Catching Up!

Blogging? What's that? Sheesh! I haven't had time to blog lately. Mom and Dad left Sunday night to a tearful Ally.  And when Jake went to bed that night, he said, "I already miss Grammy and Poppy!". The good news is that they are coming back soon. Eric's parents and my parents are both coming for visits in December. With a full house of doting grandparents, we'll have to find a little time for schooling here and there! We had a great time though despite last week being the "wettest week of 2011".  Note, this week is beautiful and sunny! Grandparents and kids played Uno and Scrabble galor! 

We started back at school after a much needed break. Grant seemed to be moving through his science and history quickly so I purchased another history book (this one on American History) and a General Science book for him. His main science study this year is zoology. Anyway, I know giving a kiddo two textbooks to read for fun sounds like punishment. He's loving them though and asks to read passed the pages I've assigned for him. 

I've got some leftover pictures from when mom and dad were here, but they were just overdeveloped phone pics and didn't come out great.  So I leave you with one of Pop with the kids at Camp 18 (a logging camp turned restaurant and logging museum.   

How would you like to cut THAT tree down!

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Cannon Beach Photography

 It was about 57 degrees and beautiful out so we took a drive to the beach with my parents. It was high tide but still just as beautiful! Now, if I only had a picture to go on my Christmas cards! 

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It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas!

 No beautiful shots of family on Thanksgiving Day, or the turkey, or of a beautifully dressed turkey. Nope, not one. I ended up with the stomach bug again that comes with the worst body aches ever. I keep getting the same exact thing. This one lasted less than 24 hours which is better than the prior times, but its so frustrating to have it on Thanksgiving! No turkey for me and my poor mom got stuck doing the whole sha-bang for dinner! Hope I'm not allergic to Oregon or this could be pretty miserable! HA! 

So, we've got some other pics from another day! 

We took my parents to Oregon City. Not a lot going on there, but close enough that you can get out of the house a bit and walk around. 

That's the Willamette Falls behind them. 

This was on our walk and I just thought it was pretty. 

Then we came home to decorate the Christmas Tree. If you know me, you know I'm kind of a scrooge! I don't usually put my tree up this early and I've been known to take it down December 26! But since mom was here to help decorate, we pulled out the decorations. The kids enjoyed their old-time bottled Cokes while listening to Christmas music by the fire. 

Dad is supervising Eric attempting to put lights on a prelit tree. This tree is going to make his home at Goodwill since Eric and Dad decided that buying a new tree was a better idea! Who wants to fight with lights, anyway? 

Men at work:

And, done! My mom did most of the decorating in here for me. Love that! 

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All Aboard! The Polar Express

We headed up towards Mt. Hood to ride the Polar Express! 

 The kids and their Golden Tickets waiting for the Conductor. 

He kept his in his shoe for safe keeping just like in the movie.... poor Conductor!

Gosh, looks like he was miserable! :-)

Geronimo the Hobo came through throughout the ride. He was pretty funny! 

Along the way....

The conductor didn't punch out any letters but he did do some fancy punching out holes in the tickets.

Grant thought his was cool!

The chefs came by with cookies and hot chocolate and then came by with the books as the story was being read.

Of course, elves were included too!

 Then Santa boarded the train! 

And gave out the Christmas bells!

I took this pic twice. Grant's eyes were closed both times! He is the hardest to take a pic of! 

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Grandparents Are Here!

 My mom and dad flew out here Saturday! This is the first time they've been out here and we all were so glad to see them. We've already had a full day and tons of pics to follow. But for now, just these so I can visit!!!

Think these leaves are big enough? 

We took a ride on the Polar Express complete with the characters from the movie/book. So fun. More to follow!

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Earnin' Some Cash

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Today

Today,

the munchkins got Thanksgiving cards from Grammy and Poppy. 

One of those cards plays the Peanuts song every time you open it. 

Today,

I've heard that song's first 2 seconds 952 times  ;-)

and the kids read and re-read their cards over and over then passed them around between each other to read and re-read each others cards. 

Today, 

Grant had another orthodontist appointment. He has done great with the large new appliance in his mouth so the doc decided to add bands in too.

Today,

I came home from that appointment with hemostats and a little mouth mirror because the placement of the band is particularly difficult......even for the doc! This new evening ritual should be interesting. 

Today, 

Jake saw a (beautiful, totally authentic looking) Santa Claus standing near his chair in the mall. Mr. Personality walked up to him and immediately started rattling off his list of desires without so much as a "hello" or an "I've been really good" or "your beard looks nice". I guess you have to strike while the iron is hot. 

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The Little Crooked House

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Jake's Adoption Video

The link on the sidebar for Jake's Adoption video (Jake's Journey Home) is now fixed.....at least for now.

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On 11/11/11

Like most Americans, we have many family members and friends who have served in the military. To those still with us and those who gave their lives for our freedom, it hardly seems enough to just say 'thank you'.  We truly are a great nation and live with freedom because of those who have served our country well. Thank you, Veterans! 

I hadn't even thought about the fact that schools would be off for Veterans Day until we reached the science center. I guess a lot of people take their kids to the science center on Veterans Day. Who knew? Eric had already taken today off trying to use of some of his vacation time before he lost it. It was pretty cool and I'd love to go back some time when it's not so crowded. The kids really enjoyed the chemistry lab which has procedures written out and equipment ready to use for various experiments. We worked with biodegradable packing peanuts. 

Great. Eric's giving the science lesson!

For him, It's ALL about the goggles!

This was the physics room. Ally just finished a chapter on simple machines and mechanical advantage so it was cool for her to go through this room.

Eric found the most humor from shocking people!

Think I might use this pic for our Christmas card this year. Eric and I are much skinnier when standing in front of a mirror that elongates!

Grant built his sailboat and.......

was pretty excited to watch his accomplishment speed away!

The race is on..... Grant won!

We had to build an 18 in. "water tower" that could withstand an earthquake.

We did it, but we were technically supposed to use as few blocks as possible. So, maybe we aren't the best engineers, but when the table started shaking, our tower stood strong!

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