Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween! We enjoyed taking the kids trick or treating this year. I have had classes on Halloween the last two years so it was great to finally be a part of it this year. The kids were so cute! Sarah was Cinderella and Nathan was Gus (the plump mouse friend of Cinderella's). Mary did some hard work to make Nathan look like Gus, sewing the shoes, hat and shirt and adding them to the mouse costume Sarah wore two years ago. It turned out great!



These first initial pictures on the street was on our way to the local Middle School for a kind of Halloween carnival. The kids had fun but a lot of the games were for a little bit older kids that required a little too much skill. Plus the candy wasn't that great so we cut out early and went to get candy the traditional way. We accidentally met up with three other families from church that were trick or treating together but were not really able to keep up with them as Nathan was the youngest of the bunch and was certainly slower. Overall, we had a great time and the kids were both just so cute. Nathan would get to the door and knock with Sarah and when the door would open he would just start walking right in, the people were always a little surprised. The other cute thing that Nathan would do was he kept trying to get the candy out of the bucket or take it from the person but he had on his mouse mittens and so he would inevitably drop it in spite of his valiant two-handed efforts. This was greatly disappointing for him, but luckily Mom kept a steady stream of Smarties coming his way. It's so much fun as a parent to see how enchanting and exciting these little experiences are for your kids while they also bring back so many memories for us as parents. No matter how hard we try, we can't soak enough of it in! SO MUCH FUN!!!

Halloween Party!!!

So about a month ago or so Mary had finished painting Nathan's room and asked Sarah how she wanted to decorate her room and Sarah replied "I want to decorate for my Halloween Party" (like, duh Mom and Dad!). So we decided that we would host a Halloween Party for Sarah and her friends. Sarah wanted to be Cinderella and fortunately we found a costume at a store for pretty cheap. We enjoyed decorating, Mary did most of the leg work, and we left the decorations up through Halloween. We had the party on Saturday the 27th and it was a lot of fun for everyone.

Here's the group of kids that came to Sarah's Halloween Party. A wide range of ages, but a good number of Sarah's friends from church. One of the games they played was "Pin the nose on Jack O. Lantern". The kids enjoyed it but it was hard to get pictures of them doing it. Notice the drawing Mary did behind the kids in the picture.
One of the games the kids played was "Mummy Wrap" where they got to wrap up some of the kids with toilet paper. Sarah is the one on the far right. They did a pretty good job if you ask me! They also enjoyed wrapping me up in toilet paper at the end of the party (picture NOT attached).
The kids also enjoyed decorating cookies and later eating them. Here is Sarah with her cookies.
Another game the kids played was "Who's the ghost" where half of the kids were taken into one of the rooms and then one of them was brought out under a sheet and the kids had to guess who the ghost was. The kids really liked this one and enjoyed trying to figure out which kid it was.

Overall the party was a success and the kids seemed to have lot's of fun. They did some hide-and-seek when their were down times and seemed to enjoy that. Nathan's costume wasn't quite ready for the party so he just had regular clothes. He got excited about everything and really enjoyed following the other kids around and doing whatever they were doing.

Pickle Juice

Sometimes as parents we get caught in a trap that we set for our kids. I'm often of the opinion that I should show my kids why I'm right to say yes or no by letting them see for themselves. Nathan likes to "help" me with cooking dinner sometimes (thanks Sarah :*), so if I'm heating up a pot or something he'll try and get a stool and stand by me and start to reach for the pot. I tell him that it's "hot" and he repeats that back to me and points at the pot (he already learned this lesson on the lawnmower engine after I finished mowing one day). So sometimes if he insists with the hot pot I will help him feel the steam coming off the pot or the radiating heat a few inches above the pot or pan... hoping that this sinks in that closer is worse. Anyway, today he was insistent that he wanted "juice" in his sippy cup, which we were out of. Unfortunately there happened to be a jar of open pickles on the counter within his line of sight. He decided that the color of the pickle juice closely resembled a recent juice that he had drank. So he pointed at the pickle jar and was insistent that he have it, in spite of my telling him "no". So I thought: "I'll show you"... and got out a spoon and gave him a sample of the pickle juice... which of course he liked and began asking for more. After a couple of spoonfuls I realized that this wasn't just a new taste to him but a good one. So of course I ended up pouring pickle juice in his sippy cup. Hey, if it's good enough for dehydrated football players, it's good enough for my boy. Meanwhile, Mary just shook her head and said "I knew he was going to like it!" Oh well.....

Fall Leaves

I've been itching to do this with the kids. I have memories of jumping and playing in piles of leaves growing up. The nice thing about doing it here is that most of the leaves have fallen and they're dry. We've had three days of gorgeous weather here in the upper 60's - low 70's, so we didn't have to worry about any wet, slimey leaves. The kids had SO much fun! Nathan just dove right in and loved to get buried with leaves. He also couldn't walk in the deep stuff more than a step or two before falling on his face, which he enjoyed. We probably did this for about 45 minutes after I got home from work and it was just so nice outside. I did a lot of raking and Mary did a lot of picture taking. Sarah really enjoyed picking up leaves and throwing them in the air until we realized that the wind was blowing them into the neighbors yard. Whoops! Mary and I had so much fun watching how excited Nathan and Sarah were having. It's great to be with carefree happy kids and just watch them have so much fun. I hope that it will be as nice tomorrow afternoon so that we can do this again... I think if we do this again I'll have to get more hands on with my play and get buried too. Anyway, I hope you enjoy(ed) the pics. This was a blast for everyone!

A Child's Prayer

When I got home from work today and asked Mary if the kids had done anything particularly cute she mentioned two adorable anecdotes. There are trains that run through the heart of Mtn Home so Sarah and Nathan have always been excited about hearing or seeing them and they both love playing with their Brio train tracks. Today they set up our four dining chairs in a single file line as a train and then proceeded to fill two of the four chairs with various stuffed animals and then sat in the other two chairs. Mary said that before they embarked on their "journey" Sarah insisted that they say a prayer before leaving and that Nathan was very reverent with his arms folded for Sarah's prayer. The two also love to play with our little food and dining set. They love to feed each other, Mom, Dad, or any of their stuffed animals. Today, before they commenced their meal with one another Sarah again decided that a prayer was necessary prior to them eating. Again, Sarah said the prayer and Nathan was compliant during the prayer. Pretty cute kids. It's so amazing how so much of the things that we try to do with them or teach them really stick with them. Kids are such amazing learners!

Our New Nephew and Cousin: Carson Warren Hamm

Congrats to my younger brother, Robb, and his wife Heather! They had Carson Warren Hamm on Monday, October 8th at some ridiculously early hour in the morning. It sounds like Carson's two older sister's are pretty excited and he looks like a cutie just like the both of them (adorable petite face and lot's of jet-black hair). Not to overshadow the good news or the significance of a new life in the world and family but the sad part about this whole situation is that Carson's birth ends Nathan's reign as the only boy among the Hamm family cousins. Oh well, we'll get over it, though we might have to give Nathan some time. I have seen him crying a couple of times since Carson's birth for no explainable reason so I believe it is probably because of Carson's birth and Nathan being dethroned. I've tried to do some good therapist processing with him but he is still in denial and seems to really have lost his rocker as he just blubbers random words like "bear", or "bottle", or "movie", or "car", or "drink". We might really have to get him checked out by a professional. Oh well, Sarah is still the only girl on Mary's side of the family (her sister has four boys) and I don't see her reign as the Hughes family princess coming to an end any time soon.... if ever.

Anyway.... congrats to Robb, Heather, Hailey and Emma from Jeff, Mary, Sarah and eventually Nathan.

Visit to Nyssa

Unfortunately we don't really have any pics of the trip but this last weekend we took a trip over to Nyssa and Fruitland for a couple of days to spend time with some of my Uncles, Aunts and cousins. Two of my Mom's bro's Jim and Warren own and run the same farm that my Mom grew up on in Nyssa so we went out there on Friday and they took us out to lunch. We then got a tour of their onion packing shed. It is an amazing process to see and have it explained to you and then to see it in action. I got to see the process in January when I was in Nyssa with my parents and siblings for my cousin's funeral but I was glad that Mary got to see it as well. I think that I always pictured farming as somewhat out of date or not necessarily in touch with the technological world but their process is so cool and certainly involves a great deal of technologically advanced machinery. Anyway, if you want to see the plant in action they actually have a YouTube video on it. Just look up Fort Boise Produce and it should come up, it's pretty cool.
After our tour of the packing "shed" and once Warren and Jim had loaded our car up with about 100 lbs. of onions, Warren drove us around the farm to show us their different plots and to see some harvesting in action. It was really fun to see! We also go to see their storage sheds which are gigantic and watched them load the onions in large crates and then placed with precision by a fork lift one on top of the other all the way to the ceiling... probably 4 - 5 stories high. Warren estimated that they would produce 75 million lbs. of onions this year. Amazing!
On Saturday I went with my uncle Rick out to breakfast with Jim and Warren and about 20 others and then we went out onto their farm and did some pheasant hunting as it was opening day for that season. I just went along for the nice brisk walk and didn't get to see any pheasants shot down, but I had fun nonetheless. After the hunting there was a large gathering of probably 50 or so at Jim and Peggy's house for a lunch. Mary met me there and we had a fun time in the beautiful weather. We spent time talking to some of my other cousins and just enjoying being outside and relaxing.
While we were on the trip we stayed at Rick and Laurie's house in Fruitland. They have 10 kids (8 girls) ages 4-18 so Sarah and Nathan were well taken care of to say the least. And when they weren't being occupied with some of my cousins they were just fine playing with the bounty of toys downstairs. Although the kids didn't sleep all that great, we all had a lot of fun and Nathan woke up the morning after we returned home and was asking about one of my cousins (Claire) who had played with him a lot. It was pretty cute. We may meet up with Rick and Laurie this weekend if Joslin and the triplets High School soccer team makes state in Twin Falls. We'll see.

Pumpkin Carving

Okay, I'm figuring out what our adoring fans want: pics of the kids. As I looked through the blog today I noticed that only one post had comments (5 of them as of this publication) and it was also the only post that had pics of Sarah and Nathan. Coincidence? I think not! So, to please our obviously growing fan base here are some more pics and info on the real "Stars" of the family.

As one of our Halloween traditions we carve pumpkins for a family night. This year we got one pumpkin when Sarah went to the pumpkin patch with her Preschool and someone from Church gave us one out of her garden. We had a fun time carving the pumpkins! It was cute to see Nathan's face once we put a candle in the pumpkins and turned off the lights. He seemed so amazed and intrigued as he looked at his pumpkin that now looked strangely like it was some kind of animal or something. I really enjoyed watching him look at the pumpkins and he was pretty excited about the pumpkins once he saw what they could do. Sarah was pretty excited and could hardly wait to get the candles in the pumpkins. She was also excited about being able to stick her tongue out like her snake-o-lantern. Real cute Sarah! We also enjoyed sliced apples and caramel. Mmmmmmm.

Hide-and-Seek

I mentioned in a previous post that Sarah and Nathan enjoy playing with one another and that Sarah is a great big Sis. Here is a small anecdote. We have recently been playing hide-and-seek when I get home from work and the kids have really enjoyed doing it. Today, according to reports from Mary, Sarah and Nathan played hide-and-seek all by themselves and here's how it went: Sarah would take Nathan and put him in a good hiding place (ie: closet) and then she would go and count to ten followed by the traditional "ready or not, here I come". She would then go wandering around the house saying things like "where's Nathan?" and "he sure is hard to find" and "he's not in here" until she would finally find him. They had lot's of fun doing that together but of course Nathan did most of the "hiding" as he couldn't really be the finder by himself. Pretty cute kids together. Here is a pic of the cuties making pig cookies together... Lot's of fun!

Life in Mountain Home

Well, I thought I would just give a summary of how/what we're doing here in Mountain Home, Idaho. I can't believe we have been here for 4 months already and in our house for about 3 months! I am enjoying my work and my schedule compared to graduate school (Mary gives that an "Amen" and 3 "Hallelujah's"). Mary is still working on-line as a customer service rep for a book-selling company. We are enjoying our little home and the little town here with frequent trips to Boise for anything that isn't provided at Wal-Mart and Albertsons. Sarah is enjoying her twice-a-week preschool and has a couple of friends from church that attend on the same days/times as her which makes for frequent conjunctive play-dates. She recently went on her first "field-trip" to a local pumpkin patch and had so much fun. She seems to be enjoying things here as well, though there are frequent complaints of how far it is to see her cousins or grandparents. She is the sweetest little girl and just loves all of the neighborhood animals. She is also a great big sister for Nathan and they are really having so much fun playing together (most of the time). Nathan is a Daddy's Boy and gets so excited when I get home from work each day (I can't even describe how excited I am to see him do his little jig and hop and say "Daeey", "Daeey" over and over). He just recently said "Mama" (finally! and much to the relief of Mary). His vocab is probably up around 20 "words" and he sticks to the essentials: movie, juice, poo-poo, bear, doggy, bottle, Sarah, etc. Mary and I are enjoying being parents together and finding that we still like each other a lot (did I mention we're pregnant?). We are trying to make friends with some couples through church, which Mary is finding a lot easier process than myself. We are enjoying all the sunshine and have been a little caught off-guard by the southern Idaho wind in the Fall (and we hear in the winter as well). We miss having my parents so close to watch the kids for nights out or weekends away, but we're on the lookout, at least for the first part... for now. At the end of the day it's really nice to have enjoyed work and also feel like I was a good husband and father. I feel like my post-grad school life is much more appropriately balanced and I think that we're all really enjoying that.

Family Hikes

Somewhere around this text are some pics of mine and Mary's 3rd annual sibling hike. This year we happened to go to the same area up near the Anthony Lakes area between Baker City and La Grande in Eastern Oregon. It was beautiful country though Mary and her siblings got two more days than me, my Dad and my brother Jordan did, and a lot better weather! We both had fun though! On my hike with my dad and brother it was 70 degrees on Thursday on the way in and around lunch time on Friday the temp dropped to probably the mid-20's and started snowing. We accumulated about 2-3 inches in 90 minutes and decided we should get out while we could still see some semblance of a trail. We came out a day earlier than expected because we didn't want to sit in a small tent for another 24 hours playing card and dice games. At 8,000 feet we experienced how quickly the weather can change in the fall. Needless to say, we experiencd the best weather of all three years of these sibling hikes and the worst weather within about 24 hours, it was pretty crazy but a lot of fun.

For those that don't know about this tradition Jeff (me) goes on a hike with his dad and brothers (as many as can come) and Mary goes with her siblings sometime each summer/fall. Unfortunately for Mary and her siblings, every year they have had one nursing infant with them and the other sister has been expecting and this year was no exception as Mary and I found out we were pregnant about a week before they left (surprise if this is the first you've heard about this). This might sound bad for Mary and her sister Jenny but you have to realize that this makes Kris and Mike (Mary's brothers) pack mules as they relieve their sisters of significant weight.

We look forward to continuing this tradition next year, only this time us guys are going to make sure it happens before it starts to get too cold up in the mountains to avoid the snow. And Mary will definitely have a nursing infant with her next summer when she goes so now I guess the ball is in her sisters court.

What to say....

Well, this is my first blog entry... ever! I really don't know what to say. This is always my problem when I actually take the time to write in my journal: do I catch up from the last entry over a week, month(s), (or more typically) years ago. I guess I'll just say "Hello" and "Welcome" to my first blog on the hammfamilyfun blog and relieve myself of the intense pressure of what to say in the first entry of my first blog. Anyway, I hope to use this as a platform to share stories, events, happenings, thoughts, pictures, anecdotes, musings, jokes, or anything else that I can't think of or otherwise don't know about right now, with the rest of you that may actually be interested in this stuff. I will give credit to my sis Rebecca for prompting me to do this though I have wanted to do it for a while. Thanks sis and I hope everyone that reads this (all 10 of you)will enjoy it!