"Mom, why did you name me...

Hunter?" Hunter asked me one morning while waiting for the bus. "Is is because dad wanted me to be a hunter? But I don't want to hunt, I love everyone and everything and I don't want to hurt animals. Why don't you call me Caretaker, you know, because I like to take care of the animals? Maybe this can this be my new nickname."

Caretaker definitely suits Hunter well -- he won't even let us swat flies in the house. He thinks we should shew them out instead. I hope he keeps this sweetness with him always.

Looky what I found...

After reading all your valuable opinions and Dana's comment on earth tones, I went back to JcPenny.com and found a "custom" settee (same design but you can pick the different fabrics). What about these 2 options? Paisley or Plaid? or the Black and White?

Yeah! Hunter finally was able to start...

Violin lessons. He has been talking about it for months and last night we finally received the okay from the teacher for him to join the school group. So immediately after school, off to the music store we went to rent the violin. He is so cute with it -- he played it most of the day yesterday, learned how to use rosin, and slept with it last night.

When he met his teacher, Mrs. Chadwick, he gave her a big hug and said, "I have always wanted to play the violin. My mom did too, but they did not have violins back then." The teacher and I looked at each other and laughed -- I guess 35 years-old is ancient in child years.

My toothless duo...

Kadan and Addy. Addy lost her first tooth on Saturday and then lost another last night. After wiggling his tooth for days, Kadan lost another tooth at school (this was his plan since you get to go to the nurses office and get a cool tooth-bag necklace). They look so cute together with their toothless grins.

We have just a little bit of paradise...

here in The Shores as Rainbow Lake. Just a little 5 minute walk from our house is a fishing dock at one of the only natural lakes in the area. Kadan has been asking everyday if he could "please go fishin'" and yesterday I promised him if he read a book, got all his homework done and did some chores that I would take him fishing. Well, after he worked real hard and ate dinner it was time to go -- only trouble was it was getting dark and there are no street lights in the area. But, since I promised we went anyway. Just one cast and his line got so tangled up that we had to come home -- this was definitely a mess for Dad to fix. So, what did I do as I looked at my poor son, devastated that his fishing trip lasted less than 1 minute at the lake? I promised him that we would go fishing in the morning. "Okay," he said totally excited, "As long as we can take Addy this time. She really wants to come fishing with us."

5:45 came too early this morning for me but not for happy Kadan. He was dressed lickety split and woke up Addy. By 6:00 we were making our way to the lake. As soon as we got to the dock the scene was amazing -- the sun was just beginning to peak over the treetops making golden reflections in the lake, in unison a flock of ducks took off from the water to land a few hundred feet away, a light fog was coming from the lake blowing across the water, and you could see little fish boils all around. It was definitely a little bit of paradise. We caught TONS of moss but had a blast anyway. Now the kids are planning their afternoon fishing trip after school. Oh, what fun!

More furniture opinions

With rearranging the furniture we (my mom, sis and I) were able to come up with some valuable sitting space. We have a little bay window area that I am going to put a round pedestal table and 2 wood chairs (a great find at a store that was going out of business) but am in need of more seating. I thought I would put an upholstered settee in the area to make it a comfy place for me to work on my computer. I think I have narrowed it down to 2 options:

Option 1 -- a cheaper settee that is 49" long with this print. This may be too wild for my taste but I could add some neutral white pillows or something. There is one other color option (a light tan) but I am concerned that it may get stained.

Option 2: A more expensive white slipcovered (easy removable and washer safe) which is a little bigger 56" and would sit perfectly in the space. I like the little ruffles around the edges and the wheels on the legs. I would totally pick this one but it is almost twice as much so I am not sure if I love it enough to pay more for it. So, what do you all think? Option 1 or option 2.

Yee Haw...

We had a fabulous White Mountain Labor Day this weekend. From horseback riding, to playing flag football in the rain to eating our hearts out to biking all around to hiking at the beautiful reserve -- we had a BLAST. My parents, Annie and Harrison, and Shannon and her kids all came up for Labor Day weekend. Dave, Annelise, Karen and Gabby were going to come but at the last minute could not make it -- they were totally missed.

What a wonderful weekend -- I just love being with my family. We have fun even if we are doing nothing. Ian -- Mr. Tease -- would love to pick on my mom and Annie just to hear them squeal. Shannon, Annie, Mom and I spent hours looking through house books, reorganizing my furniture to make my living room and dining area ROCK (I love it now) and chatting about nothing. Grandpa kept the kids occupied by throwing the football spiral after spiral. The kids were having so much fun together just playing outside. We had more grandiose plans -- fishing, 4-wheeling, canoeing, etc. but time just got away from from us. I must admit, it was nice to just relax most of the time.

We topped off their last night with the best thing ever -- watching Sound of Music, singing at the top of our lungs, drinking Ian's favorite secret recipe smoothies and munching on brownies.

Harrison and Spencer (spencer's the oldest grandchild). Look how handsome these boys are.Dad, bringing up the rear on Snowflake.Yeller was a sweet yet subborn horse -- he took good care of me but did not want me to tell him where to go or what to do -- just like my other man back home.The cowboy that took us on the ride gave Kadan his hat -- Kadan was estatic and even tried to wear it to church on Sunday.Grandma and Bo singing "Wheels on the Bus" until they were singing and walking and panting.And the GRAND FINALE event was Kadan accidentally disturbing a wasp nest and getting stung several times. Then Grandpa, Hunter, Ian, and I got stung. We probably looked like crazy people running out of the trail crying and screaming flailing our arms.

Cute side-note story -- on the trail ride we had to cross a fast running creek. Harrison's horse stopped dead in his tracks and not matter what encouraging was done -- it kept backing up. All the horses started to get a little anxious. Finally, after the cowboy got the horse going, it went crazy bucking and galloping away. Harrison was saved by his shirt getting stuck on the horn. After that Harrison was nicknamed "4 seconds" since he rode the bucking bronco like a champ. We later found out that there was a snake that spooked the horse. HOLY COW -- scary!

Hunter then asked the cowgirl what would his nickname be. She thought and thought, giving him tons of suggestions. At the end of the ride, she came up with the name "Burger Slinger" since he was tough enough to whack the snot out of the horse. If she only knew that little Hunter wouldn't even hurt a fly -- but it stuck and that is what made the nickname so funny. My little Burger Slinger!