Hiking to Mahoney September 3-4, 2015

I'm probably not the best "narrator" since I wasn't there, but I will have to do, right?

Quent and Jeralyn hiked up Mahoney.  How far is that?  I think it's like 2.75 miles from some point, but I'm not really sure.  How many feet of elevation gained?  I have no idea.  Ha!  (This is why Quent needs to blog)

I dropped them off at the end of the south end of the road.  Quent put Jeralyn in a stroller so she could ride the first part up.  The first part of the hike is up a road, but it's not a public access road.  It follows along a pipeline for water, where they get water from the lower and upper Silvis Lakes.  So instead of having her walk all that way and then on the actual trail, he pushed her up partway.  I did not envy him.  Jeralyn is 40 lbs, plus he had his backpack with all of their camping gear, clothes, and food.

I can't remember if I mentioned this in a previous post, but we found out that Jeralyn is allergic to caterpillars.  Yes, caterpillars.  Fuzzy wuzzy caterpillars.  It's the hairs from the caterpillars that cause the reaction.  She had two reactions, the second worse than the first.  We were prescribed an epi-pen for hiking or in case if she starts to have a severe reaction if she happened to touch a caterpillar.  So Quent carried an epi-pen with them just in case.  It's so sad because she loves caterpillars.  So here she is looking at one.  She understands she's not to touch them.  You know...those attack caterpillars.  ha!

Lunch break

Playing in the water.

Eating lots and lots of berries.

See all of those red berries?  Those are called cloud berries.  I was told that Jeralyn ate them all.

At their camping spot.

Looking out from the top of the world.

I think she was throwing rocks in this photo, but I'm sure there was also some singing and dancing involved.  "The hills are alive..."

The beginning of the northern lights show.

The next day...

Some more singing and dancing.

Seriously, how many 4 year olds get to do this?

Jeralyn said she missed us.  And she missed Josh so much that she gave him a hug and kiss.  Awww!

Josh Expressions 9.2.15

Joshua is starting to take after me (Christina) with his facial expressions.  Quent recently told me that I wear my emotions on my face.  Apparently, Joshua does as well.  Sometimes it really cracks me up when he makes certain expressions because he reminds me of myself.  Oh Josh!  For a little while, when we would tell him "no", his face would slowly turn into this quivering, crying face, but now he sort of scowls at us.  Oh man.  It's SO different than Jeralyn; I don't remember her doing that.

Here he is playing with a car while riding a car.  That is one of his more serious faces.

And then he's been doing the open mouth facial expression (which he gets from me).  Gotta love it!

My Little Helper 9.2.15

Jeralyn has been really interested in helping me cook and bake.  She's been into baking for awhile now, but now she's been asking to help when I cook as well.  To be honest, it hasn't always been easy for me to share the kitchen, but now I'm used to having her help me.  I recently taught her how to peel carrots and she really gets excited when there's carrots in something I'm making so she can peel them.  She is such a great helper!  She has some "chores" that are her responsibility.  She puts some of the dishes away, she puts soap into the dishwasher and starts it, she helps fold clothes, cleans her room and toys up, and helps me in the kitchen when there's a little job for her to do.  And then there are random jobs I ask her to help with.  She's always willing and eager to help--for now!  Ha!

Cars and more cars 8.31.15

Joshua started showing a lot of interest in playing with cars so we asked Grandma Smith to send Quent's old cars.  Josh LOVES them!  He will spend 45-60 minutes on the couch just playing with his cars.  It's SO cute!!  He will often lay down to watch the cars roll and he will just be content doing that for a long time.  And now he will sit at the table and roll the cars around.  He doesn't say the word "car", but he makes a certain noise/grunt when he sees a car or shows us a car.

Sharing Crackers 8.31.15

Eli and Josh were sharing Goldfish crackers and it was really cute!

They are 4 months apart and are starting to interact more.  So fun!

Jeralyn's 4th birthday party 8.22.15

It's so hard to believe that Jeralyn is 4 years old!  She really wanted a mermaid themed birthday party, so that is what we did our best to make it.  The mermaid love all started when they were "mermaids" for her ballet performance.  And then soon everything was all about mermaids and Disney's The Little Mermaid.

I thought this was a cute picture of Josh, so I'm posting it--even though it wasn't his birthday.  :)

Quent hung some streamers in the entrance of our hallway and the kids enjoyed walking and running through.

Me, braiding Jeralyn's hair before the party.

The "fish scales" cake.  I had looked on Pinterest for ideas and this is what settled in my mind.  It was my second time using fondant (the last time was for Josh's party with the paw prints on the cupcakes).  This was a little more "advanced" with using the fondant.  I'm not a big fan of the taste of fondant, but it's fun to create with it.  Jeralyn really liked her cake and she kept on thanking me for making her the cake.  So sweet!

This was the table centerpiece.

I came up with the idea to cover the windows with the streamers and to make it look like "under the sea".  I made cut out paper fish and starfish to be part of the decor.  Two windows were like this.  I have to admit that I have a lot of fun decorating for parties.  :)

My friend Samantha came over to help me prep the food.  So thankful for her help!

Swedish fish on finger jello.  It didn't look very appetizing to me, but the kids loved it.

I found an idea on Pinterest to make the dip bowl look like it had a crab on it.  A lot of people thought it was an octopus though.  Ha!

Jeralyn waiting for her party to start.

Eli and Josh sharing crackers.

I'm not sure what Jeralyn is doing in this photo, but let's just say she was definitely life of the party in her mermaid dress.  She's so fun!  

Our friends John and Joyce.

Opening presents.  Josh looks really excited, aye?

Our neighbors Dan and Kimberly.

Jeralyn blowing out her candles.  Happy 4th birthday, Jeralyn!

The party was a success.  Jeralyn loved her party and she kept on saying how much she liked the decorations and the cake.  She had lots of fun playing with her friends.

She is still very tall for her age.  She's in the 95+% for her height.  Everyone thinks she's a lot older than she is.  She's full of life and just loves to dance, color, hike with her daddy, and seriously, everything.  She's such a sweet blessing and we love her oh so much!  xoxo

First Day of Pre-K 8.24.15

Jeralyn started her Pre-K (Pre-Kindergarten) homeschool on her birthday...yes...ON her birthday.  I know!  Can you believe it?!  Well, the curriculum starts on Monday and I just wanted to start.  Plus, she loves "learning time".  She even asks for it on the weekends!  So since we did a very light preschool the year before, I'm calling this year Pre-K.  The curriculum we picked has lots of reading--where I am reading to her, which she absolutely loves.

I thought it would be fun to take a picture of her in front of the door with a sign:

This is the picture I took of her with my phone--which is actually my favorite one because it makes me smile/laugh.  Love this girl!  Oh, and she's wearing her mermaid dress-up costume.  Gotta love it!

Squishy Face 8.18.15

Jeralyn has really been into making goofy faces, can you tell?  Ha!