Beautiful December

It all started with a beautiful sunset. I mean can you believe this sky?! The kids were just coming in after spending all day helping their 92 year old grandpa prune plants! What a day! I was on my way home from teaching a holiday art workshop and it was so fun. 

Everyone had fun trimming the tree, even though the kids were taller than it! Lets just say that we won't buy a tree in the dark ever again. The kids did not even notice. Ty is finally over his 3 week cold which was no more than a lot of snot. ( see photo) I thought his expression was hilarious. The only time a 18 month sits still is if snot is suddenly all over his face. 

Tate has discovered a new passion, thanks to a man named Earl at his great grand parents care home. This man assembles puzzles on a giant desk at the top of the stairs. The last time we went to visit Papa Jim and Meme Great, he didn't even come in their room. He just sat by Earl and watched him do his puzzle. This picture is of a very tired Tate who could not pull himself away from his cookie puzzle. ( 300 pieces!) 

It is a quiet night in December. The cold weather is promising to hit tomorrow and the kids are excited for the possibility of snow. The boys are sound asleep and Ellie is spending some quality time with her best friend Stella. Ah to be carefree and 7 again, that was the best! 

Growing Up

Oh Ellie is growing up. Here she is opening her birthday gifts in bed because she had the flu on her birthday. She is learning how to tell time thanks to Aunt Lisa's gift. Tonight she decided she was going to run away. ! I guess while I was on my walk she got in trouble for not staying in bed. It is not just hard on me when she has no school, she craves the routine so these long vacations are really hard on her. I hope she never really runs away! Oh the drama. The two boys help keep it real! Tomorrow I'll post a picture of Tate jumping on my back and Ty wiping his snotty nose on my pants. 

The Night Before the Turkey

It is hard to believe it is time for turkey again! What a year, I feel like it has been on fast forward. I am sure I am to blame for most of that because I have had a resurgence of the Yes Woman. I committed to too much and then quickly saw the break down at home. ( at least in my pantry) No time for organization! I am planning on using the holidays...aka another adult around, to get some stuff back in order and purge all the extra stuff. 

This year I have been upgraded from just Jello salad to an actual dish that people want to eat. I am making butterscotch yams and a carmel chocolate pecan pie. We'll see how it turns out! I am exhausted from a cold that both Ty and I have. I'm blaming him. He is the one with his hands in his mouth all the time! Plus he is quite the kisser. I guess I'll pay that price for having such a cute momma's boy. He gets cuter and cuter every day as my older two get more sassy. 

Well, that's it for the mid-week update. Tate wants desperately to hang Christmas lights tomorrow and Ellie has discovered football fever after being part of a school civil war today. Pretty funny how quickly her world is expanding. Although no one really reads this blog, I still hope you have a wonderful day with your turkey or tofurkey...whatever you like. 

Today started early with 9am church and me being asked to speak. I have had a busy weekend for sure and am happy to sink into the couch and sort out my make up samples that just arrived. I will forward you a copy of my talk if you are interested. I can't seem to figure our how to post a link to a text file on the blog. Help!

 Later we are going to a tri-birthday party for all the November birthdays in the family. Should be fun!

Party Time!

Today Ellie finally got to have her Fairy birthday party, since she was sick last weekend! It was fun! Seven of her closest friends came over for a tea party and old fashioned games. They earned fairy tokens at each game to turn in for a pair of wings at the end of the party. To everyone's surprise a real fairy rang the doorbell and presented each of them with their wings. It was so awesome! It was also nice to have so many sweet little girls in my house! They were so fun and would have colored and crafted all day if I had let them. I am also posting a picture of Tate's gingerbread house. He is enormously proud of it. Tate begged for one of those kit's and would not go to sleep until it was complete. I would not be surprised if he becomes a chef someday..he loves working in the kitchen and making things he can eat. Nothing gets him excited like cake. 

Ellie has a four course lunch..

Ellie got to stay home today from school and have "rest" day. This flu we have all had lingers and makes us feel awful! She got to visit Meme Great and Papa Jim at the Astor House across the street and have an elegant lunch in their dining room. She was the youngest guest there! It took her 10 minutes to tell me all about it. Peach cobbler for dessert! I'm sure happy that my grandparents live close enough to see the kids every day! I've decided to make this blog a daily journal of gratitude because in every day there is always some sunshine, right?! Even though Tate was still feeling yucky and Ty is breaking all four molars at once, Ellie got a four course lunch!!

I'm Back!

Life did not end after the zoo! It just got super busy once baby #3 started to walk! Wow, everyone is a year older and it is almost Christmas. Time to start blogging again!

Zoo trip

We actually had some sun on Saturday so Rob and I took the kids up to the zoo. We all had fun and even took a train ride! We are looking forward to not being pregnant this coming summer so we can go all the time!

Front yard rainbow

The other day we had a nice surprise in our front yard, a rainbow! It actually started in my neighbor's front yard. It was very beautiful!

It all begins

Determined to find out what a blog was I have gone ahead and created my own. The motivation behind this is to record my daily bit of sunshine to help me remember when life in Oregon brings you grey skies you must seek the little rays of sunshine in your own life.