Christmas Toys in Action

Batman vs. the Joker

Merry Christmas!

We decided to stay home this year for Christmas. The snow in Spokane is crazy and we've got a yucky flu or something, so this was best. We had stockings and presents from Grandpa Mac and Grandma Raine to open. We stayed pretty lazy, played with toys, and watched movies. Then went to Joel's house to sit in the hot tub for a while! It was nice!

"Ooooh! Thomas!!!!" (It's Spencer, but they're all Thomas to him):




THANK YOU GRANDPA AND GRANDMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the hot tub:

On Christmas Eve, we went to Camp and pulled an inflated raft floor behind the snow machine! Derick was there to play!

Early Christmas

Zach's parents came over this weekend to celebrate Christmas a little early with us. It was a very fun weekend! Tom is recovering from shoulder surgery and the boys got sick, so we laid low and hung out at home most of the time. We still had a great time!

Brenden LOVES motorcycles!







SILLY STRING FIGHT!!!

Bedtime stories with Grandma and Grandpa. Conrad is wearing Grandma's glasses =)

Sledding in the driveway. Josiah and Conrad are sledding maniacs!







Photos courtesy of Marcia Vanderwall

Wedding in Cleveland!

Zach's brother Kris was married to Krissy Mansell on December 6!!! So we have a new sister in law!

We flew out of Spokane early Thursday (Dec.4) morning. Things started out very well, even with traveling with 3 boys!!! When we got to Salt Lake, we were to re-board the same plane after a short layover. Well, apparently they found something wrong somewhere and had to replace a part, so the flight was delayed...and delayed...and delayed again. They kept delaying it by 15 minutes for 3 hours!!! At noon, they canceled the flight and told us to scan our boarding pass to print out our new flights. Not only were our new flights 12 hours later, but they also put the kids on a completely different flight! So after talking on the customer service phones and standing in line forever and changing plans over and over, the kids were tired, cranky, bored, and hungry. So were we. The 3 boys and I left Zach to deal with the details and we went to get burgers. We almost had a meltdown at Burger King, but made it through and then Zach met us with a plan! We caught a flight to Cincinnati and the airline put us in a hotel for the night there. It was nice, until we got a call saying our luggage had made it to Cleveland that night on a flight they had told us wasn't available! The next morning we took a quick flight to Cleveland and had plenty of time before the rehearsal! Whew!

Tom and Marcia and Kris and Krissy:

The wedding on Saturday was beautiful. Josiah was the ring bearer, he took his job very seriously! A friend, Bethany Hines, came up to help me with the boys. It was so great to see her and to have her help! Brenden was done being calm by the wedding day, he'd been told to sit still and hadn't had enough sleep for several days already and was out of sorts by Saturday. Without Bethany, I would have been a pretty stressed Mama! It was truly a blessing that she was able to be there!

Marcia and Kris:

This picture is blurry, but I still like it!

The reception was a lot of fun and very nice. The boys were with babysitters back at Krissy's parents' house, so they were able to have kid fun and not have to sit still during dinner! And we were able to have fun without the kids for the evening. Good for everyone!

Sunday traveling went well. Brenden slept a lot on the planes. We were all very tired and a bit grumpy on that trip, but the boys had their Leapsters and dvd players, so it wasn't that bad. And other people's kids were crying a lot, so it made our kids look really good! That's bad, I know, but so true!!!

Kris and Krissy are home from their honeymoon now. They're living in Alabama, both are Physical Therapists.

Welcome to the family Krissy! We had a great time at the wedding!!!!

Photos courtesy of Marcia Vanderwall

November

We had planned to spend Thanksgiving in Spokane with my family, but when it came down to it, we were a little overwhelmed with things to do, kids being sick, and all that. So we didn't leave our house until the afternoon on Thanksgiving.
On Friday morning I got my dad to go out to a couple of stores with me!!! But I wasn't in a Super Shopper mood this year, so we didn't go far and just got a couple things. Friday evening was fun because we got to see Jeremy and Lynne Paulus. Zach and I went to dinner with them and then on Saturday eve, they came out to my parent's house with the girls so the kiddos could play together!
Saturday was Cookie Day at my parent's house. That's where my family comes out and we bake tons of Christmas cookies! Very busy and very yummy!
The next several days were spent shopping and visiting and planning and packing to get ready for our next adventure!......

Trick or treatin'

Took the boys trick or treating downtown to the businesses last night. It's great, all of the stores are along one side of town and our town is very small, so the kids can easily walk the full length of town, stopping in each store that is participating. They see all of their friends and get enough candy to be happy, but not so much as to make me unhappy. It's during daylight hours and I'm not paranoid about walking up to strangers' homes. After this, we got some pizzas and a movie and went to a friends' for the evening. Fun stuff!

Brenden was very cute trying to say "trick or treat". He almost always remembered to say "thank you" and several times added an enthusiastic "MORE"!

29 forever

Well, I turned 29, (Cori). So I guess I'll be 28 next year...

I've been using a cookbook to help with ideas of mixing veggies in dishes that wouldn't normally have them. I love how moist they make things. So for my birthday I made a chocolate cake with wheat flour and flax meal and spinach. I used regular fudge frosting, (it was my birthday you know). The cake turned out great and everyone loved it!

I don't care so much about candles and singing, (I wasn't even going to bake a cake, but my boys thought that was horrific!) So I let them each pick out a candle from the drawer to blow out for me. I was suddenly very very old...

Had a friend over to help eat the cake and watch a movie with us. It was a very nice day.

The day before, a couple girlfriends took me to Missoula to shop and hang out, that was a very nice day also! When we got home, I discovered another friend had come over to help Zach put an antenna on the house, we now have 3 fuzzy television channels!!! Whoa, we're movin up! (or down maybe) Except when the wind blows, then Zach has to go up on the roof and turn the antenna back around!!!!! Hahahahaha! After 11 years of only videos and dvds, this is very strange!