Cousin Time

Not sure what was being discussed here.

Looks like Ben and Matt.

Silly blanket games.

Night-night. (Lucy calls her blanky her "nigh nigh")

Checking out the fish.

Gus has a new chalkboard on his wall that everyone enjoys.

"where is your belly?"

"Where are your cheeks?"

"Where is your chin?"

"Where is your hair?"

Ben, Holli, and May came up from Walla Walla for a fun Superbowl Weekend Adventure. All three cousins played very well together, and the girls are at such a fun(ny) age. May May's vocabulary blows us all away and it was fun to watch them share some time. We made up some chicken wings, Holli made a delicious pot of chili for chili dogs, and had some of Ben's home-brewed dry cider that was delicious. Good times, folks, good times.

Lucy's Pigtails

While she was distracted with lunch, I did her hair in two little pigtails.....

Gus Photography

Gus got his very own camera for Christmas. Thankyou to Grandma Connie and Grandpa Dick. This gadget has provided hours of entertainment for Gus and the rest of us- we love viewing his final work. Here are a few that I discovered after downloading them today. He has quite the eye and loves documenting all sorts of subject matter (family, food, architecture). I would say he is a natural.. but I am his mom.

Lulu and I.

Spaghetti O's.

Cioppino on stove.

inside of new stove

Doorway to clean room.

Happy New Year to everyone! I think this year will bring us lots of great things. I can't believe how my life has changed in the last decade. So many roles I have taken on... becoming a wife, homeowner, and mom..... working mom... Aunt... Sister in law...

Hope all is well with my blog readers out there and here is to a happy and healthy new year and a new decade.

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