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!!!

Peaches

We came,

{On Saturday morning}

We canned,

{56 quarts of peaches to be exact}

We CONQUERED!!

{2 1/2 bushels of peaches!! Add that to the 3 flats of raspberries that made 43 pints of jam, 110 ears of corn that made 22 quart bags to freeze, 6 quarts of fresh tomatillo salsa (which we've happily eaten), and lots and lots of tomatoes that are getting peeled, smooshed, and frozen as they come!}

IT IS ENOUGH!!!

{but those pears at Macey's are calling me!}

Rachel-isms

Rachel has really caught the jabber bug lately! And we're starting to be able to understand most of what she says, which makes it so fun to listen to her! She comes up with some fun things to say, and sometimes makes me giggle! Things like:

"Let's go watch moo-bees!(movies)"

"That's dolly's bank-a-let!(blanket)"

When asked if she needs to go potty, she says, "I already went at the church!"

"I'm heavy momma" when she feels like I'm not holding her tight enough when we're walking around

"I went thhtththt in the potty" when she farts

She still answers either yes or no (depending on her mood) to most every question!

Oh, yes, and on the {mostly} rare occasions when she poops in her pull-up, she always gives me a resounding "Yay mommy!!" when I dump it in the toilet!

Ripplinger Family {mis}Adventures

I'm thinking about writing a book, although with the topic I have in mind, it might be a little long. Here's an excerpt from my rough draft:

"This morning was a pretty typical morning. We got up, ate a delicious breakfast of oatmeal, and got ready as quickly as we could. The kids really wanted to play some cheap, extremely simple hand-held video games Jared dug out of a box recently. When there's fun to be had, they're really good at getting done quickly, which is usually because they do the bare minimum! Like getting dressed but not putting socks on; brushing teeth but leaving toothpaste in the sink; running their hands through their hair and calling it good. We rushed out of the house - like usual - to get the kids to school on time.

As we pulled into the parking lot, Emily exclaimed, "Oh yeah, it's picture day!" Oh great!! There's no way they are decent enough to get their pictures taken! {Refer to the paragraph above, about doing the bare minimum} I had to make a split-second decision: let them go as they are and get re-takes done next month (which I will probably forget about again), or take them back home, make them change clothes and REALLY do their hair, which would make them late for school. I chose the latter - let's get this whole incident buried and done with! We rushed home as fast as we could to fix the problem. Clothes started flying, hairbrushes began tugging through hair, and a few curls were quickly put into those beautiful red locks that belong to Emily."

See what I mean?? Our {mis}adventures are a little too frequent, and I'm afraid if I compiled them into a book, it'd be bigger (and likely more confusing) than the Bible!!

Amazing!!

I actually have a minute to breathe this morning, so I thought I'd let you in on what I'm listening to.

It's a beautiful, wonderful sound.

No, it's not peace and quiet (which I adore)!

It's Emily. Playing the piano. She opened up the Children's Songbook and is sight-reading her way through "I am a Child of God" and "Reverently, Quietly."

She's doing an incredible job.

And I'm not biased.

Oh, and just a reminder: she's 8, almost 9.

Amazing.

Back to Routine

School started one week ago! Emily is in 4th grade (yikes! where did my baby go?), and Josh is in 2nd grade (yikes again!). I can't believe how fast the summer went! And we didn't even do anything terribly exciting as a family this year, other than reunions. But we have enjoyed a lot of time together as a family.

It is good to be back to a routine - sort of! Life seems much more pleasant (for me at least) when there is structure! Everyone knows pretty much what goes on in a day, and there is plenty to keep us all busy. But, it is always nice to not have to be ready so early, to enjoy carefree mornings with the kids, to just BE! I always miss that once school has started!

I was pretty impressed with what the kids accomplished this summer. Emily read all 700+ pages of Harry Potter #4 - and it only took her 6-7 weeks!! Josh read and read and read, too. He started the first Harry Potter book, but we had to return it to the library before he finished it. We'll have to go back and get that one soon because he keeps begging me to take him (always after the library has closed for the day)! Emily finished off one set of piano books and is cruising her way through a second set, and Josh is making good progress on his set. They both got very good at cleaning the bathroom, and more importantly, keeping it clean between cleanings! And Rachel and Caleb have turned into quite the two-some! If he's not bugging her, she's bugging him! But they hardly ever do anything apart!

I have loads of pictures -when I get some time I will do a picture post!

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!

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our 10th anniversary!! And it's a magical one too, because it's also the 10th of the month!! I had planned to put some pictures of our wedding day in this post, but for some reason, our older pictures aren't showing up on the computer! So instead, here is some fun trivia about the past 10 years...

• Location of our wedding: Salt Lake Temple
• Places we've lived: 6 (4 different cities)
• Most we've paid for rent (not a mortgage): $1700 a month
• Least we've paid for rent: $440 (our first apartment, 2 bedrooms, no A/C, but a great little apartment)
• Number of jobs (Jared+Heather): 9 (I think)
• Number of degrees received (just since we've been married): 3
• Number of perfect children: 4!!!
• Number of vehicles: we're currently on #5 and #6
• Tax seasons we've made it through: 8!!
• Number of gardens we've planted: 5

And now, 10 things I love about Jared (in no particular order):

• He's handsome
• He's strong
• He's a hard-worker, willing to provide for our family
• He loves music
• He is thoughtful
• He loves to play games
• He is smart, and also wise
• He is trustworthy
• He has a rock-solid testimony
• He loves me, even when I'm my absolute worst!

I love you Jared! You are the best thing that has ever happened to me! Thank you for being my husband and wanting me for your wife! I look forward to the rest of eternity with you!

Happy Birthday Josh!!

Joshua is 7 years old today!! Can't believe it's already been 7 years since we brought our little boy home!

We've had a great day today. Josh chose crepes for breakfast, and we put cherry pie filling in them - yum!! Jared was home for the morning (because we were getting some gravel and a shed), so Josh was able to open presents this morning. That turned out to be a great thing, because he got to spend the day playing with all his new stuff. Surprisingly, I think his favorite gift was his Webkinz snake, which he named Stripers. We got to go out for lunch (Sonic), and we had his favorite food for dinner - SHRIMP!! Can you believe a kid his age loves shrimp??

Josh is such a great kid. He is a hard worker, a deep thinker, and very energetic. He has a great memory, and he loves to ask lots of questions. He can always make us laugh, and he is very helpful too.

Here's a look at then and now...

We love you Josh!! You are "totally wicked" and we're glad you're part of our family!