GED... Take two

So Scott has graduated and returned to his family in Washington... finally. It'd not as though he is 30 or any really old age like that, so there is still hope for a promising career in nursing... or falling off of things.

Hi Daddy

Happy Christmas, Daddy. I miss you! Only 7 more days...

Thanks

Sorry I didn't write about Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful week. Beth, Rachel, Jessica, and Dad came out on Sunday. Scott got here on wEdnesday, and I had Thursday through Sunday off. We went to the salon for Rachel and Jessica's 13th birthday and out for pizza that night. We went to see Harry Potter after Thanksgiving dinner. We went to Pike's Place Market and out for oysters that night (my favorite day of the week). After Beth, R, J, and Dad left, Scott and I took the kids down to Portland for the day and went to the Saturday market there. It was such a fun week, and so good to see everyone. Here's a picture we were trying to get of the cousins, but Katya wasn't really cooperating. I think we have another one on our blog from last Thanksgiving that looks pretty similar, but with the cousins on Scott's side!

Santa Claus

Today we went to the Allyn Gazebo and saw Santa Claus. It was fun with hot chocolate adn delicious cookies provided by the Allyn Community Association. There was even a lady there playing Christmas songs on the keyboard and singing. She was very good, too, making up a lot of her own arrangments in various styles. I always wished I could do that! It was about the best looking Santa I've seen. And Katya might be in the paper! We did get in trouble for taking a cookie before seeing Santa! And we also saw some friends of ours, one couple that has two kids - they are in our church. Another couple lives in our neighborhood. They have quadruplet boys - 4 years old this December! I missed it, but mom said two of them had to go to the bathroom while they were there and just pulled down their pants and went where they were standing in line! I think Katya saw the whole thing. Maybe it will help her with potty training! I told Mom I guess you have to be very laid back to have four 4-year old boys!

shepherdess

We've had a fun weekend. Friday night we went to a work Christmas party and then dressed up for a church nativity program. It was really fun and Katya loved meeting so many new people and especially seeing Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus. She kept pointing to Jack and saying, "Here's Baby Jesus, too!".

yummy

Katya loves Jack...He is delicious!

sunrise

The view from our kitchen. Yeah, I love living here.

happy halloween!

We went to a harvest festival at church on Saturday which was kind of lame, but Katya had a pretty good time. We had a blast trick-or-treating. Katya learned to say Halloween, trick-or-treat, and I want some candy please (which is what she said before trick-or-treat at a lot of the houses). She walked for an hour and a half straight in dress shoes without complaint and when we got back to our house, she didn't want to go in. We met lots of nice neighbors. There were so many kids out. Apparently our neighborhood is the place to go on Halloween. The sheriff was even there handing out glow necklaces to the kids. Katya was so excited after we got home to be able to answer the door. She would run to the door every time and yell, Hurry! We went for a walk today and she told me she wanted to trick-or-treat. At least some of the pumpkins were still up. By the way, she was the prettiest princess I've ever seen, and I think we have the cutest polar bear in the world!

winterizing

It's not that cold yet, but we thought she looked cute. Plus Katya's learning about her thumbs, so mittens are pretty cool.

what college students learn

I guess Taylor and Nick must be bored because they make up games to amuse themselves. This one involves squeezing the other's hand until they give up. It usually ends in a draw. At least Katya got a kick out of it.

GGPs

We had a great time visiting great grand parents and uncles in Utah. It was actually our best night of sleep. And Katya even got to play with the tetherball.

some cool pics from our xc trip

The sun was just setting as we were going through St. Louis so I was able to get some great pics out the car window. The bottom picture is from the day after our wonderful adventure in eastern CO driving after the first snowfall of the year. All the roads to Denver were closed, and it was very dark and wet and treacherous. Thank goodness Scott was driving! The next day was beautiful driving through the rockies in the snow.

Little help for my sweaty

Well I can't figure out the camera without Scott here, so just a quick note without a picture. We made it to Washington! Jack had to stay overnight at the hospital in Atlanta while we were visiting because he had a bad stomach virus. He was discharged the next morning and did fine after that, but it set us back one day on our trip. Everyone was so flexible, though, so it didn't have any adverse effects. We stuggled through stomach bugs and snow on the drive out, but got here safely and even got to see family in Utah. Jack's great-grandparents and the last two of the uncles got to meet him. We got our furniture delivered and then Scott left to return to Virginia the very next day to complete school. He's staying there for 2 more months. We're excited about his visit for Thanksgiving, and we talk many times a day - thanks Verizon! We are hoping to set up the web cams so we can see each other and especially so he will recognize the kids when he gets here. I got internet access today so it should be settled soon. The cats and Mom arrived safely a couple days after Scott left. Thank goodness Mom is staying here with me for the next 2 months. The 2 days without her were miserable. And of course, with her here, the house is already looking great! I start work on Friday. I'm kind of sad to go back after 10 weeks off! But I'm sure it will be good. Jack had his 2 month check up yesterday and is in the 75th-90th percentile. Much different from Katya's meager 3rd percentile. We'll post some recent pics soon. Love you all. Thanks for your support during this crazy time in our lives.

WHOA!

Top three reasons Rebekah chopped off her hair:
1. To avoid having it constantly pulled by little children
2. To avoid getting spit up in it on a daily basis
3. To attempt to feel younger before her 30th birthday

Cuties

Just a few more pics of the kids being cute!

Casey-dog

We had to put Casey the wunderhund (I don't know German, so forgive my misspelling) to sleep just before labor day. She was 17 years old this September. She'd had two litters of puppies, had graced the lives of two families, had survived heartworms and being hit by a car. She also brought joy to many of our friends and extended family. She will be greatly missed and cherished. We love her!

you don't want to miss these

These are old, but I just had to include these classics of the Duncan kids. They always make me laugh! I don't even know if C&B have seen them yet.

Jack's blessing

G&G M (can you believe that's YOU now?) came up for Jack's blessing. Scott did a great job, of course. And so did Jack. Pat Brady was the spotter since it looked like Jack might practice his dismount during the blessing.

Grandmommy

Jack got to have his grandmommy around for 3 whole weeks! His mom and dad were so glad! Thanks mom!

AAW!

The happy threesome! I'd like to say Scott might look rougher than I do! Was it that bad, sweetie?

Papa Perry

Papa and Katya got to visit at the hospital. Sorry this one's out of order. It's a little difficult doing this 10 weeks late! That's what we get for procrastinating. Acutally that's what you get, because you actually have to try to make sense of this blog. And I'm writing all this just before midnight (pacific time). Tootles!

auntie

Beth came to visit, but she couldn't tell Rachel and Jessica until she got home. They were pretty upset they couldn't meet Jack yet. Beth is pretty cozy with the babies. So when are you having another one, Beth?

Friends

We also got to visit with Nile and Renell a couple times before we left. We can't wait for them to move out to Washington when Nile is done with school to be closer to us again!

Cousins

Aren't they cute? We were so glad the Duncans could come visit us before we moved from Virginia. Even though it was just overnight, we had lots of fun.

Jack-o

He's a little more handsome when he's had a bath and isn't screaming, huh?

LL Cool K

Katya is a cool kid. Even without her sunglasses.

kiddos in the bath

I'm sure they will both hate us for this one when they're teens. And no, Katya is not on drugs. I just can't catch her being cute with the delay on my digital camera. I'm sure if I complain too much, Scott will talk me into getting some new fancy gadget.

Goings on and shananagains

HI! Sorry we've been so lax on updating our blog. This is Mommy and the happy siblings the day after Jack was born. We are so happy!

You don't know JACK... but you should

Happy kid, huh? Jack was born on Aug 12, 2005 at 11:05 PM. That's 2305 for you military types. He was 7# 15.5 oz. We love him so much and can't wait for everyone to meet him.

Wow! Look at that tummy. Rebekah's about ready to pop! Only 3 more weeks!

We really enjoyed spending some time with Taylor at the reunion and afterwards at the Mildenhall's - even though he was enthralled with the new Harry Potter. I know he was especially excited to see all his nieces and nephews. He showed us an example of African dancing, which was quite good.

our new house!!!

Scott and I were able to take a vacation for two weeks including the Mildenhall reunion at my mom and dad's mountain house and our househunting trip to Washington state. We really enjoyed seeing each other for two whole weeks- even though we missed Katya terribly! We are usually so busy that there are many days we don't really see each other. Scott is now on summer break from school, so things are a little less hectic around here. We were so successful on our trip. Even though we were getting very anxious out there, everything worked out in the end. We are buying a house in a wonderful neighborhood about 25 minutes from the hospital where I'll be working and about an hour and a half from Seattle. We are only 45 minutes to lots of camping in the Olympic Natl forest and about an hour and a half from Mt. Ranier. We even have a gorgeous view of Mt. Ranier from our huge back windows. There is a big fenced yard for the animals and kiddos. We are so excited to start our life out there - especially when we enjoyed the most beautiful 70-degree sunshiney weather while we were there and came back to horrible 90-degree humidity. We also sold our house here while we were gone. We'll be able to stay until the end of Sep. Here are a couple pics of the new house.

HOMESTARRUNNER Dot COM

Yes, this is what it looks like ,some wierd looking cartoon guy wearing a tupperware bowl as a helmet, wish I could say I hadn't ever done that, but I have... often. This guy here, for those of you who are outside the circle of the "in crowd" would be wise to check out his philosophies. Oddly enough, uncle Pappy reminded me of the values that he offers to anyone's life.Check it out

The interior

Well we finally made it to family yuppieville. Like many others before us, we swore we would never succumb to getting a minivan. But, here we are, and we love it! We drove the new van to Mississippi and it was heaven. It makes the 4 hour drive to the temple delightful and we are so excited for our trip across country this fall.

the new pooh..."roar kitty". Katya wants to watch roar kitty everyday. She really doesn't care if it's lion king 1, linon king 2, or just another movie with some sort of roar kitty in it. like Jungle Book or Ice Age. It's nice because we have lots of choices, but just when we accumulated so many Pooh things! I guess we'll get used to this fixation. She's also very fixated on Papa lately, much to Grandmommy's dismay.