Where We Are or Where Are We?

Phew! Since going to Lynette's Pampered Chef party in January, everything has been a whirlwind, a roller coaster... or you pick the chaotic analogy! Well, we are finally getting to the point of one whirl wind ending and another beginning! Wednesday, the 18th, we signed our mortgage documents... 130 pages! We met the notary at Tim's work and signed our papers in the classroom.



Here's Hubby signing the Deed of Trust. He's still smiling! :-)

Now, it's my turn to sign the Deed of Trust!

The kids were really great while they waited. L to R Boogie, Sunshine and Princess. I wanted to get a picture of the girls on this day because it was 10 days before their sixth birthday and I wanted to compare it to the one of me 10 days before my sixth birthday. The girls do not look like me, but they do resemble me... if that makes sense. It's hard to tell in this picture and YES! I do need to cut their bangs!

This is me ten days before my 6th birthday. It was my last day of Kindergarten June 9, 1972 and this is my teacher Mrs. Barney. If you know me on FaceBook, you have seen this already as it is my profile pic. My Mom made the dress... red with white polka dots.

Afterwards we went out to dinner to celebrate. I took this picture from the car because it was so beautiful how the light was shining through the branches.

Hopefully we will get the keys on Tuesday, but maybe not until Wednesday.

Now the real fun begins... Anybody living close by with muscles? We need help for Saturday 3/28! Thanks.

The Importance of Being Seven

For about 6 months out of the year, Boogie gets to be "much older" than his sisters... that is his age number is 2 greater than theirs. The other half of the year that is reduced to 1. When you are 7 that is a big deal. Yesterday was an important day in being 7. The tooth in front that has been loose for awhile came out while eating a banana at lunch yesterday. My freckle nosed boy was more than happy to pose proudly for this picture.

When you are the oldest and the only (boy), then sometimes 7 makes you BIG and IMPORTANT. You are in charge of the safety drills your family practices, you get to do important errands, you learn math concepts that your baby sisters can't even begin to comprehend yet, you can read chapter books, you can build the coolest Legos Mars Mission alien ships... but the most frustrating thing about being 7 - still sharing a room with your little sisters! UGH!

Boogie is probably the most excited about getting a new house because he will get a room of his own! At first he wanted to paint his room RED, ALL RED! I said no, because even pink is hard to paint and takes many coats (anything with red in it - it's the hardest to get the right coverage/color), but that he could have one wall red. He ended up deciding he wants sky blue with clouds! We'll see.

And we are considering getting two kittens (shhh! Don't tell Abbie!) so that the girls can have the experience of seeing two baby kitties grow up and play (they miss so much growing up in the city!). We were talking about this and I asked Boogie if he was excited about getting kitties... he said, "NO! They Scratch!" LOL He can fight the alien onslaught, but not kitty claws! :-) So, I asked him what type of pet he wants and he said he wanted a gold fish.

The adventure continues! Never a dull moment around here!

In the mean time we are packing like crazy to get stuff in storage to sell our trailer and we are waiting to hear if the bank that owns the property is going to accept our offer.

W=Who
A=Am
I=I
T=Trusting

Family Pictures

Phew! We don't celebrate the whole deal of Christmas and we are exhausted! I don't know how families go on and on and on without going insane with exhaustion and overload.

The kids woke up bright and early on the 24th, not wanting to miss a minute of playing! Here's Boogie with his Mars Mission Legos - all 759 assembled! He has been having a lot of fun with them.

Our church has a Christmas Eve service and we went to enjoy the singing and fellowship. It's always nice to go and see visiting friends and family members of our friends or people who go to second service (we go to first).

Here is Pastor Mike in his non-Abrahamic clothing! :o) He's holding my friend L's daughter L, who is a tiny little cherub with big brown eyes!

Speaking of tiny little cherubs with big brown eyes - look at my friend S and her daughter C! Doesn't C look like one of the Precious Moments figurines? She was just getting over her tears because she thought Mom and Dad had left the sanctuary.

When we got home the kids were anxious to open up the boxes that came from Aunt Shelley two weeks ago. They are left to right Sunshine, Boogie and Princess.

We were all tired but wanted to see what was in the big boxes!

Our neighbor's girlfriend gets something for the kids every holiday. Here's Princess with her bear and candy.

Here is Sunshine with her bear and candy.

Princess is looking at the cool wood and magnet dress up doll set from Shelley. The girls have had fun with that.

You can see in Princess' face that we were all tired. Here is Boogie with his model set. He also got a cool schooner wagon model and another one that I haven't had a chance to look at. These will be fun projects with Daddy and for school.

I always hate seeing families open gifts and it becomes a shark frenzy, free for all. So I had the kids sit on the couch and open one present at a time. The kids actually are excited to see what their siblings are getting. This is Sunshine and Boogie concentrating on getting it just right!

This is so Mom knows I exist and that it's not just a robot uploading pictures on the blog! LOL

Boogie made us ornaments his Sunday school class. Mine is a cross and Hubby's says WWJD.

Boogie and Hubby with handmade ornament.

Let the games begin! Even though they could hardly keep their eyes open, we let them put on jammies and play for half an hour before going to bed.

Thursday, Hubby's Instructional Aid came for dinner as her husband is out of town. This is she and Sunshine.

Here is Hubby, Boogie and Princess. We had homemade turkey barley soup, fresh made Spelt bread rolls and fruit salad with real whipping cream (a holiday tradition from my Mom).

After our friend left, we opened our stockings in the evening. We just give the kids a few small things. Aunt Shelley also sent bags of stocking stuffers too. Grandma and Grandpa sent "Jesus - The Greatest Gift" tshirts for the kids. Princess, Boogie and Sunshine.

I thought this picture was funny. Who knew a plastic dinosaur could elicit such responses.

Even though he's "more of a Mars mission fan", he was very excited with a new Indiana Jones tshirt!

Princess got an as of yet, unnamed dolly, which she just loves.

Sunshine wasn't sure what to think of a boy doll. She had never seen one before and wasn't quite convinced of his vintage cute-ness. Look at Boogie though. He's pretty interested. Negotiations were held after picture taking was over! LOL

As you can see Boogie hides his emotions well - ha ha! We got him a new cover for his Bible. He had out grown the big green Larry Boy cover with the huge eyeballs on it, so we opted for a more "boy-ish" one that looks like a blue back pack. He loves it - not that you could tell or anything! LOL

I gave each of the kids a tube of Flick's. When I was a kid I think they were made by Ghirardelli, but they aren't anymore. Do you remember those? After you were done eating you could put your nose up to the empty tube and drink in the heavenly aroma of chocolate! They kind of taste like cheap, yucky, fake chocolate now but the kids got a kick out of them. At first though, as witnessed in this picture, they didn't know what to think of them!

Aunt Shelley's snow is starting to melt. Grandma and Grandpa are still snowed in. It's still brown and wet down here. I miss the snow!

Tomorrow is another celebration for us. Hubby and I are celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary!

Video For Grandma and Grandpa - Boogie's First Solo

This is my first time posting video. I hope it works!

Over The River and Through The City

Growing up in Everett, we had to cross the Snohomish River and go up Cavaleros Hill (much more of an adventure than it is with today's engineering!) to get to our Grandparents' homes. So, we always sang, "over the river and up the hill, to Grandma's house we go!" The car knows the way to take us today..." :o) Corny, but when you are a preschooler, corny is allowed! lol On Tuesday, we went over the American River and through the city/ies to Aunt Kathy and Uncle Lou's.

We left Abbie like this. I'm sure she was relieved to have us go, because when we left, we took Pixie with us.

Pixie is my friend S's Sheltie. This is the third Christmas that she has been with us and this year we had her for four days. She is such a good dog, especially when she was tempted to eat the cat but didn't! She settled for sneaking two bowl fulls of organic cat food! :o) On the way to Aunt Kathy's we took Pixie home.

Here is Aunt Kathy's house.

Aunt Kathy is Hubby's older sister - we have her to thank for taking care of him as a baby and preschooler.

Princess, Boogie and Sunshine. The girls wanted to wear their new skirts again. I forgot to say that Princess has zebras and Sunshine has horses. Boogie chose his new polo shirt when the kids and Daddy went to pick up last minute stuff for Mommy.

Princess, Boogie and Sunshine.

Kathy has a lovely home and I wanted to show my Mom her new curtains, which were very pretty. The stain glass in the window is one of Kathy's creations.

Buddy was VERY excited to see the kids and had to be given a "chill pill". Poor guy. He really liked Sunshine.

Boogie wouldn't go near him and Princess was quite cautious. Here she is getting protection from Mommy.

Daddy and Boogie... my two handsome guys!

Uncle Lou entertained the kids with magnetic balls. L to R, Lou, Princess, Boogie and Sunshine.



Princess and Sunshine excited about trying it themselves.

Of course the kids were excited about their gift bags and were eyeing them all afternoon. We made them wait until after dinner... mean parents!




Of course the most exciting event was when Boogie got his Mars Mission Ultra Drill Walker. This is the Lego set of his dreams that he has been obsessing about for a couple months! We practically had to pry it out of his hands to get him to go to sleep! LOL

Boogie giving Uncle Lou a hug. Uncle Lou avoids the camera so I had to sneak this one in! LOL

Aunt Kathy

After we left, we drove through their neighborhood. It wasn't like previous years where you could probably see the light from space it was so lit! But it was pretty to see.

Trains for Grandpa Jack.

Noel - for our soloist!

Glory to God in the Highest!