J-J-J-Jay Boy

Jay boy got a shout out in his weekly letter that comes home to parents in his back pack:

"A big shout out to Jay Erickson who knows almost every single letter!" (of the ABC's)

She told me face to face that he's the top in his class in letter recognition and counting.

Way to go little preschooler!

Meat to Eat

Jon went on his annual elk hunting trip with my dad... and came home empty handed for the 6th year in a row. I know hunting takes a lot of skill, but there is a BIG amount of luck and being in the right place at the right time as well.

Either way, our freezer is almost full:

Thanks to our Pops.

Jon helped pack these quarters on his back and bike them out for miles.

As I have done in the past as well. 

Luckily, our awesome family shares when we help pack out, cut up and pay for processing!

We love our organic, free range, grass fed elk meat! 

Bathroom Re-DO

No, I am not doing a tutorial. ;)

There are tons! That's how I learned how to do this little project I undertook today!

I want to do this board and batten in our dining room, and a certian FRIEND ::wink wink:: had his doubts about me being able to do it. So, I decided to start smaller, with the boys' bathroom.

I measured everything out, and went to Home Depot to grab the goods:

Here is during:

literally watching paint dry! :) My idea of a perfect Friday night. ;)

All done!

 ...in the meantime I refinished the little stool (it was just a natural finish before)

I got rid of the towel bar (I hated it cause it doesn't fit more than two towels!) and added hooks! I love them! So much more room to breathe! (or hang your towels. ;))

 AND 9 hours later...AFTER:

What do you think? Did I prove my friend wrong?!

:) Lie to me if you have to.

House to Home... Still? Really?!

All I know is, it's taking WAAAY longer than I coulda known

to make this HOUSE a HOME.

We've almost been in this house a year.

We worked half our saturday on our back yard "beds" (so they're now not just cement curbing and dirt/weeds. ;)) No pics, but they look a-maz-ing.

Been making stuff and snatching some nice pick ups for our interior, too.

So here we go. 

New Bed frame/bench. First time we've had one for our king bed we've had for, like, 5 of our 7.5 years of marriage. Love it...thank you ikea!

I made this little growth chart board transferred from the wall of our first home and finally, finally hung it up. (beat boxing as I type).

TJ Maxx has been my best decorating friend besides pinterest lately. Re-did my entry to feel a little more classy, baby. Still need to flip that mirror to be horizontal. Gonna throw a  row of hooks belowzzz it too.

Plastic pumpkin + a vinyl e (that wouldn't stick) + mod podge =

my little personalized fall porch loiterer.

...and Jon hates this one.

I took his european mount mule deer, spray painted it all white, painted the mounting plate and bought this cute frame so it would match the "style" of our house (which is not rustic). :) I thought he'd be happy that we could now pull it from the garage, but on the contrary... he says I just "frilly, girlied it up".

I love it. Still deciding where this bad boy's home will be.

...and did you know Costco now frames pictures?! I didn't, until I picked up this gem when I went to print off our new family pictures (thank you cranberry jam photography). Waaaaay cheaper than anywhere else (this is a 27x37" frame), and it came to me just like this. AND I love the silver. It brightens up my life. :)

My hobby lobby impulse buy to get rid of my ever-not-fitting-in stars:

House of Target kitchen rug, that I happen to dig.

My MIL gave me these little pumpkin looking candle doo-daas. I'm not really sure what they are (warmers of some sort.. I'll figure it out) but I happen to love them as a piece of decor in my kitchen corner. :)

...and my new bedroom artwork to go with my new bed! Thanks to my artsy-fartsy sister, Mikin, who painted them! My idea came to life thanks to her! 

We are working on getting all of our windows and stairs wrapped and framed right now (little trim work... little bit a this, a little bit a that)

and THEN

I am totally excited to get going on some board and batten wainscoting projects!
Stay tuned for that!!

And LASTLY... TJ Maxx also hooked me up with this sweet mirror find.
I saw it and looked around and thought, "really? Nobody else wants this?"
Love it.

WELCOME FALL!!
(It's freezing all of the sudden today!)

I SEE you.

Oh, how we love our Cade.

This guy is the picture perfect first child. 

(so far... I mean, let's not jinx ourselves ;))

We had another trip to the eye doctor today. Just me and Cade....three hour excursion.

There was great news and not-so-fun news.

(To get a brief history on Cade's eye condition, click here)

The GREAT news is... he hasn't worn a patch for 6 months, and his vision is... ::drumroll::

20/20!! 

No need for glasses!! :D That means that the patching worked, and his "lazy" eye is now staying up to par with the other eye.

I got choked up to hear that. It meant so much to me, and was such an answer to prayer. 

The not-so-fun news is, he has a surgery scheduled for November.

Why you ask?

 If you notice in the picture above, Cade's head is tilted a little to his left. I (and the doctor) noticed this a while ago. What happens is that, just like any muscle in the body, when full function is not happening, and certain muscles aren't being used as much as they should (in this case, the one muscle in Cade's eye that has no function) then the other muscles start to tighten up. So now his left eye is starting to pull to the inside. He still wants to use both eyes together, so he has an ever-worsening case of the head-tilt-to-the-left. 

This can affect many things, including his neck. For sports, reading, his social environment, etc. etc. etc. it is best to just take the center muscle on his eye, and move it a little over to the left side, to straighten out that eye, and straighten out his head. 

We need this kid to perform in the batters box, ya know?!

So we are doing it.

The only concern is that it may happen again eventually in the future, and a surgery may have to happen again. Because of him having no nerve in the very left muscle on his left eye, there is no way to ever fully "condition" those other muscles, or "exercise" them. Surgery is the only fix.

So there is no guarantee the fix will last forever. Those muscles could tighten up again in the future, and he may need to do it again sometime.

The surgery is still very non-invasive. It's an outpatient surgery and he should be good to go to school after a few days, and good to go after a couple of weeks of swelling and bruising.

I am grateful for modern medicine. I am grateful for this woman's knowledge and ability to help my son so that his vision didn't continue to get worse, and this head tilt. More so, I am grateful that my son can see, and for the no-need for glasses, and for his eyes being able to serve him in this life.

So much to be thankful for, but most of all, our trooper, Cade!

Jon's 38th

For Jon's birthday this year, he took a trip down to Boise, ID to watch The Cougs vs. the Broncs!

He had a great weekend with his dad, brother and nephew!

When he got home Friday, we threw a little family party for him. He didn't want a big party this year, but we at least needed to sing to him! :)

The boys worked hard with me that day present shopping (golf shorts) and slaving away on their homemade cards...

 Boston cream pie is one of his fav's, so being the great wife that I am, I made these tasty nuggets! ;)

 Tyce's kiss face! Love you Daddy! 

Saturday, on his actual birthday, we went to lunch and on a family hike on English Point Trails.

That evening I FINALLY got him all to myself and we ate at his favorite steakhouse and caught a cute baseball movie. :)

We love having you as our head honcho! Happy birthday! :)

Cader Brains

Just a little post to brag about my little Cader brains. :)

First of all, this kid has always been so bright and on top of things. We have always made mention of his smarts, and his freaky-deaky memory and attention to detail. Needless to say, he is LOVING school. In fact, while helping him with homework one night this week, he sighed and said, "I love learning." He must get that from Jon. ;)

Cade had his Idaho Reading Indicator test this week (a state-mandated test to assess reading readiness).

They time him for one minute in two areas:
Letter naming fluency
Letter sound fluency

If he scores an 11, he is at grade level. 3-10 is near grade level, and 0-2 is below grade level.

He scored a 29 in letter naming (29 letters in 1 minute), and a 27 in letter sounds (27 sounds identified in one minute). Well over double what is considered "grade level."

'nuff said. :)