Today...

Today I woke up to a little man snuggled close by my side...

Today I watched my daughter walk sleepily from her room to mine.. crawl into bed.. I asked her if Santa came and I watched her face light up and her dash from the room.

Today I heard a squeal of joy and heard little feet running back to my room and heard a little voice say "He came! He came!"

Today I climbed out of bed and told my sweet children they could pick one present to open from Santa.

Today I feel sad because I don't have my incredible husband here to see the look on their faces.. to share the magic.. to see the way Ali's eyes danced when she saw the crumbs left on her note from Santa and the empty wrapper from the Oreo cookie sticks Santa ate.

Today I watch Jon to climb onto his too-big bike from Santa and struggle to reach the peddles.. and I smile.

Today I watch Alissa open her bug making oven and giggle with laughter.. and I grin.. for my daughter is so unique and wonderful.

Today we load into the car to give the gift of music to the nursing home where great-grandpa died.. and to teach the children the real meaning of Christmas.

Today we drive to Burger King and order a cheeseburger for Ali with no pickle and no mustard and a hamburger for Jon no pickle and frozen cokes all around.

Today I gaze at our Christmas tree that sits in our too small house where the couch normally is.. because there was no where else to put it.

Today I thank God for our too-small house that is overflowing with love.

Today we look forward to Daddy getting off work so we can have dinner at Grandma Davis house and open presents together as a family tonight.

Today my heart swells with love for my children and family.

Today is Christmas.

The Adventures of.... CATAWACK!

Once upon a time, a long long time ago.. There was a little girl named Alissa. Alissa loved all things creepy and vowed to some day be a bug scientist. Alissa was a dreamer... always thinking up new ways to play and new adventures to embark on. But Alissa wasn't content to just be Alissa.. you see, in her mind she was capable of so much more. So on that day long long ago (about a month ago, but who's counting) Alissa had an "AH-HA!" moment when she created her very own superhero identity... that's right.. that's the day that CATAWACK was born. Catawack runs as fast as lightning, and she can jump over big rivers (this is a quote from Alissa standing beside me).

STORY CONTINUED IN QUOTES FROM ALISSA WHO HAS DECIDED TO DICTATE:

"There's 101 and one cats (for the record there was 72 forever, guess this is growing). And she can break metal. And she's strong enough to break some wood. She's as fast as lighting and faster than lighting. She's fatser than anybody else. If anybody is in a race she'll always win.

ME: Tell me a story about Catawack and one of her adventures.

ALISSA: "Ok, but it's a long story. Ok. Catawack and her 72 cats were walking along and a skeleton bad guy saw them and he chased after them and a cat was biting on his buns. And then Catawack jumped over the lake and her 72 cats did and that skeleton stopped because he was trying to get the cat off his buns and he got a poky vine and he tried to whack the cat but the cat jumped off and he whacked himself on the buns with the pokey vine. And then the cat jumped over the lake with Catawack. And then there was just 1 bad guy that was bigger than them and the cats all jumped over the lake and the bad guy jumped over the lake and then ran out of oil. Mhm. Ready for the next story - It's Catawack on a safari and a great big monster and also all the cats bit his buns and then a cat was..some cats were nibbling on his feet and he said "AHHHHHH" and then he got a great great great big pokey pokey vine and he tried to whack the cats and he whacked his buns and then the cats on his feet jumped off of his feet and he whacked his feet. And then everything was saved.

The end."

"Ok Catawack was walking and her 72 cats. And also there was this GREAT big bad guy and some cats were in his hair and he didn't notice and so one bit him and he whacked his head with a pokey vine and pokey himself 101 times. And then everything was saved again. And then another bad guy showed up and then Catawack's cats bit him all over himself and he wacked himself with a lot of vines and then everything was saved."

TRASH MAN

Every week Jonathan listens intently for his favorite person - the TRASH MAN! If you ask Jonathan when the trash man comes he will quickly respond, "The trash man comes on Friiiiiday's." In fact if you ask him when Grandma Davis' trash man comes he responds, "Gramma Davis' trash man comes on Tursday's". Jonathan recently turned 3 years old and wanted a "Trash man and Digger Party"... and that is exactly what he got. So today, I brought out the camera to capture his weekly meeting with the Trash man and got a gem. Jonathan likes to show his trash man his newest trash trucks, and this week was no exception. This week the trash man stopped and told Jonathan that when he started working for the trash company 13 years ago the truck Jonathan was holding was the exact one he drove! In the end he thanked me for letting Jonathan say hi to him every week...said it made his day. I can't explain exactly why that was so touching to me.. but here I see one of the simple beauties of life - a three year old little boy who eagerly awaits seeing "his" trash man round the corner so he can smile and wave... and a grown man, a trash man, who eagerly awaits rounding that same corner to smile and wave at "his" special three year old boy. Just magical.

Leaf bugs and spiders..

I vowed to revive this thing. Shame on me. I shall revive it yet. See the problem is Facebook is evil. I find myself putting pics up on their and neglecting this poor blog.

So updates -

Matt first.. he is doing great. Excelling at the jail. There is much talk of promotion in his immediate future. This is good and bad. The bad is that he is FINALLY on day shift and a promotion would mean rotating shift about every 3 months I think. So graveyard AGAIN. Sigh. We will see where that goes.

Myself.. lovin life! Really getting into photography. Did my first maternity photo shoot end of June and it was a BLAST! Ended up making a leather bound book for the family. Going to go on a photo excursion August 14th for 3 days and two nights in Bend. The kiddos get to stay with Matt's mom. They are thrilled to say the least. Three days spoiled rotten? Sweeeeeeet. :)

Alissa.. big as ever! Alissa finally found her appetite. The girl can EAT! Making up for the last 5 years of self starvation I suppose. Yesterday Alissa got new pets.. leaf bugs. Four to be exact. They are the coolest things ever. Get to be up to 6 inches long and they sort of have personality..for a bug anyway. She is one happy kid with new creepy crawlies.. and I am a happy mommy because they are very low maintenance. Alissa is eager to start kindergarten at Rosedale Elementary (YAYAYAYA) September 9th... and I'm of course caught somewhere between excited and terrified. Alissa can read simple words and phrases.. knows all her letters and numbers to 100... she tends to learn things better if I don't push the issue so I try and let her ask the questions instead of forcing things on her. She is the most creative and imaginative kid I have ever met. Amazing.

Jonathan.. Mr. Bigshot as GG calls him. Jonathan is talking better than most 4 year olds. Very clear speech and an unreal vocabulary. He is still signing often and loves that too. He will be three years old Monday (IS THAT POSSIBLE?!?) and Sunday we are going to have a "Digger and Trashman" birthday party. Jonathan loves pink. Anything pink. I have to write this down or some day he may not believe me hehe. In toddler time class he fought with a little girl for the pink shakers. The boy is seriously obsessed with pink. It's cute. He knows his ABC's and know some letter sounds already. He can count to 20 and ride a tricycle. Last month Jonathan got his own room all to himself. We moved the computer out to the living room and got rid of the guest bed and VWALLA.. a bedroom. Soon to be transformed into a digger room.

Zena.. Getting very old. Seven years old and with her chronic allergies she is slowing down fast. Still a happy wonderful amazing dog.

Triton.. 16 months old and 160 pounds of snoring, farting, drooling, otherwise just foul and disgusting dog. And a big dork to top it off. Still trying to figure out why I like him so much. :)

Kisses.. Still scared of the dogs.. still sweet and adorable.

Sea Monkeys... still there. Still alive. Not sure how. Survived since Christmas so far.

Leaf bugs.. Just too cool. I'll take pics soon.

Giant spider.. can't forget Alissa's pet spider. It is my job to feed him every night. Joy.

Think that covers the whole family.

Until next time.

Boca..or Bokeh..or..Blog!!

I just realized something funny... I HAVE A BLOG!! haha.. ok seriously.. Facebook is evil. Thats the only place I put pics and updates.. until now!! :) I vow to re-discover my poor abused blog.

Starting with a story --

Ok, I lied.. some background first.. So I recently discovered a love of photography. I mean, I can't get enough of it!! I am learning all I can and having a blast. Recently my obsession has been to get BOCA! Or bokeh... not sure how that is spelled but seen it both ways. Boca is just a blurred background. Ok.. now on the the story..

So yesterday the kids and I were playing outside and I was armed with my camera and some new knowledge from my mom. I started snapping away. Now keep in mind I never once (on this day) mentioned I was looking for boca.. just taking pics of the kids is all. Well, I was sitting there flipping through my pics I had taken and found my money shot - I proceeded to exclaim "YES!!!!!" and then Jonathan looks at me.. grins real big.. and says proudly "Momma got some BOCA!!" .. I looked at him.. mouth agape.. and said.. "Yes, Jonny..momma got some boca!!" And he gave me a high five. Talk about a kid who pays attention!!! Sheesh.. I SWEAR the word boca did not leave my lips yesterday.. it was hilarious.

After that Jonathan watched me take photos and every time I got a good one and exclaimed happily he insisted on screaming "BOCA" and giving me a high five. It was fun.

Then put the camera away, made some lunch.. and we ate a picnic lunch on a blanket in the front yard. Fun times.

In other news, we have decided to wait to sell our house and are refinancing instead. We went in yesterday to sign papers. I am super nervous about the economy and the direction it is going so getting all of our ducks in a row now.

I'm sure I have a million more things to write about..hmmm.. oh yes Alissa got into Rosedale Elementary - the best (and smallest) school in town! I am so very excited for her.

Ok I'm off, I will try to remember that I have a blog now.. really.

Matt the pilot.

So we finally got to go on our plane trip. We were told it was going to be a "scenic flight over Salem" what we were not told was that one of US would fly the plane! Imagine our surprise when the owner of the Cessna looked at us and popped the question, "So, who's flying today?"..umm...is that a trick question?? So of course I pointed at Matt and he pointed at me, but we both know who the future pilot in the family is and it is CERTAINLY not me. So, I won the pointing contest and Matt sat down for his half hour pre-flight lesson. After the lesson we went out to the plane for a pre-flight check (a very thorough one at that, I wasn't complaining).

During the check there was lots of waving on my part to the kiddos who were there a ways away behind a fence with GG, Grandma Davis, and Bethany. We got situated in the plane.. belted in, headsets on, engine started... I'm stuck in the backseat..and THEN she informs me that Matt will be handling take off all by himself...umm..

Yep..that was my reaction. But no worries, he did a fantastic job getting us off the ground. It was a bit bumpy and his turns were a bit rough.. but overall I was very proud of my pilot hubby. Here was the view out my window --

Not too bad eh? Directly after the flight I snapped this picture of Matt with his "I just flew a plane how cool is that" permagrin. Priceless.

Safely aground and with engine off the kids got to come check out the plane. Alissa was a natural.

Course this picture is a bit funny.. when Jonathan sees it he keeps asking what Ali has in her nose. Hehe.

So in summary it was a terrific flight.. we flew northeast over Silverton and then finally Silver Falls state park.. which was great except from above all you see is trees. Just beautiful either way.

The pebble.

There is a window in your heart through which you can see God. Once upon a time that window was clear. Your view of God was crisp. You could see God as vividly as you could see a gentle valley or hillside. The glass was clean, the pane unbroken.

You knew God. You knew how he worked. You knew what he wanted you to do. No surprises. Nothing unexpected. You knew God had a will, and you continually discovered what it was.

Then suddenly, the window cracked. A pebble broke the window. A pebble of pain.

Perhaps the stone struck when you were a child and a parent left home - forever. Maybe the rock hit in adolescence when your heart was broken. Maybe you made it into adulthood before the window cracked. But then the pebble came.

Was it a phone call? "We have your daughter at the station. You'd better come down."

Was it a letter on the kitchen table? "I've left. Don't try to reach me. Don't try to call me. It's over. I just don't love you anymore."

Was it a diagnosis from the doctor? "I'm afraid our news is not very good."

Was it a telegram? "We regret to inform you that your son is missing in action."

Whatever the pebbles form, the result was the same - a shattered window. The pebble missiled into the pane and shattered it. The crash echoed down the halls of your heart. Cracks shot out from the point of impact, creating a spider web of fragmented pieces.

And suddenly God was not so easy to see. The view that had been so crisp had changed. You turned to see God, and his figure was distorted. It was hard to see him through the pain. It was hard to see him through the fragments of hurt.

You were puzzled. God wouldn't allow something like this to happen, would he? Tragedy and travesty weren't on the agenda of the One you had seen, were they? Had you been fooled? Had you been blind?

The moment the pebble struck, the glass became a reference point for you. From then on, there was life before the pain and life after the pain. Before your pain, the view was clear; God seemed so near. After your pain, well, he was harder to see. He seemed a bit distant...harder to perceive. Your pain distorted the view - not eclipsed it, but distorted it.

Maybe these words don't describe your situation. There are some people who never have to redefine or refocus their view of God. Most of us do.

Most of us know what it means to feel disappointed by God.

Most of us have a way of completing this sentence: "If God is God, then..." Call it an agenda, a divine job description. Each of us has an unspoken, yet definitive, expectation of what God should do. "If God is God, then..."

* There will be no financial collapse in my family
* My children will never be buried before me.
* People will treat me fairly
* This church will never divide
* My prayer will be answered

There are not articulated criteria. They are not written down or notarized. But they are real. They define the expectations we have of God. And when pain comes into our world - when the careening pebble splinters the window of our hearts - these expectations go unmet and doubts may begin to surface.We look for God, but can't find him. Fragmented glass hinders our vision. He is enlarged through this piece and reduced through that one. Lines jigsaw their way across his face. Large sections of shattered glass opaque the view.And now you aren't quite sure what you see.
~ Max Lucado

What will that pebble be for my kids? And how long can I shield them from it? I find myself on my knees begging the God that I know through my own fragmented glass.. the God that I love and trust.. begging the wisdom, courage, and strength to block those pebbles for as long as I can.

ZOO

So my fabulous sister in law called my this morning to invite us to the zoo!! What a treat!! The kids had sooo much fun seeing all the animals and hanging out.. and I slacked a bit on pictures. Here was a highlight from out trip -- feeding the birds!!

The kids had a blast with the birds climbing all over them to drink nectar from their cups. Toooo fun.

Overall it was COLD.. it was windy.. it was WET.. but it was ooohhh so fun!!

Shake your booty...

Scooter time!

A quick video of Matt and Alissa trying out Bethany's new scooter she got for her birthday. :) Jonathan got a ride too.. but hopped off after .2 seconds. Oh well. Alissa had a blast!!!!!

A day at the Dentist.

Alissa goes to see Dr. Dow.. Getting her fluoride treatment. Does she seem traumatized or what?? Hehe.. can you tell the dentist is one of her favorite places to go?? She got a pirate balloon and a princess toothbrush out of the deal too.. could life be any better?

Just so you don't think I'm too lucky with this whole thing for those mom's out there with kids who hate the dentist - Jonathan's turn was after Alissa. I would post a picture.. but I was too busy holding his arms as he screamed and clenched his jaw and tried to wriggle away from the dentist. Ya. Enough said I suppose.

Bethany's Birthday

For Bethany's birthday we went out to eat at Applebee's. The food was yummy and the kids had fun. Bethany of course was in heaven. She made friends with the waitress and enjoyed opening all of her gifts.

I had to post this picture - the look on Grandma's face is priceless.

During dinner Jonathan discovered that Caesar salad is his new favorite. He scarfed down pretty much all of Bethany's salad. What an awesome aunt he has!!
Happy 24th Beth!!!

Hello Sunshine.

Can you guess what's happening in the above picture? Probably not. This is me taking a picture while riding Alissa's bike with her on the back. Umm...ya.. this bike --> Alissa said "Mommy!! You look like a clown!!" Thanks baby! Now don't hold back! Hehe. We had a day full of sunshine last week and took full advantage. The kids had a blast.

Why does Jonathan look so happy in this picture? Notice a bit of mischief written on his face? Ya, that would be because when I took this picture he was running at me full speed.. why you ask??? To give me a hug?? Ooohh no.. to whack my with the blue Frisbee. Ahh my sweet two year old boy.

Now I lay me down to sleep..

So I post a lot of the above cute siblings sleeping together posts.. and it occurred to me that some might imagine they do not have their own beds. Hehe.. well let me explain. What you see above is what I find most mornings because the kiddos always sneak into my bed some time in the AM for some cuddle time. One on each side of me. When I get up.. they tend to roll towards where I was and BINGO we have siblings sleeping side by side and cute pictures for my blog. Just to prove they do sleep in their own beds every now and again :) I took these pictures the other night. Jonathan manages to be "cool" even when asleep. Cuddle my stuffed ball? Never!

And Alissa always buries herself under her horses and what you can't see is her pink doggy and her kitty that she is hugging tight.

I love my kids. More than words could express. And I love to watch them sleep.. so peaceful. The closest thing anyone will ever see to angels on earth.

Valentine's Day

I am behind..again.. so I am going to do a few separate posts. First off - Valentine's Day!! This year was an extra special Valentine's Day for Matt and I because we won a contest!! YIPPEE! It was on a radio station and my assignment was this: Write an email explaining why you think you and your Valentine deserve this prize package. And I wrote the following: "Hello! I am a twenty-eight year old mother of two. I have been married to Matt, the love of my life, for six years. Matt and I are true high school sweethearts. Not many couples can put their prom and honeymoon pictures side by side (see attached). Valentine's Day has always been a very special day for us to celebrate our love and friendship. The last few years have been hard on our family financially because it had been my dream and life's ambition to be my kids mom and stay home to raise them. Matt has worked long and hard hours to make this happen for our family. Matt is in law enforcement. His job is very trying on him physically and emotionally but he does it every day to provide for our family without complaint. Because of the nature of law enforcement and the grueling hours involved, Matt has missed a lot of holidays with the family including our special day - Valentine's Day. He makes me feel like the luckiest woman alive and I am so proud of all he does for me and his kids. I was supposed to write about why I believed we deserved this wonderful Valentine's Day gift, but truly I am writing this for him. He is my hero and my heart. His sacrifices for family and his community are endless and this prize would be such a welcome relief for my Valentine. Thank you so much. " - The day before Valentine's Day I told Matt to turn on the radio and we needed to hear something because I entered a contest - it was the first I had mentioned it to him. Well, much to our surprise it was announced that we WON!! :) When I called and talked to the DJ he said that they received a TON of entries and a lot of them were heart-wrenching stories (tragedy, loss of kidneys, death, etc etc) and they decided to pick our story for a couple of reasons - first off they were impressed that I attached the pictures of honeymoon/prom and second because it was so "real" and just a cute story. COOL! Oh, guess you are wondering what we won?? Hehe.. We won dinner for two at the Willamette Valley Grill, a his and hers massage, and a plane ride over the city!! We still haven't cashed in on our prizes because.. surprise surprise Matt had to work.. but are SO excited! We are scheduled to fly on March 1st - I will take pics and post! :)

Library Sleepover!

So Friday night we arrived at the library at 6:30 and were told we could sleep wherever we wanted so we hurried to the children's section upstairs and found a spot - this isle was all ours!! It was Alissa, Jonathan, myself, Kendra, Porter, and the Sinks family -- too cool! They had crafts set up all over the library for kids to do - most to do with airplanes/flight. First thing was first though, Alissa and I rushed to get our faces painted! Ali insisted we match. Jonathan refused any paint on his face..no way man! After crafts and fun we headed to the big auditorium where a professional story teller awaited us. We had a BLAST! Jonathan (my budding photographer) walked around snapping random pictures of people it was hilarious. Here is the picture he took of me and Bethany. After the story teller and a snack of pretzels and juice provided by the library we headed to set up camp and pick out some library books for the night. Oh, forgot.. after the stories there was a raffle, and all of the kids got to pick a prize - we got a couple books and two tickets to the Oregon aquarium. After getting our pj's on, brushing our teeth, and settling in the lights were turned out in the library. We brought out our flashlights and read stories together - For Ali it was a kids monster story hehe and for Jon Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Seuss. Jonathan fought sleep with all his might but eventually surrendered to exhaustion. That's when I hid under the blanket with a flashlight and got a few precious quiet moments alone with my book and my flashlight. There was a wake up call over the intercom at 7am and lights when on at 7:05. I woke up the kids at 7:30 and we packed up and headed downstairs for juice, coffee, and muffins. It was a fantastic adventure and we plan on returning every year. If I didn't mention it before - the whole sleepover was a reward for the kids keeping the TV off for a week. So great! We were able to make wonderful memories and hang out with friends. Life is good.

Updates for update's sake.

As I sit here I realize I haven't written an update post in far too long. Lets start with me :) I am still working weekends, but have cut it back to 4 hours on Saturday's only. I also watch a two year old boy still from Tuesday - Thursday and that has been working out pretty well. I am officially on my low carb diet...again. One of these days I will get the weight off and actually keep it off.. here's hopin'. I was recently introduced into the world of FaceBook - neat sight!!Our house hunting continues.. we see about 2-3 houses a week.. just haven't found the right one yet. I take Triton to dog obedience classes every Wednesday night and it's pretty fun having the class clown. I Am also obsessing over schools at the moment for Alissa. I envy my home schooling momma friends and WISH I could be organized enough to do it myself.. just not happening. My second choice is a private school, but that's out because its way too expensive. Third choice - charter school.. that's a whole post in itself.. lets just say the only charter school I really love is for middle school aged kids. This leaves public school and I found one I really like but we will be moving soon to who knows where which compounds the issue of where in the world she will go to kindergarten. Enough of that complicated mess. Here soon I will be turning 29 and I find myself THRILLED that I won't be 30.. one more year. Yikes. Not much more with me.. same old same old I suppose.
As for Matt, he is getting back in the groove of things at work and doing very well. He works 12 hour shifts right now from 6pm to 6am. It's brutal and it sucks. On his days off he is always tired because his body is used to sleeping during the day. I hate it hate it HATE it that he is working graveyard but its the nature of the job and I have to learn to live with it. Right now he is working hard on his days off to get the house prepped for sale.. I am so blessed to have married a handyman.
On to Alissa. Alissa is doing fantastic in school. She loves her teacher and gets along well with her classmates and I enjoy my Friday's in her classroom. She is obsessed with pirates at the moment which I find hilarious. She has always marched to the beat of her own drummer. She is also doing well in ballet with one exception - she can't skip. Seriously, I have tried to teach her, her grandma has tried, her teacher has tried but she is just not getting it. So I talked with her most awesome ballet teacher who promises me that in one 15 minute private lesson Alissa will be skipping along with the best of them.. so we are scheduling said lesson now. Alissa has started harping on me to get her back in swim lessons so I am going to sign her up for another round here soon.. she LOVES the water. Alissa also loves to pray and I MUST get this on video sometime.. there is nothing more beautiful than a child's prayer.. often they include talk of angels and chocolate sometimes in the same sentence lol. On a different note - we have not turned on the TV since the 23rd i honor of national turn of your TV week! Although I don't normally participate in this, we had quite the incentive! Our local library had the kids sign a pledge to not watch TV from the 25 - 30 and they get rewarded with a sleepover at the library!! How cool!? So Friday night I am taking Jonathan, Alissa, and their Aunt Bethany to the library for a sleep over complete with crafts, other activities, and a profession storyteller before bed! Wowzers it should be fun. Oh! And they will feed us breakfast, too.. I shall post lots of pictures!
Now Jonathan. My little man who is just too big. Jonathan is into pretty much whatever Alissa likes..which mean pirates at the moment (better than Barbie, right?). He LOVES his toddler time class with mommy on Monday's. Jonathan's little personality is so great.. he likes to clean up and have things orderly (have no idea where that came from) When we clean up all our toys and can see the floor (LOL) he will stand in the middle of the room with his arms outstretched and proclaim with a smile "AAALLL CLEAN". He likes to wave at random people in the grocery store.. or anywhere else for that matter. He is also displaying some strong leadership skills. When his little friends come over he picks out the games, directs the activities.. just very cute to see those skills at such an early age. Jonathan is very sensitive to others feelings and when someone gets hurt he is very concerned.. "You ok mommy? You ok, Jonjon kiss it".. Such a sweetie. Jonathan skips his naps more and more frequently and I am resigning myself to the fact that here soon he simply won't need them anymore. Oh, and it is pretty funny.. say I am wearing a low cut shirt - Jonathan will point, smile and proclaim "MAMA MILK!" lol.. I hope when he is a teenager he doesn't still refer to them as mama milk, that could be embarrassing :)
Thats all for now..

5 Years Old - PIRATE BIRTHDAY!! Arrr

Well me hartey's Alissa's 5th birthday party was a cannon blast! Here is The Dread Pirate Mommy getting in character before the little pirates arrived. And Grandma Adams hard at work turning her back deck into a pirate ship!! Alissa was in pirate heaven!

The party got started with a game of pin the treasure on the map -- arrr and the winners got to select a prize from the pirate treasure chest. Next we headed outside where there were hidden 5 gold coins.. the kids went on a hunt and whoever found a coin traded it in for a prize! Then we went inside and played a game of musical islands - -you see the islands pictured below. These are the islands from Pirates of the Caribbean online game -- authentic pirate matey! After our musical island game it was time for pizza and a pirate ship cake! Then out to the pirate ship to take a wack at the world's strongest pinata with a boat oar. It took every child, plus one adult and we still couldn't crack the thing. No worries!! The Dread Pirate Mommy tore it apart with her bare hands!! ARRRRR!!After the undestructable pinata it was time for BURIED TREASURE!! That's right.. if you wanted a goodie bag from THIS party you had to grab a shovel and start to dig. Of course I was given much grief because the kids had to really dig to get to their loot hehe.. but it made it more special in the end! The fact that all the kids were covered head to toe in mud...well, whats a pirate party without a few dirty pirates? With our treasure found it was time to come inside and open presents. To avoid this becoming chaotic we made it into a game. We played "spin the looking glass" .. yes the looking glass HAPPENED to be a bottle..which caused a few snickers amongst the adults.. but Alissa LOVED the game as she sat in the middle of the circle while everyone held their gift for her, spun the..ahem..looking glass and whoever it pointed to she got to open their present. It worked wonders to keep everyone seated and under control.

Ahh but that was not the end of our pirate games. After presents were opened and the kids were sufficiently exhausted everyone was asked to pick out one balloon. They were then told that inside three of the balloons was a slip of paper with an X on it. And..you guessed it.. the kiddos who found the paper with the X got a prize! (We were big on prizes hehe). The kids had a greattime popping balloons and claiming their loot. That a fun party!! We said our goodbyes.. YO HO HO and The Dread Pirate Mommy and Grandma grabbed a bottle of rum! Ok ok..merlot..slight technicality there... and with rum/merlot in hand promptly collapsed into a tired heap on the couch.

Party hats - $5

Cake - $20

Happy 5 year old pirate - Priceless.

Siblings..

Not much to say tonight..just wanted to share these pics.

They say it all.

Happy New Year!

Wow.. 2009. I figured a new year warranted a new layout!! I almost didn't write this, because I have no photos to add. Yikes!! Talk about slacking.
For New Years Eve the kiddos spend the night at Grandma Adams' house as they have every year. The tradition is this: If Matt works that night I stay at grandma's with the kids..but if he is off we hang out together. This year Matt was off work so we brought in the new year with rum and coke and some less than desirable champagne. Just a word of caution: The more expensive champagne is not necessarily the better tasting. Stick with the $5 bottle. Or maybe that is terrible advise and I have poor taste. That's for you to decide.
Alissa is back to school this week and we start with life as usual again.. I watch a 2 year old boy from Tuesday - Thursday every week, Ali is in school and ballet, Jonathan has Toddler Time classes Monday and now Triton has obedience classes Wednesday nights.
As for Matt, he recently had to make a tough decision. He decided that working enforcement for the county was just not the right fit for him. He did not come to this decision lightly and it was tough on all of us... but I am so proud of him to do what is right for family first and for himself and his career second. Being back in institutions he will have a lot more flexibility to be with us and not miss so many important events in the kids lives. They have already given him the nod to be Range Master which is a HUGE accomplishment for him!! He will be doing weapons training for the county. What an opportunity! Matt is an unbelievably good marksman and the county recognized this, I am so excited for him!
And an update on the dream house - unfortunately it shall remain just that, a dream. It was just too much for a one income family such as ours. However we continue to view other houses and I am in the process of getting our current house ready to put on the market. Exciting times!