We've Expanded Again...

We have been talking about getting another dog for a while now because Roxy is getting up there and needs a friend. We decided we wanted to rescue a dog and had been searching and meeting dogs for the past month or so. Finally, we found one we thought would be a good fit for our family. We were looking for a German Shepherd or Husky/Malamute mix possibly and were told this dog was a German/Dutch Sherpherd mix. He was still young enough (4mo) to train, and seemed pretty smart, so we decided to adopt him. We named him Harley and brought him home. He came home sick with Kennel Cough and had a rough first two weeks but he got over it and has been bouncy ever since. We should have named him Roo or something! As he has grown we have decided that the rescue place was completely wrong about him. He definitely has Shepherd in him but we think the rest is Pit Bull. He is too small to be full Shepherd and has traits of Pit Bull in his face shape and eyes. Even though he is smaller than we had wanted, he is pretty cute and everyone adores him. He's a good dog and hasn't been too terrible with the chewing...he just likes sprinklers and we've been through 3 already. Welcome to the family Harley!

 This was the day we went to meet him and decided he was the one.

 Brining him home and taking a nap!

 Meeting Roxy!

 Pooped again

 Watching Brooklynn play tennis - about 6 months old

 He's grown a little - Almost 7 months here

Summer Catch-Up

Wow! Summer is starting to fly by. I can't believe the kids go back to school in less than a month! Yikes. Anyway, here are a few of the things we've been up to.

The girls finished up their baseball seasons. They both seemed to enjoy it. Brooklynn says she like everything about it except for the "hot part". It was pretty warm. Maybe she is more of a winter sport girl. We had a lot of fun watching them both play though.

 

 Brooklynn - T-ball 2012

 McKenna - Coach Pitch 2012

Tyler had a chance to meet a former BYU and NFL player (with a really great name), Ty Detmer. I was rather surprised to find out that he isn't all that tall.

Roxy has been chewing one of the pads on her feet off. We had to subject her to the cone of shame for several days. 

Lauren and Brynnly felt bad for her and decided to make her feel better by giving her a mani and pedi.

 

Thanks to my sister for sharing an awesome find with us, Hokulia's Shave Ice! We've been cooling off with some really yummy summer treats.

 

Brooklynn has worked very hard at trying to lose ALL of her teeth. 

We also added a few new friends to our little farm. They have grown a ton just since these pictures were taken.

 

 

So among these and some other things we keep pretty busy. I really can't believe school is just around the corner!

Summer So Far...

Summer has been going good so far. Not overly busy that we are going crazy but definitely not a lot of down time. It has been pretty hot so far and until about two weeks ago, we were sans swamp cooler. Thankfully we got that fixed and things have been more tolerable.

Brooklynn and McKenna continue to play t-ball and baseball and have been enjoying it. Brooklynn likes to be the very last batter because everyone gets to run to home on the last batter. She thinks she is scoring a home-run every time! McKenna has gotten better each week and has now set her sights on a softball scholarship. She doesn't enjoy the blazing hot weather though during practices.

Lauren is busy being social. She wants to hang with her friends 24-7. I am grateful that she has a good group of girls to hang out with. She is really excited to go to girls camp and surprisingly I am not stressed at all about it. She is more than ready, has a good head on her shoulders and her leaders that will be going are pretty amazing. I know she will be in very capable hands and have a blast. We are just hoping that the fires that are threatening that area will be under control by the time they leave for camp.

Tyler is doing great and has football four days a week. He has discovered that he LOVES weightlifting and wants to lift all the time. His back has pretty much completely healed up and he is going 100% and loving it.

We had some really awesome visitors in June too but I'll save that for another post. Other than that we have just been hanging out at the park, seven peaks, friends, the library and a variety of other summery things, like having a yard sale:

Tyler begged to have one and I will admit that I was less than enthusiastic about the whole thing. But I eventually caved and said, why not, throw out a blanket or two and sell what you have. We live on a fairly busy street so you should get some traffic. It was a bust and reaffirmed my distaste for having yard sales. I did, however, feel bad for the kids.

And this is what happens when mom isn't home...

 We end up with a cat in the house! At least she was tied up!

We also have makeovers and photo sessions when mom leaves us alone.

And this is how we punish the kids for being naughty. We force them to do their own laundry, by hand, in the backyard.

 

 

Despite the gloomy faces, these two actually wanted to give it a try. Lauren even did another load a few days later because she was tired of waiting for me to do her laundry. You go girl! More power to ya!

And, our dog drinks bottled water? Does that surprise you? If you are really my friend, it shouldn't. But really, don't all dogs? At least I can sleep easy knowing that I am NOT the dog owner that let's my dog hop up on the water fountain at the park and slobber all over it. Really people, where are your manners.

 

One month of summer down, one and a half more to go! Wow, time is flying.

Spring Has Sprung

I am always amazed how after a long, cold Winter, everything that appears dead suddenly blooms and blossoms. It is a beautiful thing. A few weeks ago I was walking around the yard on a gorgeous Spring day just marveling at the beauty of all the trees, flowers, plants and animals just beginning to burst with new life. 

 

Last year we planted some fruit trees and finally had "popcorn" trees. It is a small little tree but the blossoms were so pretty.

 Our chickens have been laying regularly again and enjoy the nice weather. I enjoy having these chickens more than I ever thought I would. They have been a fun addition.

 Our new little Pear tree (Top) had a few blossoms and the Plum tree (Bottom) was loaded.

The girls love playing with the rabbits. They are anxious to have baby rabbits. I'm not quite ready for that phase yet so for now, they are separated.

 This is the neighbor's tree behind me. It was so pretty, just exploding with blossoms.

 

 We planted some raspberries starts this year and already they are starting to grow.  My rhubarb has started to grow, the peas have popped up and our garden starts are thriving indoors awaiting the day they can be planted outside. Everywhere we look things are blooming.

Can't forget about Roxy. She's been such a good sport about gradually losing more and more of the yard and having to get along with the chickens and rabbits.

I love Spring. The grass is so green and everything is so new and fresh. One thing I do miss about Oregon is how green it is. I always forget until we go for a visit....which we just did. But that is another post!

Merry Christmas!!

Dear Family & Friends,

Wow, another year has past. It can best be summed up in two words: We survived!

We won’t rehash all the wonderful details, as you have likely read about our comings and goings on our blog http://fourinthenest.blogspot.com. And if you haven’t followed us on our blog, then you probably won’t want to read about it here anyway.

But just a quick recap if you insist:

Michelle continues to be the hardest working woman in the world, juggling the rowdiest bunch of kids this side of the Pecos; wrangling chickens and a dog; keeping the PTA budget in the black; and keeping the Primary afloat.

I (Chris) am still working twelve hour days at two jobs (going on four years now) so I don’t have much time for anything. I spend my only free day of the week (Saturday) doing things with the family, so all of you who keep inviting me to hunting parties and poker nights, don’t be offended if I turn you down. I recently found the hobby of beekeeping, or rather, the bees found me. (read about it on the blog).

Tyler (13) is steadily pursuing his goal of playing football in the NFL. He had another great season, and was invited to play on an invitation-only “super league” this spring. If that doesn’t pan out, he is wisely using his time in school to perfect his talking abilities, so he will likely have a bright future as a talk-show host or radio announcer.

Lauren (11) is pursuing her career in drama at home and on the stage. She is currently rehearsing for her lead role in Doc Doc Goose (it’s an off-Broadway play). She pays for her acting lessons by babysitting in the evenings and weekends. She is full of life, and curiosity, and can be counted on to create a play or skit at the drop of a hat.

McKenna (8) is turning out to be an expert chicken wrangler, and if you can’t find her, it’s a sure bet she’s outside with the chickens squeezing their guts out. She loves to draw and create things, and her many creations adorn the walls and hallways of our home. She was baptized this past year (read about it in the blog), and is preparing to hit the court for basketball in January.

Brooklynn (5) is still the baby of the family in every sense of the word. She likes being spoiled by everyone, and is currently working on an evil plan to create robot parents who would take care of her siblings so she doesn’t have to share us with them. She turned out to be a great little soccer player this year, and loves to do anything her older sisters do.

We’ll that’s us in a nutshell. We hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas, and a Happy New Year. We treasure all of our relationships and friendships, and hope 2012 is a great year for you all.

Love the Gleeds

Here is our "virtual" card this year. Just click on the card. It will take a few seconds to load but will be bigger.

(If you get this via email & FB just know that you are really loved! I am just trying to cover all my bases with family and friends.)

Summer Randomness

So for your viewing pleasure, some random pictures from our summer. I think I took most of these with the thought of using them on my other blog, 365 days of pictures....formerly know as "Finding Joy in the Journey". But, after 186 days, I just can't find anything else to be joyful for. Just kidding, I just can't keep up and after losing my camera (these are all from my phone), just haven't been all that motivated. So here is a random post, in no particular order. And, I'm too lazy to edit them so they all stink even more than usual.

Brooklynn, who is always begging me to take her picture.

Lauren with her teacher Miss Skinner who got married this weekend. She was such a great teacher and I think she is just the cutest. Her husband is pretty great too. They were so sweet to involve all of the students in the proposal and wedding. He helped out in the classroom all the time so the students really came to love him and think of him as their teacher too.

Roxy - because she's cute and would NEVER do this (see next picture). Ok, maybe she would but I would NEVER leave it.

I know, I know. This is really gross and why would I post it here. Because it's my blog and I can post whatever I want. And, I am REALLY mad. I like animals. Not over the top, but I love mine. I consider myself to be a pretty good dog-owner in that I keep her on a leash (except when throwing the ball at the park), I don't let her loose around other people, I lock her up when people are afraid of her, I try not to let her jump on people, and I ALWAYS pick up after her!! I realize that not everyone loves my dog like I do. So I get REALLY annoyed when other people DON'T PICK UP AFTER THEIR DOGS!!!!! There is a street behind ours that has a few dogs and there is a particular owner who let's their dog CRAP all over the sidewalk and grassy berm where the neighborhood kids play. We've had our experiences with stepping in poo back there before but this was by far the worst. Just ask anyone within a five mile radius who heard my five-year old let out a glass-shattering, ear-piercing, heart-stopping scream. Imagine my joy when I rushed to her side and saw THIS! Arggghhhhh. I hate dog POOP. So I did what any, mature adult would do and smeared it all back in the grass and swore under my breath all the way home while poor Brooklynn cried and walked home barefoot with poop between her toes. Thank you. Venting finished now.

The girls harvesting our peas

The kids swimming.

When we got our pool out this year to set it up, somehow the entire center (about a two foot radius) was missing. I think a bug might have eaten it. Anyway, without the cover and a pump that was going bad, we just couldn't keep it clean. I tried shocking it several times but I don't have a vacuum so it just settled to the bottom. Summer is coming to a close and I just got our water bill so I wasn't about to fill it up again. So we let the kids have one last swim and threw Roxy in. She is allowed to get in the last time before we empty it. She isn't as thrilled about it as the kids are though, but she's a good sport.

I have no idea why I took this picture. Perhaps it was because all four kids were quiet and weren't fighting while co-existing in the same spot for more than five minutes.

Brooklynn LOVES her goggles

Roxy enjoying a cinnamon lollipop. And we wonder why she doesn't like her dog food. Could it be because she has been enjoying popsicles, otter pops and lollipops all summer?

Our cute little chickens all huddled up. They have started laying now and we get about 4-6 eggs a day.