Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Rockin' out at the EMP

Oliver was here for Christmas and Santa gave him a trip to Seattle's Experience Music Project Museum. Mom was happy to tag along! What a blast getting to play guitar, have our own debut "on stage" performance (our band name was "TOAD") and learn more about the history of Rock and Roll. We ended the day with lunch at Thai Ginger. Your time was too short Oliver. We miss you already!





...just like the ones I used to know

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas....and it came true!!It's still hard to believe how much snow we got and got and got and got! We loved almost every minute of it, until we had to cancel our extended family Christmas Eve dinner and didn't get to see Grandad and Grammy. But, all is well. We sledded, built snowmen, and had lots of cocoa! And what do ya know, Santa made it anyway!Ok, Celeste, this is the last year to add the angel. You are getting too big to stand on Dad's shoulders! Aunt Dana, Uncle Steven and Taylor braved the roads and made it over for Christmas breakfast. Their gift to us was a week with them in Hawaii next Thankgiving! We were all super excited! I wish it were November now!





Thursday, December 18, 2008

The Natives are restless

5 kids cooped up in a house for 2 days! What do you do for fun when you've seen all the Sponge Bob episodes, antagonized each other 'till it gets boring, and finished coloring in last years Christmas coloring books? Let's just say, our kids have some creative bones... Becky was the make up artist. Do I see a sharpie in that bunch of pens!? Yikes!

The finishing touches to our Christmas decor! Great snowflakes girls!Ahh, enough snow for sledding! Time to check it out with the neighbors.Hmm, the headless sledsman rides again? Where is Becky's other half? Kind of hard to see where you're going when your dad sits on your head!
Here's another try...this one proves successful and a fast ride! Go Audrey, Becky, and Dad!


Pretty cool when you get a "snow day" for your birthday. Happy 6th birthday Sophia! We love you Blue eyes. Audrey made the yummiest oreo brownies for the birthday dessert!
Update: We just heard no school again Friday. I wonder what tomorrow will bring!?






































Sunday, December 14, 2008

Feeling a little like home

Is this Pennsylvania or Seattle? Family looks the same...snow...must be Pennsylvania last year! Nope, we got 3 inches last night. Amazing what little white flakes will do to cure homesickness!


'Tis sweet to be 16

Last Friday Becky turned Sweet 16! We celebrated a night in Downtown Seattle. Becky had a manicure and haircut at a fancy downtown salon. Then we met up with Dad (who waited for us at a nearby mall) for a great steak dinner at Daniel's Broiler. I'm not sure if the best highlight was getting her hair cut by a cute guy who spent extra time on her long locks or getting the car keys to her new car car.
Becky's date with JamesStrawberry Daquiri...YUM!That is is the biggest steak I've ever seen!
Saturday night we had brownies and presents at home
Becky got a special necklace of her mom's.















Sunday, November 30, 2008

Loosen that belt

Our first Thankgiving in our new home! Everybody was in charge of something which made mom a happy mom.


Now you see it...Now you dont...
Becky made Nana's 2 favorite stuffings...Sausage Stuffing and Raisen Stuffing...yum! Too bad mom lost the recipes that Nana gave Becky over the phone. That's ok, it gave us another excuse to talk to Nana several times in one day!

Audrey is our apple princess. She picked, peeled, cored, cut, and spiced the apples for this masterpiece!

What's Thankgiving without pumpkin pie?...Compliments of Pastry Chef Celeste.

Sophia made the cherry pie...dad's favorite. She added the smiley face for fun!








Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Taylor's last game

Last Saturday we went to my Nephew, Taylor's last college football game in Puyallup. He plays for Linfield College in McMinville, OR. All of my side of the family were there and we had a lot of fun tailgating and cheering on Taylor. He played a great game against Pacific Lutheran University...45 to zip!
Becky and Dad...Beck didn't want her picture taken at the tailgate party before the game.

Grandad, Uncle Carl, and Uncle Clint

Nani and Gran
Aunt Dana, Aunt Sandrine, and her mom, Mary-Paul.
Sacia and Natty...lovin'cousins!

Tailgate cousins...Sacia, Elise, Lauren, Celeste, Margot, Sophia, Natty, and Audrey
We got the Linfield Cheerleaders to pose with the girls.
The Man of the Hour...we are proud of you, Taylor!






The Dessert King

We love it when Uncle Steven comes to dinner! He always brings the yummiest desserts. This time we got to have Aunt Dana join us and then they stayed over night. Last Friday, uncle Steven got a treat of his own...
The evening started out with a little Kung fu fun, bandana and all...and then turned into a spa night for Uncle Steven. Don't ask how one morphed into the other...the pictures say it all...
Moisturizer...good for the complexion! I'm not sure if Uncle Steven's expression is due to the over indulgent make up artists, or to the septic smell they had to sleep with all night (we didn't know our basement septic was having big issues until that night! Sorry guys!)


Friday, November 14, 2008

Day 3, no school=day at the zoo!


It was nice to have a day off of school for the kids for Veterans Day, Tuesday. Fun to have a second day off Wednesday due to the severe flooding in our area. But, day three...we had cabin fever! So, off to higher ground at the Zoo in Seattle. The rain has finally stopped and the Snoqualmie River is slowly receding. I guess we traded in Pennsylvania "snow days" for Seattle "flood days!"

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Rockstar on Youtube

I once thought Oliver would be a Paleontologist because of his love of dinosaurs as a boy. Sadly, that phase passed as he got older. He has always had a gift for drawing, so I thought maybe he would be an artist. His love of all things artistic now includes not only pen and brush, but pick. He has become quite good at the guitar, and amazes me. He recently sent me this video he posted on YouTube, and I got his permission to add it here. I'm not so good at posting links and videos, but here is my Rockstar... Watch out Santana and Van Halen...http://www.youtube.com/oliverderosier