Family pictures spring 2012

I took advantage of the sunny skies here in Northern Washington and took some family pictures. Unfortunately the cornfield behind our house had just been fertilized with cow manure. It stunk sooooo bad.
Logan is our oldest at 16.

Anna is 14

Ella -11

Soren, almost 9

and our baby Olivia, at 6 years old.

I am proud of who my children are becoming. They each have such different unique personalities. They will fight like siblings do, then stick up for each other when it's needed. When someone needs a friend, it's my children who are reaching out to them. They are learning to be kind to others despite their differences in race, religion or culture.

I feel my kids are growing up too fast. I want to slow it down and make these experiences last, yet I know that's not how it's going to happen. Life will continue to fly by. At least I will have these pictures to remind me of the little moments we have together.

Field trips and dog eating eagles.

These pictures of the eagle are taken from my front porch. It's the tree just right outside. You have no idea how nervous this makes me! My little Buster only weighs about 8 lbs. That's an hor dourves for eagles.

I'm thinking of tying Izzie and Buster together when they are outside. We use to tie Izzie to Curly so Curly would get some exercise.

One of the many things that baffles me about Washington is that the kids here think it's hot outside. It's about 40 degrees and the silly kid is wearing shorts and short sleeves. I yelled at both kids and then made Soren put on a coat. Emery just shakes his head and laughs.
The boys are building a fort or something behind the shop. I'm thinking I deserve the worlds worst Mother award for allowing my son to play with knives.

AFTER I yelled at Soren yet again, they went behind the shed to play with knives.

Soren- Here Emery, let's go back here so my Mom can't see us.

He ended up with just one cut.

I LOVE the mornings here.

It's so peaceful and serene outside. This is compared to the inside of the house which is total chaos. I just stare out the window and chant "Serenity now, serenity now..".

The other day was Olivia's first field trip since moving here. I bit the bullet and went along. By the time I got home my stomach hurt from laughing so much. They went to Logan's high school to see the FFA's animals, fish and plants.

This picture is funny to me. The kids were like, Huh?

You an tell Olivia was enthralled.

The kids did like to touch the fish and have a snack.

I totally believe that Olivia's teacher is a very special person. It takes a certain kind of person to be a teacher.

I am not that type of person. I would loose my patience to fast. Shocking, I know! I was fun to watch all the kids. Had a good laugh out of it.

I wanted to go home and take a nap when I got home!

Eagles, Bigfoot and little girls.

My fascination with the eagles is becoming borderline obsessive. I had just taken Buster and Izzie outside for a potty break this morning when I heard screeching. Off in the distance I could see a couple of eagles flying over the nest that I always talk about. These couple of pictures are from my front porch.

After I realized that it was the eagles so close to us, I grabbed Buster up in my arms and ran to the house. I grabbed the door handle and went to go inside but the door was locked. So you can just imagine me screaming " the eagles are coming, the eagles are coming" and running into a locked door. Poor little Buster got smashed in between me and the door. All I was trying to do was save the poor little thing from being snatched. My kids just laughed at me.

Later on in the day Troy and I walked down to the bus stop to pick up Ella and Olivia from school. Soren was home this week sick. I went to show Troy the eagles and they were just sitting off the side of the road.

My flash wasn't on. I could kick myself. Aren't they amazing? Troy stayed back a ways. You know he's scared of birds. It has to do with this unfortunate incident of him being attacked by a falcon. It's quite a hilarious story. I'll have to tell it later.

I can't stand how excited Olivia is to see Daddy. I wish I had that kind of energy at 4:00 in the afternoon. Ella is like "don't embarass me Daddy".

Then she spotted me. I wish.

I was holding Buster.

Poor little thing. He can barely keep up with her.

Then off we go back home. I do this daily. I love this walk. I have to admit that I always take Izzie with me. There is a little, OK huge part of me that is a little scared of the woods.

I swear, one of these days Big Foot is going to walk out of here and want to chat with me or something.

Another spot that I walk by.

It's kind of creepy when I feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up and Izzie will go into her point stance. I wouldn't trade it for the world though. I am so lucky to be living here. The smell of the woods is amazing. The sound that it makes are beautiful even though I'm a huge chicken. Good thing I have Izzie girl to protect me from Big Foot.

So one day you will all here about how I was attacked by a Bald Eagle or mauled by Big Foot. Who knows, maybe Big Foot will become my friend and help me with my yard work this summer.