Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

It began to snow....

Oooh, the joy of presents!

Thanks G'pa and G'ma Crull!

The sniffing and guessing starts at a VERY young age!

well, this should keep her busy.

finally, Emma has her own music box :)

the fun of name gifts!

and new outfits

stepping on the scale

Charlie stopped playing and ran over to the weight scale, where I told him to stop and not step on. He looked up at me and said "mommy, can I take my clothes off and play with it?"

Obviously he thinks you have to take your clothes off in order to play with the scale, but then again, he only sees me stepping on it between changing clothes!! What kids must think when they see us doing certain things. He gave me a good laugh :)

Going on a hike

I found Charlie trying to put Susie Bear in the back of his pj's this morning and I asked him what he was doing. He then told me that he wanted to take Susie Bear up the mountain for a hike, so this is Charlie and Susie Bear going on a hike up Little Mountain. Charlie LOVES going on hikes ~ probably because he is Susie Bear when we are hiking. How much fun would that be, hanging out on someones back!

Donut Day

"Charlie, you forgot to eat the donut!"

I pretty sure he does not care, by the looks of his face.

Out of Commission

As a mom, you never want to be out of commission. Especially the first week your kids start school at a new school and your husband starts running a school. It has been a stressful week, needless to say. I have missed the first school day, family fun night, meeting new parents, etc. It is almost as if I do not exist yet. My family talks of this person and that person, as if they are life long friends, and I have yet to meet them all.

My fever started last week Saturday night after our birthday party for DJ. (Thank goodness we celebrated Saturday!). After the kids were in bed, IT began.

It is now Friday at 5:45 pm and I am still medicated for a fever. It will not go away. I went to the doctor on Wednesday, and as usual, he said it was probably a virus. What he does not understand is that I am a mom of 4 children and a wife to an extremely busy, and tired husband right now, so hearing that it is a virus did not make me feel any better.

My house is a mess, laundry is piled to the ceiling (not really, but close), beds are unmade, etc. I have contemplated throwing an adult fit to see if I could actually "fit" it away.

What really saddens me, is that I can never get this week back again.

Blog picture

Above is our new blog picture ~ we took it while hiking up "Little Mountain", which is about 3 miles from our home. If you look between Jeff and I, you can see the snowcapped peak of Mt. Baker. We hope to hike up this little mountain often, which also overlooks the puget sound. The sights are breath taking!

Where's the potty?

Potty training is such an exhausting process. Our method requires no pants and the potty going everywhere with the kid. Unfortunately, it also requires a person to constantly be with the kid! There are times where we are either asking (after the kid has been doing the potty dance for a while and is no longer) "where is the potty?" or "where is the potty?" (as in, get the kid there quickly). We are happy to report that our kid (Charlie) is doing pretty well, but he is still not too certain. Right now our family room is covered with a little people land and the potty is centrally located so he can dance his way right over and do his job.

Oh, Happy Day

Josie turned 9 years old on Friday! Her dessert choice was a chocolate shake, so we had to be creative with blowing out the birthday candle.

All the kids enjoying their shakes.

Josie was surprised with some fun packages in the mail that day. Thanks for the presents!!

It was a happy birthday for Josie ~ beginning with cinnamon rolls and ending with chocolate shakes. Oh yeah, and some fun gifts to open too!

"Eye of the Tiger"

I am not sure what to feel about the fact that my 2 year old baby, dressed in red puppy pajamas, is running around the house belting out "Eye of the Tiger. Bum.....Bum, Bum, Bum......Bum, Bum, Bum.........Bum, Bum, Buuuuuuuuum." The hard rock edge is not up to par, and the clarity is iffy, but if you listen closely it is there.

emotions

We had to say good-bye to G'pa and G'ma Crull earlier than what was planned ~ Great G'pa Kelley was not doing well and Great G'ma needed G'pa and G'ma Crull to come home.

I do not think I realized the distance of our move until that moment. When my parents decided to take off after the phone call with my G'ma Kelley, it was discussed whether it would take 2 or 3 days to get back to Iowa. They had taken their time coming to WA, which was a 3 day journey. I felt horrible, as if I was taking time away from my mom and her dad.

The emotions started as they left. The kids were so sad that they had to say good-bye to my parents, which in turn tore my heart to see. I was sad the rest of the day ~ that we had made the decision to take our kids away from both of their G'parents and the relationships that had been beautifully developing for the past 5 years.

I am still sad.

A day away....

to Larabbee State Park.

Spain 2010

In Barcelona - a park designed/created by architect Gaudi

Same park - Jeff and I found a cool spot for a pic

The cathedral "Sagrada Familia" also designed by Gaudi - still in process today.

An arch in Barcelona - probably something important......

The beautiful Mediterranean Sea!

Back Up and Running

Hi Everyone,

Many of our friends and family have been asking how to stay in touch with us during this transition. We have decided that we would begin by updating our blog more often. For those of you who do not know we are moving to NW Washington in a few weeks. I will be the principal and athletic director of Mount Vernon Christian High School. Currently Monica and I are in Madrid, Spain visiting family. We look forward to hearing from many of you soon, and we will make sure to keep everyone updated the best we can.

Later,

Jeff