Sunny February

We needed to get away.
So, we went to the beach...perfect day.
And we found a perfect campground for the summer.  We're very excited to go back! 

The coolest part was all the surfers.  Yes, surfers.  In Washington.  I mean, I knew people surfed in Washington..I'd heard about it but I never really believed it.  Well, let me tell you these are die-hard surfers.  It was sunny but the water was cold.  They all had their wet suits/dry suits hanging over their fires to dry when the sun went down.  Then when we got up and went for an early morning hike all the wet suits were frosty.   THAT, I think, is my worst nightmare.  Putting on a frosty wet suit?  No, Thank you.  Well, okay my worst nightmare is being kidnapped by an alien...seriously I have that nightmare a lot.  Shane has to wake me up because I'm kicking and panicking and when he asks me what's wrong my answer is always, "There was an alien trying to kidnap you and T."  Yes, I am crazy.  Thank you for asking.

Tayler has grown an inch in the last month...which explains her desperate need for new, longer, pants! 

 The beach was covered with sand dollars.  We had to take a picture because we could not take any home...because we are science teachers.  Pore, T.

             

Beautiful Sunset Hike. 

We hiked through a shallow river to get to see cool tide pools. On the way back the tide had come in a bit...thus the wet pants.

Look at those long skinny legs.  Very little fluff left. 

Man, I love these two. 

I never thought this would happen...

Dear Tayler Iris,

I first met you when you were 3.  Daddy introduced us one day when you were at school with him.  You, being your completely shy and irresistible self, barely even looked at me.  I was smitten.  I thought you were the cutest little girl I had ever seen.  I even remember what you were wearing...your purple stretch pants and a darker purple fleece.  (you were always wearing purple--and still are).  I thought you were the cutest.  Pretty soon you were coming into my room to visit when I was working late after school.  You would color on computer paper and Daddy would come check on you periodically.  Daddy and I would email back and forth from our two rooms so he could see how you were doing.

After a while (meaning 2 or so years later) Daddy, you and I decided to meet at the Pacific Science Center on a Saturday.  I was so excited to hang out with you!  While we hung out at the science center you reached up and held my hand.  And I nearly melted because you were so cute.  I think I was grinning like an idiot. 

After a few years Daddy and I decided that we should all get married.  I have always wanted a big family, but, I never thought I would have kids of my own and I was so proud to have you as a step-daughter.  You have taught me how to be patient because you are most patient person I have ever met.  You are nice.  Sometimes Daddy and I worry that you are too nice....we want you to stand up for yourself and not get pushed around.  But, lately, you've had a little sass in you that makes me smile.  Sometimes you get in trouble for your sass.  But even when you are in trouble I'm secretly glad you're being sassy because someday when some boy tries to put his hands where they don't belong I want you to pull that sass out and use it. 

I am so proud of the young lady you are becoming and I am SO, SO proud of how excited you are about your new brother or sister.  You are genuinely thrilled.  I'm worried that we won't be able to give you as much one-on-one time as you deserve but you don't seem to care one little bit.  At least three times a week you ask if the baby has grown.  And you keep wanting to look at the book we have that has pictures of the baby each week.  Today I picked you up from school and the entire way home you studied the ultrasound picture pointing out everything you could see (eyes-closed not open, ears, nose, hand, etc.).

You have taught me so much the last 4 years that we've been married and so much before then too.  I love you T and am so excited to have a bigger family with you.

Love,
Fo

Valentine's Day '10

Good day.
Good food.
Good Valentines.
Shane gave me a coffee (he knows coffee is the way to my heart) and a new SIGG bottle.  Yeah!
T's valentine was a gigantic bag of Dahlia's.
Tayler and I gave Shane two different kinds of Dahlia bulbs.
And, T gave baby Voldemort (Yes, T has named the baby after an evil wizard--whatever) a bag of Dahlia's so that we could tell him/her we planted them for him/her before he/she was even born. 
Yeah, this he/she stuff is going to get old fast. 

Wireless Internet:

We have it now.
This could be t.r.o.u.b.l.e.

I just see us as this family sitting around the living room not actually looking at each other but instead typing in our virtual worlds while considering this "together" time.

That would be awful.

But it sounds pretty fantastic to be able to do things on-line someplace other than the office

 Especially, because the office sprung a leak that we discovered last night.  Not. Good.  The leak had, apparently, been there for quite some time.  There was mold growing.  Mold!  Oh, I'm sure that was good to be breath.  So, now one corner of the floor boards is torn up and we have two heaters pointed at the corner drying it out so Shane can work some magic.  Conveniently, I had taken our one space heater to school on Friday because the heater to my classroom broke and my room has been a balmy 59 degrees all week.  By Friday I was pretty over wearing my parka at school all day so I took the heater.  Timing is everything people.  So, we made a convenient and always fun-filled trip to Home Depot last night before bed and were delighted to purchase two new space heaters.  And, suddenly I'm middle-aged. 

This household is a comedy of errors, people.  Really, you should come over for some excitement.

Changes...

Making some changes...color changes.
Ready for spring.  Oh, I know, I'm ALWAYS ready for spring.
And, yes, I also know I have not posted since December.  December!
No idea why.  No excuses.  Just haven't been "feelin' it."

I will tell you when my bestest friend made note of my lack of posting, here is the excuse I gave her.  A-hem,

"We read Harry Potter.  Then Alisha went to bed at 7:00.  T wanted to read more Harry Potter so she read to Alisha well she was falling asleep.  The next day Alisha swept the floor while T made friendship bracelets and listened to Harry Potter on tape.  Shane, sick of Harry Potter has been forced to flee to Canada for the duration of the series.      Currently, we are on book 5 of 7...it could be a long trip to Canada."

So, you know, we have a lot going on.  What with all the reading, sleeping, sweeping and trying to find/relocate Shane.  It's been a big couple of months.

More soon! For real this time people.  For. Real.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas '09

Santa left Harry Potter Clue! I don't know who is more excited about that....

Santa, also, brought Color Sudoku. T is definitly more excited! Sudoku...blah! But I love that she loves it.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve morning we opened presents from each other. T painted me this picture. It has such cool colors. I can't wait to hang it up in the living room.

More Christmas Eve Night...T loves her American Girl outfits!

She had to put this one on her doll RIGHT AWAY because it was a fancy Chritmas dress.

Watching Choc open her present was quite possibly the funniest thing I saw this year.

Skirts I made for the nieces...I think they were all too big. Oh, well. They'll grow.

Picture T painted for Uncle Bob. Really, really cool. Check out that use of perspective.

A tree, some cards and some randomness!

Well, we got our tree. And it was quite the adventure! I don’t think our friends Cheryl and Brian new quite what to expect when we started heading up the Mountain. In fact, I’m pretty sure at one point Cheryl said she was going to call CPS on us…but I’m sure I imagined that. I must have. Because we had SO MUCH FUN! Heading down the mountain carrying a tree is always very adventurous. I think I ended up flat on my back at least 6 times. At one point I somehow managed to be flat on my back with the tree on top of me. At which point Shane said, “My wife is taking a nap under the tree.” Funny guy, that Shane. Tayler was, as always, a trooper. She carried the saw and a tree branch that I (because I am literally out of my mind sometimes) insisted we needed for decorating the house and we couldn’t, just couldn’t, leave it behind! Our girl is a trooper! And may be scared for life. Probably not. Hopefully, not.

Afterward we went out for yummy Mexican Food. To our favorite little authentic Mexican restaurant in Poulsbo. Bet you didn’t know you could get authentic Mexican food in Poulsbo. Well, it’s probably not authentic but it is a lot more authentic than Azteca…so I say that it is authentic. Either way it is YUMMY and DELICOUS. And totally deserves all caps.

Two weeks until Christmas and I’m not sure if we’re going to get everything done. As much as I hate to admit it baking anything might not happen this year.

But, we did get our Christmas Cards in yesterday! So, I’ll get those out before, you know, Christmas this year. Seems obvious, I know.

Happy Holidays!