Missing Daddy while he was away...

So when Jeff leaves town, I do what any desperate single mother of two would do in that situation:  I run home to my mom.  :)  Ha!  It's always so nice to have a place away from my housework and daily routine to escape to...and the kids have so much fun here with grandparents and cousins!

This time around, we got to see G'ma Joan's new flooring and painted kitchen walls!  We're thinking the leaky dishwasher was a blessing in disguise...  Doesn't it look great?!?

 While we were there, we had a big family dinner on Friday night--our "Cindy Party," as my aunt Cindy came over from the TriCities for Sonny Bruegeman's (G'ma Caroline's cousin) funeral the next day.  I think Mom made a 5-lb meatloaf...and Ben ate 2 lbs. of it!  On Saturday, Brooke came up with the other Morrow girls and she babysat while Katie and I went to the funeral with Mom and Dad and Cindy.  Sonny was quite a character--he grew up at the farm next to ours (G'ma Caroline's) and I remember him as a very memorable bus driver in our school district.

Joshy was so excited to find Uncle Ben's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in a box downstairs.  Good thing Mom keeps everything!  She must've known that years down the road she'd have a grandson ECSTATIC over that little box she'd kept on a shelf for years...

And yes, I finally got a Smartphone.  It's way smarter than me...but my daughter loves to take pictures with it.  These were the sneaky ones she took of G'ma and Papa...actually pretty true to everyday life at the farm!  :)

 This one was quite artistic, Grace!

 And they finally DO fall asleep in Grandma's Featherbed!  :)

We came home to a thunderstorm that knocked out the power just as the kids were falling asleep.  We had a couple of hours of nervous kids in bed with me!  I used my Smartphone (and battery operated candles from the mantle!) to entertain and calm--we watched John Denver on YouTube sing "Grandma's Featherbed" since I'd been trying to sing it and had forgotten the lyrics.  Quite fun with lightning and thunder on the side!  The only thing that would've made that night better would be if Daddy had been there.  He loves a good storm!  He made it home safely that night, er, morning, around 3am and made it to meetings at work a few hours later.  It was so relieving to have him home safely!

Dudes' Weekend 2013--A Bucket List Adventure

It all started with Seattle Sounders tickets...  Jeff's always wanted to see a professional soccer game, and the opportunity dropped into his lap the weekend before school started.  Sounders tickets soon grew into Mariner tickets, and more Mariner's tickets, and before he knew it, the Dudes' Weekend was born.

 Friday night Mariner game with Colin, Troy, Brock and his new wife, Colleen...free t-shirt!

 Oh, and garlic fries.  (Didn't miss my husband this night!)

 Made the JUMBO-TRON!

A Saturday night Mariner's game that just happened to be Guys' Night...another free t-shirt!

 And then...the soccer game!

 Jeff, Brock, and Colin

They had a great time!  The fact that this Sunday night game ended in Seattle at 9:30 and they had to drive back to Spokane that night (to work on Monday!) was a minor nuisance in this great weekend.  :) Check it off of the Bucket List!

Always more fun with TWO...

These two are having so much fun playing together these days.  (They also fight well together, but we don't take pictures of those times...)  Umbrellas and Santa hats in August...

...and having "Show and Tell" under the table in the kitchen.  They are becoming quite the budding artists!  Fitting that Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Donatello are nearby.

Happy Birthday, Heidi Lou Who!

We love this lady!  She turned another year older--thank goodness!--so it gave us a good reason to eat dessert with friends on our deck.  So glad you had a birthday, Heid.  We love you and all the joy and laughter you bring to our Spokane family!

2010.....................................................................2013

We took this same picture of the VanEdmondhead kids when the boys and Lydia were babies, so we tried to capture it again, three years later!

 I'm a sucker for crazy face pictures.  :)

 We remember when the adults had the upper hand in our gatherings...Catan, adult beverages, late nights...  Now we're outnumbered and we watch live plays, refill juice cups, and go home by 8!

 Eating dinner...just moments before the sprinklers came on!!!  :)

Did I warn them, you ask?  Heh, heh, heh...

And then we had to take pictures for the annual school time capsule...the GIRLS...going into (gulp!) 5th, 3rd, and Kindergarten...

...and the boys...about to start PRESCHOOL together!!!  (Joshy says, "I am a luuuuucky ducky!  I will have my best-est buddy Kai with me!" We are thrilled!)

Those childless Catan nights were so boring...

Brooklyn Girl

We had a play date with little Brooklyn since we were missing her like crazy!  The kids are used to seeing her each week at G'ma Dianne's, so when she came over here we had a blast!  They play so well together--and I got so much done while they were busy playing--that we wondered why we didn't do this a dozen times over the summer!  :)

Farm Swim Party, 2013

G'ma Trudy and Papa LeRoy won the Pool Party at the school auction again this year!  We were invited to join the family and swim on the first weekend in August at Mary Druffel's pool.

We had a great time, though we were missing a few people.  Little Kenley was sick, so Nate and Lindsay were at home with her...the harvest was in full swing, so we were missing the daddies and grandpa...and Tom was not doing well, so G'ma Joan was in Pullman helping Diane.  I think it was a nice distraction to be entertained by cute little fishies such as these...  :)

 Gracie, the torpedo...Joshy the stairs rat.

After they fed us dinner we finally coaxed the kids out of the pool with a little game of kick-around.  Kelly took great pictures, so I may be adding the group shot soon...

 Beautiful harvest night.

And before we left the farm we washed Papa's car for him.  (After we practiced on our van and car!)

Harvest, 2013

This year brought lots of change to the Moser farm.  Ben and Dad upgraded their combine--traded in the 3 or 4 smaller Gleaners for the Monster Gleaner!  This meant fewer drivers were needed, so we didn't get to sign up for the 10-day workfest.  BUT, Jerry and Levi ended up having to leave town for a wedding, so Jeff got to step in as a truck driver for four days.  I wanted to be out there helping, but Mom said that 6-month pregnant ladies don't belong in the field.  So I took pictures.  :)

 That Millie sure loves her daddy!!!

2013 marks the year that Mom got a new kitchen floor--due in part to a leaky dishwasher.  So...the house was a bit in disarray for our busiest time of the year.  Good thing we know how to roll with the punches!  :)

Normally we don't like to take pictures of break-downs, but this one was picture-worthy.  The big truck broke the drive-line in the middle of the highway (right after we loaded an excited Gracie and Megan into the truck with Sam to take to the warehouse) which caused for quite a commotion and traffic interruption.  Jeff helped wave cars by, and when the state trooper pulled up he gave Jeff the appropriate traffic-director outfit.  That's what I was trying to capture on film.

One of these days we were lucky enough to have the Morrow girls come to play.  Gracie and Megan decided to dress up in these "Olden-Day" clothes--AKA clothes that Katie and I used to wear.  :)