Do you use Google Reader?

Hi friends. If you’re following my photography blog using Google Reader it’s time for a change! You probably already know that Google Reader is going away, so you know that you need to find a new way to follow your favorite blogs. The one I have decided on is Bloglovin’ – it is actually easier and has more features that Google Reader, so I’m very pleased with it.

I know this blog has been quiet for a while, but I will be back, and I hope you’ll be here when I do!

The “Is It Food” Test

Gavin has started getting a little more particular about what he eats – for the longest time he ate absolutely EVERYTHING – so he taste tests new things. Today’s new food was avocado. I don’t care for avocado, so Gavin hadn’t had a chance to try it. At the recommendation of my physician/friend Dr. Priscilla, I got him an avocado. He played with it - checking the texture - for a while, and then sucked on it a bit…and then he bit into it. Ewww. Just the thought kinda grosses me out – I hate the texture of those things, but he chewed it up happily. Weird. (I know - I’m in the minority of the general population, but in Scrivnerburg avocado-haters are the majority.) Well, whatever gives him the fat and calories he needs, I guess…

An object in motion…

…tends to stay in motion, and that is absolutely true of Gavin. If he’s not sleeping, he’s in motion. I thought this cell phone shot was sorta cool because I almost managed panning with my cell phone. I was using an app called ActionSnap because I was trying to stop his motion. That didn’t work, but I think I will try more panning with my phone using the native camera app – it’s shutter is slower than ActionSnap.

We have our 3 grandchildren staying with us this week, so we have 10 kids here! I can’t believe I didn’t take any pictures of the whole crew! I’ll get to that over the next few days.

Nathan’s new wheels

Nathan’s birthday is this coming week, and he didn’t have a bike, so we took him to Missoula to get a new bike. This is the one he chose, and apparently is awesomecoolamazingfantastic because it has shock absorbers. Good to know.

Fridays are for Life Group

Ken and I host a small Bible Study-type group at our house on Friday afternoons. Our church calls these small groups Life Groups. We have a great bunch of people, and it seems to be growing all the time. It’s a time that we look forward to each week. This little lady is just one of the reasons – this is Salia (Suh-LEE-ya), our granddaughter. She was having a great time at Life Group.

Here’s a bonus shot that I took during Life Group.

My Mom is lookin’ good!

I just had to show off how great my mom looks. I always enjoy spending time with her – I’m so glad she moved here! I can’t believe it’s been 5 years!

(Of course, the peek at my handsome husband is a bonus.)

My poor baby…

This poor little man can’t catch a break this year. Well, I guess he did – he started the year with a broken leg - soon followed by croup, then a stomach bug, RSV, and now double ear infections. I hope he’s building up immunities! This snap was taken while we were waiting for our appointment at the doctor’s office.

He’s going to be completely well soon, and stay that way!

Loving spring weather

It’s Spring Break and we have wonderful weather, so the kids spent almost the whole day outside. Gavin didn’t stay out all day, but he sure enjoyed every minute he was out there. He loves standing at the fence almost as much as he loves his dryer.

Andrew was identifying all the “stuff” on the ground – grass, leaves, sticks, dirt, trash…
Today was a banner day for Gavin – it was the first time he allowed a full tub bath without any crying or panicking since his broken leg. Yay for a clean baby!

It’s April!

I’ve had my little blogging break, and I’m ready to start posting pictures again. I can’t believe it’s already April!

(Taken with my htc Rezound, filtered with Instagram)
We had an absolutely wonderful Easter. You can read about that on my family blog.

2013? That Just Doesn't Even Sound Right.

Wowza. It's 2013. That just seems crazy. My blog doesn't have a focus for this year yet, but I couldn't leave it unblogged after posting daily for so long. I took a bunch of pictures today, too. It has become a tradition for me to take pictures of my kids on New Year's day, so here they are...
Thanks for sticking with me! Happy New Year!

December 31, 2012

The kids had the best time playing Just Dance 4. Kristi danced for over 3 hours straight!

Blessings:

1. Ken and I made a quick trip to Missoula this morning. We had time to talk like adults, we spent a whole lot of money on groceries, and then we came home and got to work. It was a nice morning.
2. Par-tay, par-tay, par-tay! New Year’s Eve party in Scrivnerburg!
3. QOTD from 5yo Kate to Dale when I walked through the room groovin' to the tunes:
   “Look! Your mom's dancing... I think.”
4. It was a long, but great day.
5. Happy 2013!!

December 30, 2012

The second-to-last day of my blessings photo posts! Wow, this year has flown!

VICTORY! The poor guy has to stand at the gate and sing to his dryer from a distance all the time. He never, never, never gets to go and commune with the dryer. Today he finally made it through! He was THRILLED! (Until Mama took him away and locked the gate again.)

Blessings:

1. Nap time! I love naps.
2. I had the opportunity to use my new 22” griddle today – it was actually fun to make pancakes!
3. Gavin at an entire pancake himself, after having eaten a serving of Cream of Wheat an hour earlier. I think he’s trying to put some weight on.
4. We had a different but enjoyable time at church this evening.
5. My cold symptoms didn’t start to show up for real until after I had to sing at church.

Cold or no cold, we’re partying in Scrivnerburg tomorrow. A dance contest, games, puzzles, food…I can’t wait! We haven’t done anything fun on New Year’s Eve since we partied like it was 1999… in 1999.

December 29, 2012

Blessings:

1. It’s been a mellow, low-key day. Yay! (I have to chuckle at my own idea of mellow and low-key – that means I didn’t have to put makeup on.)
2. Kid Central. We seem to collect 'em like some people collect coins. The two spares in this shot spent the day with us. One day this week we had 13 kids here for a while. Craziness. But a fun kind of craziness.
3. Fancy and Salia spent some time with us today, too. (So counting Salia, we actually had 10 kids here today.)
4. Our family had an opportunity to minister to a friend.
5. This house was full of happy kid sounds all day.

December 28, 2012

Blessings:

1. Gavin has his appetite back. He’s been eating everything in sight (including oranges – this was a new one to him today), and sucking down multiple bottles at a time. I think he plans on gaining weight! That would be great, because an 18-month-old child shouldn’t weigh less than the cat.
2. My children make me laugh. One of these days I’m going to show you a comparison of the mating dance of the bird of paradise and Nathan’s version of the dance. Nathan could woo a lady bird of paradise.
3. I’m enjoying my coffee again! (Finally! After the stomach bug last week my taster couldn’t handle coffee. That was sad.)
4. We watched a fun family movie tonight – Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer.
5. Ken and I made fun of a terrible movie tonight – Super Cyclone.

December 27, 2012

Blessings:

1. I love having time off from school because I can do some or all of my work day in the morning. If I get done before dinner I can spend time playing card games with the kids in the evening. Yay!
2. Philip brought his kids over for the afternoon. We had quite a houseful of kids (Rose and Virginia were here too), but it was great!
3. I finally took the time to read a few articles about making gravy – after cooking for 25+ years I thought it was time to really learn how to make a good gravy consistently. This article was the best one I read, and helped me make an excellent chicken gravy to go with our chicken breasts and mashed potatoes.
4. I did get that game time with Ken and Dale. Fun! We played Word Winder – it’s a quick and fun word game. Yay for family game time!
5. I’ve really enjoyed the non-sickie family time during this Christmas break.

December 26, 2012

Blessings:

1. Ken and I decided to make an impromptu trip to Missoula for a few errands. It was a date day!
2. I found my new favoritest ever shoes! They are awesome Mary Janes made by Eurostep. They are so comfortable – even for my skinny-minnie feet. Love love love them! (It’s hard for me to find great shoes.)
3. We got to visit with some wonderful out-of-town friends this afternoon.
4. Jenny, Philip, and their kids joined us for dinner. I’m so glad they’re close so they can do that now!
5. Even though I had to work quite late Ken stayed up and watched an episode of Eureka with me. He’s wonderful.

December 25, 2012

Merry Christmas!

Christmas at Nana’s.

Blessings:

1. We had a great Christmas morning! Presents, fun, food, more fun…
2. For the first time ever, I had all of my children in one place at the same time.
3. We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas day at Nana’s house. So so so many presents, great food, fun people, and then we got to watch a bunch of the crew play a dancing game on the Xbox Kinect. So fun!
4. After Nana’s we came home to open one more present each – Kindle tablets for the kids and a Samsung tablet for Ken and me. Awesomeness!!
5. I thoroughly enjoyed this whole day. I even spent time just reliving it in my mind after the kids went to bed because it was such a great day.

December 24, 2012

Blessings:

1. Getting things done!
2. Tracking Santa on Norad.
3. Dale gets the gold star of the day. Ken and Dale were having a problem with their new shoe inserts and I made a minor suggestion. Ken said, "Your mother may be right. Sometimes she has those years when she's right." (Ken gets points for that.) Dale responded, "Years?! I'd say decades." Yep - Dale gets a gold star.
4. Philip gets the next gold star for the day. I offered him some of the beverage Kristi was preparing and he said, "No thanks. I'm good." Pause. "What is it?"
   A wise man declines such an offer from his mother-in-law BEFORE finding out that it's hot apple cider vinegar and water.
5. Conversation in Scrivnerburg:
   Caleb: If Santa doesn’t come I’m going to get angry.
   Mom: Why would you get angry?
   Caleb: Because I really want Santa to come.
   Mom: But does it fit the spirit of Christmas to get angry if Santa doesn’t come?
   Caleb: No. Jesus is the spirit of Christmas, and Jesus is Happiness.
   Mom: Are you still going to get angry if Santa doesn’t come?
   Caleb – shoulders slumping: No.

December 23, 2012

“You wanted these shelves clear, right Nana?'”

Blessings:

1. Ken and I spent half the day shopping in Missoula with Jenny and Philip. It was fun! (Even if I’m still exhausted.)
2. Nana actually enjoyed the time with 7 grandkids and 3! great-grandkids. Whew. (That coulda driven her crazy!)
3. I was able to eat two small meals today.
4. I still have one more day to wrap gifts! (That’s really good, because this weekend was a total loss for wrapping.)
5. It’s bed time.

December 22, 2012

(This was posted a day late – if you noticed I was missing, you may have guessed who was next to fall with the dreaded stomach virus. I did manage to take a picture of our Christmas tree in its new location.)

Blessings:

1. I survived the stomach bug. I think.
2. I slept through the day.
3. I lost weight.
4. I had a totally peaceful day.
5. I like Dreyers No Sugar Added Fruit Bars.