Cookies For Santa

On Christmas Eve we made some gingerbread cookies for Santa.

Just after I took this picture Kaleb (7) says, " I don't even look like I've been cooking!" Then he grabbed a handfull of flour and rubbed it into the front of his apron.

Here I am looking very cheesy.

Ha! And Levi after I made him look like he was cooking too!

Thanksgiving Weekend

The Mitchell's had a great Thanksgiving weekend!! Did you?

First off we started last Monday night with a Pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving dinner at my SIL Heathers house, which was very yummy.

Then Levi got home Wednesday night, I picked him up kissed him goodbye and headed out for a Girl's Night Out singing Karaoke with my favorite girls Tanya, Tambi, and Stacey. We are never boring together.

On Thursday we ate our official Thanksgiving dinner at Golden Corral in Boise with Levi's parents. We love going there, this was our 4th year. It's become a family tradition and my most favorite holiday. No cooking, no cleaning, no huge grocery bill, and no trying to figure out what to do with all the leftovers. It's my low maintenance holiday and lets me focus on gearing up for Christmas, which we all know is the best holiday EVER!!

Early morning Friday, Levi and I got up early and shopped till we felt like dropping. Got a few good deals on Christmas gifts for the mini Mitchell's. We went out to lunch at Tucano's Brazilian Grill which is really yummy. You should go there, if you haven't yet. After lunch we were so stuffed and so sore from shopping we could barely walk out. We made it home in time to store the Christmas gifts in storage and pull out all the Christmas Decorations in anticipation of the weeks of decorating Levi's Dad does for Christmas.

 Nevada Wolf Pack cornerback Duke Williams #20 breaks up a pass intended for Boise State Broncos wide receiver Austin Pettis #2 at Mackay Stadium in Reno, NV on Friday night Nov. 26.

Joe Jaszewski / Idaho Statesman

Then we were off for date night  to watch the BIG game-BSU vs Nevada on a BIG screen. We even had matching blue and orange fleece pullovers on, it was cute. Still wish I had gotten a photo of that..Ah well ..maybe next game. Wow! What a game it was too! Nevada won which is sad for BSU. It was such a close game lots of tied scores, down to seconds in the game,  lots of suspense and Boy was it sad when we lost. Levi and I had a nice evening out though.

Saturday was another early morning as we headed to Boise with the boys to participate in the Boise Holiday Parade. The theme this year was Christmas Around the World. We were hoping it wouldn't rain, and thank goodness it didn't! It was really cold though and it snowed the whole time. A local homeschool mom hosted a Homeschool float this year. She organized it all and it went really smoothly...she is amazing!! We even won the Children's Choice award. It was cold, but fun...cold fun. I just love parades!!

Well now it is Sunday, Levi headed out early this morning to play with traffic and snow and ice for the next few weeks. I'm exhausted and am off to take a nap now. Ta Ta for now!

A Day at Zoo Boise

 Levi was home for Halloween weekend. We were headed to Julia Davis just to play at the park, when we saw the zoo and it was just too tempting. We had a great afternoon with Levi.

 We love the prairie dogs and they were especially fat this year, which just enhanced their cuteness 100 %.

 These turtle shells are so much fun for the kids...

 ...and the adults.

 Turtle, Turtle!

 Oliver loves this giant Komodo Dragon. They look like mini dinosaurs to me.

 Josef hiding behind a large maple leaf.

 Look, we're nesting!

 Oliver had no trouble making friends here.

Ian's favorite type of animal are the cats. Apparently this is a Leopard, not a Cheetah. I was informed by Ian that you can tell by the pattern of the spots.

These are Wort Hogs and I was telling Oliver how it was Pumba from the Lion King and I started singing to them "Hakuna Matata" and their little tails began to wag. When I stopped singing their tails were still. I started singing again and the tails wagged again. They liked it!

Here's Oliver with a giant snake. He wasn't too scared though, we've seen bigger live snakes at my friend Tanya's house.

Well that's a wrap! Sometimes you just gotta take a trip on the wild side.

August 2010

Hello, my long neglected blog.
I have missed you.
I am so far behind on posts. I'm going to be marathon blogging just to get through August and September.

August was a crazy month for us; a family reunion, a funeral, a move, and a birthday all in one month.

The family reunion was for Levi's immediate family. It's a new family tradition we are starting. We'll have one a year in the summertime. Everyone was able to attend. Here we all are, plus Savannah's boyfriend. I am sure years from now we will think...who was that boy? I hosted the reunion this year, it was a Luau theme as you can see from the Hawaiian shirts and leis. This picture is really funny...got some strange expressions going on. At the reunion we had talent acts, the limbo, a hula contest, and hula hooping. Here are a few more photos, if you are wondering about our hula skills...we are pros! We had so much fun!!! Birney (aka Greatest Uncle Ever) is hosting the one next year in Seattle, we are all looking forward to it.

Levi's Grandpa Kidd died a few days before the reunion, so it was all very bittersweet. He would have loved the reunion.We drove over to Ashton, ID for the funeral. It was such a  lovely service, and so very many of his family and friends attended. He was always very kind and loving to me, you always just felt like one of his grandchildren. He loved the boys and it was so nice for them to get to know their Great Grandfather while he was alive. 

Yes, we moved AGAIN, but hopefully it will be the 2nd to the last time...I hope.We are living in the upstairs of Levi's parents house, paying off some debt and saving for a home. Wish us luck!!

We are helping to remodeling the upstairs. It has been fun and also hard work. Check out this cool paint job my friend helped me with. Yes, that is all paint...can you believe it? She has these awesome patterned rollers from the 70's. I think it turned out beautiful! The color is a little off in the photo, but it is a Sage Green.

Last, but just one day before the last day of the month. Ian turned 10!! Double Digits. Isn't he a cutie?! Happy Birthday, buddy.

"I don't know what the future may hold, but I know who holds the future."

~Ralph Abernathy

We're RICH!

"I don't care how poor a man is; 

if he has family, he's rich." 

~Dan Wilcox and Thad Mumford, "Identity Crisis," M*A*S*H

On March 20,1999 Levi, Josef, and I officially became a family. We started out with carelessness, passion, and a great deal of love and not a whole lot of money. Some things don't really change- we are still careless, and passionate, we have even more love than we started with and we will never have lots of money. Eleven years, three boys, eight Addresses, and six jobs later here we are doing the best we can to make it all work.  

Families are funny in a way. You usually start out with two people wanted to share a lifetime together. Then you add in a child or more. Maybe that's the point when it get a little crazy, not only do you have two different people trying to make a life, then you add in some perfect strangers that have your nose, or your curly hair, or your same love for silly jokes. After a few similarities though they really are uniquely their own persons, full of some purpose you can't even imagine, and you are in charge of getting them from infancy to brilliance, without doing too much damage. They call this family, this group of people made from love, trying to figure out the world and one another, all within the walls of a place called home.  Home, like a tiny little universe all it's own, providing a perfect little petri dish for understanding all the good and bad things about relationships and life. 

Although family means struggles, and arguments, and yells of "He's touching me!" it also means something much more-you are forever connected to these people. Through the bad and good you are bond by blood, and love, shared circumstance, and the comforting knowledge that forever is made richer when we are together.

Summer Splash

"Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit.  A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all's right with the world."  ~Ada Louise Huxtable

Cute Condor Couple Moves In

One of the perks of living in Idaho is the amazing bird watching opportunities and the fact that we are the home to a large population of birds of prey. If you have never seen a hawk soar and scream or seen a peregrine falcon perched along the road, you are truly missing out. Idaho is home to the World Center for Birds of Prey (it is on the south end of Cole Rd in Boise and well worth the drive).

This past weekend they hosted a Grand opening for the new Condor Habitat. I am a Condor fan, I think they get a bad rap because of their humble looks. They are very interesting birds. They are extremely helpful in eliminating waste from carrion ( think about how you love to see road kill on the side of the road..eww.Thanks for taking care of it Condors). The are also huge! They have the largest wingspan of any bird of prey-at 9 feet. They are larger that the bald eagle and way smarter! The most important fact is they are a endangered species so the work at the Center is very important.

The two birds now housed at the center will be used to bred new Condors to release into the wild. It is all very exciting!

If you'd like to learn more about Condors or other birds of prey check out the World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, ID. Admission is only $7 General and $5 for kids. It is a great family outing or homeschool fieldtrip. They also have some great educational programs you can schedule for school, homeschool, or scout trips.

Also check out the educational resources provided on their website.

Below is our FAVORITE Condor book, the illustrations are incredible.

Sometimes...

...waiting is so hard to do.

My niece Charlie waiting at my house for the cookies to be done.