the white house at the right time

People around here are glad not to have snow. Crazy. That is what winter is. Not the fakey stuff on Snowflake Lane. The stuff that is cold. That freezes your ankles till they are red, because you didn't pull your boot straps tight. The stuff that makes cheeks rosy and red. We love the snow. We had to go find some. Yup, we like to eat it too. Plus we had some new sleds to test for speed. We ask a guy, "Are there any good hills around here to go sledding?" "Sure, about a 1/2 mile up it gets real steep." He points. We walk for about 1 1/2 miles. I carry Makenzy bundled in her snowsuit. Heavy. Refuses to ride in sled. Then we find IT. Lame, lame sledding hill. Everyone around us confirmed this was it! We had to push to get going. Finally, found a little place OFF the path, that some other family had worked to build up that had some umph and speed to it. "Good times, baby, good times," as Cayden likes to put it. Cade has great b...

Thanksgiving company - Roos family (minus their twin girls who were off playing), White family, and Julie's parents, the stand in photographers. The meal was delicious, the ambiance wonderful, the company enjoyable, clean up committee a breeze, and conversation great. The kids had a great time playing and jelled very well. Thank you again Roos family. In the next few years, I expect to cook less and less. Why? Because my kids will doing most of it. I hope. I really hope. Already, they have perfected some pretty tasty bites. Pancakes, eggs, fudgies , shakes, and more recently egg nog . This is Makayla's signature drink so far. Madalyn helps, but Makayla is head chef on this one. Homemade Eggnog Recipe 6 fresh eggs 1 cup sugar, divided 2 cups cream (or substitute with 2 cups whole milk, also makes it a bit lower in fat) 2 cups whole milk 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 1/4 tablespoon freshly grated nutmeg (or just the nutmeg in the bottle) Separate egg yolks and whites. In larg...

Nothing beats your daddy tickling and "eating" up his baby girl.

On December 29 th we celebrate her birthday as a family. But for anything else, my little artist has a roving birthday party date. I urged January she wanted November. Theme? P ART Y . Artist - Madalyn, Gallery - Our house, Art Show - November. Dinner, paint, brushes, colors, smocks, crafty stuff, googly eyes, lipstick = Art Party Fun! We made penguin water bottles . To expedite the project and minimize paint, I painted the bodies ahead of time. We were so crazy busy, I didn't get a pic of the girls, but this is how they looked. Cute idea from Family Fun. Created dry-erase frames for the girlie's rooms. Custom paint job on these! Hot cocoa anyone? Painted edible one of a kind masterpieces on a sugar cookie canvas. Universal idea for lots of occasions . Edible paint - 2 egg whites 1 tsp. water food coloring Presto! Friendship . A fine art form indeed. Friend picture keepsakes. Afterward, we gave a copy to each girl. Classic " face art ". Close...

As a kid, I remember my parents saying they didn't really need or want anything for their birthday. Rather all they really wanted was for us kids to get along, to make our beds without being asked, to wait our turn for the bathroom instead of pound on the door, and not leave fingerprints on dad's car windows - simple stuff. When we really pressed my dad for birthday ideas, he would say new socks or black combs. Liar, I thought. Deep down I knew they wanted some grand gift. A trip. A spa retreat. An exotic and expensive dinner with 50 of their closest and best friends. Something big. Now that I am a grown up, my kids think I am a birthday liar too. (Sometimes I really do, lie, but then I call it stretching the truth and there is a good reason for doing it but my parental hypocrisy is up for discussion another time). When they asked me what I wanted, I really didn't want any thing. A nice day that created a memory. And that is what I got. Belgian chocolates all over my nig...

Husky Stadium on a sunny, dry day. Some great ball is played here, not so much this year, but the only game I really follow anyway is the annual turkey bowl game, when my son plays alongside his dad. Randy, Malcolm, Cayden , Ethan Annual Turkey Bowl at Husky Stadium. Each year the Institute reserves the field for the students to have an amazing game night. One of the perks of Randy's job is that our family can come too. The girls and I like tossing the ball around a little bit, but hours on end in the cold doesn't entice us more than a night by the fire watching a chic flic and eating ice cream. Cayden looks forward to this every year. It is big for a kid to pretty much have free run of a collegiate football field for hours on end. He invited some of his football loving friends to come spend the night with him. They played football, but also had fun running up the bleachers, having kicking contests, and downing tons of hot chocolate. A little more hot chocolate to keep them...

The family at the Princess pre -show. Cayden said he would be in one princess picture and after that, he was "all good." My fantasy, everyone smiling in one picture in one shot- Almost. After she turns 2, maybe our chances will increase. Opening Curtain- Overpriced popcorn always taste better in a Disney themed bucket. Great show. Everyone, except Makezny who had some wiggle and attention span issues, really enjoyed the show. Great costumes. The shows really did come to life on the ice. Love Cinderella, but Sleeping Beauty is my favorite. When I was pregnant with Makayla , and we were mulling around names, I offered up Aurora like Sleeping Beauty, Randy laughed, a-"roared" back at me and asked incredulously, could I really be serious? Believe it or not, I was. By the end, "Ms. Minnie Makenzy " was done, even Disney couldn't 100% captivate Makenzy's attention. As for the rest of us, we enjoyed the performance. Disney's marketing works on me,...

A little R and R at the M and M, Mom and Me Activity Day Leaders: Makay , Shawna, (9 yr. old leaders) Barb, Melissa, (10/11 yr. old leaders) Me, Bridgette (not pictured, 8 yr. old leaders). This is my 3rd go around in activity days, I keep getting put in because I've just had a baby and/or Randy has a time consuming calling, or I am lucky. I'd seriously do activity days over a lot of other callings, especially compassionate service. Topic for another blog, but seriously when I was asked to pull someones weeds for a family that had older kids when I was big ole pregnant with little toddlers to boot, among other stories, well...... let's just say this is a much better fit for moi! Barb is the master mind behind our lists, e-mail updates, and anything else that needs secretarial type skills, thank you!! The rest, the creative force. We hosted a potluck dinner. Each age group brought in a part of the meal that they made with their mom. Madalyn and I made easy peaches and ...

Northwest Salmon. A part of 3rd grade curriculum up here. Cayden's salmon picture from last year. Madalyn's class visited the Issaquah salmon hatchery. Madalyn took her camera on her field trip and captured all these salmon. The Cedar River is mostly full of sockeye salmon. Madalyn and some of her friends. Swimming upstream.

Two boys. 3 days practice. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday. 2 games Saturdays. Often overlapping. Lots of stinky socks. This was Cayden's first year playing soccer since "soccer groupie" age; the group chases the soccer ball. He wanted to play football. However, the football teams around here play on Sunday, have major time commitment (4 days a week for several hours) which doesn't gel with our family balance, and I think he could get injured more easily. So....he agreed to soccer. He played on the U-11 recreational league. Opposite of his brother, he is one of the younger players. The team has been together for about 3-4 years. During one of their games, the referee stated that he thought this was a select team because they played so well. His coaches were awesome. Very committed and great with the boys. Great conditioning program. They played them all well and played to their strengths. One incredible moment of the season was during an early October game. Mi...