Merry Christmas ... from us!

Since I am so far behind on my blogging, and may never get Christmas cards mailed out ... here are some pictures that were suppose to be on our cards and never made it there.

We had a great time going to see the Nutcracker in Seattle this year. We go every two years or so. It has become a "girls nite out" since Nana likes to join us, and it's not really Addison's thing.

I wonder how many fingers have touched that nose?!?!?!

Rebels with a cause

As you probably know, our first day of school has been delayed due to a teacher's strike. So far we have six days of school to make up this year ... and the teachers have now been ordered back to work on Tuesday. Our district has declared Wednesday as the first day of school, but the teachers have yet to vote on whether or not they are actually going to obey the judge's orders and go back to work. We are all hoping there is a good offer on the table this weekend for them to accept!

Anyway, yesterday we decided to go out and show our support for our wonderful teachers on the picket line; as well as meet our new teachers for the year. It was wild - honking, screaming, and even a drunk driver that ended up hitting several cars in front of everyone while she was busy "flipping off" the teachers. I did refuse to participate in the "parents/students storm the admin. building" - that was just going too far for me! It was great to show the teachers that we are supporting them tho.

Need a Smile?

I don't know how to post a YouTube thingy ... but if you need a smile today, go to this link and watch this video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-q-fsYQPZw

finally!

Kids just look do darn cute when they lose both front teeth at once ... even after they spent months with one front tooth sticking straight out (during all the pictures at a family reunion).

What have we been up to?

Hanging with our newest house guests ...
Many end of year concerts ... (and playing with cameras when they get really long) ... (see Mikaela in the front row - and her really fun band director in the crown and sparkles?!)

Playing in the sun ...

Oh yes, the latest this weekend ... OINK (we think)! Man, guess we couldn't hide from it forever, could we? Better now than in two weeks! :) But it looks like poor C will be missing the last two days of school.

In Honor of Those Who Served

Every Memorial Day weekend, the girls have the honor of placing flags on the gravesites of those veterans who have served our country in branches of the military. We have been doing this as a family ever since I became a girl scout leader many years ago, and even though getting up early on Saturday morning isn't always fun, we look forward to doing it every year. The flags fly proudly all weekend, then Monday there is a full military ceremony where the girl scouts serve refreshments (girl scout cookies) to the guests before the ceremony and listen to various emotional stories afterwards. Here are a few pictures of yesterday's flag placing (yes, the girls are in their GS "uniforms")...

Seattle

Today was my first experience chaperoning a middle school field trip! We took the 7th grade band, orchestra and choir members to the Seattle Center for the Folk Life Festival - as well as a trip up into the Space Needle. It was a beautiful sunny day, and not as bad of an experience as I expected. Although I did get "stuck" with a group of 14 kids (that's twice the usual size), the kids were amazingly well behaved and it was really quite fun hanging out with them for the day and enjoying the interesting "sites" of the festival. It was my fourth field trip in three weeks, but I think I'm finally done for the year! Yeah!

A sign of the times ...

Colorado Here We Come!

In preparation for our upcoming roadtrip to Colorado, via Yellowstone, we hit the big REI sale today. Although we would have liked to buy a lot more, we have to "spread the wealth" and space our purchases out a bit. We did treat ourselves tho and go to the Seattle REI instead of the local one - it was great! And these purchases will be handy for a lot of local outings too - hiking up Mt. Rainier, girl scout camping, etc. Oh, and there are some caves just outside Salt Lake City that we may go see while we are there - so the packs may come in real handy for that hike too!

I love my new camera and the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival !

(more pictures to come ... some day ...)

(For ladies eyes only)

This is GREAT!

Members of Quilters of South Carolina have created one-of-a-kind bras for Breast Cancer Awareness. The exhibit consists of fifty original works of art which are unique, entertaining, humorous, and beautiful to make the public aware of breast cancer, to memorialize those lost to the disease, and to honor survivors ... .

http://www.quiltersofsc.org/artfullbras/artfullbras.htm

I like monkey business and nursing bra ...

Non-April Fools

Here's to our wacky weather this year ... (and no, this is no April Fools, although I wish it was) ...

Weekend fun!

Here's a few pictures from our weekend. Enjoy!

Camera fun (we still have a lot to learn)...

Playing in the sun(it's been a long time since we've seen sun here) ...

Jillian's latest hobby - making yarn bugs ...

Yet more pictures!

Here are a few pictures of the lastest happenings at our house...poor Sadie will be very bored when Gidget goes home tomorrow...






And the beauty of a camera with a great zoom ... Camryn took this one ...

This is Gidget saying, "I miss you Mommy! Come home!"

Our anniversary vacation

Okay, most people would take a great vacation for their 20 year anniversary ... but, for several reasons, we didn't. Instead, Addison surprised me with the absolute best gift today - something that we both can enjoy for many years to come - a new camera! No, not just any camera ... a brand, spanken new Nikon D90 SLR! WOW! Only in my wildest dreams could I ever imagine owning one of these beauties! I have been asking for a DSLR for about a year now - but never thought I/we would get a NEW one! Ya know, buy one of the older models and it's cheaper - but I guess this is cheaper than a vacation for us two - okay, maybe not - but it will last longer! Now we need to figure out how in the world to use it! Here are a few action shots from this evening (without even reading the manual yet).




And here is a picture of our house guest.