Amya's New Obsession

A Digital Cupcake!

She bakes and decorates on Dan's phone! That was a weird sentence, I know.

The Nutcracker!

Our community ballet company puts on a production of scenes from The Nutcracker every year. Amya takes ballet class there and got to be in the ballet! It was beautiful....makes me wish I could dance!!

Teacher Nancy has some kind of magic powers to be able to make little girls do whatever she tells them to! I do not understand how she does it!

Amya was a little mouse! All the little mice danced around and followed the "Momma Mouse" a.k.a. Teacher Nancy. Amya is on the left.

Amya is the little mouse on the left with her head up!

This Week...

...we had lots of playdates!

...Amya practiced being baby mouse #7.

....we swam.

...Nelson was happy! YEAH!!!

Pizza and Pool Friday!

Friday night in Hood River....pizza at Andrew's (with a playroom!) and dollar night at the pool!

Michael Peterson Photography

Amya happened to be "in the area" and jumped in to one of her friend's Christmans pictures! Aren't they cute!
http://www.michaelpetersonphotography.com/

A Christmas Tradition

This is our third year of "blowing" a glass Christmas ornament. The ornaments are so beautiful when they are done. This year Nelson picked the color. He chose "Grinch Green"! We get to pick it up tomorrow!

This Week...

...we harvested the first of the carrotts.

...made double dark chocolate pomegranite cookies.

...took lots of pictures of random things that Amya, "never wants to forget!"

...made lots of smoothies.

...started letting the chickens roam the yard for the winter.

...Amya learned she could could make the letter "A" out of string.

This Guy

Nelson had his first trip to the ER last Friday night! He is slightly older than his sister was for her first trip.
He went for the same thing she did.
Wheezing.
The procedures and results were virtually identical. With Amya it was our first time experiencing such things, so we let them admit her overnight. This time we opted out. (Just so you know, he is absolutely fine now)
The KEY difference between the two experiences: Amya's permanent medical records do not say, "This kid fought like a wildcat!"
It took three of us to hold him down just so the doctor could look in his ears! You can imagine how the rest of the visit went.
That's my boy!

AMYA...

...is an amazing person.

...came up with a fantastic fro-yo combo of strawberry-kiwi sorbet, white chips and shredded coconuts. It sounded gross to me, until I tasted it. The girl knew something I didn't.

...likes to collect things. And she cherishes them. We call this her "hording shelf" (it reminds me of that t.v. show). Don't try to clean it out. She knows everything that is supposed to be there and she checks frequently because she doesn't trust me. This shelf may contain, but is not limited to: pine branches, Christmas cards, paper scraps, DVD cases, pine cones and crayon papers.

...loves to decorate. Everyday there is a new art instillation on the table. This time of year makes for some fantastic materials to choose from!

...Can find a picture in anything, and enlists my help to keep a photo journal of the best finds! This is a picture of a "squirrel". (It was a frosted star cookie in it's former life) My cell phone has pictures of trees, clouds and necklace chains that magically look like a "big hand", a "train" and a "child playing jump rope."

...is still incredibly shy for Santa!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We watched the parade, baked a pie, went for a hike in the rain and had our friends, Brian and Abby over for dinner. Abby is 13 and Amya adores her. They worked on this Gingerbread Man together, while fending off a vulture who kept stealing the eyes!
Inspiring words from the blog, http://themcclenahans.blogspot.com/

THANKFULNESS...
BONDS FAMILIES
STRENGTHENS FRIENDSHIPS
UNITES COMMUNITIES
THANKFULNESS IS THE...
DEFENSE AGAINST MATERIALISM
ENEMY OF ENTITLEMENT
CURE FOR SELF PITY

THANKFULNESS...
IS GIVEN BY THE SPIRIT
WAS MODELED BY THE SON
HONORS THE FATHER

THANKFULNESS...
IS BORN OUT OF HUMILITY
SUSTAINS FAITHFULNESS
IS A PRE-REQUISITE FOR JOY
LEADS TO GENEROSITY

THANKFULNESS IS...
A COMMAND FROM GOD
AN ATTITUDE TOWARD LIFE
A CONDITION OF THE HEART

Black Friday breakfast!

Ten Years Ago Today, We Were Doing This...

...giving toasts at our wedding! Look at us! We were babies!!! (nice ugly cry face!)


Tracy, helping me get organized. Taylor was a bit upset with me that we didn't have a "practice". By this point in her life, she had already been a flower girl a few times. She wasn't very comfortable with our rule breaking! LOL!


This is my favorite wedding picture.

Oh my, how we have added to THIS bunch!

10 years!!!

yup 10 years ago today carol and I were announcing to all that "Carol and I are getting married.....tomorrow....."

To celebrate, we spent the weekend in Portland and got a chance to actually see and get to know the city...it was fun!

Amya took this picture of us in our hotel room on saturday afternoon...

Happy Anneversary Honey! I Love You!

Baking 101

The kids and I made some sugar cookies yesterday! They had fun, but it was exhausting! I think next time I'll bake the cookies while they're napping and let them frost them. Nelson with a rolling pin was a little much!
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(How is THIS baby

already this BIG!)