My Laptop "Blew up!"

I have been wanting to post so many holiday things and funny stuff the kids have done, etc. But, my laptop decided to take December (and the rest of its life) off. I am writing about this as a lesson to all of you, please repeat this as necessary... back up your stuff, back up your stuff, back up your stuff... I lost addresses and thus did a poor job on my Xmas cards, I lost photos (hoping Marc's IT guy at work can retrieve them) and much, much more. The light at the end of the tunnel appeared bleak... they cannot fix it... total new hard drive is needed. My loving husband did order me a new Dell, "surprise!" for Christmas. I was very excited... and then Fed Ex had the nerve to say they lost it and there was snow on the ground (blah blah). It was supposed to arrive on the 22nd of December. Still nothing... So, please stand by!

Baking Day

Today we had a baking day. Katie and I made sugar cookies. They turned out pretty good, but I am sure they will not be "thin" enough for Grandpa...

My family has always enjoyed Grandma Irene's Carmel Rolls, so today I am attempting to make them myself for the first time. I dare say they look good so far, we will have to see if they taste good tomorrow morning.

Over the next several days, the weather here is supposed to be pretty terrible, so I went to the store with Marc today and bought plenty of "supplies"... enough candy, sugar, flour and spices to cook treats for days. Tomorrow we plan to do some candy cane bark and haystack cookies!

Snow Days, Snow Days

I don't really remember staying home from school because of snow when I was young. Maybe because I lived in Eastern Washington where snow is not such a strange thing.
My kids were thrilled this week to have a few extra days added to our Christmas vacation.

Here is the picture of preparation. The kids were looking for their hats, mittens, snowpants and boots. This is the part I hate... who needs new boots? who can't find their mittens? Why did Garret try on every pair of snowpants we owned before he found his? Yikes... go outside already...

Here are the girls... taking a break, sledding is such hard work. They chose to sled near our house, away from the boys. (Megan, Natalie and Katie)


Conner and Garret headed for the sledding hill, our neighbor's backyard. The slope from their daylight basement to the backyard makes a great hill. They also made forts and threw some snow.


Jack even got in on some of the fun. He was begging for us to throw his tennis ball all day, so finally I gave in. It took him a long time to find it as it got buried in the snow, but he eventually was successful and here he is taking a break.

Later in the day, Marc came home from work and took the kids out again. Here they are at the door, ready for hot chocolate and a nice warm bath!

The Tree is Trimmed

Finally... our tree is trimmed! We have had it in the house for a week with bare limbs. To be honest, I was sort of liking the "natural" look. Anyway, I let Marc and the kids pretty much do the whole thing. I decided it is not worth all the stress I put myself through to make it look perfect anyway.

The kids are a little disappointed that we don't have any lights up on the outside of the house yet. I told them, that is Dad's department.

...ohhh and here is the photo of Katie and Tiger. I know you can't tell in the picture, but she draped her flashing Christmas necklace around his neck and it looked pretty funny. He is such a tolerant animal.

White River Middle School Band Winter Concert

Conner had a winter concert this week. He plays the trumpet in the 8th grade band. The songs they played were:

And the bells Shall Sing (Windham)
Autumn Ridge (Niehaus)
Jingle Bells Forever (Pierpont & Sousa)
John Williams: Movie Themes (Williams)

He did a great job!

Christmas Card Photo

Always a project to get just the right photo. The kids are usually pretty patient with me. Last year, Katie cried because I made her take her coat off (I wanted the dress, not the coat in the photo). This year, our picture will consist of two photos. See what you think!

I was going to use a photo from Disneyland but March was so long ago that even I noticed the kids look a lot older and different. So, this impromptu photo on the porch will have to work. They were all clean and still dressed from church today.

Christmas Tree Hunt

We trekked out this weekend to find the perfect Christmas tree. We always head off to our favorite tree farm (we tried going in the woods one time, it was a disaster), Hillside Tree Farm. Conner's sensai from karate owns the farm and the kids love going there for the free hot chocolate. We spent about oh, 5 min. looking before the kids decided on our tree.

Conner and Garret helped Marc saw it down. Alas, it is still sitting out in the garage, waiting to be trimmed... that will be another post.

Dancing Girl

Katie had been taking a ballet/jazz dance class for a few months now. She is really enjoying it and especially likes it that her friend Sarah is in the class with her too. She just got fitted for her costume which will arrive in the spring for her recital in June. We are all looking forward to seeing her dance.

Black Friday Sleepover

After a long day of shopping... we headed over to the Miracle's house for a sleepover. The kids enjoyed being together with their cousins and friends. I am not really sure that the kids ever went to bed. Here they all are eating dinner.



I think the kids in our college friends group now outnumber the adults. A lot of food, drinks and fun was had by all! Certainly this will have to be a new tradition.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We spent our turkey day at home. Marc did most of the cooking. As the kids would tell you, at our house, Dad is the "cooker" and Mom is the "baker". I made pumpkin cheesecake and it was pretty yummy. Marc's mom, Merlene, and his step-dad, Matt, along with his brother Matthew came to spend the day with us. Grandma also brought "Bella" the dog, which is a hit with the kids.

Bella knew just where to "hang out" during the whole meal, right by Conner. How does she know he is the messiest one? P.S. The kids were drinking sparkling cider from wine glasses.

Fall Music Program

Garret had a Fall music program this week. He was excited to play his "recorder"! The 4th and 5th graders sang songs and played their recorders along with our school choir. It was a nice program and Garret did a good job! He is quite a singer... he knows all the local radio commercial jingles and sings them often.

Off to the Cowlitz

We spent "Late Buck" weekend at the Cowlitz. The kids had fun playing outside, running around, making mischief!



I spent most of the time in the motorhome working on school stuff for report cards. Conner and Marc headed off hunting a couple of times to see if Conner could get his tag filled... but, no luck. Maybe next year. The boys did manage to chop and stack some wood in the pile. The river was very high because of the flooding the week before, so we tried to keep the dogs and kids away from there. No more big camping trips for awhile now.




Here is Jim... dumping the "pooper" as the kids call it, why we had to have a photo? I am unsure but I promised him a spot on the blog.

Wrestling Mom

Today was Conner's first official wrestling match... Yikes! Can I just tell you that I am positive I was sweating more than he was. He is on the JV squad, so I had to sit through all of the boys who did Varsity first... about 12 matches. Then they decided who had matches for the JV squad (our school has the biggest team in the league). I heard them say "Montieth" and I almost had to leave. He made it through the first two rounds without being pinned. His first "go" at the kid was GREAT, I thought for sure it was going to be over quickly... but then Conner caught him... and well, I think he wasn't sure what to do with him then?... and we all know what happens when you hesitate, especially if you are wrestling. And not surprising... my kid is VERY flexible, shesh. Anyway, I ripped and bit off three of my nails... not a lie. And, I think I am ready to see another one soon. GO CONNER!

P.S. He did get pinned in the 3rd round... his coach told him that would happen a lot!

When I grow up...

The kids and I were in the car yesterday, having the age old discussion of, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" I have to say that I have been trying to talk about this with Conner lately, just to see what ideas he has for himself. I was flippantly asking him "what job do you think you might get where you can read all day and still get paid?"(... for those of you who don't spend time with Conner, he carries a book everywhere and reads ALL the time... I am not complaining... but it does seem to be an obsession at times.) Anyway, he told me "well mom, that's why I plan to be an author".. great... poor for life and if you ever saw his handwriting, you might know why I cringed a little and for you WASL lovers, he has yet to pass the Conventions section. But, of course, Garret had an answer too (when doesn't he?)... "Mom, I want to be a mathamagician when I grow up". (I tried hard not to Laugh OUT Loud! )"You know I do love math mom". Which he does. And I am sure whatever he decides to do, he will be a perfect mathamagician. This is the funniest thing as I know just this week I had a conversation with my first grade class about all of them being "mathematicians"... Oh that boy does crack me up!

P.S. Katie is still undecided, but on a side note, she is not having kids... apparently she has decided that childbirth is not for her... too many "Baby Story" shows.

Hop On Over

Katie had a "pool party" birthday today with 12 of her friends.

A surprise visit from Katie's teacher, Mrs. Epperson... teachers are sort of like Rock Stars when you are 7 years old!

Here they all are.. ready for some cake. If they all look a little wet, I guess it was from all that swimming they did before we had cake and ice cream.

Other friends and kids came to the pool too to enjoy an hour of fun! Our neighbor and good friend Krystal made the frog cake. It was adorable! She is very talented and we appreciate that she made this cake for Katie.

The Frog Cake

Krystal & Katie

Make a wish Miss Katie! We hope you had a great 7th birthday and that your year is the best one yet.

Happy Halloween 2008

Happy Halloween from us to you!

The Clone & The Cat

Marc, Garret and Katie walked our neighborhood with the neighbor kids. Conner stayed home again to pass out candy. He still manages every year to end up with his own stash! Everyone had a great time.

Sarah, Katie, Allie, Natalie

Pumpkin Carving

On Thursday we carved up our pumpkins. Finally, this year, mom got away with just "helping". Conner did his all by himself. Garret and Katie drew their own faces and I helped with the knife (much to Garret's dismay). It is pretty funny how their pumpkins ended up taking on their personalities. Katie drew a cat face, Garret's face was funny and even sported a "mustache", Conner's face was intricate and artistic. They had lots of fun!

Happy 7th Birthday Katie!

November 2, 2001 Katie arrived to make our family of five complete! Hard to believe it has been 7 years since that day. I will post some photos of the frog cake and swimming party after Saturday. I made my first slide show... I think I went a little overboard with all the photos, but it was fun. Some of the photos are courtesy of Arlynn Caldwell, Katie's former daycare teacher who is a photographer now. Thanks Arlynn :o)

Pumpkin Patch

Marc and Conner are off hunting today, so Garret and Katie and I headed off to the Pumkin Patch. We carefully picked out three large pumpkins. Waited in line for way too long to have them weighed. And I am pretty sure I paid way too much for 3 pumpkins. The "patch" was a crazy place today... lots of people and kids were running everywhere. Now...

we have to cut, scoop and carve for Friday! The kids are getting excited.

The Mini Cooper Comes Home

We went to Northwest Mini today and picked up the new car! It arrived more than a month early, Surprise! Marc is pretty excited to drive it to work tomorrow. Of course, now gas has come down in price about $1.00 per gallon since we ordered it. We got the "mini" rundown from Rachel, the Mini-Cooper expert. She said it is important to call the parts by their appropriate names, so it is the "boot" (trunk) and the "bonnet" (hood). Many fancy features and I can tell this car will be lots of fun.

Weekend in Cle Elum

We went to Cle Elum this weekend to go camping/hunting at the Bay's property. They have a 20 acre parel of land that has 6 camping spots. There is power and water to each spot so we decided to start calling it "Bay State Park". The kids had fun riding quads and playing outside. Conner and Tyler did go hunting a couple times (Marc got a deer last weekend, filled his doe tag at the Hunt club with Chip and his Dad). The weather was nice but chilly, definitely fall weather.

Cyndie and Katie sitting by the fire.

Chad, chopping wood, we did not pay him any money to do this!

Conner rolled the quad in a mud puddle. Lucky for him, he was just dirty afterward. I am not a fan of motorcycles or quads... makes me nervous. Now, I remember why.

Conner's Braces

Here we go again... Conner got a full set of braces in his mouth today. The hygenist that was putting them on was laughing at me when I asked, "where are the bands?"... she informed me that they don't do it THAT way anymore... I guess a lot has changed in 20 something years (okay maybe more...)

Garret's Day

Not too often that Garret gets to be the one in the spotlight.. I have always secretly felt bad that he is a middle child. I know someday, he will be a strong man because of it. Today at church, all of the 4th graders were given their own bible. A small rite of passage, but still important in Garret's eyes. He longs to be like his big brother and hates it when he and Katie do the same things at the same time. So, just for today, he is the star! We took him to four weeks of bible classes prior to this. He was a serious student, highlighting with his yellow marker the passages he was told to. He asked many questions (surprise). Congratulations Garret!

28 days until Halloween and counting...

I guess I am old... I have forgotten what it is like to anticipate the excitement of Halloween and all of its "trappings". Garret has had his costume picked out for ohhh, 2 months at least. He found it in a catalog but I refused to order it because it was more than $50... so off to ebay we went and found it for about $24 (same exact thing too!) Katie just got her costume the other day at Target. She wants to be a "cat" but did not like the idea of mom making it, so we found an animal stripe dress with matching ears and tail, we can work with that. I heard Garret talking in the car today about his treat carrier and plans for walking the neighborhood...did I mention we still have a whole month to go? Plus, I have 24 more kids at school that keep reminding me about it too! If anyone who doesn't know me that well is reading.. the only real holiday I enjoy celebrating is July 4th. It is hot, there are no gifts to give, no preparation necessary, and did I mention that school is out?

My plan this week was to get costumes from years past on ebay to sell. So far, I have made $58 and I still have three to sell. I like selling on ebay, but I don't always find the time to take the photos and get the postings done. But, Halloween is around the corner and who knows.. maybe someone is dying to be Darth Vader? or a butterfly/princess/unicorn/fairy thing? Ninja anyone?

The Pack Team

As many of you know, my husband is a hunter. He spends lots of time wandering around in the woods searching for "the big one". Sometimes he is successful. A couple weeks ago, he went hunting with friends and helped his friend Chris bring this elk out of the woods. They are all very proud!

6X5 Stuck at ten yards

Proud Hunters: Marc, Rob, Larry, Chris & Keith

580 lbs hanging at Owens Meats in Cle Elum Second biggest they ever weighed. (605 lbs was the biggest)

Got a Bird in Your Throat?

Yes.. it is that "time" of year, the time when someone in the house brings home the first germ! Most of the time, the honor goes to one of the kids and unfortunately it seems that the youngest is the one who gets sick the most. I guess we should be happy we had 14 sick free days. Poor Katie, she is feeling miserable this weekend. The kids did not have school on Friday, so she got a three day weekend to rest up. She has a runny nose, a bad cough, an aching head, a fever, and "a bird in her throat".

Now I know you are thinking.. "bird"?? what the heck?? Well, let's just chalk it up to "kid's say the darndest things". When Katie was almost 3, Conner was sick at home and had lost his voice from the cold he had. Katie was intrigued by that and I told her that Conner had a "frog in his throat". Well, the next day, she kept coughing and saying something that we didn't quite understand. I asked her what was the matter? She said " I have a bird in my throat". After I thought about that for a minute.. I said "No, honey... I think you mean you have a frog in your throat". She said... "No Mommy, Conner has the frog, I have a bird"... AH HA! So, from then on, a bird she has had. I am sure people think we are all nutty.

Cricket's Song

For the past few days... seems more like weeks... we have had a cricket in our house. This was kind of a regular thing at our house... when we had fire-bellied toads to feed weekly. But, we gifted our toads a month ago to a high school science teacher, and we don't keep crickets any longer. How he got in the house? I do not know... Let's just say though he has been serenading us from under the refrigerator for days.. and days.. and driving us all CRAZY! Two days ago he moved from under the fridge to somewhere in the living room. Tonight, Hallelujah... he came crawling across the floor and Conner grabbed him up and threw him outside. Whew! I vow to enjoy him more on the outside of the house.

A boy and his cat

I cannot tell you how much our cat loves his kids. I know many of you have heard the story of how we "acquired" Tiger. But, here it is again. When Katie and Garret were going to daycare at Marlis', I had stopped to pick them up in our new van (both doors opened on each side). Garret was getting in on one side and I was putting Katie in her carseat on the other side. I had noticed a young cat on Marlis' porch the day before, but she had told me it was not hers and was a stray. Anyway.. I know you see it coming.. as we are driving down the road.. Garret tells me, "Mom, there's a cat in the car". And well, I knew he didn't have a home anyway, and we didn't have a cat... So, that is how we ended up with "Tiger". He absolutley loves the kids! He has been pulled, tugged, and carried around until you would think he was sick of it... but he comes back for more. He especially is fond of Garret. Marc squished him once in the garage door and I had to take him to the vet. We thought he was a goner... I explained to the vet that saving the cat was not important to me, but seriously important to my then 3-year old son. The first week of school was tiring for the kids... Garret was not thrilled to get up early. I took this photo because, well, I couldn't resist. What can I say, the cat loves his kids!

Labor Day

Another Labor Day at the Cowlitz with Grandma, Grandpa and the cousins...

A weekend at the river is always fun for us! The kids enjoyed spending some time outside...

Lauren and Kendra are getting older but don't seem to mind our kids crawling all over them every now and then. Katie especially likes Lauren to carry her everywhere! This time though, Garret got a piggyback from Lauren.

Katie got to ride the neighbor's mini horse, "Lil C". She thought that was pretty fun!

Kendra (12), Lauren (15), Katie (6), Garret (9), Conner (13)