Breakfast with Santa, a Yearly Tradition

    December 11th was our yearly Breakfast with Santa, put on by the Auburn Parks and Rec Dept.  We have been going for years with the older kids, then took Jenna and Dustin for many years, and last year took our grandsons for the first time.  This year, my parents took us and three of the grandsons again, and Matt, Kelly and Shauna, too. 

    Keegan chowed down just about every bite of his adult-sized breakfast, but wasn't too thrilled to see Santa come around.  Cooper didn't eat much, but loved Santa and the squirrel mascot.

   Caleb was adorable and happy, and took it all in.

   After breakfast and the entertainment, we tried to get pictures on Santa's lap.  Cooper adored Santa, Caleb and Keegan, well, not so much...

I think this picture is just priceless!

   The boys were happier to pose with the Great-Grandparents than with Santa.

And Caleb always loves Gramma and Grandpa!

Caleb didn't mind the squirrel too much, as long as he was safe in Daddy's arms.  All in all, we had a fun time, and I'm sure we'll be back next year!

Thankful...

   Yes, I know Thanksgiving 2010 has passed, and that I'm six months (yikes!) behind on my blog, but I just have to thank God today.  When I started on my brain tumor journey, I promised Him that if I survived, I would give all the glory to Him, and I need to keep my promise.
   Yesterday was my two year check up at Swedish.  First I had an echocardiogram and saw Dr. Dewhurst.  What a kind man he is, and he had only good news for us.  My heart continues to function at low-normal, and I don't need another echo for two years.  I just need to go see him next year, which is a pleasure!
   Next was my MRI and visit with our angel, Dr. Sarah Jost.  Again, it was all good.  No sign of any regrowth of the tumor.  Have I mentioned we love Dr. Sarah?  She is the rare neurosurgeon who has both extreme surgical skill and genuine compassion and caring.  She loves to hear about our family, see pictures of the grandbabies, and she even brought up the crystal angel I gave her for her Christmas tree.  She said she still has the note I wrote her with the angel, and she can't wait to hang it on her tree.  She always gives me a hug when we leave.  I am so thankful God sent us to her!  She wasn't the surgeon we wanted, but God knew she was the one we needed, and as soon as we met her, we knew He was right.

The people I love most! August 2010

   So today I am thankful for my health and my life.  I can truly say that I LOVE my life.  I am so blessed to have a husband I love more with each passing year, children I love and am so proud of, and the cutest grandsons there could ever be.  I still have my parents to love and support me, as well as my Father in Heaven, who tenderly cares for my every need.  And I am SO thankful.....

June

   The big event in June was Jenna's graduation!  She got to walk with her class at the White River Amphitheater on June 8th, although she will go back for two more years to do the Transition Program.
We had a party for her on June 12th, and Megan came home with Casey.  We had a great BBQ and Open House!

On June 17th, we took the RV and headed to Lake Chelan, to join Kirk's mom and Julius, Kris and Donie, Kevin and Tonya and their friends for the weekend.  All our kids then joined us, with Matt and Megan and their families staying in a condo, and Shauna and her family in a tent on our site.  Our first camping trip with ALL the kids and grandkids!  And we got to celebrate our birthdays and Father's Day there.  Fun!

Keegan

Caleb and Keegan

Boy, did we have to bring a lot of baby equipment!  Highchairs, pack-n-plays, toys, baby food, you-name-it, we took it!  Our site looked like a daycare, lol. 

On Sunday, Father's Day, the girls cooked a wonderful breakfast at the condo for the fathers, with fresh fruit, French Toast and donuts, sausage and juice.  What a treat for Kirk to not be the cook! Then they all went swimming in the condo pool, except for Matt, who had a headache (maybe from the chaos?) and me, the photographer.

Casey had so much fun, that he fell asleep.

Keegan loved the water right away, and had a great time in his crabby float!

Cooper was not fond of the water at first, but once he got used to it, he was a wild child and had a ball!

Caleb was unsure at first, too, but then had a great time!

Our crazy clan on Father's Day! (minus Jenna and Dustin, who were in the hot tub by then!)

Where to Start? May

   So far behind again!  Dang, why do I do that?!  So I am gonna have to just hit the highlights of the last FOUR months.  Where does the time go?
   May 13 through 16th, Kirk and I got to go on the Sysco trip to Las Vegas, yay!  We love those fun Sysco trips, esecially since they are FREE!  We got to stay at the gorgeous Bellagio, and we thoroughly enjoyed the sunshine at the pool and seeing the sights, as well as the fun nights.

For Memorial Day weekend, we took our fifth wheel and headed to Tri-Cities to see Megan and Ryan's new house, and our darling grandson, of course!  We hiked Badger Mountain together, swam and just enjoyed spending some time together.  Dustin and I stayed at the house with Casey one night, so Megan and Ryan could go celebrate their second wedding anniversary.  Their house is wonderful and so is Casey!

Prom Night

   Jenna's Senior Prom was last Saturday night, April 24, 2010.  The boys went out of town fishing, so Jenna and I had a girls' day, starting with me giving her a pedicure (not an easy task when you're working with a moving target!).  At noon she had a hair appointment, then we rushed to a manicure appointment.  When we got home, Kelly came over with her bags of makeup and gave her a great makeover.  After dinner, we helped her into her dress and jewelry, and she looked beautiful!  I just got a new Canon Rebel XSi digital camera, so it was time for me to try it out! 

I was very pleased with how well the pictures turned out, and so was Jenna.  She liked them so much that she wants to pick one to send out with her graduation announcements, instead of the senior pictures she had taken last spring.  I think she felt like a princess!  She had a fun time at the prom, and will also be going to the Companionship Prom tomorrow night, but this time with a little less fanfare (no hair appt or professional manicure).

The Grandbunnies!

Are those some cute little bunnies?  Yes, indeed!  That's Keegan, Casey and Caleb, my new crop of grandbunnies!  Megan brought Casey over the mountains and through the snow (yes, snow!) to Gramma's house to spend his First Easter with his cousins.  And they were quite interested in him this time!

It is so cute to see the babies getting so curious about each other!

We had a great weekend, that included an Easter Egg Hunt at our neighbor Paul's house (the 5 acres behind us), 

and one in our front yard, just for Cooper.

  The only photos I got of Cooper are action shots because, like a typical two, he is always in action!  He would not pose with the other cousins, so we couldn't get a shot of all four.  He did have a great time at both egg hunts, and got lots of eggs filled with goodies.  In fact, he ate so much candy, he then threw it all up!  TMI?  But it is one of those memories we will want to laugh about someday.  Actually, we laughed about it this year!  That's what I love about our family.  We love to laugh!  We seem to be able to find humor in just about any situation, and it's great!  We played a game that Shauna and Noah brought over on Friday night and we all laughed until we were in tears.  It was so much fun! 

  On Saturday night, after all the egg hunting, we had a fiesta!  Dad made his famous chicken enchiladas (Yummo!) and carne asada and guacamole.  Delicious!

    On Sunday morning, Kirk, Jenna and I went to church, then joined the rest of the family at the Quarter Chute for brunch.  There were some cute little bunnies there!

My Little Irish Sweethearts

   Yes, they are about as cute as they come!  Caleb is definitely a McCutie!  I was lucky enough to get to have him all day on his First St. Patrick's Day!

And the next day I had this little cutie!  Keegan Jameson is quite an Irish name!  I had Cooper too, but he is not big on photos now that he is two.  And he is often VERY two these days!

Valentine's Day!

I know I am very slow to post this, but better late than never, right? On this, the Babies' First Valentine's Day, I didn't get to see Casey (although his mom texted me a sweet picture of him in a red sweater vest!), but I did get to be with Caleb and Keegan, and Cooper too. We met my parents, the Heberts, and Matt, Kelly and Caleb at the Quarterchute for a Valentine's breakfast. 

The babies are always very interested in each other!

     Cooper enjoyed his presents and his strawberry waffle (yum!)

He also loved the racehorses!

He even got to pet one!

Caleb really liked the horses too.

Keegan liked sleeping in Gramma's arms (which was okay with me!)

And, of course, I also loved spending the day with my first Valentine!  These are the beautiful roses he sent me!  Am I lucky, or what?

I have got so many men in my life to love:  the best husband on earth, two wonderful sons, two great son-in-laws, and now four grandsons!  Wow, how did I get so blessed?

Goodbye Sweet Tobie

  This was one of our family pics taken on Jan 30th, 2009, but I didn't know it would be my last picture of Tobie.  He continued to deteriorate after they went home, and on Feb 13th I got this text from Megan: "We said goodbye to tobie this morning.  He is at the rainbow bridge with rylie.  I hope they are getting along this time."  I cried most of the day.

   Tobie was almost 14 years old.  I took Megan to pick him out at a dog show at the Pierce County Fairgrounds when he was just a tiny puppy.  He has been a part of our family ever since, splitting his time between our house and Megan's.  He often drove me crazy, like when he would herd Jenna when she was little and accidentally cause her to fall down, or the many, many times I had to clean up his barf, or his poop off the kids shoes. 

   But he was such a sweet boy and I loved him dearly.  I loved the way he loved to play with Dustin when they were younger, romping together in the backyard.  I loved the way he herded the ball around the back yard, even throwing it up in the air with his nose (he was very talented!).  I loved the way he knew when the schoolbus was coming, watching for it down Edwards Road, then would run to the door, so excited to greet the kids.  I loved the way he loved to BBQ with Kirk (Kirk was always a sucker for that freckle face), waiting patiently for a little morsel of meat.  I loved it when we caught him spooning with Abby on Jenna's bed.

      There was much to love about Tobie.  But most of all, I loved the way he was totally devoted to my daughter.  He loved all of us, but Megan was always his first love.  And anyone who loves my daughter that much is okay in my book, no matter what trouble he may get into.

     I will miss you Tobie.  It will never be quite the same without you, but I will carry you in my heart always.

Megan's Visit

   January was a fun month because Megan and Casey came to visit on Wednesday, Jan. 27th!  Casey got his first airplane ride at only two months, and he was a perfect passenger, slept the whole way!  Kelly, Caleb and I picked them up at the airport, then hit Babies R Us, then Applebee's for lunch.  Caleb and Casey were very well behaved at the restaurant, although there were some worried looking customers when we arrived.  Caleb did throw a toy at some businessmen, but luckily it did not land in their food! 
   On Thursday, Grandma De De came up and we had all the boys at my house for the day.  Four adults, four kids, but still I think the kids were in charge!  We had a great Oriental Chicken Salad for us girls, mostly breastmilk for the boys, lol, except Cooper.
    On Friday, Megan, Kelly and I, with Caleb and Casey, went to the Supermall.  The Carter's Outlet is a fave for all, so we spent lots of time and $$ there.  Then we went and took Shauna to lunch at Subway.  Again, the babies were great and we got to have a fun girl's lunch out.
   Friday night, Ryan arrived from Tri-Cities with Tobie, and we had dinner at our house with all the kids and grandkids.  Woohoo!
   Saturday morning, Shauna's photographer friend, Tonya arrived to take family pictures.  The house was complete chaos with everyone trying to get ready.  But Tonya did a great job and it was actually really fun.  And we were VERY happy with the results!  We got over 200 pictures!

And finally a picture of Kirk and I with all our grandsons!

We had a ball getting all the pictures, and we will treasure them forever, along with the memories of how funny it was to try to get them!  That evening, after the big boys went to the Sportsmen's Show, Grandma and Grandpa Porter came up and we had a prime rib dinner to celebrate Shauna's birthday.  And we had not one, but two birthday cakes!  Yay, cake!

   Megan and Ryan headed home on Sunday with a sick Tobie-dog, who was not eating.  I told him goodbye and gave him a love, but later I wished I had given him a hug, because I would not get to see him again.

A New Year, A New Decade!

   Wow, a new decade!  This is the one where Kirk and I get fit and healthy!  Yeah really!  We started the year out right by having one of our favorite little visitors on New Year's Day. 

Christmas Day 2009

   I am determined to get caught up!  On Christmas Day, Matt, Kelly and Caleb, the Heberts, and Grandma DeDe and Grandpa Al all came to our house, as is our tradition.  We had to put each of the two babies in the giant Christmas sock, another tradition, for a photo in front of the tree.  They are, of course, the best presents of all!
   Speaking of presents, that gets pretty crazy, with so many!

It can take so long, that some people actually fall asleep...

But, of course, it's not the PRESENTS, it's the PRESENCE of the people you love that matters the most.  We missed Megan and family, but it was wonderful to be together with all the others we love, and especially to celebrate Caleb and Keegan's very First Christmas!