A Christmas Post....

Its the eve of Christmas Eve. I've baked a pecan pie, made a coffee cake, did a bazillion loads of laundry and batches of cookies, wrapped gifts... All I have left is a half day of work tomorrow.
Here is what we've been up to lately:

Sink shampoos:





(Lulu has had a dry scalp due to the cold weather, so I had to put some oil on her head and she ended up looking like a greaser baby. At least her skin was soft.) And thanks to Lola for the hand me down jammies, comfiest ever.

The Tree:

Here I am attempting to photograph with a soft flash, candlelight setting, or no flash, to get that soft glow look and it never comes out quite right. But our tree is beautiful and has lots of Gus-made ornaments which are the best.

Lulu eating a pork chop and me coaxing her to talk:



Merry Christmas!

Its that time of year....

When I gather the little cherubs around the glowing Christmas tree.... and attempt to photograph them for the Christmas card.

Its always chaos.

Here are some of the "Fail" pics. enjoy. I hope someone gets a kick out of this, I wasn't so happy the other night.








click here for Last Year's Ordeal

Happy Thanksgiving

When I was little, I remember my mom always saying that Thanksgiving was her favorite holiday, and I just couldn't fathom that concept. A holiday without presents, candy, costumes, fireworks???? Well now that I am a little, er, older, I totally understand. What could be better than a day dedicated to giving thanks and eating well? Not much.

Lulu with some cornflakes.

Gus helping.

Decorations, provided by Gus.

dinner time

Gus took this photo of Lucy and me

...and he took this one. Kid view is about belt height. Grownups drinking wine and discussing grownup things.

Freddie. Pooped after a long day of hunting down crumbs and following Lulu around.

Leaf Time 2009

We had a ball today playing in the leaves. Then it was time to clean them up and the wind kicked up and it was quite the chore....

Here are some "now and then" pics of Gus.

Today:




And "yesterday" Gus back in 2005:

Halloween Recap

Left to Right: Spiderman, pink ladybug, Tinkerbell, and Motorcross Racer.

Pumpkin by the Pumpkins

Ooooh, scary front porch.

Gus hanging with his favorite little girlfriend, Kaycee.

Too much candy, perhaps?

What a fun Halloween this year. Our friends came up from Omak and the kids went trick or treating all over town. Lucy didn't go, but she loved handing out candy and sampling a few pieces. Gus was thrilled to have Jake and Kaycee spend the night, and play here the next day too.

Boris the Spider

Gus loves the Boris The Spider song by The Who. Lucy loves dancing to it while checking herself out in the mirror.

She refuses to speak on camera

....but the footage is still extremely cute.

Balloons

Halloween Ready

The kids are set for Halloween, and as always we strive to get the most bang for our buck with costumes. Gus has not taken his off since we purchased it today. The transformer costume from last year was worn through and had numerous holes in the legs and arms.

I have been a slacker lately on the blog, my apologies for that. It has been such a busy month, I can't believe October is already half way over. I took a new job two weeks ago at Sterling Savings Bank. I am working about 30 hours and it is working out very well. I really love the fast paced environment and my days have just flown by.

Lucy is now 17 months, I can hardly believe that. She is starting to say more words, she says cookie, cracker, juice, cheese, kitty, doggy, and uh-oh.

Gus is enjoying preschool 3 days a week, but really I think he is ready for more. He has a great class this year, 8 boys and 4 girls and the same teacher from last year. They toured the fire hall last week and got to explore the fire engines and push the siren buttons.

H1N1 flu has hit Oroville and Omak and we are washing hands and using the sanitzer like crazy. Our fly fishing trip to the Yakima River is this week and we are bound and determined to not get the flu. period.

That's all for now... I have some cute videos I will post soon.

trick or treat,

Shay

Birthday Fun

I had a great 31st birthday celebration this year. Matt and the kids made my day.

Here is what Matt gave me. I was secretly wanting this book for sometime:

Earlier that day, here is what we were up to:





Lulu dancing with her dolly









Gussy playing with "goo" (cornstarch and water).

Beach Day

A couple of weeks ago I took the kids to the lake for a swim. Matt was at work, so I had my hands full. It was actually pretty relaxing, even though I didn't read a single page of my book. Lucy's favorite part was the sandy snacks, and Gus enjoyed digging and looking for scuds.

1st Day of School

Gus started school last Wednesday - the summer flew by so fast I can hardly believe it. He is in the 4 year old class at the Co-op preschool. There are some new kids this year, and its a large class, so there is lots to look forward to. He has the same teacher as last year and is very happy to be back in the groove.

Night Swim

What's the best way to get the kids thoroughly worn out before bed? A little dip in the pool. Heck, it was still about 84 degrees at this point.

Yay, pool!

I don't remember what was so hilarious, but it was fun.

Time to get out.

Matt is overwhelmed by Lucy's nudie cuteness. She's so cute, it hurts his eyes sometimes.

Time for bed!