Happy Thankgiving

We are thankful for so many things!! As per our tradition we spent Thanksgiving with Michelle's Mom, Dad and Sister (and Family). Dinner was wonderful as usual. The Saturday following Thanksgiving it is a Pippert tradition to get together at Jon's Brother's house for leftovers, snacks and goodies. So much for my goal of not eating sugar this month.

For Family Night we made a list of some of the things we are thankful for:

Jon got up on Thanksgiving morning and made a fantastic paper mache turkey with the boys whom he affectionately calls "Gobbler." Jackson did most of the decorating, Dad started the project, and Mom finished the details, beak, eyes etc. When he was finished it looked very much like Gobbler was Screaming..."Don't eat me." Jackson stepped away while Mom was decorating and was not happy to return and see the addition of real bird feathers. He began crying when he saw them and wanted them removed promptly. "I didn't want real bird feathers, I wanted paper ones." I told him he could take them off if he wanted to. After removing one feather he stopped the removal process and said they were alright. I guess he just wanted to feel like he was in control. Jon keeps threatening to take Gobbler out and light him on fire but Jackson, again, is not keen on the idea.

Happy Thanksgiving

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Happy Halloween...Things that fly

This year for Halloween the kids were all things that could fly (by coincidence). Jackson was a bat. If you ask him what he was he'll tell you he was a "fruit bat". He debated for awhile between being a vampire bat and a fruit bat but finally decided on the fruit bat. Boomer was an astronaut and is planning on going to Mars. He said he wants to ride the Mars rover. Jackson doesn't think astronauts can fly (at least not without help) so he didn't think the flying theme applied to Boomer. Sadie bug was a little lady bug. Jon and I found some wigs on a date night(The were fifty percent off at Rite-Aid. I'm not sure why unplanned date nights usually turn into me shopping) My philosophy on costumes is: all you need is a wig and a pair of glasses. This year, I substituted fake eyelashes for the glasses. The Halloween parties started on Wednesday and didn't stop until Saturday night. Halloween night We went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner. Then we trick-or-treated to a few homes in various neighborhoods stopping to see friends. We were all very tired by the end of the week. Boomer told us that this was the best Halloween ever. We'd have to agree. It was wonderful! Jon's favorite part was the Ducks beating USC. Quack Quack!!
October brought...beautiful fall colors.

Sadie suddenly became a Mama's girl and started to snuggle a little bit. She's pulling her self up and walking around furniture. Generally she is a very happy, easy going little baby.

Boomer is Mr. 3 Year old. Happy one day and crying the next. He has great days and very moody days. He's super friendly. Thinks everyone is his friend and loves to watch TV. He's learned to work the portable DVD player and will sneak off to his room to watch Dora or Diego. (Gliego). It keeps him entertained for hours but really isn't the kind of life I had hoped for him.

Jackson had his first visit to the dentist. We're happy to report, no cavities. He loves books and learning about new things. Right now he is interested in Bats, snakes and Owls. He keeps telling us that he is going to have his birthday in Hawaii.

Jon's been working a lot...hopefully he can stop doing that so much. (Really, I'm Serious) He went to Birmingham Alabama and Dallas Texas this month (a whirlwind 4 day trip) to do "Maids stuff".

Michelle is contemplating avoiding sugar for awhile, reading about homeschooling (my latest curiosity) and exercising more....all noble ideas, none of which will probably stick.

Today we got to attend the blessing of Carrie and Jeremy Stoddart's little girl, Gemma. We feel so blessed to have great friends like them and all of you who are reading this.

Life is Good ( however, I do wish I had a nanny some days.)

Happy Birthday Uncle Sam (AKA Jon)

Even though Jon says his birthdsay was good,Jon had a bummer of a birthday this year. He worked all day, came home for leftovers, and then went back to work. I made him pot roast, mashed potatoes and brownies per his request. We've been married six years and I have never cooked him any kind of red meat before. He's bought himself an occasional steak to BBQ but I let him do the cooking. In the past we have gone out to dinner for his birthday and he orders a medium rare (that's man code for mostly bloody) steak or some kind of seafood that I never make. My culinary skills have improved in the last 6 years but the variety really hasn't. We eat chicken far too often. When we get tired of chicken (which is weekly) we sneak in some turkey, salmon or halibut but honestly nothing too exciting. I told Jon I thought it would be good to eat a raw food diet. I think it really was so I could get out of cooking. He wanted to know if raw cookie dough counted. Um, nice try Mr. Cutie pants. Speaking of cutie pants:


Jon is at working doing his taxes as we speak. Thank you for working so hard on your birthday. Too bad he didn't get to see that the kids stayed in bed tonight. What a great birthday present for him that he missed.

Six Years Later....

Happy Anniversary to us. We've been happily married for six years. I'd make a joke here but I don't want to be light minded toward the sanctity of marriage. We(Jon, Michelle, and Sadie) got to take a trip with The Maids to Colorado Springs, Colorado and the trip just happened to be our anniversary week. I loved Colorado Springs. We stayed at The Broadmoor hotel. It was our first "five star" accommodations. I was slightly unimpressed with the housekeeping. The room hadn't been dusted for at least a year. The tub had soap scum and razor clipping residue. We also found this awesome bug on the window sill. But overall it was pretty good. I think I'd give it 4 stars. They have a great small water slide attraction and the outdoor swimming pool is like bath water. The day we left to Colorado Jackson Started preschool. His class is the Beaver class and he got to take home "Beverly the Beaver", the class mascot. While we were gone, he and Boomer spent the week with Grandma and Grandpa Evans and had a great time. Jackson seems to enjoy his new preschool. He keeps asking when he can go back to "Valley Christian" (The preschool he attended for 3 months last year.) Unfortunately for him, we're going to be staying at "First Friends" It costs more but I really like the teacher. Boomer told me that he loves it when we leave and wants us to go away forever. He is such a funny little guy. Since he turned three in August, his vocabulary has improved dramatically. He's gone from saying sentences like "Her doesn't want it" to "She doesn't want to eat that Mommy." Ok it's not genius level or anything but he did seem to suddenly grow up. As requested by Boomer, we had a Dora the Explorer Birthday party complete with Swiper the fox cupcakes and a map treasure hunt. It was well attended and fun was had by all. (At least we hope)In the last few weeks Sadie went from army crawling to crawling on her knees. Her two bottom teeth came in and she has started eating solids. She hasn't enjoyed eating baby food but she does enjoy metal, dirt, grass and those little googly eyes. I found one stuck to the roof of her mouth the other day. She got her first cold and dislikes to get her nose wiped. Besides that she is very easy going except in the middle of the night when she yells with her loudest yells, to get mom to come and feed her. Silly little girl. Not much new to report....We had family pictures taken friday so we'll post pictures soon. Life is still good
Michelle

Sadies Six month pictures

We had these pictures taken of Sadie and wanted to Share them with those who haven't seen them. (This one is especially dedicated to Shauna)

Not too Hot

We've been having heat waves here. It was 107 degrees last week. Lucky for us we have A/C. Except for the two days that it stopped working. After several calls we found someone who could come and fix it later that afternoon. Apparently it was the capacitor (or flux capacitor as Jon, I, and Michael J Fox [Marty Mcfly] like to call it.)
Jackson is learning how to write words. He can spell with a lot of help from Mom. He loves to color and has gotten really good at drawing. He has used about a ream of paper in the last month with all of his drawing projects.Boomer has gone from wanting to do everything "by myself" to wanting help with everything.He loves to snuggle on our laps. Dad bought him his own little set of golf clubs, which are very cute and he loves to practice with them at the putting green with Dad. Boomer will be turning 3 at the end of this month. He keeps saying that he wants a Dora Birthday party. I've tried to encourage other themes but he doesn't seem to be dissuaded. As I type this Boomer is in his room with his face plastered to the bottom of the door yelling through the crack "Mom, Dad" He likes to stall at bedtime.Sadie is constantly doing push ups. When she gets tired of doing push ups she lays on her tummy with her arms and legs out. Jon calls it the "skydiver" move. We think she is starting to get teeth but so far she is like the "sad sad snail named Simon Sneeth" who can't eat jam or roasted leg of lamb. However, Sadie did get to sample some peaches last week. Last week we went peach picking and picked 100 pounds of peaches. My sister,my niece and I canned them for about 4 hours. (They did most of the work. But I still got half of the peaches. Great deal for me) I don't think there is a more wonderful place than Oregon in the Summer.Jon is working a lot and trying to golf a lot. He took some golf lessons and to my amusement he purchased "The Medicus" It's a tool to help with your swing. I tried using the thing and every time I swing, it bends at the hinges. (I think it's broken...or maybe I've just got a cruddy swing.) So Jon is subjecting me to the golfing channel now. Someone told me that when I married Jon it would be a life of sports. At the time I thought it was a joke but who's the one laughing now? Actually I'll watch golfing any day over "The Deadliest Catch" Lucky for me they finally had an episode that I really liked. It was the one where everyone was getting bonked in the head and broken fingers, ankles etc. Finally some excitement!!
Michelle (that's me) almost did a mini triathlon this weekend. Do I get credit for thinking about it? It's been a goal of mine for about 6 years now....but I may need to wait until next spring. Here are the reasons for not doing the triathlon:

1)I went to get my mountain bike tuned up and it needed about 400 dollars of work (plus 150 for road tires) I decided not to spend the money now and invest the money in a road bike in the future.

2) Jon had a previous engagement and wasn't able to watch the kids.

3) I'm still nursing Sadie every 3 hours and I was too lazy to pump.

4) The best reason: I'm not in the shape I need to be to drag my chubby little legs 1/4 mile through the water, on to a bike for 12 miles, and then attempt to follow that up by a 5 kilometer run in 100 degree weather.
Life is good.