February - CRACK AN EGG

Riggs and I were cooking together and

I asked if he wanted to help by cracking an egg.

Not exactly what I had in mind.

February - AAU Volleyball

Brooklyn wanted to play volleyball this winter...and somehow I ended up being the coach.

I've never played volleyball.

Unless you count the kind with sand but that's not the same thing.

At all.

 

Luckily, Jan agreed to help coach the 4th grade team.

We won the Dike Tournament.

First Place!!

And, these two....

...since kindergarten

LOVE!!

January - How to Babysit Pop

 Grandma was kind enough to send a step by step guide

for the kids to take care of Pop while Scott and I were in Vegas.

Just because Pop is here for a fun time hanging out doesn't mean you get out of math!

Once a math teacher always a math teacher....

 Obviously Riggs answered the math question incorrectly. Pop said he could play with his remote control car but only in the snowy parts where it didn't actually move.

Next time....concentrate, Riggs.

Pop doesn't mess around with his math tests!

 It apparently went really well....

not sure what chapter of the book this was in???

 But, looks like Pop got it handled....

 Although, sharing Andrew's smoked salmon was hard for Pop...

the kids didn't mind.

They settled on the candy, fudge and cookies for dinner.

Whatever happens at home while mom and dad are in Vegas...

is fine with mom and dad!!

 

Dad, thank you for coming to hang with the kiddos.

We all loved it!!!

January 2015

January

This specific month on this specific year has been a long time coming for me!

I think there is a tendency for most people to dread this year....

But I was counting down the days!

 

I TURNED THE BIG 4-0.

FORTY YEARS.

 

Scott and the kids treated me to dinner at the Brown Bottle.

 

 And an indoor bonfire....

 and a trip to Vegas!

Ok, the trip Scott won from work for being a top sales guy.

But as far as I was concerned....it was for me ;)

 

We did a little 4-wheeling in the desert...

 had a wonderfully scrumptious dinner...

 placed some bets....

 saw a cirque de soleil show...

 all while staying on Freemont Street.

I would be ok not staying there again.

Scott and I have learned we much prefer the main strip

because we are not quite the party animals it takes to be in this part of Vegas.

 This is the pool at our hotel.

You could go down a slide that went through the middle of a shark tank.

It was closed until the day we were leaving.

Of course.

 and, the whole time we were in Vegas...

Pop came and stayed with the kiddos.

THE BOY MAKING PRETZELS

Roll the dough out....

 dump them in water and sprinkle with salt.

 

There's nothing wrong with a pretzel as big as your head.

Snitching the profits.... 

CHRISTMAS TIME

 I love Christmas time...not so much the weather that comes with it as we live in the frozen tundra. But, the tree I LOVE. Especially this year. With the blessing of our new home, comes the wonderfulness of LOTS of space and the ability to get a large tree. We were actually able to use all of the ornaments I have this year. There is such joy in unwrapping each ornament and remembering when we got it or the person who gave it to us.

 

As we haven't finished getting furniture pieces, there isn't a lot of decorating area.

But, I have this one table that the girls and I added some Christmas love to....

The picture is of the 'Twelve Days of Christmas'.

And, it isn't really a picture. A family friend, Mrs. Elener, actually painstakingly cut this from a piece of paper. It truly is amazing to look at and think that this woman had the patience to sit there and cut out 'A Partridge in a Pear Tree' let alone 'Twelve Drummers Drumming'.

 

But, my favorite thing about Christmas is spending time with family. We really only see each other twice a year. Summer and Christmas. Not nearly enough. But the time is so well spent it gets me to the next season. This year we will be missing the baby of the family. Archer is serving in Okinawa and will be with us via Skype for a little bit but not the same.

So, I have gone back to look for a picture with all of us....

 

this is from 2009.

Riggs is there just hiding...he was born couple months later :)

 

Can't wait for Christmas 2013 and all the new memories!

 

THESE THREE...

 

I GET TO CALL MINE!