Austin's blocks

Austin got blocks (real wood ones!) from Grandma Denise and he loves stacking them and knocking them over. Here are a couple shots of him playing. Me too!

He started out with short little stacks. He wouldn't let them get too big before knocking them over.

He 'oh so gently' pushes my short stack over!

This time he is working on getting it REALLY high!

One more block up on top!

Now, he shoves it as I try to catch it. He is very pleased with himself as it topples to the floor. (Autumn looks pleased too! LOL!)

Brotherly love....or not.

Austin's favorite past time is stealing whatever it is that Logan has. I don't even think he really wants to play with it, he just wants to steal it and hear Logan scream and give chase. Austin will run, grinning from ear to ear as he looks back at Logan screaming and crying. If Austin can get a parent to chase him too, its even more fun. Anyway, Austin unsuccessfully tried to steal Logan's new book. Logan gave up a good fight and won.

If Logan isn't fighting off Austin, he is helping Austin fight off Kallie who is also a toy thief extraordinaire. She often takes toys from Austin, of course Austin also equally steals from Kallie too.

My Guitar Heros

Brandon was playing Guitar Hero on the Wii and both boys wanted to join in, so they fetched the real guitars from our closet and were having their own little jam session. Such cute band mates!

Nevermind the massive toy mess left over from yesterday!! I still have not gotten motivated enough to organize the toys. I did however get my new cubbies put together for that project. Now if the toys would only jump themselves into place.

And more random ones....

Autumn
Ruthann

Sue and Kristen

Austin working on opening his bathtub boat

Hannah with her twin babies


Did you notice all us older girls are wearing the same pj's?? Sue thought it would be cute, so she got us all the same pj's to match on Christmas morning.

And the old people.....

Grandma Emma with her fake cat.

Me with SEASON 4 of LOST!!!!!

Dave and Ruthie

Larry, Sue, Logan and Kristen

Christmas day pictures

Logan got a Mater remote control car from Brandon.

Brandon got a "buddy" night light. Just like Logan.

Austin seeing the stuff from his stocking.

Kristen flashing a happy grin after getting her Hannah Montana pen.

Autumn just digging her stuff out.

Holiday Pictures

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!! We have had a great day and I will be back later to post some pictures. The kids had fun, we had fun, the food was good and it would have been perfect if my family were here too!!

We had Grandma Sue, Grandpa Larry, Auntie Ruthie and Hannah and Kallie all here this morning to open presents and eat breakfast. I made a big breakfast for everyone and we made the kids wait to open gifts. They got their stocking before breakfast though.

Since its Logan's Day....funny picture

Logan fell asleep as he was getting up onto the couch. Man that is hard work!

Logan's Birthday Party

The pictures are sorta in reverse order. Anyway the first one is after he opened presents and we are doing the whole cake and singing thing. The race car helmet was fitting I guess. The last one is of the food. Showcasing the race car sub sandwiches. What an awesome idea my mother-in-law had with that. We had a great time. Logan enjoyed his day and his presents.

Logan's birthday cake

Here is Logan's race car cake. I am pretty proud of how well it turned out. I have been preparing the red and black frosting since Thursday and Fri to get them dark enough. So they sat on my counters in bowls and I just stirred them occasionally. It worked great. I guess that is the trick to the deep colors. If I had not prepared them in advance, they would have been purple and pink, just like what happened with Brandon's last birthday cake....my bad! I will post pictures of Logan at his party soon.

Logan got his birthday presents from Grandma Denise!

Logan's birthday is tomorrow, December 21st., but Grandma Denise sent her package and it got here 2 days early so I just went ahead and let him open it. He yelled out, "TRACTOR!" right when he saw it. He was so excited. He got a John Deere remote control tractor with a little dude that rides along and a pickup truck and trailer, a skidsteer and a backhoe. He LOVES his birthday presents. THANK YOU GRANDMA DENISE, I LOVE YOU!! Love, Logan.

P.S. Nevermind my grubby looking hair, I just got back from the gym and was all sweaty!

Austin the cowboy

What a cute little wrangler on his mighty horse. He just loves that horse. I got it off of Craigslist for 12 bucks. Austin will start jumping on it and let go of the handles, put his hands in the air and it is the funniest thing to watch. Dave will tell him, "Go ride your high horse!" and he will run and get on and start bouncing.

The hole in my ceiling...

This is where the stairs to upstairs are going. (Duh!). Those wood things are gone now and its just a nice clean hole. I sometimes feel like a rat in a cage when people are looking down into my house. I guess since Dave is off work this weekend (unless it snows) he will be working on finishing up the stairs. I will be glad when it is all done. Its messy right now.

The lost is found!

Autumn and Jeanette showed up at her mother's friends house. They are alive and safe. I don't know any details, since it just happend.

Thanks for all the prayers and support throughout this ordeal!!!

Autumn Estey still missing!

A different more recent picture of the girls....trying to look tough I think. Please pass it on if you can. They are still missing and I think in danger from the last contacts we have had. Please keep your eyes and ears open!!
And keep those prayers going too!

Autumn Estey and Jeanette Solis still missing!

I have decided that I need to update more frequently even though I don't have much more info. I need this at the top of searches so people can help us find her.

We miss her and love her very much and want her home. Now! Please pass this on to anyone you know. The more eyes the better.

Please keep Autumn and Jeanette in your prayers too!

Autumn Estey

My cousin is still missing. The police think she is with a gang in the area. I am not sure if they are actively watching for her or not. I cannot even begin to imagine that she would be staying at her own free will right now. At this point I believe she is not free to do what she wants to do. I am sure she is terrified and doing what she is told. Everybody has heard the awful things that happen to people in gangs. Please keep your prayers going for her safety and her return home. Its scary to think that any 13 year old would be in that situation.
We are going to try and organize community members to rally or march against gangs to "Give Back Our Children!" I am not sure where to even start but I am sure other families have been affected by gang violence or had their children recruited and then hurt terribly. If you know of anyone that has any experience with these issues, PLEASE comment me and let me know. We are doing the research to try and reach out to the Black community, Latino community, Native community and any other group we can think of that may want to join us in this effort. The more people we have showing that strength, the better and safer it will be. I am looking for people that live in and around the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, but even if you know people in other states that may have experience, please let me know that too. Anyone who can offer advice, encouragement and direction would be helpful.
We often turn a blind eye to the nasty part of society that doesn't directly effect our own lives or the lives of our families. It is time people start voicing their displeasure and showing strength to help support people fighting this kind of stuff that hurts children and families.

Autumn Estey is missing

My 13 yr old cousin, Autumn, is missing since Saturday night. She was with a friend and both have not been seen. Please keep them in your prayers for finding them safe. At this point they are not sure if they have run away or are in danger.

OJ Simpson

I don't know why I feel the need to put his name on my clean blog, I guess because I am happy he is finally getting a little bit of what he deserved years ago. Everyone who has a brain KNOWS he was guilty of killing Nicole and Ron Goldman and he got to walk free. Apparently he still thought he was above the law and could do whatever he wanted. Too bad he decided to associate with other scum who would have no trouble ratting him out to save their own butts.

Speaking of butts - Bye-bye OJ, have fun in prison. Don't bend over to pick up the soap, buddy....I am sure you still have a nice cute, tight butt in your old ugly age!!

P.S.'s

If you believed that OJ was innocent, I am sorry but you don't have a brain! Haha, just kidding, obviously you have a brain, you just may have been too drunk to pay attention to all the details.

Also, I am sorry if talking about prison and soap brings up any painful memories for my readers, but if you did the crime and had to do the time, too bad for you. Hope your butt is not still sore, even though I have brought up a sore memory for you.

Are you a follower??

Speaking of my mass audiences, I have now created a "Followers" widget (what the heck is a widget??!) on the sidebar and you can become a follower. It will allow me to see who follows my blog and will allow you to get updates easily. Nice, huh? Soooo, please go click over there somewhere and become a Follower!
Thanks!

P.S. You can do it anonymously too. (I don't know why anyone would want to do it anonymously, I mean unless you are being followed or watched by the FBI or CIA or CSI or AFC's.)

New post....original, eh?

I have been slacking lately, barely posting on the holidays and have a bit of guilt as a result. I feel like I have this massive audience of readers that check my blog daily...even hourly and are severely depressed when I disappoint with no new material. I would hate to create some hysteria that may result in mass suicides........soooooooooo here is an enlighting, comical post to enrich your miserable lives.

Let's see...what is going on in MY life. I have been getting more and more eagar about the approaching holiday. You know, the 'fat man in the red suit' holiday. Because I am wanting to put up a christmas tree early this year, I am going to borrow Ruthann's (my sister-in-law) fake 6 footer because they will not be able to use it this year. I can't really put up a real tree or it may be bald by Christmas day. I am anxiously awaiting them to unpack it from their van full of housewares so that the kids and I can delight in setting it up and decorating it. I got all the new ornaments for the kids already and have them personalized. I have started the tradition of getting each child a new ornament each year. Once they move on out, they will have a small collection to get themselves started and to remember us ol' folks by.

I have also been doing some wintery, holiday craft projects with the kids during the day. I attempted to design my own snowflakes....who knew it was so hard to get a decent cut out of a snowflake?! So I went to the world wide web to find a pattern. You can print out a piece of paper that all you have to do is fold and cut along their pattern and you will have a beautiful snowflake in the end. WHO KNEW? To bad Austin won't leave them alone....the things don't melt but they sure do tear easily. We also decorated some foam snowflakes with little foamy shapes and sequin type things. I also had some plain picture frames from last year that needed decorating. Those turned out cute. AND the boys (Brandon and Logan) did the ring things to count down to Christmas. All this Christmas energy and craft stuff and looking around my house, you wouldn't even know it was close. I really should get it up and displayed, eh?

So, since I feel like my fantastic little post may have saved lives, I will no doubt be able to sleep better tonight. If only Austin cooperates, that is.

Thankful

This is a bit late, but better late than never right? Its been a great year and I have so much to be thankful for. We are all doing great, aside from the sicknesses that are running through our compound. Austin and I are currently suffering some new form of a cold/stuffy-runny nose and on and off fevers. Its been a little difficult to enjoy much lately since we have been sick with something or another for over a month now. BUT, we have each other to be sick with, right?! Dave has thankfully mostly avoided being sick, which is good since he is the one that has to work. The rest of us have suffered together with some having it worse than others.

I am thankful for my family. I am thankful for Dave who is the best husband and father to our children. He is supportive of me in what I need to do and I couldn't have asked for a better man to marry. He works hard to support us all so that I can stay home with the kids. Speaking of kids....I am so thankful for all my kids - Kristen, Autumn, Brandon, Logan and Austin. They make me laugh on a daily basis and I am enjoying watching them grow and mature into adults/little people. I really wish time would slow down but at the same time I am eager to see what they become. I am also thankful for my mom, who no matter how far away, has always been a support to me. She is probably the strongest woman I will ever know and I have learned so much from her and am eternally grateful that she is my mom. I am also thankful for my brothers and their families. Life is not dull when you are related to them....whether planning for a wedding....someday/someplace or getting some random comments here and there on my blog, I try and stay connected to the madness and pure enjoyment of them being in my life. They are always good for a laugh. I am also thankful for my Alaska family and the support they offer as well. My mother-in-law, Sue is always up for planning some great party for the kids or just hanging out and playing cards. She loves having her grandchildren around and is currently aiming to spoil them all for Christmas. Its also been great to have my sister-in-law and her family here for the Holidays and here for good I guess. They have been looking at houses in the area and have been staying here at the compound until they find the perfect house.....which may mean building one.

I am also thankful for my many friends, both online and in person!!! They know who they are and I appreciate them everyday.

There are far too many people to name individually so I will stop at that, I am just very thankful for all the wonderful people and kids in my life. I am truly blessed!

My niece Hannah in her princess outfit

Logan, Hannah and Kallie after playing some games

My sister in law, Ruthann (member of the band)

FOOD and spiders

Kristen's friends Amanda and Allyx (Members of the band)

Autumn in her punk gear and Logan

It took me HOURS to comb out that rats nest in my hair!

Our Haunted Autopsy Room - see the dead guy on the right?