Katelynn's Christmas Program at school

Katelynn and her teacher -- Ms. Kockritz
Katelynn is all grins! She is right in the middle of the picture.

The kids sang several songs and then did a dance they had learned in dance class!

Family Visits

We had two sets of special visitors in the past several weeks.

Granny and Aunt Amy spent a long weekend with us in December!

It was great for the kids to spend time with family!

Amy spent her 24th birthday with us!

We also got a visit from Aunt Tabitha for the week of Thanksgiving!

Christmas '08

Chris' new remote - now he won't loose it


Katelynn was so excited that her dad bought her a new watch!

The kids new Wii

New Wii games

New Clemson fleece from Pa & Nancy!

Polly pockets from Pa & Nancy!

SNOW, SNOW, GO AWAY!!!

At 4 days being snowed in, I am now wishing the snow never came!

Although we have great memories and bruises!

I am not one to get in the snow, but this year, I came up with a great idea to use latex gloves between two cloth gloves to keep our hands dry and it worked. I do have to say, that sledding is not for me, (I am not posting the pics Chris got of me sledding)
I hit the ground instead of the sled a few too many times!

We would go out for an hour to an hour and a half at a time!

Yesterday the kids played out for 2 hours while I got my car unstuck after trying to move it!

So glad Kohl's and Ross came through with clearance snow stuff last year before we took the kids to Mt. St. Helen's to play in the snow.

They stayed dry the whole time we were out there.

We are going to be ready to go tubing on Mt. Hood soon!

MY CRAZY CAT!!!!!!!!

My Christmas tree has always been a highlight of our Christmas season. We have a tradition each year of adding a new picture ornament with either a picture of all 4 of us or one of the 2 kids. We always add new ornaments for the kids of something important in their lives (such as Zach loves Clemson, so we have given him Clemson ornaments the last several years and Katelynn got a princess one last year)

This year has been different. I still have my prized snowman tree on top of our hall closet where no one can touch it, but our family tree has been a disaster this year due to the newest family member.........our kitten.........Pumpkin!!!!!!!!

The lights were a chore getting on, but that wasn't the half of it.........We have no ornaments on the bottom 3 feet of the tree because the cat keeps knocking them off. Now in the last week I have noticed that the ornaments at the top of the tree were coming off and my branches are flat?!?!? Well, yesterday our beloved kitten showed us what he has been up to when we are not around. Climbing the inside of the tree to nap at the top! Before fussing that cat out, I did snap this one picture. Too bad I already ordered my picture Christmas cards, I think this would have been great! So this year, no breakable ornaments and we do a quick tree decorating when anyone comes over.