Phew!!

That phew is because I finally have a weekend where I don't really have anything I need to do. All the January birthday hoopla finally came to and end last weekend. Both Justin and Hannah celebrated birthdays this month, and while I love them more than words and love celebrating another year of their lives, I really do NOT like having to do 3 weekends in a row of birthday parties right after all the Christmas and New Year hubbub. I know, I shouldn't complain, but I am glad that it is all over. The kids did have great birthdays, though.

Justin turned 8 and with skateboarding being one of his new obsessions, we did a party at a new indoor skatepark. It was pretty cool, and I was amazed at how much Justin could actually do. There were a couple friends that weren't really into skateboarding, but even they had a great time after they got going. We were lucky enough to have the entire park all to ourselves for about the last hour, and one of the workers would come out and do all his fancy tricks and amaze the boys. Justin actually went back to the skatepark for MLK Day when they had a full day skate camp. He had a great time but woke up very sore the next day. He did get a lot of money for his birthday and daddy actually took him today to buy a new skateboard, so he should be set for awhile.

The next weekend was a family party for both Hannah and Justin's birthdays celebrating with pizza and cake and ice cream. Grandpa Robert and Grandma Pom also came down for a visit to help celebrate and spoiled the kids rotten as usual.

Then came Hannah's birthday. She had been plotting a sleepover for many months, and that plan did not change in her mind. I agreed as long as there weren't too many girls. She had four friends over, and it really was pretty easy. We got rid of the boys at Grandpa Mike's and Grandma Carol's and dad even had to work late, so it was all girls for most of the night. The girls made their own pizza pockets for dinner and then we went for them to all get pedicures, After getting pampered and their toes all pretty, complete with flower art, we headed home for cake and presents. Hannah has been really into monkeys lately, so we went with a monkey cake. This is the cake that I came up with, complete with a couple bananas out of extra cake. I was thinking the frosting would be a little darker brown, but this is the result. I do think he turned out pretty cute and Hannah was happy with it.

After presents, I pretty much just let the girls loose and they went off and entertained themselves for the rest of the night with games, movies, snacks and lots of talking and giggling. For our first major sleepover, it went very well. The next morning, we had pancakes and another of Hannah's favorites, BACON, and orange julius drinks for breakfast and then the girls headed home. I was relieved that it went so well and Hannah had a great 10th birthday.
Hannah here taking over mom's blog. He, he, he!! I loved my awesome party. I am totally obsessed with monkeys so the cake: pretty amazing! :) I feel like I'm ten now. DOUBLE DIGITS BABY, OH YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait til next year, just don't tell mom! I love ya mommy for giving me the best B-day ever (and dad and I guess I should meantion my two sometimes awesome brothers) I love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Celebrating Life

On this day when a nation is mourning another tragic shooting in which a 9 year old girl was killed who ironically, was born on September 11, 2001, it is hard to not think about life and death. My post today is actually about both these things, but I want to focus on the life and not the death part.

Today, a funeral was held for a wonderful woman, my grandmother-in-law, and I hope that everyone focused on celebrating and honoring her life rather than mourning her death. Dale's grandmother on his mom's side, Grandma Fern, passed away suddenly on Saturday. She was 96, so it can't be said that she didn't live a long, full life. The funeral was held today, and I am guessing that is was a packed house filled with the many people that loved this amazing woman. Despite being pretty much blind and I'm sure having other health ailments just due to age, Fern was very full of life, love and joy, and she leaves behind a legacy of all those things with her 8 children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She was an amazing example to all of us on how to live with a joyful heart. We do wish that we could've seen her more often and she will be greatly missed, but we know that she is now living in peace with Jesus by her side. We love you Grandma Fern.

Here is a photo of Grandma Fern holding Justin in Oct. 2003

I chose the photo of Grandma Fern above holding Justin because it leads me into my next celebration of life--one that is still young and has a big future. Our boy, Justin, had his 8th birthday yesterday. I know I say this every year, but I really can't believe how quickly the years are flying by. Like his great grandmother, Justin is also full of life, love and joy. He is such a sensitive boy, which is not always great when it comes to his feelings getting hurt, but he is definitely very compassionate and caring towards others, and I hope he never looses that. We love you Justin and look forward to seeing where your life takes you.

Justin on his 1st birthday

Justin at 8 in his new sk8er hat and hoodie

I also just had to post this photo on Christmas Eve missing his 2 front teeth
You know what the title of that scrapbook page is gonna be.

All of this is also a reminder to not take life and your loved ones for granted. A life can be long and full but still ended suddenly, and it can, unfortunately, just as easily be ended much too soon. Hug your loved ones and make sure they know you love them and live the life you have filled with love and joy.

Look What I Did

I'm definitely am not one for New Year's resolutions because I have got to be about the worst person to keep something going. Things just don't become a habit very easily for me, which I guess is good when you're talking about bad habits, but there are lots of good habits I'd like to develop, but my discipline is always severely lacking. Thusly, I don't even bother with resolutions, but I do like all the opportunity and potential that the new year brings. It does feel like a fresh, clean start, especially after getting all the Christmas stuff packed away and clearing away all the dust and clutter before getting all the usual decorations back up. I always feel like there is so much possibility whether I actually follow through on things or not.

While, I'm not going to call it a resolution, because that just sets me up for failure, I would like to once and for all work on all the little projects that I have around the house that just never seem to get done. I am constantly buying frames and things to put up on the walls but then never actually get them up. I have tons of frames actually displayed in the house that don't even have photos in them, except for the miscellaneous people that come with the frame (people probably think they're part of our family), which is so sad given the shear amount of photos that I take and how quickly I could actually print out a photo and just stick it in there. Anyway, all that said, there has been a project that I've wanted to do for a long time that once I decided to do it, it took me maybe 30 minutes from start to finish. We have a large wall in our upstairs hallway that I've wanted to hang up a rod to display some of my scrapbook pages. All this is is a very inexpensive cafe curtain rod from Target and the hanging clips that go with it. I just had Hannah help me choose some layouts and put them in page protectors and clipped them up. I would like to make a series of layouts that actually coordinate a little better but Hannah thinks all the colors make it look better. We'll see what happens. Now on to the next project. Bring on 2011!!!

Year End Letter

Well usually this is a Christmas letter, but this year, it will be a New Year's letter. I cannot believe that today is the last day of 2010. How is it that we are already 1 decade down in the 21st century? It definitely has been one of the biggest decades of my life with all 3 of our children being born in this decade. I'm sure that the next decade to come will only get busier as the kids get older.

I hope this letter finds everyone well after all the Christmas festivities. We had a great Christmas. Of course, the kids were beyond excited and loved all their new stuff. It's crazy that what takes weeks to prepare for is always over in a flash. After tomorrow, it will be time to once and for all, take down all the decorations and throw out all the lingering cookies that keep tempting us and put Christmas away for another year. It's kinda sad, but this is when we should really remember what this season really means to us.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

With all the commercialness of Christmas, it is easy enough to forget about the "reason for the season" when we should be focusing on it the most, but I think that after the holiday, we really tend to forget because we become so focused on the new year and what we need to do and how we want to better ourselves. It is my hope and desire that we can really hold the Christmas "spirit" in our hearts all year long. It might be a whole year before Santa returns, but Jesus is with us 24/7/365 (366 in Leap years).

So onto the typical letter about what has gone on in our lives over the past year. I looked at last year's letter and saw that I did a month by month synopsis of our year, but I'm not going to do that again. It did excruciatingly long, and I'm sure most of you couldn't have cared less. I think I'll go back to the typical highlights for each family member.

First off, Dale and I really didn't have many highlights outside of our kids. We really are not that exciting. Dale is still with Brown and Caldwell and even with the economy, still staying busy. Given the ongoing situation with the economy, we are extremely thankful that Dale's job remains strong. Dale still enjoys playing indoor soccer every week despite his often sore feet and ankles. We have discovered that we don't hold up quite as well as we used to. Dale will probably tell you that one of his highlights this year was following World Cup Soccer. With the magic of cable and the DVR, he was able to tape and watch it just about non-stop for the month of or that it went on. Sometimes he would get up in the wee hours of the morning to watch a live game if USA was playing. It was fun to follow them and see them do well.

I had a few highlights or changes in my life over 2010. In February, I made a big leap and purchased a scrapbooking company, Scrapdango. It is an online monthly scrapbook kit club with a forum and gallery that joins a lot of women who all love scrapbooking, an online store and the monthly kits that I plan, put together and ship every month. It has been fun but a lot of work. I am in a pretty good groove now, and I'm hoping that it gets stronger in 2011. My other big highlight was turning the big 4-0 in November. Not only are we all moving into another decade, but I am starting a new decade as well, and I have to say that it is a decade that I'm looking forward to. 40 really isn't as bad as it once seemed. I had a fabulous 80's Prom party put on by Dale, my sisters, mom and friend, Heather. They really did it up, and it was so much fun to relive the 80's. It was a fabulous night and I was so happy to spend it with so many of my family and friends.

Like me making it through another decade, Hannah is just about through her first decade of life. I cannot believe that this January, she will be 10!!!! How has my little girl grown up so quickly? She and Justin celebrated their birthdays together last year with a swimming party, which was great fun and it was a nice easy party for me, but this year they want to go back to their own parties. She spent the first half of the year in hip hop dance classes and performed in her 2nd hip hop showcase in June. She decided to take a break from that this fall and do Christian Youth Theater. She hopes to sometime audition for a show and be able to participate in one of those. She is now in 4th grade and doing great as usual in school. She had another rough start to the year emotionally but settled in fairly quickly. She actually was in a combined 4th/5th grade class, but then, unfortunately, there ended up being too many 4th graders and they had to open up a new 4th grade class with a brand new teacher and Hannah was moved. I thought that was going to be tough, but she easily made the transition. She is on the safety patrol and has actually been named as a captain for next year and she did choir for fall and really enjoyed that. She is still very into fashion and is constantly drawing fashion designs, which are really quite impressive. She says she wants to go to college for fashion, so we'll see if that holds up for the next 8 years. She is very excited to be 10. Dale's hair is getting greyer and greyer as she gets closer and closer to becoming a teenager.

Justin will be turning 8 in just about a week. He is currently in 2nd grade in a combined 2nd/3rd grade class and is doing fantastic. Last year, he was a little behind on his reading but graduated out of the special reading class before the end of the year. They put him in a booster program at the beginning of this year, but he quickly tested out of that and is now reading above his level. It seems to really have finally caught on and he is often found reading books. He also loves math and science and says that he wants to be an engineer like Daddy when he grows up. He played soccer this fall and was on a great team that went undefeated all season except for one tie. His coach is actually the coach of the local community college's men's team and Justin really learned a lot. He is going to be playing again this Spring. We've never done spring soccer and are really hoping that it isn't THAT wet. Is that possible around here in the Spring? He also has become even more obsessed with all things skateboarding. He loves to watch skate boarding videos online and has aspirations to be a pro skateboarder. For Christmas, he got a little ramp and he's going to have his birthday at an indoor skatepark. He's got a lot to learn, but he's determined to figure it all out. I'm not sure if I'm ready for all the injuries that could go along with it, but I guess that's what it's like as they get older.

Owen is 4-1/2 and constantly keeps us all in stitches. The photo to the right pretty much depicts his personality spot-on. He is the family clown. You can see a little bit of this in the video clips I posted from his Preschool Christmas program a couple posts down. He is in his 2nd year of preschool and I am constantly hearing from his teachers how much he has grown this year. Last year, he wouldn't really participate very much but has really come alive in school this year. He even goes all day one day of the week and has a great time. I can't believe that next year he could be going to Kindergarten all day, every day. We do still have to work on his alphabet more. He just finally got to where he can right his name correctly. For awhile, he had the O, E and N down but always made his W upside down as an M, so he wrote "OMEN." Not one of those things you think about when naming your child--if they could somehow misspell their name as something not that great. Besides running around outside and riding his scooter with brother, sister and all the neighborhood kids, he doesn't really have any set activities. We tried to get him to do soccer this fall, but he insisted he wasn't going to do that. He says he needs to practice first, so he can be good. I think that someday he would be good in theater classes like sister because he is highly dramatic, but we'll see what he ends up wanting to do.

As a family, we took a trip around Oregon this year. We went along the coast to Florence and Bandon, headed west to Crater Lake and then to one of our favorite locations, Sunriver. We also took a trip over Spring Break to another favorite location, Cannon Beach, Oregon. After the flood of last year, that cancelled our annual snow trip to our friends' cabin in Snoqualmie, we were able to get back to that this February and are looking forward to it again in a little over a month. Dale and I also were able to getaway in November to San Diego with our friends, the Goves that just moved back down there. It has definitely been a good year with lots of great memories.

We hope that you all have many wonderful memories from 2010 as well and that 2011 is filled with many more of them. Many blessings to all our family and friends as we head into this new year and new decade.

I usually do a year end photo slide show, but I will be adding that later so come back and check it out.

Twas the Night Before Christmas...

and all through the house, not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse.

Wellllll, actually there is a mouse stirring in the house right now. I've seen it run across the living room a couple times. We have had this issue for awhile now and last year caught quite a few with glue traps, but they've caught onto us or something because they don't seem to work as well anymore. Think we need to figure out something else.

So, technically it is Christmas Eve, but really only 2:00 AM on the 24th, so there is still a full night to go before Christmas, and right now, I gotta go to bed because I know that the actual Christmas Eve is going to be a long night since I have yet to wrap a single present for the kids. Agghhhh! Now if I could only train these mice to help me wrap if they're going to be running around my living room at night.

At some point, I will be writing our end of the year Christmas letter and posting it here, so check back soon. In the meantime, I wish you all a very blessed Christmas.

Owen's Funny Antics at his Christmas Program

I thought everyone might enjoy watching some clips from Owen's Christmas Program at school. He was so sweet on his solo but then such a card during the rest of it.

Merry Christmas!!!

Owen's solo

Owen's Santa Hat Antics

Owen Playing with a Loose String

A Cute Reindeer Song

It's the Most Wonder-Full Time of the Year

I had hopes to blog every day in December but obviously that didn't happen given that it is now Dec. 18th and my first blog post of the month. Realistically, though, even though it's been a busy month, I really wouldn't have had anything to say everyday, but now that it's the 18th, there is a lot to catch up on.

At the beginning of December, we had to of course go out and hunt and kill our tree. We went to our usual tree farm. Thankfully after days of torrential rain, we managed to pick one of the only dry (and actually very sunny and warm) days to get it. Hannah was a little out of sorts because getting our tree was usually an activity that we shared with our friends the Goves that now live in CA. There are definitely a lot of things this month that will make us think of and miss them. We did find a great tree and got him home and discovered that it was a little larger than it seemed on the farm. We had to do a little trimming off the top to get it to fit and to get the star on top. We actually were able to put ALL the ornaments on it. Usually we have to pick and choose because we have a LOT of ornaments.

Decorating the tree is one of the kids greatest Christmas pleasures. Although, I'm sure one day I'll regret it when some prized ornament is broken beyond repair, I pretty much let them just have at the ornament box and start hanging them. I love the joy when they unwrap an ornament and have some memory about it. I do have to do a little rearranging of the ornaments when it's over because they seem to all be hung a little low and in one section.

After getting the tree done, it was time to tackle the whole house, which always takes me awhile to get motivated to do, but the house definitely is filled with the Christmas spirit.







I actually am having a fairly stress free Christmas season. I got all of my shopping done fairly early--just need to get one gift card, and I'll be completely done. Hannah has been my little helper elf and wrapped every gift that she is allowed to see. I still need to wrap all the kids' gifts, which I tend to procrastinate until the last minute for. Today we had a baking day and got lots of cookies made with grandma, and aunts and cousins here. I still have a little baking I want to do, but that will be a project for this week with the kids.

Here are all the cousins (except for baby Quinten) with their decorated gingerbread men.

One holiday event that we have been to many times is the Joyful Learning Preschool Christmas program. Owen participated in this for his 2nd time and this year, participated much more. Last year, I don't even think he would go up on stage. He even came out and had a solo part and was so cute. He then entertained us with his many antics while on stage. He pulled his Santa hat down over his head and kept playing with it, he pulled his choir gown up and "arranged" things, he got preoccuped with pulling a loose string from his gown and trying to bite it in his mouth. Of course, he had all kinds of funny faces. He is quite the character, but with all this messing around, he did manage to sing all the songs and do most of the motions that go with them. At the end of the program, Santa Claus himself made a visit. Usually our kids have reacted with terror at this, but Owen seemed unphased this year and I even managed to get a picture of him on Santa's lap. He whispered in his ear that he wanted Legos and then gave him a high five. Our little boy has definitely come a long way in a year. It's amazing to me that this will most likely be the last Joyful Learning Christmas program we attend for one of our children. We have been to so many over the year.

Well that is about all I have to post on for now. I cannot believe that one week from now, Dale and I will probably be sitting and recovering from the craziness of Christmas day and then another week from that, we will be ringing in the new year and another decade will be done.

Wishing you all a Merry Little Christmas!!!