Wordless Wednesday

Christmas Eve

After spending much of the week prepping for the holidays, we finally were able to enjoy some time with family. Each Christmas eve, we try to spend it with my natural father's side of the family. DH had to work that morning, so he woke up extra early to go in at 6am, so he could get off by noon. He made it home by 12:30, so we were on the road shortly thereafter to make the hour drive to Salem.

By the time we arrived at my grandmother's house, some people had already arrived and the festivities were getting under way. Almost that whole side of my family came together for the first time in years. The full house included my Grandma G, Gordon (my natural father), Great Aunt Grace, Aunt Rhonda and Uncle Ross, Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Dale, cousin Heather and her two daughters Vanessah and Lauren, cousin Derek and his wife Kazue, cousin Andrew and his girlfriend Kim and their two daughters Kaitlyn and Kiera, cousin Cory, cousin Kelsey and her husband Jason and their three kids Malia, Zadok, and Maclin. Whew! Pop quiz on all those names tomorrow. ;)

We set our Christmas tree brownies down on the counter along with all the other goodies that my extended family had brought. It's one big potluck, so everyone just grazes like we're at a buffet. My aunt was busy slaving over the hot stove to make her lumpia, so DH parked it right there in the kitchen to get first dibs. He's a sucker for my Aunt Rhonda's lumpia (a Filipino spring roll). I made the rounds to give everyone hugs and hellos, then I made the kids and myself a plate of food.

After everyone filled their bellies, we opened presents and such. As much as we enjoy that, the best part of the night (in my opinion) comes when we sit down to play our annual game of Balderdash. You roll the dice and read the word on the card that matches the number rolled. The words all crazy words that you have make up a definition for. Then you read off all the definitions and try to guess the real one. There's a little more to it, but that's the gist of it. My family and I get really into it. My cousin Heather won this year and oh did she gloat! She even snapped a photo of it with her phone to post it on Facebook. Too funny!

DH doesn't like board games much, so he kind of snoozed in a recliner. The kids played with Grandpa Gordon and their cousins. We had such a wonderful night filled with lots of fun, food, and family. By the the time we finished the game, it was well after 7:00, so we figured we better get going. The kids enjoyed watching the Christmas lights go by as we drove the hour back home.

Once we walked in the door, we sent the kids to change into their pajamas. Then they wrote their letter to Santa and set out milk and brownies (we didn't have any cookies) for him. And lastly, I read them The Night Before Christmas, something I've done every year since N was born. Then I finished getting some things ready for the next morning before turning in for the night. Before I went upstairs to bed, I spent a few minutes just admiring the Christmas lights illuminated in the dark. It's something that helps me reflect on how blessed I am to have my family.

Gordon and Me

The 3 Musketeers

(My Great Aunt Grace, Aunt Rhonda, and Grandma)

My cousin Heather immortalizing her win at Balderdash for FB

Breaking glass...oops I mean singing Christmas carols



My awesome cousins
(Cory, Kelsey, me, and Heather)



Opening gifts

K a happy girl

N so proud of his gameplay

N and K with their Grandpa Gordon

Smile cousin Lauren!

Lots of family and lots of love

Holiday Doins

Our holiday break began with a thousand things to cross off the to-do list. The kids and I raced around trying to finish our shopping and other errands. I also spent three nights wrapping presents and working on Christmas cards. Since I had so many work-related projects to complete during December, I procrastinated these other things, so it was my fault that I had to fit so much into so little time.

As if all the shopping, wrapping, and cards weren't enough, I had to clean the house from top to bottom for Christmas. We had let it get pretty cluttered, so I was glad to do it. The kids happily pitched in by sweeping and vaccuuming the downstairs for me. I gathered all the miscellaneous stuff, washed the dishes, tackled laundry, and packed our bags for our upcoming trip to Bend. After we had the house sparkling, we baked Christmas tree brownies and made Rice Krispie balls. I wish I had taken photos 'cause they turned out really good. Keep trying to remember to keep my camera handy!


It's hard to feel like I've been on vacation yet, since there has been so much to do. However, much to our delight, Grandma J invited the kids and I out for lunch on the Tuesday before Christmas. We ate at a quaint little country restaurant that we love. The place is cozy, complete with a fireplace for ambiance. Even though their menu is a bit limited and a little spendy, their food is delicious and worth the trip.

Will post Christmas recap and photos very soon! We just got home from a very long and tiring holiday weekend. Battling a bad headache and am too exhausted to blog about it all in one night.

Gingerbread House

About a week before Christmas, the kids and I tackled a long overdue project that we had wanted to do for the past couple of years, but just never got around to until this year. We built our first gingerbread house! N and I constructed it, and then he and K decorated it to their heart's content. It was hard for me to let go of creative control, but I figured this was for them and should reflect their taste. Here's a little video of the process and a couple pictures of the final product.

View from the front

View from the back

Wordless Wednesday

Rockin Around the Christmas Tree!

K and I were goofing around with the camera and she wanted to perform a little diddy for someone very special to us. So this one's for you Auntie Shelley:

Payback Palin-Style

Now I'm not much of a Sarah Palin fan, but every once in awhile she does something that you just have to respect her for. She has the courage and kahunas to say and do a lot of things in the face of many obstacles and mockery. One such recent example made me laugh. Let's just say, William Shatner and Sarah Palin make strange bedfellows:

http://tv.yahoo.com/blog/sarah-palin-gets-back-at-william-shatner-on-the-tonight-show--866

Little One

Michelle Duggar apparently gave birth to her 19th child via emergency c-section on Thursday to a very tiny baby girl, whom they named Josie Brooklyn. She wasn't due to deliver until March, so little Josie was born at 25 weeks due to complications resulting from a gall bladder issue Michelle was having (started her contractions). While most of us don't know the Duggars, that baby girl deserves our prayers as it is rare for one so small and so young to survive. It might just take a Chistmas miracle to see that little girl through, so she and large family need all the well wishes they can get.

Things are coming up roses...

Must give a shout out and two enthusiastic thumbs up to the boys of both U of O and OSU. Both teams played their hearts out on Thursday night during the annual civil war game. This event is the most highly anticipated game of every season due to the ongoing rivalry between the two schools. I always root for alma mater of course, so I am a Duck through and through. What made this year's game especially exciting for all were the stakes. The winner of this game would go to the Rose Bowl (first time EVER that the civil war game would decide such a fate). Whomever walked away victorious in the end, it was still a win-win for the state to have an Oregon team there. U of O went into it ranked 7th nationally, and the Beavers were ranked 16th (another amazing feat for both Oregon teams).

They went head to head and traded the lead throughout, with the Ducks coming out on top. You couldn't have asked for a more outstanding game, and I have never been a big follower of football. I confess that I was flipped back and forth between Survivor and the game. I happened to transfer to the U of O during my junior year, the last time Oregon played in the Rose Bowl. Now fifteen years later, they are heading back to Pasadena. I might actually watch a football game on New Year's Day for the first time in years. I was raised by a football fanatic (wink wink Mom) who LIVES for this day, so in her honor I end with this...GO DUCKS!

Munchkins, Munchies, and Music

Well, I survived another intense week at school, have enjoyed a busy weekend with my family, and finally have our laptop back in working order. In a nutshell, I visited a website for blog backgrounds that apparently released a trojan virus on my system and DH found tons of malware all over it. Thankfully, he troubleshoots computers for a living, so he saved the day. Why oh why do people make viruses? It's just plain mean!

Anyhoo, Monday was tough for all of us to come back after the long and much-needed Thanksgiving weekend. With testing, report cards, and parent conferences (well except for a couple) behind us, the staff has begun to breathe a bit easier. Myself and my fellow English teachers spent much of our week planning next year's budget and trying to get things planned for the last couple of weeks of December. However, the school also had to endure a 2 day visit from the Primary Years Programme authorization committee from the International Baccalaureate (PYP/IB) that all have been training for like mad for the last four years. The last few months have been the most challenging, but now that it is over, hopefully things will calm down a bit.

Friday was particularly crazy as I somehow managed to burden myself with four class "Fun Fridays" in a row. My students earn gems in a jar for good behavior and when they have filled the jar, they earn this special day. All four classes came off without a hitch, but took quite a bit of management and planning to achieve this end. I opted to set out some arts and crafts for holiday card-making, gingerbread books, or whatever tickled their fancy. I also had a game table and reading corner. For three of my classes, I provided some mini muffins or doughnut holes with apple juice as an added treat. My first graders can be quite squirrely and messy at times, so the very thought of cleaning up that kind of mess after them was too much, so I had to nix that part of it (they were never the wiser). They worked pretty hard over the last few months for me and it was my way of recognizing them for it. My toughest group to impress, the 3rd graders (who happen to be full of TAG-like prodigies), actually clapped for me as a thank you. That's never happened to me EVER, so you can imagine how much that meant to me.

Well, after rushing home after all that, I picked up my two monkeys and got them dressed up for an evening Christmas concert by Portland's Christian Center. We had some time before it began, so we did a little holiday shopping at Target and grabbed a quick bite to eat. To support my long time childcare provider's family, I take the kids to see their annual show. It is quite a spectacle and a very popular tradition for locals to attend. They sing a mix of traditional holiday hymns, popular carols, and throw in a couple of more recent hits. My favorite was "A Brand New Christmas," though I'm not sure who it's originally by. Their adult choir sings throughout the concert, with songs from their teen and children's choirs sprinkled throughout. Two of my childcare provider's daughters have been in the show for years as a part of their bell-ringing group. It's a beautiful and inspiring concert and we look forward to it every year. The assistant coach to the Trail Blazers, Monty Williams, was also there and gave a testimony. It's always a moving concert. The kids got a little tired and cranky at times, but did well for overall. It was late when we got home, so we just went right to sleep.

This morning (Saturday), we woke up early and got going. Hubby took us to MickeyD's for breakfast (real healthy, I know but it still tasted good). Then we headed to Loch Lolly Christmas Forest to pick out our tree and enjoy some other favorites. As I've said in years past, DH started going there when he was young, so it's been wonderful to pass on this tradition to our kids. It was already getting pretty crowded, so we found our tree fairly quickly. DH chopped it down and together we mounted it on top of the car. Next, we went over to their common area to see Santa. The kids of course loved that! N had no problem asking for a laundry list of items and K had to stop and think about her choices for a minute before shyly telling Mr. Claus what she would like. Very cute.

We also sipped some free hot cocoa and got up close and personal with some of the geese that were roaming around the nearby pond. I knelt down to take photos and a couple of them came right up to me and kept nipping at my scarf. It was colorful and for some reason they mistook it for food. It was comical. K got spooked by the geese when they got too close for her comfort, so we had to move on. As an added bonus, we got to see Sugar Plum and Frosty, two reindeer that were apparently in town from the North Pole just for the week. K kept asking where the rest of Santa's reindeer were and I told her they were busy getting ready for Christmas. They were really neat to see!

We came back home and sprayed the tree for bugs and will let it sit out overnight. We'll set it up and decorate it on Sunday, something the kids love to do. We are also going to try making our first gingerbread house. Will let you know how that turns out.

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We sat up on the balcony for a better view. No pictures allowed during the concert.

Concert was about to start.

An N-sized tree

A K-sized tree

A partial view of this large tree farm

This little fella was not shy at all

Take a gander at these geese...pun intended

They provide a firepit and free hot cocoa to help people warm up among other goodies

Sugar Plum and Frosty

Sitting in Santa's sleigh

Loving my monkeys

Chilly but Chipper