Holiday Greetings

I guess I should have an update, since I have invited you all to visit our blog. Um...you could say I am a bit behind on the updates-I guess that I didn't meet that goal this month. A disclaimer before I start...There will be not be a lot of pictures in this post since I am on the family desktop. I found out tonight why my laptop would not start up for the last couple of days...the Hard Drive is gone!

The year wrapped up (yes, the pun was intended):

We started the year off with constuction around the house, a new cover for our back steps and little BBQ patio, new carpet, paint and rearrangement of furniture in the family room, and a remodel of our main bathroom (the only one with a place to shower/bathe).

Peggy and I traveled to Portland for the weekend of her birthday to see Wicked and spend a little time at the Creating Keepsakes Scrapbooking Convention. What a great production/show (Wicked that is)! Everyone should see it at least once.

Started camping in March and have to say this wouldn't have happened if we still had the tent trailer. Our trailer is a nice place to come get out of the weather and get warm. We went Razor Clam digging for the first time and liked it so much that we did it again in April.

Didn't do as much camping this summer as we normally do because we tackled cleaning and organizing Chris' garage. But we did get some long Holiday weekends with Mike and Linda (Chris' dad and mom), and a couple of outings with friends.

We ended the summer with a flood in the family room. The toilet in the powder room downstair decided to blow the intake supply off which sprayed all night until Chris got up in the morning to find about 2-3 inches of water saturating our new carpet and getting our things all wet. Took about a month to get things back together but now we have our family room back!

Husky games filled our Saturdays (along with Peggy's soccer games) this fall.

Kelly is in the 7th grade this year, taking all challenge classes (except PE and band). Didn't quite make it into Algebra but is still in challenge math class. He is in Jazz Band before school 3 days a week and also is in the Everett Youth Symphony's Jr. Orchestra where he is the Principal Trombone. (Visit the Website http://www.eyso.info/ on March 9 to view his "Winter" Concert via web-cast).

The Washington State Music Educators Association hold auditions for an "All-State Jr. Band" in the fall. This year they invited 7th graders to audition and Kelly's band teacher had him record an audition and sent it in. Kelly along with two 8th graders made the All State Band. His band teacher received the music for the students this week and had to call me. He left a message on our phone saying that he was speechless as Kelly was given 1st Trombone music. He is honored to have Kelly play in his band and to represent Evergreen. (He even emailed all of Kelly's teachers to let them know.) We will be spending our Valentine's Weekend in Yakima, WA. Kelly will be practicing all day on Saturday with a Concert in the evening.

Peggy is in the 4th grade this year and is also doing well academically too. She was on a soccer team this fall and they did really well. She plays defender and does a great job defending the goal! She also is in Campfire where they assisted a younger group for a food drive before Thanksgiving. They also provided toys for Christmas to an agency that assists families in need.

Peggy will be starting keyboarding in Jan and hopefully she will love it as much as Kelly does his trombone. She loves to sing and we will hear her singing in the shower.

Chris is still working for McKinstry as a foreman. They are grooming him to run his own jobs in the near future I think. We are lucky that he still has a job as the economy knocked out a bunch of work that his company had lined up. Things are picking back up. He is currently working on an Amazon.com building in downtown Seattle.

I am working for Providence Children's Center since Feb. I really like my job. I clock in and clock out and do all my work at the office. I really like my boss, the clinicians, the educators, the nurses and the support staff. They all have been very supportive.

We will be spending Christmas in Spokane this year and come home on Kelly's 13th birthday! I can't believe that my little snow storm baby is already 13! All I can say is WOW.

That about wraps up 2009. Thanks for visiting and please let me know you were here!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Ann, Chris, Kelly, and Peggy

I'm Behind Already

Wow, December 2! I haven't even retrieved our advent calendar from our holiday storage area yet. I guess I get to put 3 stars up when I get it out tomorrow. I will have the kids draw toothpicks to see who gets the even days and who gets the odd days, I'm sure there will be a fight over it even doing it this way.

I've set some goals for myself for this month thanks to a blogging friend of mine. Writing them down and getting them out for everyone to see will hopefully keep me on track. Mind you, she challenged us last month and my goal for last month was to get the house ready for guests (hi Linda and Mike) for Thanksgiving. I broke it up into 5 goals. I had initially wanted to declutter many spaces but as the time grew closer, that didn't happen. So, I have "extended" a goal for this month. Here they are:


1) Start in on my paperwork clutter (actually complete Aby's Organize Your Paper Clutter class).This is kind of an extension of last month's goal of a clean entry/laundry room.

2) Have all Christmas shopping completed and wrapped by December 20 (that includes being Santa's helper with stocking stuffers).

3) Have tree and Christmas decorations up by December 12 (in time for soccer party).

4) Spend (2) 15 minute blocks of time a day picking up the house and getting the rest of the family to do so too (am and pm).

5) Complete some kind of Daily/Weekly December/Holidays in Hand project.
 
That's it folks...I'll update once a week to let you know how I am doing.

Thanksgiving

So, I'm a little late, but I have much to be thankful for.
A clean house. A houseful of family and friends for Thanksgiving Dinner. Family members that shared the cooking and prep. A chance to use my "prettys". My husband. My children. My Family. My Wisconsin Family. My In-Laws. The fact that I have place settings and seating for twelve. And the list can go on, but I'll spare you.

I made a little project that I got here.

Everyone was given a card to fill out what they are thankful for and I will pair it with a picture of them that I took that day and put it in a little 4 x 6 album.

Miss Peggy and I created place cards for everyone using her artwork that I scanned and then I had her print everyone's names.

The dog even got to have a place card!

The turkey turned out wonderful and all the food was delicious.

Turkey

Stuffing

Turkey Gravy

Mashed Potatoes

Candied Yams

"Debbled" Eggs

Cranberry Relish

Canberry Jello Fruit Cups

Jellied Cranberry Sauce

Fruit Salad

Cremecicle Salad

Home Canned Garlic Pickles

Black Olives

Rolls with Butter

Dessert:

Pumpkin Pie with Whipped Cream

Peggy Friendly Pumpkin Custard Cake

In all it was a wonderful day with wonderful family and friends. I only wish all our family could be there, but it is way too big now.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day and know that I was thinking of all of you on this day.