{No History!}

My blog is too shiny and new... it has no history! So I'm going post my favorite picture (ummm... it's too hard to pick just one, so pictures) from each month last year. We've seen them all before, but these never get old!

January

I miss my rolly-polly Lou!

February

Every time Caroline takes a bath we HAVE to have a lotion smiley face on her belly. Every time! (Sorry about all the naked picts, but this is all, I swear!)

This is my beautiful sister Laura and her sweet new baby Maren. Her hubby bought me plane tickets to surprise Laura and come see the new baby!

March

Nothing touches my heart more than watching my kids with their dad.

This one of Louis still breaks my heart... he was so sick - had no voice - and was teething too. Poor baby!
April

Ah, the tulip festival in Washington! Look at all those adorable kids - just a part of our Washington family on a mini-vacation!

May

Todd and I letting our alter-egos out of their cages for a day in downtown Seattle on the motorcycle. Doesn't Todd look so hunky in this picture?!?

This is Elizabeth and her best friend Faith at the end of their school play (I didn't take this pic, but they look like little angels and I just love it!)

June

What can I say? He's so adorable and photogenic! Look at those big blue eyes...

I will truly miss ling cod season in Washington and all our giant fish fries!

July

Trouble and more trouble. Life at the beach was good to Louis and Isabelle! (I didn't take this picture either... I'm such a photo snatcher!)

Proof, I accomplished something fun for myself! Scuba diving has to be the least sexiest sport ever... Immer was always saying we looked like a couple of seals!

Sorry mom, but this picture cracks me up! Forgive me?


August

Can you believe the size of this tree? They climbed on it for hours! We also watched whales from it, and had one of my favorite dives off this beach. What a great day...

Same day... I'm still amazed Lou doesn't have some funky sand eating disease. It just made him so happy!

September

These creative geniuses were poking the tree in hopes of getting more leaves down to play in!

October

Pumpkin guts! I love their expressions...

November

Elizabeth reading to Louis... one of those moments in time that my heart was so full, and I was so thankful that my children are becoming wonderful friends.

December

Merry Christmas!

{It's All in the Name of Preservation}

Some of you were asking about printing your blog into a book, as I mentioned NOT doing earlier. So I've been doing a little homework for you. The site that I like the looks of the best is blurb.com . From what I understand, you download their free software and it "slurps" (their word, not mine!) up your blog. You can choose which posts you want to use, plus there are tons of layout and editing options for both your text and photos. I watched some tutorials and it looks easy enough. It isn't even insanely expensive. Depending on how many pages you have a softcover book starts at $20, and a hardcover is only $30. Shipping is around $8. I'm totally going to do it... as soon as I have something worth printing, anyway!

Has anybody ever printed their blog before? Know of any other good websites?

{Here Fishy, Fishy!}

Fishing? In January?!? Yep, ice fishing!

It turns out that after the initial excitement of walking on ice with real water underneath with real fish swimming in it, ice fishing can prove to be slightly boring to the "seven and younger crowd". Papa imparted these words of wisdom on the kiddos, "That's why it's called fishing, and not catching." Hmmm.... very inspiring, Dad!

We were prepared with alternative modes of entertainment.

"Look Mom, I'm zippying!" (These little skis were my mom's, they're called zippies.) Elizabeth asked, "I don't get it. How is that supposed to be fun?"

Snow angels!

Sledding! Yea! "Dad, the hill is too steep, will you pull us up?" He's way nicer than me, but he only humored them once.

Flant (short for "fun-aunt") Laura is the master of sliding on the ice! The kids played "penguins" forever sliding on the ice on their bellies and knees.

Exploring! We found a spot where the ice had shifted and pushed up in spots. The perfect spot to strike a pose.

I dare you to lick it!

She's got a little Captain in her too!

Ahhhh..... oops! There goes that little piece of beautiful nature.

How did the big kids keep busy when the fish weren't biting? Todd brought his new B-B gun he got for Christmas. No, it's not a Red Rider!

I shot a fishing bobber with it on my first try! Not too shabby... and a little white trash to boot! Yee-haw!

Startin' out early! Be careful, you'll shoot your eye out!


And hot chocolate! Yumm!!!

We (OK, the boys -- us girls were too busy playing) caught quite a few fish. Including this really amazing banana trout. Have you ever seen a yellow trout before?

The fish were flopping around on the snow, which the girls thought mildly funny, yet it disturbed them that the fish was covering itself in snow. So the kind little souls kept brushing the snow off of them until the little fishies stopped flopping.

Elyse was so excited to go fishing, she wore her little fishing vest to bed the night before over the top of her pink princess jammies! Here she is proudly displaying the "recycled" fish "she" caught! (OK, really Uncle Todd caught it, and then they moved it onto her pole when she wasn't paying attention. Promise not to tell!)

{If I Only Had a Blog!}

What a week to be out of the blogging business! Here's a couple of my favorite moments...

Louis is a busy boy... that's no surprise to anyone. Usually I figure as long as I can hear him, he can't be into too much trouble. It's when it gets too quiet when us real moms start worrying. Am I right? Well, it got quiet, and I went a-hunting. I found Lou at the top of the stairs and he greeted me with a, "HI! Num, num, num!!!"

He had found his Daddy's super-secret stash of Moon Pies and had carried them to the top of the stairs for a sneaky little snack!

My other favorite moment involves Caroline. We were a little slow getting ready for preschool Monday morning and I'm trying to get her crazy mop of hair tamed down. Her hair seriously has as much personality as she does. Anyway, there is some mystery sticky goo mashed into her bangs that I cannot get combed out. I asked her what was in her hair, she has no idea, and we are getting later by the minute. I finally do my best and attempt to curl her bangs to try to get them to lay down. Then it hits me... the aroma of gravy. Yummy, yummy gravy!

Caroline pipes up, "Oh yea! Daddy poured gravy on me last night at Nana's house!" I'm sure he did it on purpose... or could it possibly be that Caroline couldn't hold still long enough for her plate to get dished up?

{And We Begin Again...}

Should I make a long story short? I accidentally deleted my old blog with an old annoying spam filled gmail email that was constantly signing itself up on my computer that I had no idea was linked to my blog. I have spent the last week with absolutly no success in reactivating my blog, nor getting my old URL back. (Stupid Blogger people, grumble, grumble!) I am sick, sick, SICK about losing my family's journal for the last 18 months, especially because I loved our time in Washington so much. I always ment to get one of those blog books made, but never seemed to have the budget, time, or energy to deal with it. Big mistake.

...ugh. But, let's not dwell on the negative any longer! I still have all the pictures, and someday I'll be able to write down all the great memories that go with them. Anyway,

I'M BACK!

Welcome to the new, non-improved, In Our Padded Room!