Sunday, January 18, 2009

The Package

We found out Friday that Rock n Roll's brother Mason was in Seattle this weekend and decided to suprise the boys. We were heading up to Whidbey Island to see Rock n Roll's grandparents which the boys knew about, but we told them we were going to make a stop in Seattle first to pick up a "package". When Mason walked out of the hotel instead of a box both boys yelled, SAM!!!!!! LOL. Sorry Mason. And then they both proceded to call him that all weekend long. We kept telling them, "Sam is bald, Mason has hair." It became a mantra. We also suprised Grandma and Grandpa Hymas. They didn't know what they were seeing when Rock n Roll and Mason walked up to the door both in black shirts and jeans. They look so much alike!!! They were thrilled of course and we had a great afternoon with them, making cookies and catching up.The boys had a blast with Mason, though I'm sure they wore him out. They didn't want to let him go!

Friday, January 16, 2009

Earthquake and Catch Up

Earthquake
Whew! We survived December, but just barely! 2 feet of snow that kept us holed up in our house for over a week before Christmas and then as if that weren't enough we then had to endure 3 days of Island Status as our small town on a hill become no longer an ice rink, but an island. All that amazing "We're having a white Christmas for the first time ever" snow melted and took over all the towns and valleys in it's way with record flooding. We couldn't get in our out of Duvall for 2 days. People had to be boated across the valley to ambulances if they were unlucky enough to need one. This is the second time in the four years we've lived here that this has happened. It's only supposed to happen every 10 years. Hmm, someone is not doing the math right. And someone is not doing the road engineering nor the road clean up right either, but that is a topic for another blog. So, we've decided...Earthquake is next. Definately.

Christmas 2008
I never did blog about Christmas, so here's a quick summary.

The Live Nativity on Christmas Eve. Don't they look... wise? Mr. Pres told his primary teacher a few years back that we didn't have enough people to have 3 wise men but that "Mom and Dad are workin on it". Unbeknownst to him we actually were working on it at the time and the 3rd is now in training and should be ready to participate by next year.

Just as we were putting the finishing touches on Christmas at about midnight...and by the way, the reason we were up till midnight when this was actually supposed to be a very easy Santa visit was due to technical difficulties which Santa learned a great lesson from. Always open things well before Christmas Eve to make sure they work right--Cause Costco aint open at midnight. Let's just say that a VERY patient man and a paper clip saved the night. Who'd a thunk I was married to McGuiver! Anyway, just about midnight the power, which had been threatening to go out all week, actually did go out. We then spent another little while getting the house ready for a very cold night. I've never been so happy to see my clock blinking then when I woke up Christmas morning. Turns out we were only out of power for a few hours.
And we had a wonderful WHITE Christmas morning. (Try to look past the fake paper snowflakes to the real snow beyond in the window.)

The New Sister in Law
After Christmas I went down to my parent's house for my brother's Open House. It was great fun to get to know Penny. She is a sweetheart and it's great to have another sister! The best part was seeing how happy Derek is and watching him serve Penny and tend to her every need. He will be a fabulous husband and she is a lucky lady! I don't know that I could handle someone feeding me, but hey, to each his own! (wink)

The New School Year
Mr. President was supposed to start his first week of school on the 5th, but due to snow on Monday and then flooding on Thursday and Friday he had only a 2 day week! But finally this last week he was able to go all week long and has really enjoyed it. He likes his teacher and had an instant buddy in his class because our next door neighbor is in his class! I haven't yet been able to see if things at home are "better" with him in school, but I think once we all settle into our new schedule we'll know. I decided since Go Go would be home alone every morning now that I would put him in a co-op preschool as well 2 days a week. He started this last week and just loved it! I didn't quite know what to do with myself with both older boys gone and Blue Jeans asleep! Don't get me wrong, it was great, just a little bit sad. But that went away in about 5 minutes. :-)
Here's to a new year. Let's hope it's a good one... without any tears....

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Playdoh Nativity

Admittedly, your imagination is required for this one, but I was surprised to find the boys building this instead of Santa and his sleigh. Interpretation: Yellow Playdoh=manger with baby Jesus. Tools/shape cutter=Mary on a donkey and Joseph. (And this time there was no Earthquake!)

Nothing against St. Nick, but at times when I feel like I'm not doing very well at the mothering thing, I will look back on this and say, "At least they know what Christmas is really about." That, in my book is pretty big.

Icicles!

I don't know whether this just shows how bad a shape our roof and gutters are in, but here are the most amazing icicles I've ever seen! These are roughly 2 ft long or longer.
We're still stuck in Duvall buried under 15 inches of snow and we're supposed to get more tonight, tomorrow AND CHRISTMAS DAY! This will be my very first White Christmas! We're just praying our heater keeps working.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Traditions

Making a Gingerbread house is one of our Christmas traditions. We usually do it from scratch and it is a 3-4 day process. Rock n Roll has always insisted on doing the real thing and has looked down upon the store bought kits. But this year I managed to convince him that a kit would be a great time saver at a very busy time of year. Especially since we haven't been able to get to this tradition every single year because it's so time consuming. Rock n Roll survived and the experience took a total of about 2 hours even with with kids stopping to eat/trying to eat/asking to eat the candy every two seconds.
It is actually a torturous experience for them because we then give the house away to someone we know he needs it for Christmas. So this year they are looking forward to making graham cracker gingerbread houses with Grandma that they can actually eat! I'm pretty sure the graham cracker houses will become a tradition. Here's the finished product for this year.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Blue Jeans Got Snow for His Birthday

Happy 1st Birthday Levi! We got about a foot of snow today! We're crossing our fingers that it won't melt before Christmas.




Our Winter Wonderland. We are once again stuck in Duvall. The hills in town make it too dangerous to venture out. Good thing I got my Christmas shopping all done! You'd think it was Christmas morning for how excited Rock has been about the snow. He is like a little boy! He walks around the house saying, "Snow! Snow more!"

That's Life I Guess