Do you have a room in need of a fresh coat of paint? I have just the crew for you! Cheap labor (free), works well as a team (referee recommended), very creative (see picture), attentive to detail, cheery disposition and satisfaction guaranteed! My new pantry and hallway are perfect!

Sunshine Yellow!

Our remodel is coming along nicely. As you can see we are now at the painting stage. Brett, who has always obsessed with pure white walls has pulled a 180 on us. What could bring about such drastic change? A country song! My husband who does not generally listen to country heard some song about a man who didn't let his wife buy a dress or paint a wall or something ~I don't really know and now she's gone. Typical country ending. Anyway we are not gone and he wants us to choose our colors and paint! Way cool, I think the kids are all going to name a color for their own room and Brett & I will go down and pick out something respectful in that color scheme. WRONG! We all load up in the car drive down to Wal-Mart pick out whatever crazy color we want then buy not a quart of it~ but a gallon of it at the full price! Might I remind you this was not from the paint graveyard of deeply discounted mistints. Probably would have been a good idea. Anyway after seeing the Last Lecture online and accepting Bretts decision, I allow the kids to paint with me and I am so proud that the control freak in me is going to share her toys (paint tools)that I take pictures of the process from letting Malachi open his can, to pouing it in the container, to brushing it on the walls. What's this not even 5 minutes into it and he's bored? I should have let him 'help' me days ago instead of repeating 'no' over and over for 8 hours. Okay my turn to paint 30 minutes later I am done with this wall and I grab the camera to take his picture in front, what?!? no CF card! Argghh! No proof I shared! Oh well I know, God knows, Malachi knows and will forget and thats all that matters right, probably but here I am telling the world. Anyway most important is that he LOVES his wall. It is SUNSHINE YELLOOOW he yells as he dances round in his room. If you think your color is off on your comp just think of freshly painted yellow stripes down the middle of the road in the summer. Yeah that's sunshine yellow. Another bonus ~ it appears like the light is on in there even without electricty. Brett loves it too! Enjoy the sunshine of life! Kimberly

Nauvoo's Treehouse Birthday

I am a big fan of the children's literary series 'Magic Tree House' by Mary Pope Osborne. I have read most of them to our six children. So when the opportunity came up for us to spend the night in a super fancy tree house I concluded that would be the best way to celebrate our youngest daughters eighth birthday. Due to the rain we stayed inside for the evening eating super yummy birthday cake, playing games, acting silly, and laughing hard. When we woke the next morning we ate all we could at a great little breakfast house in Cave Junction. Then decided to hike it off at the Amazing Oregon Caves.

Here I am!

It was sunny and beautiful, the air was fresh and crisp, and every leaf had fallen from both of our Maples in the front yard. The house was unusually quiet ( a mom knows something is going on when they hear quiet). So I start looking for Malachi, just to make sure he isn't painting the walls (Micheal Angelo) or staining the carpet with violet medicine, both of which happened this week :) After searching the entire house and deeming it empty I start outside~ front yard always first and I hear him giggling so loud I giggle now at the memory of his laugh it was so infectious! It was obvious that he had proven himself patient and was rewarded with having the element of surprise on his side. It took me a moment to spot him as he was well hidden under the pile of leaves he created. He sat up and screamed to scare me. Leaves are absolutely the highlight of Autumn. I made him recreate the moment so I could capture the memory in a photo. Happy days!

Sariah's Birthday

The Olympic spirit lived on in our home as her birthday was all about the games. We played volleyball while everyone trickled in in. Then a crazy game of balloon stomp. Of course bobbing for candy bars, but I think the most entertaining game was this life-jacket-bungee cord-apple- bobbing race! You see the object was to be the first to get your apple off the table and into the glass bowl using only your teeth, while tethered to your opponent via bungee cords and life jackets it was so funny, I almost wet myself laughing so hard at these hilarious athletes! Look out Olympians!

Happy Halloween!

The whole gang sends their love your way!

Scooby, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne, Ghostly Pirate, Velma, Mummy, and Scrappy too!

Happy Haloween!

The next night Brett & I celebrated with other adults from church at a friends house. We were an ancient couple :) I mean a couple from Ancient Rome, madly in love with eachother. Unbeknownst to us the DJ had a black light so our costume were so lit up they practically glowed! It is great to date the one you love! Stay young even when you are ancient!

Salmon on the Rogue

Friday was Mrs. Leppek's annual 4th grade adventure on the Roaring Rogue. This is my third year in a row going on this trip. I was able to spend it this year with Camilla. This was made possible by my sweet mom. Without her taking Malachi to work with her and doubling as my clone for my double booked life, it would not have been possible. Thanks a million mom!

As they were searching for macro-invertabrates (bugs) in the river, Camilla caught a little fish. So curious looking was this fish that none of the scientists, teachers, or parents knew what it was. Hmmm. Makes me wonder.
My little fashionable ~mind of her own fairy~ was so into the disecting of Salmon. Oh how she loved the cool, smooth, slimy sides of the fish. The thousand or so orange colored eggs in the female. The sacks of milt that fertilize the eggs in the male. Entranced was she by the beating of the heart, the long kidney along its back, the pretty necklace shape of the gill once they have been removed, the fascinating feel of the eyeball. I could hardly pull her away, in fact I could not! She, the only one in her class to do so, brought some of those Salmon home with us. We have currently greeting all of our guests at the front door a bucket filled with water containing several eggs and a fin she sliced off as a souviner. Won't you come for a visit?

Growing Pains

No, I am not expecting. Our children are rapidly growing~like our sunflowers in the garden. So Brett and I decided to spend all of out savings plus, and expand our home to fit our wants. Not positive I can justly classify it as a need though a huge part of me believes that to be true. On the flip side of that noisy Tyvek paper is our current dining room where our table seating all eight of us clumsily pokes out into the livingroom. That Tyvek paper is our wall. Fall is officially here. Chilly mornings but we warm things up at night (wink). Don't be naughty we have a firepit in the back yard for making s'mores! Brett is standing in our old garage in our future diningroom behind him and Malachi is my future pantry and to the right of all that will be two simple rooms. I am so excited and he is doing and amazing job. Thank You Thank You Thank You. You are the greatest!

Young Love

It has been several years since this picture was taken, however it remains one of my all time favorites. A smile slips upon my face every time I catch a glimpse of this shot. I am so blessed to have been matched up with Brett as my eternal companion. We truly compliment eachothers weaknesses with our strentghs.

The majestic beauty of the Oregon coast is so breathtaking while the rythmic sounds from the ocean are so calming and theraputic. I love to listen to the waves crash and the kids giggle as they play chase with one another. There are always treasures to behold when you walk hand in hand in the sand.

Have a great day!

Making Connections

I stewed over the choice 'to blog or not to blog' for quite some time now. Families are spreading physically further and further apart. Friends move in and out of our lives and I find that I am unable to keep in touch with ones who I hold dear. A friend recently shared with me all the blessings a blog has to offer her family and friends in the way of staying connected. So I am jumping in the pool with both feet and not a clue as how to swim. Hopefully it is truly user friendly. I am excited to reconnect with old friends and all my family. Kimberly