the view for mom

 Kitchen

 Family room fireplace

 View from upstairs

 Master bathroom

 Master bedroom

upstairs loft

school is back in session!

Summer is over and I had two very excited kids. They were super happy for school to start.

Wiley is now too cool to wear brand new clothes for the first day of school. He just wore what was comfortable. I didn't fight it. 

 My firth grader stood on the porch and posed for many pictures including this one. He is getting quite a personality.

Look Ma!

In in effort to update my mother I am posting a few things that she has missed this last month.

I haven't quilted in so long, but I've been wanting to try out a chevron pattern. I think it turned out super cute, but I learned a good lesson. When the lady at the quilting store tells me not to do it because of the difficulty level, (I'm a beginner level quilter) then perhaps I should listen. I did a lot of unpicking and still left hundreds of mistakes visible. (If I ever do the chevron pattern again I would do a different method using rectangles rather than the triangle method.)

Rosa and Wiley both earned trophies for their recent performances.

Lunch Love

I occasionally include a note in my kids' lunches. One morning I was running behind and was quick throwing stuff into Rosa's lunch box when I noticed this note.

She wanted a note and I hadn't done one so she wrote a note to herself from me. She used a torn piece of a paper plate.  he he

Translation

Rosa,
I love  you so much
love mom 

As she finished getting ready I quick threw my own note in to replace hers.
My heart could burst with my love for her.

Family
 

The view. Amazingly, this view is so much a part of my childhood. I hadn't seen this incredible view for over 15 years. The Tetons are beautiful, but it wasn't the view that brought me back. 


I am blessed to have an incredible family, immediate and extended. I have over 100 cousins, aunts and uncles on my mothers side. We have a huge reunion every other year and I missed the reunion last year. I.need. my. family. They strengthen me, they make me better, and we laugh hard and love being together.

My Aunt Julie threw a Chinese New Year party for adults and I decided that I couldn't miss it. A car full of cousins and my gorgeous sister made the roadie to Idaho with me to enjoy the party. 5.5 hours of driving there and then 5.5 hours back was a small price to pay to see even a small portion of my extended family. The view was just a bonus.

Big Announcement 

Happy kids and two new members of the family! 

Yes, we all do cheep tricks to gain readership right. Here is my first one of the year.  At the beginning of December my son came home with a permission slip asking is his name could be in the drawing for the class pets. I didn't want to burst his bubble and I went ahead and signed the slip, cause I was thinking what are the chances.  Well, funny enough, he won them. On the last day of school he decided to call Dad at work to share the news from school.

     "Dad,  I've got good news, we have two new members of our family!"

Dad was confused to say the least, I had not informed him that 4 weeks prior that I had signed a form. I didn't think there was a need to. Dazed and befuddled Ben started to wonder, who in the family could have had a baby? Was Shara even pregnant?

     "Dad, we now have hamsters!"

My hubby was trying to keep the dread out of his voice said, "Does Mom know?"

A short 20 minutes later the hamsters and four of the happiest kids ever were huddled around them.

We finished December perfectly. We had a lovely time spending Christmas at the cabin. Somehow, now that we have four kids, we finally feel old enough to have Christmas on our own. Like we have earned it. We tested out some new traditions. It was a little strange to plan all the special meals and other special moments but as a parent there is nothing that fills me with greater joy than to have my little family all together. We were all so content to spend time in the same room together for days on end. A truly needed break for our young and busy family. Happy and simple.  


Happy kids on Christmas morning. We took turns opening presents and it was fun to see them be excited for each others presents! 

Fondue for Christmas Eve. A favorite for our family.

 We spent many a morning with green smoothie shake mustaches.

American Doll love.

The day after Christmas the big extended family joined us at the cabin. And that's when the party got hopping. Lots of cousin, lots of food and board games played into the wee hours of the morning. Lots of sledding and playing in the snow. Lots of movies and reading of books. Lots of happy time.