5 minutes...

Now that the boys are back in school, and I have the house somewhat back to normal, I finally have five minutes to sit down and give a little update as to what the Gittings Clan has been up to these past weeks over the holidays. Please excuse the fact that this post is as long as a novel and probably slightly less exciting ;)

Just before Christmas break for the school, we got snow. It was enough snow that schools were closed off and on, and things got all messed up here in WNC. Rory's ballet recital was pushed back a few days, and unfortunately, Carl had to leave town and missed it, but we have it preserved in photos! Rory was quite the gentleman and took his part VERY seriously. It was adorable. (About this time, my laptop blew, and I am currently without my own computer or a way to edit and play with photos... I'm keeping my fingers crossed that someone will find one for me soon.)

Straight from Rory's recital, in an attempt to avoid the next round of snow coming in and up the coast, we left and traveled to Maryland for a few days of time with my parents. Carl flew to DC from Texas and was able to spend the time with us. Most of the time we were there, my mom was feeling pretty good despite her treatments. She took the boys to see Santa, and at Rory's request, she took us all to Washington DC, and to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, and then to the National Christmas Tree.

It was quite a full day. As evening set in, it was pretty cold, but we did get to see the tree at night, and enjoy the burning yule log. The boys' favorite part was the trains that are set up along the base of the tree. Although it really wore my mom out, she was thrilled that the boys got to enjoy it. Every year growing up, or nearly each year, my mom took us girls to see the tree. I remember the excitement and beauty of it, and love that my boys get the chance to share that with her too. My dad normally got to go with us, which always made the holiday feel complete.

My dad was a trooper and took the boys and I to cut down a Christmas tree at a local tree farm, and the boys had such a wonderful time picking a tree and playing in the snow. Rory even took home extra branches to make a wreath from. 

While we were there, we got to see my older sister and her crew, I can't believe how big they all had gotten! Together the kids and my mom decorated the tree, and got the basement ready for Santa to come to MaMa Ann's house. Both of my sisters and their kids spend the holiday at her house, and it is quite the spectacle!

We got back to WNC a few days before Christmas and spent the time enjoying being together and the boys being off of school. The went fishing with dad one day, and spent a lot of their time gazing longingly at the growing mountain of presents under and around the tree... It seemed like every day the UPS man showed up with more and more brightly colored boxes to taunt them.

Somewhere this week Rory pulled out his own tooth! His front tooth had been wriggling for a while and was bothering him. Dad and I tried to get it, so did a few friends, but Rory had the honor of being the one who pulled it! He is still getting used to taking without anything to block his tongue, and still looks weird to me, but I am getting used to it too.

Christmas came, as did Santa, the boys got everything they could have, and did want. Rory got a real grownup camera, Arden got 2 StarWars costumes, and Canyon, well he got "Lucky". Lucky is a horse on a set of springs that he gets to bounce on and ride. He loved it... but now that he has fallen off of her a few times, he is less keen on riding. I figure he will get over that pretty soon.

Carl and I were equally blessed this year. My darling husband finally replaced my camera that was broken, with what we will call a much anticipated upgrade! Carl got the fishing gear that he has been wanting, and more exciting then that, we were given a new television and a Wii!! Both of those items are things we would never have spent the money to have, but absolutely are excited about and love to death!

Christmas morning also came with another gift from Mother Nature... snow. At 6:30 when we got up, the snow had lightly began to fall, dusting things with a beautiful white gloss... an hour later, the dusting was becoming more pronounced, and by that evening we had over 10 inches. When it was all said and done, we had 14 inches of snow on the ground, and much more in the drifts. According to the news, this was our first "white Christmas" in WNC since 1981.

The snow, while beautiful, had me a bit on edge remembering the snow from last year, so we made sure to fill tubs and water bottles, and prepare as the electric started to flicker. Luckily, the electric stayed on and we had a warm house to enjoy with our new gifts.

Rory's birthday and New Years followed Christmas, and was a wonderful day. He turned 7, I just can't believe we are 7 already... He had a great day filled with friends, food, and fun.

The pregnancy is going great, overall other then the HG (and subsequent kidney stones) things have been easy. I think my main and only real complaint is fatigue, although I think that would be an issue not pregnant with all of these boys in the house.

We found out a while back that we are having a girl, which makes this birth even a little more anticipated. Rory is thrilled. He wants nothing more then a baby sister to love. He is even asking and volunteering to change diapers for Canyon, so that he can learn it for the baby. We were given a really cute baby onesie with a tutu on it, and he got so excited! He is already planning a photo shoot with him in his ballet clothes and holding the baby. It doesn't get much cuter then that.

I hope that the Holiday Season found all of you friends and loved ones in good health and happy. I hope that you were able to celebrate the New Year with friends, and those you love, and that 2011 will be wonderful for us all.

Here are a few photos of our time in the past few months (from photog friends and straight out of the camera since I don't have an editor):

Christmas Trees and Memories...

Carl and I were married in 2003, and had our first Christmas as a married couple at our "new" 100+ year old home we had been working on. We had been working on restoring the home room by room, and by Christmas, we had the living room finished and were just starting to move things into the home.

A week before Christmas, one of the dogs had gotten into something and needed a bath, so we decided to use the bathtub for the first time, (the only bathroom in the house was on the second floor). As we emptied the tub and were done washing her, Carl sent me down to the living room to get something to dry her with, as I came down the stairs and rounded the corner, I started screaming for him to stop the drain!!

The water was pouring out of the newly refinished ceiling; it was like a waterfall in the middle of the living room. It came down all over our new rug, freshly painted walls, and the Christmas Tree. Apparently the leaking tub had never been fixed by the previous owners.

The rug was ruined, the wall was repainted, and we had to fix the ceiling, AGAIN, it was a mess... but the tree survived, some of the ornaments made it through unscathed, others ended up stained and ruined from the rusty water... I kept those ornaments, and to this day smile when I see the rust spots on the globes.

Here is a shot of one of those ornaments on this year's Christmas tree:

 

Here are a few other ornaments on this years tree, one from my first year as an Aunt, and the other is our 2010 family ornament:

First Snow-day of the school year...

Today was the first snow-day of the school year here in WNC, Rory had a 3 hour delay, and still had ballet practice (which is good since it was the last before his recital,) but Arden's school was canceled, so he had to hang out at home with mom and Canyon all day.

Here are 2 shots we took sitting on the couch together. Of course they are as goofy as ever...

Just Us.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and Holiday Season!

Just a few recent photos...

Just a couple photos of the CanMan from our day; we went out today for a fun time with a few friends. With the holidays fast approaching, expect lots more photos to come over the coming weeks!

Le Bump #4 at 18 weeks.

The kids and I are all fine, Cute Hubbie is working hard and doing well. Other then pure exhaustion and the HG, things are great!

Rory is taking ballet now, and is loving it! He has a recital in a few months and is very excited. Arden is in preschool and learning a ton, and Canyon is talking up a storm (and repeating everything, so be careful with what you say).

Here is the belly at 18 weeks, ignore the bathroom shot and dirty mirror :O) I haven't gained any weight yet, and am still pretty sick. Ironically, even without a "big belly", I am measuring really far ahead (by almost 10 weeks), not sure what is going on there, I will find out more next week.

Without further to-do, say hello to the bean.

Life's changes, surprises, and going ons...

I have totally slacked on the blog, sorry about that everyone! I really don't have an excuse other then I haven't been up to blogging. Ever since my nephew ruined my camera in June, I just haven't had much to post since I mostly do photos! I haven't been able to replace it, and likely won't be able to anytime soon.

Well here is what is going on in the land of "us":

*We had a huge surprise come up, Baby #4 is estimated to arrive March 9th 2011, (although I predict a good 2 weeks later- mine like to ripen a little later then most). I have been suffering from HG (go to www.helpher.org for more info), and have lost a good bit of weight, and am wicked tired. I am almost 15 weeks today, so I hope to turn the corner and feel better soon! I am at least holding my weight at this point, am still in my normal clothes, but can feel the little bugger moving around all over the place. We are on team green for this pregnancy and won't be finding out what we are having. The boys seem excited, but doubtful since all they see is a sick mom and no big fat belly, lol.

*Rory is in the First Grade and having a blast, and we got Arden into a local preschool with a friend, and he loves it! Canyon is taking advantage of being the only little person in the house and spends his days helping mom and cuddling with me <3.

*Rory went on his first back-country backpacking/camping trip with Carl a few weeks ago, and had a great time!

*I have spent what time I can, which isn't much with how I have been feeling, doing our canning and making food for this winter. I have quite a bit of pesto, jelly, juice, and more set aside.

*My Aunt Laura lost her battle with cancer a few months ago, and the boys and I drove out to Illinois to visit my grandparents and cousin, and to support my dad through the loss. We will miss her dearly, and I was glad that the boys got to see their Great Grandparents for the first time (well second time for Rory).

*Arden and Rory have turned into bike riding fools! Arden is riding like a little pro, with no fear!

Other then that, we have just been here, we hope to go to the Mountain State Fair this week with friends, and miss all of you we haven't been able to see recently!

Blackberries, jelly, and prickers...

This whole week I have been picking wild blackberries and trying my hand at canning. I'm having a great time (aside from a few thorns here and there!) I have cut paths into the best bushes across from the house, and it has made the instances of prickers stuck in my hands and the kids hands drop drastically.

So far I have picked about 18lbs of berries and made jelly from about 15lbs of them! I am making my jelly with only sugar and lemons, and it is working great! The kids love it and we have eaten about a pint already!  Needless to say, I have been busy with that and not online too much.

We have a few more weeks of blackberries, and then it will be time for blueberries! I can't wait.

Other goings on:

The boys seem to have gotten over the death of Houdini, and there is talk of a new hamster soon.

Cute Hubbie is almost done the closet and I can't wait! I need somewhere to put all of these canned goods. Arden is the designated helper and is constantly under foot with his toy tools, waiting for something to "help" with.

The weather, while beautiful, has not produced any rain here in over a month, and our poor gardens are starting to show the signs of it.

That is about all I have for updates! I hope everyone enjoys this wonderful 4th of July!

Goodbye Houdini.

This evening we found Houdini the Hamster dead. He was up and about last night and this morning when I checked his food and water. We assume that he fell asleep sometime midday and didn't wake up.

We were his second family after receiving him from a family on freecycle. He was loved by many. He was quite the escape artist (ergo the name), and was found many times running around the house and on the bathroom counters.

We held a funeral for him this evening and buried him in the yard. Rory is understandably upset, and Arden seems to have taken it well. Canyon is just to young to get it, and knows that Houdini is "all gone". Arden and Rory both petted him one last time and helped us bury him and said goodbye. Thanks to our neighbor, Deb, for her support and presence at the funeral.

So, rest in peace dear Houdini. You were well loved and you will be missed and remembered.

An Action Packed Sunday!

Today was busy and interesting to say the least.

We think Rory is having food allergy issues again. He has been having rashes again, and has been eating a good amount of dairy which I think is the culprit. He actually ate way too much yesterday, and as we pulled into church my darling son began to cry and say he didn't want to go in (which is really weird for him), and then he proceeded to vomit... EVERYWHERE in the van, on his seat, on himself, on the back of my seat, just everywhere. Cute hubbie took the other boys in while I took Rory home for a shower and to wash the van out. (Why was I the one to get the wonderful chore of cleaning it? Well, as wonderful as cute hubbie is, the one thing he cannot do without making more of a mess, is clean vomit, lol).  After that though, Rory was fine.

We then went to Lowes so cute hubbie could get some parts to work on our water/well/plumbing. I wondered about halfway through our little project what the divorce rate for that kind of thing is, but thank goodness the project went well (and fairly quickly) and there were no violent outbreaks or threats of divorce from either of us, (although I do have to admit the thought of both crossed my mind for a few fleeting seconds, lol).

After that, the boys and I (and later cute hubbie) spent a few hours picking black berries and black raspberries from the wild vines around our house. They are just in the beginning of the short season, and there are a ton more to pick, but we got just about 4 lbs of berries!

After a nice (but all too short) thunderstorm passed, we decided to make jelly with the berries. I made it without any "sure-jell" type products, just lemon, water, berries and sugar. I'm proud to say that my jelly came out perfect and on my first try :) I ended up with about 5-6 pints (although I canned it in half pints). I'm guessing that I will end up with about 10-15 more lbs of berries over the coming week or two. I hope to make enough of these and of blueberry jam (and maybe strawberries too) to get me and my neighbor through the year without buying any... (and between 5 kids, us moms, and 2 cute husbands, that is a lot of jelly and jam to need!)

I made a few batches of fresh pesto this week too from our herb garden! It is wonderful and I froze a lot to have over the winter.

All the wonderful families at our church have been donating their old canning equipment to me to try my hand at canning. Cute hubbie and my mother think I might be insane for trying my hand at being as self sustaining as possible, but I am wanting to can as much homegrown food and local produce as possible. I am really looking forward to it! It isn't a matter of the cost (which really isn't always better), it is a matter of the health of the food and subsequently our family!

My darling hubbie will have to knock out a closet wall for me soon so that I can make a canning pantry  (we have a closet that backs up to the stairs, so I want that under-stair space for storage), I am excited and hoping that happens soon! Our current kitchen space is great, but our storage is minimal. This closet extension will help a TON!

 Maybe I will leave that job for next Sunday...

Local Asheville Peeps (and others)

I just thought I would throw this out there, we are looking for a few items around the house for free or LOW cost...

1.) Air Purifier - We had an Ionic Pro which we loved, but it has finally died and we are having allergy issues like CRAZY!

2.) Working TV - our bedroom TV bit the dust...

3.) Working AC unit - Poor Carl needs this for when he is in the shed, which is a lot.

Let us know if you have these items to pass on! Thanks!

Father's Day Fun

Well, after our week at the beach, my camera is officially on the fritz. There was an incident with my camera and my nephew pouring water into my diaper bag (where said camera was well hidden and away from all water). It is still turning on, and still taking a few photos, but I don't anticipate it lasting much longer. The shutter release, auto focus, buttons for the flash, multi-shot function, macro function, focus choice, white balance, and other settings aren't working. So it looks like you folks may be getting more text then photos until I can afford a new camera.

Here are a few photos from father's day, which may very well be the last from my camera. We headed out to Looking Glass Falls, the National Forest, and the Davidson River. It was a blast! (None of the photos of Carl or myself came out...)

Arden on his bike for the first time...

Here are a few quick videos of Arden riding a 2 wheel bike (no training wheels) for the first time. We got him the bike for his birthday while we were at the beach. He did great and loved it! What a natural!

The past few weeks...

The past few weeks have been full of fun and changes for the kids. Here are a few shots of what we have been up to (including Arden's birthday, Arden's first bike ride, Rory's Kindergarten Graduation, and our mini vacation to the beach). In case you can't tell, we have been BUSY!