What's cool about January (besides the weather)...

What can I say, I just have never been a fan of the month of January. And to top this January off, we've had the most strange weather. First we had all the snow (which we LOVED), then the wind (didn't love so much), then the rain (expected), which led to the floods (crazy), and now lots of fog (eerie). It's crazy cold, my heater is pumping and our pocketbook is emptying as we pay close to $600 a month on heating... Anyone care to visit soon? :)

Here are some of the prettier photos of our weather. It didn't seem appropriate to send Jack out with the camera as he helped total strangers clean up after the floods in downtown Snoqualmie. I did take the kids to see the Falls but was too scared to venture out into the floods. Funny because I even have a setting on my car which is specifically for "high waters" yet was too chicken to test it out.



Here are some of the more favorite things that have been going on around our house the past few weeks:

- We started the new year off with a wedding. All I remember is hearing "Mom, I dressed in my bestest clothes to marry Sage"...nice! Gotta love the 2 sizes to small pants and shirt and his crown he made for himself. Within 5 minutes a baby was added to the family. I don't know what we'd do without Ty. He's such a great big brother to Sage. She absolutely adores him and I know he adores her even if she does annoy him by calling him 'Ty Baby' and you can see why. What's not to love about a brother who dresses you in your princess dress and tells you how beautiful you look.



- School started. Well of course school would start but remember, we had three snow days before the winter break. Then we had almost a whole week off the week after the winter break.

- Favorite things I overheard coming out of the kids mouths:

"Man Con, you are getting ripped!" Connor responds "ya, I know!" Later that evening I found a bunch of Jack's weights in the media room that they must have been lifting.

Connor, very sad that Olivia didn't want to play with him at school says, "Olivia is very pretty on the outside but" and Ty interrupts and says "but she is UGLY on the inside"...Ouch, but happy to hear that is something that even 6 year olds pay attention to.

- Favorite sport of the month...Basketball! I can say that I don't see professional basketball players in the boys' future but I can say they looked darn cute out there and they gave it their best. I guess I shouldn't have high expectations for a team named "the Penguins". Seriously, who names a team that? Thankfully all my friends whose kids are in 2nd grade and played last year said "we've all been there, a year ago in fact"...it's a bit painful to watch but things can only improve from this point!!! I can say Connor is fabulous at defense and Ty has an arm for shooting.




- Other news of the month: We are finally entering the era of the 3rd row. Yes, I am finally getting a new car. And, no we are not expecting. We just need more space!!! It was even news to Jack until right after I wired the funds. But he had no problem with that since he's been begging me to do it for some time. But when I find something I like, I move on it. Seriously on our street I think we are the only ones that don't get a new car every year. It's like a car show in our neighborhood but Jack and I aren't too proud to drive our old beaters. I just remind him, at least ours are paid for. I'm hard to please when it comes to cars so when I find one I like, I stick with it. The new car arrives on a truck tomorrow and I must admit I'm terribly nervous to drive it as I'm not used to driving such a big beast but the good news is that I'm not actually parting with "my old beater". The Rover is heading to Utah to be our ski/summer vehicle which is good or I'd probably shed tears over it's departure. Perhaps it was time to get a new car. I did end up losing a piece of my car in the car wash this week...

The Very Good: Christmas and family!

The annual photo with Santa at Bellevue Square. (At some point I'll scan in the professional one.) So this year the boys were really into the whole "Santa" thing. Let's hope it's not the last. Even Sage, at 2 1/2, without any hesitation hopped onto Santa's lap to mumble a bunch of stuff that she wanted with the help of Ty serving as translator to Santa. The benefit of having older siblings... Sage adapted to the strange man in a red suit much quicker then the boys ever did!

It's tradition on Christmas Eve for us to read the story from Luke on the birth of Christ. The kids love to act out their parts. This year we were able to talk Connor into being a wise man while Ty and Sage acted as Joseph and Mary.



Christmas morning was like sitting in a snow globe watching all the snow fall out every window that surrounded us in the family room. I don't think we'd ever experienced a white Christmas like that here in Washington. My parents and brothers Steve and Paul flew in to spend the holiday with us which was great. Here are some of the highlights. The before shot and the after shot. I loved the after shot of everyone busy putting stuff together.



So I'm going through all the photos I took and realized a couple things. First of all, aside from Connor and Ty unwrapping the bike ramp, I have not one photo of Connor opening up a present. The reason is because he would be really sneaky and instead of waiting until we had gone around the room with each person unwrapping a gift one at a time, he'd just start unwrapping. So before we knew it, his were all opened. I also realized that I didn't get any photos of my brothers opening up their gifts. I guess it was because I was also trying to camcord some of it and in doing that forgot to also take photos...



Based on the comments that came out of the boys' mouths on Christmas day, I'm just hoping the Santa thing can continue for at least a couple more years...

Ty to Grandma on Christmas morning (in a whisper while she was still lying in bed): "Grandma, daddy is going to be soooo happy. Santa brought him just what he wanted, (big pause) a bike ramp." Hmm. It was quite funny because Ty had happened to be with us when we were looking at them at Toysrus (for the boys) and clearly Ty overheard the debate Jack and I were having about which one to go with. (Jack wanted the bigger one and I wanted the cheaper one!)

Connor to Mom and Dad on Christmas day: "You guys lied. Santa didn't bring us the scooters. You did? And you know how we know? Because the boxes are in the garage!" Oops. Next time we'll be much better about where we store the packaging. Jack's quick response was that actually Santa must bring the gifts all boxed up so they fit more easily in his sleigh and then he assembles them and leaves the boxes by the garage door in case the parents need help and directions... good save Jack.

It was a wonderful week. Great gifts, great food and most of all great company!

Activities of the day!

So because we awoke to a very white Christmas, there was no way the boys were going to get a chance to use their new electric scooters outside. Jack arranged to get some keys and go down to our church and let them speed around in the gym. So this is how we spent our afternoons on Thursday and Friday.




Nothing like dodge ball on scooters:



Playing in the snow in the backyard and on the course:




Snoqualmie Falls (Always hard for me to believe this place is down the hill a mile from us!)



Christmas Dinner:



Dancing:



The boys practicing their square dancing and Sage testing out her moves in her new princess dress:

"My Jack"

It's so funny to hear Sage say "my mommy" every time Jack gets within a couple feet of me. So I decided to title this post "My Jack" because just like how Sage depends on me, I completely depend on Jack. I don't know what I'd do without him. One thing I'm certain of is that he was made just for me. How thankful I am to have him back home full time. His days of commuting already seem like a distant memory.



Our cuties:

I just love December!

December Favorites:

1. Going to the mailbox!!! I practically stalk the mail man each day...

2. Holiday music. Although when I asked the boys as we were driving today what they thought about the music we were listening to (it was what sounded like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing Oh Holy Night). Expecting them to comment on the beauty of it, Connor's response in the most sincere voice was "why are we listening to Halloween music?" Nice. Clearly something not listened to frequently if at all in our home.

3. Check marks! I am not a list person but boy are they necessary in December when I'm trying to keep up with the ever changing Santa lists that my boys have going on. Compound that with Christmas card lists and boy do I feel productive. Check, Check, Check!

4. The weather. Even though I've learned that one's definition of a "snow day" can be very different from an others. Thanks to a school district that puts way too much weight on an inaccurate weatherman, my kids were home from school today for a "snow day" putting a halt to me checking my list twice... and no they weren't outside sledding or building a snowman since there was NO SNOW!

5. Parties! This year we went to a couple great ones. Shout out to Ty and Rachel because we had a blast at yours and also how nice it was to go to Jack's work party. Another reminder of how thankful we are during this time of year to have a job when so many people are struggling to keep one. Let's hope I can say the same thing next year.

6. Christmas dinner...check. Purchased Monday. It's tradition for me to make a big prime rib and how much more enjoyable it will be this year to share it with my family who will be in town.

7. Pictures with Santa! No check yet. As mentioned above, the boys' lists this year were especially ever changing and the main reason for that is that this is the first year that we have yet to get to Bellevue Square to do our annual photos with Santa. In the boys' mind, if they haven't told him, they aren't obligated to keep it on the list. Lesson learned: never wait this long to get to Santa!

Totally unrelated to this post, I just had to add a few photos. The other night Jack had invited a bunch of guys over to play darts. When Nick showed up he had Jen and little Tay with him, which couldn't have made Sage more happy. What made it especially exciting was when Sage answered he door she found Tay wearing the same PJ's that she had on. You can see from these photos the pure excitement they shared (and also the fact that we are raising a brute who clearly hangs out with her two older brothers a bit too much...)






Can you tell who has the older brothers to look to for examples...



All Smiles!

The bad: Christmas Cards

Throughout our marriage Jack and I have had the privilege of becoming close to many great people. Because of that, our Christmas card list has gotten quite lengthy. With that comes the great pressure I feel each year to produce a decent Christmas card, one that people will be as interested in looking at or reading as I am when I receive theirs. In addition, before blogging my newsletter served as our annual journal entry so it was that much more important that I did one.

Every January I tell myself "this will be the year that I will be more prepared". Meaning when it comes time to select photos for our holiday card I'll have plenty of options to choose from. But each year I find myself frantically searching through the past year's photos and coming up with nothing. So Thanksgiving marks for me, not the beginning of the shopping season but instead the beginning of the frantic picture taking season. This year was no different. Starting at Thanksgiving (after realizing that of all the thousands of photos I took this past year I had not one decent enough to place on a card) we began our weekly photo sessions, usually taking place just before church, and you know how well those go over. It's never pretty. We're quickly plopping kids in front of the tree, wreath, stockings or anything else that has a festive look to it. The kids are barely awake, half fed, and half dressed but that doesn't stop us.

So after a few unsuccessful photo shoots, I downloaded what I had, assembled my card and just before the clock struck midnight it was heading to some warehouse where they will be printed and returned to me within a few days. At least one thing was going well. They were getting out on time!

Well this year it looks as if in my haste to get the card completed I had forgot to save my changes during some of my editing sessions on Shutterfly and ended up with devil cards (you know the ones with red eyes) and an unedited greeting and message. Clearly something I couldn't blame Shutterfly for. I was hoping that the more I stared at them the better they would begin to look but it didn't work. So last night I stayed up and quickly put together and ordered another card. I figure I'll send Jack to work with the "devil" ones along with giving those to my forgiving local neighbors and friends who see us frequently enough and know that although the kids can act very devilish, they have yet to actually turn into devils. The verdict is out on how the new ones will turn out but I can say I think many of my family and friends would have been just as happy with a Starbucks gift card...I mean really, I think I've hit the frappachino level on cost per card...

The point of this post? To complain. I just needed to complain.


"Just woke up" Sage


"Refusing to cooperate" and "have to have orange" Sage

The good: Lots to be thankful for!

What a nice Thanksgiving we had. It begun with Jack leaving to participate in a turkey bowl. I had my fingers crossed that he'd return home in the same physical shape he left in, which is asking a lot for a middle aged man playing football with a bunch of young athletes. Thankfully he arrived home in almost as good of shape as he left in and we spent the remainder of the day enjoying good food and family fun. This weekend marks the end to a nice taste of retirement Jack experienced the past 6 weeks. After commuting for over a year back and forth to California while trying to unsuccessfully sell our house here, Jack decided to return to Starbucks. He'll start back on Monday. I keep telling him our stock depends on him... :)

Below are the most important things I've been blessed with and am so very thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving!




Here they are proudly displaying the place mats they made at school.

I'm aging...oh so fast!

So a week ago tonight, I was sitting with a bunch of friends in a theater full of wannabe teenagers (that would be us) and a bunch of screaming teenagers (that would be everyone else) watching Twilight on opening night. Although movies rarely live up to the books, I thought it was good and how could one not have fun spending an evening with the girls!

Thanks Rachel for getting me hooked for without you lending me your book on my trip to Utah this summer I would have gotten a lot more sleep during my vacation and saved $11 on the movie ticket! :) I never read books so for me to have the four books read in 2 weeks shows you how much I was addicted. Until New Moon, I think I'll stick to watching movies via netflix where I can enjoy viewing them in the privacy of my own home without the hecklers, screaming teens, and $7 popcorn!