life. Jessi is always smiling, usually laughing or cracking a joke, and always willing to help out. She truly is a blessing, and I couldn't ask for a better niece! I love you, Jessi!!! Happy Birthday!!

A full house

Last night, I had the pleasure of watching my friend, Tiffani's, kids. Her and Marty were going out for an adult night and she brought her "fab four" over to my house for the evening. It was great. Emma was way too busy playing and running around to pose for a picture, but I did get a few of the boys. This is Ben telling me that the doggies were outside. This is Grant telling me he wants Bubba's cars. And this is baby Drew just being adorable. I also got a rare picture of Evan holding a baby. He didn't even know if he could breathe while holding Drew. He was nervous, but I think he secretly liked it. I had a really great time snuggling with Drew, so I think we should all encourage Tiff to go out more and leave her kids with me!!

Thursday, April 16, 2009

My "hummers"

Every year about this time, we get excited for Spring. One of the first things I do is hang my hummingbird feeders out. When I start to see my "hummers", I know spring is on the way! So far this year, we have way more hummers than normal. It is so therapeutic to me to have them flitting about and making their unique songs when they fly around. I love to go out to refill their food and have them "buzz" me. It is awesome!! The other evening, we were getting ready to put the kids to bed and we looked outside to see 10 or more on each feeder. The picture doesn't do them justice. They were all over the place. It was really great to just stop what we were doing and stand and watch them for awhile. Then, this morning I was washing dishes and looked out the window to find this cutie sitting on the deck rail waiting her turn for a drink. I also caught this one sitting a taking a rest while getting a long drink of sugar water. Spring is here and so are my "hummers".Yes!!!!! Dancing





Monday, April 13, 2009

A GREAT Easter weekend!!

Gordon's parents were here for the three weeks before Easter. They left on Friday, as my parents drove in the driveway. Friday was a busy day of getting things ready for the "Easter bunny" to show up (wink, wink) and then went to dinner at Homestead. I had to go to work that evening so Cheyanne decided to go with me. Her plan was to help me work. That never happened. She got the experience of a lifetime instead. We got to the vet office and noticed that the large animal door was open and a light was on. This was after hours, so nobody should have been there. We walked in to find two doctors performing a C-section on a dairy cow. Cheyanne stood there and watched the whole thing. She even got to help a little. The doctors were very nice to her and gave her lots of education on the birthing of a cow. She really enjoyed herself. After we were done cleaning, we went to Chris and Tim's house and goofed around with the rest of the family until close to midnight. I was really tired. Saturday morning the guys (Gordon, Tim, Grandpa and Evan) plus Cheyanne went to the beef auction. Grandma, Chris, Jessica, Sierra, Carson and myself went to the easter egg hunt in Sumas. After that, Chris, Carson and Sierra went back to Chris' house to lay down. Sierra was sick and Carson was tired. Grandma and I went back to my house to do a few things and then we met Gordon, Grandpa, Cheyanne and Evan at the soccer field for Evan's soccer game. That evening we BBQed brats in the shop and colored easter eggs. We had a good time. Finally, we went to bed around 11:00pm.
Easter morning we got up and went to church at 11:30. It was nice to sleep in a little and go to the later service. I was amazed, proud, ecstatic, thrilled, etc. when my 7-year old son raised his hand to accept Jesus into his heart and went forward with the rest of the people who did the same thing that day to show the world that he believes Jesus is his Lord and Savior. Wow, what a proud Mommy moment!!! The tears were flowin'!
He understands what he did, and he is preparing for the next step in getting baptized. Gordon and I had no idea he wanted to do that. We were floored, but sooooo happy!
Subway for lunch and then home to prepare our yummy Easter dinner. We hid over 300 plastic easter eggs filled with all kinds of goodies in the shop. As of right now, we think there are still around 15 that we haven't found. Good thing we used the plastic ones!!
Family left to go back to Portland this morning. Now it is back to the normal routine of things. Laundry, dishes, farm chores, doctors appts., school, etc....

Friday, April 10, 2009

Fridays with Faith

Today is day 11 of the puppies lives. They have changed so much, it is amazing. Here are pictures of the puppies. My mother-in-law gave them temporary names. As of yesterday, they weighed in at these weights.

Green girl-"Love" 2.2 lbs


Yellow girl-"Charity" 2.7 lbs.

Purple girl-"Grace" 1.12 lbs

Pink girl-"Hope" 2.10 lbs.

Red girl-"Joy" 2.6 lbs.

Blue boy-"Buster" 2.8 lbs.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Haircuts...

Since it is Spring Break for the kids, I took them to my friend, Stephana, for hair cuts. I tried to get Sierra to cut hers shorter, but she resisted. Evan's looks great and Sierra's looks good, even though I would have liked it a little shorter.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Creative playing

Evan has his friend Jacob over and Sierra has Anna over. They came over about 5:30 last night and spent the night. Yesterday they played on the trampoline a lot and stayed outside until 7:30pm. Then they came in and watched tv and played upstairs. The girls went to bed around 9:30, but the boys played race track until 12:30. Then they all got up at 6:00am!!! Crazy kids!! These pictures show what they have been doing all morning. The girls are playing "Little Pets", while the boys are building bridges and tunnels with Legos so the cars have something fun to do while going around the track. They are having a great time. I know when it is time for them to go home we will have some sad kids.