diggin' on stings winter

farm fresh

papa bear took a little trip

up to cocolalla idaho

where my dad grew up

and came back with some farm fresh eggs.

from these...

to this...

into these.

i'd say it was better than walking through the door

with an arm full of flowers, almost:)

thank you luana and wilbur!!

blog hiatus

i have been chastized by "thousands" for not posting in weeks... please forgive the eight month pregnant lady overwhelmed by the rearing and raising of four precious souls... soon to be five on december first:) i have had to put motherhood ahead of my great pleasure in this creative space to focus on the creative space of my home. you'd never know that such energy has been directed towards said house at the looks of laundry waiting to be folded on the couch and the dishes in the sink (our dishwasher has been broken for three weeks... i am a pioneer). our days have been filled with piano lessons, basketball, homework, ballet and hip hop, dentist appointments, scouts, activity days, doctor appointments and meal making. the most exciting highlight of the past few weeks would be where the children took turns with their bouts of the H1N1 virus. i don't want to give too much attention to this episode, frankly i'm sick of the subject, but know this-- it is part of the circle of life. papa bear and i have been vaccinated after much pensive stewing, and the world will go on. life hands us thing after thing to deal with... what fun would a day of no surprises be... just like this morning when i was supposed to meet with some musical lassies to practice for our performance of singing and piano duets for the festival of trees and the little leprechaun had the beginnings of pink weepy eyes... fabulous. so even though i should be putting my halloween decorations away, or cleaning the pee around the bottom of the toilet on the floor of the boys bathroom, or sorting through the medical bills that are still in cycle from last years kidney incident, i am here writing about how much i love my life, and how thankful i am for the fullness, color, spice and gift that it is... and then later i will change my plans for the day once again and take tade to the doctor and hope that the kids get to piano lessons on their own okay. i'm okay. you're okay.

everything will be okay.

*****

can i just say how much i have loved this fall season here in idaho. there have been a couple snowy brisk moments, but all in all it has been pure joy. the kids have TONS of leaves to play in, there are yummy pumpkin spice smells in my house, and the fresh air is cooling my maternity hot flashes.

this little "tadertot" as we like to call him when he's not pillaging rainbows for gold, is giving me a run for the money. his pure adorableness keeps him out of harms way when for the millionth time he draws on his arms with markers or spills an entire bowl of cheerios onto the floor. god makes kids cute so it balances their naughtiness... i have a lot of cute kids:)
my eldest daughter and i went on a mother daughter date the other night. we clothes shopped, sub munched, candy nibbled, and then ended at a beautiful concert by jenny oaks baker. i'm so grateful i have a daughter. i love my boys to pieces, but the sisterhood addy and i share is so special... she has taught me patience, understanding, and no, i may not leave the house wearing that.just after i took the picture below of the mummy dog we made for a fun fall dinner, my camera battery died, and since the charger has been awol, i have been tortured by fantastic moments passing me by without a picture to snatch it... but want to hear a funny story?
***
i have been a cub scout den leader since june, and recently chris was made my assistant den leader... oh how cute:) last month at pack meeting we played frisbee golf and i was the lucky recipient of a runaway disc landing square on my cheek bone. i had a beautiful shiner that made me very self concious as i went grocery shopping as if people were looking at my big pregnant belly and then the black eye and thinking that someone needed rescuing... it definitely made me think twice about passing judgements about peoples appearances... for all i know that lady that shops at the dollar store in a oversized beer tshirt and cut off shorts just gave all her clothing to charity and is now stocking up on bandages to donate to the local shelter. anyways, anticipating what is to happen next at scouts has become a joke in our house after october. one of our den meetings we were to go door to door and deliver flyers for a food drive. unfortunately all my scouts were sick and couldn't make it, but luckily for them, i have a ready and willing child labor union right here in my very home. the schofield family set out at dark in the mini van, wife driving, husband and kids running door to door racing to see who could finish their road first. papa bear in all his hotness approached a black doorstep when he saw a cat... next he heard a sound... pssssssssss... then next he saw the cats big bushy tail rise... and next he saw a white stripe. he ran to the car in confusion-- but not before tucking a flyer in their garage door bless his stinky heart. as he entered the passengers seat and lifted his arm to my nose to smell and double check if he had truly been sprayed, i doubled back in agony at the poisonous toxic fumes that were now ingrained on my face by his long sleeve carhartt shirt. we finished the route, and i made him sit in the back with the trunk door up as i used all queesy courage to keep my composure during the stench filled ride. when we got home, there was a lot of freaky commotion as we hurriedly tried to figure out what would clean his clothes, what would clean him, and how we could avoid stinking up the whole house with skunk essence. he threw his clothes in a sink filled with witches brew cleaning products, told addy to turn off the faucet in a minute and ran up to take a shower. after he scrubbed himself silly he returned to the laundry room to find that the faucet had not been turned off, and there on our seventies carpet covered laundry room floor, the "cup runneth over"... with skunk essence water... flooding yo. normally a person would just suck the water out of the carpert, but this was no ordinary water, so it had to be pulled out.
i love scouts. at the school halloween parade i realized that my camera after being charged was actually broken... my heart thus is broken too, for these are the only halloween pictures i have of my kids. i may dress them up again for posterity sake. my sweet little sister cassie stopped by during the day while i was cooking to chat away while the yay-hoos decorated a haunted gingerbread house. i'm so proud of her and her accomplishments- she is one in a million! halloween evening we had hearty chicken corn chowder, breadsticks, salsa and chips, spinach/bean dip, and caramel apples. my sister just one month behind me in growing her little baby stayed warm inside with me and passed out candy while our husbands took the kids trick or treating. october has passed all too quickly and just around the corner is turkey dinner and a long awaited csection. little charlie will be here before we know it, and now i'm off to the doctor's.
farewell for now blog... hopefully less time will pass between our meetings.