Nurse Nate

I just want to thank my caretaker/nurse/husband, Nate, for being soooo great this weekend! After a week of burning the candle at both ends and taking on an extra doctor to help someone at work, I got so sick!!! Nate had surprised me on Friday by taking the day off and letting me sleep in, get a massage, go running, etc. Unfortunately by Friday morning, Megan was diagnosed with strep and Bradley and I were on our way to urgent care Friday night to make sure we didn't have the same thing. I haven't felt this sick in a long time--ugh! Nate stepped in and missed the Bombers game on Saturday where they made it to State (a big sacrifice if you know Nate), cooked dinner for the kids (his specialty, chocolate chip pancakes), got the house ready to show and hauled them all off to church today minus Bradley so he and I could get some much needed rest! Honestly, I am not down and out like this for this long even after childbirth! So, thank you sooo much, Nate! You are the best! Te amo!

Measuring Milestones in School Programs

On Friday, I attended Megan's First Grade Patriotic Program. We've been fortunate enough to have all the kids go to the same school since Amanda was in first grade so this was my third Patriotic Program. For the third time we got in our red, white and blue clothes, charged up the battery in the video camera crammed into the gym and wrestled with a younger sibling while trying not to get in the way of other cameras and recorders, all pointing to those adorable kids on stage. I joked with a friend of mine who was also attending her third of four programs that we were envious of another friend, calmly sitting without a younger sibling and enjoying her fourth and final First Grade Patriotic Program. We asked her,"what are you going to do now that you are done with these?" She said, I'm going to go home and make a montage of the kids' pictures from the programs for them to see that I attended ALL of them and put them on my blog." She seemed happy to be at that stage and I began envisioning myself there. After I sat through the sweet shouting songs of "Let's Hear it For America" and "This Land is Your Land" and watched them say their parts, pronouncing "George Washington" and "patriotic" with first grade "r's" (you know, patwiotic) and then, of course, eyes getting watery when they show the power point of all the first graders set to the right song, An American Child, (I know, I can be sappy), I couldn't help thinking it was the best program yet and that I am glad I am not ready to put my montage together---not quite yet. Incidentally, I've already messed up the opportunity for a cute picture montage--we'll have to continue to do video, as our digital camera has been abandoned at a recent sporting event and attempts to recover it have been unsuccessful. So, the picture of the flag will have to do until I can get a new camera. Hopefully, that will be before the next third of something I attend.

Moose and Elk!

I always think I'm going to have time on my hands after Christmas because Christmas takes a lot of time to prepare for. I'm not sure how I did it before or why the time does not seem to be waiting for me to use it after, but here I am trying to catch up. Here's a little of what we've been up to lately coupled with too many pictures but I like being able to have a space to enjoy recent pictures. We spent the week the kids went back to school showing the house--no joke--six or seven times. It was one of the worst weeks ever! Of course, absolutely nothing came from all of those showings so we are fast approaching the time where we give up the dream, *sigh*.
As disappointing as that is, we are still trying to enjoy some winter fun. We caught up with the Mariner's Caravan. Jared and his friends, Brian and Logan had a chance to get their picture taken with Eric O'Flaherty and Mark Lowe, two of the pitchers. Bradley wasn't sure about the moose but tolerated him better than he did Santa. We also had to head back up to Yakima for another basketball tournament but this time the elk were much closer to the feeding area so we were able to take some close-up pictures. Below are kids from the three coaches' families. We have fun going to games together and watching the boys play.

Amanda and Nate started their season yesterday with a victory over Desert Hills--Mine and Nate's old school! I don't think I've been back since my sister went there and it was so fun to walk around and be in the gym! I don't think Nate envisioned himself coaching there one day. I know, we live where we grew up so this is kind of pathetic but I really treasure that kind of thing. My old teacher and softball coach, Mr. Jones, is now the principal and believe it or not some of the SAME teachers are still there! We had fun chatting with Mr. Jones (he remembers everyone).

Speaking of playing, here are the current schedules for everyone's activities:

Amanda and Nate: http://www.rsd.edu/schools/carmichael/pdf/winterIIsportscarmichael2008.pdf (7B white)

Jared and Nate:

http://ieaau.org/yakimaleague/2008/winter/4boys.pdf

Megan and Nate:

Saturday morning soccer games at Westgate 9:10 a.m. starting the second week in February (dates to be confirmed later this week).

Bradley and Mara: On the sidelines!

Cougars and Birthdays

For Christmas, Jared received four tickets to a WSU basketball game (the Cougars are currently ranked no. 4 in the nation). He was sooo excited and took his dad, his friend Logan and Logan's dad, Cary to Pullman for the game. They had a great time and got to see lots of snow!

Of course, that was definitely a highlight for him this break but more importantly we rang in the New Year with friends and then celebrated Bradley's first birthday!!! We had a family party as well as a family friend party and below are some of my favorite pictures:

He's not shy at all, loves sweets and loves his grandpas so he put on a good show for us!

Here are some favorite things that we enjoy about Bradley (that also make us laugh):

1. He has no desire to walk.

2. He blows kisses, waves and says 'bye-bye', says "mmmmm!" when he likes his food and can say 'more' in sign language (so smart!)

3. He cuddles when he wakes up.

4. He will go to anyone--especially men (the cashier at Target, guy at the bank, etc.)

5. He loves to yell downstairs to the kids like he sees mom and dad do.

6. Everything is a phone.

7. He's everyone's little buddy and we're so glad he's in our family!

Snapshots of Christmas

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We're cherishing the last few days of Christmas Vacation! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. I'll post more (including our birthday boy) soon! In the meantime, enjoy this little snapshot of our Christmas!

Go Storm!

We got a chance to get away last weekend . . . even if it was just an hour or so away. Jared and Nate had a tournament so we went up with our friends and assistant coach, the Burrups, and stayed in a hotel, went swimming and cheered on the team! Between games we went to see the elk at the game reserve (which was really neat but all the pictures turned out blurry) and, of course, ate at Miner's.

Amanda stayed home with grandma and grandpa due to an obligation to her social life (two parties to attend) and I left Bradley for the first time overnight! He did great with grandma and grandpa and didn't seem to miss us at all! It was nice--I may have to do it again some time.

Way to go guys! They took 3rd in the tournament and it is so fun to watch them play!

Winter is Whizzing By!

With so much to do before Christmas, I love when we have a snow day to slow things down a little bit! Although our "snow delay" was last week, it was so fun to have a slower paced morning and be back at school by afternoon. The kids are a constant reminder to me to enjoy more of what is going on around and not be so task oriented at this time of year. Speaking of task oriented, I made 26+ of the graham-cracker houses pictured above for Megan's Jan Brett winter party. As I was mentally beating myself up for being so insane and agreeing to do this, I thought of all the things that I take upon myself at Christmas just because I think I have to and/or because I did it for the older kids . . .

For example, Nate and I thought letting the kids pick out an ornament for the tree each year was a wonderful tradition to start. Now times that by four and trying to get to the mall (on a school night)frazzled and $50 later, we were questioning that idea. Once we were home, the kids were showered and were so happy to put their special ornament on the tree which they proudly display when people come over, I realized that is why we do it. Today, when I attended Megan's party and watched the kids have so much fun decorating houses, big frosting-and-candy smiles on their faces and getting their picture taken with their works of art, I remembered why I lost a few hours of sleep to get the party ready. I think of all the silly things I try to do to make more work for myself at Christmastime and I am reminded that our love grows for those whom we serve. I love you, family! Thanks for letting me serve you!