If "Bunny News" exsisted...

...Here would be a few of the tragic front page headlines, straight from the Ostler's backyard.

"This just in...
Mother gives birth to octuplets. 8 babies! Amazing!"

"Mother eats two of her newborn babies, justifying "it was either them or me"."

"This same mother, who is obviously suffering from post pardon depression drowns three of her newborn babies by peeing all over them."

"1 more baby dies in the chilly night air after mother abandons children to fend for themselves".

"Social Services (The Ostler's) step in and take custody of the 2 remaining children for their safety and protection."

"2 more bunnies found dead. A sereget mom (medicine dropper, and kitten replacement milk) just can't take the place of a real loving bunny mom:( ".

"In other news, a rabbit two cages down, gives birth to quintuplets. Due to lack of milk or pushy older siblings not sharing the milk, 2 more bunnies found dead."

Will this massacre ever end...

The answer is yes. After two pregnancies and 13 babies later we finally have 3 living babies. 3 out of 13 doesn't seem like very good odds and I seem to remember going through something pretty similar to this last year when we were trying to have some new bunnies. Where in the heck does the term "breeding like rabbits" come from.

These bunnies were born Thursday June 11th. They are healthy and happy and are hopefully in the clear :)

(11 days old)

(1 month old)

Father’s Day

I don’t know that there is anything in this world more important to Dan than his relationship with his Father in Heaven. The longer I have been married to him the more I have discovered this to be true. He values his testimony more than words can express. What is really awesome about this is that he puts a really big focus on helping our children develop their testimony and gain that same relationship with their Father in Heaven too. You should see him work with the kids at FHE and each night at scripture study. He is sooooooo focused on helping them feel their own testimony so that he doesn’t find them leaning on his as they grow older.

I think on his death bed he would be the happiest of Fathers if he could look around and see 100% of our children living their lives in harmony with the teachings of Christ for their own individual reasons. I hope, for his sake, my sake, and the kids sake, this is in fact how life turns out for the Ostler Family.

Anyway… For Fathers Day, I helped the kids put together a little gift for their Daddy. I asked the kids to tell me their testimony and I simply hit the record button and transposed it. Their silhouettes add a cute touch to the card they presented him today.

Here's to hoping Dan has a great Dad’s Day. We love you!

No money made for mom’s jar today :)

But I did make something else… Lots of strawberry freezer jam.

I buy a few flats of the most delicious strawberries, every June, from an Oregon farmer who brings a truck load of them to a group of us women in the Tri Cities each year. I picked up my flats from him this morning and got to work.

This should be enough to last until next June :)

After the jam was done Alaina and I made chocolate chip cookies. It was lots of fun to spend some time in the kitchen today helping her follow a recipe, mix ingredients, and bake the cookies pretty much on her own. They turned out great Alaina!

Pay Up!!!

Although I generally love having the kids home for the summer, (No School, No schedule, No running all over town), I have to admit that some days I wonder how much “together” time I can really handle. It seems like the “fun” days that I plan to have end up with all sorts of little straws that eventually break the camels back.

You know the straws I am talking about, don’t you?

Anyway, I finally had enough today and started up a little piggy bank in hope that my days will either be smoother and happier, or that at least I will make a little something for all the trouble.

I told the kids that from now on they would be paying me for all of these overtime hours I’ve been putting in, dealing with all of the problems listed above on my jar. I made it clear that my “bonus money”, for dealing with all of these extras would be coming out of their own pockets.

We will see how it works, but for now….I am optimistic. :) Today I made $1.75. I think I may be a wealthy women by the end of summer :)

Greg and Brittany’s Reception

WMEA: Worst Mom Ever Alert!!!

Alright, I have to make a confession. And yes....I am beginning to feel a smidge of guilt that I honestly do this, but hey......I want the extra 30 minutes of sleep and that is all there is to it. 

With summer here and kids not needing to get up and out the door first thing in the morning anymore, I encourage them to sleep in, "keep quiet" when they wake up", and to "find something good to do" which hopefully doesn't involve coming in my room to ask me questions or tattle on siblings. 

However, one of my little turkeys....I mean children...ALWAYS comes to my beside with the EXACT same question, the exact same look on his face, the exact same "please" coming out of his mouth, at nearly the exact same time of the morning. In fact, if you will notice in the picture he not only brings an otter pop back but he nearly stabs my eye out each morning with at least one pair of scissors. 

Can I please have an otter pop? He says with every dimple he can show. PLEASE!!!

Any good mother would recognize this as a perfect moment to teach and nurture. Helping the young Innocent and ignorant mind to understand that the first meal of the day should be a healthy and balanced meal filled with nutrition and blah blah blah.

But me.......I take the easy route. I think, well otter pops are made out of 100% all natural fruit juice. Aren't they? And at least by allowing my child to eat this I am teaching him self reliance in that he can prepare his own breakfasts for himself. And the reasoning goes on. 

So, I give in and say..."sure!"

You know the saying... An otter pop a day, keeps the kids at away :) (for 30-45 more minutes at least)

But, in my defense, and before anyone condemns me to "The Worst Mom Ever Hall of Fame" I must brag on myself a little. 

After recognizing the unhealthy nature of this habit that was forming with my littlest boy, I took some remarkably proactive action to nip it in the bud. I decided that it was not a good idea for him to be running down the hall with scissors each morning so I began keeping them on my nightstand so that I can just snip the top with a much higher level of safety. 

I can sleep much better during that 30 extra minutes each morning knowing my 2 year old isn't running around the house with scissors. 

“Are we there yet???”

On Saturday our family loaded up in the van to make the eight hour trek to Idaho Falls for Greg's wedding. I am happy to report that the trip was pretty smooth sailing.

Long car rides are pretty painless for the kids these days with all of the different technology that we have to plug them into. Once on the road, we just strap the kids into the latest and greatest electronic device (DS, Leapster, DVD player, Laptop, books on tape, CD player, ipod, etc.) and guess what…….NOTHING BUT SILENCE. Yahoo!

However, I have to touch on some of the side effects that this new way of traveling has on the family. Our vocabulary has changed for sure.

Gone are the days when kids ask... Are we there yet? Instead my kids ask... How many more movies till we’re there?

To which Dan and I reply without hesitation….. this is a 6 movie trip :) You just finished your second movie which means we have 4 more to go and we will be there.

One good thing about this is that movies are usually about an hour and a half, so we only have this question asked about every hour and a half, when each movie ends. 5 more movies, 4 more movies, 3 more movies, and so on. It's got to be better than... Are we there yet?? repeated every 5 mins.

Can I hear an AMEN!

After our 8 hour mind numbing trip to Idaho Falls and another 4 hours of frying our brains today as we made our way back home, Dan and I decided it would be fun to surprise the kids and shake things up a bit. Instead of blazing a trail straight home today we stopped at Wahooz family fun zone. It's right off the freeway near Boise, about half way home. It was a perfect time to stop.

We unplugged from our van and plugged back into the family. We ate lunch and then played for about 3 hrs before jumping back on the road to finish the trip home. Here are a few of the fun things we did…

We skipped the bumper boats and water slides but had a ton of fun with the kids on all of the other stuff. It was a great “rest stop” for the whole family. Now it’s back on the rode for our “3 movie” ride home.

Greg and Brittany Rose

The Ceremony…Saying I do… and Exchanging of Rings

You may now Kiss the Bride

Adoring Looks

I now present to you… Greg and Brittany Rose

Family Pictures

Just Married!!!

Thanks for letting us be a part of your special day. We wish you guys many years of happiness.

Saying, “YES!”

My little brother Greg is getting married.

He officially proposed to Brittany (with just the two of them) while Brittany was here visiting from Idaho Falls. She said, “Yes”.

But because of a few different ring swaps with the jeweler the ring ended up back in Greg’s possession and what a better way to get it back on her finger than to “pop the question” again, in front of all the family at the rehearsal dinner. She said, Yes…again, and seemed just as excited the second time around. It was really sweet and fun to be a part of.  

“Mom, Look, The workers are taking the fence down!!!”

A couple of years ago we were told that a park was going in around the corner from our house. We were all really excited to have one so close to home. We watched them level out the ground, put in sprinklers, plant grass and trees and couldn’t wait to see the play structure, benches and picnic tables go in. But wait a minute… It’s been over a year now and our park still looks like this. My kids say it can’t really be called a park because it’s missing one very important item… THE TOYS!!!

Well guess what folks, the toys are in! After 2 years of waiting, we finally have a park. The kids have been watching and waiting for the last 3 weeks as the workers have been assembling this play structure. Today, as we pulled out of our street the kids all screamed, “MOM, LOOK, they’re taking down the fence from around the toys. We can play on them!!!”

I made a quick B-line across the street so that the kids could “officially” be the first to try them out. They had a blast!

Yea for our new park! 

Dear, Dad... Hugs & Kisses, Alaina

With the kind of work schedule Dan has had lately, as he runs the businesses, the kids have become extremely patient and understanding about his time availability. But it hasn't always been that way. They have had to learn that dad has other responsibilities in business that need to be taken care of in order to provide the lifestyle our family wants and needs. They have had to learn that their dad doesn't have summers off, or afternoons off, or even some Saturdays off. They have had to learn that dads who run businesses, especially in the start up phases, don't just work 9-5. This is sometimes tough on them, considering that they want their dads time and they "want it now!!!"

 

They have learned to value the time he is home, and respect and cheer him on for the time he is away. Whether he is away investing in real-estate, teaching seminars, selling security systems, training employees, bidding landscape jobs, or anything in between. The kids are learning to appreciate what "dad being gone" means and how it dovetails into his family and church life.

 

Fortunately, Dan does a great job of utilizing the time he does have at home with HIGH PRIORITY and QUALITY time with his kids and with me. He isn't watching TV or doing "guy things". He isn't getting into the next hobby or finding excuses why he can't "be with the fam". Instead, he goes out of his way to make sure that if he has some time at home, games are being played, trips are being taken, relationships are being built, scriptures are being read, and memories are being made.

 

Well, since his time at home is often limited, the kids eat up every moment they get of his time. AND, we have to make sure they are constantly being reminded of how cool it is that Dad or Mom are sacrificing there time and money to create stability and fun in the home.

 

So, after a fun little weekend trip away, Alaina went back to school and started thinking about how fun her weekend was. She took the initiative, on her own, to stay in from recess to write her "daddy" a love note. The fact that it was unprompted by anyone or anything other that her own thoughtfulness makes me appreciate her that much more. It is cool that the coaching we are giving, although we think it probably goes in one ear and out the other, is actually sinking in with our beautiful young children. 

Thanks Alaina for sharing such a loving note with your dad. I know it touched his heart and brought him to tears. Actually, it brought me to tears too. I love knowing that you see all that your dad does for you and that you are beginning to appreciate it. We both love you so much. Thanks!