Happy Horton Holidays!

Well, we survived the holidays. Whew. We had our hands full hosting both sides of the family this year! Lots of dishes and FOOD!

We started Christmas Eve with the Payne side. Lots of goodies were to be had by all!

New Cowboys and Indians to play with...

MORE Erector Set pieces....

And a REALLY cool projector!
Kendyl got a really cool Sit-n-spin! I remember Jared playing with his by the hour when he was little!
After everyone left...the new Christmas PJ's came out, along with new Christmas books! Always the serious one....

And Mr. Neon Reindeer himself....SO cute!
I had fun making these this year...lots of work, but I love cozy flannel jams...nothing better!
We had to make sure and throw out the reindeer food before bed...
Christmas Day brought presents EARLY (the ONLY day all year that Justin willingly gets out of bed EARLY) and then Horton family for lunch, THEN Grammy's house that evening. LONG day! But, lots of fun.
Some highlights were new Lego's, a new Nintendo DS, OSU blankets for all, books, camping gear and new toy dirt bikes.


I am SO going to miss the excitement of them being young enough to get so excited over new gifts! It's my favorite part.

We hope your holidays were very bright and merry, and that you got to celebrate the real reason for the season...Happy Birthday Jesus!

It is finished...FINALLY!

Well, I have only been meaning to get this post done for um...let's see....about 8 days. Sheesh. Can I get just a FEW more hours in the day...PLEASE?!?!? Things have been crazy busy since December 1st hit, and I am starting to freak out.

Anyhoo, just wanted to share this little project that I made with everyone. I saw this idea last year, but never got around to making it. So, I decided that this year, I was going to accomplish it! I was assuming that it would be super fast, and actually had plans to make a few more to give as gifts...BUT...it took ALOT longer than I thought!

It isn't hard by any means, but all the little pieces of the project are a little time consuming!

It turned out to be one VERY long Advent calendar! Yes, 25 little pockets took awhile! I printed off the template and cut them all out, then stiched them into little pockets and sewed a button on each one. The part that took the longest was stiching all those little numbers on! Wow!

I am really happy with the way it turned out though, and I found a really neat Advent activity to do with the kids..we are a few days behind, but it is fun. There is a little treasure that goes in each pocket, and a scripture reference that goes with it. A fun way to count down the days until Christmas, while remembering the reason for the season.

So, back to freaking out and running around like a wild woman trying to get it all done. Why? I really need to start sooner...BUT...I say that EVERY year. Tis' the season I guess.

Happy wrapping!

Oh NO I didn't.....

Yesterday was a BAD day. I started out the day totally exhausted from not sleeping well, the afternoon was spent dealing with an emotionally draining situation, and then I killed our cat. YES. You read it right. I KILLED our cat.



I picked up the boys, business as usual, and drove home. It was a fairly nice drive home for once. No fighting, some nice conversation. All in all, a good car ride. Until we pulled in the garage.



Let me back up a bit and tell you that, as my Dad so lovingly puts it, we have slightly demented cats. They essentially have no fear of vehicles. None. So we always are pretty cautious while driving down the driveway and pulling in the garage. I let the garage door go up and slowly let the car drift into the garage. And then.....up and over SOMETHING. Horrible noise. Kids immediately CRYING. Oh cuss. I think I just ran over the cat!! What the heck? I collected my thoughts ( all 2 of them) and got out to go survey the damage. I couldn't find Lulu at first and finally found her outside underneath a trailer. Of course, she was hissing and would not come out. When she finally tried to run away, it was obvious that SOMETHING was very wrong. Her tail end was dragging on the ground. Jared is slightly freaking out. Justin has bolted to his room to cry his eyes out, and Travis and the dog are slightly bewildered as to why we are pacing and fretting. What a sight. We finally got her into the garage, only to see that she is leaking things...( I will leave it at that) and her mouth is open 'cause she is gasping for air. Oh. My. Word. I grabbed the phone and called Jeremiah, to try and figure out what to do. Of course, my sweet farmboy says "No problem, I will be home soon to take care of it".....UM......NEVERMIND. Taking care of it involved a bullet, and I knew that the kids could not handle that!



I ended up calling the vet to tell them that we were on our way. Now came the fun part. Loading up three sobbing children and a dying cat, and driving to Carlton...just a few miles away, but it felt ALOT farther than that! Sheesh. Between the cat moaning and the kids telling me that I was evil for killing the cat, it was a LONG ride.



Jeremiah met me there, and I left the boys in the car. We took her in and the whole process was over and we were handed a DEAD cat in less than 10 minutes. Wow. In the spirit of saving money, we decided to bury her ourselves.....JOY. I made Jeremiah take her in the truck, and the boys chose to not go with him to do the deed. He even said when he got home that it was awful to bury her.....glad to know he does have somewhat of an emotional side!!! :)



BUT, even after all the drama....God chose to give us a "silver lining" to it all. You will see the pun I have intended in a minute. He placed an angel of an older lady in the lobby at the vet. She was there picking up four kittens that she had just had fixed, and it just turned out that she had one little male that she was needing to find a home for. IMAGINE that?!?!? Jeremiah, suprisingly, was in favor of it and I was laughing to myself thinking this is crazy! I am leaving with a dead cat and a new kitten!! She just kept asking me to look at this kitten and giving me this sweet "come on" kind of smile....I am such a SUCKER!! I took him out the car to show him to the boys and ask them if they were interested. They all agreed that they would love to have him....so now we have a NEW KITTEN. Oh. Brother.



All in all, it has been a very welcome distraction from the drama of losing our beloved Lulu. They were all over it last night and the little two were fighting over him this morning. Little sucker bit me today, but I think he will be a fun addition to our ever expanding ZOO. I still can't believe I killed the cat, but I am glad today is a new day, and thankfully, it has been MUCH better than yesterday!!



So, let me introduce you to our "silver lining".....WILLIS....



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He is currently residing in our control room downstairs, until he recovers from, as Justin put it...."getting his JUNK taken off" So eloquently put, son. Thank you.

My thoughts are stopping here for a moment...

Yah. Pretty much LOVE this. Enjoy!

How could I forget?

I totally forgot to do a Kendyl is 1 post!!! Can't believe it has been a year already since my dear little sister totally skated pain free (pretty much, anyway) through her labor and delivery of this munchkin. I will say to my dying day that NO ONE should be sitting up in bed SMILING while in labor. NO ONE. You just really haven't lived until the demons of labor have taken over your body and you growl at people like you are SATAN, or you hear the splash of amniotic fluid all over the floor and continue to leak like you have NO bladder for at least two hours. Good times right there. Good times.

Oh well. I guess some people just miss out on ALL the fun. But, the end result is always the same....an adorable baby to hug and cuddle and kiss on.

We enjoyed watching her open her presents and cruise around in her Cozy Coupe, which by the way, has EYES. Kinda creepy.

Happy Belated Blog Birthday Miss Kendyl! We love you!

Seriously, Tami...

I will just let you all enjoy this nice little photo that I ran into over at another blog that I read...YUP. That's about all I have to say...I am sure lucky that I live with one of these so I can look at it A LOT. Well, minus the chaps, but hey, who is complaining. Oh, and by the way, this makes a nice screen saver. Great way to get one 12 year old to roll his eyes, one 8 year old to turn red as a tomato, and one 5 year old to ask "Mom, why do you have Dad's behind on the computer?" Ahhhh....good times.

Pumpkin Patch Fun

It's that time of year...Pumpkin Patch Day was this last Sunday...we made a break for it on probably the last sunny day of October! Kendyl, Sean, Kim and Grammy went along with us to Heiser's Pumpkin Patch..always a great place to go. Kendyl seemed to enjoy herself...well, mostly she just wanted to eat dirt clods and suck on her pumpkin stem, but hey, she was totally content!

I had to do a double take when I saw this picture...doesn't Jared look HUGE??? I seriously thought it was Jeremiah at first. The similarities are getting stronger by the day! As soon as she hit the ground, she was on a mission.
Here are the three cutest farmboys around, ready to get dirty and find a really BIG pumpkin. Amazes me, really, that the "competition" between MEN starts at such a young age! But, our rule is, if you can't carry it to the hayride, you can't get it. Seems to control the "Mine is bigger than yours" problem relatively well. And, it saves Jeremiah from having to wrestle mammoth pumpkins two at a time!

Kendyl, Kim, Grammy and I decided to hang out amongst the pumpkins while the guys went through the corn maze. She was most happy to slap her pumpkin and hang out!
The two younger boys are looking forward to dressing up. Justin is going to be a Motocross rider and Travis has plans to be Batman, but I am trying to talk him into being a lion. I have a great costume that I would like to get three kids use out of, but he says the fur "tickles his face" and he doesn't like it. Darnit. I will keep working on that one. And so, another year at the pumpkin patch has passed. Darnit again.

Travis Horton....Soccer Star.

Well, we finally have a winner. One out of three children that played soccer actually LIKES playing soccer!!! Hilarious! Travis has started Kindergarten Soccer (a.k.a. Beehive ball) and absolutely loves playing. He gets right in there and kicks the ball and runs through the whole game. Jared and Justin were usually the ones at the other end of the field picking daisies or hanging to the back of the pack...so...this is very unusual for the Horton clan!!! Jeremiah and I actually looked at each other during the first game and said to each other "IS THAT OUR CHILD?" !!! It has been so fun to cheer him on and watch him laugh and smile.

He even got a chance to play goalie last game and didn't let any balls get past him!

Now, if we could just keep his asthma under control, we will be set for the rest of the season. He had an episode this week that kept him out of one practice and one game. Hopefully, he is over it now and good to go! Way to go little man!

Someone help this child....

My Mom had the task of watching Miss Kendyl a few weeks ago on a Saturday afternoon. I was already planning to spend the day canning and freezing lots of stuff from the garden, and my mom offered to come over and help. She and Kendyl showed up after lunch and we got to work. Sorta. I got down Kendies toy basket, and she happily entertained herself playing with toys and motoring around the kitchen, eating green bean ends, carrot peelings and whatever else she could find under my kitchen table (keep breathing Kim), as well as destroying my cookbook shelf and eating my recipes. She also found great joy in throwing canning rings ALL over the kitchen floor.

The time came for her to have a bottle and a little snooze, signaled by much whining and fussing. My mom, of course, was ALL over this task, because we all know that napping and sitting in front of the TV are two of her favorite hobbies. Because of the fact that my niece is the worlds worst napper, I figured they would be back in a very short amount of time. Hmmmm. Boy, was I wrong.

After 2 hours, I decided I better go have a look, to see what the heck those two were up to....AND.....this is what I found:

HI. LAIR. EEE. UUUSSSS. I tell ya, these two were SACKED out. I am sure glad that the baby didn't slide down to the floor, but I think she woke up with a LITTLE neck ache. Good bonding right there I tell ya. Anyway, I proceeded to wake them both up, so that my sister MIGHT actually be able to get her to bed that night...considering it was 4:30 at that point! This would be why my sister and I are always a little hesitant when my Mom says she will babysit!!!!!!!

She continued to play with the boys for awhile, and they always have fun putting her in, on and around things. She is sitting on the Winnie the Pooh chair that was Jared's as a baby.
So, Kim and Sean, in case you were wondering, this is what your daughter did while you were gone....we accomplished ALOT....what is your excuse!??!?! :)

Some things are better.....Store Bought!

So, I got this CRAZY idea to put all of our tomatoes from the garden to good use and make some of my own Spahetti Sauce and can it. It sounded pretty easy, and of course, I found a lovely recipe online that made it sound SUPER easy. I picked 30lbs of tomatoes with Jareds help, and this morning, I set to work. After I went to the store and bought plenty of bulk oregano and parsley. I boiled water and dug in to skinning all of those lovely red jewels. Yah.
After an hour and a half, I was STILL peeling, with a bucket of tomatoes that had yet to be touched. I was running out of time, since I had to pick up Travis, and I started to get stressed. Then, irritated. Then, disgusted. I finally decided that I would make half a batch, and see how it turned out.
When we got home, I put the pot on the stove and brought it to a boil. And an hour later, it was STILL boiling. After another hour, it was STILL boiling. And I had yet to see anything that looked like Spaghetti sauce. It looked like a red, stringy, gloppy mess, even though my kitchen smelled like Olive Garden at dinnertime. I pondered, let it simmer some more, then pondered again. Didn't look like anything I would want on my Spaghetti :(
At that point, I made the executive decision that Spaghetti Sauce was harder than it looks, and this blech was going in the disposal.
I am OK with it, really, since I at least TRIED it. I have wanted to try it for years, and now I have. Ok, that is off of the list. And, I most certainly won't be trying it again, Thank You. I will stick with maybe just chopping them up and throwing them in a jar to use in soups or things like that. I mean really, one can only be so much of a domestic goddess.
I think after it all, I have just two words for you my friends: BUY RAGU.

First Day of School...again.

How can school be in already? This summer flew by...I don't remember that happening when I was a kid! Summer lasted FOREVER. Not so much anymore.

Anyhoo, now I am officially old...I have a 7th grader. Holy Cow. Movin' on up...way to fast. AND, my baby is in Kindergarten. They seem to be settling in well and enjoying be back..except for those early morning wake up calls. Now those can be ugly, but I won't go into that, cause I would like you to keep thinking my kids are sweet and cute.

Here they are...ready to go. I love how Trav's backpack is as big as he is!

My little man, all growed up:

Justin is in 3rd grade already! He has a man for a teacher this year, and seems to really like him.

Then, my 7th grader. I think my heart is going to stop. I can't talk about it. Just observe how grown up HE is.
So, here we go again. Hopefully this year will be filled with success and not to much homework. Good luck boys!

Check this out!

So in my moment of wasting time this morning, I found this new blog. Oh. My. Word. It has to be the funniest thing I have read in a long time. You all think I say funny things...this lady is freakin' hilarious! I spent a little time reading the new posts and even a few of the older ones and I was totally belly laughing! Mostly 'cause I can relate to just about everything she says! Especially her blog title...which of us hasn't been called the "Meanest Mom"? And for those of you whose kids don't speak yet...just wait.
If you get a chance, check it out. I guarantee it will make you laugh, and who doesn't need that?

Oh...I guess I better tell you that it is the link on the bottom left here by my blog section called The Meanest Mom...sorry, Jeremiah crawled into bed @ 3 am this morning after finally making it home from Chicago, and I never really went back to sleep...things are a LITTLE foggy today!

Here is my little man in his wedding getup! Isn't he SO cute! He is the last of the boys to be in a wedding...I am 3 for 3 now...
Jeremiah's cousin Vanessa got married last weekend, and Travis was Mr. Ringbearer. I was thinking that I was going to have to tell her to find someone else, because everytime we talked about it, he would burst into tears! Not good. But, eventually, (with a LITTLE bribing from me, a.k.a. Legos)he consented and ended up being really excited about it! He actually did really well, and we were very proud of him.

He looks so little!
Vanessa looked so pretty too...

We TOTALLY enjoyed seeing Desiree again, since she has moved to New Mexico now...she stayed the weekend with us, and the boys were stoked to see her and catch up! She and Jessalyn looked lovely as bridesmaids...

I also
made sure to catch one of her and ALL the guys too...so cute!
I know Jeremiah misses seeing her everyday at work, so I will make sure to get him one of these to put in his office...

Even though it was a bit soggy, the wedding was beautiful and we wish them the best!

Mommy heartache

Oh, the joys of motherhood....especially when they make you hurt inside. This has been a rough day for this mommy. I HATE seeing my kids hurt from lifes unfairness. I just want to snap my fingers and make it all go away, but, I can't. And, like today, sometimes you just need to sit and cry with them. I think most of the time I just try and change the subject so they don't dwell on it, or try to convince them that it really can't be THAT bad, but ya know, sometimes it is just OK to let them know that we hurt just like they do and that's OK too. I am finding that having boys makes this emotional thing a little harder for me, because they don't always want to "share" things with me...God designed them to hold it all in, unlike us girls, who just wail and let it all out! But, I still know that they are hurting and I want to make it better.

I want to make sure that everything is rosy for them all the time...lots of friends, lots of fun activity etc., and I really need to remember that I am not doing them any favors really if I make their lives that way...because LIFE isn't always rosy and it is my job to prepare them for the things they will face when they leave my nest. But, I can't help the mother bear that comes out in me when someone hurts one of them...I want to protect them and keep them safe from the hurt.

The one thing that comforts me is knowing that God will ALWAYS be there for them, no matter what. That is my JOB...to make sure that they leave my nest knowing that life and people WILL let them down (it's a fact), but that God will always be there to pick them up, love them and comfort them. It is hard to convince a 3rd grader of that, but I know he will learn eventually. And, today, that is especially important to me....knowing that he will comfort me when I am hurting for my boy.

Wow. This mothering thing is TOUGH, and I feel wimpy today!

We enjoyed a super day at the beach last week, to end summer the right way!
We could have played on the beach ALL day, it was so gorgeous! We had lunch at Mo's of course, first, and then headed down with our toys and beach towels to relax for awhile. I wish I could get more of my pictures to come up, but this stupid blog stuff is not working right today.
I feel like I have finally arrived in that spot where we can take a little break and I don't have to watch the kids ALL the time...I laid on my beach towel and soaked up the sun while they played in the sand...AHHHH. Nice. They were not happy when I said it was time to go...they were really enjoying themselves! And it didn't help that I made them pack up just so we could hit the outlet mall on the way out of town before they closed! Boys & Mall = Mad BOYS. But, we had a mission and we accomplished it without too much dismay...except for the fact that there is NO LONGER a toy store at the outlet mall...OOPS! That was my one crutch, and it flopped! Oh well.

Intruder....

I found this intruder in my bed the other day....he woke me up with his feet in my back. Good thing he is cute or I would have screamed and called the police.

3 Boys at 3 Rivers...

After the fair, we finally got a chance to break away and spend some time up at Three Rivers. Jeremiah's cousin Chris and his family were able to go with us, as well as Grandma and Grandpa and Jeremiah's other cousin Vanessa and her fiance' David. Oh and Tucker got in on the fun too.

We spent alot of time on the Lake and the weather was pretty nice the whole time we were there!
Swimming while we waiting for Jeremiah and Grandpa to come back with the pontoon boat that they rented for a few days...
This was SO much fun! We used this boat to let the kiddos play on and around and used Grandpa and Grandma's boat to ski and tube with. We jumped on and off of it all day...swim and then lay on the back to dry out! Yah! These couches were SUPER comfy for us mommas and Grandma!

Captain Travis and his trusty mate, Tucker.

Floatable love...

Justin rode this dirtbike ALOT.
Coming in for a landing...


And, thanks to Grandma Rita, we have documentation of the beautiful sunsets in Central Oregon...a very relaxing way to end the day....