3.17.12

 -H A P P Y  S T.  P A T R I C K S  D A Y- 

Naomi insisted on the tutu & skateboard and Gage insisted on his Jacket.
Cache insisted on me to, "Hurry up and take the picture already!" So we could get him to Grandma's. 
He's spending a week at G&G Ortons all by himself. He will work hard and get spoiled.  He could NOT be more excited.
Devin got him a little going away present. And I let him stay up late, cuddle under a blanket and watch Narnia with us. It was like we wanted to spend all the time with him we could before we let him go for a week.  I'm pretty sure he won't miss us. And that's okay with me.  He looves his grandparents houses. He always says and writes in his school papers that they are his favorite place to go on earth.  :)

Today we was super great.
for the first time since...last September,  it was just me and the kids, at home. AND an extra bonus no school for Cache!  It was sooo strange to sleep in, shower whenever we felt like it, and then do whatever we wanted before 4:30pm.

So we didn't plan anything but ended up doing a ton just meandering around town/home.

Me and the baby slept waaaay in.  I at 7 I pre-poured Nay and CAche a giant bowl of thier favorite Kashi and went back to bed.

The kids watched cartoons all morning.  They were in heaven.  I figured, they've gotta have one nag free day too don't you think?
Then before lunch they dressed and made beds.  Great jammie morning of cereal and cartoons and sleep.
And it rained so really it couldn't get any better for me. I love rainy days.

Lunch with Devin and home, then he took us all to the library.
After lunch dropped Devin off at work:

D&B to see all the baby chicks and play with toy tractors.
Bought a magnifying glass to search for bugs in the yard.
Snack time.
Found some tennis courts and played Tennis.  It was so fun.  Cache is hilarious to play tennis with, mostly because he thinks everything is so funny and he gets so excited he runs crazy all over the place and keeps score which he is serious about but makes no sense at all.
Naomi and Gage were the ball babies and ran all over the place retrieving balls and rollins in puddles.  Why not?

Next stop Pet smart - spent over an hour looking at pets and watching the doggies get haircuts and baths.
 Now we are home.  Making dinner and watching wonder pets. Next stop a school open house that hopefully CAche gets into.

Maybe that doesn't sound like a lot but for us it was a ton.  And it was just so so strange to not be watching the clock worried when we had to get home, stressing about a clean house because parents could show up anytime etc etc.  I just enjoyed my kids fully.  I made it a point to not take pictures so I wouldn't miss a moment with them.  Now we'll have to do it all again and I'll take pictures because they're were so many cute moments.

Rascal!

2 Minutes after he finished his lunch and everyone elses crusts....

(Including his Pre -lunch of beans and bananas.)

I tried to put it away but he held onto it with his dear chubby life.

 Did I mention he's the baby and
gets his way?

This mama can't resist giving in to

anyone that can smile so big that their molars show..

:)

Luck

In 1st grade I won the biggest candy cane I've seen even still to this day.  (It took me a month to eat it.)

In high school, I lucked out and was assigned to be housed by the Orton family during an honor choir trip. Just happened to be the home of "The La Grande boy." I didn't know his name, but I had been swooning over him since age 13 when I first saw him go head to head with my older bro in highjump.  I couldn't believe fate brought me to that house.  Before that weekend was over, Devin got my phone number, then prom, first kiss and a few years down the road a happy marriage to my dream boy.

Lucky Girl.

Turns out my luck hasn't totally run out.

Tonight we headed down to river to take a self timer family portrait.

As I was fumbling with the tri-pod and high heeled boots on the river rocks trying to keep three kids out

 of the river.....

A young guy ran up and offered to take our picture.

turns out he is not just a nice guy but THIS guy.

Um only the awesomest professional photographer ever.

Yah.

Now I cannot stop kicking myself for not just letting him take pictures till the sun went down.

I felt bad for keeping him away from his fam and even though he offered to do more, I said "Oh that's

 okay."  (Even though about 5 other family poses were going through my brain that I wanted him to try.)  

Seriously,  KICKing my own backside.  

Gaaah!

From tonight I have learned:

1. Seize an opportunity when it comes. Let people help you.  

2.  Give away your talents.  Come ON.  How nice was he?  Nate Perks you're building some serious Karma.

3.  Never take a nap before pictures. ( I totally have puffy nap face and hair.)  And Amie just take a second and put matching socks on your kids.

4. Holy moly do I need to learn to use my camera.  He did this with my camera?  My pics dont' even look this good after editing.  And this pic... no editing whatsoever. I will read the manual tomorrow. - No I won't.  But I should! 

Also, if you look at HIS pics he's taken with his camera, yeah.  He probably wouldn't even claim this picture. 

Anway, I am so so grateful and will go down in my Amie hall of fame as one of my luckiest moments ever.

And when we can afford it, I will be hiring him for all future events.  Not just cause he's awesome, but 

generous.  And I like that. No I love that.  Absolutely love that.

Life lately

Come March this little family starts pushing the winter boundaries.  If we act like spring, maybe it will become spring?  Resulting in MANY long drives to different parks that we play at for 5 minutes.  Sometimes we don't even get out of the car.  But we just keep trying.

Nay runnin her cold little leggies back to the car.

Weekends with cousins make the winter go by lots faster.

I think its our turn to host a cousin night...

Chubby baby boys liked the sketti.

I have to work HARD to enjoy Jan-March.
I have to remind myself that even though nothing is growing outdoors, we are still
learning and growing in A-doors.

Cache :

-Obsessed with finding the perfect opportunity to throw a pie in his Dad's face.

- Snuck outside before breakfast and hid a snowball under the table till JUST the right moment to peg his 

  mom in the head.

-Caught Beiber Fever.  Side effects of this fever have been:

            >  Doing endless hours of breaking dancing lessons off of YouTube.  

            >  Changing his favorite color from Bronco colors to Purple(Justin Beiber's favorite color.)
            Devin is dyying.

Just finished: "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe." We are gonna watch the movie this weekend and start the next book in the Chronicles of Narnia series.

I really love this Cache of ours.  We've grown closer as Devin work keeps him away from home some nights.  The two littlest go to bed pretty early which gives Cache and I a good hour to spend together.  I've had my hands more particularly full these days, Cache without asking just assumes the role of oldest child.  The kid knows how to work and it makes me so proud to see him unload a whole car load of groceries  without me asking for help.  He'll see me coming and tell me, "I got it Mom." I worry a lot about raising Cache in town.  What experiences is he missing out on? What qualities is he not developing by being in nature with animals to care for and a farm to feel a part of and require his work?  But I get glimpses of the little man he is becoming and it puts my heart at rest.

We were hunting for his library book the other day, and he kept running in his room and shutting his door.  Frustrated because I thought he wasn't helping me find it, I kept opening the door, hollering something at him and he would come running out and look around, then run back into his room and shut his door.  I finally stormed in there to find Cache kneeling at his bedside,
praying to find his book and he didn't want us to see him.
That image will forever bring tears to my eyes.


And that brings me to our little Miss.

Naomi has been:

Wearing her tap shoes to Target.

Wearing her tap shoes OVER her feety jammies to Tuesday night Relief Society meeting.

Basically Naomi is doing whatever Naomi wants.  Just like usual.

High heal scootering in the snow?

I can if I want.

Gage:  

-Would live in his highchair and tries.

-Blows kisses when people leave. "MuuWAH."

-Out eats Naomi always and even Cache sometimes.

-Eating Oatmeal with his fists.
-Loves to be pulled around the house on a blanket..
Basically this baby gets whatever he wants and we all cater to him.

Amie:
Devin signed me up for 5:30 am boot camp. L. O. V. E  it.
Babysitting like crazy
Saving for and planning upcoming trip to Tahiti.
Actively scheming to move to Hawaii. (And in the same breath, trying to learn to love it hear in Idaho...)

Devin:
Going 50 different directions at once. As usual.
Lots of dreams appearing to come to fruition...
Sometimes stays up all night long to catch up on paperwork. (Or reading a science book WHILE listening to lectures on the body.)
His amazon wish list has reached 450 books.
Working up to dunking once again.  :)
After a the dreaded first year of business, he has now begun to grasp things (at least a little) And has now decided he LOVES what he does, and is helping out so many people. So happy for him.

After writing that, I guess winter isn't so bad after all!
The end.