The First Snow of the Season

Tristyn's look is exactly how I feel when I see the first storm of the year. And, this is how Tristyn looks after a day of no nap and Landon "innocently" beams her with a snowball!!

I have to admit to being a total snow scrooge...I have absolutely nothing good to say about it..it's cold, it's wet, it messes with my day...oh, and did I mention how cold I am?

My kids on the other hand love it! Dan took them out to play for an hour last night when it really started to fall.

They had a great time! And, I was inside enjoying the wood stove!

Thanksgiving Traditions

I forget that the first blog I do will end up being the last blog you read. So, these series of posts are out of the order I wanted them to be in. Anyway, I'm doing a series of posts rather than all at once because I'm afraid the format would get all messed up like they did with Landon's zoo post. We had a great Thanksgiving and I really hope that all of you did too.





One of our favorite traditions is playing games on Thanksgiving. Here's Kyleigh playing truth or dare Jenga.





Dan thinking up his next move.







Dan's dare: blow a raspberry on someone's tummy. The best tummy...Madi.








Kyleigh is learing to play chess in school so she challenged Dad to a duel.





Our favorite Thanksgiving game is Uno. This year we really missed playing with Uncle Bob! Don't worry Uncle Bob, I got picked on enough but I'm sure next year you will make up for lost time. We always have so much fun.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Here's our dinner!








Tristyn loves those olives.







Madi eating mashed potatoes.







Allie loves her dinner.

Thanksgiving

I am going to do a series of posts on our Thanksgiving. When I tried to do all my pictures at once for Landon's zoo trip it did not turn out...so, I will do this differently.

First, here are some of my favorites from the day.

The last picture is Dan with Bethany's husband Darrel. They are having a great time! :)

Here's some more!

I guess you can tell that I loved taking pictures of my nieces today! It's not often that we all get together. In fact, I can't remember the last time that Bethany, Katie & I had our picture taken together.

We haven't had a family picture taken in 4 years.

Amazing Friendship

Best friends..what would you do without them?? Here is Kyleigh with one of hers. This is Madi (she has several other wonderful names in our house, but we'd better not go there!)



Kyleigh & Madi are a total blast to be around. There is NEVER a dull moment. They are total jokesters and have you laughing constantly. I can't tell you how much fun we all have had watching their friendship grow into something amazing!



They are playing American Idol on the playstation...I'm not sure what Madi's face is all about but I'm sure she'll love that I'm putting her online! Love ya Madi!

Landon's Day

This was a great weekend. It started off with friends over on Friday night and then Landon and I off to Portland on Saturday. We stayed with some friends that we haven't spent time with in 2 years and it was wonderful..despite the bedtime mishaps! :) It was great to reconnect, and this time we won't let two years go by!

Sunday was all about Landon. He hasn't had much mommy time, so this was his day. We had a reptile class at the zoo. We left our friends house around 10:30 and headed to the zoo. It was POURING down rain, but we had an amazing time. Here are a few pictures of our day.

Landon had a blast playing and walking around in the rain.

This is what you look like after you have wandered the zoo for over an hour, in the rain, and attempting to take the picture yourself - LOL!!!!

The zoo was awesome today because there were no people, despite the rain it was not cold and the animals were out, which is such a treat! I'll add a couple pics of the animals, but my camera doesn't do them justice.

This is "Fred" the Peacock. His name is not officially Fred, but for some reason this is the name that our kids have given him. Fred roams the grounds and the kids love searching for him. Today he was striking a pose and loved having his picture taken.

This a the Nile Monitor...one of our favorite animals.

Here are the Mearcats. They were hiding in their burrow today, I guess they didn't want to be out in the rain.

After we wandered the grounds for about 1 1/2 hours (in the rain!) we headed to his class. Here are the pictures from his class.

Here's Landon starting on his turtle.

Cutting out the legs, head and tail.

The finished product!

Landon learned about Tortoises, Turtles, Bearded Dragons and Snakes. He was able to touch them all and ask as many questions as he could think of.

After all that walking around it was time for a snack!

Here's Landon learning how a snake sheds his skin! This was too funny and he wasn't able to get out until a friendly blackberry bush (a.k.a. his teacher) came and rescued him!

What a great weekend...I am so thankful to my mom who watched the girls for me. Tristyn even did a great job without mom. I have a cute picture of her that I will add later.

Okay, for some reason the formatting is totally off..I don't know how to fix it so this post looks really bad! Sorry! I will keep trying to figure it out.

Katie, Allie & Madi

Here is a picture of Katie & Allie in the background and then baby Madi being held by Julie Ryan. This picture was in The Dalles Chronicle today.


Here is the article that was written about the agency Julie works for and Katie, Allie & Madi.

I hope the link works for you. Julie is with an agency that helps new parents and she comes weekly (or every other week) and hangs out with Katie and the babies. She is a great support system. She also came and worked with James and she was the main speaker at James' funeral.

Bumper Stickers

So, honestly, I think bumper stickers are a strange thing...you can tell a lot of things about someone's bumper sticker. You can tell their religion, political beliefs, sense of humor, etc. I personally have never been a big bumper sticker person but a year ago I found one I just had to have...and, boy did it make waves.

I got many comments about that sticker...some people got it..some people did not...and, honestly, most did not. Well, needless to say as much as I loved my sticker, it has been replaced. Kyleigh respectfully demanded that it be removed prior to entering middle school and I could not blame her. Middle schoolers love to be cruel without me just handing them something to tease her about.

What we learned though is that you can not have a suburban of our color in our town without a bumper sticker. You end up trying to get in other peoples cars, can't find your car in the parking lot., etc.

Here is our new sticker and it has Kyleigh's stamp of approval. I am happy, the kids are happy, we are honoring someone that we admire and respect...and, I no longer get lost in the parking lots!

Steve...the Snake

Let me introduce you to our newest family member. This is Steve, the Red Tailed Boa, and Landon's Christmas present. He is not named after Landon's grandpa..but, instead, he is named after Steve Irwin. I offered up the names Hunter or Irwin, but Landon felt that Steve was more appropriate. So, Steve it is.

Right now he is about 3 feet long and will quite possibly get to around 10 feet. I am not sure how I feel about that..but, only time will tell. Right now, I love him. He's a pretty cool little guy. Very docile and friendly.

I will take more pictures later and have Landon write about his new friend, but wanted to get the pics up for everyone to see.

Farmhouse Benches and Loveseat

I have to brag on my husband for a minute. He sold something very important to himself and instead of buying himself a new TV, new clothes, new shoes, or any of the other things he would love to buy he surprised me with two farmhouse benches, a new table cloth, plastic cover & candle for my kitchen table and a leather loveseat for our TV area.


I have wanted those benches for a long time. With our growing extended family we can now fit 8 around the table comfortably..and, when everyone goes to bed, I can hang out on the loveseat and read a good book or watch my favorite shows in comfort.

Harvest Party 2007...Here Tristyn Comes!

Can you believe this?? I am ready for next year. Isn't she cute? This year we had to run to the store a couple of hours before our church Harvest Party because I just wasn't into it. She was a very cute fairy, and it just happened that her friend at church was the same fairy, only a different color. It turned out to be great!

But, the other day I was at the store and I was so excited to find this for $3.00 and it will definately fit
next year. I couldn't pass this up. Tristyn told me the
only way she would be a ladybug next time is if she got to be a princess after this. Okay, so for our Harvest Party in 2008 she'll be a princess. I'll have to attempt to remember that.

Good Sport

So, the question is, what do you do if your little sister insists on listening and singing along to Hilary Duff in your bedroom?Well, if you are Landon you put on your funky glasses, grab your drumsticks, and play along!
What a good sport he is!!!!