Stanley went on a Walk about

So Stanley is my pet cat. Het travels with me when I go to visit my parent's house. I am very attached. He is both an indoor/outdoor kitty. Which means that he kind of comes and goes as he pleases. I prefer to have him indoors, especially at night. So on Saturday he bolts out the door when it was open. No big deal, he is allowed outside. He decided to stay outside for 3 days this time.

By the time he had been outside for 24 hours I started to worry. There are tons of places a cat could hide so there is little to do as far as looking for him. All you can do is continue to check the door for him and call his name.

Tuesday I decided that I would feel better if we just walked around the barns and buildings to check on him. Parker and I were walking the perimeter of my parents lawn when we heard him meowing. I was so relieved. As Parker said "we're coming Stanley"
We found him in this tree in the hallow below my parents house. We tried to coax him down, but weren't having much luck. It was a tall tree with few branches, so I couldn't climb up there. Parker got cold, so we had to head in. I called my Dad and said he would bring a ladder and we could rescue him.
My sister, Rebecca and I carried flash lights while my dad toted a ladder down the hill and then set it up for him to climb. He figures it was a good 20 feet that Stanely had climbed.
Stanley was excited to see someone. He kept meowing and carrying on and then making little circles where he was.
Then there was the challenge of reaching the cat and climbing down the ladder. My dad figured it out.
Dad later mentioned he is getting afraid of heights. Thanks dad for rescuing my cat!
Both were happy to be at the bottom.
Stanely went straight to his food dish. Now I just need to get GPS installed on my cat so that I will know where he is next time he wants to go exploring.
We are so grateful to have Stanley back with us safely.

The End.

Making Sugar Cookies

So each time a holiday rolls around I think how much fun it would be to make sugar cookies with my boys. They can actually get involved and feel like they helped. I have cookie cutters for Easter, Halloween and Christmas. Plus the little mini set from Pampered Chef that includes a heart, clover, flower, chile pepper, star, pumpkin and apple. So it kind of fits all seasons. And we have a fire hydrant too.

I made the dough one afternoon with Parker and we put it in the fridge to chill. Well that particular night there was too much going on to make cookies, so the next day we pulled out the dough and made cookies. Both boys were awake and excited to be helping with making fun shapes. I could hardly get the dough rolled out fast enough. Of course the whole time I am answering Parker's questions to the running commentary.

What are we doing?
Why are you rolling the dough?
I want to help?
Why are you making fire hydrants, trees, boots (whatever cutter I chose)?
I want to make a star.

Then as soon as they come out of the oven he couldn't wait to sprinkle with the colored sugar. He liked to cover them generously. Which if you waited until they were cool you could tap the excess off and the whole cookie was covered and it was actually really pretty. He was also eating them as fast as they were coming off the pan. Then more commentary.

Why are you putting them in the oven again?
I want to eat them.
I want to put sugar on them.
What happened (to the ones that broke as I was pulling them off the cookie sheet)?

I guess he is learning. We didn't finish all the cookies. I had doubled the batch because in the past the dough didn't seem to make much. I was frustrated by the end. I always have these visions of having so much fun with my boys and all it did was stress me out. Perhaps I have my expectations too high or try to be too much of the perfectionist. Every time I do this I end up asking myself what was I thinking? This is too much work. I should just stick to brownies.

I just asked Parker if he had fun making cookies last week and his reply, yes, I want a cookie at Grandma's house.

Christmas Fun

I received this as an email, but thought it would be fun to post on my blog. A little about me.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? wrapping paper

2. Real tree or Artificial? artificial, my firefighting husband thinks the real thing is a fire hazard, plus the economical side of the whole thing you can buy 1 artificial tree and you will have paid for it in 2 years, less if you got your tree on clearance

3. When do you put up the tree? when we get around to it( could be as early as the middle of November if I was ambitiuos enough)

4. When do you take the tree down? when I am ready to reclaim that space again

5. Do you like eggnog?Ewwww. The thought of drinking raw eggs is just gross.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Probably my Cabbage Patch doll with the corn silk hair.

7. Hardest person to buy for? My brother Sam, but we draw names, so I don't have to worry this year.

8. Easiest person to buy for? the boys

9. Do you have a nativity scene? yes, but we didn't put it up this year, all the decorations just take up space and I didn't feel like breaking everything out this year.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail, although we haven't done this since Parker was 6 months old. We just got busy with life, never got a good family picture, kept thinking we would send Easter or 4th July cards or even Halloween. We have good intentions.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Umm, don't want to hurt anyone's feelings.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? The Grinch that Stole Christmas (the old cartoon)

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? October (at least I start thinking about it then)

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes, for a white elephant gift.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Spiced nuts or peanut brittle
16. Lights on the tree? yes, they came with the artificial tree. Isn't that easy.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Let it Snow

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Yes

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star - this year it is made out of pink construction paper.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? 1 on Christmas Eve- jammies and the remainder on Christmas Day.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? the crowds

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? we have collected ornaments from our vacation spots. Although we don't put ornaments on, because I couldn't bear to see them broken by the boys or the cat.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Mashed potatoes

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? I would love a vacation from my boys.

26. Where are you on Christmas Eve? My Mom throws a huge party.

27. Do you hang a mistletoe? Used to when I decorated more.

28. A ritual you do for Christmas? We are still working on this one.

29. Give or receive gifts- Receive I know I should want to give, but I like to receive.

30. One thing you wish for this Christmas- A maid and a babysitter!


Well now you know a little more about me. It is kind of hard for me to get into the spirit of things. Sometimes I find myself saying "Ba Hum bug" Life gets so busy and crazy and the all things we feel obligated to do that I don't enjoy Christmas as much as I used to.

Blessing the food

So tonight when we sat down to eat Parker said the blessing on the prayer. Jim helped him. Here's how it went.

Jim: Dear Heavenly Father
Parker: Heaven Father
Jim: Thank you for this day,
Parker: Thank you day,
Jim: Bless the food
Parker: Bless food
Jim: That is will nourish and strengthen us (In my opinion this is a mouthful for adults, let alone a 3 year old)
Parker: that nursery
Jim: In the name of Jesus Christ
Parker : Amen

I just thought it was so cute to him try to say nourish. He is familiar with nursery, but not nourish.

I just wanted to add that it makes my heart melt when I hear my little boy say the prayer. It is the cutest thing.

Taking a walk

My boys love to go outside and I often need some fresh air and sunlight to make my day go better. Parker is so excited for it to the snow. The other day we had about an inch of snow. So I bundle everybody up and put Preston in the stroller.

I have to wait for Parker to shovel the driveway before we can go for a walk. Then he precedes to bring the shovel along with us on our walk. He was shoveling any remaining snow on the sides of the road or at the edges of driveways. We make it to the flag pole (this is our destination on a small lane behind our house) and he is now tired. So mom carries the shovel and pushes the stroller. Sorry no picture, my hands were full.

Parking Ticket update

Just wanted to let you know my sweet husband call the parking office for me and told my story. A nice lady said they would reduce the fine to $10. We sent them a check last week.

Thank you Jim for taking care of that!

Washing feet

So yesterday I sat the boys on the vanity in the bathroom while I was putting on my make up. I did this to keep them out of trouble. They usually don't get to sit up there. When I was finished, Parker was occupied with something so I left him there. I heard water running and went in to check, he was washing his feet in the sink with his socks on. Of course we had somewhere to be and I rushing around. Parker needed another pair of pants and had to go without socks because I only had 1 pair with me. I didn't have my camera to capture this on, so sorry no picture.

Fun in the kitchen

Preston is just so cute. He is getting to be such a big boy. He likes to climb up on the stool and sit on the counter and "clean up" or throw everything on the floor.

Both boys think it is fun to help unload the dishwasher.

Here is my action shot. Preston is handing Parker some silverware and then Parker hands it to dad.
What a great way to involve everyone! Jim likes to unload the dishwasher and the boys love to be with Jim.

Parker's creations

Parker made this rocket at a friend's house. The stroller has a weight limit of 40 pounds and Parker weighs 38. Every once in a while he wants to ride instead of walk.
One morning he was working on Mr. Potato head while I was busy on the phone or doing something else. I thought he did such a great job. It looked great too so we took a picture.
The decorated pumpkins in story time with icing and candy. Parker ate some of the goodies before we got home. Don't you love his own crooked grin?

Parking Ticket

So a couple weeks ago I had a dentist appointment. I was in the truck this particular day and my dentist is located in down town State College, which means that parking is always a challenge.

For those of you that don't know Jim's truck has a light bar on top and several antennas. He doesn't like me to park in the parking garage because he is afraid it is too tall to clear it. Well the truck can clear it, but it makes a loud bonking noise and I cringe and go real slow every time I go under a beam.

Anyway, back to my story. So I park on the street this particular day. I am usually running behind or just right on the button. I have both boys in tow. I put all the change I have in my wallet in the meeter. Now mind you that parking is $0.75 per hour. It takes us a little longer inside the Dentist and I have a parking ticket when I return for $5.00. If you pay within 30 minutes they will discount your fine to $2.50.

Well I have 2 boys with me and the thought of driving to the muncipal building, finding another parking spot and hoping not to get another ticket because I am out of change is just not worth it. Plus add to that unbuckling and waiting in line inside that I decide I will pay the $5 and be done with. So I take my ticket home and put it in the bill pile.

So Jim goes to pay the bill and reads the fine print. If you wait more than 5 whole DAYS to pay your ticket it jumps to $25!!! Can you believe it, $25 for parking too long in a parking space??!! So I tell Jim, just send them $5 and see if they bother to ask for the whole amount or are just happy to get their money.

The mail came today with a letter telling me to please pay the remaining $20 along with the notice that "Failure to do so may cause issuance of a citation with the District Justice yielding additional fines and court costs." Do you think they would really take me to court over $20? The costs involved would be more than $20.

So what do you think do I complain to the Borough of State College, write a letter to the editor about the draconian and confiscatory fees for patronizing a business, act like the letter never arrived or just buck up and pay the $20.

Our Halloween Party

I have always wanted to have a Halloween Party. I think the kid in me still likes getting dressed up. We invited our friends to a costume party. It was a lot of fun preparing for it and I sure a fun time that evening. We had some great costumes.

Tigger and a Mac. Stormi is my friend that lives in Stormstown. She also has a son named Parker who is also 3, like our Parker. Rick is a computer guy and he dressed up as a Mac. They are one of the closest friends we have from church, about 15 minutes away.

The "Miss Quito" and the guy who had been bitten by the misquito. I thought this was so clever. It took Jim a while to get it. Jami and I have worked together in Relief Society through the Enrichment committee and also Visiting Teaching. John has worked with Jim through the Elder's quorum
The campfire and the camper. Chad was originally going to be the campfire, but was concerned that people might mistake him for the man on fire. The costume was complete with flickering flame. Another unique idea. I know Nikki through Craft night and working with her in Young Women's. She is also a mother of boys about the same ages of my boys.



The peanut butter and jelly sandwich. This is so cute. Jordan and I often found in the hallway class during church because our babies won't still. Matt serves in the Bishopric over Young Women's.

The Proton and neutron. Very fitting for the physics guy! Terri has actually been in State College longer than I have. I was her visiting teacher in the beginning and then she was my visiting teacher for 4 years. They will be relocating soon, as Carl her husband has taken a job in the DC area.
Us, the happy host and hostess. We were supposed to dress up as Dorothy and the scarecrow, but being a busy mom and trying to get ready for the party, I was still sewing at 1 pm on the day of the party. There was too much going on to get my new Dorothy costume finished, so we recycled one from a previous year. The flapper and the gangster as I call it.

The whole group. We played games and ate yummy food and had time to visit. It was so much fun. I made a pumpkin cheesecake. We had the chicken club from Pampered chef and apples and dip along with candy to munch on.

Pumpkin Patch

So Ed and Sue wanted to come and see the grandkids and we wanted to take the boys to a pumpkin patch. It fit into our schedules to meet part way at Vale Wood Farms in Loretto PA, just 15 minutes east of Altoona.

We get our milk delivered to our door and this is the farm that it comes from. I thought this would give us the chance to see the operation and know more about the local dairy that we are supporting. By the way, we are very happy customers. Their milk is so good and the ice cream is delicious!


Parker is quite the chatterbox. Each day begins with "where are we going today?" This question continues through out our day. So the all the way to the farm we are discussing what we are going to do, see where the milk come from and see grandma and grandpa Rayburn. When we get there, some of the older trucks are parked there and I thought it would be cute to get his picture with an old milk truck, but instead........He wanted to pose in front of the dump truck!!! Go figure! He loves dirt and dump trucks. Plus Pappy has one just like it.
This was totally geared with kids in mind. You paid a very reasonable admission price of $1 and all the games and activities were free. Parker spent a considerable amount of time in the giant corn box.
He also enjoyed the maze made out of straw set up in the back yard. They had made this tunnel and it was great fun for him to crawl through.
They gave a hay wagon ride complete with information about the farm. It was very informative. Our milk is a level 4. My Father in law gave us a thumbs up, it is the best you can get.
I don't exactly remember what those levels were about. I had never heard of them before and I grew up on a farm with milk cows.

At the end of the day we all had some ice cream and headed our separate ways. Parker wanted a picture with his Grandma Rayburn.

Christmas in October

So we are on our way home from church today and Jim says to me.
Jim:"I wore my Christmas socks today for the first time. I didn't have any other matches. I had 4 (left) socks, but none of them were matches."
Emily: "Your kidding, your wore your Christmas socks?"
Jim: "Yep the black ones with red and green Ho, Ho, Ho. That is why I don't like Holiday socks, you can only wear them a short time." He says as he raises his leg to show me.
Emily: "That is too funny! I'll have to write about that in our blog."
Jim: "Well I will change before you can get a picture."

So no picture and I guess it could be his word against mine. I love Jim's sense of humor in situations like this. I bought him those socks years ago, but he prefers more plush like socks and so never wore them until he was desperate to have matching socks.

Oh and he always has left socks in his drawer, but never any matches.

Aunt Rebecca's birthday cake!

Some people will do anything for an excuse to eat sweets. Parker loves birthday celebrations. Birthdays used to be big deal in my family, but I think everyone just got busy and we don't make it a big deal anymore. I used to spend hours, (well almost that long) looking for the perfect birthday card to get someone. We would each get the person a card and sometimes a small gift. The family would gather round for cake and ice cream. It was a lot of fun and we made it an excuse to celebrate! I want to do better the next time around.

Anyway, we made a cake and sang happy birthday to Aunt Rebecca. Parker wanted to know when she was coming to our house for her piece of cake. I am still working on that one to explain how far away Utah is.


This is the cake the next morning. Guess what Parker was doing, while Mom was still sleeping. Yep you guessed it, licking the frosting off.

Parker is my wake up call in the mornings. I sleep until he sleeps. Sometimes he gets into mischief life this particular morning. But it gets better. Another morning I awoke to ......
This!! He licked most of it bare. This was after we ate most of the cake.

Just for fun!

So I am out of fresh pictures and new items to blog about right now. I thought it would be fun to find something a little older. This is Parker learning to walk. He is about 17 months in these pictures. Preston is 15 months right now.


Notice the same "grocery cart?"

Learning to Walk

We call this the grocery cart. The kids love to fill it up with cans and walk around with. Preston loves this toy. His eyes light up when he sees it. He will go back and forth several times. And it is helping him get his legs ready for walking. Although the big kids still like to play with, it can be hard to get your own turn!

He is turning around to make sure Mom is still watching. Doesn't he have the cutest legs?

My helper

Parker loves to vacuum and he actually does a pretty good job for a 3 year old. If I don't give in he will throw a fit. Fine with me. Hopefully he will also enjoy doing dishes!

Mom's shoes

So we like to play in our hallway. It is the perfect place to roll balls or cars and they are contained. I took off my shoes to give my feet a break and they were the next best toy to my boys. Preston put a lot of effort into trying on Mom's shoes. Of course we made a big deal out of it and took his picture, so Parker had to take a turn too!

100 Bottles of food on the wall,

Ok, so I didn't actually count all the bottles on the wall. But I will give you a run down of what is there. As I mentioned earlier our garden was too small to do any canning, so I bought from local sources and shared with my Mom, who planted a big garden. There are a few remaining jars from last year that we just did not eat as much.

The following is what I did this summer.

• Strawberries - 2 batches of syrup, froze with sugar
• Blueberries- 1 batch of syrup, froze for later use
• Green beans - 35 quarts (this was a marathon day at my Mom's, we did 14 cookers in 1 day)
• Peaches - 25 quarts
• Grapes- 28 quarts of juice, 1 batch of jam (these were given to me by a lady in our ward, all I did was comment on her garden and she was sending me home with boxes of grapes!)
• Tomatoes- 25 quarts ( I was a little over ambitious and bought a bushel from the Amish)
• Raspberries - 1 batch of jam (I should mention I have a raspberry patch, but it takes 3 cups of fruit for jam and I only got 2 cups. So I froze my berries for another time not sure what I was going to do with them. Turns out we found a guy that had raspberries in Sept, so I had enough to do 1 batch of jam.)
• Applesauce ???? This is yet to be done. The apples are now on. It is just a matter of getting them and doing it.
  

My boys are growing up.

Out with the old ABC/Noah's ark curtains and bring on the wild zebra stripes!!!

Parker has mentioned that he is afraid of the cars at night time. This puzzled us. He has cars on his sheets, he loves to play with cars, he loves the movie Cars. We weren't sure whether he was afraid they were going to crash through the wall or if the noises of them scared him at night. Well after sleeping in his bed one night, I discovered the problem. His curtains were very thin and as the cars go up and down the road at night their head lights shine in and cast shadows on the walls.

So we made a trip to Joann's fabrics to look for something different. I was trying so hard to be mindful of things that might be friendly during the day, but scary at night time. All the regular stuff he likes I could picture having bad dreams about at night, frogs, trucks, cars, bugs and monkeys. I decided I needed to go with a safe geometric pattern and dark. We walked over to the black fabric and Parker spotted the zebra stripe. So I made them new curtains.

It was a sad moment for me. Preston shares a room and won't get the chance to enjoy the little boy ABC curtains. They are growing up too fast.

You will be happy to know that the curtains are doing the trick. Parker is sleeping all night long in his own bed! Wahoo!

I finshed it!!

This is a picture of the finished product. Last year I took a quilting 101 class and I started on this table runner. I love taking the classes, but they often teach you something, but don't have enough time in class to finish it. Arghhhh. This is torture to a mom with small children, because you rarely have time to work on these things. I want to take more classes, but currently have 3 more projects in the works. My Mom told me I need to finish them before I do more. Needless to say between life and all the other things I have going on ( young women's, planning a halloween party, making zebra curtains, pampered chef and that on top of the daily battle of dishes and laundry) there isn't a whole lot of time for quilting.

My goal is to have my next wall hanging ready to work on during general conference next weekend. It will help me stay awake. Now it is in writing. I let you know how it goes.

Just FYI the place I take the quilting classes is www.stitchyourartout.com

Emily, Emily how does your garden grow?

With sunshine, fertilizer and water!! Yes this is Parker hiding behind my zucchini plant that over took my little garden. I could not believe how big it was. Next year I will allow more room for the zucchinis.

And yes you are looking at the front of my house. We have trees in the backyard that rob the soil of water and nutrients. So Jim killed the grass, added topsoil and I planted a garden. I am so proud of my garden. Parker loves being outside, so I was actually able to take care of it. It did quite well and is still producing tomatoes. We planted everything from seed in the ground so we got a little late start.

Keep an eye out for my canning post, although I didn't have a large enough garden to can from. I only eat and enjoy the fresh veggies with my garden.

How tall is the corn?

Parker loves to chatter all the time. I call it my running commentary all day long. He will ask where we are going, what we are doing, what certain noises are? One day I was tired of the usual questions, so I changed the subject. Look at all this corn. It is getting so tall. I wonder how tall it is. We should take your picture by it and see how tall the corn is compared to you. Pappy would like to see the tall corn.

So we stopped to take Parker's picture next to the corn one day!

Impromtu trip to Horseshoe Curve

We were already in Altoona and I was planning on taking the boys to Lakemont park. I forgot to check the schedule and the amusement park had already closed for the season. Parker loves trains and I thought it would be fun to take him to Horseshoe Curve. Especially since we were almost there. This would save me a separate trip.



The trains blow their whistles and then the sound of the metal wheels on the tracks makes a screeching sound. Parker does not like loud noises, so he covers his ears.


I was able to get him to release his hands to point to the train.
Horseshoe Curve was built to help the train deal with the mountainous terain. They built the track on a horseshoe pattern so that it would be gradual climb or descent. The train started on this side.

And wrapped around to this side. It is quite a site to see. One year they did fireworks at the curve and lit up the track as well. They have pictures in the little store for sale. It was really cool.
And where was Preston during all this, just being a happy boy! I carried him because our only options to get to the curve were a little tram or stairs. I knew the stroller would limit us, so he hung out on mom's hip.