Harry Potter Party

This post is part of this weeks checklist.

• finish posting pics from summer (this is for our personal record--other wise why would I need to post about things that happened 3 months ago)

My teenage sisters put on this fantastic Harry Potter party this summer and then we (adults/older children) went to the movie. I love having teenage sisters for so many reasons--for one they add so much fun into my life.

Potions class

Kaelin's sweet hair

He must have seen the frog blood or something

Charms class--turning chocolate (kinder) eggs into toys

Owen is still chanting "eviosaaaaaaa"

Flubberworms in a bun

What you can't sense from this picture is the whole atmosphere--a very dark room, candles on the table, glowing stars on the ceiling, H.P. music playing in the background.

The kids entered a new world in that room and you could see it on their faces--watching that was MY favorite part of the party

He could really be Harry Potter

Getting Measured at Madam Malkins in DIAGON ALLEY
Lucy's favorite part!

They even had a HOGSMEADE in the backyard
with the Joke shop, and the Candy shop, but we were all so busy manning
the stations the photo's are scarce. We are going
to do it again next summer let me know if you'll be in Utah in July
and I'll send you an invite

family pictures

We got these taken yesterday and our photographer sent us the link to her blog, where she has already posted of few of our pictures. It got me REALLY excited. I love them.

http://upstatephotography.blogspot.com

Kids are funny and have a hard time sitting still. Lucy just laid down in the middle of the picture taking, not prompted and I'm pretty sure not posing, just wiggling around like a little kid and leaning over...it turned out so cute.

Checking it off!

Ever since I returned from our summer internship I have never felt like I could "catch up." My TO DO list always seems a little too long. I don't like to live feeling too BUSY. I love to live--filling my time comfortably. I've been pushing through the weeks (and actually QUITE enjoying them) but also feeling like any week now it will slow down. It hasn't, so I am evaluating. What is it that I am doing?? Here are some of the randoms "extra" things that life has me busy with this past week or so.


Mail issues. We had someone getting our mail while we were gone, then she moved and we forgot to ask someone else to collect it and the mailbox filled up and I guess our mail starting getting sent back to people. The weird thing now is we get some mail, and other things have been sent back to friends and family. Who knows what all the "businesses" are thinking that have received our rejected mail. HEADACHE. I talked to the head postal carrier today and we are trouble shooting. This is a great chance for all of you to tell me how sorry you are that I didn't get that large package or thoughtful letter you sent me last month!



Changing the clothes out of our 72 hour "bin" and trying to eat all the snacks that are going to expire in the next month or have already :)

Rinsing out an Extra Large garbage bag full of laundry detergent containers from past tenants that have been collecting some major dust in our shared laundry room. Now I can send them off to be recycled...and now I won't have to wash dog hair and grimy dust off Owens hands every time he finds them while I'm busy washing :)

Working on food storage (this has been on ongoing 4 week project.) Someone had this great idea of making a week plan of meals--breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks. Then buying enough of these foods to last 3 months

Kurt needed a pair of pants hemmed...and almost went to the tailor (it was very inexpensive in Beijing and so convenient that he always did that). I decided it was time to pull out the sewing kit my amazingly talented friend Jena gave me back in high school--it has accompanied me through all my travels thus far in my life and embarrassingly I have never had to stock those cute little spools of thread she included for me! THANK YOU JENA. I watched a tutorial of how to hem a pair of pants on the internet and an hour and half later I was done :) :). Now my usual self would just do it sloppy and quick and poorly. But the better part of me won out that night and I was OBVIOUSLY very careful and my mom will be AMAZED to hear that when Kurt tried them back on he said the length is PERFECT! This is also not my usual standard. The mushy part of this post is that Kurt loved that I did that for him and he thought it was cute that I was sewing something. I liked that feeling even better than the praise of a perfect length!


HMMMMMMM. If you read about our camping trip you read that I found "last years" mouse nest in our camping chair. Turns out it was probably this years. Lucy's room got that stinky dead mouse smell in the walls that we enjoyed last year--sorry if this is so gross. So she slept with us for 3 days while we aired out her room and waited for the smell to go away. A while ago kurt laid out some poisen in the garage just in case...it has been disappearing very fast so it's great to know there are probably more fun days ahead! Then one morning Kurt puts his foot in his shoe and thinks " Owen must have left me a little toy" and then shakes out a dead (but twitching) mouse and screams and like a girl!! I wasn't right there so I don't know that for sure. He continues taking the kids out to the car (for a fun outing) and so I go get a plastic bag (only ziploc would do for this--no generic brand) and dispose of the mouse. I know they are so germy but he/she was little and actually cute. But I am still mad he/she was in my house.

Putting up our few meager halloween decorations with Lucy. Very carefully sorting them out of the garage in case I find another you know what.

Trying to choose a photographer, location, and outfits for our FIRST ever family picture. I really don't like shopping. I really don't know much how to coordinate things. AND looking at this snaphot I am REALLY hoping things work out a lot better for the real deal then they do here! Maybe I will panic and just go with white tops and blue jeans can you ever go wrong there?



Planning fun playgroups for the next 3 months such as this one at IRON KETTLE FARMS

Lucy "saving" Owen from the mean chickens

Filling all the paper work out for renewing my passport--getting the pictures done and being very suprised when the worker (at the photo place) didn't know what to do because the pictures were kind of dark. So he said OH WELL and downloaded and printed them anyways. We have some friends getting married in Canada next month so I'm hoping i get this back in time!!

Dealing with a minor one of these (above) and using WAY too many of these (below) The nasty but short cold has gone through everyone in the family except for Kurt so far.


And hoping those colds don't get any worse because we have been collecting documents and having an interview to get these two rascals (below) insured again. We decided kind of last minute to switch there insurances. A good financial move...but only because I think we made it. At this point they are insured but just with out cards...so still hoping we don't have to see the doctor until we get those, unless of course they get sent back because of our mail issues.

Running out of ink several weeks ago...not wanting to buy it online SO EXPENSIVE, going to the store...they are out of our kind of printer cartridge--suggest another that will still work. Take it home, doesn't work, take it back, get a new one and print 5 or 6 alignment pages wasting a LOT of ink and still never getting it to work unless you scan and print instead of hit COPY. Next weeks to do list will have something like Call Dell representative to help me get this WORKING!

Taking 100 photos of things I've been doing so I could post them on my blog. I hope it was worth it.

Trip to Buffalo

We finally made it up to see some gradeschool/highschool friends who are living in Buffalo. We toured the Buffalo Bills stadium--He plays for the Buffalo Bills. Then visited with them and their cute girls in their home. They treated us to a "Chicken Finger" Pizza, which I LOVED. It was pizza with a white sauce(not red), LETTUCE, tomatoes, chicken wings and who knows what else on top. Sounds creepy, but it was awesome. I wish it wasn't just a Buffalo special. It was so enjoyable visiting with them and learning about their families life amidst a career in the NFL. They are an inspiring couple and I am so glad we made it out there.






We also spent the night in a "hotel" which was nothing short of fantastic in Lucy's eyes. Me, I prefer my own bed and own home, but I like visiting people so I make do. We stayed at the same hotel as some friends from Ithaca, so we stayed up really late like until 10:30 chatting. Kurt and I were taking turns hanging out in our friends room while the other stayed with the kids. It only dawned on us in the morning that we all should have just sat around in the hall outside our room just like the good old days--trips in highschool.



The next day we made it to Niagra Falls--after feeling seriously panicked that Owen was going to somehow break away and fall in the river and.... I finally decided to just keep him strapped in the stroller practically the whole time. The gaps in those railings were just way too big, and he is just still a little too reckless. After that I started to have a good time and enjoy the beauty of the falls. It was a GORGEOUS day!

5 seconds

All it took was for me to turn my head to take a picture of the children in the back of the car. FIVE seconds and he found a way up and closer to what he was after.



This picture says more about my little boy then I care to write! He just cracks me up.

The camp out

Camping Fun vs. Camping not so Fun

Fun--the anticipation, packing up, Not so fun--finding an old mouse nest full of droppings in our camping chairs, Fun--gathering up firewood from our recently trimmed trees, loading up the car, Not so fun--getting stuck in traffic, Fun--driving through a small river, Not so fun--no park ranger in the office--be back at five, don't know where to set up camp, Fun--Lucy and Owen running around while Kurt and I set up the tent , Not so fun--Owen running too close to the road, Fun--rolling out sleeping bags, kids playing and LOVING it, Not so Fun--getting nervous about the cold night ahead, Fun--going to see the Gorge and crunching all the leaves on the way, Not so Fun--Lucy insisting on pushing the stroller and going painfully slow, Fun--getting the fire started and roasting hotdogs, watching Owen drop his hotdog 100 times while trying to get it back on the skewer, Not so fun--eating the hotdogs :), already feeling to cold and rushing through dinner, Fun--sitting around the fire singing songs, Not so fun--Kurt forgot his guitar, getting Owen's pajamas on and trying to teach him how to sleep in a sleeping bag, Fun--Kids are asleep Kurt and I get to hang out by the fire, Not so Fun--I am panicked about Owen being in the cold...Kurt offers to take him home and join us in the morning, Fun--Lucy and I sleep pretty well, we make a decent fire in the morning. Not so Fun--my socks, only pair of shoes and pant legs get soaked through from the morning dew, Fun--Kurt and Owen return, Kurt brings his guitar and we are serenaded by the fire, Not so fun--Mel gets stung by a wasp, Owen spills cherrios and milk all over the double sleeping bag, for several reasons Kurt and I decide the tent we just bought is a piece of junk and wasn't all the cheap, Owen gets stung by a bee, Cleaning out and taking down the tent and tarp (I usually never like this part), putting everything back once you get home, Fun--taking a warm bath or shower and getting all clean and warm again.

I was the one begging for us to go on this camping trip and I have to admit that I felt it over the weekend that the not so funs outnumbered the funs...I think much of this could have been avoided if we made it in the summer when it was warm. Or if I could just have a better attitude. Even though it wasn't the trip I was hoping for, I really did enjoy experiencing it with my family and I know Lucy thought it was the greatest little camp out ever and she'll wonder why we don't do it every weekend. It is great to watch your children delight in things.





















































The Bee Sting