Thursday night at the park!

Moser kids sharing a gigantic snow cone!

JD, Maurin and the 2nd gigantic snow cone!

Dave and Leona and the 3rd gigantic snow cone!

Corey and Elizabeth

There are so many activities to do in Missoula it could literally keep you going every day and night. We had heard a lot about the Wednesday lunch and Thursday dinners at a local park. Basically June-August every Wednesday at lunch and every Thursday at dinner they have a big gathering in a park in downtown Missoula. They have live music, lots of food vendors and free kid's activities. We thougth we would try it out when the team was here to help with the service so we all ventured down there. It was a lot of fun...but a little chaotic with 4 kids in tow. We decided to make it a date night the next time we go. This park is also home to a "A Carousel for Missoula" which is a great carousel that we have yet to take the kids on. However, it is on our summer to-do list!

Our Pizza Project!

I picked up a Kid's Taste of Home Magazine at Wal-Mart thinking the kids and I might try some of the recipes. I thought it would be fun to let them pick out some recipes and then try their hand at cooking. Brock was right their with the other kids screaming "My turn, my turn!" And then I tried to take some pictures and asked them to say "Cheese" instead he picked up the package of cheese and held it up...so cute! Anyway, the kids enjoyed making these little pizzas and enjoyed eating them even more so I thought I would share the recipe for those of you with younger kids.

LUNCH BOX PIZZAS
1 tube (7.5 oz.) refrigerated biscuits (10 biscuits)
1/4 cup pizza sauce
10 slices pepperoni
3/4 cup mozzarella cheese

Flatten each biscuit into a 3" circh and press into a greases muffin cup. Sppon 1 tsp. pizza sauce into each biscuit. Top each with a slice of pepperoni and about 1 TBSP. chesse.

Bake at 425 ° for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve immedately or store in refrigerator and reheat in microwave.

ENJOY!!

We have internet...update on the daily happenings of the Moser's

After 1 week, 2 days and several hours of living in Missoula...we finally have internet. I called to have it connected before we even moved thinking I was ahead of the game...but the earliest they could come was yesterday. I have never been so excited to see the cable guy! After an hour of checking he informed Brian and I that the neighbor had cut through the cable going into our house when he put his fence in...aaaaagggghhh! I almost had a meltdown. Before the tears started I realized I missed the first part of the conversation in which he told Brian we would still have service we would just have a new orange cable running across our backyard unitl they can come bury which may be a few weeks. Wew....that was a close one! I can't believe how much I depend on the internet for daily stuff as well as keeping in touch with people!
We have had a busy first week in Missoula! Here are some of the highlights:

• We took the kids to a "Sprayground" which is a playground with water features. They have 4 parks in Missoula with these and they are all free which is great when you only have an hour or two and you don't want to pay to go somewhere. The other nice thing is there is playground euipment as well so when they get bored of the water they can play on the toys and when they got to hot there they can run back to the water. They also have a great waterpark which only cost $2.75 for kids and $4.50 for adults, quite a contrast from the aquatic center in Clarkston.

Abby looking cute!

The boys and Ethan B.

• The kids went to VBS at a local church. It was very well done...however a little overwhelming. They had over 400 kids there! It gave the kids something to do but I am also looking forward to next week not having to drive somewhere every day! Driving here is a little different then Lewiston. There is an actual Rush Hour and it can take 30 minutes or more to get across town!
  
• We were invited to a play group at the neighbors. Abby and Brock joined me and the boys stayed with Brian. We had fun but it made me miss my Friday girls in Lewiston! I think they should all pack up some weekend and come see me!
• We went to the Farmer's market in downtown Missoula this morning! We were so amazed at the number of vendors and the number of people. We felt a little out of place....so much culture and diversity! We felt a little like were transported to Seattle except it wasn't raining...it was sunny and there wasn't a cloud in the sky! We finished off the morning with lunch at the Iron Horse...an amazing restaurant! We are enjoying trying out the new restaurants in Missoula!
• Brock is talking so much these days! I feel like to need to add that into the highlights. He is constantly amazing me with the things he says and he is not even 2 yet. Last night, we took him to a "date night" daycare at the gym where Jamie works so we could get away. When we picked him up I asked him to say thank you. Instead of just saying that, he said "Taint you for da toys and taint you for da pizza. Bye bye!" and he waved! What a brilliant little guy...I guess I am partial! He is going to be 2 next week...I can hardly believe it!

Brock in his favorite froggy towel!

• Not much unpacking has been done with all of the preparations for the first service next weekend. Hopefully once we get past that we will be able to get this house organized. Probably just in time to start packing it back up to move into the new house. Actually we haven't even broken ground yet so it will be 4-5 months before we move.
  
• We are excited for our friends to come this next week to help with the first service. Although we have met some great people here it will also be nice to see some familiar faces! We definitely miss all of our friends!

I should go for now and try to do a little unpacking while Brock is sleeping. I know my sister-in-law would be appalled at the number of boxes around my house :o) In my defense, I have been busy meeting all of my neighbors so I have someone to invite to our first service! Hope all is well with you! I should be updating more often now that we have internet!

The evolution of the nickname...

Brian and I were talking about our kid's nicknames this morning and how funny it is how nicknames evolve...so I thought I would list some of their nicknames...mainly to remind myself and document them...lest I forget when I am old and grey. So here they are:


Brock:

• Brock-o-saurus
• Brocky
• Brocky Balboa
• Brock-o-nator
• Brock-a-rock
• Brocks
• Brockahontas (like Pocahontas)
• Brockie-Talkie
• Hurricane Brock ~ category 5
  

Abby:

• Abigail-ah
• Abba
  
• Abby Dabby Doo
• Abercrombie
• Crombie
• Crombinatious (see how they evolve)
• Abs
• Absimiilion (have no idea where that came from)
  

Jordan:

• Jordie
• Jordonie-Baloney
• Lil' Jay
• Baby Jay (when he was our baby)
  
• George
• Jorge (pronounced hor-hey)
• Jor-Dan (emphasis on the Dan)
• Ashley (given to him by Riley)

Riley:

• RyGuy
• Roy (Ry with an Australian accent)
• Roy-lay (Riley with an Aussie accent)
  
• Smiley Riley
• Ry
• Ry-Lay (emphasis on the Lay)
• Ham and Rye
• Tricia (given to him by Jordan)

Happy Easter!!!!

I dressed the kids up for Easter. Our church isn't formal, so I mainly dress them up because I think it is so stinkin' cute! It was like pulling teeth to get Abby to put her dress on...she informed me that she doesn't like dresses anymore...at which time I informed her she is my only girl and I reserve the right to dress her up a few times a year...one of which is Easter. So with a few tears... mostly from mom =)...off to church we went.

The baskets await for the children to wake up...hopefully not too early! Yes there is a basket for Brian too. I can't help myself...I love this kind of stuff!

Wow! What a busy and fun weekend it was! The kids had a great time hunting eggs, eating (way too much) candy, and just hanging out!

On Saturday we went to an Easter egg hunt with some friends. Here's a pic of Abby and Brock getting ready for the big egg hunt. Brock wasn't sure what to think but he caught on quick especially when he realized what was in the eggs.

Abby got quite a few eggs...there were 11,000 hidden in all...and the hunt was over in about 2 minutes =)
Sunday the kids woke up at 6:00 (uuuggghhh!) to look in their baskets. I think they had all of there candy eaten by 6:30 (not really but they were sure hyper.) We also decided to make monkey bread (a yummy cinnamon pull-apart with cream cheese frosting) so that just added to the sugar high madness. Brock was down for a nap by 9 am.

After breakfast we went to church and then came home for an egg hunt. Brock remembered the egg hunt from the day before and was screaming "eggs, eggs." He was so cute! I managed to get a group picture of them but Brock couldn't look up...he was too interested in his eggs! Notice that Abby changed out of her dress as soon as we walked in the door. At least she still has her cute pink bow in. We ended the day by having a great dinner with great friends! Hope you all had a blessed Easter!!

Kid-Knees??

The other night Brian was tickling Abby, something she requests often even thought it's like torture for her because she is so ticklish. Anyway, somehow they got in a conversation about internal organs (leave it to my PhD husband) and Brian was telling her the names of different organs....your liver is here, your spleen is here and your kidneys are here. When he said that, Abby replied "If my kid-knees are here where are my grown-up knees?" Just had to share that. I love kid's questions!

Eight is Enough!

Today we had eight kids at our house! I offered to watch my friend's kids because of a family thing they were dealing with and our neighbor came over after school as usual (Brock is in love with her and runs to her every time she walks through the door!) I have a theory that once you have 3-4 children, your life is chaos at all times so what's a few more. I am thankful however for a big house and a great back yard (although it was a little rainy today) The boys played with the Wii and went outside occasionally and the girls played with dolls and played "dress up" and Brock slept through most of it. All in all it was a pleasant experience! I sent Brian to Papa Murphy's for dinner which, in my opinion, is the only way to go when feeding 10 people! And now that they are all gone it will be an early to bed night for all of us! Brian and I have started watching "Lost" and we have 2 episodes left in the first season. I think renting series on DVD is the only way to go...no commercials and no waiting a week until the next episode!