End of the Year - Day 366

I'm ending the year with one of my favorite Matthew pictures. It was entered into the contest but we won't know until next month whether it won a prize or not. We hope everyone has a safe New Year's Eve and a wonderful 2009.

Sleepy Day - Day 365

Snickers, under cover. That's what vacation is for.

I'm Young Again - Day 364

Wii Fit was one of my Christmas gifts this year. After doing the Body Test yesterday and getting an age of 58 (which is much older than I actually am), today I scored an age of 39. Woo Hoo! My favorite game so far is the Hoola Hoop.

A New Favorite - Day 363

This ornament is from our exchange at work. I just love it. I couldn't decide which view I liked better so I put them both up. It looks heavy but it's not.

I think this is the first year in a long time that I got the ornament I had my eye on...you know how those gift exchanges go...someone's always stealing something away. :)

The Four Amigos (Another Christmas) - Day 362

We had a real nice time at my parents house today. We started with our traditional berry waffles for breakfast (choice of strawberry, blackberry, or raspberry), lots of bacon and sausage. Then we were off opening presents. Mom got the guys these great chef hats and aprons for Mark's annual pigroast (or at least it'd better be annual now that they have all the gear... :)) Mark was feeling a bit short in this picture. Matthew and I made cinnamon rolls that we had for a snack, then we had Mom's famous lasagna for dinner and some delicious pies (especially blackberry) for dessert. It was a long day but very nice.

More Christmas - Day 361

Today was our Christmas at home. Mama and Papa came over to see all the goodies. I'm so glad the roads are clear and that it started raining today (I don't know if I've ever said that before!)


Snickers even had fun opening his present.

Merry Christmas - Day 360

The boys started their Christmas with Guitar Hero World Tour...a wonderful gift from Santa at Dan's house. When we picked them up, we got to play along. It was a lot of fun!
Off we drove to Centralia for the day at Owen's parent's house. The hill up to their house was treacherous, but we made it. This is Alexa, Jordyn, and Owen.



Merry Christmas!

Meowy Christmas Eve - Day 359

Snickers, Meg, Nicholas, Matthew, Owen and Marie are wishing you a Very Merry Christmas!

Boys' New Ornaments - Day 358

The roads weren't too bad around here today, but they sure are looking icky (muddy slush). Due to the roads, the orthodontist didn't even get mad when we were 15 minutes late for Nicholas' appointment. He had to work until his appointment time (forgot to ask for it off) and when I tried to reschedule the appointment, the next available was Jan. 26, so we just decided to be late.

Here's Nicholas' new ornament. He's into ships this year.

Matthew likes things that have bright lights and that make sounds. Luckily for me, this ornament is silent. He used this ornament for making his letters in his WOW collage. It changes colors: yellow, green, red, and blue.

And, Happy 6 Month Anniversary, Owen!! Wish we were there!

Winter Wonderland - Day 357

It is absolutely beautiful outside! The ruler is measuring 8 inches of snow here and the trees look spectacular (except for the hedges we shook off yesterday are now leaning again with the new snow).

(I even took this Matthew-ish photo...I'm stealing his techniques!)

More and More Snow - Day 356

Owen had to shovel a walkway on the deck for Meg to get out to the snow-covered grass area. Matthew worked at getting some of the huge icy clumps of snow off of the hedge bushes.

Tonight my balcony is covered and the snow is at least 7 inches deep (as of 4pm). The snow is interesting because it has a layers...snow, ice, snow. It almost hurts my feet when walking through it (must be that ice layer). We were picking it up in slabs and tossing the pieces like frisbees!

Snickers is Famous (again) - Day 355

I shared this picture with you a while back, but on Thursday, he was on Stuff on My Cat. If you click on that, you can see his page with the funny caption and comments.

Stay warm and safe if we really have that storm they're predicting! (And even if we don't have the storm, stay warm and safe!)

A Good Laugh - Day 354

I saw this on CuteOverload and stole it...it's a good thing we didn't get snow this deep!

We went to see The Slipper and the Rose tonight at the Tacoma Musical Playhouse. It was a delightful version of Cinderella, very enjoyable. Too bad so few ventured out to see it...the room was probably less than half full, which is unusual...those who stayed home really missed out!

Snow! - Day 353

Today the boys were out of school but I had a 2 hour delay. They should have closed out schools early because the roads were AWFUL on the way home at 4:00!!! There were 4 buses on the top of a hill that wouldn't go down, an accident in the intersection at the bottom of the hill (but it was facing uphill, not down). But while I was at work, the boys went down to the creek and got a lot of beautiful pictures.


This one looks like a face...I guess it was on branches over the creek.

Meg in the Snow - Day 352

Meg really enjoys being out in the snow.




And what's even better, she can't feel how cold it is on her feet! (Which means we can't let her be out too long.)

Icy! - Day 351

Matthew filled a bucket with water over the weekend. Today the bucket was frozen about half way up. His Super Duck necklace was frozen inside and he found that the pencil he put in started to sink toward the bottom. (Great science project!) He tipped it over and found this thin layer of ice. We put it on green paper so we could photograph it.

Ouch - Day 350

Dad cut his wrist pretty bad on a toilet! He was replacing an old toilet with a new one and had to break up the old one to dispose of it. On its way into the can, the sharp edge sliced his wrist and he had to have 5 stitches put in. Ouch!

Snowy Day - Day 349

Well we got some snow today...I had thought it was just going to be REALLY cold and was surprised when the snow started coming down hard. Nicholas did his first ice driving this morning on his way to work at 7am. I rode with him and drove back home just 'cuz I am a worrier. He did just fine, of course. It was when I was picking him up that it started with the heavy, sticking snow. He decided to let me drive home. Matthew took this on his outing today.

Helping with Christmas - Day 348

At Mama and Papa's today, the boys were busy helping decorate. Matthew got the last lights (on the top) on the tree, I think both boys helped with the outside lights, then they got to do their favorite thing, decorate the rock wall by the fireplace. Many years ago, Papa got some little figurines to put in the crevices of the rocks and the boys love to help with that. They even saved some for their cousin Jack to put up.
We all helped decorate their tree. :)

Beauty & the Beast - Day 347

We rented the first CD in the series of Beauty in the Beast which first aired in 1987. I didn't watch it much when it was on TV but I thought the boys might like it. Matthew and I have read and enjoyed The City of Ember, which made me think of this series. So far, the first episode was pretty good.

Super Duck - Day 346

Matthew's school is having a spirit week and today was Super Hero Day. He based his "costume" on a little Christmas Duck that he has on a chain, searched the Internet for a picture of Super Duck and taped it to his shirt. His pajama pants have the Superman logo so they went perfectly(?) under his shorts. He said his friends liked his costume. It's great having a super hero in the family. :)

Curiosity - Day 345

Snickers NEEDED to find out what was in the bottom of the jar...look what happens!

New Ornament - Day 344

I was thinking that I didn't have anything to take a picture of today then I looked at my tree and realized I have tons of things to take pictures of! (Don't worry, I won't show you each and every ornament on the tree!) This is one I bought for our work ornament exchange a few years ago and misplaced. I found it this year up in a cupboard and decided it was pretty cute and since I've already got one for the exchange, it could make its home on our tree.

Matching? - Day 343

This photo is actually from last Thursday but I forgot I'd taken it and used something else for that day and I have nothing for today so...here it is!

The three of us were hanging out in the hall when our librarian noticed that we all were wearing the same colors and said, "Someone should take your picture!" So I ran into my classroom, grabbed my camera, then had her take it. Once the picture was taken I could see that we really didn't match all that well, (Susan and Diana go pretty well and I kind of clash) but at least we're in the same color family. Our staff tends to do this quite often, have many people wear the same colors on the same day...often more than three people at a time.

Gift Exchange - Day 342

We got together for our annual gift exchange at the Varsity Grill downtown. They have pretty good food and free meals for kids. My pop was free, too...can't beat that!

Great Clouds - Day 341 part 2

Yesterday the clouds over the mountain were so great, we had to pull over to take pictures. That was supposed to be my blog for yesterday but I was too excited about the winning that I had to post that. There was a pretty sunset yesterday, too, but we were behind too many trees to capture that.

In the Doghouse - Day 341

Here's a video you should have the man in your life watch (unless you really do want a vacuum cleaner...)

A Winner - Day 340

We got the news that Matthew won 1st, 3rd, and 4th place in photography in the Reflections contest at school. He entered 4 projects. Today I talked with the librarian who is going to gather some more information for us, but she said next his picture will go to district level (not sure what other part of the district he will be competing against since they're the only Jr. High and she thought that there were no entries from the High school.) She said the judges were people experienced in photography, some professionally. I have already shared the picture (bunnies crossing the road) but this is the collage he made with it that won 1st place. The topic of the contest was "Wow". We aren't sure which others got the 3rd and 4th place. I'm very excited for him!

Dog Tired - Day 339

Today was a "night conference" day/night. They always make me tired. I had almost two no-shows, one who sent a note (I appreciated that) and another who showed up 2 hours later than her appointment while I was walking in with my dinner that I picked up from KFC. She apologized for missing her appointment then asked if I would mind if we could have a conference right now...??? (After I told her she was parked in a handicapped spot..."Oh, I didn't notice," was her answer.) During the whole conference she was so interested in her fussing toddler that I don't think she heard a word about her daughter while my dinner got colder and colder. Then the mom who wouldn't come in all year or answer her phone FINALLY came in. We didn't really get anywhere with anything, but at least she showed up (only 20 minutes late while I was already in another conference.)I also had a couple delightful conferences, those that I could say very postive things and give easy suggestions to receptive parents. I love that kind of conference.

I'm so tired that this paragraph might be a bit disjointed and I don't have the energy to fix it. So enjoy Jasper's smiling dog tired picture. I'm smiling because I'm home. :)

New Christmas Tree - Day 338

Snickers couldn't wait for us to open up the Christmas tree box. He sat here and meowed over and over very LOUDLY. He's quite a character.



We're not sure if he just wanted in the box or...

...was really interested in getting the tree up and put together. I guess we'll never know! Now we just have to get it spread out and decorated.

Happy Birthday Dad! - Day 337

My dad turned 70 today!
We had a delicious birthday dinner at Sakura's and Mark, Kelly, and Jack came as a surprise. Jack was excited to have the chef cook at our table and especially liked the fire part.
The cutest part of the evening was when the waitress was asking my dad and brother whether they wanted their beer in a bottle or draft. Jack looked around and said, "There are giraffes here?" I guess draft and giraffe sound about the same to a 5 year old.

All Lit Up - Day 336

The boys worked very hard putting up lights this year. After Christmas last year we bought some icicle lights which meant that we had to refigure how to put them all up and where the extension cords would go...that made it harder than usual. I'm glad they did it because I would've just wanted to know where things go and do it, not mess around with it until it's right. They're young, they have more patience than I do. :)