Friday, December 26, 2008

We Wish You A Merry Christmas...A Day Late!

I just wanted to wish everyone a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and I hope you all are staying warm!!! Just when you think we have had enough of this white stuff on the ground, I looked out the window about two hours ago to find it snowing AGAIN - and we aren't just talking small snow flurries - it is flat out snowing LARGE flakes!!! When will it end?

Because of our Christmas schedules with the kids, we decided to do things a little differently this year. Every other year, we either get the kids from the beginning of Winter Break until 1:00 pm Christmas day OR from 1:00 pm Christmas day until the end of Winter Break. This year, we had the kids from the beginning of Winter Break until Christmas Day which meant we had to have Kayla in Lynnwood by 12:30 to get Jim's kids on the 1:00 pm ferry to Port Angeles. So - Grandma and Grandpa Startin came over on Christmas eve and we had our Christmas Dinner followed by a massive present extravaganza (Santa still brought his presents later that night to be opened Christmas day). The kids LOVED getting to open their presents early.

Katlynne and Kelsey both got Digital Cameras
(this was Kelsey's first - she was excited)

My first sewing project was double-sided fleece blankets for the girls:


The evening ended with a Wii Fit Tournament - even Grandma and Grandpa joined in...
Apparently it tuckered Grandpa out!



Christmas morning we all woke up rather early to see what Santa had brought. Kayla got a new baby and stroller as well as a really cool art easle / white board so she can teach her babies and stuffed animals a thing or two (she LOVES to play teacher to her dolls and animals) (and I'm just realizing I didn't even get pictures of Santa's gifts).

The stockings were the biggest hit:


I have a very warm-blooded child who occasionally leads me to believe that we aren't related. She's the only one you would catch in her undies and a tank top in the middle of winter when the snow is falling and it is about 30 degrees outside!!!


She got her very own manicure set!!! Now mom won't have to clip her nails!


All in all Christmas turned out pretty good. After we dropped the kids off at their evening destinations, Jim and I headed down to Bonney Lake where we went and saw "Yes Man" (the latest Jim Carrey movie) with my parents, my Grams, my Aunt Deana and Uncle Dave and their boys. It was a lot of fun. Now - Jim and I are both childless for the next week with no clue what to do with outselves. Good times!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Walking In A Winter Wonderland....

Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE the snow??? Well I do! And even though it can be a major inconvenience to most, I welcome snow days. Today we woke up to a blanket of white outside our apartment. It was great! Jim and I both decided our lives and our cars are more important than work and decided to stay home with Kayla and have a family snow day. After we decided it would be fun to take our little plastic snow saucers across the street to my school for some sledding, we walked outside to assess the driving situation and discovered this:

(the lower right corner of the pictures marks the driveway to our neighborhood)
~~ two cars were spun out and stuck at the bottom of the hill ~~


the guy in this next picture had just gotten out of his car after sliding and hitting another car that had been stuck since earlier this morning


three cars were spun out and stuck right across from our driveway - one facing the completely opposite direction


As we were getting all bundled up and ready for some sledding, we watched a couple in a big black Dodge truck start down the hill, put on the brakes, and slide half way down the hill sideways before he was finally able to stop. He managed to turn himself facing back up the hill and get out of there. There were many others who fell victim to this small hill right outside our house...but there were a few who managed to find their way out.

I'm glad I have nowhere to go and am certainly glad I avoided work today. I was actually supposed to be the backup person since my boss wasn't able to make it down her hill either. Oops - who would have thought I would get snowed in too??? Have I mentioned that I LOVE the snow???


Anyway - we made it across the street (took me about 20 minutes because I went sliding sideways down the hill on my feet) and we spent the morning sledding down the hills around campus and making snow angels. It's been snowing all day and doesn't seem as if it will let up any time soon. Do you know what this means??? ANOTHER SNOW DAY TOMORROW (let's keep our fingers crossed)!!!

Sunday, December 14, 2008

12 Days of Christmas...

"On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me..."

1 Embarrassing moment: At a softball tournament right before a game was about to start, I had to climb over a really tall fence to get a ball that had gone over. On my way back, another girl started to climb over just as I was at the top and she shook the fence so much that I lost my footing and started to fall. Luckily, my uniform shorts got caught on the top of the fence so my fall wasn't so bad - but I had a HUGE hole in the butt of my shorts so I had to run around in my sliders until one of the softball moms was able to hand sew the hole closed - just in time for the game to start.

2
Best Friends: Lesley and Drew

3
Things I buy regularly: Bread, Milk, and Chicken

4
Places I want to go: Hawaii, Australia, New Zeland, and Paris

5
Goals for the upcoming year: Fit into a size 8/10 wedding dress, complete a 150 mile 2-day bike ride, finish the dental assisting program, move further south, and finish the last couple pre-requisites for hygiene school.

6
Things most people don't know about me: My old friends probably know everything about me but here are a few that some of my newer friends who read this don't know about me: I took piano lessons for 9 years and have played the piano since 1st grade; the sound of people chewing with their mouth open makes me want to jump off a cliff - it annoys me that much; in Junior High I was in the show choir where we sang and danced with short little black skirts and sparkly red sequin shirts; I LOVE to sing and although I may not be the best at it, I still LOVE it and sing every chance I get (especially in the car now that I get to listen to Christmas music); the first time I went to college I switched my major three times - from criminal justice to psychology, to family studies...and have now decided that neither of those was right for me; if I had the time and financial resources available, I would go all the way through Dental School.

7
Things I would never say: Let's leave it as I'll NEVER say them...

8
Things I love about the Christmas Season: Family, Christmas parties, good food, kids on Christmas morning, the spirit of Santa, shopping for my loved ones, decorations, carolers.

9
Things I say to my kids: "This is your only warning", "What are you thinking?", "Excuse me? What was that?", "Dinner Time!", "Turn off the lights!", "Shoes...Shoes", "Good Job!", and "I love you more than the world!".

10
Things I do a lot: study, laundry, cook, drive, work, play, sniffle, rinse and suction, shop, and plan.

11
Things I would rather not live without: Jim, kids, family, food, water, the sun, houses, my brain, comfy socks, hoodies, and fireplaces

12 People I tag: Angie, Jessica, and Lesley

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Birthdays and Finals

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I decided to decorate for Christmas this year the weekend after Thanksgiving and, since Jim was on call and gone most of the time, I ended up doing most of it by myself. However, Saturday night, Jim helped me get our Christmas stuff down from the garage. He found the Christmas tree and one tub of Christmas decorations that all belonged to the Christmas tree. I was quite disappointed when I realized we had no Christmas decorations except for the Christmas tree! I always grew up with TONS of decorations in our house - how is it that I have managed to go three Christmases without cute little decorations of my own??? Jim, sensing my disappointment, told me to go on a mini shopping spree and let me buy some decorations!!! He's the best!!!

I found these really cute Christmas Train stocking holders for our mantle:



We have a fake tree - but have decided to go with a real one after this year!!


This last weekend we had all the girls and I arranged to throw Kelsey a surprise birthday party at my parent's house. Since she doesn't live over here, it's hard to get any of her friends together. So we made it a surprise family party. She had no idea!!! Happy 10th Birthday Kelsey!!!


Here she is with her loot....


After lunch and presents, we took the girls to play Glow-Golf. There is an indoor mini golf course at the SuperMall in Auburn. It is a really neat place - the course is really dark and lit only with black lights. The girls love it because the golf balls glow in the dark and you get to run them through this little box that instantly recharges the glow of the golf ball.

Katlynne and Kelsey had never played mini golf - Kelsey needed some instruction:


This is what the course looks like WITHOUT my camera flash - the entire places looks like this:


Today I had my last day of seeing patients in clinic and I have one more final to take online tonight. Although I have agreed to work during my winter break, I am really looking forward to some time away from school. My LAST quarter starts January 6th and I am so excited!!! We only have five weeks of clinic and then we start our externships - which is when the real fun begins! I'm stoked!!!

Other than that - I'm TOTALLY looking forward to Christmas and spending time with my family (including my brother and his wife when they fly up here in a few days)!!!