A white Christmas!!

Wow, what a gorgeous Christmas this year!! We had HUGE snowflakes fall a good part of the morning.

It was a great Christmas. I spent Christmas Eve at Pat's house with him and the kids, so I got to wake up with everyone Christmas morning. :)

Because of all the snow, we didn't get to go out and do the Christmas shopping we wanted. So when we finally did get out, everything Ryan had asked for we couldn't find. :(
But he got a Nintendo DS and even though he didn't ask for it, he LOVES it. He won't put that thing down, lol.

It's been hard that I haven't been able to see really any family this week. I love you all, we'll have to do something together when the weather eases up.
I haven't been to work in a week and that's going to be scary come my January pay check. Yikes. I still can't get my car out of the snow, but Mike's going to drive me to work and pick me up tomorrow. Hopefully by Saturday I'll be thawed out, lol.

Almost every single car that has come down my street has gotten stuck in the snow the past couple of days. There was a car with chains on earlier today that was stuck for about 20 minutes. They had five guys out there digging and pushing before it finally moved. I'm still not ready to try out the roads in my honda civic that has no snow tires or chains, lol.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!! Ours was very, very good. :)

Polar Express Slideshow

Polar Express on the Mt. Hood Railroad

Ryan and I went to this last night in Hood River. It was so much fun!!!

We got there early, so wandered around the station for awhile. When it was time the conductor yelled "All Aboard!" and you should have seen the excitement on all the kids' faces!! I teared up a bit, lol.

We got on and started our trip to the North Pole. On the way they played music from the Polar Express soundtrack and we got hot cocoa and cookies. We reached the North Pole and Santa and his elves boarded. Hehe. He made his way through the cars to each kid. Sat with them a bit and his elf gave each child a bell from the sleigh.

And on the way there and back we all sung Christmas carols. Ryan LOVED that part.

It was sooo fun!!! I can't wait to get some of the pictures on here.

Update On Us

As our family and friends, you probably know what an odd year it has been for us.

Since I'm not a huge phone person, I'll keep my updating on here. :)

I'm still looking for a place to move. I've found a couple and even had one I was to sign the papers for today. But the obstacle I'm coming across is not being able to save enough. With having to help pay bills here and getting paid based on commission (so never really knowing how much my check is going to be), we're going to have to look at other options (such as me staying with my parents for awhile, ugh).

But overall things are going well.

Ryan is doing awesome in school, of course. :) I went on a field trip with his class a couple of weeks ago to the Central Library downtown. What a fun time! For first graders, it was EASY...he's with an excellent group. They were so much fun and so GOOD.
And I just love his teacher. Two for two I would say when it comes to his teachers. Kindergarten and first grade have both been wonderful when it comes to his teachers.

Work for both Pat and I is well too. Pat's at a new store in the Pearl that just opened up this week. He'll have nice hours there.
My work is always crazy, lol, but I still have a job and that's nice. It's a little nerve wracking to be in the auto industry right now.

Love you all!! I'll probably be cancelling our home phone soon, but we'll still have both of our cells.

Grandpa Clint

Pat's father passed away in his sleep. Please keep us all in your prayers.
Pat will head out to North Carolina next week for a small memorial servie, that was all Clint wanted.
We visited him a couple of years ago with the kids. He fell in love with them. He was definitely a charming man and we'll all miss him.

Thanks.

Losing his baby teeth!

Ryan lost his first tooth on Saturday morning. And then ANOTHER one last night! It is his two, bottom front teeth.

I love his little toothless grin!!

And he has another loose on the top now. I told him we're going to have to start buying baby food because pretty soon he won't have any teeth left to chew with. LOL

Tooth fairy left him a dollar each night. He's so excited...he's been saving up his money for a big Indiana Jones lego set. He has a little over $40...just in change!

Pumpkin Patch and Carving Pumpkins

Flower

Santa brought Ryan a baby doll for Christmas last year. Complete with a stroller. Ryan loved playing with Briauna's babies, so we got him one of his own.
Lately this baby has been going everywhere with us, but he won't admit that he likes the baby, heehee.
We were out in the front getting ready to go to the store the other day when one of our neighbors walked by. Ryan was holding his baby and says loudly "I don't know why santa brought me this baby, I don't even like babies!".
But then the baby just HAD to go to the store with us.

Then last night I go into his room and he had tucked in the baby next to him. Even gave baby (which he told me her name is Flower) her own blanket.



Oh, but he doesn't like babies! LOL

Project Brain Child

The Gorge was amazing

What can I say? It just gets better and better every year. We had an amazing time. I can't wait a whole 'nother year!! Enjoy the slideshow!

First Grade

Ryan is now an official first grader!


Gosh, where does time go? I have a little man on my hands. He was so excited the first day, I had no problems getting him out of bed that morning. Which if you know Ryan, you know how odd that is, haha. That boy loves sleeping in. He already knows most of the kids in his class so it was fun for both him and I to see them again since kindergarten ended.


And I have my quiet days back!! I don't think you realize how great they are until you endure summer break. LOL Summer break was a blast this year, but I like the quiet days of them back in school again too. :)

Countdown to the Gorge!!

The trip Pat and I look forward to every year is almost here!

Dave Matthews Band at the Gorge Amphitheater!!!

Three days of music bliss. If you haven't been to the Gorge Ampitheater, find a show and go!! It's called "Heaven's Amphitheater" and you will instantly know why once you step inside the gates. It's absolutely gorgeous with the Columbia River right behind the stage, you feel like you're in the middle of nowhere.

The five hour drive there is half the fun for us. Not only is it definitely a beautifully scenic drive, but it's five hours of just being together, enjoying each other's company and jamming out to some tunes.

There are three shows; Friday, Saturday and Sunday and we go to all three. It really is just an incredible experience. The music, the nature, the awesome people we meet.
I think this year we'll try to hit up the river or do some hikes...it all depends on the heat.

Can't wait to tell you guys about it!!

Summer of the playdate!

Seems like we've had at least one a week since summer started....one week we had four! LOL


But it's been fun! We have certainly been busy this summer...and it's going to be over before we know it. There's so much more I want to do and such little time to squeeze it all in. I can't believe how fast it's going!


We're trying to get a start on some of the school shopping. I LOVE it. The new pencils and paper and backpacks. It's just an exciting time of year. :)


I've been bad at updating the blog, but will share a little slide show to get you all caught up. :)


(Once I figure out how to post a slideshow, haha).

Card I made for Ryan's teacher

I wanted to share the card I made for Ms. Quinton. It turned out really cute.

Our family has definitely had it's share of drama this year and I couldn't have asked for a better teacher for Ryan's first year of school. What a wonderful, supportive woman she is and Ryan loved her.

He wrote on the inside: "Thanks for being my teacher. I will see you in September. I love you Ms. Q. Love, Ryan"

Another busy week!

Pat and I got free tickets to go see Augustana last Friday. This would be my first experience at a bar since I was in treatment last April. I know Pat was very nervous, I actually felt pretty confident. I do have to say, the first couple minutes after we walked in I did feel a pang of envy when I looked around and EVERYONE had a drink in their hand. But it passed quickly. We went up front, watched the bands play and had a blast! It was a good date night. :)

I kept reminding myself to bring my camera all day and of course forgot it. The camera phone didn't take a very quality picture, haha.

Monday the kids and I went to the Central Library and checked out some more books. Then to Powells and it seemed like we were there for HOURS, lol. I'm just so happy that my kids share my love of reading with me. We had lunch downtown and then headed home. Briauna said it was the best day of her life. :D

Tuesday.....oh boy! We had one of Ryan's friends over for a playdate and Briauna had one of her friends come over. Ryan has this HUGE crush on Briauna's friend, it's very adorable. And then a couple of Ryan's little friends have gotten crushes on Briauna. Little boys are just so funny. By next year girls will probably have cooties (I'm hoping). Haha. I spent most of the day doing yard work, my shoulders and back are killing me! But I can't wait to have our backyard done. It's coming along, slowly but surely.

It's supposed to start getting HOT by tomorrow. High 90's for the weekend. I think on Sunday I'm going to take the kids to Jamison Square and let them splash around in the fountain. I NEED to remember my camera this time.

Also, pretty soon we're going to start heading out to Sauvie Island to pick fruit and flowers. If you're interested in going, let me know! A lot of the farms on Sauvie Island have fell victim to a nasty root weavel and won't have strawberries this year. But I found that Kruger Farm was lucky and their strawberries are about ready to pick!

He's just too cool

Last day of kindergarten June 10, 2008

Summer has begun!!!

And we have been busy!!

I am so excited for this summer. We are going to have so much to do, I'm going to make those little nubits looking forward to bedtime each night. LOL

The kids and I started last week with a visit to Portland Nursery. It was fun just to walk around and look at the different plants, flowers, trees, statues, etc. And then the kids each got to pick out a little plant to take home. We went looking for a St. Francis statue for Pat, but of course one can never find one when they actually want one.
Then we headed over to Laurelhurst park to eat lunch by the pond and play at the playground. What a gorgeous day it was!

Monday we went to Central Library and got Ryan his first library card. :D Ryan and Briauna both signed up for a summer reading program through the library, so they're pretty excited about that. They're reading constantly so they can color off another square on the chart.

Monday night we all went to Patrick's soccer game. He plays Monday nights at 7, but they're all in different locations so if you'd like to watch one let us know and we can get you the field info.

(Pat is the dude in the red and black).

Briauna made friends fast, so she had a blast. I was glad, I was worried about the boredom monster rearing its ugly head. LOL

And when Ryan wasn't busy with his Indiana Jones legos, he was sitting buddha-like near the trees contemplating mans exsitence on earth (or something very similar to that, I'm sure).

If you want to get together this summer just let me know! I have lots of trips to the park, the beach, bike rides, zoo trips and lots more planned!

Update on t-ball game tomorrow

It will be at Arbor Lodge park at 9am.

Welcome to the first blog!

I wanted to start up a new website for our friends and family to check in and see what we've been up to.
I had one when Ryan was a wee little guy, but then "blogging" was suggested to me so we'll give it a try!

Ryan and Briauna are officially out of school!! In September we will have a first grader and a fifth grader.
They each had a field trip to go bowling the last week of school. I was a helper for Ryan's class that day and it was SO fun to watch all those kindergartners bowling. Very cute, I hopefully got a couple of good pictures before my camera battery died.

Ryan's last t-ball game will be Saturday. Not sure on the when or where yet because it was just added at the last minute. Their last game was supposed to have been last night but another game has been added.

Hmmm.....what else.... I guess I'll just do some more "blogging" when I think of more. (I don't know why that word cracks me up, lol).