Predictably Random

Josh and Kenzie are shucking Champions.

2008-08-27T20:31:00.001-07:00

Mackenzie got second place in the corn shucking contest and Joshua got the award for the cleanest corn. We went to the Evergreen Fair on $2 Tuesday. It was the last day before I had to go back to work and the price was right. Mackenzie was also selected as the crowd cheer leader for one of the racing pigs.

Isaiah 40:28-31

2008-08-24T13:35:00.001-07:00

I love this verse and wanted to share it.

New International Version (NIV)

28 Do you not know?
       Have you not heard?
       The LORD is the everlasting God,
       the Creator of the ends of the earth.
       He will not grow tired or weary,
       and his understanding no one can fathom.

29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

31 but those who hope in the LORD
       will renew their strength.
       They will soar on wings like eagles;
       they will run and not grow weary,
       they will walk and not be faint.

Josh Baptized

2008-07-14T21:53:00.001-07:00

We had a great day at the Pilchuck River. We had a bunch of friends and family out for the occasion and most back to our house afterward for some grub. Thanks to everyone for coming. We had a great time. We were busy and only got 5 or 6 pictures. Here are the best 2. If you want to see some other great pics of that day check out grammy dee's farm.

Josh enjoying the river.

Erin and Bella at our house. Thanks for coming! Your welcome to swing by our place anytime.

Ballard Locks

2008-07-06T21:06:00.001-07:00

4th of July Watermelon

2008-07-05T21:17:00.000-07:00

Levi was watching some fireworks, so he put down his watermelon for a moment. My mom found this idea somewhere to cut out the watermelon with cookie cutters and then put it on tongue depressors and freeze. It was delicious.

Camping at Seaside with the Elenbaas Family

2008-06-25T23:26:00.001-07:00

We went camping in Seaside, Oregon this last weekend. We left on Friday and got home on Tuesday night. It was a great trip, our annual camping trip with the Elenbaas family.

On our way out of town we stopped at a gas station for some ice and saw this car with an interesting license plate. I'll let you decide what it means.

We needed to stop for lunch and to get the kids out around Olympia so we got off at the capitol. Parking was...well interesting with Hank attached to the back of the van. We enjoyed lunch downtown by the lake below the capitol. There was a huge grass lawn adjacent to the path around the lake. Across the street was a cool water park, but we didn't have the time to go enjoy it.

There were little fish in the lake and the kids decided to count them.

Back to the car we go. We stopped shortly in Longview for gas and then made it the rest of the way without incident.

We went swimming 3 or 4 times while we were in Seaside. This is one of the kids favorite activities. Once some kid lost a chunk of doody at the side of the pool and then another kid yacked so we had to get out and come back the next day while they cleaned.

Levi loved the water again and this time enjoyed playing with the kickboard. There were a couple of moments where I thought that he swallowed too much water and was going to ralph; thankfully he did not.

Julie was a much better swimmer than I remember from before. She was chasing me and I could hardly get away. She's turning into quite the little fish.

Solon is getting ready to toss Josh into the air.

OK, so it's not the 4th of July, but the shirts are still clean at this point. There's Hank hanging out in the background. Gabe is all smiles. Levi and Gabe were great boys on the trip.

This playground was a very short walk from our campsite. Levi surprised me the entire time he was here. He climbed all over these structures and ropes like he was a monkey. And, after watching Jacob and Josh, he even slid down the pole.

As you can see, the beach was a little cold on the Saturday. Levi needed to wear his coat because of the wind. This guy was riding a dune buggy skateboard while being pulled by the power of his kite. Levi ended up in the ocean which was his week long dream. Coat and all. Joanna was not pleased with me because she didn't want him to get wet and I was letting him play in the waves. He absolutely loved it, but I ended up having to strip him down, bundle him up in a blanket, and carry him to the van. Our beach trip that day ended a bit early. It was a bit too windy to eat lunch there anyway. Sorry Joanna.

Here is Alyssa being a cutie at the beach.

The boys and girls took turns doing the dishes. The boys were thrilled about this.

On Sunday we went into town. The kids rode the carousel and went on the bumper cars. We ate lunch on the promenade and then found a couple of geocaches at the beach.

Lewis, Clark, Seaman the dog, and the Allinson's

Sara took some family photos at the beach for us and this is the best one Solon got with our camera. I like it. Thanks guys.

Movies at night for the adults. We watched Fool's Gold one night and The Bucket List the next. I went to bed early on the first movie night because I had already seen it and was a bit tired. The boys slept in well every day. We Josh and Kenzie were little we would be up at the crack of dawn with the kids while camping. Well, it was a great trip. Until the next one...

Harry Potter Puppet Pals

2008-06-14T21:28:00.000-07:00

I have read the first 2 or 3 Harry Potter books way back when and I did enjoy them. I just haven't felt like reading the rest. Maybe it's because I wont let my kids read them.

Anyway... If you like Harry Potter at all, or even if you don't you have to see this youtube video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx1XIm6q4r4

A few students in the following video are in my class and performed the following at our Prom assembly. I though it was great and learned that they were performing a popular youtube video. I went home and watched the link I put above, and then found my students were now on there as well.

Check that out here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnVWj8P9jvs

I hope you enjoyed them.

Amazon.com: "Learn Advanced Mathematics on Your Own"

2008-06-13T22:51:00.001-07:00

I want to read every book that is on this page. I'm fairly sure there is no one else out there who I know that would also enjoy these titles. Check it out.

Amazon.com: "Learn Advanced Mathematics on Your Own"

AJ's in Papua New Guinea

2008-06-09T21:00:00.000-07:00

Visit the latest info on his trip here.

Tim Hawkins

2008-06-08T20:36:00.001-07:00

This guy is a funny comedian. His homeschool family song sounds like some of the homeschool families we have met. It's worth checking this out. Tim Hawkins.

An Evening in Paris

2008-06-06T23:13:00.001-07:00

Joanna surprised Mackenzie and I with tickets to 'An Evening in Paris' which was a father/daughter evening with dinner, dancing and fun. It was a fund raiser for the pregnancy resource center in Everett. We had a great time and Mackenzie said that she had the best time of her life. I have to admit it was a great time. We had dinner together and then Mackenzie was ready to dance the night away. We did a lot of different kind of dancing from the Macarena, to line dancing, to swing dancing. disco, and the twist. I taught Mackenzie how to do the pretzel and she is good at it. She also loves to twirl. There was a little 12 inch stage at the front and during the slow dances I put her on it. It was a better height because I'm so much taller than her. We also went out on the party deck and enjoyed looking at the sailboats. The event was at the Everett Yacht Club. We'll definitely have to put it on the calendar for next year.

Josh takes apart the computer

2008-06-06T16:03:00.001-07:00

Josh took apart our old computer for his science fair project. He had a great time taking it apart. We talked about what all the parts were called while he was doing it. Above is the hard drive. This computer had a extra space to slide another one in if you wanted to expand the memory. Below, Josh removes the power from each component.

Technorati Tags: computer,dissasemble,science

Below, Josh is pretending to punch the mother board. I'm really not quite sure why, but he is a boy. That board is pretty spiky and I'm sure he would have been sorry should he have punched it.

Hank

2008-05-30T22:17:00.001-07:00

So, we went camping on Memorial Day Weekend and Hank made his full weekend debut. He treated us well and the weekend was a blast. Levi made a huge transition into crazy man at the pool. He is not afraid to jump off the side right into the pool. I have to make sure I'm watching carefully because he doesn't care if I'm looking or not. He jumps in blind faith. Oh to have the faith of a child.

Levi

2008-05-29T16:16:00.001-07:00

I just thought that it was time to share a picture and so...

Google Desktop, Feeds and my new Laptop

2008-05-27T22:47:00.001-07:00

I do have some pictures to update my blog, however I am working on connecting my network at home with my new laptop. I am able to get on the Internet and I have even printed once wirelessly but it was a fleeting moment and the connection is continually posing an issue. I think it's mostly due to the fact that I'm using Windows Vista on my laptop and Windows XP on my desktop.

Something you may be interested in... I went to the bottom of each person's blog and clicked a link that says subscribe to posts. After I did this on every blog I frequent, there was a list of feeds in Internet Explorer. It's somewhere near where you would find History. Then on my computer I have a section on the right that has live content. I added my feeds and now whenever someone posts a blog it shows up.

Before this, I would occasionally make it to all your blogs for an update on what was going on in all your lives. I would regularly read your blogs, yet I would fail to comment because I couldn't keep up with everyone's latest news. I'm not promising that I will comment on every post, but I will be more likely to.

If this doesn't work for you I think you can add all your blogs to Google reader. This way they would still all be in one place so you don't have to check so many blog's all the time. Pheww time saver.

Once I get my network all connected I will post some pictures. Maybe before if it isn't working.

Flowing Lake

2008-05-17T20:40:00.000-07:00

Today was beautiful and we took advantage of it by going to flowing lake. It's near us, so it was a short drive. Everyone had a great time. Levi actually somehow got a fish hook stuck in his leg with some line on it. Joanna just pulled it out and he didn't fuss a bit. We were very lucky on that one that it wasn't in him further. Also, he already had his tetnus shot. On the way home we picked up some meat to grill and also stopped by a garage sale where everything was free. We scored a cuisinart ice cream maker and some other various things. Then we had fun in the yard by bringing out the little pool. By the time we had dinner, it was very relaxing to just sit around outside. I hope you all have been enjoying the great weather as well.

Camping with Hank

2008-05-13T21:08:00.000-07:00

We recently purchased a used, new to us, tent trailer and we named him Hank. We went camping at the Thousand Trails in Grandy Creek, near Concrete and Baker Lake. Joanna came down with Strep Throat and I had to ruin the fun and call the trip. She was willing to stay... :0 Anyway, we still let the kids play on Saturday on the big bounce pillow for quite a while before and after lunch. They loved it. It is somehow fun for all ages. They should have an adult hour. We also climbed the rock wall. I'm looking forward to some more camping this summer.

Spring Family Photo

2008-05-05T22:54:00.000-07:00

Sara took some great shots of our family. It was hard because of all the squirmers, and it was a little bit too sunny. We love the photos. We also saw the pics she took at our niece Sara's wedding recently and they were amazing. Some of them are on her blog in a little slide show. Thanks Sara!

Boys with Sticks!

2008-05-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

Gabriel is getting bigger and sits really well. He still isn't really crawling which is kind of nice. Levi has been doing really well with not getting sick. He often goes up to Gabe and gives him a big hug.

The Story of Stuff

2008-04-23T19:37:00.000-07:00

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

You have to watch this!!!!!

Resources for buying/getting stuff that is not new.
http://www.freecycle.org/
http://www.craigslist.org/

Seattle Freeday Thursday

2008-04-05T10:42:00.000-07:00

We went to Seattle on Thursday and enjoyed some great treats for free. On the first Thursday of the month, SAM(Seattle Art Museum) is free. The museum of flight is also free from 5-9. We checked out both and Pike Place.

First we parked below post alley and went to SAM. It was a little bit of a pain because they don't allow baby backpacks and Joanna and I both had a kid in one. So we had to borrow a stroller. It was cool to look around, although it is more for older kids/people. There were also a few things we had to shield the kids from. That being said, there were also some things that the kids enjoyed like the african manican things with masks. Many were kids sized.

Then we went to the car to feed the meter and headed back up to pike place. We walked around and bought some produce and flowers for mom. We also got a picture with the pig. We contemplated buying a salmon but I decided that it was too expensive. The kids were surprised yet again by the monk fish on a string. Then we headed back to the car down post alley and stopped by the gum wall. We didn't have any gum, but a guy was there with some friends and happily gave us some. The kids thought it was really cool.

2 blocks back to the car for another meter feeding and then 1 block over to Ivars. We decided to eat outside and the seagulls were everywere. Levi enjoyed feeding them. It's cool that the outside Ivar's fish bar is right next to the firestation. We also got to see some ferries come and go.

Then we loaded up and headed down to the museum of flight. Levi was in love with all the airplanes. Since he was very young he has always heard the airplanes flying over and been amazed. He loved sitting in the cockpits. In the world war I exhibit, it sounds like airplanes are flying all above you. He kept looking up, watchign for them.

The next day, the kids wrote about their favorite part of the day. I'll include them below.

Josh:
I went to the Ivar's seafood bar in Seattle. We sat outside next to the seagulls and the pigeons and the little birds. After we ate, we fed them the extra bread from the clam chowder I ate. They also liked the clumps of coleslaw we fed them and they fought over it. I love Ivar's.

Mackenzie:
I went to the gum wall with Josh. We stuck gum on the wall. It was fun. It is in Seattle. It is colorful. We half to go home now. The end.

Gramma Cathy and the Zoo

2008-04-04T14:17:00.001-07:00

Gramma Cathy just moved into town and the kids are thrilled to be able to see her more often. She came over to visit for a couple of days and we went to the zoo. We also cleaned the garage and some bedrooms. Ahh... spring break. It started with 3 days of snow, so we were glad able to get outside and enjoy the sun.

March Madness!

2008-03-30T11:55:00.001-07:00

Well, March has been a blur. I haven't even watched a basketball game from the NCAA tournament. Here is an update on what everyone is up to.

Me: I went to math day at the UW and took 40 students with me. Really, this was the first school field trip that I actually organized. It was a great time and we got to listen to some cool speakers. The main speaker was a fisheries guy and he explained how math is used to keep track of the fish populations and keep them fished to an optimal level where the catch can be maximized. I also have just gotten my Loan Originators license. I am working with secure financial center and I am really excited about working the numbers to help people get a loan. If you need to refinance or want to buy let me know and I will help you out. I will definantly have your best interest in mind.

AJ is leaving Monday for a 5 month training and world mission trip. He managed to raise/earn all the money needed and he stopped by yesterday to say goodbye. I hope he has a great trip. The kids love him and will mis him stopping by.

Mackenzie: She has lost a bunch of teeth lately and now has one of her adult teeth coming in on top. She's been playing with her friend Juliana next door a bunch and is a big helper around the house with Levi and Gabriel. She likes to help in the kitchen too.

Gabriel: He has been a little sick lately and I'm not sure if it's teething or something else. Actually he was doing quite well today. He has two bottom little teeth and they are very sharp. He's a real charmer and loves his jumper.

Lily: She had 4 kittens a couple of weeks ago and they are all really cute. She keeps them under the stairs and we try to keep the kids away from them as much as possible. The kids are actually great about it and leave them alone. It's our visitors that really like to get in there and see them.

Levi: He's doing very well with his alergies. He hasn't thrown up at night or had diarhea for at least a month. It's been so great. He's talking a lot more and his favorite thing to do is play hide and seek. Joanna is constantly working on finding things that Levi will like and also some things to put his supplements in that will mask the taste.
By the way it has snowed for 3 days straight and it'smarch 30th during my spring
break, and after easter. What's up with that?

Joshua: He plans on playing football in the fall and has been saving up some money to pay for some gear. He plays with Spencer, his friend next door, as much as he can. He's also reading books as much as possible.

Joanna: She has been slaving away in the kitchen making special foods for Levi and the rest of the family. It's rare that dinner is not delicious. In fact, my belly can't remember the last time. I need to force myself to eat smaller portions. She is really excited about a homeschool conference that we will be attending soon. She's also working hard at home schooling the little stinkers. Add in a little nursing at night, a whole lot of cleaning and there isn't much time for anything else. I try to let her sneak out of here when I can. It's nice for her when she can even just go shopping on her own.

California Homeschool Law

2008-03-13T20:54:00.000-07:00

If you've followed the news lately California courts have made a blanket statement on a court case saying that parents are not legally allowed to homeschool(in California) unless they have a teaching degree.

Joanna and I strongly believe that parents should have the right to educate their children without a teaching degree. So we both signed the HSLDA petition.

Even if you haven't personally chosen to homeschool, it's vitally important that parents retain their rights to educate their own children! Personal convictions aside, home education is statistically a great choice for academic reasons.

As parents, we value our right to make decisions regarding raising and educating our children, and for us, that includes not heading off to a school building for 8 hours every day.

You do not even have to have children or live in California to sign the petition. Please consider.

Old Pics

2008-03-11T22:00:00.000-07:00

I was looking through our older photos and found some that I'd like to share. Here they are.

Here we are at Disneyland with Tigger.

This is at North Bend.

Uncle Chris, Josh and Mackenzie.

Me before I was taller than Sara.

Josh kissing a llama.

Mackenzie with great grandma Jeanne.

Josh and I at the Monsters Inc. Disney on ice show.

Mackenzie, Josh and Kameron. I think this was at a birthday party for grandpa Omar.

Mackenzie at the pool.

"Come on dad let's ride!"

Joanna and I at a Young Life dress-up night.

Grandpa and Josh under the pier in California when we went to see Mike.

Joanna wearing my crazy rocker wig.

The Elenbaas and Allinson kids during camping one summer.

Gabriel's First Bite and Levi's a Chicken

2008-03-10T21:02:00.000-07:00

Levi has been talking a ton lately and it's been fun. He's putting a bunch of words together and he's starting to copy anything we say more than he was before. He's also back on the binkie. I think it's more to do with getting him off of the foods that have been causing him some issues. We are very thankful and praise God for his good health.

Gabriel is trying out his brother's high chair.

Gabe was all in for his first high chair feeding experience. He was opening wide and grabbing the spoon/my hand to get the food in his mouth as quick as possible. He did a fairly good job keeping it in his mouth as well. He had rice cereal with breast milk. The kids thought that was kind of funny and Josh was alarmed when I told him that we also put the breast milk in our soup. ha ha.

Here he is pulling it in.

Costco Cart Buddies

2008-03-06T19:40:00.000-08:00

Levi and Gabriel riding together in a costco cart. Today we went to pick up a ton of stuff at Costco. Joanna had the list and we were out of there in no time(1 hr. or so) Gabe is actually big enough and strong enough to sit in the cart. I thought that I was going to be holding him up a bunch, but I didn't have to at all. It also helped Levi to feel more comfortable in the cart. Now that he wasn't the only one in there he really didn't want to get out - he squirmed a little. We had to rush home because Mackenzie has an appointment to read to Epic at the library at 7. She's really excited because he was sick for their last scheduled time and she finally gets to read to him. Epic is a dog. Mackenzie brought the book, "Go Dog Go," to read to him.

Test

2008-03-03T21:47:00.000-08:00

I'm sending this post with picture from my email. It's a setting that I didn't know was available and so I thought that I would give it a try. Maybe I'll like it better. We'll have to see. It's suppose to take the picture and test. Well, here it goes.

Jumping Gabriel

2008-03-02T17:27:00.000-08:00

Joanna found a jumper and Gabe loves it. At first I didn't think he would jump in it. I was wrong. Check out the video. Do you see him getting his feet off the ground? This kid is a jumper. I think he might be a basketball star in the making.

Note: I can see the video in my preview of the posting, but right now it doesn't show up on the post. I'll see if I can fix it.

Joanna's Blog

2008-03-01T20:49:00.001-08:00

Joanna started a blog and she's likely to be more specific and also write more clearly than me, a math nerd. Anyway, you don't have to check on her site if you check mine because I've included a link to her site on the right. You can also see what her latest blog titles are. If you've already read them, then you don't have to check another page.

It's time to catch up!

2008-02-28T19:48:00.000-08:00

These photos are way out of order. But I'll put a little caption by each. Here is the second half of our February. Also during this month not documented with photos... I took and passed my Loan Originator License test and we have been dealing with refinancing as well. I have been teaching an SAT prep class and the kids started going to a homeschool co-op on Mondays for a couple of hours with mom. Joanna went to a Freezer meal day to pre-prepare a bunch of meals. I think she made 25 or 30. For the things that we did photograph, we end up with a lot less pictures than we used to.

Cambria came by for a visit on the way through our area and it was nice for Joanna and her to get caught up on each others lives. Gretchen is a few months older than Gabriel. Isn't she cute?

A rare picture of Grammy without her camera. Usually she'd be the one taking the picture. However, that would be a little difficult to do of yourself. Anyway, it was nice to be able to get this shot. She and the boys are having a great time.

Joshua and Mackenzie are making me my birthday dinner. It was really good. Part of it was a Caesar salad.

This is all the kids at children's Hospital in Seattle. We've been dealing with Levi's alergies, and other issues lately. We're hoping to figure out what's going on with him. There is too much to type right here, but I can say that he's had a healthy 2 weeks in a row. Yeah! The pig that they are on is from a part of a fundraiser called Pigs on Parade.
There are these cool different pigs all over Seattle. It reminds me of the horses on the Hanagen that Dee is involved with in Bellingham. Cool ideas! After Children's, we went to the zoo to check out the animals. It was before noon, and most were sleeping. Well... the Gorillas and Bears anyway.

Family Movie Night! The kids love it.

Maille and Mackenzie had a great time playing when the Rollo's came to visit. Mackenzie also learned a couple of new funny songs.

Grandma Allinson meets Gabe for the first time at Nicoles wedding at my Dad's place. It was a nice wedding and Mackenzie was actually the one practically curled up in Grandma's lap most of the night.

Levi was playing in this tote and having a great time. I also made a little video but was having trouble converting it last week and couldn't get it to post. Well, I guess a picture will have to do. It is worth a thousand words.

Can you see Josh, Mackenzie and Me in the webcam photo. If you're not familiar with the photo, It's Western Washington University's Red Square. I called a friend and had him save the photo while we were in front of the webcam. It was fun and also part of a special kind of Geocache.

This is Levi playing with toys and water in the sink. Joanna decided that this was a great fun idea and boy was she right. We were having trouble with Levi trying to get into and climb onto everything. Now he stays in one spot and plays. I think he feels like he's getting away with something.

Here, I'm wondering what to have off the menu for my birthday dinner. Mackenzie was a great waitress. Gabe was hoping that I'd give him a bite. It didn't happen.

When we went to Bellingham we stayed at a hotel and the kids all had a great time in the pool. They were also amazed by the cable TV in the room. Man I hate commercials.
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This is Josh and Levi when the Rollo's visited. Josh and Lydia played when they were little. Josh wasn't sure he wanted to play with a girl. He's a little girl shy. But, when he found out that she wanted to play x-box he warmed up a bit. Pretty soon they were joking around and he found out that he got along with her good after all. He must get the feeling that all girls are going to be like his sister.

Move over Tetris, hello .....

2008-02-23T13:42:00.000-08:00

I used to play video games and some computer games, but I have to admit I don't play much anymore. I found this game recently online and love it. It was created by students at digipen technology institute. You can download it for free at www.bontago.com or at the link on the right with my other links. If you have computers on the same network you can play easily with friends. I think you can play over the inernet as well, but it may be slow.

Smiley Gabe

2008-02-12T19:20:00.000-08:00

Gabriel is such a little smiler. We really enjoy making and watching him laugh and smile. He's definitely good for a little entertainment.

Levi Turns 2!

2008-02-03T12:02:00.000-08:00

I haven't been on the computer for awhile due to: swim lessons, sick kids, refinancing the house, cloth diapers, baking our own granola and bread, and a few other various things. Anyway it was Levi's birthday... so we went to the zoo. We only got about ten pictures so I'll show off the good ones. I know there were some other picture takers there that got some good ones and we would love to see those.
Levi thought that the Jaguar was amazing. Here, he looks on with incredible interest at this huge cat.
I think that Josh thinks he's the lion.

Mackenzie and Aurezuh were running around together a bunch today holding hands as they wandered here and there.

Grandpa or "Papa" as Levi calls him holds baby Gabriel at the zoo.

Levi loves to play my guitar and keeps bringing it out of my room to get me to play it. Then he gets ahold of a pick and wants to join the show.
Josh, Kenzie and I went geocaching and discovered this bicycle junkyard/museum. It was pretty cool.

AJ and Kris's Beer-fo-mercial

2008-01-21T23:00:00.000-08:00

Two guys that were in Younglife when I was a leader and were in my bible study now work with Younglife and Wyldlife. They are great guys and you have to see this video that they concocted out of thin air. The Wyldlife kids loved it.

AJ

Kris

Itsy Bitsy Spider

2008-01-13T09:03:00.000-08:00

Levi likes the Itsy Bitsy Spider song and wanted to do a little demonstration for all of you. He hopes you enjoy it.

Levi and Gabriel

2008-01-12T18:21:00.000-08:00

Here, Levi and Gabe are just chilling on the couch. Sweet little boys.

Human Clock

2008-01-07T19:14:00.001-08:00

I thought that this was a cool idea. You should watch a few of them and also scroll down to see if you want to make some changes. Check it out at humanclock.com.

Piano Man Levi

2008-01-06T20:57:00.000-08:00

Here is Levi at my Dad's on Christmas. He loved playing that piano.

Missing Tooth

2008-01-05T20:33:00.000-08:00

Mackenzie lost her tooth today. It was really wiggly and she has no problem wriggling it around to help get it out. She even let me put dental floss around it and yank it out without a peep. It kind of made a pop sound too. Don't worry it was really loose. Like dangling from a corner loose.

Homemade Pizza

2008-01-05T11:23:00.000-08:00

We made a homemade pizza yesterday. It was oh so yummy. Joanna planned everything out and started the dough. I finished the dough and it ended up being too much. Instead of just not using some, I just didn't flatten it as much. After 15 min in the oven it looked like a balloon. We had forgotten to poke holes with a fork. Well, we then proceeded to poke some holes and it came down. It then had to cook another 30 minutes because I made it so thick. All in all it was delicious and I thought it looked cool too. Mackenzie helped Mommy put on the toppings. The best part was that Levi could eat the crust because it didn't have milk in it. We also left cheese off part of it for him. -- The cost was way cheaper too.
The recipe is at this site, We had to make it by hand and there are directions for either with a bread machine or by hand.

Chocolate Soy Pudding

2008-01-03T14:34:00.000-08:00

Grammy Dee had bought Levi some chocolate soy pudding knowing that he couldn't have the normal stuff. He's allergic to dairy. SO... We bought him some more at Fred Myers. They have a lot of organic, vegan, and other things not found in most grocery stores. Well I thought that I would show you all how much he likes it. Suzy, Here's my chocolate mess. I'm sure I don't really need to say that it was straight to the bath right after this.

Mackenzie's Dolls

2007-12-28T19:39:00.001-08:00

Mackenzie loves playing with her dolls. This Christmas we got her the American girl biddy twins. Grammy Dee and Grandpa got her the white doll furniture. She either plays dolls by herself, with Levi, or with her neighbor friend Juliana. Occasionally dad will play a little too... I'm not afraid to admit it. I will also admit that I'm not very good at it. Kenzie seems to always know what to do next with the little buggers.

Walmart Deal

2007-12-28T11:48:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Josh had some money and we were at Walmart for the some post Christmas deals... Like wrapping paper and stuff. We were checking out the Legos and found the Exo-Force Mobile Devastator that was open with a little tape from a return and one side ripped open. On the Walmart site it says that the cost is $88.88. It's not even available to buy there. It is also stated as unavailable at the Lego site. Josh has really been interested in Exo-Force so I suggested that we bring it up to the counter and find out if they would give us a discount. I knew it was between $89.00 and $100.00 retail price. The lady at the counter said that she could discount it 10%. I asked her if she would get the manager to see if she would discount it more. When the manager came she also said 10%. I said that I was concerned that some pieces may be missing and I thought that it should be discounted for that possibility. She didn't budge. Then I suggested we ring it up and see what the price was. It came up as $49.99 on the register and then the manager said she would sell it for $25.00. Little did she know she may have had me at $50.00. Oh well Walmart... Roll back those prices. Josh got a great deal. He was all smiles.

I got a similar deal at a Walmart in Wyoming on our trip back from Colorado. It was for the Lego Basketball court and the top half of the box was ripped off. We got the whole court for under $5.00. It was over $50.00 normally and I was haggling for a percentage off and contemplating the purchase when she rang it up it was about $4.97 or something. She still took the percentage off that she promised without any prompting from me. I think we ended up paying 3 something.

I'm Dreaming of a white Christmas!

2007-12-26T13:54:00.000-08:00

Well, Almost. The day after Christmas as we were eating breakfast Josh noticed that it was snowing. It was coming down really hard and even though the ground was very wet it still starting sticking after about 15 min. I thought it was going to stop, but it didn't. We got about 2-3 inches and had a ton of fun outside in it. It was Gabriel's first time in the snow and Levi loved the sledding.

Mom and Gabe look great out in the snow together.

I've always wanted to build an igloo, but either haven't had enough snow or it wasn't sticky enough. Today we had both. We I was little I remember my uncle pat building one at his place just outside of Sedro-Woolley. I think it was a place across the street from the river, but I'm not sure. If anyone has a picture of that igloo I'd love to see it. (Mom?)

Levi loved sledding he wanted to go over and over again. And every single time he had a huge smile on his face.

Sugar Cookies!

2007-12-23T14:04:00.001-08:00

Here is a look at our sugar cookie frosting this year. We always make them on christmas eve and then leave some for "santa". We are doing christmas eve tonight and christmas tomorrow so we don't have to much crazyness all in one day. And I know it sounds like it, but we don't normally have them both on the same day. It's just that we are driving to Bellingham on the real Christmas morning. It looks like they are eating more than they are frosting. I think that proves they taste good.

Levi and Carmelo

2007-12-23T10:48:00.000-08:00

Angel

2007-12-18T20:41:00.000-08:00

Every year we let the kids take turns putting up the Angel. Josh put it up two years ago and MacKenzie was last year. This year Levi got his chance and next year will be Gabriel. What a rotation. It's like waiting for the next leap year. Not getting to do it for a few years may even make it more memorable. Anyway, it's a fun tradition.

Photoshop Fun

2007-12-11T16:18:00.000-08:00

MacKenzie and I played around on photoshop until we found some cool pictures we liked. Here they are.

Allinson Castle

2007-12-10T21:16:00.000-08:00

The teacher next door to me just got two large book carts for math books and I ran away with the boxes. Once we got them home, I started to find the castle in them with my box knife. I knew it was in there somewhere. Sure enough it turned into a castle and the kids have already gotten some good play time out of it. Joanna and the kids are just finishing up a unit on medieval times so it's perfect timing for a culminating project. The kids want to put on a play using the castle. We'll see if that's still on the books tomorrow. Levi only got to enjoy it for a short while before bed however he did say, "thanks, Dad." There still need to be some finishing touches. We'll have to add some strings for the drawbridge and some sort of roof for the two front bulging tower things.

Decorating our Tree

2007-12-08T19:33:00.000-08:00

Our Little Reindeer

2007-12-08T16:48:00.001-08:00

Here is Gabe in his Seahawks jacket from grandpa Cobb and his little Reindeer antlers from grandma Cathy. What a little dear.

Geocaching with Grandpa

2007-12-04T20:14:00.001-08:00

Geocaching web site. We went on our first geocaching trip today. A teacher at my school let me borrow his old GPS unit. It was great. Grandpa was dropping Josh off from their trip to Chelan and so we took him along with us. We all had a great time. You can check the website above, but here's the basics. Geocaching is a 'treasure' hunting game. People hide a cache somewhere and then enter the latitude and longitude from their gps(global positioning system)online saying that there is a cache in the location. Then, someone sees that there is a cache in their area on the website, puts the coordinates into their gps and then tries to go and find it. The cache has things in it. Josh took an X-box game and Mackenzie took a little tiny stuffed animal. Josh left a stretchy frog and Mackenzie left a strawberry shortcake toy. I took a travel bug for diabetes tag that I record online that I took, and then I place it in another cache the next time I find one. It would be good fun for a college student I would think. Check out the site above and give it a try yourself.

Little Dimple Boy

2007-12-03T10:50:00.000-08:00

We got Levi's allergy results the other day. He is alergic to Egg, Dairy, Peanuts and Cashews. We are suppose to still stay away from other tree nuts. He's been really healty for the past couple weeks. :).

Elf Yourself

2007-12-01T10:19:00.000-08:00

I got an email from my mom where my Uncle Tom and his family had elfed themselves. So the kids wanted to elf themselves as well. Here they are. Click here and you can see them live. Thanks for the email mom. The kids thought this was great.

Cookie Cutters

2007-11-29T15:24:00.000-08:00

Grandma Dee sent us home with some cookie dough that is safe for Levi the last time we were up. The kids really enjoyed rolling out the dough and putting the cookie cutters on. Levi kept trying to grab a chunk of dough a take a bite out of it. He was successful on many occasions. I let him sit up on the table so that he could really get into the action.

Lego Maniac

2007-11-28T20:47:00.000-08:00

Josh still had some money he had been saving from when he sold his gamecube. When we went to the sales after thanksgiving, there were some Lego sets half off at Toys R Us. Josh bought a Viking set that had this huge dragon and a double catapult to boot. He really enjoys the challenge of putting it together.

Little Brothers

2007-11-27T18:47:00.000-08:00

Levi is such a great older brother. He's really cute with Gabe. He likes to cuddle up to him and give him hugs and kisses. Gabe is getting so much bigger. I had to move the straps on the car seat up to the highest setting today - granted there are only 2 settings.

Let's go Camping

2007-11-26T10:34:00.000-08:00

We were rearranging the closet and out came the kids tent. I set it up and Levi loved it. It's a great time of year to camp inside. Josh and Kenzie are going to take turns sleeping in it for the next couple of nights. Levi put his sword in the key bag on the side of the tent. What a cute kid.

It's Puzzle Time

2007-11-25T11:25:00.000-08:00

Josh and Mackenzie were thrilled to finish this puzzle. I remember doing puzzles when I was growing up with my mom and with family during thanksgiving once as well. Anyway, they are lots of fun.

Josh the Cook

2007-11-24T22:45:00.000-08:00

Josh got a Border's gift card from grandma Cathy for his birthday. He chose a book about dragons and a kids cooking book.
Yesterday he made Caesar Salad and it was really good. I told him that all he would need to do is add some strips of chicken and it could be a dinner. He said, "Don't temp me."
This morning he wanted to make these blueberry pancakes. There were about 6 ingredients. I decided to just leave it to him and just played in the other room with Levi. He even doubled the recipe. Mackenzie was the first to try one and she told him they were disgusting and it was surprising to me that she was actually mad at him?? She got sent to her room and later got to eat some. We didn't let her eat anything else because she was so rude. Joanna as the mom felt like she needed to eat them so she smothered them with syrup. It cracks me up just thinking of it again. I ate a little bit also for Josh's sake. Josh just finished cleaning up when we were done and he sat down to have a bite. He took one bite and looked at us like we were crazy to have eaten some. I can't remember exactly what he said because I high-tailed it out of there for a good laugh in the other room.
We looked over the recipe to see what went wrong. I thought that he put in too much salt but he assured me and even showed me what measurements he used. Everything seemed fine, he actually had done everything correct. Then I asked him to show me the baking powder he put in. He opened the fridge and out came the BAKING SODA! 6 teaspoons of that will add a little sodium to your meal. I know I've meet my daily allowance for baking soda today... maybe for the whole week. Joanna's probably good for the whole month.
Side note: This picture was taken before anyone had tasted the meal.

Free Rice

2007-11-18T11:55:00.000-08:00

Help world hunger and strengthen your vocabulary at the same time. It's a win-win proposition. Check it out at this site. Free Rice.
Please send others here too so that they can help as well.

Veteren's Day

2007-11-12T20:59:00.001-08:00

We had a busy day today. This morning I got up and started working on all the apples that Dad sent home with us last night. Levi and I worked on the peeling. Josh was helpful during peeling as well. Mackenzie was still sleeping.

Joanna and I got some puzzles for the kids to do and last night we started one and really went to town on it. We managed to get the balloons all finished before we went to bed. Josh found it in the morning and took care of the rest. I chipped in here and there. He was really happy to get it done. Josh put in the last piece.

I was about to just make all the apples into applesauce when Joanna reminded me how nice it was when we made apple pie mix last year. Josh thought that apple pie would be an awesome idea as well. It smelled delicious.

Levi wanted to get right in there and help. After all the canning, we went to Joshua's soccer party and then to father/son Lego night. Fun day. On the way home we listened to the Seahawks game where they won 24-0.

A day at Grandpa and Grammy's farm

2007-11-11T20:47:00.000-08:00

We went up to Bellingham today to see family. Levi was happy to see some animals as well. He thought it was great that they wanted to smell his hand. It was lucky someone hadn't fed them yet because they came running up like pigs after some slop.

Mackenzie, Skyler, and Bella were out tromping around to see the animals as well and the girls kept hugging Mackenzie. They were really excited to see her. I must admit she loved it.

Grammy Dee very happy to hold baby Gabe.

If you wonder what it would be like to have 8 kids between 1 and 10... Well Dinner looks like this. What a crew. Do you think the parents would get to eat?

Here's all the cousins on my side of the family.

Halloween

2007-10-31T20:50:00.001-07:00

Here are all the kids all dressed in their Halloween best. Gabe is a bear. Someone gave us the outfit at Joanna's shower. It's a little big, but really cute. Levi is a lion and in this picture he had just gotten up from a nap. He was pretty cranky. 5 minutes later as we were going outside to trick-or-treat he was all smiles. He thought it was great going up to people's doors. Mackenzie is a beautiful princess. Grandma Cathy made her costume during her visit last month. Josh is Zorro. We had a couple other costumes, but he insisted on Zorro and bought all the parts himself. He got most of the costume at value village and the only part that came together was the mask and hat. His favorite part is the whip.

After trick-or-treating we went to church for a ton of games. The older three played all the games and jumped in the bounce house. Josh even won some cupcakes in the cake walk. They had a cool backdrop seen here to take pictures. Mackenzie and Josh used their hats for candy because we forgot to bring bags.

Grandpa Cobb came over for trick-or-treating and walked around with the kids. He always likes to come over on Halloween and see the kids all dressed up. I remember him always going over to Juli's house too when her kids were little so he could take them around the block. Gabe is looking pretty comfortable in grandpa's arms.

Dinobrothers

2007-10-29T20:07:00.000-07:00

You can't really tell, but Levi and Gabriel have matching dinosaur shirts on. I really liked this picture and wanted to share it.

Levi's First Haircut

2007-10-28T20:02:00.000-07:00

Mackenzie has been growing a pumpkin since late fall early summer. Only one pumpkin grew on the vine and it never turned orange. She was still proud of it and wanted to scoop out the insides. Levi helped with the project and they were kept busy for quite a while scooping.

Levi's hair was getting a little long so we decided it was time for a trim. Aunti Juli started out and was really careful not to cut too much. She was doing a great job, but then somehow she handed me the scissors and boy did I go to work. I cut it all down to finger length. Levi was great the whole time. First he was eating chips and salsa. When he finished that we gave him a sucker. Then after his bath to wash off the excess hair I gave him a little fauxhawk. He sure does look like a cute little boy. I don't think we'll get many comments now on what a cute girl he is. Or our other favorite, how nice... you have two of each.

Uncle Ken was thrilled to stop by and visit so he could see his newest nephew. Gabe looks content. Levi really liked his cousin Rachel this time especially. He kept going over to play with her.

Gabriel is expanding.

2007-10-26T22:45:00.000-07:00

Gabe was over 10 pounds and 23.5 inches at his 1 month check up a couple of weeks ago and I realized that some of you out there may want to know that valuable and extremely important information. But seriously, he has smiled at us a few times. It's always cute to see that when they're so little, whatever the reason. This picture was just after he took a shower with me. He liked the warm water and was really wide eyed, but not really bushy tailed. He's on our bed right now fighting to try to roll over onto his back. He can make it up onto one shoulder all kicking and squirming, but he doesn't quite have the technique down for the full roll. This is not an often occurrence, but he does like to keep his head up when he's on his belly.

Josh was trying on some hand-me-down shirts today and Levi thought that he should try one on too. He loved it and didn't want to take off the dress(shirt). Then Levi noticed us cheering for Gabe who was trying to reach for his toys above the swing.
Whenever Gabriel is in his swing Levi notices that we bend over to look at him and talk to him. Levi came right over, bent over and stared clapping for his little brother. I think it's rather obvious that he doesn't really need to do the bending.

We rented Evan Almighty last night and after watching it decided it was ok for the kids. Josh and Mackenzie thought that it was hilarious. They especially liked the part where he tried to go outside and get the mail. Levi enjoyed seeing all the animals. After watching the movie the kids were playing upstairs for awhile. When they came down they were all "haired out" with toilet paper to try and look like Evan Almighty. Joshua's beard is a little on the long side. I thought the whole thing was really funny. What creative little buggers they are. And so without further ado.... I present to you Josh and Kenzie Almighty.

Pumpkin Farm

2007-10-22T20:39:00.000-07:00

We visited the pumpkin farm with the Elenbaas Family. We were not there long and thankfully it is only 10 minutes from our house. Gabe doesn't make it very far without wanting some yummies. Levi loved the maze and he also got to shoot a pumpkin from the cannon. He liked it, but wanted to keep the pumpkin.

Muddy Day

2007-10-20T20:44:00.001-07:00

I barely made it to the end of Joshua's game due to the pizza party for the end of Mackenzie's season. The field Josh was playing on was ridiculously muddy as you can see in the picture. Bath's were necessary for all after the day's games.

Mackenzie was happy to get a trophy. She had a great season. There was maybe one game she didn't score some goals in.

Mackenzie and teammates getting ready for the other team to do a corner kick.

Joanna and Gabe in his new Moose outfit from Grandma Cathy.

Levi thought that it would be great to try on some of Gabriel's clothes. They don't quite fit, but hey they look great. A lot of people have that motto. Levi also went poop on his potty today. He sat on it and wouldn't get up. I kept asking him if he was done or wanted to play and he would say, "no." Then after about 5 or 10 minutes he had gone poop. It was a pretty big one for all those curious. We flushed it down the toilet and Levi said bye-bye to it. Josh and I thought that it was too bad I didn't take a picture to put on the blog for everyone to see. oh well.

Pumkin Box

2007-10-16T21:23:00.000-07:00

We went to Safeway the other day and they were combining their pumpkins that were left and getting rid of boxes. Joanna got the guy to give us one of the boxes and we brought it home. I didn't really want to deal with it because it was a pain to get home, but it turned out to be a great idea. I set it up in the living room and cut a door in it. The kids have been playing in it constantly. They have blankets in it and pillows. Josh reads in there and Levi likes to hide in it. They have written things and drawn pictures all over the inside as well. I highly recommend getting one yourself.

Fun Saturday

2007-10-13T22:35:00.001-07:00

Today after Joshua's 9am soccer game Grandpa Omar came down with Kameron. The kids all had a great time playing. They painted these pumpkins below and were very proud of them. Kameron had picked a bunch of apples for us before they came down and while the kids were painting I was making apple sauce. It was a great busy day.

It's official, Gabe likes Grandpa Omar.

Goodbye Grandma

2007-10-12T20:40:00.000-07:00

Well, I was trying to upload these pictures for a few days and blogger was having some trouble. I was only able to get the blueberry picture uploaded. Anyway, the kids were all sad to see grandma go, although they do enjoy a nice drive to the airport.
Mackenzie being a great big sister. She loves to play with Gabe by setting up animals for him to look at.
Gabe in his cute little tiger outfit. Or, maybe it's just a kitty.
Josh made these brownies all by himself. He was very proud of himself that he figured everything out from the directions. They turned out to be exceptional brownies. Maybe he'll follow in uncle Mike's love of cooking.

Blueberry Levi

2007-10-08T23:04:00.000-07:00

Joanna and I decided that this isn't a photo you would see with your 1st couple of kids. Levi on the counter eating a blueberry muffin.

Sewing a Halloween Costume

2007-10-02T21:02:00.000-07:00

Grandma Cathy is sewing Mackenzie's costume this year. Mackenzie gets to see first hand how it's done. She is Grandma's needle threader. Whenever the thread needs to be put in Mackenzie is all over it. Those sharp eyes help her to get it in on mostly the first try. After the costume is done, Mackenzie is going to make a pillow.

The Boys

2007-10-01T20:53:00.000-07:00

Josh is reading his book, "More stories from Grandma's attic," to Gabriel. What an attentive listener.

Levi is teaching Gabe the fine art of the 'high-five.' He even stopped running around and playing to get comfortable. It's going to be fun watching these little stinkers run around together next summer.

Mackenzie the Bunny

2007-10-01T20:50:00.001-07:00

I was looking through some old photos and I couldn't resist putting this one of Mackenzie up. She was such a cute little bunny. It almost makes me wish we had another little girl running around the house.

Crafty Grandma's in Town

2007-09-23T20:10:00.000-07:00

Grandma Cathy is up for a visit and brought a bunch of crafts to do with the kids. She had fingernail polish for Mackenzie with a Klutz book that had coloring ideas for her nails.

I painted Mackenzie's toenails. I saw the idea in the book and she agreed to let me paint it. The snake was in the book and she wanted the other foot to be a dragon.

Gabriel taking a nap on grandma Cathy.

Mackenzie painted grandma Cathy's nails. It was great because they were bigger and easier for her to paint than her own. Then grandma painted her nails. Mackenzie looked through the book and would pick each one she wanted.

2 Days Old

2007-09-17T21:35:00.000-07:00

Levi is trying to figure out what in the world is wrong... "Hey, I thought I was the only one allowed to cry around here!"

Kenzie thinks everything is wonderful. She will hold Gabe any chance she gets.

Josh doesn't talk about the baby much, but loves to hold him. It's fun to watch Josh with him. He almost looks like a doll in this picture.

Levi has been trying out the swing for the last 2 weeks and is very excited to see Gabe using it.

Cheek to cheek. These two guys will be spending some quality time together. Only 19 months apart, they will be best buds.

Joanna is not suppose to pick up Levi for 2 weeks, but that doesn't stop him from climbing right up onto her lap. Since he is so experienced he feels that he needs to be the nursing inspector. As you can see, he's happy to see everything is A-OK. I thought that he would want to nurse too, but he just likes to check it out.

Gabriel Thomas goes home.

2007-09-16T20:00:00.000-07:00

I had Gabe while Joanna was going to the bathroom and I fell asleep with him. She didn't trust me while I was in a deep slumber, so I only had this charge for about 5 minutes. I got up early with him and we walked the halls. They wanted us to stay until 5:00 but Joanna managed to convince them to let us out early. We left around 1:00. They weren't doing anything anyway. It was nice to get out of the hospital. It's much easier to relax at home. Mackenzie, Levi and I drove Violet home so Joanna could get a little bit of rest. Violet, our babysitter of about 8 years, was a life-saver, watching the kids most of the time we were in the hospital.

Gabriel is Born!

2007-09-15T20:53:00.001-07:00

Gabriel was born on Saturday the 15th of September at about 5:00. He was 8 pounds 10 ounces and 21 inches long. Everyone is doing great. I hope you enjoyed the photos.

Mamma's Boy

2007-09-12T19:19:00.000-07:00

Normally I'd want to hide all pictures of my son's wearing anything girly, but how could I resist. Levi was around the corner looking through the laundry and came back looking like this. He had his brother's basketball shorts on, except he just used one leg. I'm starting to feel bad about letting him use the pink binkie even if it is the only one left that we can find. Most people can't find a binkie when they need one. We usually can find one, but it's always the pink one that came in a pack and we had put aside. I figured that the things in his mouth and he can't really see it much anyway. People always think he's a girl anyway even without the pink binkie.

Josh bought a sunflower plant at the Farmer's Market this summer and planted it next to our driveway. We've been charting it's growth and now it has a beautiful bloom.

David came over before his trip to Australia. The kids enjoyed playing with their cousin. We look forward to reading his blog. He's traveling to Australia and then to New Zealand. I believe that after Christmas he will be traveling through Europe.

Soccer

2007-09-09T21:30:00.000-07:00

Josh and Mackenzie each scored a goal this weekend in their games. The games were at the same time, so it was a pain because we had to split up and only got to watch one of the kids each. No Baby yet.

Another hat trick for Mackenzie

2007-08-27T20:22:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention that Mackenzie did great again in her soccer game. She scored 3 or 4 goals. The daisies were victorious again although we're not suppose to keep score. It's kind of funny because all the kids know the score no matter what we say.

Last Week

2007-08-27T15:08:00.000-07:00

Last week we went to the park and had a KFC picnic. Levi really enjoyed the planes flying overhead and the swing for awhile. He really likes to be able to traipse around all by himself and discover what the playground has for him. Of course I'm right behind him most of the time.

Josh and Mackenzie were enjoying this slide rail thing but Mackenzie was having a little trouble reaching it. Josh said, "Hop on," and off they went. I was surprised he could hold up another 40 pounds.

Up close, look at that face.

Grandpa Omar came by on his birthday and so the kids helped me bake a cake. It tasted really good and Josh was very proud of it. However, I think Mackenzie helped out a bit more than he did making it.

I think that Grandpa was a little confused about his age. Maybe he just didn't have enough fingers and toes and decided to round up to one century.

35 Weeks

2007-08-21T21:44:00.000-07:00

Joanna is 35 weeks along now. She's looking so beautiful and she's about to have a baby. WOW! She had the others all between 37 and 38 weeks. This Sunday will be the 36 week mark. I think that means we're getting close. I'm really excited to meet our new baby boy. I have a surprise if anyone can guess the name beforehand. Just comment with your guess.

Morning banana

2007-08-17T08:57:00.000-07:00

I thought this sticker was great. Lately I've noticed some fun sayings on the banana stickers. Normally Levi is all smiles so I thought it would be a good picture. It almost turned out better that he did a funny face. Yummy bananas!

Lynden Fair

2007-08-15T21:23:00.000-07:00

We went the Lynden Fair yesterday and had a blast. We met up with Grandpa Omar and Grammy Dee just in time to see Kameron show a pygmy goat. He did a great job. Josh liked hanging out with him while he was waiting for his turn. Grandpa took Levi around to see all the animals while we were waiting and they had a great time as well. Then we had a bite to eat and went on rides. Josh and Kameron went on most of the big rides. They went on the Gravatron 4 times in a row and would have gone more if I let them. After the rides we had ice cream cones and then had some dinner. I love having desert before dinner. It was a long day and we were home by 11:00, but we had a great time. Dee got a ton a of good pictures and we stopped taking any, so I'm hoping to get some from her. Oh, yeah, check out this hat that Grammy Dee just had to buy for Levi. Isn't it cute?

Blackberry season... well, almost.

2007-08-13T20:41:00.000-07:00

Mackenzie was thrilled to find some ripe blackberries today and picked as many as she could. I thought that they were a bit tart still but Levi ate as many as he possibly could. He thought that he was a little thief whenever he was eating them. He kept looking around a giggling. He was extremely purple faced. When the berries all come in and we really go picking, I'll have to make sure to get a picture of him with his painted face.

Hat Trick plus

2007-08-11T16:07:00.000-07:00

A quick note. I didn't get any pictures at today's soccer game, but Mackenzie was phenomenal. She scored 3 goals and also scored one off of a throw-in. We had a great time and had slurpees afterwards.

Aquafest and Soccer

2007-08-10T20:38:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at Aquafest about two weeks ago now. We went down on Friday and checked out the children's parade. The kids really loaded up on candy that was thrown their way. On Saturday the kids and I were in the 2K fun run. Josh got 4th place in the 9 and under category. The first 3 place got medals. I don't think he realized that he got 4th though because all the kids in every category were running together. I ran with Mackenzie and she did great. She finished ahead of a girl that beat her the last two years. After that, the kids used the money they had saved up to go on a ride each. Mackenzie chose the ferris wheel and I went with her. It was set up in a great place this year right at the edge of the lake. Josh chose some spinning thing that took them up in the air and spun them a couple different ways. He tried to keep his hands up the entire time and ended up with his elbows down over the bar after awhile. Then we ran in to Juli, Joanna's sister, who just happened to come by to watch the concert. The concert was over, but we sat and watched the magician. He was pretty good. On Sunday Joanna was exhausted and took a nap while I took the kids on a walk. I wanted to give her some peace and quite so we walked down to Aquafest for kids fun day. There is a ton of free stuff for kids on Sunday. They loved it. The only bummer was that I couldn't sign them up for the pizza contest because I didn't have my license on me. Apparently you need to show it when you sign your kids up. I'm not sure how my license proves they are my kids, but whatever, so we went home around then. Swim lessons ended and soccer started recently. Tomorrow Mackenzie has her first game and next weekend Josh has a tournament near our house. Josh has been having practices twice a week for the last 4 weeks now. I'm also coaching both their teams again this year.
Levi the little rock star. Levi's been doing great. He's such a little smiler. He gets up in the morning before everyone else and so I've been getting up with him. I toss him in the jogging stroller and we go for a run. Today we went about 4 miles but it's usually been 2 or 3. It's a pain to push the jogging stroller while your running. It's a nice enough jogging stroller but it veers to the left a little. I think I'll just give it a bend and see if I can't straighten it out. We've only been at it for a week now, but it feels good and gives me more energy throughout the day. Also, I was weighing in just under 210 and although I didn't look very big I wasn't feeling that great. After a week I'm under 200. I feel the best when I weigh around 190. We'll see if I can get there. I'm really just out their to get in shape, not to lose weight. I haven't really changed my eating habits and I don't plan to. I eat fairly normal and don't eat much junk. My main weakness is ice cream.

Splash Park

2007-08-04T09:57:00.000-07:00

We went to the new splash park at forest park in Everett. Levi had a great time exploring the water. He really liked the watching the water squirt all over but was a little tentative to jump right in there and get all wet. Josh was all over the place standing on top of the huge water spouts and having a great time. Unfortunately my batteries died and I only got 3 pictures. I hope you enjoy this one.

2007-07-28T19:34:00.000-07:00

This is a report from a survey taken from teachers in the 50 largest urban area's in the united states. I am just showing you the top few here. I was always trying to figure out why it seemed so hard to survive and pay the mortgage in this area. My monthly gross pay is slightly higher than what it says for Seattle probably because I have 45 credits more than a masters degree. My mortgage is the same however. Also, I have about a thousand dollars in reduction for medical and retirement and taxes, etc. When I look at the bottom of the table and see numerous areas where the median mortgages are less than 20% of their gross income, I must admit I think of moving. This area is too expensive. I want to be able to buy an acre or two that the kids can run around and play on. Well, I don't have to be able to have acreage, but it would be nice to be able to go on a vacation in the summer instead of teaching summer school. Now, I'm just complaining. We'll see.

Here is the website that has the information I've pilfered.

Cannabis raises psychosis risk

2007-07-26T19:37:00.000-07:00

I thought this was an interesting article. I've never smoked one of these or a regular cigarette for that matter. I guess I'll have a better chance of not going psycho. I wonder what effect teaching high school has on how likely you are to go psycho?

Viva Las Vegas

2007-07-20T22:23:00.000-07:00

Uncle Mike is moving to Las Vegas for good and he stopped by for a visit. We were glad to see him, the kids were thrilled and he brought a dangerous book for boys book that Josh was drooling over. We hope he enjoys life in Vegas, and I guess we'll have to go visit him somehow. I've never been to Las Vegas. I'm not really drawn to the gambling, but I'm sure there are other cool things to do there. Mike said that their are great places to go hiking in some National parks.

Blueberry Patch

2007-07-19T20:29:00.000-07:00

This week was a busy one. I started teaching another class for summer school and the kids had Vacation Bible School (VBS). Josh also had his first week of soccer practice and I'm the coach so we both had to be there on Monday and Wednesday. We also have swim lessons still going on Tuesday and Thursday. I really noticed some improvement in the swimming today at lessons. Mackenzie is starting to really get the side breathing down much better and Josh is going faster in all the strokes. On Tuesday or Wednesday or something we went to the Blueberry U-Pick farm. It wasn't the same one we usually go to because our favorite place isn't open yet. We've been very busy this summer. Aggh. I still have to finish a little bit of painting in the high area above the stairs. It's all been done except the corners and a couple places that need a second coat. Check out Mackenzie's shirt for VBS. It was down to her knees so I did a little creative artwork. I almost made it too short. If you can't see it too well, I cut slits up the side and tied adjacent ones together. Then I put beads on the ends of the strips.

Soccer Camp Week

2007-07-14T19:35:00.001-07:00

This week the kids went to the Challenger British Soccer camp in our area. They had a great time and Mackenzie especially bloomed by working really hard. They are still in swim lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so the week was busy. We also had a pleasant surprise for the kids when grammy and grandpa came over with Kameron. They were able to watch swim lessons and we had a BBQ dinner afterward. They came bearing gifts and tales from NY city and Washington DC. My cousin Bradley was married last week which gave them a great reason for the trip to the other coast. Josh, Levi and I now have matching NY City shirts that look like the Mt. Dew logo. We all wore them the other day.... What a sight. We didn't manage to get a picture of the spectacle, maybe next time.

The Professor

2007-07-08T15:08:00.000-07:00

I got a 5x5x5 rubiks cube a couple of weeks ago from the guys in my bible study as a thanks. I was going to put a picture on once I was able to solve it, but I forgot. So, anyway I remembered today, mixed it up and solved it. It took me 20 minutes, but I did get a short phone call in the middle. This cube's nickname is the "Professor." The 4x4x4 cube is called the "Revenge."

4th of July

2007-07-05T16:20:00.000-07:00

Here is a 4th of July photo of the kids. They wanted our last little kitty to be in the picture. They named him Tucker, but we're still giving him away, I think.

Camping Trip

2007-07-04T21:26:00.000-07:00

We went camping at Thousand Trails in Monroe this last weekend. We go somewhere during or right before the 4th every summer. Well, we have for the past ten years or so. We're very thankful that Quinton, Joanna's dad, is a member and we can get in free. It's so nice to just pack up and go for only the cost of gas and food. Everyone we talk to pays $20 and up to camp. The places we get to go also have pools, putt putt and lots of other fun activities. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pictures. Let's start of with Kenzie and me getting a little crazy.

I'm really happy about how this picture of Levi turned out. He was playing at the playground. He loved the slide.

Mackenzie donning her red, white and blue and a brand new haircut glides through the air with the greatest of ease.

The Elenbaas family goes camping with us every year and the kids have a blast playing together. They call each other cousins. I think it's great to have complementary cousins. I think most people have that. You can't have too many cousins. Anyway, here are the girls and all the kids having a splashing time in the pool.

Levi loved swimming, especially in the kiddie pool where he could be independent. As you can see he also enjoyed borrowing his sister's goggles.