My baby and braces!

Today was the day Lauren had been waiting for, the big "I get my braces" day. I'm not thinking money (although it is quite a hefty fee for little metal brackets), I'm thinking where has the time gone that my little baby girl is old enough for braces, in middle school and stretching her wings away from ME? Wasn't I just eleven? Didn't I just get braces, where have the years gone that I can no longer see myself as the little girl and my own daughter has crept into a budding young woman? Must be the big 4-0 settling into my system realizing we have these children for such a short time in comparison to our lifespan. Why it was just the other day Don mentioned that we only had 7 years left to do family vacations before she went off to college. I'm like 7 years, that's a drop in the bucket time wise and it scared me. I have all these great, mental family plans that I just haven't got to yet. Now I feel a sense of urgency to start planning these activities, vacations etc, don't wait Kelly! So I guess getting braces was more an eye opener for me than it was for Lauren, realizing my time as her Mama Bear is slowly dwindling away so she can some day be on her own. It's sad and satisfying knowing what an independent and happy child she has become, but there is still so much I want to experience with her while she is a child. And with that, I ponder the rest of the day .....what next to do.

Catching up & having fun!

What a wonderful holiday we had, snow and all. Now some of you might dream of that picture of a "white" Christmas but for us Northwester's, it's novelty wore off by day 3. We are utterly unprepared for more than a sprinkling of snow and everything just shuts down until it finally melts. Yes it was pretty, yes it was fun but by the second week and of Christmas no less, we had the itch to get out of the house and just do something, anything. One time I begged Don for a trip to Costco and a visit to his parents house. Thank goodness, Lauren built the best snowman ever in the back of Uncle Matt's and Sara's truck to add traction for the way back home. Fortunately the snowman made it back to their house in one piece. We laughed and laughed about that.

Christmas was just beautiful but getting over to Vancouver for the afternoon was a bit of a challenge. Luckily our truck is used to going over the mountain and just barreled thru while other cars were stuck or very, very, very slow. This year after dinner, we decided to go to a movie for fun. We piled into our truck and off we went, that was really fun. We had a great time with both of our families and are very lucky to have them nearby.

January was cold, rainy sometimes snowy but we endured and had fun along the way. We met our good friends Tammy and Dewayne at Sunriver to meet their new daughter Aralyn. What a cutie pie she was! Don and Dewayne snowmobiled while Tammy and I got back to our roots....shopping. Boy do I miss our bargain, digging times together!

February is half way gone and so is my valentine Don...ahhhhh. Lauren and Don headed to Sunriver to snowmobile with his brother's family while I stayed back here at home with Alex. We did have a great dinner, my favorite- tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich. Well at least the soup was red, right? I decided to see if Alex was "mall ready" since his stroller days were long gone and dragged the poor boy shopping. He didn't protest too much, I gave him his Nintendo DS and he was happy as a clam. Although getting around with him, was like leading a blind person with his nose in his game at all times. I got a few things and just had fun browsing with no time demands.

Today we are scraping wallpaper, or should I say two layers of wall paper off our half bath downstairs. It is the smallest bathroom ever and I've been putting off re-vamping the darn thing for a very long time. The last it was touched was about 10 years ago when I begged my dad to roll some new wallpaper over the old. After hours of scraping, I'ved decided why painting is so much better and easier to change. I'm sure I'll be working on this project for awhile. One room a year is about my speed and budget. Someday when I finish, I'll just have to start again, oh well change is good.

Here's to some sunny days, boy we need them!

Fun in the snow, holiday fun!

Who would of thought we'd have a snowy holiday season? After all, this is Portland not Mt. Hood, not even close to Vermont! The newscasts are filled with two words "Arctic Blast". I can't stop laughing at that, we're in complete shut down but I can still see the curb. I'm sure all the people who have "real" snow accumulation of more than 4 inches would laugh at us Oregonians! But hey, it's a treat for us and oh so much better than ice and freezing rain, a winter favorite here. The kids are on their 4th, yes 4th day off and I'm finally getting a little cabin fever. Today my goal is to go somewhere, anywhere for a change of scenery! But since it's so close to Christmas, I think most places have put a closed sign up (except retail of course) and called it good. Leaving mom's everywhere with nothing to do. I pray that the Pizza Place is open today that has a play area, please oh please!
Here's a video of Alex doing his thing aka Indiana Jones!!! S210_171208_1504261.AVI

O'Christmas Tree, O'Christmas Tree

Today was the day, the sun was shining, the day was bright and the kids seemed happy! Off we went to the Christmas tree farm that we've always gone to but Lauren gave us specific instructions this year, we need to CUT it down ourselves. Although this had always been our family tradition, once Alex was born, it just became too much with a little guy slopping in the mud and we took the easy way out, going down the rows and picking one out all ready to go. But Lauren had had enough of the "easy" way out and off we went with our hack saw and measuring stick.

Don was right when he said we always pick out too big of a tree, so this year he gave me height requirements. No taller than 7'. Easier said than done, every one Lauren and I saw was either too big, too wide, too thin, wrong top etc. after what seemed an exhausting search, we found the right, perfect tree and by that time, Don was already chopping it down before Lauren and I were off to run down a better one. Of course little Alex was crushed that the tree he picked out (at least 8') would not be coming home with us. He cried all the way back down the field (people staring), the whole hay ride back (people staring) and then back at the office to pay (more people staring). Finally when we got home, he took the hit with some grace (better late than never) and moved on too wanting hot chocolate.

Here's a snippet of our tree decorating - Decorating the tree '08

Don and Lauren put all the lights up but I needed more, of course. So off we went to the local drug store for two more boxes. Ahhh, that's better. Now to the ornament decorating! Lauren pounced on the ornaments, so excited to get this season going. Alex just wanted to bring down his Lincoln Logs but I insisted he help decorate the tree for a little while. I did forget one thing, he hadn't been taught how to properly put ornaments on the tree so they wouldn't fall off. We're only down one blue ball, a horse's ear and leg and one glass frog leg, hmnn... Don soon

decided to correct all our hanging mistakes and looked over the whole tree making sure if it moved, nothing would come off and come exploding down. What a guy!


Merry Christmas!

Cruisin the Canal

What a busy month it was! We went on a much anticipated two week cruise thru the Panama Canal with Don's parents. We had such a fun time but missing the kids was the hardest part. After a week of eating, sleeping, eating, bingo, stops in Florida,Grand Cayman, Columbia and Costa Rica and more eating, it was time to go thru the great Canal.










It was all very interesting going thru each lock watching the ship rise to the the next level and sail on to the next step. The best part....watching this all day while laying on the bed looking out the window, yes it true because we had a great balcony. Don would go and take pictures up on deck and then I'd nap then he would come back down to the room to take more pics from our room. We had this great balcony divider that if we leaned across far enough we could actually have conversations with his parents next door. Add in room service, geez why go anywhere? it was a total hoot and we really enjoyed the time spent with Don's parents.

Believe me, we were one of the youngest couples on board and we're not exactly spring chickens. When dinner time came close, you should have seen those electric scooters go whizzing by followed by walkers and canes. Really it was quite a sight and although I was worried about many of the frail people making it thru the cruise, it was nice to see that even the "quite" elderly of people have the gusto to travel and have fun. Of course we teased Don's parents the whole time saying they would be considered "middle aged" on this ship!






We started out in Ft. Lauderdale, Grand Cayman, Cartegena-Columbia, Costa Rica, Panama Canal, Huatulco, Acapulco, Cabo San Lucus and then San Diego.

Don took some great pictures and finally got his chance to photograph some wildlife actually in the wild. Janis (Don's mom) had a small shuffle board accident the first day at sea, no I'm not kidding, and was held back by a strained muscle that left her quite gimpy for the first week ( the bruise was just huge and awful looking). But alas, she rallied those last few stops in Mexico and never complained. I guess shuffleboard is a sport more dangerous than previously thought, ha ha!

It was a great time had by all and we'll have precious memories of our time together along with a few laughs for years to come!Lauren was lucky enough to go with our good friends Susannah and her daughter to the Bahama's for a week while we were gone. She got to swim with the dolphins, meet the seals and explore all kinds of sea life surrounding them at the Atlantis resort.

Jimmy - Saying Goodbye

Jimmy Lee Primrose
With a Polaroid picture sent to us in the mail, our journey to adopt a greyhound had begun. Little did we know, that as soon as we laid eyes on him, that he would become such a precious piece of our family. A greyhound, what did we know about them? Not much but Don and I both agreed that they were magnificent looking dogs and we had to give it a try. Soon after the picture was sent, we were aboard to adopt this wonderful dog with big brown eyes who had broke his leg racing. With two books, one collar, leash and two bowls, we began our journey with our friend, our new family member JIMMY.
We had a wonderful life with him and he was always there, right in his line of sight. He was not only wise, but regal and proud. He will be missed everyday. His spot in the family room will always remind of us of what we have lost but also the joy and friendship he gave us! Goodbye Jimmy...
August 31,1996-September 18,2008

Many First's

It was the first day of middle school for Lauren on Tuesday and she was rearing to go! Mostly excited and a little scared. Hard to believe she's old enough to go and because she is so small, she just doesn't look like a "tween" to me. But she is ready to move on and she's happy with middle school, lip gloss, cool clothes and a swipe of mascara, oh my!

Abby, Gillie & Lauren (her best friends)

Then there is little Alex who is ready for the school bus but has to wait another year. He seems so tall for pre-school and seems older, I always get "he's in Kindergarten now right?" Oh how wrong they are, many times I wish he was going everyday and then I don't. It can waiver depending on the way the long day has gone, ha ha! He starts school on Monday but we did have a chance to meet his new teacher, boy is she in store for our bright, bundle of business and high energy!

Coming off the bus as I ran to the school to get the photo!

Check out all our fancy moves

Today we took Alex bowling for the first time, what a crack up! Every time he roll the ball down the kiddie ramp he'd break into some kind of happy dance with his feet just flying. I don't think he knows anything about break dancing but that kids got some moves

when he's happy, feet sliding every which way. Once the ball slowly, and I mean really slowly got down the lane, he had lost interest and we could have a whole conversation before the ball hit the pins. There were times when we literally didn't think the ball would make it but somehow it did. Thank goodness for the bumpers that would richochet the ball towards the pins. Luckliy Lauren beat him both games, she didn't want to lose to him. He could have cared less, he just said he loved bowling and that we need to do it more. I guess that means we all had a good time!