Our Little Santa

Kenzie is really into Santa and the whole Christmas thing this year (her first year to really understand and anticipate the events of the holidays). Once Santa came to our house, the kids started asking to count the "night nights" till he came again. Well, my little imaginative one (Mackenzie) decided she could resolve that problem by being Santa for her brother and the rest of us. She was wearing regular clothes but had stuffed her "puppies" (which used to be her security toy until the baby elephant was purchased 9 months ago at Wildlife Safari, thanks Mom & Dad) up her shirt so there were little puppy feet sticking out the bottom of her shirt. She was missing a hat so she picked up the bucket we keep by the front door (we have a leak whenever snow melts) and inverted it on her head for a hat. She is never at a loss for imagination. She is so easy to have at home alone as she goes into her own world and finds a way to entertain herself.

Well, we are off to church this morning so I will go for now but had to share about Kenzie (including a pictures, as words don't describe it well enough).

More Holiday Fun

Yesterday was spent running around playing Santa Claus to the last few people we had gifts to deliver to. It was fun for the kids and they got to wade through our 6 inches or so of snow that has accumulated most everywhere. Today appears to be a very sunny day so maybe the snow won't be soooo deep today.



One of our stops took us to the Hendricks' house where the kids had a blast. We ended up invading their home for over 3 hours. Jill was gracious enough to feed us all dinner while we were there. DAddy was busy announcing Basketball games at the high school Christmas tournament. He has two more today at 3:30 and 7:00 on golakechelan.com and then he is done for about a week. He loves to do this and is having a lot of fun. Now, back to Jill's where the kids played with Logan for a good deal of the time we were there and they loved it. He is so good with the kids even though he is several years older than Chase, he plays right at their level and lets them win when necessary. Rylee slept for quite a while after our arrival but when she awoke she was happy to see us and get her gift from us. Logan picked out a Superman bat for Chase and a magnet dress-up book for Kenzie and they both were thrilled. We got Logan the Tommy Hawk Wii game and he was equally thrilled with it. Rylee is saying more words every day and can call the kids by name now and calls my Chell. She is so cute and has become such an active part of our lives that Kenzie wants to go see "her Rylee and her Jill" whenever we go out. She has started stamping with Jill when we are there. She is starting early (at 3 yrs old) but she loves it and is hard to redirect when we are done stamping.



We have recently cleaned out the playroom (it needed it bad and I got a bee in my bonnet the day after Xmas to get the tree down and clean). It is nearly u nrecognizable to most who have seen it before. I forgot to take a before and after pics but the kids like to have the room and we are moving the computer out of our room and into that room so they can play games online at playhousedisney.com and nickjr.com and we can use the webcam out there where lighting is good. I hope to get that moved today.



Megan and her crew are coming tomorrow for Christmas with them and that will be fun for all as Janson's kids are here too so we are managing to drag out Christmas for a while around here.



Mom is flying over from Seattle (they are visiting my sister and family in Bothell) on New Years Day to be here till Monday the 7th when she will fly home. She will be a lot of help after my surgery as the Seahawk playoff game will be either the 5th or 6th in Seattle and he will go to that and not have to feel too guilty about leaving me here if Mom is here to help me.



Well, that is about all for today. Have a great weekend all. I have to get back to getting my class stuff ready for church tomorrow.

BIG Catch-up Post

Well, it has been quite a while since I have posted but it has been busy times around our house, so I will do my best to catch-up on the last few weeks.

We had an enjoyable trip over to the westside to have an early Christmas with the big kids and the grandkids. A good time was had by all. We draw names and exchange gifts and usually invade Stephanie & Ken's house for the occasion on the odd years as the kids and grandkids all come to us in even years. Our little ones had a lot of fun playing with the grandkids. The youngest little grandkid is Travis and he is growing like a weed and this picture proves how much Papa loves him.

While we were in Seattle we met my sister and her kids for the annual grandkid photo for our parents. The kids are growing a lot and Rachel is changing everyday. It seems like yesterday we started this tradition with little Chase holding babies on either side of him. Here is a picture from that day too.

Chase had his Christmas program at CVIS on Friday the 14th and he sang out and did a great job on Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. He was all dressed up handsome and was quite proud of himself. His last day of school before the break was the 17th and they had a Santa's workshop that day and a visit from the jolly gentleman in red too. Here is a picture of Chase in front of our tree just before he went to school for his program. He is very active in participating in songs in class but is usually quite shy and has stage-fright for any "performance" so we were very proud of him for singing out and being a good little performer.

We also managed to take in the visit to Santa and the reindeer at the Whaley Mansion here in town. Mackenzie got to go on a limo bus to see the reindeer with her preschool and then the kids and I went to see them and Santa the next day. Chase loved the first room we entered as it had a big train set up on a BIG table and it was running around and around. He could have stayed in that room all day and skipped Santa all together. They took some nice pictures while we were there as you can see.

Mackenzie had her first preschool Christmas program on the 21st and Mamma and Papa even made the trip in time to see it. Boy has my little girl changed in the last 3 months. At the beginning of school she was very shy and didn't even want to stay and at her program she was the star of the show as she was so into it and animated with her participation. It was so cute and of course that is recorded on film too. (oh, both kids programs are on DVD as well for anyone to watch as they love to watch themselves and tell all about it). At the end of her program, the jolly gentleman in red made an appearance again (we have seen him over a half dozen times this season).

My parents (AKA Mamma or Dramma or Grams and Papa) were her for 9 "night nights" as the kids call them. They left today to go to my sister's in Bothell and get a grandkid fix there. We were able to enjoy a lot of snow and a very white Christmas while they were here. We also got to visit reindeer and Santa in the snow at Banjo Creek Farms on the 22nd, which all enjoyed. Originally they were to have 2 reindeer there but "Dasher" as he is now called, escaped on Friday night and they still haven't found him. Papa had a cold and congestion while they were here so Mamma spent the afternoon of Sunday after church in the local ER with him. We all helped to take care of him and get him well.

We enjoyed a great family Christmas and the kids were thrilled with the visit from Santa, which Chase discovered the evidence of at 6:30 am on Christmas morning and woke us all to see. We had a great dinner. Mom helped with it as my neck is not tolerating that much time with my arms up working at counter height. Santa brought Chase a new bicycle (his first big boy bike) and brought Mackenzie a playhouse. They were both very happy. Dave & I got a webcam from my parents so we are now able to talk to and see them from the computer. The kids love it!!

As my parents were getting ready to leave this morning, I got a call from the neurosurgeon in Wenatchee. I had an appt with him scheduled for January 25th as that was the earliest he could see me about my neck. They had a cancellation today and I got to see him at 2 pm. While he was seeing me, he had a patient call and cancel surgery for next Wednesday the 2nd of January so he is going to fix my neck next Wednesday at Wenatchee Valley Medical Center. I will stay overnight and get to go home sometime Thursday. I should be well onto the recovery and be fine for our trip in February. It is nice to be able to have it done before the trip as it looked like I wouldn't even see him till right before the trip. They will remove the herniated disc and fuse the C5-C6 vertebrae with a plate and screws as well as a bone graft. I will have a lot of lifting restrictions for 3 months (that will be hard for the kids to understand) but he anticipates that I will have pain relief very soon after surgery. The kids understand that he will be cutting my neck and for a while Mackenzie was afraid he would make me into a "pick-up head" (this is what she calls the animated franksteins at Halloween that seemingly lift their own head off of their neck - she hates them) but I have convinced her that my head will stay attached. Now she tells me that "the doctor will cut your neck and then he will needle it to make it back together" - needling is her verbage for sewing.

Lastly but certainly not least, we are expecting any day the arrival of Raiden Xavier, our new grandson (Josh & Heather's baby). He is due on the 2nd of January and they will induce her on the 3rd if she doesn't have it before then. As you can see she is quite pregnant and getting more uncomfortable by the day.

Well, that is an update from her for now and I will try to do better in the upcoming weeks and plan to blog while on our trip.

Happy New Year to you all!

I Shall Not Be Moved

Mackenzie has really become my singer. She loves to sign and can be caught humming songs most all of the time when she is playing, particularly alone. My sister gave us a great CD called One Voice that is all acapella songs that are found in the songbooks we use at church. The kids previously had some Cedermont CDs that I had recorded acapella for them and they loved those and had a few songs they liked better than others. On this new CD however, Mackenzie has become quite opinionated about which SONG she likes best (track 20, I know). I ask one of the song leaders at church to lead it about a month ago and she was amazed that we could sing it at church. Now she goes to the song leader EVERY WEEK and asks "Will you sing MY song" and they of course oblige her, EVERY WEEK. I took a moment to record a simple vidoe with the camera of her singing this song as we hear her singing it several times each and every day and I wanted to save it for her to see. I had to post it here to share as she is so expressive as she sings - I Shall Not Be Moved.

Best wishes to all!

Cold Fall Days

It is definitely closing in on Thanksgiving. The cold weather is definitely an indicator of that. The kids are praying several times a day for snow now as I told them that I cannot make it snow and mentioned that God makes it snow and immediately Chase started his routine praying for snow - first thing in the morning, as soon as he gets home from school and at bedtime. He gets up each morning to check for the answer but thusfar has not gotten what he wants.

Now a funny story about Mackenzie - she ran back to the bathroom the other day to do her thing and I was already in that bathroom. Rather than go to one of the other TWO bathrooms in the house she rushed me out and flushed the potty. I came out to the living room and soon heard her calling me to tell me the potty wasn't working right. I responded that I would check in out next time I got up. Then a little silence and then footsteps running to the living room and her voice beckoning me "Mommy, I need your help, I got the pusher thingy out of Daddy's potty and tried to push, but it won't work". Once these words were translated in my mind to mean that she had gotten the plunger out and was using it, I decided I better check it out immediately. When I got to the bathroom, indeed she had gotten the plunger and there was no mess (surprise, surprise) but she had plunged all of the water out of the toilet and it wasn't filling back up so that is what she was upset about. Upon further investigation, I discovered that she had turned off the water to the tank "so it wouldn't make a mess" - her words - and that is why there was no water. Once I turned the water back on it was all fine. She proudl.y returned the "pushy thingy" back to Daddy's bathroom depositing it prominently on top of the toilet lid for him to see. I guess any further plumping worries we have are solved now.

I did have my MRI yesterday and got results last night the I have a herniated disc and a calcium spur that are impinging on the nerve coming out to my arm. Thus, I am being referred to Dr. Higgins in Wenatchee and will hear from his office sometime next week with info about when he will see me.

Finding out that news and that I will likely need suregery forced Dave to spill the beans about my Christmas present. Come to find out lots of people knew about it but had kept is safely from me. We are going on a 10 day cruise on Norwegian Cruise Line to the Southern Caribbean including stops in St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Barbados, Tortola and Antigua. We will depart from New York City and return to there and then will spend 4 extra days in NYC at a hotel just off 5th Avenue. We hope to take in a Broadway show or two - if the strike is over - see ground zero, the statue of liberty and the like. My parents have graciously agreed to come up and take care of the kids (translated - be taxi service for the kids) while we are gone. I am so excited but we leavong February 5th to fly to NYC so I have to get this neck thing taken care of quickly.

Well, that is all the exciting news I have for now. Hope all are enjoying preparations for turkey day!

Long Time No Type

Well, it has been quite a while since I have sat down to post a few things so I will do the infamous catch-up post.

• I am behind on posts as I have been to two scrapbooking filled weekends in a row with Megan. (see picture with Steph, Lize, Megan and friends of Steph's at CK convention in Seattle) We had a lot of fun but did get tired and behind on things in the process.

• I have hurt my neck somehow and have an MRI in Wenatchee at 7 am tomorrow as the doctor thinks I have ruptured a disc in my neck. I am sitting here at the keyboard in my cervical collar (not the most comfortable accessory but does seem to decrease the pain some). Have to plan to be in bed and asleep early to night as I have to leave the house at 6 am tomorrow morning (most mornings I am still fast asleep at that time).


• Tonight is Kenzie's open house at her school and she is so excited to show off her room. They are having a used book exchange for the kids too so she has been looking at her books to decide which to exchange (as much as I suggest Amelia Bedelia books - since they are a pain to read - she loves them so alas we are keeping those). She loves to be read to and loves to keep up her reading log for school. It is a big deal at the end of the month to take the log to Mrs. Hunter as she gets a treat in her bag for doing the log.


• This weekend is a baby shower filled weekend as I have one to attend on Saturday and am giving one for Heather (Mommy to the next grandbaby) on Sunday. I have started delegating tasks for the Sunday one as I know I cannot do it all.


• Monday was a school holiday so had both kids at home all day. That was a real change as Chase is in school so much anymore, it seemed weird for him to be here all day.


• Dave went to the Seahawk game on Monday and has another to attend on Sunday so he is getting to know the passes well.


• The first signs that winter is close are here as the mornings are COLD and the snow is getting closer. The snow level is supposed to drop to 1500 feet this weekend which means we may see some white stuff before the weekend is up.


• We are planning to go to my parents house in Myrtle Creek for Thanksgiving but that is contingent on the results of my MRI and how I am feeling about traveling 9 hours in the car. Graciously my parents have offered to come up here if I cannot make the drive as I am looking forward to seeing them.


• We are doing our Christmas with the big kids and grandkids on December 1st this year to accomodate everyone's schedule so I am trying to get shopping completed. Nothing like rushing right down to the wire with that type of thing. I am usually done with shopping by now and this year I have just started. :(

I guess that is it for a quick catch up. Best wishes and God's blessings to you all this beautiful time of year.

Football, Fall & Fun

So I got a babysitter last night and got to go to the homecoming Chelan football game with a girlfriend of mine (who also got a sitter for her little one). It was a heartbreaker as we were leading 10-9 up until the last 30 seconds and Brewster then scored a TD and went on to win. What a letdown for homecoming night. It was a crisp cold evening but at least is was dry (since it had rained most of the day). It was a fun big people time for me.

I am working today for my only working day this month. Rachael is taking the kids to Wenatchee and they are excited to go to Rocky Reach Dam. They love the Visitor's Center and the fish ladder, not to mention the big playground. They also get to go to the pet store to get some more fish for the fish tank, since Mommy has kept the last ones alive. We had to start over and have to add a few at a time. I know they will have a good time and be exhausted tonight.

Last night Rachael watched the kids and they had a campout in Chase's room and got to eat dinner and bedtime snack in the fort they made around Chase's bed. They watched the new Surf's Up movie but got too tired to finish it. Kenzie actually went to bed in her own bed without being rocked and the bigger news is that she slept ALL NIGHT in her own bed. She is so proud of herself and I hope that her pride will lead her to continue this habit. Daddy was excited to hear about that news.

Dave is still in Seattle with his mom. She is being transferred to a nursing home in Mount Vernon on Monday. He went up and toured facilities yesterday to help her make a choice. She has chosen and they are holding a bed for her. Dave is going to the Seahawk game tomorrow night and has decided to stay over there until Tuesday morning so he can help get her settled. She is more confused and her short term memory is bad. They hadn't expected that part. She is having some swallowing problems as well so is having to eat pureed food and doesn't like it so she decides not to eat at all. It will be a long recovery but I know she will like to be back in Mount Vernon where her friends can visit her. Socially that will make a huge difference for her.

We all miss Dave but know that he is doing what he needs to do right now and will be home soon.

It is a beautiful fall day today. The sun is out but it is still a little brisk although the weather forecast is for 70 degrees today so that will be nice.

We get to pick up Alura from Granny Nanny's house in the morning and she will go to church with us and then we will meet Megan and Janson to go to Smallwood for pumpkins. They are all looking forward to that.

Happy fall and may you all enjoy the fall traditions as well.