Sunday, December 28, 2008

Random Quote ...

I haven't found much time to post lately, but I saw this quote today and just had to share it with you, especially my dog-loving friends and family members. I love my animals and especially my chocolate lab Tucker. So when I saw this quote I thought of him.

He is your friend, your partner, Your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, To the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

A note from Aunt Patti reminded me that I haven't updated my blog in FOREVER. Life just seems to have done what it always does and has occupied my time. I haven't even had time to scrap lately... which is totally sad.

Well, on the good news front Brian is back to work after his broken hand. He went back last week and I'm so glad that he's well again. We're starting to settle down into a routine again now that he's back, although I truly miss all the housework he did while he was off.

The kids lives are what keep me most busy these days. Chase has swimming 3 days a week right now, trying to get him to a point where he can pass the BSA swim test and advance to his next rank. It's been a challenge but he's working very hard at it. He also has Boy Scouts once a week, where I serve as the advancement coordinator. Starting in the new year I'll be driving him to Portland for drama classes too.

Tristan is the one with the busiest social schedule right now. I had this great idea to get the kids all into swim lessons this month before all the basketball craziness started .... yet the basketball craziness started sooner than I anticipated. So the boy is busy. Two days a week he has swimming. Two other days a week he has Taekwondo and gets to rush home for dinner before heading to basketball. Then on Saturdays he's got TKD competition team training and, starting in January, basketball games. I know it's a lot, but he's really doing well with it all. He just wouldn't give up TKD but wanted to try basketball before it got really competative so he's doubling up with both this season. His schedule will get much easier after swimming is complete this week.

Carissa has swimming twice a week too and hers will also be over at the end of the week. She started a new dance class this month and will be starting 4-H Adventurers soon too. Her activities are only once a week so she has plenty of time to hang out with her friends and make big messes around the house. LOL

Now, the other sidenote to this is that the boys both want to join 4-H dogs. I really love the idea of 4-H and spent nearly my entire teenage years doing 4-H horses. I think the boys would learn a lot from doing 4-H and our dogs certainly could use a little more in the way of manners. Win-win, right? But with these schedules I'm just not sure it's possible. I guess we'll wait and see.

Well, it's time for a little catch-up. Let's see, what have I missed??? The big thing was Thanksgiving. Jimmy & Virginia came down from their new home in Washington for a few days. It's my first time seeing them since they came back to the states and I was excited to see Randal. Last I saw him he was 4 months old and now he's a rambunctious 1 1/2 year old. We had a good but busy Thanksgiving at my Grandma's house, where she served up lots of yummy goodies to a group of 14. Of course she made my favorite ... marionberry pie! YUMMMMM!!! The day after Thanksgiving was, as always, an early one for me. Did my black friday shopping, Brian did his. We were both successful in getting what we wanted. Mom came over that morning and shopped with me, joining me in line at 5am after her 1 hour drive to my place. It was fun shopping with her. Jimmy, Virginia and Randal (oh, and can't forget Stanley the dog too) came over later that day for some family time and a mini-celebration for my Mom's 60th birthday. Mom had fun pushing Randal around and Virginia, Jimmy and I rocked the Rockband for a while. It was fun. We were sorry to tell them goodbye but we're looking forward to going to see them up at their place on Jan. 1.
Oh yes, the annual Christmas tree adventure. We went hunting for our own tree and decided to go for a noble fir this year. We've never had one and always wanted one, but the tree farm we usually go to only has dinky ones so we always end up with a Douglad fir instead. Well not this year. We went on a mission to find a nice noble and we did. We found one so nice that it was too big for our house! Not to worry, we trimmed a bit here and there and it looks wonderful. The great thing about this year was that Brian is working on passing the tree-cutting torch on to the boys. Chase got down there and did a bit of sawing on the tree this year. Next year I expect he'll do a bit more and before long he'll be doing it all on his own. The kids all helped Brian haul the tree out. I, as always, am exempt from the cutting, hauling and other dirty work so I can take pictures. Sometimes I love my job! LOL


Now, as to our current life, here it is ...


coated in white and pretty as can be. But boy, is it icy. I'm not really keen to drive in this and thankfully the schools are closed (which means my preschool is closed too ... YEAH!). The kids are REALLY EXCITED about getting out in the weather and having fun. Poor Carissa hasn't had a lot of time to do it as she is getting over a horribly bad cold and I just can't see her getting all chilled and wet when she's recovering. So she only got to go our for about an hour today. She took full advantage of her chance to try to catch falling snowflakes. She wasn't so successful ... LOL.The boys spent several hours out there playing and enjoying the snow that comes but a few times each year.