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

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

...to more of this.

17 Years Ago Today...

...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

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!

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...

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

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!