Parenting~Teaching not only Technique but Desire

~I wanted to give you all a little update because we finished The Secret Garden audio book last night and I felt like that was a huge milestone and perfect opportunity to announce Autumn's progress with reading!~ We have now moved on to Robin Hood ~

So now that Autumn has officially hit her 100th day of school and is now 100 days smarter we are working hard on reading and writing. She is so amazing! She is loving her trips to the library and is ecstatic to come home and read me her books. We have purchased a few 1 step readers for her to start practicing on and she is blowing me away. Just the other night when Aaron & I were both sick on the couch she read herself a bedtime story.

This is her favorite book of all time, she is always wanting to read it. It had probably been over a month that she had read this book but was so impressive reading words like: surprise, apartment, doorman, and bonbons.

Last Weeks Date Night

Well we didn't technically get to go out for date night last week but we did more than make up for it!

We were invited over to a friends house to watch the UFC fight and get our drink on!! We didn't get a babysitter because we were just going to Brittany & Eric's, so Autumn & Taylor just kept each other entertained upstairs all night. {Love those girls}

The night consisted of, well you know the fight, LOTS of drinking and then a bonfire in the back yard. Good times as usual @ The Holloway's.

Highlights of the night include:

*Asking for a bottle opener & immediately handed a wine bottle opener, even though I motioned for a pop top opener {you know me too well girl}
*Forest Griffith winning {although none of the fights were really spectacular}
*Aaron & Keith beating the Beer Pong Champs and watching them do the "Walk of shame" back through the house
*My jeans being ripped off me by my husband {those were my favorite jeans}
 *Borrowing a pair of Brittany's jeans the were way to short
*Trading Brittany's jeans for the ones Eric was wearing {OMG...bahahahahah}
*Taping my severed pant leg to the outside of my sweets and asking B if "These jeans make my butt look big?"
*The look on Scott N's face when he caught me nonchalantly drinking from my bottle of wine out of the corner of his eye {there wasn't enough to be worth pouring into the glass}
*Wearing my severed pant leg home as a scarf {nice & warm}
*Aaron passing out after his head hit the pillow {he has always wanted to do that}
*Waking up to Aaron saying "I will never drink again!" {oooo those are pretty harsh words, and get up cuz we have mimosas to drink}
*Burrito & Mimosa Breakfast with Brittany & Eric {oh wow, what a night}

(Picture soon to come)

We had so much fun and I'm going to go ahead and consider that date night!

~Thank you for the good friend's that keep my life AMAZING! You know who you are!~

"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one." ~ C.S. Lewis 

Yes B, those jeans make your butt look big too!! Bahahahahah

Autumn's Family Fun Day

As part of my list I have vowed to let Autumn plan a family outing once a month. She of course wanted to go to Wahooz with a friend! So we loaded up in the car and swung by to grab Taylor and we were off to Wahooz for some arcade games and prizes......OMG....I'm getting a headache just thinking about it!
The girls were amazing and had soooo much fun, but all the unsupervised children running around made me want to off myself!
We got 87 tokens and 4 passed for laser tag and we were off to play some games. I would only give the girls 4 tokens at a time for a few reasons:

They wouldn't loose/waste them

They will have a reason to bring me back their tickets

It would keep them close

~Worked out Great~

Aaron on the other had became hooked....ummm more like obsessed with trying to win an XBox 360 and burned through his bag of tokens like nobodies business. After he blazed through the tokens he got with the $11 bucks he swiped out of my purse he was out again! So we had to refuel....back to the counter for another 87 tokens! Good job babe~lol~at least you had fun!! Well then, the lucky person that I am, found a ticked for 20 extra tokens laying on the ground behind where Aaron was playing an arcade game. So if anyone is keeping track we totally burned through 240 tokens! Fun Times

So once the tokens were all gone we cashed the tickets in, 456 tickets split right down the middle 228 for each girl. So now it was prize picking time....just shoot me now!!!! So now that I have a migraine and more useless toys, we are ready for laser tag!

Autumn & Taylor had never played laser tag but they were super excited....except....until we went into the dark scary room all geared up! Taylor started getting scared and then said "I wanna go home" with a tear in each eye! Her and I went back out to the arcade part and traded our laser tag tickets in for tokens and played some more games while Aaron & Autumn played tag!

~Nap anyone?!? I'm tired just reliving this event!But, we had lots of fun!~

*Thank you, Autumn & Taylor for a great time! {Best behaved girls ever!}

 It is amazing how much you can accomplish when it doesn't matter who gets the credit.
~Author Unknown

Family Excursion #1 ~ Riggins, ID ~ Jan 29-30th 2011

And we're off!!!

Destination: Riggins, ID

Stops: Anywhere we want

Why: Because we can

Inspiration: Picking up Aaron's work truck from Payette

and making an overnight trip out of it.

(BTW we never did get the truck)

~ We hope you enjoy the photos of our trip~

 If this trip wasn't spur of the moment then I don't know what is. But anyone who knows my husband, wouldn't expect anything less from him. My husband has been known for flying by the seat of his pants and having a lot of fun doing it.

It was that trait that attracted me to him, and I am very thankful for my husband in keeping that spontaneity alive!

~Live would be so boring without you honey!~

Fat Boy loves the car, no matter how long the drive he will sit in the back seat and just enjoy the ride. Now, if only he knew the rule of Farting in Confined spaces! (Any bulldog owner can relate)

I can't tell you how many times I heard Autumn yelling from the back seat, "Mom, Bully's ripping it up back here"

~All windows go down simultaneously~

~Next Stop - Whistle Stop Cafe in Cascade, ID~

We pulled over to get some lunch at a wonderful little cafe with the most amazing food! Two burgers on homemade buns and a grilled cheese with fries and a salad on the side.

Nothing better than a chocolate milkshake to wash it down!

~Bottoms up~

~Gold Fork Hot Springs in Donnelly, ID~
  What an amazing place to experience. Then natural hot springs was pumped into a kinda rustic/kinda man made pool. The water was great and inside the pool you forgot that it was only 20 degrees outside.

~Yes, that is my personal beverage cart on the right....lol~

 A kiss at Sunset, in the most amazing place ever!

~I Love You, Aaron Hammack~

Destination ~ Riggins, ID

We arrived in Riggins after dark but did manage to take an off road trip down to Sandy Beach. The most amazing camping spot on the river where Aaron has spent quite a few summers camping.

~Summertime Rafting & Camping, here I come!~

 After, somewhat of a nights sleep (Bully was bugging all night), we pack up and start to meander home.
~What a beautiful view~

Mega Melt Down........OMG traveling with kids is always a challenge! I still don't even know what she was crying about!?!

But, she had an amazing time!!!

~Love you Pookie D~

~Next stop, McCall~
Iced over lake + Snowy boat ramp = Killer sledding hill!

These kids aren’t dummies, they know what’s up!

~Too bad we forgot our sled~
 

Picture taken just after Hakai chooses to take a dump in the worst possible place ever!! Yes, we walked to the end of the boat ramp and he feels the need to go. Naturally we are out of dogie poo bags, so I run up the hill in search for a poo bag while Aaron & Autumn stand guard over the poo so the sledders don't run into it.
~Good job Hakai~ 

~Monster Dog Pull (behind us)~

Bully would of kicked butt at that challenge! He was pulling me all over town, so excited to see everything!

We were the only Bulldog in the town of McCall!

~Note to Self: don't forget the choke chain next time!~

After a long trip of playing in the snow and walking around town as the center of attention, sniffing butts, and saying hello, Bully is tired and ready to go home! It must be hard being that cute!

~I love these boy's!!!!~

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lightened the flame within us

~Albert Schweitzer

February ~ Vegetarian Month

We'll see how this goes!

I vowed to Cambry that I would help her cross something off of her list by going vegetarian for 1 month. Check her out at http://sictransitgloriaeuphoria.blogspot.com/

She has been vegetarian for about 4 years now and swears by it. I have never been opposed to the idea but also have grown up on fresh fish and beef all of my life, and yes I love RED meat. I will take you through this experience with me documenting mainly dinner dishes that I will learn to create, {leaving the meat out of course} and the changes that I notice {if any} within my self.

Follow my Veggie Log page for recipes, and documented changes!

~Attempt #1 - 2/1/2011~