Stress!

I am totally stressed out about school. I am down to the wire with two weeks left. This week I have two presentations to do, and next week is finals. Both of my presentations require power point, which I have never done. I'm finally getting the hang of it, and I'm glad I have Dan home to double check my work. This is also the time of year that I want to be working on my Christmas baskets. I like to have them done early, along with any shopping, because I refuse to hit the mall (or Costco or Walmart) the week before Christmas. The kid's last day of school is Dec. 19th, so I have to have all the teacher gifts done by then. Way too much to do, and way to little time to get it all done. I will be so happy when school is done for the quarter and I can work on all my Christmas stuff!

Black Friday

Black Friday was very disappointing. I was up at 4am for make it to the mall at 5am. The usual gang was there, fully caffeinated (thanks again Ruthi!) and off we all went in search of bargains. The difference this year was there weren't any good freebie's at the doors. In years past we have gotten gift cards, or good coupons, and we didn't find any of those this year. I found great deals at Old Navy, and was there early enough to get everything I wanted, wooo hooo! I shopped with my sister, but we never did buy much. When the whole family meet for Cinnabon, we all smiled at the TV cameras in the food court. If you see a bunch of women stuffing their faces with cinnamon rolls in the background of the news cast tonight, that would be us. I am holding out that the retailers will do more discounts closer to Christmas, because I am not done with my list yet. The funniest part of the day was when we were standing in line at Old Navy and my Aunt Joni and her daughters were in the line next to us. For awhile, we were ahead of them, and then at the last minute, their line speed up, and they beat us out the door (with hooping and hollering that they won of course).

When I got home, we took out all the Christmas decorations, and Dan put up the tree. The kids were thrilled. I'm almost done with the Christmas cards, the first batch will go in the mail tomorrow. I might go wrap a few presents so that there is something under the tree. We have another Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, which seems funny now that we are ready for Christmas. Oh well, turkey is a universal holiday meal!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! I love Thanksgiving, the food, family, and of course our Thanksgiving game. I think it's important for people to stop and realize everything that they should be thankful for. I am blessed with a wonderful family, beautiful, loving children, a caring spouse, the best supportive friends a mom could ask for, and everything else that God has given me.

Right now my second batch of rolls are in the oven, and we are headed to Aunt Ruthi's for turkey time! After a wonderful meal, and then our game, we put on our real game faces and tackle the sale fliers in the newspaper. This is part of our Thanksgiving tradition. We go through the fliers, and decide on a game plan for tomorrow morning. We pick which store has the best door buster, one that is worth our time standing in the cold. I grew up thinking that the people who did the door busters were crazy, and deserved to freeze their butts off on Black Friday. Then I had kids. Wow how that changes your perspective! When Lily was a toddler, I saw a little kitchenette in a Black Friday add. It was going to save me $20 to get out of bed at 4am and go to Freddy's. At the time, it was well worth the $20. That's when I realized I had become one of the crazy ones! Now I join the family in our quest for bargains. We all stand in the cold together, Aunt Ruthi picks up mocha's (that deserves sainthood right there!) and we chat and visit with everyone around us. Once the doors open, we are all on our own, going different ways to find our treasures. Then we all meet again at the food court in the mall to have Cinnabons and show off our goodies.
I've already gotten a phone call this morning asking about my plan of attack. I had to say that I won't know until the family attacks the paper. Here's a few more helpful hints to the crazy people like me who's wish for bargains overrules the need for sleep. Don't go alone! Last year I stood in line at Target for over an hour by myself, not fun! Go with a list. My sis is law Tiffani makes a notebook with the adds so that she knows exactly what she is looking for. Also in the notebook is her Christmas list, so that if she sees any other great deals, she can look to the list to see who else she needs to shop for. Get caffeine (and tip the baristas who are up early enough to sell you that hot, magical mocha at 4 am.).
Wish me luck, and I hope everyone has a safe Thanksgiving weekend!

Lily's bottom

This story is just too funny not to share. The other day while I was on the computer, Lily came running in saying, "Mommy come see this it's really funny!". So I go into the living room to see Lily's naked bottom on the TV screen. Nate had taken a picture of Lily mooning him, then hooked the camera to the TV so that they could see it enlarged. They both thought they were hilarious. I told Nate to delete the picture, and told him not to take naked pictures of his sister. Nate says, "It was Lily's idea!". That scares me! So then I had to have a long conversation with Lily about not letting people take naked pictures of her. She says, "I wasn't naked, it was just my bottom!". I tried another long conversation, but don't know if she understood. I am starting to rethink the idea of getting Nate his own camera for Christmas!

Thankfulness Day 8

Today I am thankful for our health. My family is blessed with good health and I pray that it will continue. Besides a nasty allergy season, we haven't gotten sick yet (knock on wood). Of course the holidays are here and that means someone will get sick, but I am thankful that an occasional cold is all we get. My prayer this holiday season will be for good health (so that I am not sick when Tiffani has the baby) and that we avoid another infestation of lice like last Christmas. We do not want to do that battle again!
For everyone traveling today and tomorrow, please be safe, and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Thankfulness Day 7

Today I am thankful for my parents. Although they are divorced now, they were great parents that taught us many valuable lessons. I loved growing up on the farm. We always had fun things to do, or adventures to go on. We learned early on that you don't tell Dad that you are bored, or he would find a chore for you to do. We all had many chores, and learned responsibility at a young age. I am grateful for those lessons, and that they taught me that hard work won't kill you. Today in my Ed class we were talking about gender stereotypes. I am glad that my Dad taught us girls to drive tractor, and a stick shift. I am thankful that my Mom was always involved with whatever us kids were doing. She was the cool Mom on field trips, and hosted the best birthday parties. I am the woman, Mother and wife I am today because of the wonderful parents who raised me. Thank you Mom and Dad, I love you!

Thankfulness Day 6

I am Thankful for my crazy family! My extended family is huge, but I love them all. On my Dad's side we have the huge Stauffer clan. Up until this year, we had Stauffer Sunday the second Sunday of the month. This was a gathering of the whole clan at a family members house, included a big lunch and celebrating the month's birthday's and anniversarys. This year the group has grown too much to make it work every month. I am still hoping for a scaled down comeback next year (which may include me hosting if I have to!). My Mom's side is the Dennison clan. We may be a bit smaller group, but the craziness is right up there with the Stauffers. We have many silly traditions, including the Thanksgiving Game. The Thanksgiving Game started when my Mom and her sisters were young, and their Aunt Laurel would have them over for Thanksgiving. Aunt Laurel didn't have kids, and needed something to entertain 4 little girls. She wrapped up little goodies, and gave the girls dice. The rules are that if you roll a double with your pair of dice, you get to open a gift. When all the gifts are opened, then we go around the room showing everyone what you opened. Then the game starts again, and this time, if you get a double, you get to steal a gift from someone else. A timer is set in a different room (so you can't tell how much time is left) and the game gets a fast pace. When the timer goes off, the game is done, and you are left with what's in front of you. That's when the trading begins. Grandma and Grandpa are the easy targets. If you really want something, they will give it to you. If you want something from the one of the cousins, you need to trade them for something they want. Grandma always wraps up little boxes of loose change to put in the game, along with lotto scratch tickets. The rules on those are you can't open unitl the game is over. So, you could be fighting for lotto tickets that are worthless, or get a money box filled with pennies, you just don't know. We all keep our eyes open all year for little things to put in the game. The guys always say that we have to many girl things in the game, so this summer we picked up a couple things at Cabela's.
I am truly thankful that I have all my Grandparents alive and well. I appricate that the families have kept up the traditions through the years. I am thankful that my aunts will host big family gatherings, and feed us yummy food! And although it's a silly game, I love our Thanksgiving tradition!

Student, Not Stupid

The other morning I was in the bathroom getting ready for the day and Nate comes running in with Lily on his heels. Here's the conversation.

Nate: Mom, Lily called me stupid.
Me: Lily, we do not call people stupid.
Lily: I didn't say stupid, I called him student. My teacher calls us students, and I called Nate a STUDENT (very loud and drawn out).

She likes to repeat everything from school. It must be a girl thing to have to recount every detail of the day. Nate on the other hand, I have to pull teeth to get info out of him about his day. The ironic thing is Nate can't be quiet at school. We had teacher confrences this week, and Nate is above grade level in all his classroom subjects. His only problem is that he talks too much in class (I blame my Dad for that one too!). Lily is doing great academically too, but needs to work on slowing down and doing the work correctly the first time. She is starting to read, and it amazes me how fast she is learning. I am proud of the youngest students in the house!

Thankfulness Day 5

Today I am thankful for my church. I love CTK, and have been there since 1994,(less the two years we lived in Oregon). I appriciate the volenteers that teach my kids each Sunday, and I feel that they are in safe hands. I am grateful for Pastor Grant, and am glad that he has been a part of the Stauffer clan for years. I have met many good friends through church (luv ya Tracie) and am thankful that CTK provided a Mom's group for me to attend all these years. We are blessed to live in a nation that allows freedom of religion, and I am thankful that I can worship almighty God every week.

Thankfulness Day 4

Today I am very thankful for my hubby of 10 years. He has made many sacrifices for our family, missed many holidays, but is dedicated to provide for us. Dan is a tankerman on oil barges and is gone for 40 days at a time, then home for 40 days. Right now he is doing schooling for his captains/mate's license, and has been gone for most of this month. I can't wait to see him next week! This has been a hard time with him gone for schooling, but it will get him up the ladder in his career. I am thankful that Dan works so hard so that I have been able to stay home with the kids for the last 8 years. He is a great father, and a fun uncle. He loves to go camping..... although he's staying in the trailer right now and is getting tired of it! I am thankful for the hubby I have, and the hard worker he is.

Thanfulness Day 3

I am thankful that my children are getting a quality education. I know that many parents are frustrated with the public education system, and I know that there are changes that need to be made, but I am happy with the level of learning my children are getting from their school. Both kids have teachers who are caring and dedicated to their students. I am thankful that my kids are eager learners, and that school has come easy to them. I am proud that my kids brought home great report cards, and I tell them how proud I am of their accomplishments. I am thankful that our country provides a free education to all children. Thank the teachers you know, they work extremely hard and play and important part in our children's lives.

Smelly Squid

I started blogging on Thankfulness and forgot about telling everyone about my lab on Wednesday. In Biology, we are studding marine invertebrates. In the lab we looked at jellyfish, slides of sponges, and dissected a squid. I was a bit leery of this, but once I saw what we were doing I was fine. It really wasn't gross, just stinky and slimy. Do you know how to tell the difference between male and female squid? The male has one tentacle without suction cups, which is used to fertilize a female. Now you know. Oh, and then yesterday in class, we were told that the barnacle has the largest penis to body ratio of any animal. I don't think that would ever be a Jeopardy question. Wow, I never thought that Biology would end up like this. Next week, we are going on a field trip to the beach, at night, in the dark. Details will follow.

Thankfulness day two

I am truly thankful for my siblings. We are all close, and like to do things together. Today I am especially thankful for my sister. Amy picked up the kids from school today because they had early release, and watched them until I got out of class. Amy is always been willing and able to help, and she knows that I will repay the favor when she has kids,(which Nate says he will be OLD by then!). We joke that Amy is the family paparazzi, but we love her for it. We have tons of pictures to document this crazy family and all the things we do. I am thankful that my sister has also been a good friend to me. We love to hang out and talk, and were maid of honor at each others weddings.
I am also thankful for my brothers. I would not have said this as a child because they were a pain in my behind. But that's what little brothers do, and now they have moved on to torture my children. They are also very supportive and help me out when needed. Marty will mow my lawn in return for dinner and Rob will stay overnight on Thanksgiving so that I can shop in the early hours of Black Friday.
I love you all and thank God for his choice of siblings for me!

Holiday Food

Erin put out a challenge to post our holiday food dishes. This may not be exciting like pumpkin pie, but this is what my extended family asks for on Thanksgiving and Easter. My Grandpa loves my breads and rolls, so much that I made a little coupon book for him and Grandma last Christmas. The coupons were for the bread of the month club. At the beginning of each month I made them a different batch of rolls or a loaf of bread. They have really enjoyed it this past year, and I may have to copy the idea again. (It's also a great way to make me go visit them once a month). I tend to make at least two batches of rolls on Thanksgiving because I have a big family that loves them. Here's my Herbed Dinner Rolls that are a hit year round.

Herbed Dinner Rolls

1 cup warm water
2 tbsp butter, softened
1 egg
3 1/4 cup better for bread flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp granulated garlic
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

Put ingredients in bread machine, in order listed. Select dough setting. When complete, turn dough onto floured surface. Divide into 24 balls, place them on greased baking sheet. Brush with melted butter. Cover, let rise 30 minutes. Bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes.

Thankfulness

With Thanksgiving only a week and a day away, I thought I would start a little game called Thankfulness. From today until Thanksgiving, I will blog about something that I am thankful for. I won't tag anyone (some people get mad at you for that!) but I will encourage any other bloggers who want to play.

Today I am thankful for my ugly house. As you can tell from the previous post, my house was built in 1971, and the wallpaper and dark paneling on the walls proves it to anyone who enters. When we bought the house over 5 years ago, all I looked at was square footage and lot size. The house is over 2000 square feet, and the lot is 1/3 acre. All the other houses we looked at were newer and prettier, but I looked at size and layout. I don't know how I could have survived without the toy room. And our layout is great for entertaining, which I do with large groups. You will not find fancy things like china dishes or nice couches at my house, but you will find a place where children are welcome to play, and adults can relax with some coffee. I am thankful that my kids can be kids, and I'm not freaking out about the black paint on the carpet. Of course I dream of a beautiful house with beautiful things, but I know that stage of life will come when my kids are grown. Until then, I am thankful for what God has provided me with.

Tiff, Seriously!!!

My sister in law Tiffani is not my friend anymore. She tagged me with the job of dropping everything, and taking a picture of where I blog, and my living room. Seriously?!?! Those are the two messiest places in the house. And....it's Tuesday, my worst day of the week. So I am a good girl, and do as I'm told, so here is my office, a complete disaster area, enter at your own risk. Right now there are only two computers, when Dan is home, we have three lined up in a row. My back desk is covered with crafts, homework, pictures, and my piles of projects (including Christmas cards). The shag carpet is orange, and it reminds me of Alf. We once watched Mom's orange cat, Albert, while she was away, and Albert thought he was camouflaged in the office. He would sit in there looking out like,"You can't see me!".



Next is the living room, which actually is what we call the toy room. The carpet has a big black paint stain on it from when we painted Nate's room, and he dropped the paint can on the carpet. The carpet is also not tacked down, just sitting on cement. This room was once the garage, so it is weird. This is the room I want to tackle next, finish the pergo all the way across, and the ugly paneling is coming down.
Thanks again Tiff, you were once my favorite sister in law!

I tag.....

Erin at Live, Laugh, Love
Tracie at Little Bearfoot Farms
Renae at A Walk in My Shoes

Nate the Great

I have a bunch of blogs about girls and Lily, only because it's been an exciting time for Lily with her starting Kindergarten and the new things she is doing. So, I will tell you about my Nate the Great. Nate the Great is 8 right now (it's fun to say) and I am convinced more than ever that he will be an architect or engineer. Since he was two, he has loved to build things. At that time it was train tracks. He would amaze me with the different combinations of tracks he would build. Then came Lego's. He is always building new "creations" as he calls them. He has Lego's all over the house, and changes his creations daily. This past summer when we were camping on the Columbia River, he and his cousin John were determined to build steps in the sand wall. We left before they could get far, but they have big plans for next year's project. Nate is really fast at math, and loves science experiments. I hope that he keeps his creativity and yearning for knowledge as he continues with school. That way he can get big time scholarships, get a good education, then support his parents! :)

Girliness

I laugh that a most of my friends are like me, we grew up as tomboys. Now days, I'm more girly, but I have never been a prissy girl. My girlfriends are all similar to me, and it cracks me up that God would give us all girly girls. My friend Tracie who is tomboy to the core, has the most girly pink princess you can think of. Tiffani has my niece Emma who loves dresses and purple. My Lily is getting more girly all the time, take ballet, she may not be graceful, but she tries. So now my friend Erin has a daughter, and is scared of the pink girliness to follow. She called me this morning to ask a question about tights. She had her daughter in a dress and tights and wanted to know if she should put the frilly bottoms on top of or underneath the tights. I just laughed. (Sorry Erin) I told her to put it over the tights, and good luck.
On a side note, my mom is so excited to have a little ballerina, that she is taking us to see the Nutcracker. Mom has been dreaming of this moment for years, I don't know who will enjoy the show more!

Blame My Dad

My Dad has always had funny sayings. As a child I always believed what he said, and later in life I had to laugh at how silly they really were. People look at me funny if I repeat them, but sometimes I can't help it. Dad always told us that the only day we were allowed to be grumpy was on our birthday. You know that you are never grumpy on your birthday. He also told us that if you stick your lip out, a bird will come along and poop on it. He has many others, that I'll get to someday, but the one that cracks me up the most was he told us girls that we couldn't touch the boy's privates, because we already broke ours off. I guess it was a problem when we all bathed together, and he needed a practical reason for us to keep our hands to ourselves. So when my kids used to take baths together, I told them the same thing. They just looked at me funny, and it never sunk in. Then one day Lily was taking a bath....well, here's our conversation.

Lily: I want a private like Nate's.
Me: You can't have one because you are a girl.
Lily: But I want one like Nate!
Me: Lily, boys have boy parts and girls have girl parts, and God made you a girl.
Lily: But I want a private like Nate's.
Me: (Sigh) Well, you can't have one because you already broke yours off. (thanks Dad)
Lily: Well, then I want a new one!
Me:(Laughing till I fell off the toilet) Let me call Grandpa and ask him about that.

I called my Dad and he laughed. Then he said that I got out smarted by my daughter, because I had never questioned him. Great, thanks Dad, you are no help!

I Am Fabulous

I was tagged by Melissa at Full Circle and Kadi at Womb at the Innsane. You must copy the button,(go to Kadi's blog for link) then blog about why you are fabulous. So here are my reasons, start thinking of yours and blog away!



I am Fabulous because:

I am a single mom for more than half the year.

I am a student keeping up good grades in my classes.

I am a loving big sister that helps her siblings.

I am a creative and loving mom.

I am giving of my time and talents (sometimes too much!).

Christmas Letter

I sat down last week and wrote our annual Christmas letter. Yes, it's still early, but I like to have my done early. Also, it takes forever because there are soooo many cards to put together. Family alone is enough to keep me busy for an afternoon. I keep past letters in a Christmas file on my computer, and I always go back to make sure I don't write the same thing. I had to laugh that I tend to write the same things, and maybe I need to rewrite my letter. Or, maybe I need a life that's more exciting so I have more fun things to write about. Ok, so I'm making an early New Years resolution......do more fun stuff next year so that I have more to write about in the the Christmas letter!

Helpful Tools

Just thought I would pass on some helpful hints to Moms who travel with kids. First off, I always have extra school supplies on hand (stocked up in Aug. during back to school sales!). So before every road trip, I take out a spiral notebook and put the kids names on the front with letter stickers. Then I pull out a new box of crayons or pens and a few sheets of stickers. When we hit the road, I pull these out and let the kids color on the road. While in Seaside, Nate was using his for hangman, and Lily didn't want to be left out, so she would write down the letters we were guessing. It's a simple thing to do, very cheap, and worth it's weight in gold when it comes to keeping kids busy.

Home Again

Seaside was a fun trip, but the drive both ways was not fun. I have never been a fan of traveling alone (without another adult). The kids did ok, they had their movies to watch, and I should give them more credit for sitting in the van for 6 hours with only two quick potty stops. I get stressed out easily when traveling by myself, and it even took me a few hours after getting home to finally settle down. My wonderful sister in law Tiffani shampooed my carpets while we were gone, so I came home to clean carpets, and couches needing to be moved. We couldn't find the TV remote, and I thought that Tiffani was playing a trick on me and hid it. Well, she did, but it wasn't on purpose. It got buried under some toys when the couches got moved. Imagine the meltdown if I couldn't find the remote, oh the agony! So, I'm glad to be home, I like being a homebody. I don't like getting back to school and homework, but that's life right now, and I'll start planning another vacation (where I don't have to drive!).

Sunshine at Seaside

I woke up this morning to sun. This may not be a big deal to most people, but I can't remember ever going to the WA/OR coast and getting a sunny day. As a child we came down to Astoria for spring break, and it was always gray and raining. Being November, I never expected to see the sun. I was so excited that I convinced my family to take a long walk along the beach. The kids played in the sand, and collected partial sand dollars. Nate was turning them into math lessons, if he found half a sand dollar, it was 50 cents, and so on. After that Dan took the kids to the aquarium while I went back to the condo to study. It hasn't been the most relaxing weekend getaway, but it's been nice to spend time with Dan. We have a high wind watch tonight, and a long drive home tomorrow, but the small piece of sun today brightened my weekend.

Bring it on

We had a fun night camping in the trailer last night. I always have games packed, and think it's important for the kids to learn old fashioned games that don't require the computer. (We had those too, but all had to take turns!). Dan and Nate were playing connect four, then Nate and I, then Dan and Lily. He kept beating her in attempts to teach her how to play better, yah right. Dan told her he was going to beat her again and she said, "Oh ya, bring it on Daddy!". I laughed so hard, how does a five year old learn these things?
Right now we are in Seaside Oregon all cozy in our condo. The kids are finishing dinner and Dan and Nate are playing hangman. It's fun to hear them play. We visited the Maritime Museum in Astoria today, and I wish the kids were a little older to appreciate it. Dan loved it, and tried to explain a few things that were relevant to his work. There were hands on exhibits where you get to steer a boat, or practice your knots. We will have to go back someday when the kids are older and can appreciate the history of our area.

Awards

Lily received an award at school yesterday, and could not wait to show her Daddy. She carried it around all night, and most of the day today as we traveled 6 hours to see Dan. She proudly showed him her award, and then he showed her his certificate from his class he completed this week. It makes me laugh that all four of us are in school right now. We all have homework, and we all have classes to attend. I don't know if the kids will remember this season of life, but I hope they remember that Mom and Dad value education, and made an effort to better themselves for the sake of the family. Maybe I need to start framing these awards so we don't forget.

Great Deals!

I am a bargain shopper. I am always on the lookout for good deals. I can't go to Target without finding the clearance stuff. Yesterday between classes, I had to run to Target to get a broiler pan for the trailer (Dan is staying in the trailer right now while he is doing schooling in Oregon). I found some great clothes for Nate on a clearance rack, and a 75% off isle of Halloween stuff. Not that I need more candy in the house, but for $1.14, I'm not passing up chocolate! Then I went to Bath and Body Works, because I had two coupons, one for a free trial sized lotion, and another for 20% off my purchase. The in store promo was spend $30 and get a $10 off coupon. So I got 6 hand soaps, 2 body washes, a free trial sized lotion, and it came to $30. I now have a $10 coupon, that I will save for Black Friday, and get super great deals! This may sound silly, but it's exciting to me, like a challenge to see what kind of deals I can get.

Oh, and Congrats on My Mother's Birthday!!! Happy Birthday Mom, love you!

Tagged

I was tagged by my friend Amy. The game is you have to post and write about the fourth picture in your fourth folder of your My Pictures. Here is Lily this past Easter. My true Easter Lily. She is named after her Great Grandma Lillian Snow. Great Grandma Lillian was born on Easter, and her mother named her Lily Mae, but it got changed to Lillian Mae for some reason; I'm afraid to ask her again because the story could take all day. Both my mom and mother in law have the middle name of Ann (mine is Anna), so we have a Lily Ann. If you ask Lily she will say her name is Wilwee, L-I-L-Y, Wilwee. FYI- The flower is spelled LILY. So for all you bloggers, tag you are it!

Grandma's Day with Lily

"This is Grandma Lori writing, since I want to share my grandaughter Lily's new found talent. We have 12.5 grandchildren currently and we love them all. It's just happened to work out that Lily comes to my place on Tuesdays while Holly is at college, and we share all kinds weekly routine fun. Some of those activities include watching Cailou(on PBS for those without preschoolers), having tea parties, drawing with the new highlighters, getting ready for ballet lessons, and putting pretties in our hair to match the ballet attire. So now..... her new fascination is the digital camera. Everything she does, she wants to document on the camera. Do I hear a resemblence of her Aunt Amy here? Of course, she has a long way to go. I deleted 31 photos yesterday. She captured Poppa Wayne making goofy faces, she took 12 pictures of her ballet slippers, there was 10 of the TV screen, and others of her face (close-up). There is no harm in letting her "practice" because it only means a recharge of the batteries. Maybe one day she will be a pro and we will all have been a part of her start to a prestigious career. Or... I can blackmail her with some of the uglies and hold them for big bucks when she has a boyfriend. Either way, I feel blessed to have the time with her each week and enjoy the cutie she is!" Love, Mom

Fabulous Fall

We have had a beautiful fall here in the Pacific Northwest. I can't remember such a dry and pretty season, with bright fall foliage. Normally we get so much rain that by this time of year everything is brown and gray. One bright spot of my school days has been the drive along Cordata on the back side of the college. The whole road is lined with bright colored leaves in yellow, red and orange. And today on the way home I was treated to the most breath taking view of Mt. Baker with a fresh dusting of snow on the foothills. What a blessing to live in such a glorious place where we can view God's creations every day.

Grandma's Cereal

Last week my hubby was visiting my grandparents with our daughter Lily. When walking through the garage, Lily saw a box of cereal that she likes. She told my grandma this, and of course Grandma gave her the box of cereal to take home. When they got home, we opened the box to find that it had been previously opened, and the bag inside was half gone. Knowing how my grandma doesn't throw anything away, and on many times we have found things way past their expiration date, I looked at the date on the box. Best before Oct. 2004! Not only is it 4 years past it's expiration date, we have no idea how long the bag had been open. Of course I threw the cereal away, but I did get a good laugh. Mom and the aunts, this is just another chapter in the book!

Misson Acomplished

Our photo shoot last week got the desired result, a family picture that didn't have to be photo shopped. My picture on the right of the blog will be the winning picture in the Christmas cards this year. This picture was one of the fun ones. The kids love throwing the leaves up in the air. Thanks again Sis for letting us abuse your talents!

Happy Halloween

I hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween. My kids were so excited for Halloween, in fact we ordered their costumes in August! For the first time they wanted to coordinate and I was so thrilled I quickly got online, ordered the costumes, and told them they couldn't change their minds. So for the people without kids, Nate is a red power ranger and Lily is a pink power ranger. They had a blast at school with parties in their classrooms, and a parade around school.

Our traditional trick or treating is different than most people. We travel around the county to visit family, and only get to 6-7 houses the whole night. Reason for that is every house we have to get out, go to the door, say trick or treat, get candy, go inside, explain your costume, take pictures...yada yada yada. This is how we did it when I was a kid, and it wasn't until I was middle school age that I figured out that we were getting ripped off in the candy department. For example, my husband grew up in a development, and the neighborhood kids would run around and get bags of candy. I'm holding out hope that the kids won't know what they are missing for a few more years, as long as Daddy keeps his mouth shut!