And Christmas...

This was our first Christmas where we woke up to our own tree at OUR house...which was so much fun!!! We had a wonderful holiday and felt so fortunate to be so blessed. We had fun being with the family and the kids had a blast!

And the stocking were laid on the couch with care..

Reading a special story to keep the true spirit of the holiday before all of the gluttony of the presents...

Our tree...once the presents were all loaded in. (take note...there were 11 of us...just so you don't think we are that spoiled!)

When Santa Comes to Town...

Addie definitely wasn't too sure about wanting to sit on his lap...

Happy Grandparents with all of their grandkids and Santa!

One more attempt at a family picture....but not good!

My Greatest Blessings...

Taking the matter into her own hands...

So, ever since Bree had her baby, Addie has been even more obsessed with her dolls. She recently asked me to feed her baby "Pumpkin"...and when I gave it the pretend bottle...she pulled down the neck of my shirt and said "no...he's hungry!" I am guessing that she meant she wanted me to NURSE him... yeah, no!

She has also been wanting me to bathe her dolls, but they aren't all plastic, so I hadn't let her. I caught the girls in their bathroom bathing them anyway...princess style. Needless to say...the dolls dried out and we are all fine.

Thanksgiving rewind...

We have had some computer issues...so we never posted any Thanksgiving pictures.  We had a great meal at my parents house with friends and family.  And despite our desire to impress Martha Stewart....we got smart and decided to use paper plates this year.   I am used to having to cook everything myself, because in Cleveland we weren't near family and we got used to having friends over....so it was great having Mom's cooking!

Girls Night out...American Idol Style!

Aana has always been a huge American Idol fan... so when I saw that they were coming to the are, I had to buy tickets.    We had a lot of fun, but Aana was dissapointed that David Archuletta wasn't there.  Her favorite idol that was there was Chekezie (sp?).   We stayed behind and talked to he and Diana Degarmo...and Aana was so funny.  She was too tired to even pose for a picture with him....and she almost fell asleep waiting.  It was a school night...and she was exhausted.  We had a fun night!!

~NEED ADDRESSES for CHRISTMAS Cards!~

Please email to shandalee@gmail.com or post so that we can make sure we have everyone's addresses. So many of you have moved this year!

Ours (in case you need it):
2672 Stonecreek Dr.
Richland, WA 99354

Has is really been that long?

So... I realized that it has been two weeks and I haven't posted. We have been SO busy with Christmas parties and obligations that we have had no time to sit and catch up. We got a new camera and I got Photoshop, which would make you think I would have great pictures or creations to share....but I don't. The computer has been repetitively crashing and I can't seem to get our pictures off my new camera...other than these...so stay tuned!

We are about to purchse a new computer, so if you have any suggestions or know of a good deal, please post!

Blessed...

I am grateful for MANY things....but here are a few (in no particular order!)

• Health
• The opportunity to learn from our mistakes in life
• Modern day appliances: microwave, dishwasher, oven, washer and dryer, hot water heater
• The Sweet, heartfelt, and humble prayers of children
• The beauty and majesty of nature
• Music (as it has been a comfort and inspiration to me throughout my life)
• The amazing ability children have share love and joy all around them
• The Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Plan of Happiness (my rock and my compass)
• The freedoms and protections of America (we are so blessed to live here...even despite trying times!)
• The internet (as it is such an amazing tool...and keeps me connected to my friends and loved ones!)
• The powerful examples I am surrounded by in my life...those that teach me daily and likely don't even know it!
• Sundays...as they are such a respite for me from the regular chaos in my week!
• Laughter...
• Service (as I have noticed that in doing this is where I find the most joy and learn much about myself)
• Family... the most brilliant arrangement of our Creator. It is where I am given the most love, support, strength, opportunity for growth, and even trails.
• Love (which has the capacity to warm, sweeten, heal, bond, comfort, forgive, and overcome...)
• Digital cameras; because now I feel limitless with the pictures I can take of precious moments in my life.
• Chocolate!! (need I say more!)
• My husband...who seems to love me despite my quirks, flaws, and shortcomings...
• My girls...who are the source of all joys in my life and have added meaning to everything!
• My parents....who have helped me along the journey and have inspired my steps

There are so many others things that are flooding my mind...maybe I will try to write them down more often. I feel truly blessed...

Modbe Black Friday and Saturday Doorbusters...

Great time to get the swim for over half off and tomorrow Camis and Cap sleeves will be cheap. Take a look...spread the word! Have a great day!

Just click on the picture to show the deals. The camis are $7 tomorrow and the caps are around $9. The swimsuits are also on sale...and I love them...there is just a more limited size selection right now. Make sure you apply the extra30%.

https://www.modbeclothing.com/shop4me

Our Kidless weekend at the Beach...

This weekend Larry and I went to a resort on the beach on the coast of Washington for a couple nights. We left after work Friday afternoon and drove about 5 hours. We drove through desert, mountains, rain, and snow...and even almost hit an elk, but eventually we got there. It was completely dark the whole time, so it was nice on the ride home actually seeing what we had driven through. It was an absolutely beautiful drive!

We stayed in Ocean Shores, WA at a resort where we had a great room overlooking the ocean with a nice fireplace. We had a credit that covered all of our meals in a nice restaurant and each of us had massage included in our package. That was my first massage ever...and I have to say that it was pretty mediocre. (The lady ended up talking my ear off...and quit massaging when she was talking!)

My parents and sister watched my girls while we were away, and we had such a nice time. Good conversations...good laughs...and great memories!

For Twilight fans: Larry even went to the Twilight movie with me, which was fun! When we were driving, we realized that we were very close to Forks, WA...so we had to check it out!

Change is in the air...

So I removed the live feed and I can no longer tell if anyone has even viewed the blog. In saying that... I hope that those that view our blog will try to post. That helps us know that our efforts are not in vain... (and I will commit to doing the same...as I often have just a second to look, but I am not as good at commenting!)

It has been so fun to keep in touch with so many of our friends now scattered all over the world...

If you don't know how to post comments, you can use the same username as your gmail address if you have one. Also... I am slowly discovering the blogs of our family and friends, but if you have one I haven't included on my list, please drop a comment and let me know. Thanks!

The AMAZING sound of Silence...

Preface: I know in life, you often get what you deserve. Those of you that know me well...know I talk alot. I think I enjoy it...and must have to meet some subconscious word quota each day.

Now...I have two very talkative, inquisitive little girls. So last night....when Larry got off work, I went out by myself....ALL BY MYSELF....and enjoyed an evening of running errands and a little bit of shopping! This might not have meaning to all of you, but anyone that has a chatty two or five year old girl will know what I am talking about. I really do try to give meaningful answers to their questions...but there are only so many times I can answerWHY, WHY, WHY....and WHY???? As a mother, there are few times in life that I get to be all by myself...with no noise, no questions. Showers, car rides, reading, even the restroom (sorry for bringing that up)...I ALWAYS have company~
In saying that, I need to explain further.... I LOVE my girls and I feel so blessed to be a mother, but every once in a while, I just want a little bit of space. My girls are my life and my joy, but it was so nice to sit in the car...and not answer a million questions. To run in and out of a store...again without questions...no cart...no snacks or bribery to distract from other purchases. No diapers...no goldfish...no kid cd's blasting in the car...no diaper bag...nothing, but me...a normal purse...and silence. I didn't even want my cell phone...

IT WAS WONDERFUL! Now I am rejuvinated and ready for my chatty girls, but wow... it was nice!

Who said there was no school today?

We had class starting early at our house. Aana decided to take the matter in her own hands and lined up her class bright and early. She was trying to teach them the alphabet in sign language and was getting a little frustrated that Addie wasn't catching on as quickly as she wanted....

Next...Aana retreated into her toyroom for a while and came out with two (basic) paragraphs that she had written herself that she said was the start of a book she was writing. She keep surprising me and it has been so fun to watch her discover reading and writing. She loves it!!

The Halloween Blur...

I didn't take many pictures...and I am dissapointed, but we had a great Halloween. My inlaws visited from Utah...and it was their first time at our house. We had a great time. We carved pumpkins, trunk or treated, ate (of course), trick or treated (on golf carts...just because we could!)...and had a great time!

Hammin' it up!

Aana had picture day at school today and insisted that she practice....

I wish I had a video instead but she went into a funny photoshoot mode... I didn't post the crazy moves, but there were defintely some interesting ones.

She also told me that she had to have great shoes to make her outfit...(like they would show up in a yearbook head shot....)

Who needs outlet covers?

Well...apparently, I do...

Yet another proud parenting moment captured by Kodak. I thought it was a very creative use of ipod headphones, though... Nice, Addie!

The Tale of the first Lost Tooth... and the Tooth Fairy

Sorry this is a little Gross...(this is when it was still hanging on....)

So here is how it all began... Aana has been so excited to lose a tooth, because many of her friends have lost theirs. She dilligently checks her front teeth several times a day and finally finds one that is a little bit loose. I need to reiterate...a LITTLE bit! She starts to play with it as all kids to to speed up the process. A few days pass and then she shows Larry. The dentist in him was just too excited. I know he is going to dispute this story (but luckily he hasn't taken the time to learn how to post...), but ...

He started telling Aana that he would give her a little bit of "sleepy juice" (anistetic) and could pull it out at that moment. She was all excited until I had to intervene and explain to Aana that sleepy juice is a littel shot and that she should just wait until it is ready to come out on its own. Larry deals with teeth everyday, but I don't think I had ever seen him so excited as he was for Aana to lose this tooth. In the end...they loosened it more and she lost it that day, but there were no shots involved.

So Aana left her tooth under the pillow for the Tooth Fairy that night and was careful to leave her Tooth Fairy Halloween costume in plain sight so the "real" fairy might see it. She got $3 dollars and was convinced that she got extra money for her costume idea. It was ironic that that she lost her tooth the week she was the Tooth Fairy...

For the love of a good book...

Now that Aana reads, there have been several cute moments where we have found Aana reading to Addie...and it warms my heart!

Aana's Marathon!!!

Since early September Aana has been training for a Kid's Marathon and today was the big day. We woke up early to get all registered and the race began at nine. She was training with her friend Teagan and they had to run five times a week to prepare. (don't worry...they didn't run a full marathon, though...) They made great time and were still energized at the finish line! It was fun to watch and I think she has her eyes set on future races. All day she has pranced around with her metal like she is a gold medalist for the Olympics...I love it!

A Fish Bowl...

So what I failed to mention about one of the Halloween Carnivals last week was that they handed out actual fish at the Fish Pond. My daughters were lucky enough not to get one, but when other upset parents were pawning theirs off...Larry said yes without consulting me and we came home with two goldfish. It was late Saturday night...we don't shop on Sundays...so it ended up in a trifle bowl. For those that dont' own one, it is a nice dessert bowl with a large opening...and it was the closest I could find in my kitchen. I got a little bit of food from a friend and we began our lives with our new pet fish.

The larger one lived two days before we found it floating...and the smaller lived about 5 days. Aana cried about the first one, but surprised me on the second one. We had flushed it when she was asleep and she woke up very dissapointed today. I asked her if she would have rather buried it, and she said, "NO...I wanted to feed it to Mylo" (our cat!) Who would have thought??? Kids are so random..you never know what will come out next!!

Lessons Learned: 1. FISH ARE DIRTY. Even small ones...the water needed changed every day and it was a gross job. 2. My husband is perfectly okay using all of my kitchen utensils and dishes when changing the poopy fish water...(and that really grosses me out!!) 3. Never hand out real fish to other children without first consulting their parents!!! 4. NEVER ASK ME TO PETSIT YOUR FISH! It will not live. 5. Don't flush your dead fish... consult your children first...they might prefer to feed it to a hungry animal.

More costumes...more parties...and it isn't even Halloween yet!

Once again...I apologize for the extreme lack of quality in the blog lately. I have been in a lull. Our days are busy to a point of craziness, but nothing of interest that seems suitable to blog.

One thing we have had ALOT of has been Halloween parties. We have had parties for both of my jobs, the gym, church, and Aana's school carnival. The girls have had a ton of fun already, and we still have almost two weeks left before the actual holiday. Here are a couple of the pictures from the most recent ones.
The girls costumes fit them each very well. Addie was a pirate and spent all of the time at the last two parties pillaging other people's food...and the candy that fell on the floor during the chaos. Aana is the Tooth Fairy, which is perfect, because she has her first loose tooth right and can't wait for it to come out.

Costumes for a Cause!

We had a client appreciation party for Valpak and it was a costume party where we collected cans for the food bank and we played a lot of games with great prizes for the clients. Larry and I have never really been too in to Halloween costumes, but we decided to dress up since I didn't have a choice. Here is what we came up with. I know...they are both a little odd, but they made us laugh. In case you can't tell, Larry was riding an ostrich..and I was the lady from that far side looking for her puppy. Happy early Halloween!!! And go ahead...you can make fun of us. We had a great night and both got a little laugh out of it!

What happens when you cross Hannah Montana with Tiger Woods?

Well, truthfully I have no idea but here is my little golf obsessed girl heading out to the driving range last night. She just worked out some kinks with her grip so now she is hitting them much better and she is excited! I just can't figure out where she gets her passion for golf. Kids are funny! She'll even watch it on tv...which is mindnumbing to me.

Some More Miscellaneous...

Today we woke up really early and drove to Ephrata, WA (which is where Larry's other office is.) We wanted to spend the day out there just to get away from home. While he was working, the my mom, the girls, and I went up to around a beautiful area and had a picnic...just because we had lunchables in the cooler, and we had plenty of time. (It was better than walking every aisle in Walmart...which we had done earlier to pass time. It is a pretty small town, so there weren't many things open when we got there...and we didn't want to hang out at the office, because I have never enjoyed the sterile smell of a dental office...(ironic, I know!))

On a side note: My inlaws gave me these scarecrow decorations for my birthday...and they are just Addie's height, so lately when we have had music on at home, I have found her couple dancing with the stuffed male scarecrow. I wish the pictures turned out better, but it cracks me up. She puts her hands on "his" shoulders...and swings "him" around. Maybe we have watched a few too many ballroom dancing shows around our house lately.