Cows

Evan loves the cows. 

He found it hilarious how skittish they were every time he lifted his arms.

For some reason Avery wore her nice clothes to go walk in the manure dust.

Seasonal Fun

There is a lot of fun going around right now...

How about getting the mail this time of year, eh? I love it.

It's how we checked blogs before there was the internet.

Every morning we look for our elf, Vincent.

Look how cute he is sitting there on that precarious ledge.

Speaking of precarious ledges, pretty much 60% of my day is spent getting Evan off the table.

The church library had a "free" sign on this globe Sunday.

People here love to give stuff away via the "free" sign. It's great.

You know the best part of White Christmas, the "Minstrel" number? Well Avery wanted to watch it again and again. Then she started dancing along. She is my daughter.

(Mandy! There's a minister handy!)

 I've never realized how darn skinny Judy is. That's not healthy. She looks like a barbie.

I made Evan a new stocking. I did not like the one I made him last year. Blech.

When our friends drop off a plate of goodies, we all surround it like a pack of lions until every last morsel is consumed. We barely take a minute to pour a glass of milk because it all might be gone when we get back.  

G and G Larsen and Joe come tomorrow! Woo hoo!

I love Christmas when it falls on Sunday. We aren't going to open presents until after church AND until Jimi gets home. It's gonna be impossible!

You Know It's Christmas...

...when the kids play with the FedEx deliveries

and the Fontanini nativity set.

Wait, Wait, Wait

Is it too late to publish this picture of Thanksgiving?

This Christmas season is going way, way too fast. I can't stand it. Only one week left and I haven't even watched White Christmas, The Grinch, or Muppet's Christmas Carol.

Godzilla

Get an image of Godzilla in your mind.

Stomping on cars, swing arms, knocking over buildings, putting innocent bystanders in his mouth...

something about like this:

That's exactly what Evan is like.

He roars through the living room stomping on toys, wiping stuff off the couch, putting figurines in his mouth, swiping at Piper, screaming at top pitch.

Jimi pegged him as Godzilla. Crazy little boy.

Christmas Tree Farm

Walk through the grove of Christmas trees,

mmmm they smell good,

chase the chicken,

pet the goats, gawk at the camel.

Hot chocolate, donuts.

Frosty Morning

Some mornings are pogonip mornings.

Everything is hairy with frost.

Then the sun turns the frosty rooftops in to smoke.

It's winter magic.

Ye Olde Christmas

Like our new winter coats?

($15 dollars total for the both of em. Mmm hmmm.)

There is a park in Ferndale with lots of presevered old cabins, decked out in olde Christmas fashion. 

We wrote a letter to Santa, then put it in the old Post Office mail box. 

(Which is inefficient if you ask me. He was sitting in a cabin right across the way.)

Jimi opened a door to one of the storage cabins, and there was this old man with a long beard lighting gasoline lanturns. It was kind of startling, like we intruded upon his home or something. "I opened the door to the 1800's" Jimi said.

There he is to the right of the picture, delivering the lanturns.

This is what Evan thought of the whole thing. Not even the big horses or model train could make him happy.

We stopped in at Santa's house.

Mrs. Claus offered us some homemade apple marmalade on a cracker.

Santa was so nice to Avery, even with Evan kicking and screaming in the background.

(I wouldn't let him play the old antique piano that had a sign on it "do not touch").

We are getting so excited around here!

Christmas Tree

Sunday after church while Evan was napping and Jimi was flying, me and Avery decorated the tree. It was quiet and methodical.

First we laid out all the ornaments on the couch. (It reminded me of when we were little. Remember the blue room? And the blue flowery couch that mom laid the ornaments on?)

Avery gathered a few in her arms and told me exactly where to put them.

Since last year we only had the tree up for a few weeks, this year we are kicking things off early. Both advents are ready to go.

Avery's new ornament                                               Evan's new ornament

You will not believe who we saw at the grocery store...

Santa Claus!

He was in his casual attire, read canvas pants, blue shirt, red suspenders. His beard was full and beautiful. He was the real man, walking down the isle.

I gasped, "there's Santa!" and he came over to our cart.

Avery got good and shy, hiding behind me when he asked, "what do you want for Christmas?"

"I don't know..."

"Well, I'll bring you something anyway." 

And then he walked away. We were both freaking out. It was really him!

(then later we saw a pirate: a man with a cane (wooden leg) and black eye patch.) 

I'm a Mormon

--------------------------------------------------->

See? It even says so right there! Go ahead and click on it.

Has anyone else had the "media blitz" instructions in your area? We had a whole Sunday (after sacrament meeting) devoted to talking about it. They asked all of us to create profiles and stuff. I did mine like two months ago, and it just barely got "published".

I kind of wish I picked a different picture, but oh well.

I think it's kinda cool.

(ps right next to "i'm an english teacher" is the typo "i mostly a mom"...that's awesome. i hope we can go in and edit or else i'm going to lose sleep.)

Cherry Point

Jimi took this aerial view of our hood before he turned to land back in Bellingham.

The area "semiahmoo" is where we ride our bikes. You can see the little sliver of land

that's a road with water on either sides...that's where we swim (once) and make camp fires to roast weenies.

We live by the infamous BP oil refinery, and there is a hike near the area labeled "cherry point" that takes you down to the water and you can see the big barges that come in to deliver oil to BP.

So we hiked on down to see what we could see.

There's a delivery. Start refining!

Avery, climbing the stairs "by my selse"

Thanksgiving!

All day there was a huge windy rainstorm outside, so we had no choice but to hunker inside and eat lots of food.

When I was cooking the mashed potatoes, my kitchen window fogged up. That's an awesome feeling; cold on the outside, warm and smelling good on the inside.

We wore Pilgrim and Indian hats while we ate. I think it's nice how we pretend that pilgrims and Native Americans had great relations ha ha. Maybe for one day they did, right?

We have so much to be thankful for. Everyday is Thanksgiving Day around here, but the top five that I think about every day:

my family

good health

Allegiant

beautiful town to live in

warm, cozy, happy home

G is for Goodness, You're Right

Jimi said that Evan looks like Charlie Bucket in this sweater.

N is for Northern Solstice

Here we are enjoying the last bit of sunshine before the sun goes down, throwing what-not down the slide.

It was only 3:00. Darkness comes quickly nowadays.

I is for Imitation

Avery is a lot like Jimi. She is extremely good at getting cozy.

Lately, from beneath her blanket, she will boss us around.

When we say, "get it yourself" she says,

"but I'm cozy!"

She does not like having messy hands and is the pickiest eater. Also like her father.

She is like me in that she tip toes around the house incognito from one hiding spot to another, pretending no one can see her. I used to do that.

Evan is more like me when he eats. Messy. And not bothered by it.

He has Jimi's hair for sure. Awhile ago, Jimi was rifling through Evan's hair and said,

"is this my fault?"

V is for Vote

Are my new rain boots

ugly-cute

or

ugly-ugly?

(i actually just wanted to show them off, and i couldn't think of any other word for v.)

I is for Imagination

I followed Evan around with my camera this morning (I'm a busy gal), and it cracked me up watching him play.

...giving a spin in the spinny chair...

...and into the bathroom where he brushes his teeth for a minute until he spots the wooden knife...

I always find that knife in the toilet paper roll, but I didn't know which of my children was responsible for its placement. Now I know.

...and back to bus driving.

The whole time Evan was doing that, Avery was running around telling everyone to be quiet because "Tree is sleeping".

I cut out that felt tree a few days ago, and she has been treating it like a human being ever since. It actually went to the grocery store with us today.

She uses the leftover scrap as a blanket to tuck Tree in.

"sssshhhhhhhhh"

A few days ago she was organizing the blocks/wood food/boots.

Last night at bath time, He Man and He Man's baby got in the bath with the kids. I had to help them get out and get jammies on. Then I had to help "Bubble" Cat and Orko get jammies on.

During sacrament meeting, she went on a treasure hunt, dug up the treasure in the aisle, and shared her treasure (dragon berries) with her friend.

She always adds an extra "are" to the following sentences:

"this dragon berry is for are you, and this is for are me!"

I kind of don't want her to grow out of it.