Couch Potatoes!!

The girls....playing a little Animal Crossing City Folk on the new monster couch. They both had friends over for a sleep over last night, so their batteries are running just a little low today!

I, on the other hand, have just about finished getting all the Christmas decorations put away. Feels good to get things put away and back in "order" (if ever there could be such a thing in a house with three kids!!). Uncle Shawn also came to visit today...and he came bearing gifts!! He brought the kids the Wii Outdoor Challenge game which was a big hit. It is a great get yourself off the couch, jump around, and get your heart rate up doing stuff like snowboarding, kyaking, in-line skating, jumprope, etc..... LOTS of fun for kids and grown ups!

Oh, and photo editing below compliments of my rockin' new camera I got for Christmas!! A total gadget geek's (that would be me!!) dream--a Nikon S60!!! LOVE it!!

Merry Christmas!!!!

To all our family and friends.....MERRY CHRISTMAS! Hope Santa was very good to you all. I would say we all ended up on the nice list here :-)

Sledding with the kids

The kids and I went out for a little sledding adventure in the park down behind the house when I got home from work today. Yes, I said "work", as in Salem, as in an intensely LONG day on the road. And might I just say I WON'T do that again any time soon!!! (Getting around in a car is getting very interesting!). It was nice to be out PLAYING in it this afternoon rather than behind the wheel of a car in it. It was perfect sledding snow--we had a blast!!!

Yet more snow!!

The back deck has been somewhat uncharted territory, so minus what snow was blown away with the wind the other day, below is a fairly accurate representation of just how much snow has fallen in less than a 24 hour period. (click on the photo for an enlarged view!)

And it Just Keeps Coming Down

So here we are five days later, and WOW lots and lots of snow. NO school ALL week (one little head fake on Thursday...ultimately they cancelled). We are officially calling it a three week winter break. We have spent a lot of time consoling the kids who are just heart broken having been out of school for an extra week (yeah, RIGHT!!!).

It really has been totally amazing. Unlike anything I have seen in the 12+ years I have lived in Portland. We are getting around town right now with just the Suburban chained up. My car has been parked up at the corner for most of the week (minus a couple of small windows I was able to sneak out and get to to work).

Today it snowed like it normally rains ~ it just kept falling and falling!! I think we have at least 6-8 inches around our house. The kids had some friends over today and braved the elements for a little sledding time outside. The freezing rain is supposed to show up tonight so I'm thinking we will be indoors for most of tomorrow.

Cabin Fever meets Camp Rock

After being trapped in the house for hours on end, when the batteries are run down to red in the DS's and mom shuts down the Wii, all that is left is to resort to making up "a routine". And so here are the girls doing their own production of ......well, you can watch the videos (if you dare!) Watch out Vegas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And as a side note, I am happy to report that the big, wide open floor formerly known as "the stage" has since been filled with the giant new couch we have been waiting for. There was a tiny window of opportunity on Thursday for the delivery to be made--YEAH!!!!

Winter Wonderland!!!

By 9:00am The Storm arrived in full force!!! The kids (including cousin Morgan) are having a blast playing outside in the snow.

First Gymnastics Meet

The girls had their first meet last Sunday. I was totally prepared for a day of nerves and "tummy aches", but they did it with barely a mention of being nervous!! They were pretty proud of themselves. This one was at their gym and there was only one other visiting team. The next one is in February sometime, and they will go to someone else's gym.

Below are just a couple of the videos ~ the first one is Emma's floor routine. The second one is Sara's beam routine.

On the hunt for Santa

We set out to find Santa last night. Unfortunately, Santa was nowhere to be found at Bridgeport Village (I guess everyone needs a day off). But along the way we came across the great Christmas tree in the center of the square. Oh, and fear not....Santa was on duty at Washington Square!!

Happy Thanksgiving Birthday to Caty

We spent Thanksgiving week out at the beach. Thanksgiving Day this year doubled as neice Caty's 11th birthday. Chocolate cake AND pumpkin pie....lucky us!!! :-) Happy Birthday Caty!

Fun Times with Old Friends

Our friends Karen, Kate, Lauren and the new addition Madeline (8 mos old) are here visiting from Califonia (Carlos had to stay behind to work). Brief history: Karen and I met while preg w/the twins (twins birthing classs). Our due dates were just a couple of weeks apart, she ended up delivering Kate and Lauren just five days before we had Emma and Sara....we have been fast friends ever since. Karen and Carlos relocated to Sacramento for his job two summers ago. So other than phone calls and email, this might just be the first time we've been able to get together??!

Yesterday Karen's parents hosted an open house as an opportunity for friends and family to convene in one place for a visit, so the kids and I drove out to Vancouver for the afternoon. It was SO great to see everyone, to meet Madeline....what a sweetheart!!....and to re-connect the "big" girls!!! It's been a while since they had seen each other, so they were all pretty shy at first. But nothing brings four nine year olds together like a little shananigans!! Karen's uncle passed out some pea shooters and a bag of soy beans, a suddenly they all found themselves outside on the back deck, pea shooters in hand.....they were off and running (litterally!)!!! I had to pry them apart when it was time to leave, but dangled a carrot of a "girls" trip to CA this coming summer!! So Karen, if you are reading this, it was REALLY GREAT to see you: WE MISS YOU!!! We hope to pay a visit to CA this summer!!!

Because I love those retrospective photo opportunities, below are a couple of photos of the girls--one from yesterday and one from about nine years ago!!!

I can't help but look at the photo of these four beauties and flash forward to 9 or 10 years from now thinking about what the "retrospective" photo might look like next to this one ....make up, hair all done up, car keys in their hands getting ready for a night out!!! NOOO!!!!

But I guess you can't keep them confined to the carpet, munching on graham crackers forever!! L to R: Kate, Lauren, Emma, Sara (thank goodness our girls finally grew some hair!!!)

Partners in crime....shooting soy beans off the deck!

Introducing Madeline (with big sis Kate). What a beauty!!!!

November at the Oregon Coast

You just never quite know what you're going to get. We were there for a long (Veteran's Day) weekend starting Friday and came home Tuesday. Most days were anywhere from drizzly to downright stormy. But it seems like we almost always luck out with at least ONE nice day--this trip it turned out to the Monday. It started out rainy, but by mid-morning it turned into a beautiful day with lots of sun and just a light breeze. It seemed a shame to miss out on the nice weather, so I drug the kids out of the house and we went on an little adventure walk. We walked from our place up to the beach, headed south down the beach for about a 3/4 of a mile and then climbed through the dunes and came out in the Nehalem Bay State Park (campground). We cut through the campground on a little hiking/biking path and came out the other side of the park. From there we traveled along the street back to our house. We were out for almost two hours and I'm guessing we logged a little over two miles.

The kids picked up a "companion" for each of them along the way. They each adopted a piece of seaweed, named it, and drug it along with them for the rest of the trip.

The seaweed got a little heavy, so they had get creative on how to tote them along!!

But here is where the real work started when they had to drag them up and over the dunes!!

At the end of the paved trail through the campground.

Our trek along the street headed back to the house. We had to stop at every puddle along the way to give our seaweed friends a drink!

Ah!!! Home sweet home!!!!

Looking forward to heading back out for Thanksgiving!!!!! Hopefully we will find another sunny day in there somewhere.

Then and Now

The first picture was taken back in 2002 when we rented a place right down on the beach at the end of Sandpiper Lane. Our home that we own now is also on Sandpiper, but it is a block and a half away from the beach. So we tried to re-create the photo almost six years ago to the day on the very same stretch of beach. It was difficult to get the exact same shot because it is next to impossible to get the kids to give me a non-cheesy smile! And, are you kidding me, hold each other's hand?!?!?!? Not a chance!!!!!

A Fall Stroll

Nick and I dropped the girls off at a play date this afternoon and decided to take a little spin through his favorite park--Tryon Creek. The kids did a week long summer camp there and they spent time each day at a place called The Meadow. There are several little "hooches" that have been built out of branches, etc. by the kids over the years. He was curious what The Meadow looked like in the Fall, so we took a little stroll/scooter ride down the trail to check it out.

Raring to go!!!

Off and Running!!
Exploring one of the little kid-built habitats.

It's hard work scootering up hill!!
Done!!

A nice way to burn an hour or so on a Sunday afternoon!!

You just never know!!

What started out to be a dreary, drizzly day put the fear of plastic garbage bag raincoats in lots of trick or treaters Friday morning. While we hadn't put too much efffort into digging out the jumbo sized golf umbrellas, we had started having the "where did we put those" conversations. And then, some time around 2:00 pm a little sliver of blue sky appeared. It got bigger and bigger as the hours ticked by. The next thing we knew....dry, 61 degrees....just in time for the night out!!!! Kids had fun, got lots of sugar to sustain them for the next 364 days until Halloween rolls around again!!

'Tis the Season

After the last post, the kids asked if I would "PLEASE put something happy out on the blog to show something fun from the weekend." So, on a happier note:

One day, we took just an ordinary porch decoration.

Combined it with a little creativity.....

A little bit of sweat.....

Added in just a tad bit of goofing around.....


And what did we get????

SPOOKY!!!!!!