let it snow, let it snow, let it STOP!!

I can't believe how much snow we got these last couple of weeks! I now know why kids are always so much more excited about the snow...for little people with no responsibilities, obligations or businesses it means no school, building snowmen, sledding with friends and drinking hot chocolate like it's water! It even brings out the little kid in me but after a couple of days I'm back to being that boring mom who just wants to be able to drive herself to Starbucks for a coffee without the fear of sliding into a ditch! Anyway, it was good times...sledding down the hills at Grandma's,sucking on icicles like they were cigars and even sliding across the frozen pond! It is for sure a December we won't forget...

A Season of Giving

All day yesterday and today I kept telling Jamie it just doesn't feel like Christmas. I think mostly because of the weather...and things just came too fast this year! With the girls missing their last week of school before break they didn't have their Christmas parties at school, we still have their friends gifts sitting under the tree and because they were home I didn't get all the fun festive stuff done that I would have liked. Not to mention that we only have one car that works in the snow which meant whenever Jamie left to work or drive all his employees to work I was stuck at home (and yes I mean "stuck"!). The snow is fun...but only for a couple of days. The girls are old enough that they can easily bundle up and go out to play but that means that little brother has to follow and it literally takes more time to get him dressed than it does for him to play...just too cold for little hands that the mittens won't stay on! We also missed out on a few of the traditions...the church Christmas pageant was canceled, we didn't do our annual driving the streets to look at lights because of the snow and ice and there was no Children's Mass on Christmas Eve and we moved Christmas Eve to our house because no one could make it up the hill to my parents. I think it was a mix of all those little things that we missed that just made Christmas seem a little "off" this year. On the bright side...we adopted a family this year instead of drawing names within our family. All of Jamie's family as well as all of my family chipped in and we gave a family a wonderful Christmas. We got to go deliver the gifts to them out in Troutdale yesterday and meet the parents and cute 4 year old little girl named Sierra. It was important to me that the girls got to meet who we had helped, and especially since they used some of their piggy bank money to buy a toy for Sierra. It's a tough concept for kids as young as ours but we are doing our best to instill that "it's better to give than receive"...someday they will see but for now we will cherish watching their little faces light up just as much as Sierra's when they open presents from Santa and grandparents and aunts and uncles! Although we took it easy this year the girls got some cute clothes, High School musical barbies, their own girlie MP3 players and the big gift was a karaoke singing machine (thanks to Grandma and Papa Jamie and I will have a headache for the next few years!). All of you that know our girls can only imagine their excitement! Ellie especially has all the moves of a 14 year old pop star and not a shy bone in her body! Lily is still a little unsure but when they do a duet she lets loose! Jalen started his own tool collection as well as some fun cars and of course balls of all kind! So although it wasn't typical it was still a very merry Christmas that started with all the kids climbing in our bed where we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and making some more great memories with family...and it was a white Christmas to top it off!

A Thanksgiving to be thankful for!

We are always reminded this time of year how truly blessed we are...mostly for our wonderful family and friends! We had Thanksgiving with the Foelker side of the family on Monday this year because Lacey and her family were leaving for Hawaii. Then we celebrated Thanksgiving on Thursday with the Snooks. We are so lucky to have so many of our great-grandparents to share these special times with. Ellie had a class project that required her to interview everyone in her family so we all learned a few things that we didn't already know. Ellie couldn't believe that Papa Ben had 5 brothers and sisters, Papa Bill flew solo in an airplane, and Grandma Elsa made a date over the phone with a boy named Bill thinking it was Grandpa but it was the wrong Bill that came to pick her up...she had called the wrong boy! It is always fun to talk about how life was when they were growing up. The day after Thanksgiving Papa Bill and Grandma Elsa took the kids shoe shopping and bought both the girls some Ugg boots and a beautiful Christmas dress. The girls even tried on the dresses and modeled them like Lacey and I used to do! Papa Bill kept saying, "I don't think there are many great-grandparents that get to do this"...and I agree...one of the many reasons we are so blessed!

Playing in the rain...

This is going to be a long winter! Jalen's favorite thing to do is play outside and now that the rains are here it's causing quite a problem in our house. So usually in the afternoon when he can't take another minute of being inside we head out to do what boys do best...get wet, messy and muddy! The only problem is he is too little to send out by himself to play...so you know what that means...I also have to brave the weather (and Mommy's do not like the rain half as much as little boys!) I dress him up with his raincoat, a hat and his rainboots (or sometimes he insists on his snow boots) and we walk around the yard picking up leaves, splashing in puddles, going down wet slides and swinging golf clubs and baseball bats at everything BUT balls! Most of the time by the time we are done some of his clothes if not all are off because he doesn't like wet clothes (I didn't think boys were supposed to mind things like that) and the boots are always off...he does like the feel of his feet sinking into the mud and grass. I guess I could have saved the money I spent on boots and coats but then what kind of mom would I look like when we were out in public? Regardless of how your child "likes" things there are sometimes where it is more important for us Mommy's to look good!

Lots and lots of treats...

I think the girls had more sweets before they were even out of school...and they hadn't even started trick or treating yet! It started with Lily's class party at 8:00 this morning, then went on to Ellie's at 10:00 and between donuts, cookies and candy they were wired! We met over at Nana and Papa's to do our trick or treating and Auntie Kim helped the girls get into costume. Ellie was a punk pirate and Lily was Dorothy (even though she's never seen the whole movie!) but I think the red shoes were the selling factor for her! Jalen was supposed to be a lion but he HATED the costume. He doesn't like things on his head and the costume had a hood with the mane attached and he wanted nothing to do with that. He lasted a whole 2 minutes before we decided it wasn't worth the hysterical crying and took it off. He still followed the girls to trick or treat but when he got to the bowl of candy he would put the old candy in the bowl before taking a new one...I guess that's his way of sharing! It was a fun night, but as with all holidays glad the chaos is over!

Pumpkin Patch

Some could call it a rut be we prefer to call it a tradition. We have gone to the same pumpkin patch now for 7 years despite the fact that the last two years most of the pumpkins were either green or had rotten polka dots all over them. It has the cool train and the small animals you can pet and of course the hay stack with the dark maze inside so really who cares about the pumpkins...at least according to the kids. Jalen actually had more fun pushing the wheelbarrow and trying to unscrew the tires than he did picking out pumpkins. We went on a Monday and we practically had the place to ourselves with the exception of one family. And it was sunny...cold but sunny! The days of the cute posed picture in the wheelbarrow or amongst the pumpkins is over for awhile...Jalen will not sit still for even a second. When we put him in the wheelbarrow with the girls all her tried to do the whole time was throw the pumpkins out. We each picked a pumpkin according to our size so Daddy got the biggest, then mine and so on. Lily picked a green one...I mean ALL green...dark green... which fits her little independent personality perfectly. We decided to paint them this year instead of carving them (Mommy HATES carving - but they loved the idea so I don't feel bad!) So we left with 5 little pumpkins, a grape crush soda (which you can only justify at places like the pumpkin patch!), some kettle corn and the next night had some pretty cute painted pumpkins on the porch!

Soccer Rocks!

...at least according to the girls! This is the first year they have played and they are both loving it! We finally found a sport that Lily likes (unlike softball...she only liked batting and picking flowers in the outfield). She has her dad's competitive spirit and there is nothing she likes better than pushing and bumping and kicking to get that ball away from the other girls! Her first game she scored 5 of the six goals...she has not learned the concept of passing yet (or if she has she chooses not to use it) so everytime she gets the ball she runs it down the entire field to score! Ellie is also enjoying it...although she seems to have more of my personality - she plays against lots of her friends from school and doesn't want to "take" the ball from her friends. I think she enjoys the social aspect of it more at this stage. Of course the part that Jamie and I love is the cold rainy EARLY mornings that we drag the whole family out of bed to stand and watch. And there is no bundling up with a hot coffee, blanket, and umbrella in that nice soft fold up chair that all the other parents have...oh no we have to chase around Jalen who thinks he can be part of the game too and runs onto the field every chance he gets or steals the balls from the boys playing next to us...or finds some big hill that he could roll down right into the busy parking lot. The joys of parenting! Go girls go!!

Everyday is Saturday!

Papa Bill celebrated his 86th birthday on September 11th...yet for him it wasn't too different than any other day...our favorite of his sayings is "everyday is Saturday"! We have been so blessed to have such a wonderful grandpa and for my kids "great" grandpa in our life! He has the most positive upbeat attitude and when you are around him you can't help but to have a good day! We love everything from shoe shopping (yes he braves it and takes all 5 of his great grandkids!) and of course Lacey and I still get shoes as well...it's a tradition that started when we were two so there's no stopping it now...to family breakfast on Sunday's at Cooperstown. We all got together for dinner to celebrate his birthday and managed to get everyone together for a picture...that doesn't happen often with the kids running in every different direction! We look forward to another good year and many more "saturday's"!

First day of school

The school year is officially underway...right at the perfect time...when you think you can't take another day! Whoever called it the "lazy days of summer" obviously does not have three kids! This was a big year for the girls since they were starting a new school. We went to the preview day at Stafford the week before school started and Ellie was pumped but Lily not so much. We got in the car afterwards and she said she would go back on Tuesday but only to get all the school supplies she left there because she was NOT going to that school. Of course we explained that is not her decision to make and YES she was going there and she would love it! So with a bit of coaxing on the first day she walked into that room like a big girl and came leaping off the school bus that afternoon happy as could be...she did in fact LOVE it! Her teachers name is Miss Addie which she thinks is pretty cool since that is her cousins name and she has made some good friends who also play on her soccer team. Ellie already knew 3 girls in her class from playing softball with them so she felt comfortable right away. The morning are not easy...they have to be at school at 7:40 so the alarm goes off at 6:15 and every morning it is a fight to get them out of bed...but hey I guess it's payback because I remember doing the exact same thing to my mom! I can only hope that the rest of the year goes as well as the first couple of weeks...we are off the a great start!

kidgestdie cone please!

This is too funny...I had to share. So whenever the girls would get a ice cream cone from McDonald's I would get Jalen the little tiny kiddie cone which he loved because he could hold it himself like a "big boy". Yes it makes a huge mess and gets all over him and the car seat but to see his face while eating this is so worth the clean up! The best part is when I go there in the morning to get a coffee (which by the way is pretty good and way cheaper than starbucks) he starts screaming with excitement because he recognizes where we are at and thinks he has a cone coming...it's so cute I almost give in but I'm not quite ready to start the ice cream thing at 8:00 in the morning. Anyway, thought you would enjoy some of these pics with Jalen and his kiddie cone.

Gozzer Ranch

We made two trips up to Couer d'alene this summer to visit the golf and lake club Gozzer Ranch. This is by far our favorite vacation spot because it not only has golf for the boys but we got lucky enough to get a house on the lake so we could play with the wave runners and just enjoy swimming off the dock. The girls had fun a couple of days in their kids camp which is always a nice break and other than a bug that Ellie and Jalen got at then end of the week we had a blast! We rented a boat that came with two professional instructors so the boys wake surfed and the kids had fun on the intertubes! There was a water trampoline that we all had fun jumping on...although in case you were wondering it's really NOT bouncy so I'm not sure why they call it a trampoline...it's basically a huge flotation toy that is incredibly hard to stand up on let alone jump. It was still fun though to see who could last the longest! One day the kids wouldn't get off because they saw an otter...which we all thought was weird on the lake. At first we didn't believe them and told them it was probably just a big fish but Ellie promised that it had fur...so the rest of the week we joked with her that it was a "sea kitty" which is what she used to call a "catfish" when she was 4. It was so cute back then when she said it and now she is just too cool for that...everytime I joked with her about it she would just roll her eyes at me. Jalen is officially our little dare devil...the kid has no fear as he tried to walk right off the dock into the water. When we finally let him (Daddy was in there to catch him) I think the temperature shocked him a bit so he cried but the minute he was out he was heading for the edge again. This made it a very exhausting trip as you can imagine. He is 15 months and his only word continues to be ball...he loves any kind and anything that can be used to hit a ball as well. So he was in heaven on the putting green. He would go take clubs out of the bags that were sitting there and then scream when a kid would come ask for his club back...it was pretty funny. All in all we had a great trip and we will look forward to it again next summer...it's one of our new favorite family traditions!

birthday at the beach

We have been wanting to get over the beach all summer...actually let me rephrase that the girls and I have been wanting to go to the beach, Jamie is not a big fan of the sand. He is a good sport though and although he won't admit it he has fun when he is there. So for our nephew Jake's ninth birthday we went over the house that Jamie's parents have in Pacific City. It was beautiful blue sky but ridiculously windy so it made it a little colder than we would have liked. I'm not sure at what age temperature starts affecting your decision process when it comes to water...but I can tell you that it is not 9 or under! Jake, Ellie and Lily had so much fun running around in the waves, doing cartwheels and handstands and throwing sand in the air. Jalen was a little overwhelmed by the wind so he spent most of the day with his hood up and his head on my shoulder...do I need to remind you how hard it is to walk in the sand, let alone carrying an extra 23 pounds?! He finally warmed up to the idea of the sand in his feet toward the end when we found a log that somewhat sheltered him from the wind. He kept bending over and picking up the sand to watch it fall back through his fingers...until he got a little too top heavy one time and fell flat on his face right into the sand and came up with it in his mouth, nose and eyes...he was done with the sand after that! Pacific City has this huge hill you can climb up to see the most spectacular view, and this time I remembered my camera! When I say huge I mean gigantic, it takes a good 15 minutes to get up it with a few breathers along the way. But it is SO worth it once you get to the top. Nana waited with Jalen and Lily while the rest of us made the hike. Ellie was bear crawling toward the end and then her and Jake had fun running and rolling back down. Despite the weather we had a fun day and finished it off with cake and a birthday song!!

Big Girls!

I can't believe that my babies are another year older! They often ask me why I still call them "baby" and I try to explain that they are still my sweet little babies...just in a bigger body with a much sassier mouth! Lily turned 5 on June 26th and Ellie turned 7 on July 1st...although if you ask them they say they are 15 and 17 which scares me to even think about!
Ellie has become so independent and knows what she likes and doesn't like. She is very thoughtful and is always doing nice things for her family and friends. I get a beautiful picture everyday that either says "to mommy, i love you" or "to the best mom ever". She is very into her friends and loves having sleepovers. She gets her competitive nature and persistence from her Dad...which I keep reminding myself are good qualities as long as they are channeled toward something other than bugging me until she gets the answer she wants, or making everything a competition including singing in the car (who knows the most words, who sings the loudest, who sings the best, etc...) She is a wonderful helper with Jalen, she gets him out of his crib in the morning, she helps give him snacks and he is the one person she will share her ice cream cone with! She is aware of what he can and can't do and takes good care of him. She has the "oldest child" role down pat, she is the leader and the other "little mom" of the family and I wouldn't want her any other way!
Lily on the other hand truly is still my baby! She is sweet and very sensitive and will cry at the drop of a hat. She still sucks her thumb and loves the cuddle and rub her hand up and down my arm and touch my cheek. She loves watching Dora although she will watch the older shows also just to be with Ellie. She sleep with Ellie every night in a twin bed even thought they each have their own. She is caring, very helpful, and loves organizing things. She still likes spending time with me, especially if it is just her and I. She is goofy and silly and does a great job of making Jalen laugh. She is a good friend and is always concerned about other people. She is my free spirit with her own sense of style and although I'm sure I will spend many hours worrying about her when she is older I love that quality! So at least for now I get to enjoy that sweet baby side of her for awhile longer!
So Happy Birthday to my two favorite girls...I love you both and you make my heart smile! Thanks for all the love and laughter you bring me!

Play Ball!

So we are just wrapping up the season of softball. This was Lily's first year of t-ball and when no one else volunteered to coach they called up Jamie who they know won't say no. It was a rough start...Lily liked climbing the fence more than she did practicing, and I couldn't even go to the first couple of games because if I was there she would rather come sit with me and watch! That of course is a little embarrassing for the coach...as he announced to the team parents at the second game..."go figure the coach's daughter would be the houlligan of the team!" At one point he told Lily that if she didn't participate then she couldn't play and that would make him very sad to coach a t-ball team that she wasn't even on! It got better throughout the season, but she never did warm up to playing in the field...she only liked batting - we told her that there are no DH's at this level!
Ellie on the other hand really got into the softball thing this year. She met some new friends that she will be going to Stafford with next year, and they had a great time! It was a big year as they went from the coaches pitching to the girls attempting to pitch. Last weekend the girls college world series was on and after Ellie watched these girls she ran around the house pretend pitching and then asked if she could pitch at the game. The coach gave her a shot and she did very well for her first time! She was also the cheerleader of the team...teaching everyone the cute little chants (where she learned them I'm not sure?!).
Just as the relief of the season was over (I have been a permanent chauffer for the past 2 months!) they asked if I would sign them both up for soccer next year! What ever happened to the indoor sports where you stay warm and dry?!

Jalen turns one!

People always say how time goes too fast...me included...but it's these occasions that you really mean it...this year went so fast! I can't believe that Jalen was born a year ago, he has grown up in so many ways, but lucky for me, he is still my baby in many ways as well. Here's a few fun facts and stats...
Weighing in at 8 pounds 9 ounces at birth he is now a solid 23 pounds
He came out with the loudest cry I had ever heard from a baby...now it's the loudest scream (no joke for those of you who haven't heard it...it's ear piercing!)
For the first week he had his days and nights mixed up so wasn't sleeping well...we fixed the day/night problem but he still doesn't sleep well (I'm up at LEAST once a night...and that's on a good night!)
He was not much of a cuddler as a baby, he preferred to be in his swing all by himself...now he gives the best hugs and slobbery kisses and LOVES to be rocked to sleep (I do the first round, Daddy gets the second round)...I know, I know...bad routine but he won't be a baby forever!
Of course all he ate as a baby was milk...while he eats a little better now, it's not much! He won't take a bottle, and it depends on the day whether he likes baby food. Needless to say he is still very attached to Mommy.
He had no teeth...still no teeth...not even one!
All he did was lay around bundled in a blanket...he is now crawling, pulling himself up on everything from the couch to my leg and walking around anything...his latest favorite is walking behind the rolling fire engine he got for his birthday.
All he could do was cry (again, really loud)...now he says "ball" and "papa" and when he is really sad he cries "maaaaaa", but I've yet to get a true "mama" - did you really expect that his first word would be anything other than "ball" with who his Daddy is?
A few of his favorite things:
mommy...a given
daddy...especially when I won't give him what he wants
ellie...he reaches his arms for her because she will take him to play
lily...she makes silly voices and makes him laugh
ball...any kind
being outside...rain or shine
the swing...he'll sit in it for hours as long as he has the girls to watch
ice cream...who doesn't?
toilet...i know gross, but i think it's only cause it's so off limits
remote control...he's a boy
stairs...so far he can only go up...scary!

So we had his first birthday party at Papa and Grandma's house and it was a beautiful day for it...we set up the jumping castle (which he loved!) and played in the kiddie pool and had cupcakes with blue frosting. The whole family was there to celebrate and we had a blast! This is such a fun stage with Jalen (exhausting...but fun!) It's happy and sad all at once...there is so much to look forward to, but sad that my sweet baby days are over. Now the true colors of a boy are coming out...
ready, set, go!