It's Cold and Snowy Outside

It's been snowing here for over a week now. It usually only snows for a day or two at a time here. My car is the little silver one. It's been buried for four days and the snow just keeps coming down.

Here's the beautiful view out our back door that I took this morning. It's a Winter Wonderland out there.

My kids really wanted to go to their dad's house for Christmas this year (like every year) so Jeremy decided that we could make it to Seattle and back in his car in this weather. I took this picture above from the passengers seat. This is what I-5 looked like most of the way there and back. Jeremy had to drive a lot slower of course so it took us twelve hours round trip this time. We made it there and back safely and the kids get their Merry Christmas with their dad.

Christmas at Mana's and Papa's house

Awww....Jeremy and Taryn at my mom and dad's house.

This picture is so funny because my dad had just sat down on the arm of the chair and it started to tip backwards and my mom freaked out. It was really funny.

Here's my stepbrother Mike and his daughter Gabby. In the background is my bother in law Dominick, my dad and my littlest brother Jacob.

Here's Rachael and my little nephew Nicholas sitting in Mana's Chair. I think they were filling up Nicholas' pez candy dispenser?

Here's Dylan hiding behind his monkey Wild Hogs.

Here we have Dylan, Cody hiding behind his koala bear Buddey, my nephew Ammon and another nephew Trenton.

Here we have Gabby, Tamara and Dylan's back side.

Oh here's one of part of my niece Trinity, Trenton, Nicholas and Rachael.

Here's Dominick again, my sister in law Katrena, Jared and Teresa (Mike's wife) hanging out in the kitchen.

Tamara, Jacob and Trinity waiting to open presents.

Every year we go over to Mana and Papa's house (my mom and dad) for Christmas. We usually have this on Christmas Eve. This year my mom decided that because we can't all always make it on Christmas Eve that we should do the Saturday before Christmas so that everyone can be there. Well no body can predict the weather 6 months in advance. This year we actually got snow! Not everyone made it over this year, but we still had lots of food and fun gifts to exchange.

Build An Animal

Dylan picked a Monkey and named him Wild Hogs.

Here's Taryn waiting for her Zebra named White Lava to be filled with stuffing.

Rachael named her Elephant Ellie. Ellie got a pretty ballerina dress with silver shoes.

Tamara named her Bunny Kristen. How cute with her camo outfit and tent.

Here are the kids registering their animals and getting birth certificates for them.

Cody named his Koala Bear Buddey.

This year all of the kids wanted an animal from Build A Bear Workshop so we decided to get them all gift certificates instead of trying to remember who wanted what animal and how they wanted it dressed. The kids loved the idea of picking out their own animal, getting it stuffed and then picking out the perfect outfit and accessories. What a fun day.

An Early Christmas

Our little Christmas Tree buried in the presents.

This is the Big family gift this year. The kids were just dying to find out what was in the box.

OMG!! It Guitar Hero World Tour!! I think I was more excited than the kids on this one.

Okay, maybe Dylan was excited about this one too!

Here's my Rock Star Family Rockin out!! Jeremy on the drums, Cody and Dylan on guitar and Taryn on the microphone singing her heart out.

We had Christmas early this year. Taryn and Tamara are going to be at their mom's house on Christmas morning and my kids are supposed to be at their dad's house. With this crazy weather outside though they'll probably still be here at home. Yahoo weather predicts 5 to 10 inches of snow and then freezing rain in the next 5 days. We already have about 4 to 5 inched right now and it's been snowing for almost a week already. It's cold and windy outside.

Cookie Day 2008

Every Year in December my family gets together for Cookie Day. It's a day when all the kids get together and decorate cookies for Christmas. This year we had it a my apartment. There were 11 kids and 6 adults total. What a house full! We started at noon with the pizzas and then we got the kids ready to frost cookies. They each got to frost 4-6 special ones to take home with them and the rest are for our Christmas get together next weekend.

Happy Birthday to Me

Yesterday Jeremy and I finished our Christmas Shopping, Decorated the apartment for Christmas and then we had a small party for my Birthday. Jeremy bought me a Banana Cake from the best Bakery in town and bought me some clothes while we were out shopping.
My party was Scheduled to begin between 7 and 8. Ange and her kids were the first ones to show up and then Yvonne. Next Jared and Ammon showed up with chips and dip and then Jacob and Valerie. Jacob got me Season one of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. I love it! That show is on in the mornings some times when my kids are getting ready for school and I find myself watching it from time to time. A little bit later my friend Jestyne came with her friend and then Jordan showed up with his friend. Around 10 o'clock Ange left with her kids, Cody and Rachael. Ammon stayed to spend the night with Dylan and Taryn was here. Everyone else left around midnight. We didn't play any games like I had thought we would, but we had some really great conversations. It's not very often I get to be with so much of my family at one time. I had a really great birthday this year. Thank you to all who came.

Awesome Author

Today I got to have lunch with Rachael at school. She was selected as an Awesome Author for the month of November. I am so proud of her. Each month only two students from each grade are selected for this honor. Parents are invited to join their student for lunch and then all of the students that were selected get to read their writing to everyone at the lunch. The writings are then posted for display on a wall for the whole school to enjoy. In the above picture, it was Rachael's turn to read her poem that she had written about her Dad. The man in this picture told me that her poem brought tears to his eyes.

All of the students got a cookie when they were done reading their writings.

Here she is with her award that will go on the fridge and then into her special box for her special things.

The pictures are of course out of order. I brought Rachael Wendy's today for our lunch because that's what she had requested for her special day.

My Dad

My dad is strong

My dad is thoughtful

My dad is not harmful

My dad is nice

My dad is healthy

My dad is meaningful

My dad has a lot of friends

My dad has a girl named Keri

My dad is my dad

That is all I want him to be

My dad will protect me

Anywhere I go

My dad will always be in my heart

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is the day to be thankful and this year I am so thankful for my family. We had our feast at our house this year. Mana and Papa came over and helped out with the food. It was a stressful morning, but by the afternoon things were falling into place. The food was ready about 2:30 as planned and we all stuffed ourselves for the rest of the day.

This is my Dad and I am so thankful for him. He's the sweetest, kindest person. The best dad ever!

In this picture is my youngest brother Jacob, my parents and of course myself.

My mom and Dad.

Here's Jeremy and one of his brothers, Ben. It was nice having him over. He hadn't been to our new place yet.

Not a very good picture (forgot the flash), but here's Mana playing Mario Cart with Taryn and Tamara. This was Mana's first time playing so I'm sure that the girls put it on the hardest course to pass.

Later after everyone left Yvonne and Dominick came over with their kids for a little while to visit. We played some more Mario Cart. They had never played it on the Wii, but I was still the big loser! I let Tamara take over for me for the last race.I made the girls pause their game and take a picture with their dad.

Tomorrow we get have another turkey dinner at Grandma Tami's house and visit with Jeremy's family.

Getting Ready for Turkey Day

I am so thankful for Thanksgiving this year. I think this is the first year that Jeremy and I have all of the kids home for dinner. My kids are usually at their dad's house and the girls are usually with their mom. Our place was volunteered for the feast this year, which I am very excited about. Today I get to do all the cleaning and prepping for dinner.

Yesterday after school it was pouring down rain so the kids didn't get to play outside. I thought what a great time for the kids to get their rooms cleaned up. Oh my gosh! You would think that with all the bickering and arguments that I heard that I had asked them to give up their lives. The boys share a room and the girls share a room. Rachael went up stairs and got to work. Sometimes she enjoys cleaning her room. Now the boys are a whole other story. Cody never makes a mess and Dylan always has to clean the room by himself (coming from the boys, of course). I literally have to send them in one at a time and one thing at a time. So I sent Dylan in with a garbage bag to pick up the garbage. Next I asked Cody to pick up the dirty clothes that were everywhere. You should hear this kid throw at fit! So Dylan went in to pick up the dirty clothes. Now, all that should be left is the toys, right? Cody threw the biggest crying fit because he's not the one that plays with his toys. It's Dylan and Rachael that play with his toys.

Needless to say, the boys' room is still a mess today. They think that cramming everything under the table, under the beds and into the closet is cleaning their room. I give up. At least the rest of the house will be clean.

Inside From the Rain

The girls were over this last weekend and for the most part we all got along. Friday night we had Pizza. Saturday morning the kids made thank you pictures for Great Grandma Smith for sending them Halloween goodies and cards. After lunch we went and had Family Pictures done finally after a couple of missing years. The pictures are gonna be great. We can pick them up any time after noon on Saturday. I told the lady that did our pictures that we wanted "Fun Pictures" because I really didn't care for the ones we had done last time. The person who did them had no imagination for a seven person photo.
After pictures we went and had ice cream at Baskin Robins and then walked around the mall for a little while. We walked by the Pet Store like we always do when we're there to see the pets in the window and to say hi to Rocky. Rocky is a talking bird that says hi back to you. After the mall we went and had dinner and then rented some movies for a Family Movie Night. We watched Get Smart. It was pretty funny.
Sunday the kids were up way too early! Before eight o'clock. We have a rule in house that if you wake up before eight o'clock on the weekends then you need to lay back down and try to go back to sleep. This and the fact that it was raining all day made for a really fun day for everyone.

Halloween Night

Here we are. All ready to go Trick or Treating. The kids got tons of candy this year. They started out on Wednesday going to a Boo Bash in down town Camas (a small town just east of here). The Boo Bash is when all the local businesses pass out candy, business cards and coupons.
Tonight, we started at Mana and Papa's house, then with Papa to his church for Trunk or Treating and after that they went around our apartment community with their dad.

Taryn, Tamara and their little sister stopped by to show off their costumes and to get some candy of course. What a happy bunch of kids. They just wanted to go and get candy.

Pumpkin Carving

Here's Rachael's pumpkin. It says I love Halloween. Cute idea. It was so posed to be a cat, but she accidentally cut a full circle out in the back.

This is Dylan's smiley face. His pumpkin doesn't stand up, so it lays sideways. I helped him with this one.

Here's my little baby pumpkin. It was too small to trace a picture on it.

This one is Cody's pumpkin. I traced the picture onto it, but he did all the rest on his own. He did an awesome job.

The fun part of pumpkin carving!

Oh what fun it is to carve pumpkins! Here's Dylan cleaning the seeds out of his and Rachael is working on getting the top off of hers.

Okay, so I couldn't get the pictures in the order that I wanted them in for some reason, but here they are. Enjoy.