Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas 2010! This year was Bree's first Christmas and Santa remembered! Good thing he did cuz mommy totally forgot till after Thanksgiving and her stocking wasn't made yet. Thankfully Aunt Stacy was able to whip one out in time. I believe Bree had a great time. She is almost 11 months old so she was a bit more aware of what was going on than her siblings were on their first Christmas. A couple of days before Christmas Paul gave me an early gift. A new camera! Its a Sony a33 for anyone who knows anything about cameras. Supposedly it can make even me look like a good photographer. Well, maybe after I get used to it and figure it out a little better. The pictures we took at Christmas with it aren't the best ever but we can see faces so I guess that is good enough. Christmas Eve we acted out the Nativity scene with the Little People set while Paul read the story out of the scriptures. Bree liked the donkey the best. By 8 o'clock the kids were begging to go to bed. They had been bouncing off the walls all day and I was more than ready to get rid of them! Even Bree could feel the electricity in the air and was a bit more out of control than usual. By 9am I was through, I don't know how we survived the day.

We woke up to presents overflowing beyond the tree. The kids must have been good this year? Mason was up at 5:45, waking everyone else up but mean old daddy made them stay upstairs till 6. Its a wonder they didn't all pee their pants in the 15 minutes of anticipation! Bree was less than thrilled to be awake at such an early hour, instead of her usual 8:30 wake-up. She fell asleep in her high chair while eating breakfast, poor baby.

Mason scored with a robot from Santa. He's pretty fun, though I'm not sure I appreciate his sarcastic comments and voice on top of everyone else who lives in the house.

Bree got stacking blocks from Santa. What the heck is Santa supposed to bring the 4th kid? We already have everything!

Darcy ended up with 2 pillow pets and a little dog house full of stuffed puppies. We have been overrun with stuffed animals! Darce got a Sit n' Spin from Santa and I am happy to report no one has thrown up yet because of it!

Drew got a hippo pillow pet (surprise, surprise!) and a big Lego set which has kept her occupied for hours already. She and Mason have become best buddies while putting it all together. Had I known that was all it would take to encourage them to get along I would have invested in them a loooooong time ago. We also got the new Kinect for our Xbox and the kids have had fun jumping all over the house playing it.

After we opened our gifts we high-tailed it to my parent's house where we met up with all but one of my siblings and their families. I just accidentally deleted a picture of it! We had dinner and opened more gifts and played with the 16 cousins all there. We stayed in our trailer in my parent's back yard, where I got absolutely no sleep but that was to be expected. On the 26th we woke up and drove 2 hours north to spend the day with Paul's side of the family at his sister's house.

This is Carmen's beautiful tree with a bunch of us just relaxing while a bunch of others were in the kitchen making us dinner! Thanks guys!

The kids enjoyed their spaghetti with the special sauce Aunt Carmen made for them without the meat and peppers and anything else other than tomatoes in it. Thanks Aunt Carmen, you really shouldn't have ;) After dinner we opened still more gifts and then headed home so Paul could get to work Monday morning. He had the entire week off leading up to Christmas and we miss him hanging out with us now!

Today is now the 28th of December and my decorations are still up. Usually I have them down as soon as I walk in the door from wherever we had been for Christmas. I don't know if that means I am mellowing and losing some of my scrooginess in my old age, or if I am just being lazy. I figure it will get done eventually. Bree has been pretty good about staying out of the tree so I am in no rush. I hope everyone else had as good a Christmas as we did, full of family food and presents!

Happy Thanksgiving!

My baby is 10 month old! I don't know where the time went. She is pulling up to standing and even letting go for a few seconds at a time. She sprouted 4 teeth within a week of each other and now she has a gorgeous toothy grin! She is such a sweetheart and she likes to give me juicy, long, kisses. Oh how I love my Breezy!

I loaded the pictures backwards so we will start with the Christmas tree. I was thinking we would wait till Saturday the 4th to get the tree, since I didn't know how Bree would react to it and I didn't want to spend an extra week trying to keep her out of it, but we realized that the Civil War football game is on the 4th at 12:30 and there is no way we would miss it just to get a tree, so we cut one down on our way home from our Thanksgiving vacation. Bree has torn a couple bows off of presants and likes to touch the lights but damage has been surprisingly minimal.

Although it was extremely tough, I mostly let the kids hang up the ornaments. I usually take the lead but I let them this year. It turned out nice and there weren't even any clumps of ornaments anywhere. (which I would have corrected after they went to bed if there were any!)

Our first snow of the season happened before Thanksgiving. Unheard of around here! There was enough to throw at siblings and freeze little fingers, but not for much else. Hopefully we will get a good snow event this year, but please nothing like 2008!

Drew is my little angel ;)

Bree and Grandma were visiting over Thanksgiving break. She is still OK visiting with "strangers." We'll see how long that will last.

Miss Breezy ate Thanksgiving dinner on my lap and at one point she had stolen my spoon and was downing the mashed potatoes all on her own. I forget that she is able to do lots of things for herself now. I think I might be trying too hard to keep her a baby as long as I can.

This is a motley crew! We were originally sceduled to eat dinner with Paul's family but plans were changed and we ended up at my parents' house with a million cousins. This is the "medium" aged table. There are a few older cousins and a few younger now.

Darcy had a great feast, when she decided to pull her hands off her face and join the party. She was in the throes of stranger anxiety full force. Crazy girl.

On a beautiful fall day we raked and played in the leaves. Let me correct that. I raked, and they played. Darcy's hair matched the beautiful colors of the leaves.

So now we are looking forward to the Beavers beating the Ducks in the Civil War game and ruining their chances of a National Championship. I mean we are looking forward to CHRISTMAS! The shopping is done, most of the gifts are wrapped, and now we can start making lots of tasty treats!

Happy Halloween!

I can hardly believe my baby is 9 months old. And cute as a button I might add. I think its those elf ears of hers that just make her so darn cute. Her first tooth finally broke through a few days ago and she has been pulling herself up to stand for a couple weeks now. No cruising yet, but she is letting go of things and trying to stand on her own so I am thinking she will probably be walking well before she turns 1. She is still my smallest little sweetheart, only in the 25th percentile for both height and weight. It will be fun to see such a little body walking. Christmas will be interesting this year with her being as mobile as she is. We will probably get the tree later than usual and who knows, maybe it will have to be a tiny one sitting on a table top. If that is the case then her siblings will not be happy with Miss Breezy.

OK, here is the annual cookie decorating picture. Darcy actually frosted some this year and Bree was eating all the broken ones. I believe a good time was had by all!

Here is the "before" picture of our own little pumpkin patch. I think my Dad might have been on to something when I was growing up and we only had 1 pumpkin that he carved. When we each have our own, and the smaller ones insist on carving their own, it makes for a lengthy, and messy project.

Drew carved a pirate pumkin and it turned out well. Mason was obsessed with cleaning out the entire pumpkin before he could carve. Every little sting had to come out, which isn't easy to do. But he did it and then had a nice looking ghost till he got a little too enthusiastic and starting cutting bigger and bigger holes in it till it didn't resemble much of anything by the time he was done. It was his first time carving though and he did a great job and had fun, which is why we do this, right?

Darcy LOVED the guts! I carved a quick face in her pumpkin and then she played in the slime for an hour while the rest of us carved ours.



The finished products! Pretty spooky!

This year we had Nemo, the Transformer Bumblebee, a jelly fish, and a chili pepper. All 4 of the kids have worn the chili pepper costume. I love it! Bree was pretty squished into it but she never complained. I was happy to see Drew used the jelly fish again this year. We made it last year so it got a lot of use.

Bree was content to chill out in the stroller as the big kids went trick-or-treating.

Darcy was surprisingly aggressive. She marched right up to the doors with Drew and Mason and wouldn't leave till she got her candy too. I loved my little Nemo with the matching orange curls poking out! Too cute!

Drew, Mason, and I stayed out for an hour and a half knocking on doors. I love Halloween so it was fun for me to have bigger kids who were willing to trudge up and down the neighborhood hills with me. Heck, they got a ton of candy out of it so they weren't complaining.

Mason and Darcy have had their mouths full of candy since Halloween but Drew still has quite a bit left. She reminds me of my sister, Candace, who used to still have candy left at Easter. Man that drove me crazy.

We had a lot of fun this Halloween and are hoping Thanksgiving and Christmas are just as exciting! Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Fun Times and Funny Faces

Some people (my kids) probably won't like me much after this post but I just couldn't resist sharing the recurring theme in most of our pictures: Funny faces! My kids are pros at them, even when they aren't trying to be. It is easier to find pictures where one or more is crying or looking away than all of them smiling at the camera so those are the pictures I will share this time. Be on the lookout!

Today is October 8th and we have already had a full month of activities. This happens to be my very favorite month of the year so I am not complaining when I say we have been busy. Its been tons of fun! On the 1st we went down to Corvallis where Paul was able to get in a night full of shoot-em-up computer gaming with his in-laws. He says its fun . . . whatever floats your boat. On the 2nd I went to the OSU-ASU football game with my mom. Paul and the kids roamed around Corvallis and visited with his sister for 4 hours while mommy got some much needed Tiff time. And I had a great time with my mom. After one 75 yard run by OSU which resulted in a touchdown I turned to look at my mom and it was the cutest thing I had ever seen her do. She was jumping up and down with her hands in the air yelling "yeah, yeah, yeah!" with a look of pure joy on her face. I giggled for the rest of the game whenever I thought of that. That will be one of my favorite memories of mom I'm sure. After the game we high tailed it home so we could attend another family event on the 3rd.

Paul's niece, Paige was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes about 3 days after Mason was born. I believe she was 6 or 7 at the time. It was quite a blow to such a sweet little person, and her family, but she has been such a trooper through it all and has to be one of the strongest people I know. We joined Paige and her Pals for the Juvenile Diabetes walk held over by Oaks Amusement Park on Sunday. We walked (some of us farther than others), ate, visited, and rode the rides at Oaks Park. It was a lot of fun and a great cause. Hopefully the money earned will go far in the fight against this disease. The above picture has Paige's sister, Kendall, in it, but not Paige. I think maybe I saw her twice the entire day, she was pretty popular!

Drew, Mason, and I rode the Tilt-A-Whirl and got it spinning pretty well. Drew has an iron stomach, I am pretty good, and Mason was a bit queasy but still wanted to brave the rides. I was proud of him. He was a bit freaked out on the Ferris Wheel when Drew was tilting the pod but he made it the entire ride.

Darcy loves cars and trains so we thought she would enjoy the car ride. Not so much. She screamed and held on to me as we were putting her in the car and parents were looking at us like we were torturing the poor kid. Maybe we shouldn't have made her go on it but once it started moving she was OK . . . I think. Sometimes my kids can be such wusses!

Mason and Drew on the Frog Hopper. This used to be Drew's favorite ride but I think she has moved on to bigger and better thrills. Mase liked it though. We all had a great day spent with Paul's family for a great cause. Thankfully the weather was just nice enough to allow me and the two little girls to join the group. I look forward to doing it all again next year.

On the 6th we braved the Pumpkin Patch in the 80 degree weather. Man it was hot! The kids' faces were beyond pink, they were bright red. We had a good time there too, though. It is our annual tradition and it is so fun to watch the little one, who the year before couldn't have cared less about the pumpkins, be amazed and thrilled with all there is to see and do. This year it was Darcy's turn to thoroughly enjoy herself, as you can see by the smile on her face while we were on the tractor ride out to the pumpkins.

I love this picture. Makes me giggle. This is much more representative of my kids than a nice picture of them all looking calmly at the camera. What a crew!

I am in the back holding Darcy up for this picture. Have a mentioned Darcy is a classic "Terrible Two?"

Drew and Darcy in search of the perfect pumpkin. I think Darcy found hers!

Mason looks like he is about to squash the pumpkin. It wouldn't surprise me a bit if that's what really happened when I turned my back. We had lots of fun at the patch and found 6 great pumpkins to represent each of us on Halloween. Add those to the 3 we actually grew in our garden this year and that makes for one crowded porch full of pumpkins.

An update on Bree: She is crawling like a pro and getting pretty fast. I caught her yesterday on her forehead, legs and arms flailing, two steps down from the top of the stair case. Good thing she has that big ol' head to stop her or she would have toppled down before I could have gotten to her. She is now sleeping through the night, 6:30pm till 6am. Score! And just yesterday I was feeding her and I turned my back to get something for one of her siblings and I turned around and she had the spoon in her mouth all by herself! She has learned pretty quickly that if you want something around this house its probably fastest to get it by yourself!

Mason's First Day of School

My little boy is officially a big boy! Mason had his first day of preschool today and he got through it with flying colors! At least I think he did. His teacher didn't ask to speak to me after class got out so I am assuming that means he did great. He, of course, won't tell me anything that went on but he didn't have an emotional outburst or lock himself in a room like his older sister did on her first day. I think that means he will be OK with this school thing. And I think I have finally had an experience where I can say raising boys is easier than girls. Yeah! I am so excited for this new adventure for Mason. He has always been in Drew's shadow, taking his cues from her behavior as to how he should act in social situations. It will be interesting to see how he does on his own. Hopefully some of Drew's obedience will have rubbed off on to him. He is a great kid and I know he will do just fine. I just got a tiny bit teary eyed when I left him but I soon got over that when I realized how quiet the house was for 3 hours today! What a nice respite. But I was just as happy to have my sweetheart home, chasing Darcy and making her scream and bringing the noise level up to where it should be. Congratulations Mason, you did great and I am so proud of you!

These were my attempts at getting a good picture for his first day of school. The last one is about as good as it gets. Oh how I love my Mason!

Drew's First Day of School

Yesterday was Drew's first day of first grade and she survived! She actually came home with a smile on her face and gave me lots of hugs. A major change from last year's first day when she locked herself in my bedroom and wouldn't talk to anyone for a half hour. She was absolutely starving when she got home because she didn't realize just how long she would have to go between meals now. No more grazing for Drew and it will be a difficult transition for her. I'm sure she will survive though. She is happy with her teacher and thinks it will be a good year. I, on the other hand, am not so sure. At her open house I discovered that the little monster who tormented her in preschool is in her class this year. I sent off an email to her teacher letting her know what had happened in preschool and I got a reassuring email back with a promise to keep an eye on things. So far Drew hasn't even mentioned recognizing this girl so hopefully there won't be any problems between the two. We shall see.

Here is Drew stepping off the school bus for the first time! Yesterday I woke up both Bree and Darcy from their naps so we could pick Drew up from school and I decided that wasn't going to happen again so we stopped off in the office and signed her up for the bus! She was thrilled but I was a bit hesitant. It worked out fine today though so I think this will be the permanent MO. We are looking forward to a great year!

Cape Disappointment 2010

Thursday we set out on our annual camping trip to Cape Disappointment State Park in Ilwaco, WA. This was our third year in a row and it has become our season ending event. Mason had been waiting all summer to go camping at the beach and I think it was well worth the wait. No flat tires this time! Just filthy kids who played in the dirt and sand for 4 days straight without a proper bath. I think their mom was the only one who minded though. My parents camped Friday and Saturday nights with their trailer so we had a good time hanging out with grandma and grandpa.

Mason LOVES roasting marshmallows. He roasted Thursday and Friday nights, fell asleep at 6 pm Saturday night from sheer exhaustion and missed the roast, but daddy was kind enough to build a fire Sunday morning so Mason could get one last roast in. I think Paul would have done it anyway, he had a great time playing with the fire, seeing just how far he could drive everyone away with his massive bonfires.

Drew enjoyed the marshmallows too. I don't know how many they got down before I would realize I should be regulating their intake and put a stop to it. Oh well, nutrition goes out the trailer door when you are camping.

We stopped at Fort Clatsop on Friday, where Bree got the first official National Parks stamp in her passport book. I now have all the WA and OR national parks stamps. Drew is pretty close to done also.

We spent every afternoon at the beach by our campground. Beautiful scenery and weather met us each day. We really had incredible weather for the Washington coast. Just warm enough to be comfortable and windy enough to fly our kites. No one was brave enough to fully immerse their body in the ocean but Drew and I were up to our knees (I guess her bottom).

Here is the obligatory picture of the bacon! I refuse to cook it in my house so Paul and Mason get their fill when we go camping.

Saturday we braved the crowds at the Kite Festival in Long Beach. The kites are cool but my main reason for going is the fried elephant ears! Yum! They are a greasy, sticky, sweet mess that I look forward to all year. Drew talked me into cotton candy too. Like I said, nutrition flies out the window.

The wind wasn't very strong on Saturday but it was enough to get a few kites in the air. Enough for the kids to be excited.

Last year we couldn't keep Darcy out of the water. This year she was content to play up the beach a bit in a pit Drew dug for her. Last year we were trying to get her to walk, and this year we were trying to slow Bree's movement down. At 6.5 months Bree decided to get mobile. She is up on hands and knees but not crawling quite yet. She still manages to roll or slide to wherever she feels she needs to get to. Fun times for me. I have never had a baby mobile this early before.

Here she is testing the sand with her toes. She didn't mind it at all, unlike me according to my mom. I would yank my legs up if my toes ever touched the grass or sand when I was little.

The crew in the trailer. Thankfully no one landed on top of each other in the night and they were relatively peaceful nights. For the kids anyway. I can never sleep very well for some reason. Maybe cuz Bree was using me as a pacifier all night since she got to sleep with me.

Paul's bonfire. See what I mean? We took some wood with us and bought a stack on the drive in. He was determined not to bring a stick home with us. It made for some HOT fires over the weekend.

This camping trip worked out 100 times better than the last one, no offense to anyone there! I think the lack of car troubles helped. We had a great time and are looking forward to it again next year. Now its time to shift gears, move bedtime up, get haircuts, and get our stuff together for school to start. I am soooo ready for the routine, the cool nights, the COLLEGE FOOTBALL. Fall is the most wonderful time of the year!