Cinderella lost her slipper

For Christmas this year, the Hewlett family did white elephant gifts, we were not able to attend, so we got what was left over.
Chad's mom sent it to us, and it must have cost a small fortune to send this ridiculous glass shoe soap dispenser.
I thought it would be funny to leave it in someone's bathroom and then let them find it, and then pass it on to someone else's house and see where the shoe travels.
So if this shoe is in your bathroom... ...you need to take it to someone else's house who has a blog-leave it there, take a picture of it and post it on your blog with a link back to this blog post and then leave these directions on your blog.
After awhile if everyone plays along we will get to see the shoe travel around, I think it will be fun to see where it goes.
Of course I am easily amused.

Eat and be Eaten; Chronicles of the Lake

We went to Lake of the Woods on Saturday with our friends the Appah's and Garcia's. I have a feeling this is going to be a recurring theme of posts of pictures down by the lake this summer.
I had this problem when I was a full time scrapbooker too, just how many pages of the kids at the zoo do you actually do (ha ha that rhymed) for one year?
The answer I came up with was, as long as each time you tell a different story, you can do as many as you want.
So here is the first installment of Chronicles of the Lake entitled Eat and be Eaten.
The eat part...
We ate.
Lots of chips, hot dogs and soda.
The eaten part...
We got bit by the thousands of mosquito's that were hanging out by the lake.
Remember next time: bring some heavy duty bug spray.
So, see? We learned a valuable lesson, that hopefully we will remember on Wednesday when we head to the lake again!
Now onto the picture portion of this chronicle.
Bekah with her sassy new haircut...
Bekah actually in the water, past her ankles-this is a huge accomplishment people.

Christopher's favorite part of the day was the soda-it's not a treat he ever gets, so he drank up.

He really really loved it.I'm not sure if Paxton loved anything there-he was in a bad mood, but I caught this sweet moment of peace-isn't he one of the most handsome little boys on the planet?
The bigger kids stayed in the water most of the day with their friends...

Zachary and Parker played with this log and pushed the girls out of their tubes, you know, just being obnoxious boys.

These 3 girlies are so pretty, no wonder the boys love to tease them!
And these 2 stinkers-

Porter had to be held constantly or he would eat dirt and rocks, and Chad caught a crawdad and brought it home...

For a pet...

To hang out with our goldfish.

I guess boys just never grow up....

So that was our exciting day 1 at the lake this summer, come back later this week for more water, sunburns, junk food and pretty much all the excitement you can possibly muster for such an awesome family activity.

Baby Hungry

Not me.
Well maybe a little.
But this is about a literal baby hunger.
Porter loves babies right now.
He attacks them, knocks them over and tries to eat their faces.
He's actually just trying to give them kisses, but the babies don't know that.
They are scared for their lives when they see him coming...and once he sees a baby, he gets there fast.
Yesterday when we left the park, leaving several babies covered in Porter drool with terrified looks on their faces, clinging to their disgruntled mama's a thought occurred to me, that hadn't before.
Maybe Porter would like to play with a doll.
I went through Bekah's baby stuff and tried to find the most masculine looking baby, and baby stuff, so Porter could play daddy.
He absolutely has loved it! He feeds the baby bottles, kisses his face, squeezes him, pats him, gives him a toy, covers him in a blanket, and even pushes him around in the stroller. He's not walking quite on his own yet, but I think this will help get him there.

He even tried to give his baby a little mixed drink.

I'm hoping this will curb his appetite a bit for the real thing until some of those babies he loves so much get a little sturdier...so they can handle all the love he wants to give them.

Sweets for my Sweet

For Fathers Day (I know I'm always a day short and like a million dollars shy), I made all sorts of chocolate treats for my sweetie.

These chocolate chips with some roasted peanuts turned into these nummies. (recipe over here).

Then my candy thermometer broke, while stirring up this goodness...

...that made this-but it never set up, although still delicious on a spoon.

Then I made up a big batch of this mouth watering temptations.
My man loves me.

Totally...

Bekah had a playdate with her sweet friend Ellie yesterday and I was just giggling at all their little conversations.
I swear they both turned into little valley girls.
Most of their dialogue went along these lines;"and then I was all, and then you were all" and then the other one would pipe in with"totally". Girls.
How do they just have this instinctively in them?

Sassy Sisters Down on the Farm

The boys weren't the only ones having fun down at the farm.
The girls were being themselves, and by that I mean, being major posers.The camera comes out and these girls know how to work it.

Watch out boys-the Hewlett sisters are making this farm look good.

In their Element

Chad was helping out on Friday by feeding some horses for this guy that he is working with this summer. I know that Chad is going to school to work in a hospital someday, but we might need to have a couple horses and tractors so my boys can do this every day. Christopher couldn't have been happier if it was Christmas, riding around on a tractor with his daddy...his idea of a perfect day.

Then there was Chad, doing that hard work that he does so well...have I mentioned how much I love those forearms? Mmmm mmmm mmmmm!
Watching my boys happy and loving what they are doing, my idea of a perfect day.

Spelunkin'

This last Friday, Chad was able to hang out with us for a bit, so we went to the lava beds and went cave exploring. The kids had a ton of fun with their flashlights and being able to go at their own pace and really explore, it was a fun afternoon.
Here they are going down into the depths of one of the caves... ...and here they are in the depths...speaking of depths,look at how blue my McDreamy's eyes are...he is so adorable in every way.

Here they all are right before we were going into a cave, I don't remember why the kids were making frowny faces, just being silly I guess.

We would have stayed longer, but we had to get going to go feed the horses that Chad was taking care of for the day, we will definately have to go back again. It was a good time for all of the kids-and that my friends is a rare, rare thing these days.

But he has really buff arms...

So one of my moms favorite things to tease Chad and I about is when we were first dating, I was talking to one of my friends on the phone while my mom was in the room, (first mistake) about the new love of my life.
I was telling my friend that my dreamy hunk was short, (2 inches shorter than me-I was young and shallow, and I NEVER went out with anyone shorter than me...more than once), but then I said what will go down in history as the most used phrase by my mother when referring to her son in law, "But he has REALLY Buff arms."
Chad is a hard working man, always has been since I've known him, and he does...have really buff arms.
When I see him flexing those forearms, doing any kind of work...mercy!
Doing that work with a baby attached to his back...seriously!
Makes me want to make more babies with this man with really buff arms...

When Grandma comes to stay

I feel like I am the luckiest girl when it comes to Mother-in-laws. Mona is the sweetest little saint of a woman, the grandkids adore her, and we all look up to her so much. Chad unfortunately has to work a lot, so while she was here I took her and my adorable niece Asha out for some little 'outings'.
We of course had to go to the nearest temple, just to walk around.
I was glad to go see it, I haven't been to it, it's about 2 hours away and to go, I would have to leave my kids ALL day, which I am just barely getting to the point where I might feel comfortable leaving Porter for that long.We spent the day in Ashland one day, walking around and eating treats, and playing at an awesome park. Mona had her camera, and so I didn't bother taking out my big camera for anything but the temple-and then I forgot to get the pictures off of her camera before she went home.
The best part of the trip though, was the chance my kids got to spend with her. They have lived in Oregon most if not all of their lives, so the only chance they get to see her is when we go visit, and then she has all her other grandkids around and errands to run etc... It was nice to have her all to ourselves. Even Porter who is not a cuddler at all, except on the rare occasion with me cuddled up with Grandma and didn't move while she sang to him all the little songs she has in her repertoire.
We love and miss our Grandma Mona so much! Come back soon!

The Farm Girl's Wedding

If I wasn't a full time mom, and wanted to work outside the home, and travel and do all those things that I probably won't ever do, but have come to grips with...
I would be a wedding planner.
I would be darn good at it too.
I have done the flowers for a couple weddings, and helped do the flowers with my friends for lots of weddings, I have helped my mom cater weddings, and have helped with many a reception.
I really think that I would be an excellent wedding planner.
People would tell their friends about the wonderful lady who planned their wedding, and that wonderful lady would be me.
Ahhh to dream the impossible dream...

That dream is what keeps my mind reeling with a running log of ideas for weddings and parties.
The other day I was making a salad, and was thinking to myself...
"Self, these vegetables are so beautiful, I think they are more beautiful than flowers, don't you?"
And of course me being myself, answered, "Yes, yes they are."
That's when the farm girl's wedding was planned.
She will be so excited, this imaginary girl in my mind that will someday say "Oh great wedding planner, what wedding is right for me, a simple farm girl?", and I will tell her I have been planning her wedding for years...
The sweet farm girl bride will carry a beautiful bouquet of lettuce as she walks down the aisle of corn... The bridesmaids would have beautiful bouquets of carrots-you know the kind that chefs like Jamie Oliver always seems to have in abundance growing in his garden with the green stems...
The flower girls would throw brightly colored cabbage leaves in their wake....
The bride and groom would stand in front of the big red barn and pledge their love to one another while the sun sets, as the guests wipe their eyes at the beauty of it all, while sitting on bales of hay.
Later on at the reception held in the big barn...tables would be covered in white with small wooden baskets of beautiful fruit for the guests to sample at their leisure.
All of the food would be grown there on the farm and it would be fresh and delicious, and the guests would marvel that they had never been to a wedding that even came close to the magic of this one...
Then they would all wave their white hankies as the bride and groom ride off in their pumpkin carriage.

....and when my wedding dialogue starts colliding with a bedtime story with a fairy godmother, I realize, I should probably stick to being a mom for now.

When I grow up...

I am in the Primary presidency in my ward, and we just had our quaterly activity. It was all about what the kids wanted to be when they grew up. They all came dressed up like something they wanted to be, and then they went to different stations to learn about different jobs. The kids all had resumes that I made up for them, and they went to each 'job' to get more experience on their resumes. Super cute and super fun. Here are my rugrats dressed up in what they want to be when they grow up... Bekah my ballerina...

Christopher, my little cowboy.

Then Ryeleigh-our doctor/nurse, who really wants to be a teacher, but we had funner doctor dress ups than teacher dress ups, which is really all that mattered anyway, right?

Compromises

Chad wanted 'regular' pancakes, I wanted 'healthy' pancakes, Bekah wanted 'chocolate' pancakes...thus compromise pancakes were born, stacked, and gobbled up gone. The end. Recipe for my compromise pancakes over here at the yum yum blog.

Helpin make dinner...

We have our summer chore charts in full swing here at the Hewlett house. This year we are doing flags and the kids can earn stars each day to earn prizes each week. They have one assigned chore each day and then they have to pick a job out of a box of popcicle sticks. The rest of the jobs on the chart are things like getting dressed, reading, writing in their journals and doing service for their siblings.
Once a week Bekah is supposed to help me make dinner.
I love to have my kids help me in the kitchen, as long as I can prepare for it by making something that they can actually help with.
We had tilapia packets this night with sweet pineapple sticky rice.
Bekah made all the tilapia packets-and they were scrumptious!
The recipe is on the recipe blog....and your kids will eat them, at least all of mine did-even Ryeleigh who is a self proclaimed fish hater.

By the way...that adorable apron she is wearing...it was mine when I was little-Strawberry Shortcake was one of my faves, right after Rainbow Bright. The apron is still in perfect shape, and I remember wearing it all the time-so much fun to see my girl wearing something that was part of my childhood...she also wears my old t-ball shirt to bed sometimes, it is so cute!

Porter Samuel, How do I love thee?

I can't even begin to count the ways!

Bekah Ballerina

Bekah had her first recital this past weekend, and she was beautiful!
Both of her Grandma's were here to see it and a couple of her cousins too.She knows what she wants to be when she grows up now, and can't wait for next year.
She was so cute about the whole thing.
She took it so seriously.
She was in a class of 4 and 5 year olds, this picture pretty much says it all.
The rest of the class, cute little girls dancing an adorable dance in tutu's.
Miss Bekah, serious ballerina.Every arm extension straight, every toe point perfection.
Seriously, her being serious=too funny.
She was expecting flowers, because "every ballerina gets flowers at the end of the show, don't you know?"
Grandma Julie delivered perfectly with a dozen pink roses.

Her mom couldn't be prouder to be the mom of this perfect, beautiful little ballerina!

More pictures are on her blog, and the video is here on the family videos, if you care to watch, it's only a little over a minute long.

Summer 09 Family Pictures

The kids (Zachary and Ryeleigh) have arrived, and my mom was here to pick up her teenage brat, so we had to do some family pictures.
Can I just tell you, that Topher and Porter were a walk in the park compared to the brooding adolescent you see on the far right!
None were perfect, there was always somebody, too stiff, had a funny face, or eyes closed, or not looking, but there are a few keepers!
My mom took a million (or at least close to it, she's fantastic-it's the subjects that were struggling!)My mom is editing the good ones, so I will post the winners when I get them... I really like this one.But for now-here is one where I would have like to push one of the family members into the creek below.

And that's actually one of the better ones.