The Hendrickson Family

First Day of School

2011-09-07T21:26:00.000-07:00

The boys started school today. I can't believe how fast they are growing! Jake started his second year in middle school (7th grade) and has even decided to ride his bike to school this year. In fact, he was ready and waiting in the driveway when I got back from taking the other two to school...had he actually left then he would have gotten to school 45 minutes early. He did a practice run with Dean over the weekend and has told us that the only days he won't ride his bike is if it is snowing. Today when he got home he was very tired and hot (it was around 80 today) and he siad he wasn't sure if he was going to do it again. We've told him he needs to not give up and keep going. I'm pretty sure he will :).

Jake ready to hit the road

Austin started 5th grade today! This is his last year in elementary school. I've seen how much he has matured over the summer and am looking forward to seeing what changes this school year will bring. As a 5th grader, he is rotating classes (a mini version of what it'll be like in middle school). He has one teacher for literacy, another for math, and a third one for science/social studies. I'm really excited about the teachers that he has and know that he will have a great year!

Austin and Griffen heading to school

Griffen started 2nd grade. He is definitely growing up too fast. Is it always like that with your baby? He is in a 1st/2nd split class which also means that it is a smaller class (only 21 students!) His teacher seems really sweet and I'm so thankful that he is in her class. He came home today and told me that she called them all "pip squeeks" since they didn't have science. I'm sure there wasn't any connection to the science thing but I love the way he likes to find reasons for everything :). He was pretty tickled at the fun nick name.

So... here's to a great year of school for the boys and all of their friends!

Our 4th of July

2011-07-10T22:34:00.000-07:00

We actually started our celebration of the 4th on the 3rd. Dean figured that we should do our little stash of fireworks on Sunday so that he wouldn't be up too late on the 4th (it's hard getting up at 3am). We had spent most of the day doing things around the house and enjoying the warm weather outside. Our kitty Maurice made a new friend and Griffen and Austin decided to practice their golf swings in the backyard. We barbequed dinner and had some s'mores around the campfire. Then we headed over to the school to light off our fireworks. Griffen was SO excited about it. After each firework went off, he would yell, "That was totally wicked!" and run around in circles. He was almost louder than the fireworks!

Mo and his new buddy

Golf practice

Griff - "That was totally wicked!"

Aus

Jake

Our boys

The 4th started with blues skies and we were super excited. Friends of ousr that live along the lake had invited us down to their house to hang out, enjoy their beach, and watch the show around the lake. It was such a beautiful day. The boys loved playing in the water and even picked up kayaking. They first went out with their cousin, Caleb (a seasoned kayaker) but soon felt brave enough to take the big kayak out on their own. I was a little nervous but then noticed that Caleb went out to coach them. At about 3:00pm, we even got to see a boat parade. It started a little slow (only six boats) but then ended up with around 45-50 boats. When the sun started going down, the show began. People all around the lake started firing their fireworks. What a show! We called it a night at about 10:30 (so much for Dean going to bed on time). On our way up the hill, the sound from the lake was so loud! It was a great, relaxing day!

Playing on the beach

Caleb and Griff

Caleb and Aus

Griff and Aus off on their adventure

The kids building in the sand

The start of the boat parade (Caleb got a close up view)

Caleb & Griff driving around

Happy Birthday America!

A Taste of Summer

2011-06-08T20:47:00.000-07:00

We had a great day on Saturday (I know I'm late in posting once again BUT only by a few days this time). We spent the morning and afternoon working around the house inside and out. I was actually able to get half of my kitchen cupboards cleaned out and another part of our flower beds cleaned up too!! The boys spent the day outside playing and whittling. Austin and Dean had just done a yearly campout with a program for boys and their dads from our church where Austin earned a Leatherman tool. He is soooo excited about it and whittling. Griffen rediscovered the fun of riding the Scream Machine (big wheel type thing) down the hill from our front yard to the backyard.

Griffen starting down the hill

Here he comes

The one dark spot on our day was after Austin was a "good" big brother and gave his little brother his old pocket knife. Griffen (after being told to not use it unless he was with mom or dad) couldn't fight temptation and ended up cutting his finger across his knuckle. Thankfully it wasn't too bad. The moment I heard the scream and then Austin running in yelling, "Mom! Griffen hurt himself and it is pouring blood!" was so scary. I was sure he'd done some horrible damage to himself Thankfully, all it took was some pressure, a good tight bandaid, and some neosporin and all is well.

I love sunny days on our deck!

We got to top the beautiful sunny day off with the first campfire of the season. Dean's brother had made a new firepit a little while ago and we got to break it in.

Gotta love s'mores

Finally got a smile out of him

Whittling by the fire

Now I can't wait for summer to begin!

Vegas Baby!

2011-05-27T22:30:00.000-07:00

The first week in May, Dean and I were able to take a little vacation together. When we were planning this trip we knew we looked for someplace with warm weather and a that wouldn't cost too much. We ended up booking a trip to Las Vegas. Neither one of us had been before but we had friends who have, and gave us some idea of what to expect. We stayed at a pretty new hotel on the Strip called the V'dara. It was really nice and the weather was amazing!!! Our first day there we explored the Strip and were impressed with the size of the hotels.

New York New York

The Aria (sister hotel to ours)

On Tuesday, we jumped in our rental car and headed to Hoover Dam. We had watched shows on the History Channel about the building of the dam with the boys but is was great to get to see it in person. We want to take the boys there someday. On our way back, we missed an exit onto a different freeway we needed to take BUT we stumbled across and In and Out Burger when we were starving! So yummy!

Wednesday, we spent some time relaxing by the pool for a couple of hours which is a long time for Dean who usually doesn't like to sit still for very long :). Later, we headed to the Venetian to see the Blue Man Group and then experienced the Strip at night on the walk back to our hotel. We couldn't believe how many people there were on a Wednesday night!

The Conservatory at the Bellagio (the flowers smelled so good!)

The view from our room

The Strip at night

We headed home on Thursday, ready to see our boys. It was a restful few days and a great time to spend just the two of us. We love getting away together and we love coming home to our three boys!!

Easter...a little late

2011-05-24T23:23:00.000-07:00

And...once again I'm behind in posting. We had a busy Easter this year. We went to Longview to spend it with my parents and spend a little more time with my dad before he left for Thailand the following Friday. As part of the weekend festivities, we also went to my uncles house in Oregon on Saturday. It was good to see some of my aunts and uncles that I hadn't seen in awhile. When we left there, we headed to friends house for a bbq. We had to get back home on Sunday so the boys missed out on the traditional egg dying and Easter egg hunt. Sooo...Monday night we ended up doing both after everyone got their homework done. We ended up with a dozen eggs in many bright and interesting colors and the boys got the candy they were hoping for.

Spring!

2011-04-17T18:49:00.000-07:00

It was a gorgeous day today and we were finally able to get out and do some yard work. I could definitely tell that my poor flower beds had been ignored last summer. The weeds were a MESS! I lost a few flowers in the clean out process because they were just too overrun with weeds. Here are some before and after pictures.

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After (not quite the same shot but you can get the idea.)

The job isn't complete but it was a great start! I think I may need to go and get some more flowers now to fill in the gaps. Now to get the rest of the yard into shape...

Seven!

2011-03-14T22:21:00.000-07:00

Our little Griffen turned seven on Sunday! We had his party Sunday afternoon with six little boys playing in our basement. The theme was Star Wars and the boys played Lego Star Wars on the Wii and also built ships from Legos. The biggest excitement of the afternoon...Griffen finally pulled out his loose tooth all by himself!!! Well, I actually did the finishing touch...literally...all it took was one gentle touch and it fell out. He had a lot of fun with his friends and spent most of the day using his status as "birthday boy" to its fullest. I heard him many times throughout the day telling his brothers, "But I'm the birthday boy!" Anyway, here are a few pictures from his day!

Griffen is such a funny little guy. He can make his mom and dad laugh a lot. He is also still a very snuggly little guy and loves to curl up in my lap whenever he can. I will take all that I can get now because I know that at some point he won't want to snuggle anymore.

Happy Birthday Griffen! We Love You!!!!

Working Hard

2011-03-07T21:28:00.000-08:00

A couple of nights ago, we were watching tv all together and I had my little man sitting next to me. For the last week or so he had been giving us updates on his loose tooth and this night he was working hard to try to get the tooth out. He was wiggling and wiggling it. He would even tug on it with a scrunched up face to show just how hard he was tugging. As of today....

...the tooth is still in there.

Building Towers

2011-02-27T22:02:00.000-08:00

We've had a pretty quiet weekend. The only thing really accomplished was buying new clothes for Jake. Middle school boys grow fast! Griffen spent a good portion of the weekend playing with the Jenga blocks. We have a bin full of building blocks but the boys always seems to go straight for the Jenga game. Anyway, I thought I would show of his favorite creation of the weekend. It was the tallest one!

Thankfully we took this picture when we did because about thirty seconds after it was taken the tower came crashing down. Oh well, on to the next creation!

Lost Teeth, Sleepovers, and the Honor Roll

2011-02-22T21:13:00.000-08:00

We have had a busy week! It started off on last Thursday when the boys all had to return to the dentist for different reasons. Jake and Austin both needed new sealants but our little Griff man had to get a filling and two teeth pulled. One of his baby teeth was holding down the permanent tooth that should've come up already and to balance things out they took the "matching tooth" on the other side. He was a trooper with his silly gas that made him a little goofy and then feeling the numbness for the first time ever. When they pulled out the offending tooth, the root broke off so they had to go back and get it out. It was around the permanent tooth so it took a little work to get it out. He was rewarded with a ticket to stay home for the day and daddy even took him to the store to get some ice cream.

Griff's new smile (with some spaghetti sauce added)

Friday was a no school day for all school kiddos. Austin got invited to a sleepover at his friend's house. The next day they decided that they were having so much fun they continued the sleepover at our house for a second night. Griffen got in on the fun and invited his best buddy over to spend the night too. It was his very first time having a friend for the night. Poor Jake was feeeling a bit left out as he couldn't get in touch with his friends. Finally one of them came over on Sunday and then decided to stay overnight and they got ahold of their third friend who also joined in. Thankfuly there was no need to get up early on Monday because the older boys stayed up until 1am.

Then tonight we got to go to Jake's school for the Honor Roll Ceremony. We are proud of the hard work that he has done this first semester to get on the honor roll. It was a short but crowded ceremony where kids from each of the grades were recognized. We celebrated with ice cream, M&Ms and whipped cream at home! Good job Jake! We are proud of you!

Now we're waiting to see if we will get the promised snow.

Happy Valentines Day!

2011-02-14T21:19:00.000-08:00

Valentines day is usually pretty low key around here. This year I thought I would change things up a tad and actually bought cards for my four valentines (pure craziness I know!). Last night I wrote in the cards and then put Dean's in front of the coffee maker and then put the boys' cards in their lunch boxes. (Just a fun little surprise for them). The biggest to-do though was my first attempt at chocolate covered strawberries. I LOVE chocolate covered strawberries and I have to say that it was easier than I thought it would be. They don't all look too pretty but with more practice, you never know.

Ta Da!

And even better? They were yummy! I guess you can't go too wrong with chocolate and strawberries. Anyway, Happy Valentines Day!!!

Finally Wrapping Up 2010

2011-01-25T22:02:00.000-08:00

I know...FINALLY! I had so many plans to do quite a few posts during November and December but next thing I know it's January and now it's almost February! So, I am going to condense it down to one (possibly very long) post.

Our kitty Boo

The weekend of July 4th we lost our cat Boo. He disappeared and never came back. Our theory is that since he would pick a fight with most any critter in our neighborhood, he finally picked the wrong one. So, at the end of October we decided it was time to get another kitty. We took the boys down to the Humane Society and we picked out a cute little kitty with the name Logan. We had to wait a week to bring her home since their vet was on vacation but a couple of days later we decided that she was going to need a friend so we went to visit her and ended up picking out a little orange tabby named Zack. (We changed their names to Ben and Gwen.) Unfortunately, the day after we got Ben home (a few days after Gwen came home) he developed a nasty eye infection. We took him to the vet a couple of times but he wasn't getting any better. We finally made the decision to return him to the Humane Society since his poor eyes were completely shut and I had even taken the day off of work to take care of him. The Humane Society let us choose a different kitty, so a few days later we came home with Maurice. Both of our kitties are cuddly (Mo a little more than Gwen) and are a lot of fun to watch. We actually think that Mo thinks he is a dog. He likes to sniff new people and things, he follows us around like a dog, and he even looks at you better if you call him like a dog (whistle) instead of calling "kitty kitty."

This is poor little Ben just before we took him back

This is Maurice and Gwen. Mo is the one with the stripes.

November was busy with Jacob and Austin's birthdays. Both boys had sleep overs with a few of their friends and once again I was reminded about how thankful I am for the friends that they have. They are all really great kids! One of the big presents for them was a rearrangement of bedrooms. Once our two little houseguests left we started the big room move. Griffen and Austin moved upstairs to the bigger room and Jake now has his own space. They are all really liking this new set up too. To make room for future foster kiddos, we moved the office. We took the doors off of our big coat closet in the hallway (there are still three other closets in the hall for storage) and Dean built a really nice desk and shelves in there for our office. The office will once again be a babies room but we still need to get it fully cleaned out and organized.

Griff & Aus's Room

Jake's Room

Our new office

We had a great December with lots of traditions. We started out with the annual Christmas Tree hunt and for the second year in a row we found our tree in less than 10 minutes! This is a HUGE deal as we used to drag the boys around trying to find a tree we could agree on. The boys had a great time helping me decorate it that night. They love to hang all of the ornaments that they have gotten over the years. We spent Christmas day at our house. It was a nice quiet morning and a fun afternoon and evening as Dean's sister and her family and a couple of friends came over for dinner. It was really fun to see the grown up guys having lots of fun playing Lego Rock Band on the Wii. Dean and I wanted to try some recipes that we had seen on The Biggest Loser but I bought the wrong kind of turkey breast (it was a turkey without legs instead of a turkey breast loin - oops) so I was a little worried about how it would turn out. It was actually pretty good if I do say so myself.

Successful (and fast) tree hunt

Decorating the tree

The boys and their new airguns Christmas morning

We spent New Years in Longview having Christmas with my parents and then with Dean's grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousin. It was great to see family though we missed Dean's parents. We let the boys stay up until midnight but then all headed to bed at 12:05. The one thing we mentioned though was that this is the year we get a teenager. I can't believe that Jake is going to be 13 this year! Our new year has been busy but good so far. We hope your 2011 is too.

What We're Up To These Days

2010-11-03T21:42:00.000-07:00

Once again it has been far too long since I have posted anything. October has been full of changes and lots of fall fun. Both Griffen and Austin played fall soccer again this year so our Saturdays were spent out at the fields. We were very thankful that there wasn't any rain and that almost every week their games were either back to back or at the same time. We only had one week where we needed to make two trips out to the fields. YAY!!!

We passed on the traditional pumpkin patch visit this year and got our pumpkins from the store instead. We did have the Sims over to carve them though. The kids are getting big enough now that they don't really need our help anymore. It is always fun to see what the kids will come up with for their jack-o-lantern faces.

Austin and Griff had fun carving away. They had so much fun that they change their pumpkins after the official carving was done.

Jake picked a pattern out of one of the books we had. It was a pretty detailed picture but he did a great job.

Another new thing we did this year was that we made a costume for Griffen. He didn't want to be Batman again so we looked at the Family Fun website and found the perfect costume for him. The bonus was that it was pretty simple to make too! The only problem we incountered was that he had a hard time bending over to pick things up and also had a tough time trying to sit down. It made me laugh many times watching him trying to pick something up.

Austin was going to be Spiderman again but at the last minute he changed his mind and went as a soccer player.

Jake decided that he was too old to go to the church Harvest Party so he and Dean stayed home to pass out candy. The only other time we stayed home we only got a handful (MAYBE 5) trick or treaters. This Halloween Dean ran out of candy by 7:00!

The big change for us happened about 3 weeks ago. Well, it actually started back at the end of August. Our house was busting at the seams this summer with two little foster kiddos added to the craziness. They had come to live with us at the end of May and were still here at the end of the summer with no hint of moving anytime soon. At the end of August though, Dean and I made the tough choice to ask that they be moved to another home. We were both exhausted and felt that we weren't able to give much of anything to any of the kids. The boys weren't handling the stress well either so we made the tough phone call. We told the case worker that they didn't need to leave immediately as we hoped they could find a long term home so that they didn't have to move even more. After about 3 weeks there hadn't been any sign of another family willing to take them but then the best solution finally appeared but took a few more weeks to happen. All I can say is that God's timing is perfect. Things have seemed so much quieter and peaceful around here and we heard from the case worker that the kiddos are doing well. We are planning on taking a break from foster care until the first of the year and then we know FOR SURE that we will only acccept one child at a time. Two is just way too much for us.

Now we are in the beginning of November and getting ready for birthdays and Thanksgiving. Tis the season for the Hendricksons to be VERY busy!

The First Day of School

2010-09-07T21:38:00.000-07:00

Well, today was the first day of school for the boys. It was a pretty big day for all of them but especially for Jake as he rode the bus for the first time as he went to start middle school. He went to a two and a half hour orientation on Friday where older students showed the incoming sixth graders around. They played games, ate pizza, and had time to get comfortable with the school. On Monday, he told me that he was nervous about not being able to find the music room again. I reminded him that he didn't have any music classes so it wasn't a big deal :). We had his bag packed last night and then true to my first born's personality, he as up a 6:30am. When I came out to the living room at 7:30 he was already sitting on the couch with his bag next to him waiting (he doesn't have to catch the bus until 8:00). He was nervous about finding classes so we looked at his schedule again. Finally it was time (or at least not TOO early to head to the bis stop). He rolled his eyes as I insisted on taking the traditional first day picture and then off he went.

Austin started fourth grade today. He is growing so fast (like they all are). He is looking forward to a year with his best friend in his class for the first time ever. Tonight he had a page of "homework" that his teacher wanted him to do. It is a list of questions about his goals for this year at home and at school. Here is what he wrote:

1. This year I would like to try and help out more at home by...saving electricity (elestricity)

2. A new hobby I would like to try this year is...playing basketball (basickball)

3. I would like to try and become better at...getting my work done faster. :)

4. Another goal of mine at home is...being nicer to my brothers. (I LOVE this one - such a sweet boy he is)

5. I would like to try and do better in the area of...the classroom

6. This year I would like to become better friends with...Matthew (I really don't think this is possible, they are such great friends now!)

7. One study habit I would like to improve this year is...writing

8. Another goal of mine at school is...on tacking (I'm assuming he means staying on track)

These were answered all on his own and I think he did a great job with it. As a side note, I'm glad that I pulled that out of his bag for this as I discovered that on the other side there are questions for me!

Griffen started the first grade today. My little baby boy is now a full time elementary student! He was super excited this morning to get going. He chattered all the way up to the school and as we took Austin to his room first. Once we got to Griff's room he suddenly got very quiet and his eyes got huge. We had met his teacher on Friday but today he seemed like he had never even set foot in the room before. When we got there, there was only one other student and mom in the room. We waited until they were done talking with his teacher and then greeted her and let her tell us where to put things and how to get Griff started on his day. By the time he got home he was all smiles and said that he had a good day. I am looking forward to seeing all of the new things that he is going to learn this year!

So the Hendrickson household is off to a good start on this year I hope all of your "years" are off to a great start too!

Time at the Beach

2010-09-04T10:44:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we went down to Dean's parents for the annual Rice Family Reunion. It is a full weekend of catching up with family, having fun, and eating really well. On Saturday we have an auction that raises the money for next year's reunion. Everyone brings a wrapped present and they all get auctioned off. You never know what you're going to get until you buy it. We were blessed this year with great weather and we also got to spend some extra time there as Dean and I both had vacation the following week. The boys had actually been at the beach all week with their grandparents and Dean's sister Toni and her family. Dean and I and our two little house guests left EARLY (3am) on Saturday morning and arrived at the beach in time for yummy waffles. Here are some pictures of our time there.

We do tie-dye shirts for the kids each year. This year they got really fancy with lots of colors!

Auction Time

Griffen's New Skill

2010-07-28T22:02:00.000-07:00

So on Saturday we decided it was time to challenge the little Griff-ster and try him out on two wheels. Dean took him over to the school and took off the training wheels and off he went riding his bike in the field. Here are a couple of videos.

Then on Sunday, Dean was gone for awhile and the boys said that they were going over to the school to ride bikes. I figured that Griff would take his scooter as his bike still had the training wheels off. (I was stuck at the house with a sleeping little one). They were gone for a little while and then came back for a snack. Then they went back over a couple more times. After the third time they came in the house VERY excited and told me that Griffen had taught himself how to get started on his own! When Dean got home we all headed over to see the kiddo show off his moves.

I think we've found a future Tour de France winner ;).

Our Summer So Far...

2010-07-25T22:44:00.000-07:00

has been VERY busy. Well, I guess with five kiddos in the house there is no other way for it to be. I don't know when our summer schedule ended up so full. It seems that when we first started looking at this season, we had a blank calendar and then the next thing we know, every other weekend someone, if not all of us, is gone and there are appointments and outings scheduled all over the place. Thankfully the busy schedule has been mostly full of fun things.

As every summer for the past sixteen years has started, Royal Family Kids Camp was the kick off. The only exception being that I wasn't actuallt at camp this year. Things were just too crazy with working and adding the extra two kiddos to the house. I did help plan Breakfast Club again this year but then passed it off to someone else to "run". I sure did miss being there this year but it also felt great to take something off of my very busy plate.

We headed down to Longview for the 4th and spent time with my parents and saw some of Dean's family. We camped out at Lake Sacajawea most of the 4th and really enjoyed the fireworks show. All of the kiddos were SUPER tired by the time we got back to my parents' house at 11pm.

Playing some Uno while waiting for the fireworks.

Jake wearing his special fireworks glasses

Griffen "Wow, these things make everything 3D!"

We've been sticking closer to home when we are in Bellingham as venturing out is a pretty big chore although we are getting the hang of it finally. We have had fun playing at the park across the street and having friends over for barbeques. We also spent an afternoon at friends who have a swimming pool (unfortunately I didn't take any pictures there). That afternoon ended with a double bonus of all of the boys being more comfortable in the pool and Griffen even puttering around with his buddy, in their lifejackets, all by themselves!!! He is getting so big and tackling big things this summer. He even just accomplished another thing today but I will save that for another post.

Setting up their race

Playing at the park

Swinging in the backyard

A boy can't swing without his keeping his sword handy

Last weekend we headed back to Longview for Dean's grandma's 80th birthday. It was a fun time to celebrate with her and we got some yummy pizza that we can only get in Longview. Once again I failed to take pictures.

Austin just finished up a week at Fircreek Daycamp. He had a blast with his friends and was very excited that this year for the sleepover night he got to go out to Camp Firwood. He also brought home a souvenir from camp. He got stung behind his knee, right where it bends. Ouch!!!

Well, there's a lot more in store for us for the last half of the summer. Stay tuned more more adventures of the Hendricksons.

Ending the School Year

2010-06-22T23:36:00.000-07:00

We had a big end of the school year last week. Both Griffen and Jake had "graduations" as they each finished a big milestone year.

Our little guy has officially finished up his kindergarten year and is now a big first grader. His teacher invited the parents to a little performance on the last day. I had gotten a little preview as I had heard Griff practicing his song as he was playing. Here is the video of the class singing it.

He loved his teacher (she was pretty great!) and best of all he made a really great friend. They are the cutest pair and are pretty much glued to each other. I am so thankful that they found each other and that they play SOOOOOO well together.

Austin didn't have a graduation but is also now an official 4th grader. He did pretty well this year.; He is definitely a social guy and LOVES to be in class with his friends. He is a math wiz and loves to do random acts of math. I remember a couple of times at home I had asked him to find something to do so he grabbed a piece of paper and found (& even made up) some numbers to add together until he filled the whole page with a really large number. We are so thankful that Austin has been blessed with some great friends as well.

Our big to-do was for Jake this year as he finished up his last year at Geneva Elementary. We got to go to the 5th Grade Celebration on Wednesday and see a video of the kids from the year. Then on the last day we headed up to the school to take part in the 5th grade tunnel. All of the parents, teachers, and other students line the walkway outside the front doors and cheer on the 5th graders as they leave for the last time. Jake was really looking forward to this and was one of the first ones out the door. Watch for the yellow shirt to the right who is RUNNING out the doors. :).

We celebrated by meeting some friends at a park and playing for awhile. One of my friends asked how I was doing with all of the graduations this year, wondering if I was emotional because of it. I let her know that Griffen finishing kindergarten was the one getting me the most, Jake going to middle school will most likely hit in the fall when we go to orientation. But for now, we are going to enjoy our summer and hope that the sun will be shining soon!

A Little Family Vacation

2010-05-31T22:09:00.000-07:00

Both Dean and I had the last week off of work. We had dreams of another family trip but Uncle Sam said "NO!" so we planned a quiet week of getting a few things done around the house and then taking the boys out of school for a couple of days and going to Seattle. Well....as usual things got changed a bit. On the 21st there was an email sent out to foster families about a brother and sister that needed placement that night and for at least 3 months. We didn't answer back because we were sure that we were just going to stick with one at a time. Well, a little bit later the phone rang and the placement coordinator was asking if we could take them. Once again, we said no because it was two and we were planning on going out of town. About 20 minutes later Dean called me again and told me to call her back and tell her we would take them. So at about 4:30pm we had a little 3 1/2 year old girl and her 1 1/2 year old brother with us. Thankfully not all of our plans changed and we were able to have them in respite care while we took the boys to Seattle for aour planned mini vacation.

We had a lot of fun being tourists (a family we asked to take our picture even called us that :)). We started our adventure early on Wednesday morning as we headed south toward Safeco Field. Griffen was SO funny as he talked like we go there all the time or at least like he had been there many times before when in reality it was his very first time there. It ended up being a great game as Detroit was up 4-1 but then the M's came back in the 8th to win!!!!

After the game, we headed to check into our hotel and then to the Seattle Center and the top of the Space Needle. Once again Griff made me laugh as he was so excited to go (he was sure the game was taking too long and he "just wanted to go to the Space Needle.") but after about five or ten minutes he was ready to go back to the hotel. Good thing he is easily bought off with hot chocolate!

The next morning, we went back to the Seattle Center and took the Monorail downtown and then walked to Pike's Place. It had been so long since I had been downtown that I really did feel like a tourist, especially when we pulled out the touristy map but at least we made it without getting lost! I love Pike's Place. All of the colorful flowers and produce are so beautiful! The boys thought the fish throwers were pretty cool but weren't that excited otherwise. Dean and I decided to splurge a bit and got some crab (packed for the trip home) and some yummy pasta noodles, that we still need to eat (the pasta, not the crab. The crab was gone that night!) As we were leaving Pike's Place, a street magician stopped us and had the boys help him with a trick.

Our final stop was the Pacific Science Center. We have talked about taking the boys there a few times but had never done it so...we finally did. There was so much there and the boys had fun in all of the areas. I'm glad that we finally went!

We had a great time even though it was short and we made a lot of good memories together. On the final days of our time off we did get a couple of the project done that we wanted to do (more on that in another post) as we continue to adjust to having two more kiddos in the family. Things are starting to fall into place and we are all finding a bit of a rhythm to the chaos :). We shall see how this week goes now that we will be back to work!

Easter

2010-04-09T15:50:00.000-07:00

We had a pretty low key Easter this year. We stayed home as usual but we had two extra kiddos with us as we were doing respite care for another foster family. We had a little one year old boy and his two year old sister. They were pretty easy going kids and we had fun with them here.

We went to church Sunday morning where they did the traditional balloon parade of kiddos. Then we had dinner at our house with Toni, Jordan, and Caleb (Jason had to work) and also another friend of ours, Carmen. The kids had an egg hunt inside and we ate some yummy ham but like I said all was really quiet.

Oh yeah...we also had some fun making funny egg eyes!

Hope you all enjoyed celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus!

Spring has Sprung

2010-03-30T21:30:00.000-07:00

Well, it's official...Spring is here at the Hendrickson household and I have the pictures to prove it!

Spring soccer has started again! This season we only have Griffen playing with Dean as his coach again! Austin is taking this season off. Three back to back seasons of soccer has been a bit much for him. It is so fun to watch these little guys run around their little micro field and chase the ball and each other and I think Griffen really enjoys having his daddy as his coach.

Saturday after soccer we spent some quality time in our poor forgotten yard. Here are some before and after pictures of our front flower beds. I am looking forward to these pretty flowers growing again! I am hoping that these pictures will also help encourage me to cut back the dead flowers in the fall so that it doesn't take HOURS to clean up in the spring :).

Before

After: There is another garbage can full that you can't see in this picture.

More after: We still have some work to do but it is sure better than it was!

Last after: I need to get a few more things to plant in this area.

So, I hope that you are enjoying Spring! We are!

My Monkey is Six

2010-03-14T22:11:00.001-07:00

Saturday was Griffen's sixth birthday. He is growing so fast! We had some of his friends over for a very relaxed party (I know I just said"relaxed" about a party with seven 5 and 6 year olds but it was). The kiddos showed up and played for a little while. We had Griffen open his presents and them headed over to the school so that the boys could play with Griff's new soccer ball and play on the playground. Then we went back to the house, ate some cake and ice cream, and then they played out in the backyard until their parents came. It was loud but fun. Here are a few pictures from the fun. Enjoy!

I keep trying to tell Griff that he was supposed to go backwards in age this year but he didn't seem to listen :). Well, at least he is still my little snuggler. He likes to curl up on my lap while we watch tv and I will take that as long as I can!

Happy Birthday Griffen! We Love You!!

Playing in the Sun...Well...Most of Us

2010-02-22T23:50:00.003-08:00

Dean had his annual sales meeting for work this past weekend so the boys and I were on our own. The weather was beautiful which allowed the boys to get outside and play. It sure seemed to have been a long time since they have ridden their bikes and played on the playground at the school. On Saturday, Jacob came back home and declared, "It is so HOT out there today!" It was actually about 51 degrees. Sunday after church we headed back over to ride bikes, scooter and play on the playground.

Griffen had to show me his new scootering skill. Judge for yourself...

So he is now the "master" of riding down the hill without stopping!

Unfortunately for Dean he spent Sunday at the Reno airport because of...

He said that the forecast called for 4-8 inches over night but that there was at least a foot and it kept snowing hard all morning. His 7:15am flight actually left at about 1:00pm. We are so glad that he got home safe and sound and now we are looking forward to more sunny days to play outside.

Looking Forward

2010-02-20T12:12:00.000-08:00

...to more of this.

17 Years Ago Today...

2010-02-12T18:39:00.000-08:00

...I came home from school for the weekend a little earlier than planned and surprised Dean. When I first got to town, I stopped by to see my mom and told her my plan to be waiting for Dean when he got home. She seemed a little too concerned that it wasn't a good plan but I went up to his house anyway. About 20 or so minutes later, I heard his car coming up the road. When he rounded the corner and saw me there his jaw dropped. His first words were, "You're not supposed to be here." (Gee thanks, how about it's great to see you!?). He then said that he had a meeting later and I couldn't come to which I said no big deal because I have some errands to run and I needed to get my rings cleaned.

As I left, I had a thought that it would be a great weekend for him to propose and he should call the jeweler to have them keep my promise ring. When I got to the jeweler her told me that the diamond in the promise ring looked a little loose so he was going to keep it to get it fixed and I could pick it up the next day. I remember thinking how weird was that! A little later, my dad called me and asked me to come down to his office. When I told him that I was waiting for Dean he said that he would call Dean and have him come pick me up at the office. (Yet another person behaving oddly). I was very surprised when Dean actually showed up at the office.

As we headed out, Dean said that he was hungry and suggested that we get some Chinese food and have a picnic. I asked him to run me by my house first so that I could say goodbye to my mom who was leaving for the weekend. He insisted that he was really hungry and needed to get some food. I insisted that we could get food right after I said goodbye to my mom.

He gave in.

As we drove along I mentioned how weird it felt not to have my promise ring on. After the second time that I mentioned it he reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring box, handed it to me and said, "Well, try this one on."

Oh. My. Goodness!

I was a little scared to open it because I was worried it wasn't THE ring. I remember looking at him and he said, "Open it." And of course it was THE ring. At the next stop sign he officially asked me to marry him and helped me put the ring on.

Thankfully he did ask me in the car because when we pulled up to my parents' house my mom came out in a flash and asked if I had something to show her. I then found out that Dean's afternoon meeting was with my dad to ask for his blessing which helped explain the odd behavior of my parents that day. Oh, and if you're wondering, yes, Dean HAD called the jeweler to ask him to keep my promise ring.

Sheesh, Time Flies

2010-02-09T22:00:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it is already February! I had so many plans to blog about things at Christmas and New Years but obviously THAT didn't happen. Well, I will finally finish up 2009 with a quick little recap of our Christmas. As has been our tradition for the past few years, we stayed home for Christmas morning. We went to church on Christmas Eve and then came home and let the boys open their traditional pjs. We also did something a little different this year. We had the boys "draw" names and they each got a present for one of their brothers. So to add a little excitement to Christmas Eve we let them open their brother gifts too (apparently boys aren't that excited about new pajamas).

Once they were all tucked away for the night, Santa got to work. We decided to surprise them with Band Hero for the Wii. So I went to work putting it all together. Well early in the morning, we woke up and went into the livingroom with the boys were they excitedly exclaimed, "Band Hero...Playstation? Are we getting a Playstation?"

"Ahhhh...Nooooooo."

Bad Santa! He brought the wrong Band Hero! Ooops!!!!

Dean's brother and sister-in-law came over for breakfast and then we were off to Longview to celebrate with family. We spent the rest of Christmas Day and evening at my aunt and uncle's house and then the next day with Dean's family. It was a great time of being with family and even getting to meet my cousin's wife who we hadn't met before.

Once back in Bellingham, We set off to return our oops and get the correct game for our Wii. Well...wouldn''t you know it, everywhere we went they had it for Playstation, XBox, but not the Wii. As we left the 3rd or 4th store at the mall, we decided to just swing into one more. Dean just ran inside because why drag the whole family in just to find more empty shelves. Well, he seemed to be in there awhile and when he finally came out the door her had a big box in hand. He had found the last Band Hero for Wii that was probably in Bellingham!

So I will end this post of our Partridge Family moment...

It's Christmas Time!

2009-12-07T22:12:00.000-08:00

I LOVE this time of year. I love the decorations and the music, the old tv specials (Rudolph, Charlie Brown), getting presents for my family, and making fun memories with the boys with our traditions. I love, love, love the excitement in my boys as we get closer to Christmas.

Well, this weekend we started the traditions with the annual tree hunt. We set out just after lunch into the COLD weather. The farm we went to has their trees ultra organized into sections and each section is labelled so we drove to the Noble area, parked and ventured out into the cold. Now, we usually spend a fair amount of time looking around sure that a better tree must be over there or maybe over there. Dean and I usually disagree a bit about the kind of tree we want so we keep looking for a compromise. Well, this year we got out of the car, saw one tree that looked good but decided there might be a better one over there (here we go again huh?) and the spotted a tree that we both really liked so we cut her down. It was an all time record for us! 10 MINUTES!

After the chilly tree hunt we stopped by Starbucks to warm up a bit and still made it home a little over an hour after we left! Later that night we hung all the decorations on it and now our house feels really Christmasy.

I hope you all are enjoying the Christmas season and can all celebrate the birth of Christ!

November Flew Past...

2009-12-06T20:00:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how quickly November goes! Of course we were SO busy that we barely noticed it. Every year since 1998 and then 2000 we have had two birthdays to celebrate. This year we toned it down a bit and both Jake and Austin got to invite three friends over for a sleep over on their party night.

Jacob got to have his on his actual birthday since Veterans Day is the next day and there is no school. He and his friends had a great time having Nerf gun wars and then settled in to watch a movie and finally fell asleep around 11:30pm.

Austin had to wait a couple of days after his actual birthday since it landed on the day before Thanksgiving. So that Saturday two of his buddies came over (the third wasn't feeling well) and got to spend some time with the family we still had at our house. They played video games, had some cupcakes and ice cream, and watched a movie until late and then went to sleep. Overall, they were both very successful!

The other thing that kept us on our toes was the two extra kiddos we had for a week. On Wednesday the 18th we got a call about a brother and sister that were coming into care. We called back and said that we would take them but then the case manager decided that they would do better with a full time stay at home mom. After I hung up, Dean and I joked that they would probably call us back at 5 or 6 to say that they couldn't find a full time SAHM. And guess what? Our phone rang at 5:05! BUT they were calling about a different brother and sister and we told them to bring them on over! They were younger than the first set (5 and 20 months) and VERY cute but dirty. Their case worker figured that they would be placed with family soon so we figured that once again we would only have them for a week.

Well, as the week went on, we were feeling a bit overwhelmed having gone from three to five so quickly but kept reminding ourselves that it was just for a little while. The following Tuesday the case worker said that it looked like it might be awhile longer since at their staff meeting no one could agree on an appropriate relative. But as roller coasters usually do, we were taken by surprise when on Wednesday, the case worker said that the judge ordered them to be place with a relative that day. She came and got them an hour later. Such is the whirlwind of foster parenting. They were cuties and sweet but through this experience we learned that for now at least, we should just stick to one kiddo at a time. So once again, we are waiting...

Soccer and Pumpkins

2009-10-29T21:20:00.000-07:00

Soccer season is winding up. The two games were spread out this past Saturday so we all only went to Griff's game. (Dean took Austin to his early game.)

Here Griffen is getting ready for a kick off.

Power kick!

With the games spread throughout the day we didn't have time to go to the pumpkin patch like we usually do. After Griff's game, we went to the store and picked out some pumpkins and then headed to the Sims' house to do some carving.

You have to look closely to see the face that Griffen drew on his pumpkin.

Everyone drew their own pumpkin faces this year.

And most did their own carving.

Griffen even tried...he ended up needing a little help from mom.

Griff's pumpkin. When we finished his original drawing he decided it needed a nose. I suggested using his original mouth for the nose and adding a bigger mouth. He agreed.

Austin's finished pumpkin. Done with only a little help from dad.

Jake did his all by himself.

The finished pumpkins. (Yes Griffen is missing. He was busy inside.)

Griffen the Hulk!

He needed those muscles when we left. That pumpkin is heavy!

15th Aniversary Honeymoon...Part 2

2009-10-27T10:23:00.000-07:00

So Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were more of the same, riding our favorite rides at both parks. Tuesday and Wednesday it actually rained a bit which also helped to keep the crowds down. Though Dean and I thought it was kind of funny to watch Californians deal with a little bit of rain. It seemed like more of a mist to us but everywhere you looked there were people in their ponchos and under umbrellas. Living in the Northwest came in handy those days, we didn't even feel wet!

On Wednesday, we both tried a ride that we thought we wouldn't ever do. Dean went on it by himself first but then I tried it. It was the Maliboomer. Last year we were scared off by the shields on the front of the seats. We figured any ride that had shields to catch vomit wasn't a good ride. Well, it really wasn't that bad. The worst part was waiting for it to take off. They sort of bounce you a little and then out of nowhere you're flying up to the top. I'm glad we did it because it gave us one more ride to do.

Dean getting ready for his first ride on the Maliboomer.

Flying up

Back down

We did the normal tourist things like buying T-shirts and gifts for the boys. Dean had to get this shirt when he saw it. The boys think it's pretty cool too.

Thursday we got to spend some time with friends of ours that live about 15 minutes from Disney. We hadn't seen them since the last time we were down there and they just had an adorable little baby girl this summer so it was really fun to meet her. I of course didn't take any pictures there but they weren't all feeling that great anyway so they probably wouldn't have enjoyed getting pictures taken.

One of my favorite views at California Adventure

By Friday the weather was amazing! It was beautiful blue sky and WARM!!!! We only spent about a half of the day at the parks because we were getting worn out. We were a little disappointed that we had saved the Grizzly River Run ride until it got sunny out because as we came up to the ride, ready to get cooled off, they had it shut down to fix a problem and didn't know when it would open again. It never did open before we left.

As we were taking a short cut to Tomorrow Land we walked past these two. It was so funny because even though there wasn't anyone else around they were chattering away IN CHARACTER with each other. At first we walked past them but then I decided to get a picture with them. It is the only Character picture we took.

I also took the last pictures that I wanted to get. This pumpkin Mickey was something I really wanted a picture of. He is so cute and there seemed to always be crowds of people standing in front of him getting pictures. This was a rare moment when there were only a few people there.

This is in the entrance plaza looking at California Adventure. They changed the color of the letters since we had been there. Last time they were blue and now they were browns and golds for autumn. I also like this picture because it shows how blue the sky was on Friday.

It was a great week to spend with my sweety. We had a great time together celebrating 15 years of marriage. It was a nice vacation and time of relaxation. We were refreshed and ready to come back to our boys, who we missed, though we wished we could've brought the sun back with us. When we drove into Bellingham we were greeted with a HUGE thunder and lightening storm.

Anyway, Happy Early Anniversary Deano! I Love You!!!!

15th Anniversary Honeymoon...Part 1

2009-10-25T19:18:00.000-07:00

I know, it's not our anniversary yet but it was the week Dean had vacation and it was also supposed to be a great time to be at the "Happiest Place on Earth"...Disneyland! Now I also know what you're saying (we heard it a lot), "You went to Disneyland WITHOUT your kids?" The answer..."We sure did!" We went as a family a year and a half ago and Dean and I missed out on so many rides because the boys wouldn't try them and they aren't any fun to go on by yourself so, we went on our own this time around.

We left on Sunday (the 11th) and got to Long Beach at about 9:30pm. Above is the view from our room in Garden Grove, about a mile or so from the park (we could see the Crystal Cathedral in the distance). We woke up bright and early on Monday (ok, so it was more like 9am) and caught the great shuttle that our hotel had to the park. Disney had the place decked out in Halloween decorations. All of the characters were made out of pumpkins at the entrance.

We headed straight for Space Mountain when we got inside and began our vacation of standing in lines. Ha! Actually the lines weren't horrible, and in fact we got a pretty good system down once we began to use the Fast Pass. I had forgotten how fast Space Mountain was (in my defense it had been since I was in 5th grade) but it sure was fun.

Next up was Splash Mountain. Dean was the lucky winner of the front seat. I was right behind him. Neither one of us had been on this ride before and it was fun but VERY wet.

Even in the second seat I got drenched. I was pretty dry until the very last drop, which was pretty steep and long if I do say so myself!

This is the outside of Indiana Jones. Also a fun ride. It was one that we got to do last time. Dean even got Austin to go on it. But it was one of our favorites so we did it again. Oh, by the way, there are some yummy chicken skewers at a little cafe across from this ride.

We spent the whole day at Disneyland. Well, except for a dinner break. We came back for some night rides. Although we never actually went on the Tea Cups (did PLENTY of them when we were here with the boys) I thought this was so pretty at night.

We also did the Haunted Mansion which I have never been on before. It was done up with a "Nightmare Before Christmas" theme. I found out just how NOT scary this ride is. I was way too scared when I was little to go on it.

As we waited for the Nemo Submarine ride we got to watch some of the fireworks. Disney does such a great job with those!

Tuesday we headed to California Adventure Park and our favorite ride from last time, California Screamin'. I realize that I haven't been on too many coasters but this one is the best one I've been on by far! It is such a smooth ride and FAST. We went on this one as much as possible.

I was really shocked when The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror became another favorite of mine. I didn't really want to try this one last time but decided to give it a try. Can I just say, "IT WAS SO FUN!!!!!!"

To top off our day we decided to give some Disney ice cream a try. This yummy mocha almond fudge sundae was well worth the extra calories! No such word as diet while on vacation! Well, this post has been long enough. I will post pictures from the rest of our trip in another post.

Soccer Update and Correction

2009-10-03T19:36:00.000-07:00

OK, so I need to start of with a correction. Austin's team IS 1-1-1 but they lost their second game with a close score and won their third game by a blowout. The other team even got to play an extra player. They did great today as well winning 5 to 2. Austin is really looking like he is getting the hang of it and going after the ball and playing his positions. Griff's team, on the other hand, was not that on top of things today (really, how on top of it are five year olds? HA!). They seemed to spend a lot of time looking the opposite way from the ball. Oh well, they had fun!

So it was another beautiful day out there today although a bit breezy at Austin's game. I'm just super happy it wasn't raining!

Soccer

2009-10-02T22:09:00.000-07:00

Soccer season has begun. Well...it's actually almost half over. This year we are again balancing two boys in soccer and we have added the fact that Dean is also a coach this season. They league didn't have enough (or any) coaches for Griff's age group so Dean volunteered. He has two assistants (also parents that haven't coached before) helping him. The boys are having fun and Dean is doing well at his first venture into the world of coaching little boys (or herding cats as he calls it). At their last practice he said the the boys were being really squirrely and not listening so he had them run. Unfortuately they thought it was fun to run. HA! The parents there (they tend to stick around for practice when it's their kiddos first time playing) were thankful that their boys were getting all of their energy out at practice and were looking forward to boys that would sleep well.

Griff's team looked pretty good at their first game. They were going after the ball and made quite a few goals. Griffen even scored one! The best part was seeing how excited they were to be out there. The second week, our little Griff got a bit too big for his shorts...The aggressive attitude went a tad far as we saw him say right in the face of a player from the other team, "You're goin' down." Ummm...yeah.... not quite the good sportsmanship we're looking for Griff. Needless to say we let him know that wasn't quite the right attitude. That and the fact the team actually "won" (they don't really keep score at this age.)

This is during the first game. We have been so thankful for the beautiful weather we've had each Saturday. It has made being out at the soccer fields for a couple of hours each weekend not so bad.

Griffen is so cute sitting on the sidelines cheering on his team. They all seem so little out their. Their uniforms look HUGE on them. You can't really see Griff's legs once he is all dressed with shin guards and socks up to his knees and shorts that hang down past his knees and a jersey that almost touches his knees. It is just about the cutest thing you've ever seen!

I love this picture of Dean with his team. I only wish you could see more of him. Austin likes to be Dean's helper and looks SO big next to all of these little 5 year olds. I am very proud of Griffen AND his daddy. They are both doing a great job for their first time at this soccer thing.

After watching the little guys run amok all over their tiny micro-fields, it is strange to head to Austin's games. They aren't quite on the regular size fields yet but their field is MUCH larger that Griff's as are their goals. They also play with seven on the field and play actual positions whereas Griff plays three on three and everyone goes after the ball.

Aussie's team is looking fairly good. Their first game was a tie, they won their second one, but lost last week. It has been fun to be with basically the same team since kindergarten and see how these boys have grown and being reminded at Griff's games just how far they have come.

Well, we'll be back out there tomorrow afternoon. Let's pray for sunshine! I don't really feel like getting wet.

I meant to write this one awhile ago...

2009-09-28T21:43:00.000-07:00

...but I wasn't ready and now it has been over two weeks. So here is the post that should've been written awhile ago.

About five days after our phone call from DCFS that brought the sweetest little one to our house, our phone rang again. This time it was to tell us that they had found a relative that was able to care for her so they would be picking her up Thursday morning. We had had a really great day on Wednesday, she seemed to have fallen into the routine of our family really well and now she was going to leave.

I spent that night washing her things and getting them packed in her bag that she had come with. Thursday morning, I got her up and got her ready dreading the arrival of 9am. They actually showed up early and I helped get her and her things out to the car. The part that broke my heart is that she kept looking up at me and then at the two women who had come to get her and then back to me with a worried look. I was able to give her a kiss goodbye and then turned toward the house. The tears started when I was almost to the house. Thankfully I was able to pray for her safety, snuggle with Griff and then spend some great time with great friends at playgroup.

Both Dean and I wished we could've had her here longer but then we also realize that it would've been even harder to let her go. Both of us also had the thought that we wanted her to come back but we didn't want her to come back at the same time because her coming back would mean that some else had happened to her. The one thing we know for sure, we are glad that we got to have her here even if it was a short time. The other thing this has once again shown me is that we have three amazing boys and they are going to be the best big brothers to their little sister, whoever she may be and whenever she may come home.

A Big Day for My Little Man

2009-09-11T21:54:00.001-07:00

Today was Griffen's first day of kindergarten. He has been looking forward to going to "the big" school like his brothers. He is in the afternoon class so he didn't get to leave for school with his brothers but that was OK because Griff and mom spent the morning cuddling on the couch watching our old favorite cartoons (Mickey Mouse, Handy Manny...gotta love Disney). This morning was eventful as well. He has been wiggling one of his teeth for the past week or so and it was getting REALLY lose. Well this morning he noticed a leftover cookie and asked to have it. I bargained with him, let me pull the tooth and he could have the whole cookie. It took a few times to convince him but the temptation of the yummy cookie (thanks for leaving them Andrea!) won and he opened wide and out came the tooth.

He was a little mad at me because it took more than one tug, but after a few minutes he turned to me and said, "I'm so glad you pulled my tooth out mom." He told anyone who called our house after that about his tooth, and that he was going to school today.

So the time finally arrived. I think he was sure that he was going to go up all on his own (just like Jake and Austin) but was OK with walking with mom.

Afternoon kinders start out by going to the cafeteria and eating lunch. There is about a ten minute overlap of his class and the 5th graders, so he got to see Jake there. He was pretty excited about that too. He had no fears going to the hand washing station by himself, waving to teachers he knew and taking his garbage to the trash all on his own. I on the other hand just watched in awe of my little man (that and thinking of ways to possibly embarrass my 5th grader...I didn't actually do it).

Finally we were off to the classroom to meet his teacher. Her name is Miss Hubner but I love how he says Miss Hub-in-er. He found a couple of friends from preschool in his class and his preschool teacher was even there helping Miss Hubner out too.

He was so proud to be there and still showed off his lost tooth to anyone who would listen. At the end of school, when we picked him up, his teacher said he did great and was such an easy kiddo. We got a similar statement from Aussie's teacher tonight at the Back to School Spaghetti Feed (I'm one proud mama). So the school year is off to a great start. Now I need to go find the Tooth Fairy, she owes a little man some money tonight.

The Phone Rang....

2009-09-06T14:07:00.000-07:00

...late Friday morning as the boys and I finished getting the first half of the grocery shopping put away. (We were breaking our normal errand trip into two since we had the Teacher Meet and Greet at the school at noon.) Anyway, the phone rang with the caller id saying "unavailable" so I let the answering machine pick up. When it got to the time for the message to be left, a voice at the other end introduced himself and I instantly recognized the name of the respite coordinator for DCFS who is also filling in for the placement coordinator. I quickly grabbed the phone and caught him before he hung up. He was calling because he was looking for a house for a little two year old girl that was being "picked up" that day. I told him that I needed to talk to my husband and would get back to him.

So, I called Dean to let him know about the phone call and to get his thoughts which were summed up with, "that's why we are licensed right?" So I called the coordinator back and said we would take her. He told me that the workers would call us when they had her to let us know how/when to pick her up. Now I was in a bit of a dilemma, I still needed to get to the rest of my errands but didn't want to be far from our phone. Before you ask, yes, they had my cell number but I also knew that one of the stores I was going to be spending a lot of time in I don't have reception in. So we stayed home and waited.

Finally, at about 4:30 they called and said that they were going out to find her and then they would call when they were on their way to bring her to us. So once again we waited....and waited....and waited. Finally the phone rang again at 10:30 and they let us know that they still had a little more paperwork and should be to our house in an hour or so. It wasn't until about midnight that they were able to get here and brought us the sweetest little girl who is really only about one.

Our first full day and a half has gone pretty smoothly. She is pretty easy going and is a great sleeper so far. She loves being around the boys and Dean even said that she cried yesterday when the boys ran downstairs to play but then perked up when he took her down there too.

As of right now we only know that she is with us right now. We don't know anything else. We could have her for a few days, weeks, months...we don't know. Hopefully this next week we will get to know more but for right now we will enjoy her while we have her.

Yep...Summer's Over

2009-09-03T10:15:00.000-07:00

Summer is definitely over! One look at the change of the calendar and it's obvious!

This was our August...just my work schedule, an appointment and a couple of weekend trips.

Below is September....so far...and school hasn't even started yet!

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

2009-09-01T10:25:00.001-07:00

This time of year always brings with it the feeling that I need to organize and clean out things. It is my time of "spring" cleaning (a little late). I am always trying to figure out the best way to handle the rush of paper that comes with kiddos in school as well as the fact that both Jake and Austin have birthdays in November so I want to make room for new school clothes and birthday gifts that come around in the fall.

The GOOD part is that in the last few days I was able to clean out closets. I started with mine and was able to get rid of quite a few things and then I also got to the boys' closet and got their clothes organized. Now they only have clothes that actually fit them on their shelves. Ha! And I know what I should be looking for for them. Thankfully it isn't too much.

My part of the closet...not so jam packed
(Dean still needs to clean out his clothes :))

Jake's shelves
(I guess he still needs a couple of pairs of pants still)

Austin and Griff's side

The BAD part (ok this isn't so bad) is that I now have piles of clothes to take to the consignment stores. I love consigning things since I then get "new" clothes without really spending money! And consigning the boys' things will help get things for the new little one whoever she may be and whenever she joins our family. The really bad-ish part though is that at the kids' consignment shop today they are limiting everyone to one bag a week since there seems to be so many people doing the same thing as me. ARGG!

My pile of clothes for consignment

The boys' pile AFTER I dropped of my one bag

The UGLY part is below...

I guess I have more work to do. Thankfully I also have three GREAT cleaners that know where all of this mess goes! HA!

Crazy Days of Summer

2009-08-18T22:28:00.001-07:00

We have been on the road for the past three weekends. Lots of driving and lots of fun. The first weekend in August we went to Naches to visit some friends who moved there three years ago. It was a great weekend just hanging out with them, going to the park to watch a Veggie Tales movie with the kids, and swimming in their community pool. We also got to see all of the work they have done to their house which is actually an old grange. They have done an amazing job making into a home.

The next weekend, Dean was in a golf tournament for Reser's. While he was in Portland all day Saturday, the boys and I headed out to Dean's parents house at the beach for a Sharer family reunion. It was good to see some family that we hadn't seen in awhile. Later that night I also got to catch up with a life long friend who came over to my parents house where we got to spend a few hours talking without kiddo interruptions.

This past weekend we headed back to the beach for the Rice Family Reunion. This annual get together is a fun-filled weekend that is also filled with good food!

Each year we all bring wrapped gifts that are then auctioned to raise money for the next years reunion. It can be a little risky because, although most of the gifts are good, there could be a few "white elephant" gifts too. This year we ended up getting a hand painted vase and some tools. Not bad considering one year we got a singing fish. Ha! We watched the kids play, ate, played some cards, ate, helped the kids tie-dye shirts, ate, and did I mention we ate.

We also spent some time down at the ocean. The kids, of course, got soaking wet and had a great time digging in the sand.

And being buried in the sand too. We also fire off some rockets there. It was a great place to launch as aiming them into the wind (out toward the ocean) meant that they all came back toward us. The kids, and Dean and Jason, did have to chase some of them down but I don't think we lost any this year.

It was a great weekend with family and we are already looking forward to next year.

When we got home on Sunday, my parents meet us and we were able to go out to dinner to celebrate their 40th anniversary. I am so glad that they drove all this way to celebrate with us. it had felt like we hadn't seen them in so long as they have been busy going to Wenatchee and Coulee Dam to help get my grandma settled in her new home and getting her old one packed and cleaned.

Although we have had fun on our trips, I am looking forward to a weekend at home as I am sure our house is too since it needs some TLC. School starts in just a couple of weeks and I need to get organized to be ready for three school kiddos and all of their stuff.

Lets Head Downstairs...

2009-07-26T21:53:00.001-07:00

So we are back at the entryway, heading downstairs. I LOVE these pictures of the boys. My original thought was to hang these in our bedroom but once I got them in their frames I knew they had to go here. They just fit so well and helps out this HUGE wall.

So this is standing on the bottom step looking straight ahead. When we rented out the basement we put a door that went from the left side of the laundry room door to the right side of the stairs. When we did laundry, we had to go into the renters space. Thankfully she worked pretty regular hours so I got pretty good at staying on top of the laundry so that I didn't have to disturb her. The bathroom back there is the one that the boys claim. They are also the lucky ones who get to clean it. It doesn't get perfectly clean but I don't have to deal with the mess that gets created by three young boys. Ha!

We found this sign while getting our Christmas tree a couple of years ago. I thought it was cute so Dean bought it for me and it now hangs in the laundry room. Last year for Mother's Day Dean redid the laundry room for me. (The old post of that is here) Below is a picture of the room "in use" today. It functions SO much better than the old one. Once again I wish we had been better about taking before and after pictures.

Back out into the hall way, the laundry room is on my left and the stairs are on my right. The door frame on the right is the toy closet, the boys' room is straight ahead, and the falmily room is the doorway on the left.

Below is one side of the toy closet, aka toy store. The other side of the closet has more shelves and more toys. They boys and I are going to sort through and get rid of some toys before school starts again. (We just went through the game closet upstairs and they did great getting rid of things!)

So here is their room. Jake had really wanted a space room so we found a really dark blue and then decided that we needed to add another color so that it wouldn't be a total cave in there. He had gotten a lot of different space posters for one of his birthdays so wall decor was a breeze. There are also planets hanging from the ceiling though I am ready to take those down. Saturn has already lost its rings, Jupiter fell down, and last night I noticed that Uranus is only half a globe.

Jake gets the upper bed, Austin is below, and we just moved Griff down here and he gets a mattress on the floor. They are doing great together so far though we are already seeing that the day is coming soon when Jake is going to want his own space.

The white shelves below are the storage place for all of Austin's creations. He loves, loves, loves to build things with Legos and Knex. They are usually some type of spaceship. The paper bag on the floor is filled with his other favorite type of creation...paper airplanes.

As I've said before, one of THE BEST things about this house is the storage. Every bedroom has walk-in closets. This one goes all the way under the stairs (down to the very last step!) The little curtain hides the storage of our winter stuff and other odds and ends that needed a home. There are shelves to the left and right of the door which hold all of the boys' clothes and their Legos and K'nex (that is so the little ones at playgroup can't get to the tiny toys). Oh, by the way, Griffen is doing his rockstar drummer thing in this picture.

Finally we come to the family room. It is quickly becoming one of my favorite rooms. Dean finally got his wish after this last Christmas and got recessed lights for in here. I finally got my wish for the wall of shelves. They aren't quite finished yet. We are still trying to figure out what we want to use for the counter top. We think we want to find some wood flooring (at the Re-Store) to put on it. I am just happy to have a place for our books, movies, and the boys' video games.

The windows down here are what the windows upstairs used to look like. Aluminum windows and no trim. The cupboards down here are so handy for craft stuff and art supplies for the boys (not that they are really into crafts, but I am ready should they want to make something. Ha!)

Below is the fireplace. Dean did the surround a couple of years ago. Before is was just two sheets of metal. And we now have our official baby gate around it just as required by the state. It is nice knowing the kids can't get too close to it now though because it gets REALLY HOT when there is a fire in it. Dean finished up the touch up painting today after I took pictures (I just realized this as I see a big white spot on the hallway wall next to the toy closet.)

So that is where we live. I hope you have enjoyed the tour of the inside. If I think about it I will try to get some pictures of the outside too.

Let's Finish the Upstairs Tour...

2009-07-25T16:49:00.001-07:00

I couldn't find the pictures of the this room before it was our office so you'll just have to trust me that this room has seen the biggest change since we moved in. When we first moved here this room was a sun room or basically a closed in portion of the deck. The windows in the picture above went almost all the way to the floor and the "outside" of the wall that it shared with the kitchen had the shingle siding on it. When we had Griffen, we were still renting the basement out and didn't really have a room for him so we insulated, added new windows, sheet rock and changed the door (just a screen door before) and it became a nursery. It was the perfect little nursery. There was a counter that I think had been a potting bench of sorts that was the perfect height for a changing table. And it was great to be able to peek in on him through the windows. Now it is our office and also where my scrapbooking stuff has landed and it works really well for that too.

Above is the new door out to the deck. It never gets used as there is usually something in the way AND it still hasn't been painted. Below is the counter/desk area. The the wall at the backside of the shelves slants in toward the room so the bottom shelf is thinner than the top. Kinda of a weird thing to work with but it still holds things :).

Now lets head down the hall toward the bedrooms. A super great thing about this house is that there is a TON of storage. The woman we bought this house from lived next door before she had this house built. Next door is small with no storage which she more than compensated for in this house. There are FOUR closets in the hallway (two on each side). The bedrooms are at the end of the hall. This is the boys' old room as you walk in the door. This was the very first room that we painted and decorated. I had been wanting to give them a fun room for so long that I had a great time with the airplane theme. Our renter at the time came up and helped me paint the clouds.

The airplane kite was a great find at the beach one year. I think that this room won't look like this much longer as we change it to be a little girls room. I am a little sad to see this go away but I know that it needs to be painted again anyway.

The cloud above the crib is my favorite. It was the first one painted and I think the one that turned out the best. Right now I am thinking about how I want to change it into a little girl's room. I think I am going to paint it a light pink and then use a light purple, light green, and other colors to make it like a garden with flowers and bugs (cute ones).

The last room upstairs is our room. I still REALLY like the red but I need to figure out what to put on the huge wall behind our bed. This room, as usual, is the last one on the decorating list.

We (Dean) put in the french door that goes out onto the deck. It was just a large window (the same width as the double door) before. After Dean built the deck we knew it was just a matter of time before we put the door in. Dean was just commenting on how much cooler our room gets at night during the heat now that we have the door.

That doorway leads to our bathroom and closet. The bathroom is just a plain old ordinary bathroom but it sure felt like living in the lap of luxury when we moved in. The last house we lived in only had one bathroom and it was downstairs, not the best thing when pregnant and needing to go down the old staircase at night multiple times. Ha!

So that is the upstairs. As soon as I get the downstairs a little more presentable I will show you around there too. Hopefully that will be in the next day or two.

Come into the Kitchen for a Latte...

2009-07-23T22:33:00.001-07:00

There are two ways into our kitchen. The first, and probably most used, is the door to the right of the stairs as you come up to the main floor. This picture above was taken from that doorway. That's my desk there with the all-important cork boards above that hold all of the necessary things I need to know (mostly school stuff for the boys). The picture below is also from the doorway and shows one of my favorite things in the kitchen...the pot rack. It gained me some much needed cupboard space. My sweet hubby even crawled through the attic to put in the supports we needed to hang it.

We did a fair amount of work changing things in here about 7 years ago. We painted the cupboards, which use to be the early 80s brown, and added the hardware to them. We painted the walls which we would like to repaint but are fine with it for now. Changed the light fixtures, above the sink there used to be a "lovely" fluorescent box light. And the biggest change, besides the appliances, was the flooring which used to be a hideous multipurpose brown carpet. YUCK! We still have a wish list but when we talk about changing the sink (tired of the 30 year old stained one) it grows to while we're at it we might as well do the counters. But then why put nice new counters on the beat up old cabinets....etc. So, here we are and that is fine since the "wish list" seems a bit spendy right now.

One of my other favorite things is our pantry, below. It is big and has a counter that things like the bread machine can stay on. The best thing though are the doors that can close on any mess in there. We have talked about the possibility of knocking this area out and making an island to open the kitchen up to the living room. There I times I think I would love that but then I think I would really miss this pantry.

When we first moved in, we had this dining area as the play area. I figured that since I spent a lot of time in the kitchen what better place to have the boys play in. That only lasted a little while until we got tired of digging spilled food out of the carpet in the dining room. The little yellow room off of the dining room is our office. I will post pictures of that tomorrow because I am hoping to find some older pictures of that room too. The picture below is of a quilt wall hanging that my mom made for me for my birthday one year. I still really love it and it goes well in here. This room gets used A LOT, as most kitchens do. There are times when I wish it was a bit bigger but really, it is a great kitchen with lots of light and space. Thanks for coming to see our kitchen. Hopefully I can find the pictures I want to find for tomorrows tour.

Welcome to Our House....Come on In!

2009-07-22T22:45:00.000-07:00

Once you step into our house you are on a small landing in our stairwell. The house is a split level but not in the traditional sense. You only have to go up about 5 stairs to get to the main floor but need to go down about 1o to get to the basement. Anyway, the picture above is the view into the house as you come in. The picture below is just about the best find from Ikea. We were in need of some way to contain the large pile of shoes that were collecting by the front door since they made the small entry even smaller. While at Ikea we found this shoe keeper. It looks great, holds lots of shoes, and doesn't take up much space!

As you walk into the living room we have our bookcase along the wall. Once again Ikea came through with a very useful piece of furniture. When we first moved into this house we rented the basement out and these shelves helped contain the many baby toys that seemed to multiply and take over. They actually still hold some baby toys that get played with when playgroup comes over.

Around the corner, to the right of the shelves is what is supposed to be the dining room. We did use it as that when we first moved in but it quickly changed to the toy area and now is just a part of the living room. The piano (the one I used as a kid) fits pretty well there.

The picture below is taken from the door to the deck (by the piano). I like how cozy this room feels. I still like the color we painted it, which happens to be called Griffin (a fact we remembered awhile after he was born). I also like how light it usually is in here. There are so many windows (6 plus the door).
I wish we had been better at taking before and after pictures of the house. When we first moved in, there was a freestanding woodstove in the middle of the wall where the tree picture is now. It was on a big brick platform that stuck out into the room. It was a lot of fun tearing that out! The other major difference was that the woman who lived here (and had the house built) had wall-to-wall curtains in this room. They literally started in one corner and went across the wall and around the next corner and past the door. We took those down the first day! Oh....Dean also did all of the trim around these windows when we replaced the windows. Before it was the 70s/80s no-trim look with a little strip of laminate on the window sills.

So...there is the first stop in our tour. Come and make yourself comfortable and we can chat for awhile. Tomorrow we can head to the kitchen and I'll make you a latte!

Our Little Taste of Foster Care

2009-07-20T22:16:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday night, after I got off work, I picked up a very sweet little girl from her daycare. Dean and I knew that it was just a five day thing while her foster family was going camping and I thought it was a good way to get our feet wet as foster parents. Talking to Dean about it a little tonight we both thought things went well. She was a very, very quiet little girl and didn't show much reaction to things. She would have times that she would smile or even laugh, usually with the boys, but overall was really quiet and just watched us. One of my favorite moments was when she walked over to the windows, pointed out to where the boys were playing, and said, "byz" with a smile. She hadn't said more than "no" and "mine" for the three days before.

I think the thing that surprised me (and Dean too) was how well the boys did with her. They were amazing! They were always looking out for her and showing her things around the house. They would find toys for her and show her how to play with them. They were so gentle and loving toward her. My heart nearly burst when Austin asked me if we were "going to keep her until she was all grown up." When I explained that she was only staying for a few days and that her foster family was going to pick her up on Sunday, he asked if we would get her back after a little while and then keep her. How sweet is that? It does make me wonder how the boys might handle kiddos coming and possibly going. I guess this is another thing to pray for and leave to God's perfect timing and knowledge. Only He knows what we can handle. I am just so thankful for the sweetness my boys showed and I know, even more now, that the little girl who is to be apart of our family is going to have three amazing protectors!

I think for Dean and I, the last five days showed us that we can herd four kids like we herd our three. Ha! It was a bit of an adjustment to have diapers to change again but it was also fun to watch her try things and watching her walk and run was about THE cutest thing ever. I think that it WAS a great way to get started and was a very positive five days for our whole family.

Ah...the Lazy Days of Summer

2009-07-18T23:46:00.000-07:00

The weather has been so great the last few days that we finally dug out the swimming pool yesterday. The boys were so excited that they couldn't wait until it was all filled before getting in. We had talked about going to the aquatic center yesterday as our family adventure but it was so hot that we thought it was silly to swim indoors so we stayed home and played in our little pool instead. I even got in at one point though it was quite an adjustment since the water basically felt like it was a melted iceberg.

The boys didn't mind one bit and really had fun. They played in it more today and even got into a huge splashing contest. Hopefully the weather will continue to be great and we can enjoy the pool for awhile longer.

We also went across the street for a little while today. Jake and Austin decided after about 3 minutes that it was too hot to be there and they headed back home. Griff and I and our little girl for the week stayed and played for awhile. I did take pictures but as she is a foster kiddo we aren't able to post them on the web so you will just have to take my word that she is adorable and had fun at the park.

This week I am hoping to get some pictures taken of our house and do some posts with them. I read a blog that was doing "Show us Where You Live Fridays" and I thought it was a great idea but I didn't do any at that time. While in Wenatchee, I was talking to my cousin who said that I should do some posts of the house and looking at my "official" followers, 4 out of the 6 haven't been here and the 5th hasn't been here in a couple of years so I will try to do that this week. In theory it should be the perfect week since Jake and Austin will be at day camp all week and the house SHOULD stay clean longer than it has been. So...there...I have committed to it and now have to do it. I will also do a post on our first little week of fostering.

Hope you all are having fun in the sun!

We're Still Here! Really, We Are!

2009-07-12T21:45:00.000-07:00

June always seems to go by in a big blur. The boys finished up school on the 18th. They both had great years. Austin's teachers mentioned at how much he has grown (maturity wise) since he started with them in 1st grade. Jacob had a few moments of being sad that he wasn't going to have his teacher again next year. She was a fantastic teacher and we are already hoping that Austin will get her in two years. June also brings Royal Family Kids Camp which usually means that I disappear for at least a week or two as I get ready for another week of doing Breakfast Club. For those of you not familiar with RFKC (though most of my family is :)) it is a camp for abused and neglected kids. They get to spend a week at camp just being kids with adults who pour the love of Jesus on them. I have been helping with the planning of a particular part of camp called Breakfast Club for awhile now. This is an activity time when the counselors go to a meeting and the rest of the staff is helping out. At our camp (there are camps all around the world) we break the kids up into 6 groups and they rotate through different activities like crafts, games, stories, and the ever popular cooking (they get to help make stuff and eat it too). This year was a great camp and things seemed to run so smoothly. The kids had a great week.

June also brought an end to pictures. The battery in my camera or its charger has stopped working so I didn't get any pictures in June. Thankfully, I found our old camera so I do have some pictures to share.

The boys and I traveled to Wenatchee the weekend of the 4th of July. My grandma had been really sick and my aunt brought her to the hospital in Wenatchee. We got to visit with her for awhile and see some relatives too. Grandma looks very thin but she seemed spunky and had fun talking with us while we were there. She is going to move to an assisted living place in Wenatchee soon (I think even this week) so she will be closer to my aunt and uncle and cousins. I am glad that she is going to be closer to family and not on her own anymore.

This past Friday, we started our "Friday Family Adventures" (I just named it that). Dean and I decided that we needed to make a point of getting out and doing fun things with the boys and since I don't work Fridays and Dean can sometimes make Fridays shorter, it seemed like a good choice. This Friday we decided to try Letterboxing again. We found all kinds of clues for boxes hidden around our area and, with the Sims, we chose to head up to Western's campus as there were 3 or 4 boxes there.

Well... we followed the clues to the first box and hunted all around the rocks but couldn't find anything. Since the clue said that the box had been hidden back in 2005 we figured it wasn't around anymore. So we set off following the clues for number two.

We found the tree that it should have been in but once again were disappointed. The tree looked as if it had been pruned so my guess was that a grounds keeper found it and didn't know it was a letterbox and got rid of it. So we hoped for a find at number three.

The kids raced up the hill, found the stump, but once again no box. Bummer! We walked around campus a little more and then decided to go pick up some food and take it to Boulevard Park. We got pizza for the kids while Toni and Jason got some Thai food for us adults. (Pad Thai...yummmmmm!) I also remembered that we had printed off clues for a box at Boulevard. Thankfully this one also included a "last found" date which was just three days before. After dinner we started looking. When we reached the end of the clues, the kids raced to where the box should be and very soon we heard Jordan yell, "Found it!"

There was a great stamp with a salmon and the name of the park on it. Unfortunately for us (the Hendricksons) we forgot to grab our log book and stamp from the car which was at the completely opposite end of the park. Oh well, we will just have to go back and refind it!

Well, we have a busy week ahead as we are going to provide respite care for a little foster girl from Tuesday through Sunday. She goes to my friends daycare and has come to playgroup here a few times. It seems like a good way for us to get our feet wet.

We hope you all are enjoying your summer!

Five Kids on a Hammock

2009-06-02T22:40:00.000-07:00

This last weekend we had the Sims over for a campfire. The kids always have a great time together. This time around they thought that playing on the hammock next door at Dean's brothers house was the best thing ever. Of course they thought the best part was making it flip.

A Little Time at the Beach

2009-05-25T23:16:00.000-07:00

We just got back last night from spending four days down on the Washington and Oregon coast. Dean had vacation all last week, so we left Wednesday night and headed south. We arrived at Dean's parents house a bit before 11pm and were soon asleep after getting everyone settled for the night.

Thursday, Dean and I took off for Cannon Beach, Oregon. Since we started our family 11 years ago, Dean and I have tried to make a point of getting away for at least a night or two on our own. We both really appreciate these times when we can reconnect and spend some time as a couple. (It also helps us to get recharged as parents). This time we only took one night away so we decided to splurge a little and stayed at a hotel right on the beach. It was a beautiful hotel with an amazing view (see the picture below). We were also excited to get back to Bill's Tavern and Brew House for what, we think, are the best fish and chips ever. I think since the first time we ate there it is now a must whenever we are in the area.

This was the view from our balcony

Friday we headed back to Ocean Park and our boys. That afternoon, we headed a little further north on the peninsula to Leadbetter Point. There are some trails that loop around either to the bay side of the peninsula or the ocean side. We decided to head toward the beach but as we got closer and closer to the ocean we ran into bigger muddy spots that finally brought us to a portion of the trail covered in water. We tried to forge ahead but ended up turning around. On our way back we passed a couple going toward the water and warned them but they decided to try anyway (no kids to whine and complain). We went toward the bay and walked along that beach for awhile finding all kinds of shells. As we got ready to leave we saw the brave couple and asked if they made it to the ocean. They said that they waded through the water at times half way up their shins and then turned around. (I'm glad we didn't go any further). Later that day we noticed that our poor Jake came home with some trophies...4-5 bug bites on his forehead that puffed up to make him look a little bit like a Klingon from Star Trek.

Saturday, the wind that we had been having the past few days died down so we headed out to the ocean (this time by car). Austin and Griff had a great time digging in the sand while Jake and Dean threw a football back and forth. They even let me throw it sometimes and helped me improve my form.
As I left the football game, I turned to see my other two funny boys making....

SAND ANGELS!

They crack me up! They were so determined to make good ones too. Finally the call of the water was too much to ignore. Griff and Aus headed down and began the ever fun game of running from the waves. They had so much fun running from the icy cold ocean that was chasing after them.

Jake came down to the water a little bit later and joined in the running fun. They each got a little wetter with each wave but then jake won the prize when he fell down and got drenched. Of course we didn't plan ahead too well for our impromptu trip to the ocean and didn't have any towels or changes of clothes. Oops!

We had so much fun playing together and are ready to finish up the school year and have some more fun this summer.

Jake's New Look

2009-05-05T21:26:00.001-07:00

Last Thursday Jake took a big step forward in growing up...

Here he is before:

And here he is after:

Our Jakie got braces! Right now it is just top braces but in about four months or so they will add a device (not sure how to spell it so I won't even try) that will move his lower jaw forward a bit. It takes the place of head gear but it is on the inside of his mouth and doesn't get taken out whenever he wants. It is always in but not as visible as the lovely head gear. That will stay on for about 8 months and then when that is taken out they will do bottom braces. The whole process should take about 2 years.

He is doing great with them. He was a little worried about it hurting but was a champ. When he got home from school that afternoon he was a bit sore and we made sure he had soft food for dinner (mac & cheese) and of course topped the night off with ice cream. True to Jake form, he is making sure that I remember what things he can and can't eat. He doesn't want to chance breaking his braces (I am very thankful for that!).

Dean and I figure that as soon as his braces are off it will be Austin's turn. Sheesh...these kids are expensive! (But well worth it!)

What Have We Been Up To?

2009-04-26T21:34:00.000-07:00

Sheesh! I am falling down on the job here! I wish I could say that we have been busily settling in with a new little one BUT not even a call yet. I am using the time to, hopefully, get some much needed spring cleaning done and an ultra organized house (in my dreams).

Anyway, Easter was, as usual, a quiet family day. Dean's grandparents came up on Saturday and went to church with us in the morning and then we all ate brunch at Toni and Jason's house. The boys got a few little Easter gifts in the morning and then we did an egg hunt after brunch at the Sims' house.

The weather around here has been beautiful! Today we went over to the school and played a bit. The boys have been really into baseball the last few days. They have been playing catch with Dean in the backyard and today they practiced hitting over at the school.

Austin and Griffen also played for while at the playground. It has been so nice to have the sun shining and finally feel like winter is over. I also got a little more of the flower beds cleaned up. I will have to take some pictures soon as the flowers are coming in.

Last but certainly not least. Dean has been busy building me my valentine/birthday/mother's day gift. I have been asking for a wall of shelves for probably three years now, ever since we took over the downstairs of our house. Dean built a small little shelving unit, when we got the tv, to hold the dvd player, cable box, movies, etc. Well, I took to suggesting that we expend that little shelf to go across the whole wall and go up and around the tv. Finally, three years later, I am getting my shelves. They look AMAZING! Dean would never admit it but he is really good at building things. I feel very lucky that I have such a handy husband!

The boys even got in on the project and helped with the sanding. Now all that is left is to finish painting them!

Approved!

2009-04-07T20:46:00.000-07:00

Yep! We are officially approved! At work today, I was between projects and decided to check our family email since I hadn't checked it yet today. The first email in our inbox was from our licensor with the subject line reading "good news". The email was short and to the point. She had gotten our file back from her supervisor and it had been approved. She also said that our license and cards are in the mail.

Now we wait.

Wait for the right call.

Wait for a new little one to join our family.

Most importantly, we are praying that God will make "the call" clear.

Please pray that with us.

A Little Bit of Everything

2009-04-03T20:57:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been a really long time since I have posted anything. I have been meaning to but I couldn't find my camera which had the pictures I wanted on it. I finally found it today so here is a post that contains a little bit of everything.

First I have to show off the beautiful flowers that I got for my birthday. The first bouquet showed up at the church, just after I got to work, from my wonderful husband. They were SO pretty and smelled great.

About an hour or so later, another delivery came to the office. This time it was these beautiful pink roses from my mom and dad. They too smelled wonderful and are so so pretty. If you look closely to the right of the roses, there is a little green plant that my co-workers got for me. I am hoping that I can keep this one alive (I don't really have a green thumb). I have taken it back to the church so that I can have help it taking care of it.

A few days later we celebrated Griffen's birthday with a few of his friends. He had picked out "Happy Feet" as the theme so the kiddos threw things into "ice holes" (a bean bag toss) and went fishing. The poles were dowels with magnets on the end of the strings and the fish were paper with paper clips on them. They all seemed to have fun and Griffen was excited that his party had finally come. It was really hard for him in November when both Jake and Austin had their birthdays.

A couple of weeks ago the Spring soccer season started. We bundled up on Saturday the 21st and headed out to the soccer fields. Boy was it COLD! Austin did great and got in a few good passes. He seems to be understanding the game a little more this year. The whole team actually looked pretty good at the game too and they won!

Then on the 26th, the annual science fair was held at the school. This year Austin was able to participate as well. He chose to do the same experiment as Jake did which was about electricity. They tested different things around the house to see if they would conduct electricity. They both had fun doing it and making their posters and showing how to turn the light bulbs on.

Finally on the adoption/foster care front. We heard about a week and a half ago that our file had been given to the supervisor for approval. Our licensor called to ask a couple of clarifying questions and sounded like it shouldn't be too long. Well, we still haven't heard anything once again and are waiting, waiting, waiting. I am expecting a call or email that says we are going to have to redo our background checks. They are supposed to expire after 90 day which it has been well over 90 since we did ours. Anyway, our adoption case manager is ready to get working to find us a little one but she has to wait until we are licensed. I will most likely be sending another email to the licensor this next Monday. (Squeeky wheel that I am)

We hope you all are enjoying some spring weather. We are looking forward to some sun and warmth here tomorrow.

Quick Update

2009-03-20T13:01:00.000-07:00

So I haven't posted in awhile and thought I should give a quick update on where we are at with the foster parent licensing. Well... we are hopefully close for real this time. Last week we got a call that the only thing holding things up was that they didn't have one of our references. This was frustrating news because we knew that the one missing had been sent back at the beginning of this process. As of yesterday, the licensor called my dear sister-in-law (the missing reference) and was able to help her get the forms online. Toni then filled them out and got them in the mail yesterday as well. So, if all goes well with the mail, they should have everything by early next week and our application and home study will go to the supervisor for approval.

As frustrating as all of these delays have been, when I think about it, I am glad for the delay at least right at this moment. With the craziness of starting my new job and trying to figure out how our routine is going to flow now, I can't imagine how crazy things would have seemed if the new job AND a new little one in our family came at the same time. The job is going great by the way and I am feeling like I am getting into a routine. There are still a few things that I need to figure out when to do them, the most important being exercise. I haven't exercised in a few weeks and am feeling and seeing the effects of it. So this next week I will be finding the best time to get some much needed exercise each day.

Griffen

2009-03-13T18:40:00.001-07:00

My little guy turned five years old today! He still seems so little to me, not nearly big enough to be starting kindergarten in the fall. This little boy adds so much to our family. He is very funny and loves to make people laugh. He also loves music and still finds anything to use as drum sticks. He is so different from the other two boys (who are so different from each other) I never thought it was possible to have three opposites who are also so similar at the same time. He loves his big brothers and is looking all the time to find ways to be like them.

This was my last pregnancy and I knew it would be before we even got pregnant. It was a pretty easy pregnancy like the other two though my body was so familiar with being pregnant that it jumped ahead of itself with many of the aches and pains. I was due on March 4th but was sure that this one would be early especially when, at the beginning of February, the doctor checked and I was beginning to dilate. With the other two this meant that baby would come in about two weeks. Two weeks later I was at a 3 which meant baby would be here in a couple of days. WRONG! The baby I was hoping to have by Leap Day was still cozy in my tummy on my due date, and then on MY birthday. Two days later (and a couple of appointments when the doctor said "I'd be surprised if you made it to the next appointment") later, my doctor set up an induction date and then tried to give Griff a little push to start labor. That evening we were watching movies and the crampy contractions turned into real contractions. But they would stop for 20 to 30 minutes. Dean decided to get some sleep while I stayed up watching the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy. Finally at about 4:00am the contractions started coming regularly at about 5 to 7 minutes and I waddled down the hall to wake Dean up. I was so worried when we got to the hospital because the contractions stopped again right when they hooked me up to the monitors. Thankfully I was at 5-6 cm and got to stay!

Things went pretty fast from that point on. My doctor was the one on call until 7am (only two more hours) so she decided to break my water to "get things moving". Boy did they move! The instant my water broke the contractions came one on top of the other. One contraction wouldn't be all the way gone when another would start. I had told my doctor that I wanted an epidural the same second she told me she wanted to break my water. Unfortunately, the epidural had to wait until all of my admitting labs were back. The nice doctor with the lovely medicine was so nice and tried to get the lab to get it done faster (I guess my loudness during each contraction helped a bit with that) I laugh now because I knew what his shoes looked like and everytime I heard our door open I would pray to see the "brown shoes" coming under the curtain. Brown shoes = rest! Finally I got to rest for about an hour. At 7:00 a nurse said that my doctor would stop by to check me and see if I was close enough for her to stay or if the next doctor would take over. At about 7:15 she did come by. I was hoping to be at least 8 or 9 but she told me that I was a 10! and that baby was close. I actually only had to push about 5 times and little man Griffen entered the world at 7:29am.

Griff was a pretty laid back baby (maybe not as mellow as Jake but still pretty mellow) He loved to watch his big brothers play and as he grew so did his desire to be like them.

Griff has the distinction in our family as the first kiddo who had to get stitches. It was on halloween day 2005. He fell into the coffee table and split his lip. Thankfully my sister-in-law was next door and helped me get him to the doctor. He was really mad at the doctor during the procedure but he did great with the stitches after that.

Griff also is a story teller. I remember when this picture was taken. He was telling me all kinds of things in his little Griffy language and was pretty serious about it. He still likes to tell stories and quite often is the last one done with meals because he has spent most of the time talking.

Griff and his big boy bed. That was one of his most exciting days. I was ready to let him stay in the crib for as long as possible (he is my baby after all). He kept trying to show me that he was ready for an upgrade. He would climb up onto Austin's bed and lay pencil straight and say "see mom, see" The day he got his bed he was SO proud!

His first day of preschool was another proud day for him. He was finally getting to go to school like his brothers. His teacher loves him so much and it makes me proud that others notice what a great kid he is. I am sure that Griff is convinced he is going to the "big" school on Monday because he is five now. Hopefully he won't be too disappointed.

Our little man isn't so little anymore. He is growing up and I look forward to seeing what he can accomplish as he grows. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRIFFEN!!!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!!

My Grandma

2009-03-10T21:00:00.000-07:00

On February 27th my Grandma Mahlum went home to Jesus. As much as my heart hurts at the thought of not getting to see her when I go to Longview, I know without a shadow of a doubt that she is sitting at the feet of her Savior praising Him. I also know that she was welcomed home with the words, "Well done My good and faithful servant."

Grandma and Grandpa on their wedding day. They were married for 62 years.

I grew up in the same town as my grandma and grandpa Mahlum. (I even lived just a few blocks away from them throughout high school.) They were both a very big part of my growingup. They were both great examples of the Christian walk. They prayed daily for family, friends, and many others in need. They served the people God put in their lives faithfully and selflessly.

My Grandma was usually in one of three places in her home. In the kitchen baking rolls or even cinnamon rolls (the BEST ever), in her rocking chair in the living room crocheting, or in the extra bedroom sewing. She also loved gardening, flowers and vegetables. I remember her always sending me outside with a bowl to pick some blueberries for her. Of course most of them ended up in my tummy and not the bowl but she always knew that would be the outcome. For as long as I can remember, Grandma reminded of the grandmas in storybooks. Her long hair was always in braids that she wore like a crown circled on her head, her house was always warm from baking and she would sit in her rocking chair crocheting. I even wrote a poem in high school about her for Mother's Day one year.

A more recent visit with Grandma in November.

I am so thankful that I was able to learn how to make lefse this past Christmas with her supervising to make sure I was getting it right. I am also SO thankful that I was able to spend some time with her the weekend before she passed away. She has left a large family (9 kids, 28 grandkids, and 36 great grandkids) and we all have been blessed to have her as an example of how to walk with Jesus.

The Mahlum kids: Kerm, Esther, Marg, Dale (Pete), Al, Jim, Wanda, Faith, and Cindy. (oldest to youngest)

Another Quick Update

2009-02-26T19:44:00.001-08:00

So life at the Hendrickson household has been BUSY. The biggest change is that I now have a part time job! I was hired as the part time administrative assistant at our church and I officially started today. I think it will be a fun job and it seems to fit our family schedule well. I was able to set my hours and so I am working Mondays and Wednesdays from 10 to 4:30 and Tuesdays and Thursdays 12:30 to 4:30. As of right now this works well because it gives me plenty of time to get Griffen to preschool on Mondays and Wednesdays and then on Tuesdays and Thursdays Dean will be home in time for me to leave. I only need to find someone to pick Griffen up at school for me on Mondays (my good friend Conne is going to get him on Wednesdays) and then keep him for about an hour until Dean can come get him. It seems that this will work well though but we will see what summer does to this lovely schedule.

On the foster care/adoption front, we still haven't heard anything. I was planning on emailing our licensor at some point this week to check in on things but with the new job and me coordinating a wedding this weekend, that email will have to wait until next week.

So now I need to keep woking on wedding things so that I don't forget anything tomorrow that needs to be done for the big day on Saturday. An unprepared coordinator doesn't make a smooth wedding day :).

Quick Update....Waiting

2009-02-17T22:52:00.000-08:00

So we had our final home visit on Friday. I was a little extra nervous about this one because they were coming to specifically look at the house and make sure that we were up to their standards. Well...we were missing one item, a fire escape ladder for Griffen's room. The licensor was very nice and put us at ease right away. She said that all we needed to do was buy a ladder and then send her an email letting her know that we have it, which we did later Friday afternoon.

She let us know that the nest step was for her to write an addendum to our homestudy (she was very thankful that the rest was already done) and then it would be submitted to her supervisor. Then one of two things will happen, the supervisor will either request more information or we will be approved. After approval we will be added onto the list of foster homes and we should start getting calls.

So now we have done our part and are just waiting for our approval. I am hopeful that it will come soon. We will see...

Happy Valentines a Little Late... and Another Anniversary

2009-02-15T21:05:00.000-08:00

I hope you all had a great Valentines Day with the ones you love. We spent a very quiet day at home. I baked some cookies, the boys played, and Dean had to go to the truck for a little while. Then we all watched Wall-E together while eating our favorite treat, popcorn and M&Ms. I tried to take pictures but the battery was dead in my camera. Sorry.

Anyway, I also realized that I missed another anniversary date by a couple of days. February 12, 1993 was the day that Dean and I got engaged. His original plan was to ask me on Valentines Day but many different things conspired together and his original plan got thrown out the window.

I was supposed to be coming home from school on the train on Friday night. Dean had planned to take me on a picnic with Chinese food and then have my fortune cookie stuffed with a paper asking me to marry him. Well....I actually got home Friday afternoon when a friend was able to borrow her uncle's van and we drove down. I went to Dean's house and waited for him to get home. As he pulled into the driveway, his jaw dropped when he saw me. He seemed flustered told me that he had an appointment at 3:00 and I couldn't come. I told him that I had a few errands to do and that I would meet him at my house later because I needed to see my mom before she left for the weekend quilt retreat. While I was waiting for him, my dad called and asked me to come to his office. I said that I was waiting for Dean and he said that he would call Deam to have him come get me at the office because he really needed that car.

I was very surprised when Dean did really come to the office to get me. As we left Dean suggested getting some Chinese food and taking it to a park. I told him that I needed to go home first to say goodbye to my mom. We then went back and forth a bit until he finally gave in and headed to my house. On the way, I mentioned how odd it was to not be wearing my promise ring (one of my errands was to get my rings cleaned and the jeweler kept my promise ring saying he needed to fix something. In reality, Dean had called and asked him to keep it for a day). After about the second time saying it, Dean reached into his pocket, pulled out a little box and he handed it to me. Well, I just stared at it, afraid that is wasn't THE ring. When I finally opened it he asked, "will you marry me?" and of course I said yes. At the next stop sign he helped me put it on.

It ended up to be a good thing that he asked in the car because my mom came out of the house saying, "do you have something to show me?" Apparently my dad had asked him to propose before my mom left when Dean had met with him at 3:00 to ask my parents' blessing. I think I like the way he proposed better than his original plan. It is a fun memory.

Big Week at the Hendricksons

2009-02-10T21:41:00.000-08:00

This week is turning out to be a big week in the Hendrickson household. Thursday I have an interview at our church for a part time administrative assistant job. I think it would be a good fit for me and our family especially if the hours can be in the afternoon when Dean is home to be with the kiddos. So we will see what will happen with that.

The othe big news is that we finally have an appointment with our licensor! She will be here on Friday at 1:30 to go through our house and make sure we are up to their standards. I am really trying to be completely done with their checklist so that we can move forward. The licensor was so sweet and said not to worry if there aren't things done because she could just come back when they were. My thought is that it took long enough to get this first appointment and if we know what they want done why not get it done. So I have warned all of the boys in this house that we are going to have a couple of days of GOOD cleaning!

I am excited to see what God has planned for us with this potential job and our future as foster/adopt parents. Please pray that His will is clear and that we would recognize it and follow.

Getting Ready for Valentines Day

2009-02-03T20:38:00.000-08:00

So my little guy decided that he wanted to work on his Valentines for his class today. He had picked out some "Cars" valentines that had pencils with them. I put his classmates names on the cards and he wrote his own name. He was so cute and working so hard that I had to take a video. I thought that we would do just a few at a time over the next couple of days but he did all 11 of them in one sitting. Anyway, here is the video I took. It isn't very action packed but like I said, he is just so darn cute! (By the way, I know that my posts have been a little Griffen focused but that is who I spend most of my time with while Jake and Austin are in school. The older two are doing great and I will try to get more pictures and video of them soon)

Foster Care Update

2009-01-28T22:34:00.000-08:00

Well, it has been quite awhile since we have gotten any information but we finally got an email yesterday and feels like we are back on track to getting our foster care license. Our area recently got two new licensors in the last month and then we also had all of the snow, holidays, and rain and flooding. When we finally got in touch (by email) with one of them she said that we still needed to do the list of paperwork. I let her know that we did it all and gave it to the social worker who did our homestudy so she said that she would look for it. That was LAST Tuesday.

Yesterday, we got another email from the other licensor and it looks like she is going to be ours. She said that there seemed to be some missing paperwork so once again I let her know who we gave it to and she is on the hunt for it. She also said to email her again if we haven't heard from her by Friday. I feel like we are finally headed forward again and will hopefully be able to have her come see our house in the next week or two.

So the process continues and we are being patient but also excited that we seem to be mocing forward again. Please pray that they find our paperwork. It has been a concern for me since the social worker who did our homestudy was a temp and was "done" working the day after her last visit with us. Thankfully I do have copies of all of it so we won't have to redo it and the new licensor also said that she has both of our fingerprint results so that big hurdle is covered.

Thank you all for your support and prayers. They mean a lot to us!

Sunshine!!!!!!!

2009-01-19T20:48:00.001-08:00

Hooray! The sun has come out for the past two days here in the frozen northwest! Even though the snow melted awhile ago, it has still been COLD here. The last two days have been beautifully sunny and we have enjoyed it. Yesterday we ventured over to the school and the boys finally got to try out their scooters that they got for Christmas. Austin decided to shoot some hoops with Dean and Griffen couldn't resist a few trips down the slide.

Austin's dribbling skills are improving.

Proof of the sunshine.

Quite the contrast between Jake on the scooter and Griff on the same size of scooter. One seems too big and the other too little.

So my little guy who LOVES being in front of the camera put on quite a little show as I tried to video him climbing up the slide. The time he went up before the video, he practically flew up. Apparently going fast is a little hard when you are trying to impress the camera.

Who Teaches Him These Things?

2009-01-16T20:46:00.000-08:00

Just a fun little video we got today.

Griffen is learning the hierarchy of the house :). I honestly don't know where he learned it. He is definitely the entertainer in the family.

A Little Update on the Big Fort Campout

2009-01-12T20:59:00.000-08:00

So I know you all have been wondering how the sleeping in the fort went. Well....

Jake came upstairs at about 11:30 to ask if he could sleep in his bed.

Griffen woke up at about 1:15 crying that he couldn't get his sleeping bag back on. I don't really know what he had done to it but in the dark I couldn't figure it out either so he willingly went to his room too.

Austin wasn't aware of any of this and kept sleeping in the fort and even told Dean that Griff was still sleeping down there in the morning.

So, there you go. Our oh-so-adventurous boys once again didn't make it through the night even though they were still sleeping in the house. Maybe the call of their comfortable beds was a little too much. :)

Transformation

2009-01-10T20:15:00.000-08:00

Our family room has been transformed into a very large fort. Dean and the boys spent some time today building "Fort 2.0" (as Dean calls it). Fort 1.0 was built a couple of days ago but got taken down so that the boys wouldn't freeze when they slept.

We now have nowhere to sit but they sure are having fun in it.

When it was time for bed, they asked if they could sleep in the fort so...

That is where they are right now. Snuggled in their fort. We will see if they stay there or not. Last time they started out in a fort, about an hour later they all wound back up in their beds.

Jake's area has walls so that he has some privacy. Very ingenious of him I think.

Goodnight Everyone!!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

2009-01-02T13:26:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas together this year! Our celebration started Christmas Eve night. Dean's sister Toni and her husband Jason and their kids Jordan and Caleb came over for homemade pizza. Dean's brother Keith and his wife Sheri came over a little after dinner too. We were also joined by a friend named Carmen. We met her through Toni and Jason and she has become a part of the family as well since she is far from her family (she is from Columbia) After pizza the kids opened a few gifts and then everyone headed home. Our boys decorated some yummy cookies for Santa and then put on their new jammies and went to bed.

Santa's cookies with a generous helping of sprinkles.

I think this may have been the first year that the boys woke us up Christmas morning. Usually Dean is the first one awake and ready to get the boys up to open presents. We did still need to get Griffen up as he likes to sleep a little later than his brothers. It was a beautiful scene outside with all of our snow and the boys really enjoyed their presents. We were originally planning to head to Longview Christmas afternoon to be with family for dinner but since we had so much snow, Dean had to work on Friday. Thankfully he went to the store Wednesday afternoon and picked up a small ham for us. So after a day of playing with the new toys, we ate a yummy dinner of ham, mashed potatoes, rolls, and corn. A pretty good last minute Christmas dinner.

Christmas morning!

When Dean got home on Friday we left for Longview. When we arrived at my parents house, we opened gifts with them, had a little snack then headed for Dean's granparents. We had dinner at his grandparents house that night along with his aunt and uncle, mom and dad, and Toni and Jason and their kids. Then we got to open MORE presents with all of them. Saturday was another busy day of visiting friends and family topped off with another Christmas dinner, this time with my mom and dad. The highlight of my Saturday was going to my aunt's house and learning how to make lefse. My grandma even came over and supervised the lesson. We returned home Sunday morning.

Gift opening at Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's house.

Four generations of Mahlums

We spent new years with friends of ours at their house. There were five families altogether and we had a great time of playing games, eating good food, and just hanging out. The only bummer of the night was that our poor little Griff, after playing and having lots of fun, ended up getting a headache and then threw up a couple of time. He spent most of the rest of the night sleeping on my lap. We attempted to celebrate the east coast new year so that kids could go to sleep if they wanted but we missed it by three minutes. Then we tried again with the next two time zones without success but it didn't matter because all of the kids made it to midnight. it was a very fun night with friends made even better when Griffen woke up the next morning feeling perfectly fine.

Our poor little Griff's New Years Eve was spent sleeping on mom's lap.

We hope you all had a great Christmas and that 2009 is a blessed year for you!

More of My Favorite Ornaments

2008-12-22T20:32:00.000-08:00

So I said that I would post some more of my favorite Christmas tree ornaments and I almost forgot. So here they are:

This one is from a friend of mine who is a missionary in Kenya. She was one of the girls in a Bible study I was a part of my first two years in college. That group of ladies has, and always will, a special place in my heart. I am awed at the work Tracy is doing in Kenya for God's kingdom and feel very blessed to call her friend. She has been there for 6 years so far. I can't remember what year she sent this but it has been on our tree ever since.

These next two ornaments are what we gave the guests at our wedding 14 years ago. My mom wrote our names and the date on each one by hand (thanks mom!). I am not sure how many people actually took one that night because we ended up having quite a few left over. In fact, about 90% of our first tree, a year later, was decorated in these "Kim & Dean" ornaments. A couple of years later, our small group had a white elephant gift exchange and one lucky person took home a big box full of them. Unfortunately, at the same party the next year we ended up getting them back. Now we just have these two so I am making sure they get stored carfully.

The boys get a new ornament every year from us and Dean's parents so there are a lot of memories on our tree. I limited myself to just picking one from each boy and actually found a couple that were from them instead. This cute little angel Jake is from 1999. A friend of mine, Shannon, had watched Jake for me one day and when I came to pick him up she gave me this sweet little guy telling me that Jake had made it for me. He is just too cute!

These next two pictures go together. This is an ornament that Austin made for us when he was in kidergarten. I have a few different hand print gifts from the boys that have similar poems with them but I will never get tired of seeing how cute and little their hands were once.

These are Griffen's ornaments that he got in 2004, his first Christmas, and 2005 (I think). I love these two because they sum him up at that age. He LOVED to jump in his doorway jumper and I even began calling him my Tigger. When he got to be two he still loved to jump around and really loved it when I would sing the Tigger song while he jumped. (The wonderful thing about Tiggers, is Tiggers are wonderful things. Their tops are made out of rubber, their bottoms are made out of springs. Their bouncy, flouncy, trouncy, pouncy, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun. But the most wonderful thing about Tiggers is [your] the only one. Whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo)

The last ornament is one of about ten or so that my Grandma Mahlum made. They are all different shapes, sizes, and designs. I liked to watch her crochet as I was growing up and I enjoy getting these out every year and putting them on our tree because I know that they were made with lots and lots of love.

I Think We Got Some Snow!

2008-12-18T22:47:00.000-08:00

Well after being a bit disappointed Wednesday morning when we only had MAYBE a trace of new snow instead of the inches upon inches that we were told was coming, the snow started to dump by about 10:30. This is right when I was getting Jake and Austin ready to go over to school (late start). Jake even asked if they would then call off school since it was now snowing so hard. Sorry, no getting out of it. Off they went and Griff and I watched the snow level grow outside.

On Wednesday morning, the small area where there is a dip in the snow on the railing was actually bare since someone had pushed the snow off there. When we woke up on Thursday, it was like this. I am still amazed at how much we have. Griffen has a bit of a hard time walking in it since it goes past his knees at times.

Dean giving Griff a little help down the hill.

Late Wednesday night the school district had already cancelled school for today and Dean decided that he wouldn't go to work so we had a whole day to play in the snow! The boys spent a lot of the morning out in the backyard sledding down our little hill. After a bit of a warming up and a little food we headed over to the school to tackle the big hill! It has been so great to see the boys get more adventurous this year. In previous years, they had a hard time even going down with us, but now both Jake and Austin are going all the way to the top and flying down the hill. Austin is even trying to go over some small jumps that other kids put in. Griffen even got more daring when we found him a place lower down where he wouldn't get run over by the big kids. That was until I messed up and didn't let go of the sled soon enough when he tried to run and jump on it. He did a great faceplant in the snow as his little body continued forward when the sled stayed put because I didn't let go. Oops! He wasn't too happy with me and was done with sledding at that point.

We ended our day with a Christmas party with our small group from church. We had yummy food and a very fun white elephant gift exchange. We love our small group. They are a great bunch of people and we have lots of fun together!

All six couples: the Palmers, the Kindlunds, the Pursleys, the Buhlers, us, and the Farrs.

Six families worth of kids. All 15 of them! (9 boys, 6 girls.)

On This Day Twenty Years Ago...

2008-12-16T22:13:00.000-08:00

...I was getting ready for my first date. I know, you all are probably saying, "Wait a minute, I thought she couldn't date until she was sixteen. It hasn't been four months since her last anniversary post." Well you are correct, it hasn't been four months, but my mom and dad decided that they would allow me to go on my first date three months early. The Winter Ball at our school was on December 17, 1988 and my parents said that I could go as long as Dean came a little early to pick me up so that they could meet him.

My mom and I took a special trip up north to find my very first formal dress. We looked at a lot but found this blue one and I fell in love with it. Saturday night, my mom helped me get ready and Dean arrived about a half an hour before our dinner reservations. We exchanged Christmas presents and he got to know my parents a little and they got to know him a bit. We went to a "fancy" restaurant close to my house with Dean's best friend and his girlfriend then we were off to the dance. It was a fun evening capped off with dessert after with more friends. Who would have guessed that night that...

Six Years Later, on December 17, 1994....

We would be getting married! It honestly wasn't planned to be on the six year anniversary of our first date, it just was. We had gotten engaged almost two years before while we were living about two hours apart (a story I will save for THAT anniversary).

Our first intention was to both finish college and then have a couple of months to find jobs then get married. Well that put our wedding around August of 2005. After about 8 months, we both felt that the long engagement thing was getting rediculous so we started looking at our options. We were still at different colleges, I was at UW and Dean was in Ellensburg at Central, neither one of us wanted to be in Ellensburg or Seattle but we both liked the Bellingham area (Dean's sister and her husband lived here). So Dean looked into transfering and I looked into getting done early since I really did want to finish at UW. When we saw that I could get done a quarter early (two if I did a summer quarter) we picked two dates. One in March and the only one really an option in December (the 17th). The next step was to ask my parents about summer school. When mom found out that we wanted to get married sooner, she was really excited about a Christmas wedding. (Summer school here I come!)

All dressed and ready to go!

The last few week before the wedding were crazy as I finished up my classes, started packing up things at my apartment, and finished wedding details. Any time poor Dean came to Seattle, I sent him back with whatever I could live without for my remaining time there.

Anyway, The Big Day finally arrived. I was so excited and didn't think I was nervous until I was finally able to see Dean. He came in to "see" me for the first time and then everyone gave us a few minutes to be alone. That few minutes calmed my jitters that I didn't even know I had. It was the best day! I got to marry my best friend. The one I had waited to marry for six years. And now, after three and a half years of long distance relationship, we were going to be together for the rest of our lives. (what an adjustment that was, to now be living under the same roof after three and a half years of living two hours apart).

Entering as a single woman.

Leaving as husband and wife!

I feel so blessed to have Dean as my husband. He truly is my best friend and is an amazing daddy to his boys. He works so hard for us and I really, really appreciate him! Happy Anniversary Babe! I Love You!

If you missed any of the other anniversary posts they are:

here - part one

here - part two

here - part three

Snow, Snow, Snow!

2008-12-14T22:24:00.000-08:00

The snow finally arrived! We had heard that we should get snow Friday night, then Saturday...but then nothing. Finally, Saturday evening little snowflakes began to fall and then fell faster and faster. When we woke up this morning we had a good four or five inches. We made our way to church and then stopped to get donuts on the way home. After our treats, we hauled out the bin of snow clothes and spent what seemed like forever getting the boys ready to play outside. Thankfully they satyed out log enough to make all the prep time worth it. It was very dry snow so not the best for snowballs or snowmen but the boys had fun anyway.

Jake did make one snowball that flew.

Austin's favorite snow activities is eating it.

Griffen just likes being out in it. He is starting to like the taste like Austin.

Jake and Austin went sledding across the street for quite awhile and had a blast. Poor little Griff is dealing with a very stuffy nose and cough so he only went out for a bit in the backyard and then opted to saty in the house with mom and watch Christmas movies.

Another bonus of where we live... a great hill for sledding right across the street at the school.

Dean and I got a little adventure after he returned fro the store. Our garage door broke and we had to fight to get it back into its track. All I have to say is...it is COLD out there.

I was hoping to get a better picture of our house in the snow with the lights but no such luck. This is after we got the door back in its track (not an easy task) we still aren't sure exactly what happened but hope that it is fixed.

The Homestudy is Complete!

2008-12-10T21:44:00.000-08:00

As I stated before, this process seems to be speeding by. We got a call yesterday (Tuesday) from the social worker doing our homestudy. She said that all of the temporary workers (her included) had their time shortened again and she would be done working by the end of the week. She then asked if she could come today to finish her last visit for the homestudy.

So she arrived at 3:00 today and we went over our personal history packets that we had given her last time. She had a few questions about Dean's (apparently men are a little less expressive with their writing than women). She also got a chance to see Jake, even though he wanted to act very shy. At one point in our conversation, she mentioned that she should have thought of us yesterday because there were three little girls at the office that they were looking to place. One, a little baby no older that a month old was actually placed with a family just north of us who she had just finished their homestudy. It once again made me realize just how soon we could have a little one here.

As she left, she said that as far as getting our license goes we just need to have a visit from a licenser who will be looking at the house to make sure that we are up to their codes. Then she said as far as the adoption end of the process we are good to go! Now I am praying more fervently that God will make it really clear what child we are to accept. I am so thankful that He knows me and knows what a slow-to-hear person I am and that I tend to need a very obvious smack in the head to see what He is pointing out to me. I will rest in the knowledge that my Heavenly Father knows me sooooooo well. I am also thankful for our amazing friends (you) and for your prayers!