Yard Cleanup

I really like Fall, how it gets colder outside, how the leaves change color, and that Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas are that much closer. What I do not like about Fall is having to clean up my yard.

When I want to clean up the leaf debris outside, I can't just let all the kids out of the house....I have to get their boots, warm coats, hats, and gloves on and hope they stay bundled up. Once I get them all outside I have to hurry to rake up all the wonderful leaves into piles while trying to keep Damon and Joel from running through the piles (for some reason they love to obliterate my leaf piles). Usually the kids don't last long, and they get bored and want to go back inside the house. The other day I got lucky though.

Damon grabbed the spray gun for the pressure washer and imagined it to be his giant hunting rifle.  He ran around the yard "hunting big game" which means he imagined that all moving things were his target (Tank, Rocco, Joel, Olivia, me, planes in the sky, and overhead birds). 

(Damon with his "hunting rifle").

At one point he tip toed over towards me, made a shooting sound, and then told me that I was an elk and that he shot my leg so I was supposed to hop around on one foot. He then de

monstrated the wounded elk walk....it was funny. So I hopped around for a little bit while raking up my leaves.

Joel managed to run through a pile of leaves before I could get them in the garbage can, and he spread them everywhere. I told him to help clean up the pile and handed him a rake. I think he was more than happy to rake up the leaf pile he destroyed.

Olivia kept finding leaves to show me....mostly the ones that weren't all dead and brown. Then she brought me some acorns and those things that come from Oak trees that crunch when you step on them ( I tell Damon they're "oak poppers").

Of course by the time I was finished raking and disposing of all the leaves in the backyard, Damon was harassing Olivia and Joel, Joel was getting annoyed with Damon, and Olivia just wanted to go inside, as displayed by her crying at the back door and taking off her boots.

The Pumpkin Patch

We ventured down to the pumpkin patch last Monday.  Joel and Olivia were tired so getting them to be happy about picking out pumpkins wasn't really going well.  Plus everytime Joel picked up a pumkin it had those prickly things on the stem, so he just got mad.  It seems that everytime I want to get pictures of my kids, they never want to cooperate.  After Josh gave them all rides in the wheelbarrow and acted silly with them, they cheered up.  

(Olivia was the happiest after she saw the lambs, goats, and chickens).  

(Joel was super happy climbing on top of the hay bales).  

We got some good pumpkins and the kids ended up having a good time.  I got some pictures and lots of pumpkins so I was happy. 

   

A Self Serve Breakfast

The other morning I could hear my two little mischief makers down in the kitchen.  When Joel and Olivia are together....it usually ends in some sort of mess.  I didn't hear the fridge alarm beeping, so I knew they weren't there.  I did hear the sound of glass being knocked together so I hurried downstairs before whatever glass thing it was ended up in pieces on my kitchen floor.  When I got downstairs I found this.

Nothing broken, no giant mess, just Olivia and Joel on the counter top helping themselves to a breakfast of Nilla Wafers.  They even got out some trays to put their food on.  The breakfast cereal is in a cupboard too high for them to reach so I guess they figured the Nilla Wafers in a cupboard they could reach would work just fine.  These two kiddos are funny!

The House that Damon Built

While driving in the car I saw a bright blue house and asked Damon if he liked it. Surprisingly, the kid who loves all things blue said "no." He proceeded to tell me that our own house was "lame" and that we needed to have a blue slide so he could slide downstairs instead of having to walk down every time. "There would be a blue bed at the bottom of the slide so you wouldn't break your back." "Well what else should we do to our house Damon?" I asked. "We need to be next to a runway so we can fly the plane. There would be a runway into our blue garage where we can just get in our plane and fly so we don't have to walk or drive to a airport hangar. In the backyard there could be a giant lake with a boat launch and our plane would have giant floats and we would have a diving board with no diving board rules and we could jump in, plug our nose, and float with our life jackets on. There would be a slide longer than the slides inside our house that would let us go super fast into the lake. We could have floaties at our lake and lots of rubber sharks. Five rubber swordfish, five great white sharks, five hammer head sharks." "Do they have to be made of rubber? Can't they be real?" "Not real, because if they were real they would bite us.........they all have to be rubber!" "Anything else our house should have?" "Yeah it should have a blue roof and blue walls. The stools in the kitchen need to be automatic so they come out of the ground and I don't have to pull a lever to make them move up and down." "Wow, those are some good ideas, thanks Damon. We'll have to let dad know all your great ideas."

So one minute he didn't want a blue house, and the next minute he wants a lake, a garage/hangar, indoor slides, a diving board, and of course......a blue garage, a blue roof, and I'll just assume the whole house will be BLUE.

Where are you?!?

The other morning I was cleaning up after breakfast and witnessed Olivia trying to find some secret escape hatch in order to get away from her brothers. She was more than content in the cupboard with the plates and bowls. I didn't hear a peep from her. I had Damon come into the kitchen and try to find her. I had to show Damon which cupboard she was because she was being so quiet. He opened up the cupboard and Olivia let out a happy little giggle. Maybe she'll be a regular winner in Hide-N-Seek. She is very mischevious, but cute all the while.....and she knows it.

Our First Family Flight

We have been trying to visit my brother, Austin, and his family in southern Cali ever since Josh got his Private Pilot's License back in April. In true Hunsaker fashion ("things never seem to work out as you had planned them to") our hopes of getting down were not sooner than later, but definitely later. We were going to head down for my birthday weekend, but no dice, and so the story had been going. Eventually (as Hunsaker fashion does.........or more likely when Our Father in Heaven sees the time as right) things worked out, and we were able to get a trip in to visit Austin's family.

We got to the airport just as it started to rain, but luckily our departure went smooth and Josh was able to find some clear patches and we maneuvered through the rain storm. I will not lie......I was nervous because this was my second time on an actual flight with Josh as my pilot, and we had all the kids in the back seat for their first flight. So it could have gone very badly with the kids going crazy, but luckily they slept, ate, and played nicely for the majority of the flight. Thank goodness for answered prayers!

We had to avoid some forest fires in Nevada and California, but nothing scary. By night fall we were landing and were greeted by our cute cousins Makenzie and Ethan and Uncle Austin. It was nice to be out of the plane and heading to Austin's house to relax.

On Saturday we hit the beach in LaJolla and it was so nice. We haven't spent much time at our freezing Oregon beaches with the kids, and so I wasn't sure how they would be with the waves and the mass loads of people. Luckily the kids stayed close by, chased seagulls, rode boogie boards, and had a blast! (Damon running around like a wild man and loving every minute of the ocean).

(Joel didn't stop laughing the entire time he was in the water......well except for the times the waves got a little bigger than him and his open laughing mouth got filled with salt water! Then the laughing turned into spitting).

(Olivia had fun, but by the end of the day she was exhausted).

Austin and Josh took Makenzie, Ethan, and Damon over to an area where Leopard Sharks were breeding. It was an experience to be that close to sharks with no protective gear on, but this shark breeding is a regular thing and the sharks just mellow out (as we were assured by Austin). They all came back alive to our little beach area so Austin was right.

Sunday morning Cherisse wasn't feeling well and so Austin ended up taking her to the hospital to get checked out since their little boy was due in about a month. I was worried that the steak dinner Josh had cooked up the night before didn't sit well with her, and that's what made her not feel so great. A few hours later we got the phone call that Austin and Cherisse had welcomed their new little boy into the world. I was stunned they had the baby, relieved that Josh's cooking hadn't made her sick, and so happy that we were in town to help take care of our cute little cousins. This trip was definitely perfect timing.

The kids played and played, built forts, read books, fought, all the usual kid stuff. We had a good time hanging out with all the kids and on Monday Austin arranged for us to go swimming at a friends house. Since we happened to be in California during some 100 degree heat wave, we opted for the pool time and that was a great decision. The 5 kids had a blast (poor Olivia slept the entire time we were there and missed out on the pool fun). We were very grateful for Austin's hospitable friends sharing their pool.

(The Cousins: Joel, Olivia, Damon, Tessa, Ethan, the neighbor kid....and Makenzie was at school).

We ended up leaving on Tuesday morning and had a safe flight home. Once again the kids were great in the plane. (As we landed I finally took a picture of the kids in the plane. Damon with his headset, Joel was asleep until he got the forearm to the face, and I'm pretty sure Olivia was checking out all the other planes).

It was a blessing to be in California when we were, to help watch some cousins so Austin and Cherisse could be with their new little boy. I think Austin and Cherisse felt bad we didn't have some "California Adventure Vacation," but that's not why we were there. We were meant to be at their house at that time and I'm so happy we could be there to help. That's what families are for.

So our first family flight will truly be memorable.

Green Damon

A conversation between Damon and dad:

Josh - "If you're done with your yogurt go throw it away Damon."
Damon - "Throw it away?"
Josh - "Yeah, go put it in the garbage can."
Damon - "Why would you throw it away when you can recycle, you crazy!"

I thought this was funny because I am always rising out plastic yogurt cups, or putting emptied cereal boxes in our giant blue recycle bin. So, obviously Damon hangs with mom all day and is realizing that we can recycle without too much effort. If Damon starts advising that we switch to a low flow shower head, I will definitely be putting my foot down there!

Damon & His New Pal (Phil)

We have had some heat this week and are lucky enough to have pool set up in the backyard. Claire and Phil came over for a cool down and Damon didn't hesitate to join them. It seems that eveytime Phil is around, Damon spouts out some interesting comments.

While playing in the pool, Damon kept referring to Phil as "you." So Phil decided to clear things up and said, "oh, by the way my name is Phil." Damon replied: "Oh, thanks for warning me!"

Once Damon figured out Phil's name then came, "Hey.....I remember your name. I can say it 5 times.....watch! Phil, one. Phil, two. Phil, three. Phil, four. Phil, five. See!" (Good thing Damon counted it out, Claire and Phil probably would have lost track of how many times he said Phil's name).

He informed Claire and Phil that he had 20 girlfriends at church, but they were all sick with colds, coughs, etc. (This is news to me. I thought he only had his eyes on one or two.....not twenty).

Once everyone was done in the pool they came inside. Phil has been to our house before but Damon didn't remember that. He was quite hospitable and felt the need to treat Phil like he was part of the MTV Cribs crew, showing him all around the kitchen, and even inside the fridge. "Here's the oven so you can make hot food. Here's the fridge, we have grapes, apples, meat. That's the toaster. This is the microwave where you can heat up food to eat...........the garbage..............here's some towels to dry off your hands. Here are some knives, but they are sharp and can cut you very bad."

Phil was very gracious for his tour but just needed to use the bathroom. Unfortunately he couldn't use it until Damon gave him the run down. "This is the bathroom........You poop and pee there.........Here's the fan if you make it stink up in here..........Make sure you wash your hands and this water can get very hot so be careful..........Dry your hands with these towels here." After continuing on for a few more mintues Phil was finally able to use the bathroom.

Pullin' a Fast One

So our big grown up Damon still wears a diaper to bed. This week Josh explained to Damon for about the sixtieth time about how important it us to get up and use the toilet at night time, when you wake up, or whenever you gotta go. Damon was very serious during this talk and it seemed to sink in. Thursday morning he came to our room proudly with a dry diaper. Josh was so proud and pleased with Damon. Friday morning he had another dry diaper. Josh was so surprised Damon pulled it off two days in a row. I was downstairs making breakfast and Josh announced to me the great news. I was happy for Damon, but had a suspicion that things weren't quite what they seemed. I told Josh to check the garbage can in the kids bathroom. He headed back upstairs and then I heard him call to Damon. Josh came back downstairs a few minutes later and I asked if he had discovered anything. Sure enough he asked Damon what was in the garbage can and the conversation went like this:

Josh - "Hey Damon, I need your help opening up this garbage can. Can you help me out?"

Damon - "Yeah sure dad!"

Josh - "What's this in here?"

Damon - "Oh dad, that's just garbage."

Josh - "Looks like a diaper."

Damon - "Yeah, that's my diaper."

Damon thinks this is his new found talent. He tries to be sneaky and thinks that lame old mom and dad won't catch on to his weasel ways. Unfortunately Damon is new to this game and mom and dad have him all figured it. It is funny to listen to him try and pull a fast one over us.

Just Do It Yourself

Olivia is quite a sport when it comes to playing with her brothers. She will shove'em if they shove her and if one of them hits her, she'll return the favor. She is pip squeak compared to her brut brothers, but that doesn't stop her. There are times she would much rather be left alone, than be bothered by the boys and so she will just do her own thing. This time she didn't want anyone pushing her, and so she sat in the toy stroller and used her little legs to motate herself through the kitchen. I just laughed because she wasn't going too far with the those little legs of hers, but she was quite pleased to do it all on her own.

PreSchool Graduation

I signed Damon up for a two month long preschool. It was three days a week and over by noon so that worked for me. It was the start of another chapter for me. Getting up early, trying to get grumpy Damon out of bed, helping him get ready, and getting out the door on time.

Before he had his first day of school Josh went over the important school rules with him:
1) Know who your teacher is and be respectful.
2) Know where the restroom is.
3) Don't hit anyone. But if someone hits you first, then you can hit back and you better do it harder than they hit you.

At first it was a little scary for me just leaving my first born son in the care of strangers for close to 4 hours. Luckily there were a few kids he knew from church in the class and that helped with the transition. For the most part school went well. He always had fun and I had a hard time getting him to leave on some days.

For his graduation he was declared "The Toughest." That could be good, but bad at the same time.

He seemed to have lots of friends who were mostly high school aged girls that were helping out with the preschool. (This guy always goes for the older girls......we are in trouble). Since his birthday is in November I'm sure we will be doing the preschol thing again. It was a good experience for Damon and for me. My little Damon isn't so little anymore.

Boy's and Their Toys

The Blog is normally my thing, but every so often Josh decides he wants to add something.  Actually he wants me to add it for him.  Anyway......He and my dad started talking race cars and got connected with the owner of a shop in the Portland area.  As Josh and my dad wandered around the shop, I'm sure the owner could see the excitment in Josh's eyes as he stared at all the "man toys" or maybe it was the drool.  Whatever it was, the owner was nice enough to let Josh sit in this.

   I'm pretty sure he had the same grin when he got home.  

Family Camping

We decided to go camping over Memorial Day weekend.  Grandpa Don was nice enough to let us use his motor home which, with little kids, makes things a lot easier.  We got a late start (surprise surprise) but drove on until we found a nice secluded spot.  As soon as the motor home stopped Damon just wanted to make smores, Olivia just wanted to eat marshmallows, and Joel could've cared less because he fell asleep before we even found a spot to camp.

 

Josh started a fire and we enjoyed a few smores.  After Olivia had her fair share of marshmallows I snuggled her up next to Joel and she went off to sleepy land.  Damon hung out with us for a little while, but then decided to turn in for the evening.  He retreated to the top bunk of the motor home, opened up the window by his head, chewed on some beef jerky, chimed in on the conversation, and slowly fell asleep . 

 

Josh was the first one out of bed Saturday morning and decided to go fishing while accompanied by Tank and Rocco.  He came back just as we all woke up.  We had breakfast and then headed outside in the morning sunshine so we could enjoy the outdoor view of the snow capped scenery.  

It was so nice be outside and away from everything.  The weather was perfect, not too hot and not too cold. 

Josh got the fire going once again and enlisted the help of Damon.  (That kid needs a task to accomplish to keep him out of trouble).  So Damon found large rocks and carried them over to put around the fire.  He heaved over some pretty big rocks.....I was impressed.  

We just hung out and enjoyed the outdoor air and scenery for a while and then Josh showed me how to split wood.  Josh was amused to say least.  Molly chopping wood in flip flops......very safe!  Oh well, at least I learned a new skill!

Eventually we packed up and headed towards the reservoir to meet up with Grandma and Grandpa.  The guys took the canoe out and that was amusing to watch.  I'm sure Damon was barking orders the whole time.

The dogs got a chance to play in the water.....I really think it's Tank's most favorite thing to do.  Rocco just enjoys swimming after the sticks and if the water wasn't involved, that would be better for him.  Those silly dogs though.  Everytime they got out of the water, they would come stand right next to me and shake....everytime!

At one point Olivia figured that the water was perfectly safe so she just marched on in.  She tripped and went face first but luckily Josh was speedy on the recovery and pulled a bewildered, soaking wet little girl out of the water.  That girl has no fear!

We came home Saturday night.  It was a short trip, but still nice.  We will have to do a lot more camping this summer.  Especially when the lakes get warmer!  

  

Our 1st Flight

It's official..........Josh is a pilot.  

On April 16th he went in for his final check ride.  We expected it to be a couple hours for the exam and test flight.  When 4 hours had passed I started to wonder.  I was sure he was going to pass, I just didn't think it would take so long.  I finally got the call that he passed and then the explanation that the instructor had to take a few breaks and attend to other business inbetween the exam and the flight test, thus dragging the test.  So that was a sigh of relief that it wasn't Josh that needed the extra time.  Passing was a stress off of  Josh's shoulders (he had been stressing for a couple weeks and the test kept getting pushed back due to weather and the instructors availability.

Damon was pretty proud of dad and kept announcing that his dad, "has a official pilots license!"

 

On Saturday April 18th, I got to take my first flight with Josh.  The kids were happy to stay with Grandma & Grandpa for a couple hours while we flew to Tillamook.  

It wasn't a "just for fun" flight either.  Josh was hired to fly a guy and his Prom date over for their day of fun prior to Prom.  (I was pretty impressed.  I got proposed to in a helicopter and I thought that was big deal.  This high schooler was just taking his Prom date on a flight to the coast to ride quads and play before the Prom).  Some Prom date huh!  Anyway......the weather was perfect and the flight was quick and smooth.  I look forward to taking many more flights with my husband.....the pilot.

Joel's 3rd Birthday

Joel turned 3 on April 18th.  (I can't believe he is 3 already).  

We had a fun day being outside and spending time together as a family.  We went to the opening of one of the new fire stations.   Joel really liked getting in the 

big trucks.  The kids got hats which was great because Joel LOVES hats.  (Damon's "child sized" fire hat didn't fit at all.....it just sat upon the corners of his large noggin).

We went to the park and and spent some time on the riverfront.  Once dad started throughing rocks, then all the kids had to follow suit.  We had a few close encounters, but luckily there were no rock injuries for the day.

On Sunday evening we had the family all over for birthday cake.  It's nice to have family around to hang out with.  

Joel did a great job blowing out his candle and instead of waiting for a piece of cake, he just went straight into taking bites out of his entire cake.  He's so funny.  Luckily he let me get in to start cutting pieces for everyone else.

It was a nice birthday weekend, but I can't believe my little Joel is 3.

He is still my quiet little love bug who loves to give kisses.  He loves to be outside, sitting with the dogs, riding on a tractor or any other outdoor vehicle.  He likes to growl like a monster, run through the kitchen shooting his missles/guns like Damon, and wave goodbye to anyone when they leave our house.  He tries anything Damon shows him, but is just as happy playing with Olivia and getting into mischief.  He'll slug Damon when he's fed up, and pull accessories right out of Olivia's hair to see if he can get them in his hair.  He can always make me smile and that's why I'm so happy to have Joel in our family for all eternity! 

Easter = Sugar High

Having a holiday to celebrate is much more rewarding 

when you have little children to share it with.  

Saturday night we got all the kids to bed and then debated with each other on how much candy the "Easter Bunny" should leave the kids.  (Once again we bought too much candy, and Josh wasn't too happy with me because I failed to get his favorite: ma

lted milk ball/eggs).  I thought we gave a minimal amount, but then Easter morning hit and Josh added donuts to the mix.  (I was happy because I LOVE donuts).  The kids devoured the donuts, Damon inhaled about half of his candy, Joel worked on a Cadbury Creme Egg, and Olivia tried to keep up with the sugar intake of her brothers.  All this before 10Am and church.  So obviously the kids were a little "crazy" during church.

After church we came home and Damon polished off his candy and then it was off to Grandma & Grandpa Hunsaker's for an Easter Dinner.  Of course there was more candy to be had there and it was funny watching Olivia reach out and squeal in an attempt for someone to hear her plea and let her pick something from one of the numerous candy dishes.

It was a nice Easter!     

Aunt Lolly

We had a nice visit from my sister Lauren for about a week. The kids liked having Aunt Lolly around because she read airplane books to Damon (he wouldn't allow any other type of book)), she snuggled Joel after he had a collision with Damon's head during thier game of Duck-Duck-Goose, and Olivia, well she just loved having more attention from an adoring fan! What can I say, we all love Aunt Lolly. She even made dinner for us one night!

Josh was SuperDad multiple nights and days so I could spend some kidless time with my sister. We had some delicious food thanks to Lauren and my mom on Saturday night and Sunday morning & afternoon (I'm not a chef, but I'm great at the dishes so that was my contribution to the meals we had). Luckily Lauren is easy going so we didn't have a crazy schdule of stuff to do and places to go, it was just a nice relaxing week of hanging out, shopping, and eating. I couldn't ask for too much more. Thanks for visiting Lolly!!!

"Dead Horses"

On the way home today we drove by a pasture where 3 horses were laying down. Damon yelled from the back seat, "Mom! Those horses are dead!"
"No Damon. They are just taking a nap. They get tried and lay down just like you do. They aren't dead."
"Oh. If they were dead I would go give them a kiss."
"Well that is very nice of you, but they are just taking a nap."
"But if they were dead I would give them a kiss."
"Okay."

Where's the Gym?

I laugh when I see this picture of Joel.

We were making Valentine's cookies at Grandma's house. I think Joel was "sampling" the dough and made this face that I have never seen before. It looks like he inhaled air and is trying to look big and tough.

This is a typical Joel look. Just a mellow guy checkin' things out. This kid makes me laugh.

"Tea Party?!?!?"

The other night I went to check on the boys before I went to sleep.

This is what I found.........

Joel was out in the hallway asleep. Damon preferred the floor rather than a bed. All airplanes parked underneath the bed or around the lamp. All Lightning McQueens, The King, and other friends were placed in their perfect "Damon order" around the lamp that he removed from the dresser and plugged in at a more convenient location. Olivia's bear even received a large F-22 sticker plastered right on it's tummy.

The next morning I asked Damon what was going on in his room. Why were there so many toys lined up underneath the lamp and why was he sleeping on the floor. He said he was having was a "tea party" with all of his friends.

Well I guess that makes sense (even though there was no tea involved). I think it was more of a sleep over, since usually all of the toys stay in the toy room and not in the bedroom.

I was use to seeing this when I would check on the boys:

So he just added a few more toys to the mix this time.