Decorating Cookies

My kids love this annual tradition of decorating Halloween Cookies. This year they even got to make ghost suckers. We topped off the evening with homemade chili and fresh baked bread. Thanks, Tuellers!

Farewell to Halloween!

Is it just me, or has Halloween gotten as busy as Christmas. This season we were super busy. There were pumpkin patches to pick from, parties to go to, cookies to decorate, trunk or treats, school parties, friend parties and of course trick or treating. Throw in a few football games and Hayden's birthday, and this has been our last few weeks. I will try to post pictures from each event everyday this week. It's an attainable goal...

Linder Farms, October 18, 2008

It has been a tradition to go to the pumpkin patch on the opening day of Pheasant Season. Joey is always hunting so I take the kids to the patch to pick out their pumpkins. Last year it was so cold and windy, we only stayed about an hour and had hot chocolate and fresh donuts. This year, it was almost 80*. So, the rest of city decided to visit the patch on the same day. Needless to say, the lines were extremely long. I carried Blake on my back in a backpack. It worked great, except that he is really heavy. After a while I thought my back was going to break. Not to mention, that I had to carry pumpkins at the same time.

See this beautiful pumpkin that Brendon is holding. You know, this pumpkin that he spend 45 minutes trying to find. The one that was perfect. The one that I had to carry with Blake on my back. Well, after we weighed the pumpkins we had to wait in line for about 45 min to pay. The kids and I hid our pumpkins and went to pay because I could not carry it one more minute. When we got back, someone had taken Brendon's pumpkin. Seriously, did it have to be Brendon's. Couldn't it have been Blake's. Brendon was distraught and I was not about to get back on that hay ride out to the patch to look for another one. I took the other three kids out to the car, put a movie on and Brendon and I went in search for another pumpkin. The closest patch was pretty worked over and there was nothing. By this point I was getting to my breaking point. We went back to the weigh station and they had a few pumpkins sitting around. Maybe they could have belonged to other people, I didn't care. I told him to pick the best one. He did, and I grabbed it and we ran to the car. Problem solved. Maybe some other poor family had to do the same thing we did. But, they probably had two adults to help them.

Loving the hair!

Neglect?

What do you get when you leave a 1 year old unattended while you attend to the wants and needs of 35 other children...... That is red paint. I know some of you thought it was blood. Just call us winner parents!

Hayden Turns 4!!!!!

Happy Birthday, my little Hayden!

My sweet little Hayden turns 4 years old today! Hayden loves going to Miss Cyndi's class for preschool. He gets to bring snacks this week because it is his birthday. He has been waiting for his turn since the first day of school. When you bring snacks, you get to feed Mr. Sparkles the fish and the two little frogs. It has been the highlight of his week.

Mom: Hayden who do you want to invite to your party?

Hayden: Zack, Ryan and Trey. Where are you going to be Mom?

Mom: I will be at the party with you.

Hayden: Mom, no girls allowed!

Mom: Well, I think you are going to need me there. What about Ellie Patterson?

Hayden: Oh yeah, I do want Ellie to come so I guess you can come too.

Mom: Thanks for the invite!
Hayden wants every toy that has been advertised on Nick Jr. for the past month. It doesn't matter if it is a Barbie or a baby toy. He wants it for his "birtday."

Hayden's favorite color is blue.
Hayden's favorite food is a muffin.

Hayden learned how to ride a two wheeler this summer and has mastered many tricks on his razor scooter.

We love having Hayden in our family. He is full of energy. He loves to cuddle with his Mom, play hide and seek with his Dad, play football with Brendon, do "ABC School" with Nicole, and push Blake around. (Literally, we're working on that one!) We love him to death!

Here is a shout out to my sister who shares a birthday with Hayden! Thanks for sharing.

Happy Birthday to you both!

Let's all give a collective sigh.......

Ahhhhhh..... Football is over!

Another Month Again!!!

I promised myself that I wasn't going to wait so long to post. I was going to stay on top of it and post more often. But, that hasn't happened and here I am again.

We have had another busy month. We started out by canning up a storm! We got together with two other couples and canned peaches and pears for 16 hours. 10 hours the first day and about 6 hours the second. The men were very helpful and we each yielded about 77 jars.




Blake is at such a fun age, and I can't get enough of him. He has just learned how to come down the stairs on his tummy and this is wonderful. Are you wondering why his hair is so long? Well, his Mom can't bring herself to cut it. Once I cut it, he will no longer look like a baby. He will be a little boy. I can't handle that. He needs to stay a baby forever!
Football still rules our life! Brendon practices 4 days a week and has a game on Saturday. The games are 45 minutes away and he has to be there 45 minutes early. So needless to say, we spend most of our day at the fields. My three other kids find this ritual quite miserable and in turn, make it miserable for us. Today he had a game in Sun Valley (3 hrs away). We got a babysitter and left the three other kids. It was wonderful. It was the first game that I didn't have to take a child to the bathroom three times! Brendon is playing hard and carries the ball many times during the game. He has scored one touchdown this season. Unfortunately, their team hasn't won a game. :( Maybe next week...
Uncle Tom came into town for a hunting trip. The kids love to play with Uncle Tom. He gets them so wild that they are bouncing off the walls. Here is a rousing game of "How many push ups can Tom do with children on his back." The other day, Brendon told me that he thought Hayden was going to be really strong and that Blake was going to be really funny. I asked him why he thought that? He said that Tom is the second boy and so is Hayden and that Mike is so funny and he is the youngest boy. Uh oh, where does that leave Brendon. He and Joey are in the same birth order.
Yesterday, I took the kids to the park for our annual photo shoot. I had great plans to take beautiful pictures of my kids. I did get some really great individuals, but could not get one of all four together. Everytime I put them together, Blake would try to crawl away and the other kids kept looking at him. This picture of Blake isn't the cutest, but I wanted to show you what he does with his mouth all the time. I think he is sucking in his bottom lip. He looks like a fish. He does this all the time and it is so cute! Notice the long hair? Still no hair cut!

I could eat this kid up! I hope he stays this age forever. Ok, maybe I wish he could walk, and then stay this age!
Well, that is about it. I had a great birthday! Thanks for all of the birthday gifts, wishes and calls. I am so horrible about remembering birthdays, so if I have forgotten yours this year, here is a big birthday wish out to all of you.

Hugs and Kisses- Hopefully I will post again before November. (Don't hold your breath)

Has it been a month?

I'm back!!! Yes, I know it has been a long time and you are all getting sick of seeing "Happy Birthday, baby girl!" But, it has been a very busy and eventful month for the Tueller Family. Let's start at the beginning....
We found out the Blake has a peanut, nut, and egg allergy. I realized that he might be allergic to peanuts when I gave him his first peanut butter sandwich. His eyes started to get puffy and he kept itching them. He had only had 3 small bites. I took him to the allergist and they confirmed my suspicions. They also let me know that he is allergic to all tree nuts and eggs. Lovely!!! I am not sure I am mature enough to have a child with allergies of this nature. But, I am trying to be on top of it so that he doesn't go into anaphylaxic shock.

On Nicole's birthday, we took her to get her ears pieced. She has been asking us, wait, BEGGING us to get her ears "pursed" since she could barely talk. I am not sure where she gets this girly girly attitude. Definitely not her mother. Anyway, as she was sitting in the chair waiting for them to poke a hole through her flesh, she was cool as a cucumber. I on the other hand was getting hot and sweaty. Good thing it was her and not me.

Football has started! Usually this is a major imposition for our family, because Brendon has to be at practice everyday at 6pm. Which means, that either one or all of us have to drive him to practice and either wait for it to be over or come back and pick him up. None of this is convenient when you have three other children, one being a baby. But, this year, this Momma got smart! I merely suggested to the coach that there is a large park in our neighborhood that would be perfect for a practice location. He agreed, and Brendon rides his bike to practice every day! It is fabulous. He had his first game on Saturday, and they lost! :(
We swam a lot towards the end of summer. Blake even got in the pool.
Nicole had a swim party for her birthday at the pool.
We went boating with our friends and had a great time. Here is my first attempt at surfing. I did let go of the rope, but was only able to stay up a few seconds.
Thought I would throw in this picture of my baby. He is getting so close to walking. He walks around furniture, and will occasionally let go and stand before he drops to his knees. He is so fun right now and we are head over heels for him!
School started on Aug. 25th. Everyone take a collective sigh!!! It was a wonderful day. Brendon and Nicole started a brand new school in our neighborhood. They can walk to school in about 3 min. Brendon is in 5th grade and Nicole is in 3rd grade. Both kids really like their teacher and are enjoying not having to deal with Martha the bus driver!

Hayden started preschool this year. He could not have been more excited. He goes to school on Monday and Wednesday mornings. On the first day of school, he kept saying "Bye, Mom" before we even got to the parking lot. Then as we drove in, he tried to open the door and jump out while the car was still moving. He was definitely not one of those kids missing their mom on the first day!
Brendon was thrilled when he found out that he would have a locker this year. Too cool!
Over Labor Day, we drove up to Redfish Lake near Stanley, Idaho! We recently bought a small pop up trailer that is a major fixer upper! The tent needs to be replaced, but there wasn't enough time before the camping trip. So, like the white trash people that we are, we took a nice roll of duct tape and went to work on the tent. It really looked cool! :) We camped with 5 other families and had a great time. Three of the other families took their boats and the kids had a great time playing on the beach and tubing. This picture was taken at the Sawtooth Fish Hatchery. Notice that a family member is missing? We decided to leave our little Blakey home with a babysitter. When we realized that the overnight temperatures would be in the 30's, we thought Blake might be more comfortable in his warm bed at home. OK, who am I kidding, I really just wanted to enjoy myself and be able to eat s'mores without a 1 year old crawling in the dirt and being cranky because he didn't get a nap. I didn't want to deal with diapers, bottles, pack and plays, high chairs, baby food and crying. It turned out to be a great decision. I think we were all happier. The last night we were there, rain was in the forecast. Joey did a little extra duct taping and we hoped for the best. I woke up at 3am to pouring rain and realized that I was still dry. I was thrilled. The kids woke us up in the morning and said that they were wet. I went to their side of the trailer, and their whole bed was soaking. I have no idea how they slept, because Brendon's pillow was so wet, we could have wrung it out. I opened the door, and saw snow dropping from the sky and snow on the ground. Are you kidding me? August in Idaho and it is snowing! The kids were cold and crying and I was right there with them. Not the crying part, but the cold part. We packed up everything and left. Everything that we had was soaking wet. I guess we will always remember that camping trip.


Finally, we are getting close to the end. Hang in there with me. We are almost done. Last weekend, Nicole was baptized. It was a great weekend. Tom, Jodi and their family drove up from St. George. What a sacrifice. Ten hours in the car with 3 kids under the age of 4. I don't know how you did it, but you guys are awesome. Thanks for coming and sharing.

My parents also flew up for the weekend, and we had a great time with them. It is so fun to have supportive families. Karl and Mary Ann, Mike, Aubrey and Family, and Snyders and George Huff also attended the baptism. Joey baptized and confirmed her and she felt very special. This is her good friend Brooklyn Hunt. She was also baptized on September 6th.
For some reason, my camera setting must have gotten switched between these pictures, because all of the individual pictures of Nicole are really grainy. Lovely!
Well, that is it. Why I haven't blogged in so long. We have been super busy and having a great time. Everyone is healthy and happy. Joey and I feel very blessed to have such great friends and a wonderful family.