Fireworks!!

Our city does fireworks on the night before the 4th.  I happen to really like this because we can stay up late and still have the 4th to have fun.  No worries about getting to bed at a decent time!

I don’t have pictures of any fireworks, but I do have pictures of my cute family…waaaaaay better than fireworks!!

Caleb wants to be a photographer.  (He’d probably do a much better job than I do!)

Daniel enjoyed himself until things started getting too hot (about 10 minutes after we got there).  This is a happy picture, just in case you were wondering.

The Emily Chill – Wordoku (Sudoku with letters instead of numbers), pink blanket, and a place to lay her head.

Josh in a tree.  Josh in a tree?  How can that be?

 I happen to really like this guy.

Rachel my silly girl.

Daniel blowing raspberries at having his picture taken.  He needs some lessons from Emily.

It’s gettin’ kinda hot out here.

 

Taking refuge in the shade of the Suburban.

Such a sweet boy, even when he’s hot.

We survived the heat until the sun went down.  And Daniel was especially relieved when Stacie arrived with popsicles for everyone.  We all loved the fireworks – even Daniel!!  He clapped and flapped his arms through lots of the show.  It was a fun evening, but I’m glad we can hang out in the cool A/C today!

The Story of Our Summer (or the Summer I Worked as a Housecleaner & Taxi Driver)

This summer is definitely going to go down in the books as one of THE MOST crazy (and annoying) ever!  Here’s a picture of our week (in words…sorry, no actual pictures):

Monday: House showing at 4 p.m., Josh’s baseball practice/game at 4:15 p.m.  I spent the morning cleaning and getting the house ready.  The kids probably watched a movie all morning.  In order to keep the house clean, we hit the splash pad after lunch, and were happy to see Darcy and her kids with the same idea!  Daniel hated the water, the rest of my kids loved it.  We left with enough time to run home, get the kids changed (I made them change in the garage!), do a quick vacuuming job, and run to Josh’s baseball game.  Because of the timing of the showing, we had to eat out…again.  It’s getting old.

Tuesday: Jared and I got up early to go to the temple while the kids were still asleep.  Thought we’d hit the 6:30 a.m. session.  Turns out the sessions don’t start until 7 a.m.!!  So we got some extra time to just sit.  It was also Lagoon Day for Jared’s work.  Yea!!!  A day off from the ordinary!  Since we hadn’t been home much the prior day, the house was still pretty clean, so we spiffed it up a bit, hoping we’d have a showing while we were gone.  Lagoon was a lot of fun, and we lasted much longer than I had anticipated.  Daniel was a trooper and did really well.  We hung out with Josh’s baseball coach and his family, which helped with keeping everyone happy.  Another night of eating out…bleh!  Emily missed her softball game because of how long we stayed (but she was totally fine with missing it to be at Lagoon).  No house showings, but when we got home, there was a message to schedule one for Wednesday afternoon.

Wednesday: Daniel had an audiologist appointment first thing in the morning (which went really well), and we had a showing scheduled for right after lunch.  I got the house ready (pretty quick and easy since we hadn’t been home much since Monday morning), and we hit a park during the showing.  When we got home, it was very obvious that NO ONE HAD BEEN HERE!!!!  Let me just say that I was one ticked off lady!  Josh had a baseball game, Emily had softball practice, and Jared needed to go to ward temple night (he was the only bishopric member who was available to attend).  I dropped Josh off at his game, came home and made dinner to feed to everyone else, ran to pick up Josh (we were three minutes late and he was pretty annoyed), dropped off Emily at her practice, took the rest of the crew home, fed Josh, bathed the three littles, had Josh shower, and ran back to pick up Emily from her practice.  Whew!!  No wonder I was feeling a little grumpy!  When Jared got home from the temple, we were talking and he told me he got a message from our realtor who said that the scheduled showing refused to even come in the house because she didn’t like the street our house is on.  SERIOUSLY??!?!?  That made me so stinking mad!  I don’t think that person can comprehend what a pain in the neck it is to get a house ready with 5 kids, keep it clean, and get out of the house so she can come see what we have to offer.  Thank you (NOT!!!) for wasting my time!

Thursday: A day off from showings!  But kids who were grumpy because their routine has been messed with all week long.  I tried to do a little sewing for our youth’s pioneer trek, and broke 2 needles before giving up.  Emily had a softball game (are you seeing the pattern?) at 4:30, so I soloed with the 5 kids.  It was a great game, and she even got a really great hit!  We came home, had pancakes for dinner, and vegged with a movie while Jared was home teaching.

Friday: Another day off from showings!  I took Daniel to gymnastics in the morning, which ended with me crying most of the way home.  He has suddenly stopped wanting to walk while we hold his hands.  He doesn’t want to crawl much either. He’s just content to roll around on the floor or sit up with his thumb in his mouth for a few seconds before laying back down. Most of the time was spent with me carrying him through all the activities.  Way more work for me than for him!  On the bright side, though, he has started pulling up to pretty much everything.  I guess he only wants to work on one skill at a time!  We were supposed to have a therapy appointment in the afternoon.  I was overjoyed when the therapist cancelled because of illness.  After dinner we hit the movie theater for a 3-D showing of Brave, the new Pixar movie.  It was a really fun movie, and even Daniel handled it pretty well.

Saturday: We had a showing scheduled for 11 a.m. We rushed around and left with 15 minutes to spare.  We rewarded our hard work with Slurpees and Subways for lunch.  After a little shopping, we returned home to find great big piles of crumbs around the feet of the oven!  The people who were looking obviously pulled out the oven!  I was MORTIFIED!!!  I never thought anyone would look there, at least not on a first showing!  And why were they looking there anyway?!?!?

And that brings us up to speed.  Way too much for one week, eh?!?  We get to start it all over again on Monday with another showing bright and early at 10:30 a.m.!!  Baseball ends this coming week, softball ends in the middle of July, swimming lessons start after the 4th, Girls’ Camp is the first week in August…and I suspect we’re ALL going to be happy to have school start again!  There goes the summer!

Spring/Winter, Easter, and Other Stuff

We had the worst April Fool's joke ever this year! Mother Nature sure was cruel sending all this snow!

Our cute kids all decked out in their Easter clothes. I decided to forgo the Sunday clothes this year since we had General Conference on Easter. Don't they look cute in their lime green?!? I can't believe how hard it is getting to get a good picture with them all at least looking in the direction of the camera!

We had a great Easter weekend and really enjoyed having General Conference as part of our Easter festivities. All of the conference talks were so good, and it was fun to eat our Easter candy while we watched and listened! We had a good time finding eggs and visiting with the Ripplinger side of the family during the evening.

There were some crazy wind storms in April too. In the worst one, our next door neighbor's willow tree snapped off about halfway up. Thankfully it fell into her driveway and not on our house!

The kids decided to try flying a kite from the swingset one day. It didn't work very well, but they had fun doing it!

Emily had to complete a science project as an assignment for school. So she and I spent the week of spring break working on it. We smashed up lots of potato chips onto graph paper to see how much grease each kind of chips had. She did a great job working on it and then presenting it.

And last, but not least, Stacie and Phil got married in May! It was a fun day, and the kids really enjoyed running around at the reception. It was a little chilly, but the weather cooperated well. Rachel and Caleb have really taken a liking to Phil - we're glad to have him join the family!

Fish Food For Thought

Josh brought two goldfish home from a birthday party last week. Not the crackers. The real deal! {Mental note: never send pets home as a parting gift! Oh yeah, I'd never do that in the first place!}

They have become quite the fascination, at least for Rachel and Caleb.

They always love to look at them, so I lower the bucket down several times a day for them to get their looksies.

It just so happens that on one of their looksies, I discovered one of the little guys was laying on his side, not moving.

I sent him to the big fishbowl in the sky {location: sewer ponds west of town via the toilet} and Emily and Josh got upset that I didn't feed him to the cats!

Afterward I changed the water, thinking that the bigger fish would appreciate not having to swim in dead fishy water. Wouldn't you?!?

In the process he flipped out of the grabber thingy onto the counter and laid there stiff as a board. I thought I was going to have to explain to Josh how both fish had died in one day.

But alas, the little guy perked right up once he got scooted back into the water! PHEW!

Later that same day, during the 30 seconds that I ran to the mailbox, Rachel managed to climb onto the counter, retrieve the fish food, run to the hall, open the lid, and scatter the smelly flakes from one end to the other. When she realized I had discovered her actions, she and Caleb began furiously shoving handfuls of the food into their mouths. ICK! ICK! SOOOO ICKY!!

I did manage to get things cleaned up.

ICK!! ICK!! ICK!!!

How Do I Love Thee...

Valentine's Day started a couple days early for our family this year. The kids get to have Valentine's Tea at school - a time to learn about manners and etiquette - on Friday (the 12th). The boys seat the girls and then bring them a cookie and drink. They dress up in their Sunday best for this, so it's the real deal! I couldn't believe how excited Josh was to dress up! He came up Friday morning in his red dress shirt, black slacks, and a red tie! He was looking so dapper! Here he is after school on Friday. Doesn't he look so grown up?!?! (For the record, I posed him this way - his natural pose is, shall we say, a little too manly!)

Emily took her dress to school to change into/out of so she wouldn't have to worry about what to do at recess in a dress. So, I don't have any pictures of her. But this was a big deal for her too - she asked me to put some curls in her hair!! It's an amazing day when she actually WANTS to get her hair done!

I had a lot of fun putting some things together for Jared. I had the kids take them to him at work throughout the day on Saturday. We did rice krispie treats shaped like Hershey's kisses first,

then they took him some fortune cookies I had made the day before.
They were so yummy, but a TON of work. Probably not something I'll be doing very often!
After that I had them take him a bag of tortilla chips and a jar of his favorite salsa from a restaurant here in town. The kids had so much fun being my messengers, and Jared said he really enjoyed it. On the way to our first drop-off, Josh wondered how Jared would know all these things were from me, because I told them to tell him this was a special delivery from a secret admirer. I just had to laugh at that one! I assured Josh that Jared would surely know they were from me!

Jared brought these beauties home for me on Saturday afternoon - aren't they gorgeous?!?! They smell soooo good too! Just what I needed!
We had a fun time as a family Saturday evening. We had orange chicken and rice, which we ate with our chopsticks, and then I surprised the kids with fortune cookies. They were so excited that they got to have some too. They had wondered earlier in the day why all the good stuff was all for Dad!! They were so excited to read all the fortunes I put in them. Then we sat down and watched part of Disney's "Around the World in 80 Days."

Cupid made a visit to the kids on Valentine's morning. They each got a new shirt, a personalized rice krispie treat (shaped like Hershey's kisses), and a bag of treats.
I would call this Valentine's Day a complete success! It was fun to see the kids going out of their way to be extra nice and to surprise their loved ones with Valentines. I just wish we could keep the lovey-dovey feelings going all year long!

Sooo Sleepy

You know you're tired when you fall asleep with a bite of breadstick still in your mouth!

Just can't let it go - it's so tasty!

Oh no, it's falling out!

Oh well - too tired!!

Celebrate!!

This is the 100th post for our blog!! Yea!! It's only taken me 3+ years to make it!

I wanted to do something special for this post. Something to knock your socks off and make you want to actually keep reading this blog (all 4 or 5 of you).

But I can't seem to come up with anything. NOTHING!! My creative juices have all dried up!

So I'll just give you a cliffs-notes version of life around here lately. I have not taken a single picture, as every time I go to use the camera, the battery is dead!

Rachel has almost completely given up naps (well, she's about 50/50). Caleb is trying to give them up too. He has napped less than Rachel this week! Add it up - you get two cranky kids and one very insane and cranky momma! But they're too cute to be mad at!

Rachel says some of the funniest things. And sometimes, it's just the way she says things that makes me laugh. Like, "This is my favorite book!" with as much excitement and energy as you could expect from a 2-year-old. The book was some Christmas craft book that has been sitting around. Definitely not an exciting book! She also came running in with a doll and said, "I found my Rachel!!" How can you not love that??!?

Caleb is getting a few words too, like kitty cat, what's that, and num-num (with a hand motion, which means he wants more). He only has 5 more Sundays until he can legally go to nursery!!

Emily is counting down the days until her birthday. For any of you who don't know, it's 5 days away. She wants everything, and I mean everything! So, if you were wanting to get her a present, rest assured that you can't go wrong! (But please don't run out to buy one for her - PLEASE!!!) Oh, and she's starting to wonder about how babies get in their mommy's tummies (I have dreaded this for the past 9 years!!). She informed us that there is a lock on the mom's tummy that you unlock, which obviously lets them in! Chuckle, snicker, giggle!!

Joshua is trying to lose a tooth. By trying I mean he wiggled it to the point that his mouth was sore enough that he had to call me to come get him from school! (OK - I'm not that easy! I gave him some ibuprofen, fed him lunch, and took him back to school.) I think he's got another pesky root that doesn't want to give in. Which means we're probably going to have to make yet another trip to the dentist!

I got a new calling as the primary chorister. Hmm...never done that one. I pity those poor kids who have to listen to me "sing" the songs. I think the singing genes skipped me!

Jared, after working 2 late nights at work last week because of the 6-month extension deadline for income taxes, is now trying as hard as he can to find work to do. ??? ??? Why can't the government have taxes due all year long, according to social security numbers or something like that?? Wouldn't it make more sense to spread it out a little?!?! I think I might just email them my plan!

The garden is dead!! I've never been so happy to see a plant die in all my life. Next year, we will not be planting more than 6 tomato plants!

I hope you have enjoyed this installment of "As the World Turns in the Ripplinger Home." Stay tuned for scenes from our next episode!

Flu Shots and Tomatoes

Yesterday we headed down to the Health Dept. (all 6 of us) to get our flu shots. We learned the hard way last spring - during tax season - that it is not a good thing when everyone in the house has the flu - at the same time! We just never made it in last fall to get the shots, so this year it was a huge priority.

Rachel went first, cried a little, but was more than happy to stop for a sucker.

I went next, then Josh, who was very tough.

Then Emily went, wincing the entire time and squeezing my hand as hard as she could! She stepped away to pick out her sucker, and Jared got his (shot, not a sucker - although he did a great job and deserved one too).

As soon as he was done, Emily said, "Uh oh!" and turned as pale as I've seen her since she passed out with her first tooth!

Can you see where I'm going with this??

Jared, with Caleb in one arm, caught her on the way down to the floor as she passed out!

This girl adds so much excitement to an otherwise boring and hated event!!

The nurse dropped everything and got down with her to help her out - had to even give her a little wiggle to get her eyes open again!

When Emily woke up, she said, "Did I pass out??"

Uh, yeah! So she lay there on the floor while the nurse got her some concentrated Tang to drink.

And Caleb got his shot. I don't even think he realized what was happening as he was happily slobbering on the sucker Jared stuck in his mouth right before the shot!

We all walked out on our own two feet, thankfully!

But I don't know if Emily's going to be so willing to go back next year!

Now, on to tomatoes. This morning I picked 14 gallons!! That's right - 14!! That's twice as much as I picked a couple weeks ago, and that batch yielded 38 pints of crushed tomatoes (which Jared canned all by himself - with kids running around)!! Heaven help us!! Thank goodness Jared found some people at work to come take them from us. I was ready to set them on the driveway with a sign that said, "FREE - PLEASE HELP US!!"

And a Child Shall Lead Them...

We partied (haha!) as a family at Apple Days this past Saturday. {haha! because Jared and I had just spent the day canning peaches, so we were pretty dead!} For those of you who don't know what Apple Days is, see this post. We didn't make it to the parade this year, but we did have lots of fun going down the huge inflatable slide, getting treats, and roaming around.

This is Emily and Josh doing the beanbag toss:

{Notice Rachel chilling out here at the bottom!}

Then Rachel took her turn to show them how it's really done.

I can't believe I didn't think of that!!!

Where Were You...?

Where were you on this day in 1999 when this happened?

I was on my honeymoon!! More precisely, I was running to get into the Jeep that Jared had pulled up to the front door of Olive Garden (where we had lunch) and trying not to die by hail pelting! In the process, I stepped on, and crushed, the container that had our wedding cake in it!! Good thing my parents took some home to freeze!

I am soooo thankful we didn't decide to have Aug. 11 as our wedding day!

Just a Typical Day

Here are a few shots of a typical day around our house...

If Emily is not off reading, she is playing the piano! I don't have to beg and plead to get her to practice, I have to beg and plead to get her to stop!! She's great at multi-tasking too...see the cracker in her mouth?!!

Caleb's new favorite activity - climbing to the highest surface he can! Yes, he's standing on the cedar chest which is up against the railing, which is the only thing keeping him from taking a flying leap down the stairs! In a 5-mintue span, he has managed to climb onto the kitchen table, be removed, climb onto the cedar chest, be removed, climb onto the end table, only to be removed yet again! I hope I can survive this kid! In fact, I hope he survives himself! But how could that face not instantly melt you?!?

Rachel is synonymous (spelling??) with sweetness. She just bounces around with her ringlets bouncing right alongside! She has discovered how to be a little impish, though! You can see it in her eyes! She is usually the one showing Caleb just how fun it is to climb onto things, or she's right behind him encouraging him to go farther!

And Josh...well...just look at the picture! Would that drive you nuts?? He prefers to wear socks, and this is how he wears them 99% of the time!

Moment in Time

Go ahead...try to tell me these aren't the cutest kids you've ever seen!!

{Just playing around with Photoshop and had to get this up here!}

I'd like to burn this image into the deepest, most permanent recesses of my mind, with the option to open a full-size, life-like view of it anytime I want.

San Diego

Jared and I recently returned from San Diego, where we celebrated our 10th anniversary (which isn't for another couple weeks). It's our "magical" anniversary this year (10th anniversary on the 10th of August), so we had to do something special. Since Jared had some continuing ed. classes, we decided to make a vacation out of it. Just the two of us. {sigh} We haven't had a vacation - just the two of us - since Sept. of 2003! SIX YEARS!!! {sigh}

It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be!!

I didn't even make it out of the garage before I started crying!!

It's a lot harder to leave my kids than I ever thought it would be!!

But, I managed to enjoy myself, even if I missed them terribly! And I think Jared had a good

time too!

I spent my days scrapping, and got a lot accomplished. Head over to My Scrappy Heart to see some of the proof!

Jared learned more {if that's possible} about estates and trusts and all that stuff that he is so good at and absolutely loves.

We walked around little Italy (with one of Jared's bosses) and found a place to eat one night - a local place. I had a hard time knowing what to get because I didn't really know what stuff was,

even with a description! But the food was good, and it was nice to spend some time with Jared and his boss.

The next night we were going to have dinner and head to the Padres baseball game. We walked through the Gaslamp District, where there was restaurant after restaurant - mostly local places. Way too many choices for people who have a hard time making decisions! We ended up at a

mexican place, which was very tasty. Things took so long that we didn't make it to the baseball game. But we did get some ice cream at the Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory. YUMMMY!!!

We also went to the temple - the best part of the trip for me. Here's a picture of us (the tiny things at the bottom) and then the temple after our session. Beautiful!!

It was especially nice to be able to do something so familiar, even though we were in such unfamiliar surroundings! That's one thing I love about the gospel. You can always find that comfortable, peaceful feeling, no matter where you are!

We spent our last full day touring the Midway, a retired aircraft carrier. It was really neat, and quite enlightening. I don't know how anyone could actually live on that thing! I think I would have gone crazy! I am so thankful to the many people who have willingly served our country and protected the freedoms that we enjoy.

Here are a few pictures

This is a shot of the bridge (I think that's what it is called - where the captain and others who drive the ship are) from the flight deck. This picture really doesn't do it justice!

I can't remember what part of the ship this is, but it looks neat with all the gadgets and the "steering' wheels and everything!

Jared in the brig! Always knew there was a wild side to this guy!!

Sleeping area for enlisted men. Those are triple bunks there! Like I said, I don't know how anyone could have actually lived on this thing!

We had a really great time, and I'd love to go back again. But I think flying once every 5 or 6 years is PLENTY for me. I'm not getting back on a plane anytime soon if I have anything to say about it!! I'm sure Jared must really appreciate getting to go on his trips by himself now. He can enjoy his flight without having his arm squeezed off and being asked, "How much longer?" every 10 minutes for the entire flight!

Happy Birthday Caleb!!

Caleb is one year old today!! How can it be that a whole year has already passed?!?!?

We are so blessed to have Caleb in our family. He is a smiley, bright-eyed, curious, and loveable little boy. He watches everything and everyone like a hawk, picking up on everything that is going on. He is one of the fastest babies we have ever seen. I like to call him Spider Man because he gets to a new destination in the blink of an eye. He has been cruising around the furniture

since he was about 8 months old, so we thought he was going to walk way too early. But he is very comfortable with his mode of transportation, so he hasn't braved the new skill of walking - YET! He has a very unique way of greeting people too. He gets close, then bangs his head, as softly as he can, into the head of the other person!

Here is a look back at an amazing year!

We love you Caleb!! And we're so glad you're part of our family! We hope you have a wonderful year, and we look forward to all the new things you'll be doing in the coming year!

Love,

Mom, Dad, Emily, Josh, and Rachel

Easter 2009

We started the Easter festivities this year by having our Larsen Family Easter Party on Saturday. We were so lucky to get to see all the aunts, uncles (except Greg in Iraq), cousins, Grandma Larsen, and Great-Grandma and Grandpa Farnworth. Whew!! Lots of people!!

We colored eggs,

Ate lots of good food, visited, and had a fun egg hunt.

Rachel found the biggest egg of all!

Josh was so fast that I didn't even have time to get a picture of him!

But here we are all together, minus Jared. Tax season is quite the task master!

And here are all 12 grandkids!

Caleb loving his Grandma time! Don't you love the tongue?!?

Easter morning - everyone's happy...



...except Caleb!! Easter bunny woes!



Cutest kids ever!!
So proud of them for sitting still for pictures right after church!

Easter fun continued Sunday evening at Grandma and Grandpa Ripplinger's house.

Josh is lovin' the toys!

Seriously - this is the sweetest girl EVeR!!
"See, Daddy?!"

Aren't we cute?!?!

Totally good lookin' guys!!