Holiday Season 2011

Let's see, it was so long ago I don't know if I can remember exactly how the holidays went last year but I will do my best.  Thanksgiving was spent at my parents' house where we had a boat load of siblings and their families to eat, play games and puzzles, and visit with.  As always there were tons of kids running around which always tends to drive grandpa into his "Beaver" room to spend a few peaceful moments on the computer behind a closed door.  Ah, if only it was that easy for the rest of us!  I can't wait to be a grandparent!  We had good food and good company with no major incidences to report so I guess it was a good holiday.  Or else I have selective memory and have subconsciously decided to forget the bad stuff.

The weekend of Thanksgiving we went to our tried and true spot out in Goble to find our perfect Christmas tree.  It was nice.  I wish we could find one a bit bigger but it still turned out pretty.

Here is the finished product with all the gifts underneath.  Can you say score!  Crimony my kids are spoiled.

This is our annual picture of the Little People's Nativity Scene.  I thought the whole production might get a little more under control as the years go by but that just isn't the case.  Oh well, I guess the fighting over pieces is a tradition in itself.

Christmas morning!  Bree loves monkeys.  She carries this guy around with her 24/7 and she got another one for her birthday a month later.  It must be because she is a monkey herself.  She was not thrilled with waking up so early and it took her awhile to realize there was good stuff under all that wrapping paper.  I think she had a good Christmas, as good as it gets for an almost 2 year old I guess.

Drew got a watch!  One of my favorite things about being a mom is the HUGE milestones my kids hit when it comes to learning.  I get so excited as they learn to read, ride a bike, and now in Drew's case, tell time!  No digital watch here, you have to learn the correct way!  Drew also got a jewelry making kit and some games to keep her busy.  Big kid games that I have been waiting anxiously for her to get big enough to play with me.  Battleship, Life, and Clue.  I'm not sure which of us enjoy them more.  Mason even got into Battleship but playing with him is a test of your sanity.  It is a painful ordeal to make it through a whole game with him!  Luckily his zest for it has faded as we are  removed from Christmas.

Mason got his Captain America shield from Santa.  It shoots foam discs at his sisters.  FUN!  Uh, can you see the clock behind him?  Yep, its only 6:37 am and presents are unwrapped.  No wonder Bree was annoyed to be awake.  So was mommy!  Mason had a good Christmas, but then he always does.  He is so easy to buy for and he just gets so excited about everything.  I love having him around at Christmas time.  I guess I love having him around the other days of the year too ;)

Miss Darcy got a big girl scarf!  Santa brought her a box of assorted Minnie Mouse things because she is such a fan of the Minnie's Bowtique on Disney Channel.  Darcy is at a tough stage where we are trying to convince her its OK and actually fun to be a big girl and not a baby anymore.  Good luck to us!  Its not really working.

After opening gifts at home we went to church and then to Aunt Carmen's for dinner and Christmas with Paul's side of the family.  We ate some delicious food, had some good company to visit with (they have a dog which Bree and Darcy just love), and opened even more gifts.  It was a very nice Christmas all the way around.  I wasn't even the grinch I usually am and I left the tree up till the 27th!  I hate to mention New Year's Eve since it is one of my least favorite holidays, but the kids and I stayed up till 9 to watch the ball drop live on CNN and then off to bed for them and I was down about an hour later.  Fun times!  Bring on 2012!

My Girls

Drew, Darcy, and Bree. My girls! Growing up I never imagined I would have kids. Let alone 3 girls! If anything, I thought I would be best at raising boys but I will honestly say at this point I am glad we have three girls and one boy. Nothing against Mason of course but he is all the boy I need! I have beautiful, nice, fun, loving girls. Girls I have big dreams for. Well, I have big little girl dreams. I haven't gotten to the big big girl dreams yet, I am trying to enjoy the stage we are in. My dreams for my girls are simple, they take ballet, piano lessons, and play as many sports as I can get them into. So far those dreams haven't exactly come true. Drew refused to even attempt ballet, she took t-ball for 2 years and called it quits, and we don't have a piano so there have been no piano lessons as of yet. Well all this is about to change! Next fall I am signing Darcy up for ballet. I think she will do it and have fun with it. She is always shaking her booty at home and she is a lover of music so I'm pretty sure she will do well there. I took ballet for 9 years and loved it so I am hoping at least one of my girls will follow in my footsteps and love it too. Right now I'm counting on Darcy to do that for me! Yes! One dream fulfilled!

Dream 2 was realized last November when Drew signed up for basketball, with a little cajoling from me of course. The first game I wanted to cry. For her and for me. She had never touched a ball, they didn't have any practices before hand, and she had no idea what she was doing out there. She was trying her best to be invisible and my heart was breaking. I could tell she was having an awful time and of course I thought she would want to quit and that would be the end of my basketball dream for at least one daughter. I played basketball, volleyball, and softball in high school. Sports were, and still are, my life. I am still crossing my fingers that my kids will love them as much as I do, but I am prepared to be the biggest sports fan in my house if necessary. I just want them to try different things and see if they can love it on their own, and have fun in the process, as Paul always reminds me. I think Drew eventually did. After some team practices, and some Drew requested practices at home in the garage, she really got the hang of it and started to enjoy it. She was awesome at defense, she made a couple of baskets during games, had some steals, a few fast-breaks, great passes, etc. I had fun watching her grow from wanting to be invisible to willingly getting into the middle of the action and chasing after balls and rebounding. I am so proud of her! I think she came away with a respect and if not love, a liking for the game. She wants to play again next year so I am a happy mommy!

Bree a girl with boundless potential. She is all about acting older than she is and she can't wait to be a big kid. I see her as a force to be reckoned with in whatever she chooses to undertake. She is full of spitfire but she is the cutest little Breezy I know! I can't wait to see which one, or 3 of my dreams she will accomplish, along with dreams of her own of course. If she happens to have the dream of being a cheerleader, as much as I will want to disown her, I will support her in it. But please don't test me on that one girls! As my girls grow I will come up with new hopes and dreams of course. I hope I can be the type of parents that has dreams but doesn't push them too hard on their kids and respects their choices and supports them in THEIR dreams. Time will tell but I think I can do it! If not, its something they can discuss with their shrink in 20 years.

Fall Happenings

So, its been awhile. I guess I need to catch up on what happened this past fall. But since its February I doubt I can remember all the good things that happened so I will stick with the major things instead.

First up was the Great Wolf Lodge water park in early October. We had so much fun! The kids talked non-stop about it before and after for weeks. Actually, Darcy and Mason keep talking about it and asking when we are going again. Drew was just tall enough to get to go on all the slides, Mason was just short enough to miss the best one, the Tornado. He can't wait to grow an inch so he too can ride the 2 thrill slides. By the time we get back there he will probably have grown another 6 inches, but I don't tell him that. Its a great water park with fun stuff for kids no matter what size. We went with Samantha's and Alloa's families so we all had a great time!

I love Fall. The weather is awesome, kids are back in the school groove, football is on 5 days a week, Halloween starts off the holiday season, ahhhh, Fall. We made our annual trip to the Sauvie Island Pumpkin Patch to find the perfect, or I should say 6 perfect, pumpkins to take home and carve. It was a beautiful day with beautiful, huge pumpkins. We had a great time with Aunt Sammy and Ruqayyah who got to join us for the fun.

We each had out own pumpkin, Bree's wasn't carved since it was so small, Daddy carved Darcy's, and the rest of us did our own. I'm not sure why picture time always turns in to a horrible ordeal but it was obviously a terrifying event for Darcy and Bree. I am told some day they will grow out of it and we will end up with pictures of 4 smiling kids. I will believe that when I see it!

This Halloween we had Iron Man, a duckie, a monkey, and a spider queen/witch. We ended up with tons of candy around for weeks until I finally tossed the rest after the kids went to bed one night. They never missed it. I love Halloween. It is probably my favorite holiday because it kicks off all the holiday celebrations and it makes my kids so happy. That is, until their little legs are so tired from walking the entire neighborhood because mom is having so much fun trick-or-treating. I'm so glad my kids put up with me.

The school year started off a bit rocky for Drew. She has a very large class that was pretty much out of control for the first few weeks. She actually broke down into tears one morning when I told the kids to get in the car for school. I spoke with the teacher, we changed her seating arraingement and kids started to settle down eventually. She now loves it and is back on track, loving learning. I am so glad it just took a minor fix and she was OK. I don't know how we will ever make it through if she has a bad year one of these years.

Mason loves kindergarten. He is learning to read and is constantly asking us to give him words to spell, or spelling words out of the blue for us, which are usually spelled incorrectly but hey, at least he is trying! I love to see him so excited about learing. I didn't know he had it in him but he does have the makings of a scholar. I'm very proud of him, especially when his teacher and adult aides tell me what a nice boy he is and always gets his work done. Hmmmmm, are we talking about MY Mason? I'm glad to know he has some self control while he is away from home because it is definitely scarce when he is at home! I sure love that little guy though!

Warrior Dash

Big Shot in Vegas and now the Warrior Dash! Mid-life crisis? Maybe! Though I believe I am still a year or two too young to be "mid-life." Thanks to my great, and persistent friend, Jodi, I signed up for "the craziest frickin' day of your life!" The Warrior Dash. And it was crazy! Crazy fun! I was so not looking forward to this race from the minute I signed up but the day before the race I decided to change my attitude and embrace the craziness of it all. This race is a 5k, but we had 12 obstacles along the route to maneuver too. I had been training half-heartedly for a couple months but was still unable to run a full 3 miles by the day of the race. It turned out to be not a problem because there was very little runable terrain on the course. The first mile or so was obstacle free, except for the hills we had to trudge almost straight up. No one warned us about those or I would have done more hill work in preparation. It turned out the race was not focused on being able to run a 5k, but being able to endure through the 5k. My whole family was there to cheer me on and Jodi and her son rode with us too. We were so nervous before the race started but we did fine on the course. I was afraid I would be the very last finisher of the day and all the workers would be waiting for me to drag my behind over the finish line, but I actually finished 3820th out of 5400 competitors on Saturday alone! My time was a respectable 1:00:40.55 Jodi beat me by 6 seconds! I thought I did pretty well till I saw a 78 year old lady beat me by a few minutes. Oops.

I was most concerned about the fireman pole obstacle. I had no idea going into the race how its done without getting friction burns on my hands or legs. When I finally got to it I looked at it for a second and said the heck with it and climbed on. I was able to hold myself pretty well till I started to get lower where my wet pants had gotten the pole wet and slippery and I kind of just slid down. No burns! I was so happy that one was done! Our first obstacle was in the lake, climbing out of chest high water and slithering over huge logs in our way. Lets just say that one was a team effort. And really, the whole race was. Jodi was my own personal cheerleader, as well as everyone else on the course. We were all willing to lend a hand or a shout to keep someone moving through the race. It was very cool. The people that is. The temperature gauge in my car said it was 97 as we arrived at 3:30pm. Luckily 99% of the course was in the trees so it was warm, but totally manageable. Our families even found some shade to watch the runners so they were OK too.

There were plenty of climbing obstacles, cargo nets to traverse, wobbly platforms to run across, hills to climb, fire to jump, and of course, the mud pit. Not my favorite obstacle and one I could have done without, but it was the very last one of the race so at least we weren't trying to run with all that mud on us. As we got to the mud pit there was a ledge of mud to get over. A guy to my right thought he would launch himself onto it and I saw him belly flop and yell "UGH!" I knew there had to be a better way! I went as far left as possible to a somewhat less slimy part and was able to climb up the ledge and slide down into the pit on my booty. That's why I am a tad bit cleaner than Jodi in the pictures but I think Jodi had a GREAT time in the mud and wore it like a badge of honor!

We were so proud of ourselves. We didn't skip a single obstacle and we made it through without injuries and other runners behind us. What more could we ask? It was so much fun and I hope it is back in Oregon next year so I can do it again. I was cursing Jodi for getting my into the race but now I want to thank her. What an awesome experience with an awesome friend!

Here is one of the obstacles with some future Warriors!

Toot! Toot!

That sound you hear is me tooting my own horn! January 7th of this year I took a good look at myself in the mirror and was horrified at what I saw! I was grossly overweight and I looked and felt awful. I decided I had no more excuses and now was the time to get myself back to normal. 8 years ago normal, before I got pregnant with Drew normal. But that normal was a looooooong ways away. I had half-heartedly tried to loose weight over the past few years but this time I was finally totally ready to do what needed to be done to get myself back in shape. And it has been no easy task. I had to start at the very beginning, which was a bit humiliating actually. I started level 1 of Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred and I was unable to do more than a few jumping jacks at a time. I had to buy braces for both my knees as I was pounding them with all the extra weight. I had to have insoles for my shoes to help with my plantar fasciitis, which is related to being overweight. It was rough. It took me a long time to be able to get through level 1 doing modified movements. I started Weight Watchers on-line which really works for me. I need to be accountable to someone or something and I also like watching my weight go down every week on their cool graphs ;) I stuck with WW for 2 months and then felt like I had a grasp on the plan and set out on my own. There really was no magic formula to my weight loss. Exercise and eating right are what did it for me. Imagine that! I cut down portion sizes to where they are supposed to be, and I cut out a lot of the extra junk food. The first 2 weeks were awful, I was hungry and craving sweets, but I made it through and it was so much easier after that. I still drink Dr Pepper, still have an occasional bowl of ice cream, and still pop a chip or two in my mouth every once in a while. I knew I needed a plan I could live with for the rest of my life and I didn't want to live without my Dr Pepper and ice cream! I am sure I could have lost more weight and even faster if I had cut those out totally, but I didn't want to be miserable and I knew I couldn't keep that up. I started running at the high school track, or should I say walking with sporadic bursts of plodding in between. I was so proud of myself when I ran 2 laps straight! After a few months I was tired of the track and was running farther so I started running around the community and also walking the hills in our neighborhood. Lately I have been doing Jillian 3 mornings a week and run/walking 3 miles hopefully 5 nights a week, but that will cut down since the weather is changing. It was a struggle, leaving the kids every night I could during the summer to run for an hour, but I made the committment and Paul was more than supportive of me getting out there. It was really nice to have an hour to myself too, along with getting exercise. So anyway, so far I have lost 37 lbs! I have 10lbs to go before I am pre-Drew weight but I figure why stop there? I am more than halfway to my goal but I still have a ways to go, and it might be difficult with the holidays creeping up on us. I think I will be OK though since I have lost so much and worked so hard I really don't want to sabotage it with extra helpings of mashed potatoes or pumpkin pie. I can do this! I will do this! And I cannot express how much the support and encouragement from those around me has helped me keep on task. I refuse to be a mom who can't run and play with her kids. I want to have adventures and be able to survive! I would have included before and after pictures but I didn't want to be reminded of how I used to look, and I haven't reached my after yet! I probably won't admit to how much weight I loose in the end, just because it makes me cringe to say 37lbs and know that I still have more to go. I am so proud yet so disgusted at the same time. Anyway, that's me tooting my own horn. I am losing weight and it feels amazing!

Back to School

Mason started kindergarten this year! He was so ready to go, and I was so ready for him to go, or so I thought. The night before the first day of school I was helping him with his prayer and I was just sobbing at the thought of him leaving me. I am no longer his primary source of information, I will loose my smartest person in the world status to his teacher, if he is anything like Drew, and he will have interests and friends that I am no longer a part of or in control of. Yikes this is hard on mom! He seems to be doing great though. He has come home with a Mustang award 3 days running now. I don't know what he will do when he finally doesn't earn one for being good. He is much more easy going about the whole school thing than Drew is or was. I am so excited for him and all the amazing things he will learn to do in the next nine months. Pretty soon I'll have 2 kids reading! Amazing! And since he gets home at 10:30 its not like he's gone all that long. Those of us left at home are already starting to adjust, but I miss my little guy every once in a while.

Miss Drewsey is in 2nd grade! Been there, done that. She's a pro at full day school, riding the bus, navigating the cafeteria. She is big girl on campus since their school tops out at 2nd grade. She will have 2 teachers this year, as her main teacher is on maternity leave till Christmas. I think she will be fine though, she just trudges right along, doing all that is asked of her and enjoying the learning. She would probably name a school subject when asked what her favorite part of school is, where Mason has answered with recess and the toys in his classroom. 2 totally different kids but I know both will have great years!

Summer Smorgasbord

I decided to do an end of summer wrap-up instead of seperate posts. This was my garden this year. Tons of green beans, a few peas, enough yellow squash, 1 lemon cucumber, a few green cucumbers, corn that didn't grow, a pumpkin plant that didn't ever produce, and tomatoes that are still trying their hardest to ripen on the vine. Not my best crop ever but thankfully I am a green bean fan and those worked so I won't complain too much. Oh! I also grew 3 heads of cauliflower for the first time. They tasted more like brussel sprouts than cauliflower but I like those too so it was ok. Those were my crowning achievement in the garden this summer!

We also picked and processed a ton of fruit, starting in June with strawberries. 10 pints of jam, 2 gallon bags frozen, 4 pints of raspberry jam and 2 obscure fresh raspberry desserts, 3 gallon bags frozen blueberries, 6 pints boysenberry jelly, 7 quarts canned peaches, 6 pies, and a cobbler, 2 gallon bags frozen green beans, and 19 quarts of applesauce, 2 gallon bags of dried apples and 2 pies. I believe that covers it. I love the fresh produce and picking but when I get all that fruit home I have to ask myself just what the heck I was thinking. Tons of work! Its fun to get the kids involved though and they are always willing pickers.

Mason experienced his first, and second, bee stings. He was watching tv and started screaming and ripping at his shirt. I pulled it off and sure enough a yellow jacket got him twice on the neck. We caught the bee and observed him under the jar. We also observed Mason to check for signs of being allergic to bees but luckily he wasn't. We seemed to have tons of bees in the back yard this summer. Enough that the kids stopped using the pool in August because of all the bees flying around and landing on the pool. Good for my garden though, I guess.

We took our annual camping trip to Cape Disappointment and the Kite Festival in August. My sister Samantha and her family joined us, along with another niece and nephew. They were great babysitters! They kept my kids entertained the entire time. It was an eye opener for me the first evening at the ocean. All of a sudden I had 4 able boddies all trying to do their own thing! No one was in a stroller and I admit I was a bit stressed trying to make sure they were all safe and not going too far out. Bree, Darcy, and Mason all went down in the surf at one time or another but I am happy to say we made it home will all 4 kids!

We had a great time playing with cousins, visiting Fort Stevens, eating at Dairy Queen (an extremely rare treat), seeing all the kites in the air, and of course, my reason for making the trip: Elephant Ears! YUM!

We were able to squeeze a trip to the zoo in the week before school started. That's always a good time, but once again, 4 bodies to manage running around in public. Heaven help me! This is one of those rare and elusive photos of all 4 kids actually looking at, and even smiling at the camera at the same time!

We also spent a day on the Columbia River with Paul's family. His sister Carmen has a boat which ferried us all over to our own private beach where we visited, swam, and ate! It was a great time. I was able to cross everything off my to-do list for the summer. Next summer we will add swimming lessons for 3 kids, probably another road trip, and of course more camping here and there. We love summertime!