A Sigh of Relief

A huge sigh of relief today as Anthony and I put the final payment for his Philly trip in the mail. After all the car washes, snack bars, craft fairs, beef jerky, pop cans and those blasted bird houses (we still have orders that need to be done). Anthony came with $200 of his goal. The last of the bird houses will go toward his spending money. We are so proud of him and his effort. After March I don't want to hear the words "Philly Trip" in this house for 2 years. That is when we start this vicious circle again with Megan.

Have a safe News Years Eve.

Snow, Snow, Snow and a little Guitar Hero

I only mention Guitar Hero because I became a Rock Legend today. LOL that means I won the easy level, which I don't believe was all that easy. I played the easiest song on medium and failed so badly.

We ended up not sledding yesterday and went to see Water Horse. Me and Jason cried the other two just rolled their eyes at us. Today we hiked up to the hill and had a good time. No pictures, the kids wouldn't let me take my camera so that I could sled with them. I went down the hill once and that was it. While my shoulder is getting better, it is not there yet. Hopefully Steve will be home during the day before the kids go back to school and the weather is nice. We want to go to the big hill and sled. It's not to far out of town but I understand it is very cool. They have a big hill to sled down and a big pit in the snow for a bon fire. I WILL be taking my camera there. That area has been hit with much more snow the we have.

Can you believe that Christmas was only 3 days ago?

A little snow anyone

Anyone want a little snow?? I guess I wished for it so here it is. We are under a blizzard warning today and have been all night. We did get about 4 inches last night (some of you can quit laughing) the winds are 35mph and at times it is hard to see across the street. Two nearby towns have really had a hard time of it, 10 inches and over with the really high winds. I am getting the kids ready to go sledding on the hill two blocks over. Hopefully we can get moving before the wind and snow pick up again. It's kind of funny that this kind of snow is a big deal to Steve and I (Anthony too, the other two kids could care less) when Denver is suppose to get 20 inches. Of course, I will go to the hill armed with my camera and will post some pics later. To hold you over until then, here is a picture from the road web cams. This is the highway coming into town.

A Recap

I got this morning at looked at this mess of a house. It looks like there where 12 kids here instead of just three. We have gotten about 4 inches of snow last night with lots more in the next couple of days. Steve made it to Idaho OK, but it took an extra hour to get there. The highway in both directions is requiring chains. I am so glad I am not traveling today.

Let's start with Christmas eve. The mass was beautiful. I love how pretty the church looks and Father Hank is always fun to listen to. His only problem is that he gears so much of his sermon to the kids (really not a bad thing, because they actually listen to him) that he gets them all wound up. Jason and the choir did wonderfully. They where all so nervous, but they got over it quickly.

This is Jason and Kleena. They wanted me to take a picture of them.

The girl he is holding hands with is Sabrina, he even gave her a kiss but shhhhhh I am not supposed to tell anyone.

Steve made it back in time to do Alter Service.

We headed to go see National Treasure 2. Really liked the movie. Jason was a little bit bored but he really tried to follow it. We got home, put out cookies for Santa and to bed by 11. All 3 kids decided to sleep in our room. Megan and Anthony in sleeping bags on the floor and Jason cuddled in bed with us. We watched Christmas Story until 1am and fell asleep.

Up at 6:00am to open presents. Each kid got the one big thing they asked for. Jason unwrapped his shaker mp3 player and started jumping up and down screaming. All day long we have had the Guitar Hero 3, air hockey, robo dinosaur and shaker mp3 player (has outside speaker) going full steam ahead. Guitar Hero was what Anthony spent his day playing. Megan and Jason spent most of there time playing with the .88 slime Santa brought them. Megan helped unwrap the GH3 and said "I never wanted this." However, she has played it so much that she can play a couple of songs with her back to the tv. Watch out Andrew, she is good.

That's it for now, I am going to pack up some garbage and plow through the snow to the garbage cans. I am hoping that at some point today I will be able to see the carpet in the living room.

Merry Christmas

The kids are tucked in and Guitar Hero is silent. The dog is snoring, he hasn't gotten much sleep today. The house looks like a tornado hit it and I am SO ready for bed. All in All it has been a great Christmas. I will post more tomorrow with some pictures. Once I hear from Steve that he has arrived at his destination safely (the roads are bad here) I will go to sleep. We did get our white Christmas. There is snow (and ice) on the ground and as of right now snow is falling.
Merry Christmas and to all a Goodnight!!!!!

Happy Christmas Eve

I only have a couple of minutes, then I need to get to work. Once 3:00pm hits we are off and running. I am keeping in my prayers our friends and their families who are traveling the next couple of days. While I have been wishing for a white Christmas (snowing here right now), I wasn't hoping for the freezing rain. The highway is frozen over in spots and the high winds are just adding to the problem. We are pretty frozen over here too. The freezing rain drops the ice then the snow covers it. It becomes one big icy mess. Yeahhhhhh!!!

I better get moving, need to check UPS and see if we are getting a package today. A gift for a 6 year old that will just make his day tomorrow.

Have a good day.

Happy Birthday Grandpa

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!!

The comments behind the video that you hear is Anthony's friend Hayden.

It is still snowing here. Anthony and Hayden went up the street to sled down the hill. The city shuts the road down so that the kids can use it to sled. We are getting ready for Christmas. Tomorrow the whole family will take part in the Christmas eve mass. Jason in the Choir, Anthony and Megan will be alter serving and Steve if he gets home in time. I am helping with the choir and anything else Charlene needs help with tomorrow night. I was suppose to be on the alter too, but not with my shoulder. After mass we will head out to see National Treasure 2.

December 23rd always marked the beginning of the Christmas festivities. It started with my Dads birthday then off to Grandma and Grandpa house for Christmas eve with my Dads side of the family. Christmas day was spent at my Aunt and Uncles where we saw my Moms side of the family and often included visiting relatives from out of state. When we got married it was Dads birthday, Christmas eve with Steve's family and then Christmas day with mine. It was strange once we moved and didn't have the holiday craziness with all the family around. That is when we decided to go and hang out at the mall and laugh at the people trying to finish there shopping on Christmas eve. We decided to catch a movie that night and have made it a tradition ever since. It is a nice way to take a break from all the craziness and just sit back and relax. We still miss seeing everyone during the holidays and we really hope that one of these days they will make their way up here.

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas.....

You know the song. This is what my house looked like tonight. The snow has stopped for now but we are supposed to get some more tomorrow. This is the best I could get of the outside lights without my tripod. Need to find that....

Santa Train

We just got back from watching Santa arrive on the train. We all know that if Santa wants to get some where he rides UP. hehehe

It is a lot of fun and the kids enjoy it.

7 days and counting

That's right, only 7 days left before Christmas. Steve and I power shopped today, and got it all done. Came home dropped off gifts and then headed to Safeway and got everything I need for baking and Christmas day. I was going to make my Grandmothers beans (a Christmas Eve tradition) but I decided it is just to much work right now. Maybe News Years Eve instead. I helped Steve and Anthony with the bird houses, and now I am tired and going to go to bed. Tomorrow is going to be a busy one.

Here are a couple of pics from the Christmas program at the church. The last one is of the boys with Father Christopher, our new priest.

Executive Decision

No Christmas letters this year. I have had to make a bunch of cuts this year. While my shoulder is on it's way to healing, it is not there yet. I find myself doing something and then having to lie down and let my shoulder rest. As my kids would say "THIS SUCKS". I had to back the family out of being Alter Servers at the Christmas Eve mass and have really cut back on the amount of baking I am going to do. I just ordered some cards with the kids pictures on it and that's it. Steve and I are getting up early tomorrow to finish up our shopping. He is off for a couple of days. He has some union stuff to do, plus the Christmas party and Santa comes through here on the train. Yeahhhh

It Pays to Have Friends in High Places

By high places I mean Walmart. A lady that works at the store is always talking to Anthony and giving him advice on games and MP3 players. She managed to get us a Nintendo DS today when there are no others in the store. It is not the first color choice of my daughter but I think she will like it anyway. When she heard the stores are all out, she started to tear up a little, and said "I guess I will have to wait until my birthday." I think she is going to be surprised.
Thank you nice lady at Walmart. We will be delivering her some cookies later this week.

It's beginning to look like Chistmas

The tree is cut down, decorated and presents under it. The house is just about decorated, the stuff is all out jut not in the right places. I have a good reason for it not to be done yet. I posted last Friday that my shoulder was sore, well it turned out to not be just a sore muscle. Flat on my back on Saturday and the er on Sunday, I have a badly sprained shoulder. The only comfortable position for me was flat on my back in bed. Steve, thank God, took some time off work to help me out. I am finally able to move around (thanks to lots of pain meds) but still having a real hard time driving. Something about the seats is just killing me. So now we aren't talking about just physical therapy. First I get to have an MRI and then we will "discuss the course of action." Followed by, "Maybe you should have listened to my advice last time you where here." Quoting my doctor. If I could move my arm, I would have punched him. I hate a doctor with a sense of humor. Steve is very concerned about what this means for his annual Christmas fudge.

All kidding aside, I can't thank Steve enough for everything he has done this week. He took care of me (made a chart of my meds and kept track of it) managed the kids and their crazy schedules. Did ALL the laundry, cleaned the house, did the dishes, hiked with the kids to get our Christmas tree and made sure all the homework was done. He made sure that I didn't have to worry about anything. Also, a big Thank you to my kids. The first night I was down and Steve wasn't home, Anthony walked up to the Chinese food place and brought home dinner. All three kids have gone out of their way to not fight and try to help me out.

THANK YOU GUYS!!!!!

Ready for Bed

We finally started putting up all the Christmas decorations. We still don't have a tree yet. We like to go hiking up in the mountains and cut one down ourselves. Today, it was snowing to hard up there so we have to wait a day or two and then see how it goes. I pulled a muscle in my shoulder today and it really hurts tonight. It's an ongoing problem that I have and need to start physical therapy. I just really don't want to. We are friends with the therapist and I don't like how he and Steve are whispering about my possible treatment. I am sensing a lot of pain in my future. lol
Speaking of snow, we have some again. Not as much as before, but it still is very pretty on the ground. Tomorrow we are making a trip to WalMart to see Santa. We watched Polar Express tonight (good movie) and then teased Megan (a nonbeliever) that she could not see or hear our bell. Us being me and Jason, because we of course are believers. If you haven't seen the movie, rent it, it is a good one.
Well, the meds are kicking in, so it is off to bed for me.

The Crazy Season Has Started

It is here, the crazy season. Between all 3 kids and a husband, I don't think I have a free night until Christmas. Last night was Jason's Christmas program and it was very cute. He was so excited. The kids where supposed to be teddy bears. Poor kid, today he came home sick from school. We have been putting off getting out our decorations, but Steve is out in the garage right now getting boxes down. So I guess it is time to get started.
I added a video of one of the songs they sang last night. Anthony is the one who did the taping for me. He didn't do to bad. I had to load it up on YouTube and then add it here. The BlogSpot video upload has not been working right lately, so I am trying YouTube.

Weather

We go from near blizzard conditions yesterday, to torrential down pours today. The rain and wind up here are just crazy. So far the only damage to our house, is the icicles that knocked down Anthony's bedroom window screen. By time this storm makes it way through here we should see an inch of rain. Not good for the snow in the mountains. Yesterday Anthony and I had to work outside in the 45mph winds and snow to sell Christmas trees for his Philly trip. They closed the highway in both directions, the wind and snow was so bad. Tonight it sould drop below freezing again and freeze all the standing water we have here. Yeahhhhh, an ice skating rink in the streets. lol

5 and Counting

We got 5 inches of snow last night and it is still coming down. It took 25 minutes to get the kids to school this morning by car and I can normally walk it in 20. This is looking off our porch this morning. I need to go and get a new snow shovel, kids lost ours last year when they where building a snow fort.

Winter is Here

Finally some snow. The kids are praying for a snow day from school, but that would take a couple of feet for that to happen. We only have a couple of inches right now, and that just happened in the last couple of hours.

First Snow

What a great day!!
I have spent the day scrapbooking and watching the snow out my window. I am enjoying the calm, quite house. However, it is not going to last. I have a basketball game, wrestling practice and AAU basketball tryouts. I start running at 3:30 and don't stop until after 9pm. But I'am enjoying the quite while I can.

Too Much Fun

I talked the kids into letting me take pictures of them. We went to a log house that was the first house built here. They where not happy about going, but once we where there and snapping pictures, I couldn't get them to leave. We had a great time and I can't believe how good the pictures are. Anthony even got a good one of me and Megan.
Here are a couple of the ones I took and I took little over a 100.

Happy Black Friday

Yes, we did get up and go shopping this morning. Steve got his call to go to work and he needed to be there by 4:30am, so we where at Penny's and 4:02am. Didn't buy a lot but it didn't look like that great of a sale. Got the boys some t-shirts and Meg a sweat jacket that she really likes. Hers was taken off the playground earlier this year. Now maybe I can get her out of the blue wrestling sweat shirt she wears everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE.

Our Turkey turned out wonderful, and Steve was very pleased. We used the Safeway 2 hour cooking way. Instead of slow roasting the turkey all day, you cook it at 475 and it is moist and really good. I am also happy to report that I didn't set the oven on fire, a good thing. I did, however, accidental turn off the oven while doing the stuffing and potatoes. It takes a lot longer to cook when the oven is off.

So, today is going to be a kick back day. Tonight is the annual lighted Christmas parade. We watch the parade, then follow it to the town square and sing Christmas carols until they light the tree. It is one of those small town things we love.

This time of year always reminds us how much we miss our family and friends. We really do hope that some day they will make the trip up year for the holidays. Trust me, its not really that cold. HEHEHE

Now some pics of our turkey while cooking. This is for you Dad:

a couple of minutes in the oven

about an hour in the oven:

about 2 1/2 hours later:

the dog trying to get his share

Trail Blazer Pictures

The turkey is in the oven and almost done. I will post some pictures of it cooking, well maybe, it depends on if it turns out ok. This is the second year of cooking it the Safeway 2 hour way. Steve will be here for dinner and for black Friday shopping. Yeahhhh for us, it will be the first time in 3 years we have had Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving.

Here are the pics. First off, Thank you to the G family for inviting Steve and Anthony to go. Anthony had a blast. He and Hayden got to be on the floor and rebound the balls for the players. Anthony could not believe how tall the guys where or how big their shoes are. Steve and Tony had great seats. Best of all, Steve didn't lose my camera. He has a bad habit of leaving lunch boxes on trains. LOL

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Everything's Ready

All the cooking that can be done ahead has been done. I do need to work on the turkey. It hasn't thawed out yet. The boys are at the basketball game and we just got back from a movie. I think it is time for a nap, then on to the turkey.
We won't know if Steve will be here tomorrow or not. Won't know that until tomorrow. That's ok, we will just have our wonderful dinner when he is home to enjoy it. Steve took my new camera to the game so I hope to have some good pics when he gets back. I am also going to tape the game in hopes of catching Anthony, Hayden or Steve.
Have a stressless day before Thanksgiving.

It is over

Yes the bazaar is over, Thank God. We made some money and Steve got some orders for bird houses. Megan put herself up for sale.

Basketball

They won!!! Anthony is playing like he used to. Not sure what happened last year, but he is off to a really good start this season. He was out there playing hard and looking like he was having fun. Last year he took ever mistake, bad call and loss so personally. Tonight he made a killer rebound which resulted in a basketball by a team mate and he scored a couple of baskets. A Good night. One of the pictures is off the ball he threw right before it went in.
Anthony is #28

Done

Yes, we are done and ready for the bazaar....

Here are the bird houses.

Get to work

Ok, so I have sooooo much to do for the weekend and I am working on projects that have nothing to do with the weekend. I am uploading a bunch of pictures for a project that needs to be ordered by the 25th. It is yet another fund raiser for another kid. I am so tired of trying to raise money. I am beginning to think it would be better to just write the check. lol

Back to work, or at least start to work.

Ready for Bed

Ready for bed and I think I could sleep for a week. We are finishing up all the last minute projects for the craft bazaar this weekend. I can't wait till it is over, because I have a whole bunch of crafts I need to do for both presents and just for myself. I still can't believe that Thanksgiving is next week. Me and the kids are gearing up for black Friday. I really hope Steve will be here because he really enjoys battling the crowds. Being in a small town doesn't give us much options, but there are a couple of stores I am defiantly going to.

Tonight I got to drive 5 teenage boys on the annual youth group Thanksgiving scavenger hunt. A lot of fun, especially when the boys are yelling at me to drive faster. They divide into teams and race off to houses and collect food for the needy. They try to get food for the Thanksgiving baskets but will take anything people are willing to donate. Evidently people are willing to donate lots of Pork and Beans this year. The teams earn points and we even have a little bit of cheating going on. Us drivers had food stashed in our cars. We didn't win, but came really close. Haydens Mom went to Safeway. All in all it is fun and for a good cause.

THANK YOU!!!

THANK YOU to all the Veterans for my freedom!!!

One of the things I love about this town - is going downtown for the Veterans Parade and looking down the street to all the American flags that line our streets. Not only downtown but so many people are flying their flags outside their homes, it makes me proud to be an American.

We celebrated today by going to watch the parade and cheer Megan as she marched with her girl scout troop. Here are some pictures from today. I have also included a picture of my favorite float.

Martha Stewart???

Nope, just me, but the house is clean (well sorta) and there are all kinds of yummy smells coming from the kitchen. And it has nothing to do with the candle that is burning. It started with a very good breakfast home cooked at that. I am not normally a breakfast maker, I do toast or cereal. I have planned some very yummy breakfasts for the next couple of days. Tomorrow will be strawberry and banana french toast. I baked a pumpkin pie cake, very good, and thanks Charlene for the recipe. Not sure what is for dinner but I am sure it will be wonderful. lol I have been so focused on this upcoming bazaar that cooking has not been at the top of my list. I am totally making up for it today. Poor Stevie, he is working and missing all of this. Who knows, by tomorrow my Martha Stewart mood might be over.

Wheres the Snow

Not only is there no snow in the forecast but the weather isn't even that cold. We even had a fire on the mountain last night, because everything is so dry. I haven't had to make my wonderful homemade hot coco yet because it hasn't been very cold. We are either going to get hit fast and big, or we are going to have another mild winter.

Anthony's first basketball game was tonight. He made some great plays and even a basket. At least that is what I was told. I was covering for him at church tonight. I am beginning to feel like I live up there. lol

Well, gotta go, I have a hungry teenager to feed.

What a Week

It has been just crazy around here, and you know it will only get worse with the holidays approaching. 46 more days until Christmas in case you are keeping track. Sorry to those people I just pushed over the edge. HEHEHE

We had parent teacher conferences with Anthony this week. He is doing really well and we are very proud of him. His first basketball game is tonight and he is ready. I have been working at both the church and school all week. We are still getting ready for the big bazaar next weekend.
Steve gave me a couple of quilting classes for my birthday. I took one of them last Wednesday. I already know most of what she taught, but she gave me some useful need tips that I didn't know. I have another class the first week in December. I can't wait, it is a whole new technique I have never done.

Safeway is calling my name, have a good weekend.

Trail Blazers

And a very happy kid. Anthony and Steve are going to the Trail Blazers game with some friends. Yes, pretty exciting but not the best part of the trip. Anthony and Hayden are going to be water boys for the team. Hayden has a very mellow monotone voice, so we can never tell if he is excited or not. Anthony, on the other hand, is so excited that his head is ready to pop off his body. Speaking of heads popping off bodies. The dads get to sit in the press box, so there is one other person who is just a little bit excited.

Happy Halloween

What a crazy day and it is almost over. We just got back from church, Megan did a reading, Anthony was Alter Boy and Jason carried up the offering. They have already been downtown and now they are up at the college dorms. I am staying here and handing out candy. Here are some pics from today.

The popcorn hands for Megans Class and Fang teeth apples for Jasons.

Jason and Megan at school. She of course is the little one.

Another Crazy Holiday

I just went over what my schedule is for tomorrow. Holy Cow!!! I hit the door running at 8:00am and won't be back until 3pm to get ready for down town trick-or-treating. Off to mass and party at the church. Then more trick-or-treating at the college dorms. A lot of fun, the kids over there really get into it and have a great time.

Good news, Steve has gotten several orders for his bird houses he has been making. We started them for the philly fundraising bazaar, but some people have seen them and started placing their orders. I am going to finish up the few things I still have undone and start helping Steve finish up. Plus, we will be taking orders for more at the bazaar. Yeahhhhhhh!!!!

Well, gotta go. Got a hungry bunch and a whole bunch of stuff that still needs to be done for tomorrows school party's.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Fall is here

Fall is my favorite time of year. I love the cold nights and sunny crisp days. I love sitting at the football games with hot chocolate. I love that it is cool enough to get the oven going with some baked goodies. Today I am whipping out some cupcakes for the kids to decorate when they get home and something a little special for Steve to put in his lunch box. I also love all the color changes. Until we moved up here I didn't realize how much I missed the fall color changes. In Washington we just didn't have all the dramatic colors that I grew up with in California. Fall here is just beautiful with the trees in town and the colors up on the mountains. With Fall comes the promise that snow is in our future and we like snow in this house.

Amazing Good Time

We had a blast at Disneyland. Steve turned into a kid the second we left. It was a long drive, but we took our time and stopped to see some new sights. The lake outside of Hawthorne is amazing at sunset and Mono lake has changed so much from when I was a kid. Steve said that the desert reminds him of the movie "The Hills Have Eyes". As soon as we got into the LA area, the smog got to me and Anthony. We where stuffy and coughing the whole week, but we weren't going to let that spoil our good time.

Disneyland was great, and we love the updates they have made to some of the rides. We never had to wait more then about 15 minutes for a ride and only had to fastpass a couple of times. One suggestion for Disney: FASTPASS THE NEMO RIDE!!!!! I lost count of how many times we rode Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain. They where a family favorite.

California Adventure was a blast too. It is true that it is nothing like DL but that is what makes it fun. I agree it does need more rides. Megan was concerned that roller coasters would not be her thing. WRONG!!!!! California Screamin was a blast. I had bragged for two days that I had not gotten wet on Splash Mountain (lost count of how many times we have ridden that one) fate got me back on Grizzly River Run. The second time we rode that I was the only one to get wet. Not just wet, we rode it at 4pm and at 8pm I will still wet. Not fun when we where riding over and over Thunder Mountain. Everyone in the family agrees that Soarin over California is a not to be missed ride. I am afraid of heights but made it through and would do it again. Jason and I skipped Tower of Terror and went to see Disney Live. We also couldn't miss the High School Musical show. Jason is a huge fan.... He got to go up with them and dance.

Jason was very upset he was too little for the big roller coaster rides and he didn't like the 3D shows (he like the muppet one), but all in all he rode everything and loved most of it. The other 2 loved everything and couldn't get enough. So much happened that I have a hard time writing about it.

On the way home we took a trip into Hollywood to see the sign and at Anthony's request, showed him the Playboy Manson. They looked for Britney Spears down the Sunset Strip and Rodeo Drive, but no luck. Halfway over the Grapevine Anthony realized he forgot his DS back at the hotel. We can't thank the hotel staff enough. She went right up to the room, found it and they are shipping it back to us tomorrow morning.

We are home now, with our full autograph books (Snow White complemented me on making them) hundreds of pictures and wonderful memories. Oh yeah, and a dog that will not let us leave the house without him again.

Here are some pictures.