The Treehouse-A Love Story

After scoping out the backyard this is the "chosen" tree!

Phil has been dreaming of making a treehouse with the boys for years. He saw a pretty simple plan in a book we'd been given called, "The Dangerous Book for Boys." One afternoon he and the boys marched into the house and announced that they were indeed going to do it. 

The kids all helped in their own way.

Phil took a day off from work to get as far along as we could. 

Peek-a-boo!

Chasey was LOVING sitting up there. So exciting!

Working on the deck. This was quite the accomplishment!

Look at these angled supports. Come on!

Working on the walls.

These are some excited kiddos!

FRAMED WALLS!!!

This is the day before the storm. We wanted to get them on to protect the structure. In the end it didn't even matter! Dang!!

And then Hurricane Sandy came. Our neighbors tree fell directly on the treehouse. Not happy.

A pic from Eliza's room. This tree was just huge.

Completely uprooted. What a beast!!!

Phil and Bryon starting to remove some limbs. Phil's first time using a chainsaw. he was in love!

Grrrrrr!!!

Looks good, right? :(

We were so blessed to have the Mormon Helping Hands come help us remove the tree. It was going to be close to $3000 for removal!! We submitted a claim to insurance and didn't get that much at all!!!

Diana using a chainsaw. My kind of woman.

We are halfway there!

Phil took another day off from work and between that and a full Saturday we got this puppy back to itself original state. We were so fortunate our neighbor George came and helped us get it level and un-twisted. That took almost 4 hours!!

By the time the kids were home from school we got the roof on, which was surprisingly easier than we'd anticipated and the weighted trap door done. The only thing not pictured is the pulley on the side w/ a bucket attached. It's how I can send cookies up to them! :) Hooray it's done and we can move on with our lives!!

October Part 1

Uncle Tim got us tickets to an East/West football game. This is our 2nd time and we had a great time!

Everyone wearing red for CB EAST!! (Phil and mines high school!)

Hunter and Ty goofing off.

Sweet hair Chasey!

The kids favorite part is always running around the football field after the game. Under the lights is pretty thrilling!

Marie (looking awesome after having a baby), Coach Barno and Phil

Marie and the little tyke Cyd

All tuckered out!

My friend and I took our kids on a day off to hike at Bald Pate Mtn. These boulders were amazing!!

The children bravely decided to check out what was in the cave. Nothing!

These 2 cute little girls kept up with the big kids no problem!

Our church Halloween Trunk-or-treat party. The kids had fun wearing their costumes!

Bert and Mary Poppins. We had fun throwing this together last minute!

LEGO Storm Trooper, WWII Pilot, and Cinderella

Eliza with her buddies Dylan and Lucy! Luc is wearing the crown my mom wore on her wedding day!!

September Part 2

A sneak into ballet.

September is always a busy month with school starting and Ty's birthday. This year we tried this funny balloon avalanche. When the boys opened their door all of them fell onto their heads. Luckily I woke up just in time to get a great video of them!

A happy boy w/ all of his coins! I can't believe he is 9!

Ty requested a Phillies cake. I used my marshmallow fondant and this pic is really kind. It was totally weird looking, but he loved it and it tasted good. That's all that matters in the end anyway, right?

Hunter and Brady visited with us for a few hours and we all had a lot of fun! Look at that baby-chubba bubba!!!

September Part 1

Oh, sweet special Ty. I shall use this against you one day. :)

My babies on their first day of 1st Grade-Chase has Mrs. Peach who we love!

And 3rd grade. Ty has Ms. Murphy, who he was nervous about, but has ended up loving!

So handsome!

My little Eliza on her first day of preschool. She's doing it at the YMCA like the boys did and her teacher is my friend Mrs. Gail! Hooray! 

Eliza is lucky to have cousin Lucy with her at preschool!

Eliza is also enrolled in ballet. She LOVES it!! How cute is she in her little bun?

Ballet with her friends Hathaway and Claire

Chase had a friends' birthday party at Terhune Orchards. It was so much fun!

Feeding the goats. Chase is by far my bravest letting it eat from his hands!

Hay ride!

Fun face painting

Eliza was enamored by it!

A fun time and we got all the fall fun festivities done all at once!

Funny Christmas Moments

My 3 kids are shaping up to be quite the sarcastic comedians. The best part is, they don't even mean to be. Here are 3 funny things that happened this week. I could go on and on, but I forget all of the ridiculous things that come out of their mouths!

CHASE: The other night I was laying in bed with him talking for a bit and he asked, "besides the trampoline, zip line, paint guns, swing set, toys in the basement, the train, cousins, and Grandpa's army toys-what exactly will we be doing at Grandma and Grandpa's house?"
Um, I think you pretty much summed it up kid!

TYLER: Phil and Ty were listening to "I saw mommy kissing Santa Clause" in the car and Ty said, "so basically the mom committed adultery?" and then he finished singing the song like this, "I saw mommy committing adultery. Underneath the mistletoe last night."
Not sure why in the heck he knows that word. And how he knows how to apply it. I always blame the bus.

ELIZA: She doesn't say Santa's sleigh. It's Santa's Slave.

Chasey's fear

The kids started packing their lunches for school tomorrow and we realized that we had no bread. I tried to convince them to do cheese and crackers and they wouldn't hear of it. So I told them they would have to buy lunch. So we are checking out the menu and Chasey was really quiet. I asked him if he was nervous to buy lunch b/c he's never done it before. And he got this bashful and nervous look on his face (not common for him!) and said, "what if the person taking my money and giving me food are robbers? And they take my money and steal it?" It was so hilarious b/c he was genuinely concerned about this! This kid has the greatest imagination!