Monday, December 29, 2008

My Babies....




Dan and Natalie were cuddling on the couch the other day and I happened to snap it on my camera. I generally don't have my camera by me or can't get it in time. I just love these pictures of my babies.....

Story Time

How sweet is this? Every night we read a book before bed. Dan took a picture of us reading the other night and I love these pictures. My sweet baby....


Ornament Exchange

Every year from when I was a baby on, we went to Lake Wanicut in Orville, WA. Over the years, we met a group of people and decided years ago to get together during the winter too so we weren't just seeing each other only once a year. We started having an ornament exchange party at Pam's house. The whole group consists of probably 20+ people with about 5 different families and these are all people we met at Wanicut. We have done this every year for as long as I can remember and I have a lot of ornaments on my tree from the party over the years. Sadly, we skipped it last year as one of the group members, Pat, died of cancer. We definetly missed him this year, that's for sure. We always have such a great time. Dan didn't go. He didn't feel well but Natalie, my mom and I all went together. Natalie was a great little girl, even though it was past her bedtime.

Natalie and her cousin Shayna playing with the doll house set



My mom, sister Beth and brother in law Wes

My dad and his girlfriend

Who could it be??


It's Natalie!

Sisters.....minus one

Here is a cute sisters shot that I stole from my sister's facebook page. This was taken in Leavenworth. It would be perfect if Lynne was in it too, then it would be a complete sister shot.

Christmas Day

What a fun Christmas! I was sick too and not feeling hot at all, but I still had the best day with my family. We woke up Christmas morning, at 6, thanks to Natalie. I went in her room while Dan went in the family room to turn on the lights. All of a sudden we hear Dan go "Oh my gosh! Ah! Looks like Santa came!" You should have seen Natalie's face light up. I thought she was going to pee her pants. She went racing out to see. She was so excited about what Santa brought her (a new Disney Princess travel cot, because she has TOTALLY outgrown her porta crib, an infant carseat and new baby) that is was hard to get her to open presents. After each present she opened, she wanted to take it to the toy room (that's what she calls her bedroom) to play with it. After we forced the poor child to open all her presents ;) she took her toys into her room and we put on her new Curious George movie. Dan and I got to open all of our presents and when I went to peek on her I found her sitting on her bed, with good ol stinky duck in her mouth, watching her movie, with all of her new toys just sitting on the floor. After that we went to my moms to exchange presents and then we "tried" to go to Dan's mom's house. She lives in Gold Bar. It was snowing at our house in Bellevue, but not much at all and was way too wet to stick.....well the further we drove the worse the snow got. By Kirkland we saw snow plows, by Woodinville the 6 lane highway was down to 1 lane each way because it was so covered in snow and by Monroe, well, it was bad. We stopped at a gas station to take Natalie to the bathroom and made the decision to go home since it was only going to keep getting worse. After Natalie took her nap, off to my sister's we went for a big family Christmas. We had a big dinner, then had all of the kids open their gift exchange presents and then had our annual White Elephant gift exchange. We have so much fun with the white elephant and find some of the funniest gifts. My mom got a red and orange stained glass rooster lamp. Can you imagine the commetns Dan was making?! "Gail, what a nice cock you have!" "Gail has a multicolored cock!" "Should I steal your mom's cock?" It was hilarious! I got 4 boxes of spice cake mix, which happens to be my favorite cupcakes....SCORE! and Dan got....a white elephant. No really, a white elephant. My brother in law got the elephant in a white elephant gift exchange the night before and painted it white and regifted it. We didn't get home until 9:30 and Natalie crashed before we even left my sister's driveway. But what a great day filled with traditions, joy, love and family. I was just talking to my sister today about how fortunate we are that our family lives so close together. We really are the luckiest people.

I accidentally deleted this one from below and don't know how to put it back in the right place, that is why it is out of order. Here is a picture of everyone busting a gut at my mom's cock.



Isn't that cot cool? It hasa built in sleeping bag

Her new Polly Pockets

Carrying around her new baby and Captain Feathersword from the Wiggles



Her new Sponge Bob guitar

These bring back memories. I used to play with my "heel highs" as I used to call them, all the time

Can you guess who got her her very first fishing pole? Her Daddy!

Here is what I was talking about.....all her new toys just sitting on the floor and she is on her bed chewing on her duck

On our way to Grandma's. See the red and green ribbon I put in her hair?

Dan wrapped her like a burrito in Dan's new blanket

My mom was pushing Natalie around in my Grandpa's walker

One of my best buddies.

Riding the horsey

The cousins...well a fraction of them. Me, Amanda, Brice and Mak

My mom and Natalie playing

I love this guy so much

Aidan wanted to give Natalie a ride on his bike. Isn't that cute?

Isn't that a handsome guy?! I can't believe that's my little nephew Brice! He was pushing Natalie around in the walker.

Natalie with her cousins Jena, Mak and Amanda


Here's another one that I can't believe how big she is! My neice Jena. So beautiful!


Mak (my baby girl) playing with Natalie. Mak loves that little girl so much and Natalie idolizes Mak!


Jena, Aidan, Cam and Brice in the war zone.



Mak helping Natalie open presents. Natalie didn't want to sit with me.


Wearing Aidan's camo hat.

Brian got this Manure Movers t shirt in the white elephant exchange

Mak and I tickle tortured Brice

Since we had a white Christmas, Barb suggested the kids sled down their hill. Natalie didn't go because we didn't bring snow clothes. Here are the kids playing outside. Abby, Brice, Jena, Mak, Amanda, and Aidan
I LOVE this picture! It's my baby and my Grandma Violet "Vi"

Christmas Eve

Dan and I both had to work on Christmas Eve. Fun huh?....NOT. It has always been a very slow, unnessasary work day but this year, because of the rate drop, it was pretty busy! After the work day we went to Dan's Dad's house. We had a good time. Made a roast and opened presents. Dan's Dad made Natalie a rocking horse. It is the COOLEST thing. He made it all 100% by hand. It is very tall too which is nice so she won't outgrow it anytime soon. Her foot don't even touch the ground when she is on it. He spent 40 hours making it and we had him write his name and date on it. It is so awesome because it is handmade and it will last forever. She can pass it down to her kids, her kids' kids, etc....I forgot to bring my camera there and we left it there because we didn't want to put it in the bed of the truck when it was raining so when we get it I will post pics.

On our way home that night Dan told Natalie since she was such a good girl, she could open 2 presents. I never opened presents on Christmas Eve, we always opened them all on Christmas day. When Dan and I first got together he would give me my presents early and then I would have to give him his early because he needed something to open and then by the time Christmas came, we had nothing left to open. He said he always got to open his presents on Christmas Eve. I thought he was just saying that so he could open his presents but I asked his mom if that was true, thinking of course Ha, gotcha, and she said yup, it's true. Oops. So, it is an adjustment to him to not open any early. I guess I can live if everyone gets a few presents early, right? Well, we each opened 2 presents on Christmas Eve.

The pics are out of order. This one and the one below it should be at the bottom. Oh well. Her is Natalie playing with the coffee maker she got.
Dan makes coffee every morning and always talks about "Daddy's coffee" she even know where the coffee is at the grocery store. We thought it would be perfect to get a little coffee maker. She loves it. It makes a sound like coffee brewing and has the pot with the lid that opens and even the back compartment for the water. She likes to make us coffee.

Opening presents. She figured out how to do that really well!

Here is the new vest I got. I LOVE it!

I don't know why I am making that face, but isn't that a cute vest?!

Dan's new blanket which I hog. It is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO soft and big.


And last but not least.....here is Natalie when she opened her coffee maker.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

More Snow Pictures....

We went for a walk again in the snow. This is probably our 100th walk this past week. We are having so much fun with this snow!! When we walked to the top of the street we decided to make a snowman. We named him Scotty. Turned out pretty cute, wouldn't you say? Then at the last minute, Dan added ears and he became a snow bear. He actually looked like a teddy bear once the ears were added. I hope some punk kids don't walk by and kick him down since he was built on a busy street (Newport Way). After that I showed Natalie how to make a snow angel. She wasn't a huge fac because it was snowing at the time and snow was falling in her face, but it came out pretty cute. And of course....I had to add a sleeping picture. Those are always my favorite pics. So peaceful.


Saying "Cheese!"
Dan, Scotty and Natalie
This is Natalie's Angel