And Runty Stays!

Although there have been numerous farm deaths lately due to the cougar/bobcat/wild dog pack attacks there and throughout the White Swan valley, somehow the animals continue to multiply. And it appears that Jake's little rescue, "Runty", will be allowed to stay too, despite the fact that instead of the full bred boxer he is, he looks like a cross between a chihuahua (sp?) and a large rat. Good luck to "Runty".

Christmas Sledding 2006

Squeezed between a Christmas lunch and the frenzy of four children opening presents, our sledding adventures behind the bronco hit it big with us all. Thomas was first to hop on, choosing Andrea over me to be his partner. Jake opped out of sledding this time, content to ride in the open back window, cheering everyone on. The men hung onto the back bumper keeping close watch on the kids, and although I dressed up to go, it was a wasted effort, as I decided it wasn't worth the risk to the baby to join in this time out. With dad driving to each skill level, we had a blast laughing at the hoots and howls from behind, enjoying the fun we were all sharing. John took a direct bum hit, Drew fell off on some trickier patches, and Billy and Drew broke the rope after loading the sled full of snow on their trip. It was a very memorable snow day for us all!

Drew and John's Christmas Snowman 2006

Waking up to find 7 inches of new snow covering the ground, Drew and John wasted no time before bundling up and heading out to build this snowman together.

Hugging Cousins enjoying the View

Okay, one-two-three HUG!

Playing and Shopping with Lauren before Christmas '06

We made a mad dash down to Seattle to try and finish up our shopping-as if we've really even started! After meeting up with Jodi and Lauren, we headed down to the U-Village to play and shop. While John ran into the stores, we played at the playground and with the various animals and fountains scattered around. It was freezing cold, though. Freezing! Our trip booty? One present for Robin and one present for Andrea! We're hurting, here!

Christmas Tree Cutting 2006!

We headed up to our favorite tree farm on Mt. Baker to cut our Christmas tree after much delay with the rain and wind. In recent years it was Carey and Jared and Carrie and Kevin that joined us on our outing. This time it was just the three of us out and we managed to avoid much more than a few drops of rain, adding to the fun of it all. Thomas had a chance to sit and visit with Santa out in the shop, but he was having none of it this year. He'll happily write a letter to Santa and add toys to his "Santa List" but ask him to get near a Santa and he's all about NO Way!

Mommy's sick so we go sailing!

We were supposed to leave early this morning for Yakima in order for Andrea and I to head to Kennewick for the 2nd of my 3 Dierks concerts. But Baby had other ideas, and I shed a lot of tears in between runs to the can. Deeply disappointed by the possibility of having to let Andrea down for the concert, I headed to bed, praying against the odds that the violent vomiting would pass. While I was unconscious, John appeased Thomas, who was upset that he couldn't get to Jakey's house, with a trip down to the docks, and it wasn't until much later that I found out they went sailing while I slept. I was so happy that he didn't get to miss out on some fun because I was too sick to head out.

We did get to go, however, as whatever it was passed by afternoon. Whether it was Baby or some stomach bug, our car was still packed and we headed out, bucket secured tightly in the front seat just in case.