Can I just brag?

So, I just want to preface this bragging by saying, I'm not bragging that my kids are better than anyone elses, I'm just bragging that they are better than themselves! They are better with A.R. this year, than they were last year. I posted last year about how much Colin hated reading, mainly A.R., but this year I am happy to announce that they have both been so good about it, (o.k. maybe not soooo good, Colin still wants us to read with him), but they have both already reached their A.R. goals for the trimester. For my kiddos, this is awesome. I am pretty impressed with Maddie. She really likes to read, which makes me excited, because I've always loved to read. Colin likes it, but I think he gets a little lonely or something. He'd rather read with us, which is o.k. with me. It gives me an excuse to just sit still for a minute and spend some time with him.

And of course, I couldn't post without a few pictures. We enjoyed some more nice weather outside today. I'm not sure how I'm going to keep Gavin happy this winter. He really likes being outside.He thought this rake was fun to slide around the yard and driveway.

We made ladybugs out of apples, peanut butter, and chocolate chips. Thanks Jen for the idea!

Maddie was helping gather leaves for a different little project we did today.

And I'm afraid Gavin's future lies in dishwashing. O.K., I think he's a little smarter than that, but he'll make his wife happy someday. She'll never have to touch the dishwasher if he continues this new trend. Everytime I load or unload the dishes his little chubby fingers are there.

this makes me giddy part two...

So in my last post, I mentioned that I've been working on something else that totally makes me giddy. If you listen very closely, you might even hear me squeal with delight. O.k., so that might be going a little far, but I do stop every so often and open the storage room door to just stare.

I should start by saying that this summer I happened to get a chance to peek into Tammy's storage room to turn on their water while they were gone, and I was in awe with how organized and clean it was. Ever since then I've been waiting for a chance to spend some extra time in our storage room.

Well, I got that chance during spud harvest. Colin and Maddie were home, and gave me the extra help I needed. Colin was awesome at carrying everything out, so we could sort it all and categorize. Maddie was an excellent babysitter. She played with Kate and helped keep Gavin out of the clutter. So after about 4 hours we completed the task. I've got all the baby stuff in one area, all the camping gear and luggage in another, and all our holiday decorations in yet another section. So I cleared a 4 foot by 4 foot area for our food storage and I found these shelves at Sam's. I've been collecting food storage over the last 6 months, and I canned a lot with Jared's mom these last few months of summer. I was so excited to put it all up on shelves.

This is a before shot of the right side of our storage room.

This is a before picture of the left side of our storage room.

This is an after picture of the right side and the shelves Jared and I put up. I want to get two more sets of shelves. One for all the things I can get at the cannery, like rice, wheat, sugar etc. And the other I'd like to put all our paper products, and misc. stuff like detergent, feminine supplies, toothpaste, etc.

Kate likes apple juice, and the bottles are easy to clean out and store water in. I figure it's a cheap way to store water.

I didn't take pictures of the rest of the room because it's not really on shelves, but it is so nice to have everything put back together, and know where it is located! Half of the space is taken up by old baby things, so when we're for sure our family is complete, I'll have to have a garage sale and purge all of that stuff!

My next zone to organize is my laundry/mud room. I can't wait to get into the cupboards and get rid of a lot of junk that's been sitting there since we moved in 3 years ago!

this makes me giddy...

So this summer I tried my hand at gardening. I pulled out a few perennials and created a little (emphasis on little) garden spot. I planted a tomato plant, a few pumpkin plants, and the kids planted yellow string beans and watermelon with Grandma Stoddard, so we found a spot for their little plants too. The watermelons died with all the rain we had in June, but the others did well, considering I know nothing about gardening. I used Miracle Grow halfway through the summer after I reallized our soil was really bad. I am happy to say we got enough tomatoes to can tomato sauce. We got two pumpkins, and two pots of beans. Next year I'm going to move a bush, and pull a few more perennials to make the space 3 times as big, and try my hand at a few more types of plants. I'm really quite giddy over the results of our efforts!

The fruit or veggies of our labors.

And the second pumpkin that I didn't know I had until I picked the first pumpkin that I had babied all summer long.

Colin is super helpful around the house, and especially with Gavin. I had to laugh though when he got Gavin ready to go to Grandma's, and we both reallized he put his shoes on the wrong feet.

And Mr. Gavin has now discovered the bathroom. He found fun treasures in the toilet the other night, and today he reallized how to unravel the toilet paper. This is a fun and laugh worthy stage of life! At least I hope Jared laughed as he cleaned poop off of Gavin's hands.

I got to miss that episode as I was at Winco and Sam's collecting treasures for my next post. Stay tuned, it also makes me super giddy!

2 months, really?

So I reallized it has been 2 months since I last posted on my blog. That's pretty sad considering all the things that have happened in the Wheeler household since then. So I'm doing a marathon post to catch you all up.

I was waiting for this day. All my kids have fallen asleep at one time or another in the high chair, and finally one day Colin came running in to tell me Gavin was snoozing peacefully in a sea of bread crumbs.

Colin and Maddie started school. I thought Kate would be the one to have a hard time while they were gone, but it turned out that Gavin was the grump.
He missed their constant attention.

Kate and I tried making freezer jam. I like it, but no one else does.

Gavin discovered the drawer under the oven. He's in there at least once a day.

Mom and Dad came for Gavin's 1st birthday. Mom was awesome and made him his cake. My dad cleaned out my drains, and painted my back door frame. I have the best parents!
I love my mom's face in this picture!

Gavin turned 1, I was kinda emotional about it the whole weekend. I can't believe his first year is gone already! He was so into his cake that I couldn't get him to even look up at me.

Colin also turned 9 this summer, but the cake I made and the pictures I took turned out kinda lame, so Happy Birthday to Colin but no pics.

Kate and I made some easy Pillsbury cinnamon squares. They didn't really rise, due to the fact they were a few months out of date. Oh well, the kids enjoyed them.

I hosted Extrodinary Chefs: Asian food. I made paper lanterns...

and little paper take out boxes. I really liked this flowered paper. I want some material just like it to make a purse or something.

And the day after my party we found this mystery poop. After interrogating everyone in the house, we found out it was a caramel kiss that Maddie decided was disgusting, and spit out in Gavin's closet. Looks tasty doesn't it? I need to teach this child where the garbage cans are.

And since I started this post with a sleeping child, I thought I'd end with another. Kate fell asleep tonight at the dinner table. Pizza and orange Fanta just did her in I guess. Isn't she super cute? I love that her little fingers and cheeks haven't lost their baby chubbiness.

Let's just hope I'm not still saying that when she's 16. Just kidding!