Christmas Morn........

Here are the Tacoma pictures! Ashley got a pony....her name is Buttercup, and a doll house. Deryck got a remote-control helicopter and Guitar-hero, and Grandpa was great! (not really). Theo loved all the gifts everyone got! It was a very fun and crazy morning and we all had lots of fun.

Christmas Morn 2008

This year, Christmas was a new experience for us all. Jim, Michelle, and the kids have a new home down in Tacoma, so they wanted to spend their first Christmas morning there together. So, after our Christmas eve dinner and church, they headed home and Andy, Sarah & Theo went home with Papa and me for our Christmas morning.

I was up around 7:30 to bake the sweet rolls. Theo woke up about 8:30, just after his parents got up. He wasn't sure about the present thing. We've all been telling him no-no about touching things, so he was very surprized when we told him it was ok to open things! It wasn't long before he caught on, and he just wanted to sit and play with all the new things, and the wrapping, and the boxes!

After we finished, we loaded up the car and headed for Tacoma for more presents and a wonderful dinner, and more fun with family and friends. As an added treat, it snowed on the way down! It's the first time I can remember it snowing on Christmas morning in a very, very long time.

We had a great day, and went home for a well deserved rest. Christmas is my very favorite time of the year!

A Christmas Date!

Sherman and I got to take an evening for just we two, and we snuck down to Tacoma to the zoo for the annual Zoo Lights! I am quite the Christmas light nut, as you all know, so this was a really nice way for us to have a date night. We saw the lights, enjoyed the beautiful weather, and then had Thai food while we finished up our Christmas wrapping. I so enjoy this time of year, the fun and joy of Christmas is such a blessing to our family.

Caroling Party

On December 14th we had our annual Bible study & Friends Caroling party. We braved the elements (for once it wasn't raining when we started!) and went to carol at a couple of local elderly centers. Andy's grandma is at one and we try to see them each year. At the second facility everyone was gone to see the Living Nativity! So we headed back for home and good friendship, food, and fun! Santa was there to see us all and I got a good picture of him with the Grandkids....even new Babylew got in on the fun!

Gingerbread Decore?

For this year's gingerbread experience, I chose a tree instead of a house. We had our normal icing wreck--we put the wrong color in the wrong bag with the wrong tip! Not that it mattered, the icing just sort of dripped off the end of the branches!! Still, after all the decorating was done (and all the extra icing was eaten) our tree looks mighty fine! Maybe we could get a job at Macy's?!?

Christmas Count Down

I love Christmas. Family, friends, the food, the sights and sounds, Santa, the warmth and cheer that is all around us at this wonderful time of the year. I'm so thankful for all our family, and our extended family. God gave us Jesus, such a glorious gift , and because of that gift, I love the way it joins us all together .

I'm always looking for a new experience at Christmas. I love building memories for my kids and especially for my Grandkids. My next few posts will be about our family and how we celebrate this special time of the year.

Sunday afternoon, we took a trip up North and went to visit one of Santa's Reindeer! Cupid posed with us for a very nice family portrait. She is the one in the front with Ashley. Ashley has never been a good smiler when it comes to pictures. We have to really work to coax one out of her sometimes. As you can see, she was full of smiles this time! She got to be the special Cupid holder, and it just made her day.

Theo's First Uncle Dave's Visit

Not really the very first time, but the first time since he started eating big boy food! This is our favorite neighborhood cafe'. If you have been to visit us, you've been to Uncle Dave's. Theo really enjoyed himself. He even drank up most of Sarah's tomato juice! Unusual fare for a little guy. I don't think his parents will be able to afford to feed him when he's bigger!

Thanksgiving past

Better late than never! Here are the cutest kids in the world carefully posing for the Thanksgiving Picture--as you can see, they all sat quietly. Well, some of them did. We had a great Thanksgiving dinner at the Olalla Lewises new home. It was fun and filling!! That's Sarah sharing her dinner with new Babylew. Can't wait to see her, him, whomever!!

Scrapping 12/01

Last Saturday during the snow storm, Jana and I spent the afternoon scrapping at a new shop we found. It was a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon, and we even finished a really cute project!

George the Wonder Dog

Daniel called today and wanted some video of George the Wonder Dog! So here is my attempt to show off the great tricks of my crazy weiner dog. As you can hear, he doesn't always get the command right on the first try, but he will try, try again until he gets his treats. We actually think he is very smart. And cute! Enjoy.

My Passion

It's Thanksgiving morning and we are getting ready to head for Granma Lew's and Granddad Lew's for the big celebration. It's quiet here without all the hustle and bustle, but it will be so much fun to share in the christening of the Lewis' new home with their first Family Feast!

As I said in an earlier post, I've spent this week working on a tutu--my first one in a couple of years, and I had forgotten how much I love the creative process. I don't miss the craziness that is Nutcracker, but I do miss the people and I miss making beautiful tutus. I don't know if I'm ready for all the gathering that is involved, but I sure did love the jeweling. What do you think of the results?

Nutcracker 2007--Sugarplum Fairy & her Cavalier!

New Tradition

We decided to make a new tradition this year. In the past, we have done our Christmas cards while staying in Kent while Sherman or Sarah performed in the Nutcracker. Those days are behind us now, so our card sending has been a bit sporadic as of late. This year we went away to a B&B in Port Angles for the weekend and spent time relaxing, watching Christmas movies (to set the mood), sipping tea and sodas, and just communicating. It's been a busy couple of weeks for us both. I'm up to my elbows in a tutu and cavalier project (I know, I wasn't going to sew ballet anymore, but--it's the one passion I just can't seem to walk away from) and Sherm had a week long workshop that he had to travel to Seattle to attend. We spent the 3 day weekend serving as cooks at the Senior High camp and last Friday we served food for the Junior High Frenzy (aptly named!). So, we just decided to go away. We stayed at the Inn on Rooster Hill, a very quaint B&B with big squishy beds, a garden tub, and view of a quiet serene forest to look upon. We got all our cards done in no time at all, (Makes me wonder why we've been so lazy lately) ate some very spicy Indian food, watched the Santa Clause 1 and 2, and just reconnected to each other. Thirty-three years is a very long time to be together. It seems like it's only been a few years since we met, if the kids weren't all adults we could even pretend time hadn't raced on by! Ah, reality, their grown, we're older, and now our focus is on all the little ones in our life. I must admit, Grandkids are much more fun! Here are some pictures of us--hard at work!

Boo to You!

Sunday was our annual pumpkin carving day. We went to Deryck's cub scout troop pancake breakfast and then over to the Tacoma Family house to do our creations. I delivered the Halloween costumes the kids ordered and we had a grand time doing our pumpkins. It's always fun to see what everyone comes up with. Sometimes we get very creative! This year, I used light-brite type lights in my pumpkin--not much carving involved, but I love the results!

Halloween night we will fix chili and cornbread and wait by the door to see all the goblins that come by. I love sharing the holiday's with the kids. Hope they don't outgrow all this too quickly, as you can see by my last few blogs I really like Halloween! Besides, how else would we get our yearlong candy supply!!

Pumpkin Patch II

We went for our second Pumpkin Hunt of the year a couple of weekends ago with the B'ham family. Deryck went along with us for some fun cousin time. It's very sweet to watch Theo follow Deryck all around. Anything the big boy did, the little boy was right behind him trying his best to keep up. I think that they should be very good friends when they are older!

It was a very sunny day and lots of people were hunting with us. We found the perfect pumpkin, of course! Theo was a little wobbly that day but had lots of fun.

These are the days that stay with us long after the lights have burned down in the Jack-o-laterns! Memories made here!!

Fashion Sense?

So you know that you have a boring life when you keep posting pictures of your dog......here is George, ready for Halloween. He has two outfits to choose from. I like the pumpkin sweater best!
It always amazes me that he lets us do dumb stuff to him. Ah, puppy love!

Picking the Perfect Pumpkin! Sunday Oct 7th

Ahhh--Fall has arrived. Today we went to the pumpkin patch at Spooner Farms to select our first Jack-O-Laterns of the season. Papa and I seem to make several of these trips each year. It's not that we can't make a decision--it's that we like to go with all our grandkids, so sometimes it takes a couple of visits to get all the pumpkin gathering done right! Deryck was meeting the members of his new cub scout troop today, so we tagged along.

We spent lots of time in the corn maze. We were looking for clues to where the treasure box was hidden after the great train robbery of 2007. We found all the special mail boxes and got our cards punched so we each received the reward offered for capturing the elusive Ketchum Gang. A bag of "500 Gold Nuggets"! They tasted suspiciously like bubble gum!?!

We spent the end of our visit shooting at targets with the pumkin slingshot. Now that is an experience everyone should try! My try was a dud, glad the camera didn't catch that one! Jim almost had a bulls-eye!

We all headed back home, and when we reached the city limits of Tacoma it began to rain in earnest. I guess if you love the Northwest, you have to love the fall rain. Once again it was lots of fun to spend a crisp fall afternoon with some of our favorite people. Can't wait until carving day!! I need to get some good ideas for pumpkin faces---always a challenge!