All of us together

So let’s put this into perspective so you can see what ALL of us really means:

2- parents

12- children

6-spouses

14 grandchildren

For a total of 34 people.

This is what it looks like:

 

 

Some of the things we did:

* ate a lot of food—I was seriously amazed at how fast anything edible could disappear

* spent a lot of time outside enjoying the amazingly warm weather

* Micali and Eli had so much fun with the animals on grandma’s farm—chickens, cats, and a dog

 

*played the piano

* tied up Uncle Danny (micali’s new trick while wrestling her daddy, she pretends to tie him up so he can’t move)

* paintballing some of us played some of us enjoyed the game watching from the truck

* Brother Devin leaving to go back to Fort Bragg—He is seriously BUFF!   

* Star’s baptism, family dinner, and a little basketball

 

We had so much fun during our time in Kansas and are grateful for the memories we were able to make.

More pictures to come when I figure out whose camera caught the other fun times we had!

Pulling of a GRAND surprise

A couple months ago I was talking with my sister Kendra. Neither of us were going to be able to make it home at Christmas time so we devised a plan to surprise our parents for Thanksgiving. Although it would be a quick trip we were going to pack in a lot of fun.

Well, in the meantime my Grandma Kueser became sick and it started to look like her time here on earth would soon end. On Monday November 16th I got the call that my Grandma and passed away. Her funeral would be the week before Thanksgiving. I got on the phone with my sisters who live out west and we decided that we really wanted to go to Kansas, especially since if we did it meant that all twelve of us siblings would all be together (this doesn’t happen very often).

As plans were made for the funeral we were able to have the day pushed back to Friday so that we could meet at a central location and drive to Kansas. We all prayed for good weather and safety and were very blessed in our traveling. We left at 4:30 in the morning with the minivan packed to capacity. Four excited sisters and 3 babies 3 and under. We got to our hotel at 10:30 that night just a half hour away from where the visitation and funeral would be the next morning. It was truly a miracle. 18 hours in the car with such young kids and we only made 4 stops.

The next morning we were giddy with excitement.  So far our parents hadn’t heard of our arrival. We did feel a little silly that we were surprising them at a funeral but we hadn’t wanted to cause them any more stress on top of what they were already going through. So as we walked into the visitation prior to the funeral we gave the brothers our children to walk with in front of us. My mom first saw Eli and thought “Hey, that looks like Eli” and then my dad saw me. They both looked at each other and then back at the long line of children entering. They then realized  we had all made it back and we were all overcome with emotion.

My dad had the opportunity to share some thoughts and memories of grandma and I was so grateful to be able to be there to hear him and to attend her funeral with so many of the relatives in attendance. It was a very nicely done service, the music was beautiful and the flowers were outstanding. I think Grandma was probably very pleased that day and I am glad that she is now in a better place where she can be comfortable and happy!

* One of the most important things I took from Grandma’s funeral was her example of service. It was so nice to hear of the many times that she gave of her time to help others. My dad said she was often the first to show up to help when someone was in need. Whether it be meals, clothes, or a helping hand Grandma would see to it that she did all she could to make others comfortable.

Love you grandma

Tired Kiddos

 

Today even before it was naptime Micali and Eli fell asleep when they weren’t in their own beds. This never happens. I am wondering if they aren’t feeling well, or if Eli waking up the family before 6:00 in the morning has them both worn out.

Eli has been waking up before 6 for awhile now and I can’t figure out how to change it. I usually ignore his crying until 6 but he often cries or whines in his bed for a half hour before I go in to get him.

At least when I do go into get him he is always happy to see me and glad I am finally there to help him out of his bed.

Just in time for Thanksgiving…

I often see deer in our yard. Actually almost daily. So just now as I looked out the window when I saw something moving I expected to see more deer in the yard. Nope. These little gobblers came and filled our backyard. There were at least 25 of them but they were a little hard to count. 

Making us laugh

Micali has been saying the funniest things lately. Last night she used her charm to get daddy home from work an hour early. I was talking to him on the phone and she told me she needed to talk to her Daddy. I handed her the phone and she says, “Um, Daddy? It’s okay if you come home now.” After hearing this from his sweet girl he quickly packed up and headed home. Even though he had told me he was going to work in his classroom for awhile.

Then after dinner when she was getting a bath, Luke was spraying her with water. She said “Hey stop! You crazy kid!”    

This post will be continued with I remember all the other cute things she says…….

Another week in our life

I finally got back to the 40lbs of apples I had left after my first marathon applesauce day. I made 7 more quarts of applesauce and 7 pints of apple butter. I wished we had the kind of apples to make pie filling but we just didn’t, so maybe I will try that another time. Here are some pictures of the process:   

Yesterday we finally brought our pumpkins inside. These were bigger ones that the deer couldn’t figure out how to eat yet. Our plan when we got them was to turn them into Jack o’ lanterns, but we just never got around to it before Halloween. I found a recipe for using jack o’ lanterns for pumpkin pie so, last night Luke, with the occasional help of Micali and Eli, took all the guts out of the pumpkin. Today we are cooking the pumpkin and freezing it ready for Thanksgiving. We are also going to bake some pumpkin seeds. The kids were less than thrilled about putting their hands in the pumpkins. Maybe we will get to Jack o’ lanterns next year.

 

 

 

Micali and Eli just love popcorn so after dinner on Sunday night we have started making it a little tradition. They get so excited. Last night Micali ate her dinner in lightning speed so she would be able to have her popcorn. A favorite lately is a Sugar and Spice topping. Micali calls it “brown popcorn” and loves picking out all the brown pieces that have the most topping on them.

We are still here!!

I can’t believe it has taken me so long to get back to this blog.

Reasons why I haven’t blogged:

• canned 14 pints of chicken
• canned 21 quarts of applesauce—and still have 40lbs to go
• caught a yucky cold
• had to figure out a new computer
• hadn’t taken enough pictures
• been enjoying being outside in the nice fall weather-today and yesterday it has been 65 degrees.

So here is our last few weeks in picture form…..

Beautiful fall colors…..

 

 

Eli making sure everyone was working hard while raking leaves.

The deer got into our garage(I DID leave the door open for a little while) and helped themselves to our apples. Can you believe them? It did make a little less work for me though. These are all the apples that had deer bites out of them. We just decided to make it easier for them and put them right out in the open for them to enjoy.

 

Luke had training in Provo and we enjoyed some time with cousins. Here is Eli sitting with James and Micali snuggling next to Justin.

And last but not least HALLOWEEN! We decided at the last minute to go ahead and dress up the kids for the little carnival and dinner they were having at the elementary school. We borrowed the Turtle costume from Luke’s sister Beth and raided Micali’s dress-up drawer to make her a ballerina princess. She loved it! Afterwards we stopped at a few friends houses to give Micali her first try at Trick-or-treating. We had to coax her at each door but by the last one she finally had it down.       

This morning Micali found that her pumpkin had been knocked off the porch and eaten by “the Deerds.” She asked me where they were and then told me she was going to kick them. She means business when something messes with her things!

Saturday was a Special Day!

 

We had a very fun filled Saturday. We heard about a U-pick for apples and decided we should try it out. We came home with 100 lbs. of apples. Micali loved carrying her little bucket and figured out that she only wanted the big ones without spots. Eli mostly just sat by the tree eating apples and watching everyone else. I am sure next year he will be a good little helper though. It took us less than an hour to pick our apples because the trees were just loaded. We will see how the applesauce making adventure goes this week. The guy at the orchard couldn't give us an estimate on how much it would make but I am sure it will feel like plenty before I am through with it. Luke is hoping for some fresh apple pie too.

 

After our apple adventure, we headed over to a house that had advertised in the paper they had pumpkins for sale. He had 3-4 pumpkins sitting in his front yard, so I thought we better hurry before he didn't have any left. Luke and Micali went and knocked on the door. The lady waved them around back and this is what we found in her yard. A TON of pumpkins. I couldn't even believe it. She had even sold a couple hundred before we got there. Micali had fun looking for just the right one and found a little tiny one that she decided was just perfect for her. We helped her out a little and got a couple more so that we can carve them in the next few weeks. The weather was wonderful, and we enjoyed a day spent together as a family and being outside!

Not only did we do some fun fall activities, we also got some new(to us)things for the house: a book case, an entertainment center, and toy shelves for the kids' rooms. After our morning adventures outside, we spent the rest of the day inside organizing and getting rid of even more boxes. I was so excited to finally get closer to being fully moved in. We just had random boxes stacked in almost every corner because we didn't have a place to put anything. Now my goal is a "place for everything and everything in its place." We are getting much closer and it is SOOO exciting.

Inspired by a dear friend....

 

Lastweek I was reading a friends blog and came across a post about a game she played with her toddler called "Paint the Rock." (Thanks Alicia) I have been looking for ways to entertain my two little ones especially, in the morning since Eli no longer is taking a morning nap. This idea was perfect and had them entertained for quite some time. It started with a hunt for the rocks. We ventured around our yard and the neighbor's yard and found some very exciting rocks. Eli mostly liked throwing them and calling them balls but Micali was very diligent about putting them in her bag. I was kind enough to fill my pockets full so that Eli could have some rocks to paint when we went back inside. My camera died right after I took the first pictures of them painting but you can see they did think it was pretty cool to see the rocks change color. That special "rock paint" we used was of course water so they didn't even make a mess. I will definitely repeat this activity in the near future.