Trip to Seattle

Paula & I took the kids over on the Ferry to Seattle, then we rode the bus to Seattle Center and went to the Pacific Science Center and saw The Day The Earth Stood Still at the IMAX theater. It was too loud for Emma - so I had to wrap her scarf around her ears - put her hood up and hold my hands over hear ears while the movie was going - but over all we had a great time. Brett wasn't all that keen to go - but after we got there - he was so enthralled by all the displays - and wants to go back again soon. I think one of the highlights of the day for Brett & Emma was getting to ride on Public Transit..

Wish I'd Seen This Before Christmas

This is so hilarious - love it!

Unconventional Christmas Part 2

The second part of our unconventional Christmas came about because we had snow on the ground - from the winter storms that we had been getting hit with - and as a result the Propane trucks couldn't make their rounds - and we ended up running out of propane - which meant no heat, no hot water, no dryer and no stove. So I had all the fixings for Christmas dinner here - but the venue had to be moved to Paul & Ruth's since they are all electric. I did as much prep work here as I could - here is the turkey ready to head over to their house to go in the oven, and here is another picture of the eggs boiling on the burner on the grill for deviled eggs. I also made the pie crust here - and ran over there to cook it and make the filling. The meal turned out wonderful though, the company was great - and so even though it was a most non-traditional Christmas - it was a wonderful Christmas.

Unconventional Christmas Part 1

This was always gonna be a very different Christmas for us this year - with Mitch being overseas - and his Mom having to work - it was going to be just me, the kids and Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Paul (our adopted neighbors). To start with, we had a good web-cam connection on Christmas Eve morning - so Mitch thought it would be best to go ahead and do presents then - so one by one - the kids opened their presents in front of the web-cam so that Mitch could get to be a part of the excitement of Christmas present opening. Here are some photos of the present opening - the kids loved getting their presents early - and having more time to play with them - they also loved having their Dad be a part of the celebration. So on Christmas morning all we had to do was Santa presents and Stockings - made for a nice easy morning.







and this is a bittersweet photo for me - as this could possibly be the last Christmas morning that I have with all my kiddos - since Braeden is 18 and on the verge of leaving the nest and living his own life - who knows where upcoming Christmases will find him?

Winter Storm 2008

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Here we go again!

Well I fell off the blog wagon again - so any posts from here to November 1st are new as of today. Sigh - one of these days I will learn to be a better time manager!!

Right now it is 28 degrees outside and we have the remnants of about 1 1/2 inches of snow on the ground. The kids had a 2 hour delay for school. I went and ran errands after they got off to school - and had to go back in and get my sunglasses because the sun was shining so brightly on the snow. Weather.com says that it is 28 feels like 17. Brrrrrrrr....

Christmas Card & Letter He**

I do this to myself every year - procrastinate until I am in Christmas Card & Letter He**.  Every January I decide to make my cards - and I vow to start sooner - and make it not such a rush, and every year finds me working on them during the first week of December. And instead of enjoying the process I can be found franticly trying to get  all 100 or so of them made, labels printed, christmas letter written and envelopes stuffed.  One of these years, I will actually start them early enough that I can sit back, drink hot buttered rums - and laugh at all the suckers still working on theirs.  Well, a girl can dream can't she?

Here are some photos of the process - and the final product.

Ready to start putting them together - after stamping and cutting out 120 trees and 120 stars, and using the Revolution, Cuttlebug and Nestabilities to cut out the rectangles and the scalloped rectangles - I'm ready to begin gluing. And here is the finished product, after I stamped a saying into the inside of each and then signed the back with my intials and year, and signed the inside - Mitch, Kim  & kids (although Mitch and kids had nothing to do with it).



I agonize every year over what to say in the traditional newsletter.  This year I took a class on BPS called The Scrappable Holiday Letter - and one of her ideas was to approach it like it were a gift catalog - and each of you was a gift.  Mitch and I sure had fun writing this one - although I do wonder if anyone will "get" it when they get it - LOL.  Below is the final letter - I bought a template and scrap kit from Scrap Girls to use to design the newsletter.


 So I finished it all up this morning - and they are officially in the hands of the USPS.  Whew!!

The kids sure do love living in Kingston, but if there were one thing they could change - it would be that we hardly ever get snow, and when we do get snow - it usually melts right away - or is just a dusting. Also we live closer to the water and at a lower elevation than most of their friends - so they get jealous when their friends call to say it is snowing at their house - and we got nada.

But last night - their wish came true! It snowed - and stuck - and stayed! We got about 1 1/2 inches of the fun white stuff. The kids ran right out to play in it - regardless of the fact it was 8:30 at night. They were so excited - they got up early this morning too - and headed out to play. They didn't stay out in the frigid cold (our high yesterday was 32) - but they came in to unthaw - and back out to play, many times over the day.

It sure is fun to watch the kids and even the dog, play in the snow

Traditional Tree Photo

I got the kids together to do the annual photo in front of the tree. Sad to think that since Braeden is 18 now that this will more than likely be the last time for this tradition.

Oh Christmas Tree!

We are expecting a storm to roll in tomorrow night and bring with it wind, snow and freezing cold temperatures. Since we hadn't put up our tree yet, I figured we had better get out to the shed and get it before the weather stopped us from going outside.

Braeden brought in the tree, ornaments and home decorations. We purged at the end of last Christmas - so there wasn't as much to bring in and put up as there usually is. Kinda made it nice, but Emma of course missed all the stuff that is normally out.

There was a bulb burned out on the tree - so the lower portion wouldn't light - of course it took FOREVAH for Braeden and I to figure this out - and replace the bulb. But - live and learn!

I put the garland on and the angel - and the kids put on the ornaments. We bought new silver and blue ones this year - and only put on the kids' first christmas ornaments. Nice elegant looking tree this year.

Here is a picture that Emma took of the tree