Friday This & That

* Sam is going to Yakima for the weekend with Kai and Blake. This is a test... I think they will do great as they have covered many do's and don'ts with parents! Have fun guys :)
* Max has an appointment with dr.yeh, orthodontist, today---he is getting fitted for some heavy hardware. They discovered last week a BIG problem and were happy to find it while he is still growing to avoid surgery on his jaw. Lucky!
* Fred & I want a date night this weekend, stay tuned!
* I have church flowers this week...Safeway Floral b/c my yard is sad and dead.
* Laundry.
* Baking an apple pie.
* Hoping Dan calls that he made it safely. He called me from Chicago right before boarding and was tired but excited.
* Ironing.
* Cleaning.
* Ready, set, GO!
* Our photo today is at the Party Barn Pumpkin Carving. We asked Mark to take a family photo for Christmas and he was very surprised when he told us to SMILE...gnarly teeth, of course!

Go Dan Go...Go Around Again!

Dan is leaving the country today. He is going to Chicago by train today and then on to Kosovo via Austria. We had such a good visit with him in Oct. I can't help but be proud of him and his adventurous spirit. He will be attending the U of Pristina in January & in the meantime studying the language with a tutor and traveling. He is hoping that he will get a job at the US Embassy. He has rented a flat & someone in the building works at the embassy & told him he would have job.

Before Dan left we prayed as a family & I ended the prayer with this scripture prayer.Colossian 1:9-12
Since the day Dad & I heard about you, Dan, we have not stopped praying for you & asking God to fill you,Dan with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom & understanding. And Dad and I and Sam and Max pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord & may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you, Dan may have great endurance & patience, & joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified Dan to share in the inheritance of the saints of the kingdom of light. Amen!

Lynden Pioneer Museum Gift Shop

On Thursday, Nov.8, 5-8 p.m. the museum gift shop will be OPEN! This is our pre-holiday evening with sales, a drawing, hot cocoa and snacks. Jerrie comes in and helps me out and rumor has it that one of the snap sisters will be there too. If you decide to some in to shop & can answer a simple question about Jerrie's or my blog you will be given an additional discount.
Love a sale! Other downtown merchants will be celebrating too so get your friends together and have a girls' night out!
PS- the playmobil nativity sets are in...

Teenage Boys

It is the seventh night of Fred's swing shift rotation. It is not said out loud but my boys "know" that by the seventh night I am weary. I have made all the parenting decisions for a week...you know the kind...May I go? May I have a friend over? May I stay out past curfew etc. So tonight Sam, Max and I sit down for dinner and Sam says to me (even before I can pray) "I've been thinking, I'd like to get a tatoo and my motorcycle license. Ummmm-NO! Oh and he wants to go to girls' volleyball state this week in Yakima even though he has not been to a match this year. Ooooh. Those boys are fun. After dinner Max tells me he no longer has "the will to go to school or do homework". What is that all about? He is now sprawled on the couch.
I have to stay the course and just say NO! but I'm not sure I have "the will to parent."
Yikes!!!

A Busy Saturday

Since it rained all day we worked inside. Fred did the floors and I cleaned the bath and kitchen. I made two batches of cinnamon rolls and chocolate chip cookies. Nice to have in the freezer. I am having wrist surgery in November so I won't be kneading dough for a bit.
Sam worked at the farm store and Max worked at the dairy today. Fred is really great about helping me with the wood floors, even when he has to go to work at night. Good thing that tomorrow is a day of rest for our family. Have a blessed Sunday.

In October I made a true scrap book, I used scraps! I had an empty book, black cover and pages, and lots of paper, stamps, stickers and thoughts in my mind. I went through my giant tub of photos and pulled anything Fall, Halloween, soccer, leaves, hikes and made a book. I did not get caught up in chronological order or the even-steven number of pics of the boys. I just scrapped. And it was fun, really fun. The boys have had fun looking through it and when Dan came home he would come to a page and say-Oh I have good memories of doing that or going there! (Yikes! Even good times at the Mt. Baker Winery Grape Stomp) That makes a mama HAPPY b/c really all we want is for our kids to have good memories.