Yes, I am repeating an old (two years ago) Foto Friday. I so love to go back through old posts and photos, it cracks me up!
With the babies teething I was told that frozen yogurt helps soothe the gums. I was super excited when I found Horizon Organic Yogurt Tubes with no High Fructose Corn Syrup or Red Dye #anything. Bite after bite she would make these faces, but she kept on eating it so it must have been yummy.
50mm f1.4 @ f2.0 ISO 200
50mm f1.4 @ f2.0 ISO 200
My beautiful blue eyed son who is sick with a cold. =(
Wow, what a great, great day. Christmas has wound down, the kids are in bed (Heaten in a big boy bed!!!! But more on that story later), and I’m sitting here reliving the day in my head. The twinzies woke a little earlier than I’d hoped, given they went to bed really late last night, but they were both so excited for what Santa brought them that it woke me right up and made me smile.
Coming downstairs, Heaten found Shake Shake Bridge (Thomas the Train) along with lots of other fun toys (mostly train related). He is in little boy train heaven right now, and I’m sure having sweet dreams of choo choo’s. Shenzie saw her doll depot and ran right over, estatic, and then saw Belle in her stocking and the excitment rose to an all new level. This year the twiznies really ‘got’ it all and it was awesome!!! They loved all of their presents and spent the entire day playing.
We spent a leisurely day at home, in our pj’s, enjoying time together as a family and it was pretty awesome! A yummy Christmas dinner, birthday flowers, birthday wishes, and quiet cuddle time with Jeff topped off our first [wonderful] Christmas in Bend!
This was our first Christmas Eve not spent as a family with my family. We continued on some of our old traditions as well as adding some new ones. We are fortunate enough to have met some awesome friends here who made our first Christmas away a great one!! Christmas Eve started off with a party at our friends house. Yummy food, good company, and decorating cookies for Santa were the highlights. Thank you SO much Sonja for an awesome evening. I was fearful I would sit at home mopey and sad, missing my sisters and parents, but this made the night fun, happy, and festive.
After we got home we ran inside to grab our Magic Reindeer Dust. The twinzies had a blast sprinkling it around the [snowy] yard.
Messy clothed and dirty faced photo in front of the tree before we started our fun evening.
One of my favorite Christmas Eve traditions are Christmas Pj’s. LOVE THEM!!!
Then we opened up a family present (Thomas the Tank Engine game) and had fun playing the night away.
After setting out Santa’s cookies and letters we called it a night.
All in all a wonderful Christmas Eve spent with the people I love the most.
Yes, I was the best Christmas present my Mom and Dad ever got (at least that is what I keep telling them). =) In honor of my Merry Birthday I thought I’d write a post about me.
I keep having moments where I forget how old I am, even though 2 weeks ago I had it all figured out. Turns out I am 36. Wow. Doesn’t 36 just sound old. I’m a little too close to 40 for comfort. =( To shake the old out of me a few of my awesome friends got together for some birthday fun at Typhoon. Many laughs were had. Much [yummy] food was eaten. Many [delicious] drinks were gulped (minus the nasty ass beer). Thank you SO SO much girls for an awesome night and your wonderful and thoughtful gifts (vodka anyone)? =)
I’m just gonna say that I really and truly hope my face isn’t that round and [fat]. I mean, I know I’ve gained a pound or 7 since we moved, but sheesh, that looks BAD. I’m gonna blame it on the scarf. =) And Sonja, I’m totally gonna trade you a scarf instruction for a new camera instruction. =)
And continuing on with my awesome friends, a few of us headed up to Mt. Bachelor last week for a fun day of snowboarding/skiing. I still kinda suck on the snowboard front, but my cheerleaders helped give me the push to step out of my comfort zone and actually try to improve. Watch out mountain, I’m a girl on a mission. I’m getting my helmet next week in preparation for many, many Tight Wad Tuesdays at Hoodoo! By the end of the season I’ll be shredding it up with the rest of you. =)
A special HUGE thank you to my very best friend for so graciously allowing me to play, play, play while you stay home with our insane crazy kids!! I <3 you to bits and bytes.
A few months after we moved to Bend I got the Oregon Drivers Manual to study for the written test. It sat, and sat, and sat unread for many months. With my birthday quickly approaching and my Nevada license expiring I was down to crunch time to get my Oregon license. I read the book cover to cover Sunday night and went in Monday afternoon to take the test. A few friends had failed the first test so I wasn’t quite sure I would pass the first time since I didn’t study, study, just read the book (and as we know, my memory SUCKS!). So yeah, I passed…not only did I pass, I passed with a 100%. Go me!!! I’m officially an Oregonian now!
I think I’m a fairly good driver (aggressive, but safe), although Jeff might disagree. My days of speeding through town at 80-90 miles an hour are long gone and now I actually follow the speed limit. Winter hit along with icy, snowy roads which I DO NOT know how to drive on. Well, its not that I don’t know how to drive on them, its just that I drive s.l.o.w. Like Grandma slow. We have 4 wheel drive and it does help tremendously, but at times the ice is just insane and my tires suck. The other day it was snowing really hard, freezing, and the fog rolled in like crazy. By the time we got home the windshield wipers were froze, my window defroster wasn’t working good, and the fog was so thick you couldn’t see 100 feet in front of you. I figure if I can drive blind, I can drive in anything. =)
This photo really doesn’t do the fog justice. A few nights the fog is so thick you can’t see 20 feet in front of you. It is pretty amazing.
I don’t make New Years Resolutions because I just break them, but I am going to give myself a few goals to accomplish before my next birthday.
1. Eat better. Eat more fruits and Veggies. Set a better example of good eating for Shenzie and Heaten
2. Complete the Couch to 5k
3. Get to the mountain as much as I can and get [much] better at snowboarding
4. Blog more
5. Get in front of the camera more with the kids. I have a kazillion photos of the twinzies, a million of Jeff with the kids, but only a handful of me with the kids.=(
6. Be more patient, yell less, and be a nicer mother and wife
7. Get a little more creative in the kitchen. I really dislike cooking, but I’m going to give it a go and hopefully it will grow on me
And because 7 is my favorite number, I’ll leave it at that.
35 was a great year and I’m certain 36 is going to be even better!!
I’m sure growing up [in Idaho] we built many snowman, but this is by far the largest I have seen/built. Jeff assures me this is nothing and the snowmen of his childhood were way bigger, but I’m still pretty impressed with ours. The twinzies had a blast building it, I’m going to guess that their favorite part was pushing the giant balls thru the snow to gather more. Shenzie thought it was pretty hilarious.
*Photo Overload*
And then onto some yummy hot cocoa. The twinzies LOVE to have hot cocoa with LOTS of marshmallows after playing in the cold. The only downside it one or both of them usually end up spilling it everywhere which quickly ends the fun.
And then onto some fun cookie baking and peppermint bark making. As you can see, Shenzie and Heaten love them some chocolate!! Favorite = licking the chocolate covered spoon. I remember my mom passing around the beater from her mixer and each of us 6 kids got to take lick. Yummmmy!
Heaten’s new fake smile. It cracks me up!!
Not too sure what brought on Shenzie’s serious face. Maybe I refused her more chocolate chips since she ate a ton. =)
Total spontaneous hug and an I love you from Shenzie to Heaten. So, so sweet.
So far our first Christmas and winter in Bend has been a blast. I’m sure at some point I’ll be wishing for summer again, but for now we’re enjoying winter and all it offers to its fullest!!
I know I’m a little behind with the whole kids meeting Santa bit. There was always some reason we never went to see him, but we finally did it. Our wonderful MMOCO (moms group) hosted a fabulous Christmas party complete with Santa and Santa’s Elf (Kim, you were AWESOME!!!). As you can guess the twinzies were VERY excited to meet Santa and tell him what they want for Christmas. Shenzie ran right up with no fear, sat on his lap, and told him she wanted Belle (Princess Belle).
Heaten talked big, but when the time came he chickened out and didn’t want to sit with Santa. He did however manage to tell Santa he wants [another] choo choo train.
We’re working on starting our own family traditions so each night the twinzies excitedly open their Advent Calender Candy and we read a Christmas story and sing a Christmas song. My family tradition when I was growing up was one I want to carry on. We got to open one gift on Christmas Eve as well as our Christmas Pj’s. The twinzies will each get to open their Christmas Pj’s and we’ve decided to let them open one family gift (a Thomas the Train board game that we’ll play together as part of the festivities) and they each get to open their stocking DVD’s. We will bake cookies for Santa Christmas eve and sprinkle our Magical Reindeer Dust (such a wonderful idea from my MMOCO Group). I’m not quite sure what is in the bag (mushed up cookies with sprinkles or something), and tied with a ribbon around the bag is this poem:
The Legend of Magical Reindeer Dust
It has once been said,
That right before you go to bed,
You should sprinkle magic reindeer food,
to quickly bring Santa and his brood.
For many years the legend has been told,
To boys and girls, both young and old,
Sprinkle the food throughout your yard,
Then finding your house won’t be so hard!
The reindeer can smell the food for 100 miles.
Just do not leave it in big piles!
After you do this you must go to sleep fast,
So Santa and his reindeer will not pass!!
Christmas morning will start bright and early I’m sure with their Santa gift left out under the tree (Shake Shake Bridge Thomas Track for Heaten and Belle along with a baby depot (changing station, high chair, bed, etc.) for Shenzie. Their stockings will be stuffed full of yummy treats, toys, and games and then they can open presents from us and any other gifts they receive. This Christmas will be my second Christmas without my sisters and family (my first was a visit to Jeff in Canada in 2004). This will also be our first Christmas without Grandma Bea who was such a HUGE part of Christmas my entire life. I’m so so sad to be away from my family, but thanks to Skype we’ll at least be able to “see” them. I’m SO excited for Christmas this year and of course Shenzie and Heatens excitement makes it even more fun!
First and foremost, a HUGE Happy Birthday to my Papa!!! We love you!
As we all know Heaten loves him some trains. When I saw this choo choo gingerbread train I knew I had to get it. The twinzies LOVED it and had a blast decorating it (so I’ve been told since I missed the fun due to my own fun snowboarding on the mountain).
Here are a few video’s Jeff took of the twinzies “decorating” their tree (mainly, eating the candy that was supposed to be on the train). =)
Our library is pretty awesome and this week they had “The Train Man” and all of his wonderful trains on display. He had like 8 working trains an another bunch of extras. Some were exact replica’s from the 1920’s and beyond, it was pretty great. I’m SO bummed my camera battery died right when we got there, so all of the following videos/photos were taken with my iphone. As you can guess, Heaten had a blast and was in awe over the trains. We must have stayed there for 2+ hours.
Shenzie got bored, but was happy to play upstairs in the adult section with Daddy. We even made the news! The news lady was there at the same time we were and Heaten had his first TV appearance. So cute!
So yeah, I’ll admit that my blogging has been a bit sucky since we moved. The times of daily blogging are long, long, gone. I’m lucky now to get Foto Friday done. =) So anyway, I really want to document our first Christmas in Bend so I’ve promised myself to blog every day from now until Christmas. And whoa! Get ready for a ton of photos since I’ve been pretty crappy in that department as well.
The Twinzies “sleeping” under Charlie Brown Tree
Charlie Brown Tree
Shenzie’s “mad” face.
The twinzies are really into Christmas this year. They totally get the idea of naughty/nice and that Santa is watching. I may be abusing the Santa card just a bit (or if I’m being trueful, a LOT), but it totally works, and you know I’m all about whatever works!! =)
My little ice eating nymph. =)
Getting ready to pelt me with his snowball. He got me good!!!
Living in Vegas it never felt super Christmas-ie. Between the 70 degree weather, palm trees, and sunshiney daya I just didn’t feel the holiday spirit. All of that has changed. The snow, the decorated town, the festivities we’ve been to have all made this year feel so Christmas-ie, I love it!!!
We put our Charlie Brown tree up 2 weeks earlier than normal because I want to enjoy this month for all its worth. The twinzies had a blast decorating the tree and did a smash up job.
After staring at our teeny tiny tree for a week I begged and pleaded to get a real tree. Seriously, we live in the forest, you can go chop your own for $5 (which we’re going to do next year). Finally Scrooge, er, I mean Jeff gave in and we found our beautiful tree. The twinzies are not supposed to touch the big tree {ha, like that is going to happen} since they have their own and I put up all of my breakable decorations on mine, and oh my, I love it!!!
Not the best photo since half of the tree lights aren’t working, but I love it anyhow.
Next years big projects include house lights, decorating the outside tree, and Christmas cards since I suck and didn’t even send any out this year.
