Ode to a camel

Oops. Wrong picture. Not a camel.

Oh Camel! Noblest of creatures! Mighty and strong.

Friend of man, docile and calm.

You who befriends us with a smile.

A rather towering friend at that.

Hey! Do you see what that dirt bag is doing to my daughter!

True story. We found this camel just outside of Grandview. I had to stop and get some pictures, and it seemed friendly enough, so I let Emma out to pet it, with somewhat disastrous results. Luckily, I got a hold of Emma before she got over the fence. Both she and Joseph were hysterical for about 5 or 10 minutes. The camel had claimed her hood as spoils of war, but I drove the van down about 40 feet and the camel stood in front of it, allowing me to hop out of the car and run back, reach my hand under the fence and get the hood.

Now it seems funny. To everyone but Emma that is.

Here is Abby last night (or maybe the night before) sharing a tortilla with the dog. Disgusting, but funny.

The End

Well, This is the end of our break. I know, I know, I shouldn't complain about having to go back to work after having a 2 week break, but it is so nice I could probably weather my way through a bit more.

We had a fun time this week between sledding, building snowmen and snow forts, then seeing them all melted by the following day. We all had a slumber party in our living room after watching a Scoobydoo movie on New Years.

A couple of days ago we went and visited great grandma and great grandpa. I had fun taking pictures of the birds.

Sledding with the kids on the old bridge over the rail road tracks. The bridge, once a thrill for driving, is now open only to pedestrian traffic. The kids had a lot of fun.

Ducks on the river.

This finch allowed me to get fairly close.

But not too close! Here she is taking off!

Finch on the feeder out at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Okay, so this picture is a bit blurry, but it is a classic Joseph expression

Two of my beautiful children expressing their love for me.

Abby was outside petting the neighbors dogs through the fence.

Ethan posed for me under the tree in our front yard.

It was a great break!

Christmas is coming...has come... and gone.

Looks like a parade to me.

Emma Helping Abby on the tricycle.

Abby likes my camera.

Joseph on his bike.

Ethan on his new Bike.

Here are the little girl Pics. Top is a profile, below is a face with one hand up near the mouth, and the other arm and legs extended toward you.

Midway through Christmas break and a lot has happened, not the least of which is Laura's youngest sister getting married. Yeah! It had been a long two year wait for Becky while Spencer served a mission in Japan, but, she resisted all other offers, and now they are happily on their way to a happily ever after.

They were married in Boise, Laura's family (us included) terrorized the hallways of Extended Stay America for about 3 days, without having to pay extra damage costs. Laura was bustin' her bellybutton with excitement at seeing her family after a year and a half drought.

Speaking of busting bellybuttons, Laura is performing another umbilical miracle. We have ultrasounds of number 5 and (drum roll please) ...its a girl! We have thought of Madeline, Molly, and Bethany as names. Our current pick is Bethany. We will see how long it lasts.

Christmas was fun. Ethan and Joseph got bicycles and Emma a doll house. The boys also got nerf darts for their dart guns (visitors beware). That Ethan is a good shot! We had a gunfight and I can't tell you how many times I was pinged in the forehead.

One week left of vacation. We will see what fun we think up.

The Nudesies

Okay, so you remember that musical made a few years back called the Newsies? Well, in our house we have the Nudesies! These little bare cuties were too much to resist, the camera had to come out.

Doesn't Joseph look the part for the musical? He is even doing some dance moves! too bad the camera takes such dark pictures. Emma got some birthday money from her Grandma K and chose to buy a barbie swimming pool with a lifeguard chair. I was going to take a picture of all the naked barbies chilling in their pool on our bathroom floor, but their must have been a tsunami before I got a chance because it was all a wet chaos when I got back. Next time she will play with it in the bathtub and save me some grief:) It was all so fun though.

Happy, Happy Birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Emma's birthday. The big 7 now. I know, I know, we were 3 days early, but we thought that if we did it on the weekend previous that it would be easier than during the week. We may have been mistaken. This is how it went.

6:00 Was that really the alarm? It's the weekend, turn it off.
6:02 Never mind, Joseph (on our floor woke up)
6:03 Never mind again, he is back in bed.
7:00 Kids bouncing on the bed. Time to get up. Breakfast? What's that? It's the weekend, find it yourself.
7:30 Time to go work on the roof. Work, work, work, (break for breakfast -thanks Sister Shea!)
work, work, work.
11:30 get kids read, make lunch, damage control.
1:30 we are late, get in the car. I SAID GET IN THE CAR! Fine we are leaving without you.
1:50 Everyone in the car? Check. Buckled? Check. Okay, let's go get to the primary activity.
2:00 Arrive at the primary activity (half hour late). Carve pumpkins. Eat ice cream. Get tackled by 15 5-year-olds (okay, it was probably only 6 or 7 kids, but it FELT like 15.
3:20 Go home. Clean up the lunch mess we didn't get put away. buy frosting, mix up and bake cake, send all the kids to time out so that we can get some things done and have some fun.
6:00 let the kids out of time out (just kidding, they were let out earlier). Eat hot dogs, fruit salad. Don't touch the cake sitting 6 inches in front of you. Don't touch that frosting. (they actually did do pretty good about it).
6:30 Happy birthday Emma! Presents. Smear lipstick on my nose and juggle.
OUCH! Ethan that HURT! Party is over. Stop the bleeding. Lay down to prevent shock. Do I go to the hospital? Are you crazy? Too cheap for that. It will heal. Eventually. Maybe.
7:00 Okay kids. I can tie balloon animals in bed for you. Frog. Lion. Sword. Muppet guy. Don't let Abby have them. She will choke if she gets them.
8:00 kids all in bed. Drinks of water all around. Drinks again. Again. That's enough. NO more. Again. Bathroom, bathroom, bathroom.
9:00 Done. Finally.

Okay, I did take a bit of poetic license. That is more how it felt.
I did get a pretty good gouge in my lip from Ethan's headbutt. It was unintentional, but it hurt like crazy. The kids really did have fun yesterday.

Pictures:

Emma posing with her new bike. Emma's cake It is a chicken man cake. Her design. The thing that looks like a frown is exactly that. Joseph was washing dishes and was Joseph Santa.

Illegal Aliens

To start at the ending...
Laura and I took a little jaunt up to northern Washington this past weekend and kept on goin'. We had decided that since we were only a few miles from the Canadian border it would be fun to go and see it. We drove up, got confused, and couldn't turn around until a trooper said "Welcome to Canada, Let's see your ID." We apologized profusely, and said that we just wanted to get back to the states, so he turned us through a barrier and sent us back up to the US border patrol. They were much more strict. The had us get out of the car, leave our cell phones, go into a building while they searched it (the car, not the phone), then they scanned our licenses and asked us questions about our birthplace and marriage place. We figure that by scanning our licenses it brought up other vital records and they questioned us about those. Anyway, an exciting ending to a trip.

We had originally gone up for a conference. It was at the Semiahmoo resort and spa. Boy was I glad the school footed that bill. It was nice. As any loving parent would do, we ditched the kids and Laura and I went alone (that is except for Abby who managed to hitch a ride with us). It was right on birch bay. We had fun looking at the herons, and the resident bald eagle. Laura saw a seal and of course there were gads of seashells. We even awkwardly ate at a very nice restaurant to the tunes of Abby screaming because we wouldn't let her pull the table cloth off the table. It was good food though.

We came home late Saturday night, picked up kids and fell into bed. That's it!

PS The grass in our back yard is starting to fill in a bit YEAH!!! Hopefully if we can keep the dog from digging too many holes we will have a back yard with a real yard by the end of next spring.

Ty

stress reduction

Okay, so, I am the kind of person that, when I get stressed I find something to do. Since I am far from a perfectionist, I happily engage myself in a multitude of things at a mediocre level. The thing is, I think I must be getting far too stressed out at work because I have found myself at times thinking "hmm... should I juggle, crochet, tie ballon animals, draw, go outside and play with the chainsaw?" and many other frivolous pastimes. But, having seen a snapshot of the things I like, is there anything new I can try that would not be life threatening (I know, I know, those crochet hooks can be nasty, but a guy has got to live a little right?)

Ty