Twelve years went by so fast......

Today my little girl turned 12, (gulp) just saying it kinda makes me want to cry. I mean, let me be completely vain and self absorbed for a moment.... am I old enough to have a twelve year old?! Is it possible that in three years I will have a child that can drive? Oh Lord, this is depressing me even more.

Let's get back to the birthday girl. :) Madelyn Lauren George was born on March 3, 1999. 7lbs 6oz 19inches long. If my memory serves me right, it might have even snowed that day. (or one of the days after she was born) Anyway, she was actually born on her due date. Boy did that set me up for disappointment when her brothers were 7 and 10 days overdue. But those boys, well they're an entirely different story. :)

What a beautiful baby, sweet little lips, a button nose, long skinny legs, and lots of hair. All in all Maddy was a very easy going baby. She slept well, was a good eater, and generally pretty happy and content.

Since her birth, it has been sort of a learn-as-you-go process. Which is often the case with your first child. Well, let's just say parenting in general can be a learn-as-you-go-process. As soon as you think you've figured it out your kid's have a way of letting you know you don't you JACK!

People have told me before that girls are much easier to raise than boys.....that is until they hit adolescence. Then, it's a whole other ball game.


For the most part Madelyn really is still that amazingly sweet and thoughtful little girl that she's always been. But now it's enter twined with a little more attitude. Around our house we refer to it as, MATTITUDE! I'm sure my parents are enjoying every minute of this. I may, or may not have shared some similar traits during my youth, but that's neither here nor there. I have heard them reference something along the lines of, "now the shoe is on the other foot, reaping what I sowed, paybacks a b*tch"..... Well okay, they've never said, "paybacks a B!" But, I'm sure their thinking it!

I know well ALL deal with these sorts of things as parents. It is just a part of being a parent, it comes with the territory.

Now, I'd like to share some of the things about Madelyn that make my heart the happiest and most proud. She is a leader and is self confident. Not the, "I'm better than you" kind of self confidence, but the kind that gives her the ability to believe in herself and not be afraid to fail. She is thoughtful. One day, when she didn't have school, I came home to find that she had set up a spa in our living room. Complete with soft music playing in the background, hot tea, a hot neck wrap and warm water for my feet and a separate bowl for my hands. She then gave me a wonderful manicure and pedicure, all the while making sweet chit chat about "how I was doing".

Madelyn is also a great student, earning mostly A's and a couple of B's. She plays the cello and sings beautifully. She is also pretty athletic, which is sort of a surprise being that she is very tall and lean like her father.

Most of the time she is a very good big sister. She loves to play school with the boys. (maybe she'll take after her Oma and become a school teacher?) I love that she's not overly-obsessed about her appearance (what she wears, her hair, etc). I mean, don't get me wrong, she does have her own sense of style, but it's not a life or death situation if her favorite jeans aren't clean! She even has a pretty good sense of humor, I'm sure she gets that from me. ;-)

I am aware of the fact that Madelyn and I are similar in many ways. That's probably one of the reasons why knows exactly how to push my buttons. But, I will say she is definitely her own person with her own gifts, abilities, ideas and identity.


For all of the times she has drove me COMPLETELY CRAZY, and for all of the times to come when she drives me nuts, I will still love her! Because that's what we do. We love our kids even when they act unlovable. We love them even when they say they don't love us, as heart wrenching as it will be. I'll borrow a line from one of my favorite/tear jerking kid's book, "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be."

Oh how true that is. Madelyn will always be my little girl. No matter how tall she gets, no matter how old she is, she'll always be my baby. I was blessed by her the day that she was born and I continue to be blessed by her.

I love you Madelyn! And I am so proud of the wonderful young lady you are becoming.

First Snow Day of 2011

On Thursday, February 24th we had our first "snow day" of the year. The kids were all excited about the 2 hour delay from school. Max and Mason were REALLY excited when they found out that their elementary school was closed for the day! (Rosedale was the only school in the district that was closed because of the snow and road conditions.)

This is how we made the most of it! And by "we" I mean the boys....

It might be time to get Mason his own snowsuit! haha

Max was working hard on making his snowMAX.





They played outside for over an hour. It was wonderful! This was actually their second round of playing outstide. The first ended in about 15 minutes, right after Max threw a snowball at Mason's face. Had to lay some ground rules down on the second time around, #1 NO SNOWBALLS IN THE FACE! :)

It hit me today.......in 4 months it will be Summer! Don't get me wrong, I am looking forward to Summer just as much as the next person. I can hardly wait for the 20 days (give or take) out of the year where I can wear my flip flops and maybe, just maybe, a pair of shorts!

But, today I 'm not looking forward to Summer. It makes me think about the fact that I soon will have a daughter in 7th grade and son's in 3rd and 1st grade. I guess I'm just having one of those, "my kid's are growing up too fast" sort of moments.

...remember that blog I started?? Oh yeah, whatever happened with that?

I kind of feel like this is confession (even though I'm not Catholic and have never been to confession)..... It has been 1 year and 8 months since my last post. I figured after that long it would have just faded in to cyber space somewhere never to be seen again. Well, to my surprise here it is!

Now, what to write about?? My entire reason for starting this blog was to document the building progress and process of our garage. Once that was finished I guess I lost my direction.

I have no, "new found direction", just a desire to document the happenings of the George family. (however silly, boring, or outrageous they might be)

I occasionally read friends blogs and admire their eloquent writing and humor and of course, the wonderful pictures capturing it all. I began to feel a little guilty that I hadn't done a better job of capturing those same moments with my family.

So, here goes. On the last day of January 2011, I am commiting to keeping up with my blog. I don't know if that means on a daily basis or even on a weekly basis BUT, I do know it means I won't wait another year and 8 months for my next post!

(And, this will also force me to take more pictures, which I'm not great at either. But, we have lots of time to talk about that later)

Peace and Blessings.

Long time No SEE!!

So it has been 5 months since my last post. Don't say I didn't warn you that it was going to be a challenge keeping up on this blog.

I can't believe it's almost summer! Although, I am looking forward to sunny weather and fun summer time activities.

It scares me to think that Madelyn is going to be one year closer to MIDDLE SCHOOL!!! Yikes! I knew this day would come but, I am certainly not ready for it to be here yet.

Madelyn recently was chosen to represent her school in a relay race. She competed with all of the schools in the Salem-Keizer area. They had a fun time even though her team didn't win 1st place.








Max told me the other day he wanted a new house, one like the garage. He said, "I want one bigger and with stairs." I just laughed.

He really enjoys building with blocks. Maybe someday he can build a house that's is bigger and has stairs.










Mason and Max have had their first experience in an organized sport. They both started a six week soccer program. Josh and I thought having them on the same team would be a good idea but, soon we realized that they couldn't be on the field at the same time. Brothers will find a way to get in trouble no matter where they are. Even if it's in the middle of a soccer game!
































I wanted the post to start with this picture but, apparently I don't really know how to do this correctly. Bare with me....

Anyway, as most of you already know the garage is done!!! We are very excited to finally be able to park in our new garage.

























We are looking forward to a wonderful summer. We hope you and your family will enjoy your summer as well.

Hopefully I will remember to post some pictures. Many blessings to you all- Love, The George's

Fun in the snow.

Max warming up infront of the fire after playing in the snow. That snow must have been really cold. Look at those eyes. WOWSZERS!






























Madelyn and Mason making the biggest snowball ever.

Mason standing beside his chicken snowman.

Winter wonderland outside our front door.

Mason trying to catch snowflakes. Yummy!

Farmer and the Dell

If you ever wonder what else the crazy George's are up to here you go.

In September we decided to embark on a new adventure. (As if raising three kids, having a cow, and building a garage wasn't enough).

The idea of having "farm fresh" eggs sounded too good to resist. Josh built a modest coop behind our barn and then we welcomed our 6 chickens. 1 beautiful black Silkie and 5 Rhode Island Reds. They were all very skiddish and didn't seem to like being chased around by the kid's. Crazy, I know!?


Little did we know that our Silkie was actually a roster. Max named him "Chicken Joe". Don't ask me why? That's just Max for ya.


Unfortunately, shortly after we let them free range, 3 of them ate decon and died. Apparently decon does more than kill mice, it also works for killing chickens. That left us with only 3 chickens.

Luckily I had a friend that was down sizing her flock. She gave us 5 beautiful chickens. 2 Cochin's, 1 Silver Leghorn, 1 Silver Penciled Rock, and 1 White Crested Black Polish. After 2 days the Polish decided he'd rather live elsewhere and like a rebellious teenager ran away. (or became lunch for a hawk?)

Ever since the arrival of the new chickens, our original Rhode Island Reds have been more friendly. They have even started to let us hand feed them.

Madelyn has been helping with the duties of having chickens. Watering, feeding, and the endless search for eggs.

We have been anxiously awaiting for the day when the first egg is layed. Well, TODAY was that day!! (12/7/08) To our surprise and amazement one of the chickens had layed it's first egg. It was a medium sized brown egg with dark brown speckles. Of course we don't know which one of the chickens layed the egg but, we are excited to finally see one!

Hopefully this will be the beginning of our egg collecting extravaganza.
Now the only question is who gets to eat the first egg?