Out of Towners

Troy's side of the family came to visit after Christmas.  His parents, Peggie and Chuck, Sister Tara and her three kids: Jordan, Blake and Autumn.

As soon as they got to our house the girls all got the guitars out.  Hopefully by the time Grandma visits again the girls will all have learned to play better and we can have the concert that Grandpa wanted to hear!

 We took them to Peace Arch Park.  

 The kids all had fun taking pics .

 Olivia and Soren are on the US side and Canadian side.  Cool eh?

 Look how tall my girls are!  I think Tara froze to death while she was here.

 They spent some time at the beach.  We found some neat (gross) things.

 Tara and her crew.

 Olivia ran to her favorite tree stump. Why can't that girl ever keep shoes on?

 These are pics I took.  They didn't turn out.  Tara took more with her camera.  When I get them, I'll post them.  

Troy and I got TWLOHA shirts for the whole family.  We thought it would be special for us to all wear them for the pictures.  So many of our family suffers from depression and anxiety.  It's a great cause to support.

 We took the family to Seattle to see some of the landmarks.  Blake and Jordan were set on seeing Bruce Lee's grave.

 We did these wicked moves in honor of him.

 We drove through some amazing neighborhoods to get to this cemetery.  I want to live there!  The houses were amazing.  I'm going to go back just to look at houses!

 I thought this was neat!

We had a good time even though it was way to cold to be out and about.  I know it was a hard trip for the family to take.  It's a long drive and it was a quick trip.  It was special to have all the kids together!  

Christmas 2014

 To be honest, I didn't enjoy the Holiday season this year.  Troy was gone for almost the whole month up until Christmas.  We didn't do a lot of family things.  I tried to make it special for the kids but it just wasn't the same.  Anna and Ella set the tree up and helped me decorate it.  

Surprise, surprise, there are birds on it.

 I love to have a lot of greenery from the woods in the house.  I tend to go a little crazy with it.

 Olivia and I made this little seen in the bowl.  It's one of the things that we love to do together.  

 Troy and I have done these villages since we first got married.  Over the years houses have broke and new ones bought. My favorite one is JoAnns.  Reminds me of my Mom.

 Olivia still plays with all the people and extra animals she adds to it.

 Christmas morning.  Olivia got a Generation Doll and I spent so many hours sewing clothes for the doll.  I also spent so many hours crying as I sewed.  It's that missing Mom thing again.  Olivia was thrilled.  Not may more years of this left before she wants clothes and electronics.

Soren got a BB gun.  I know most kids get bigger guns by the time they are his age.  The thing is that I hate guns.  Hate having them in the house.  (We have made sure all the kids know gun safety).

He was thrilled.  

Tools for our oldest who is moving out soon.  Logan is really an amazing mechanic.  He has an unhealthy obsession with Nissan Z's.  He has a 280 ZX.  

Both Anna and Ella got coats, One Direction concert tickets and 5 Seconds Of Summer tickets.  Shocking isn't it.  I'm thinking that I need to go to those concerts too!

We had a good morning having all of us together.  

My kitty has gone from her basket

 This is our Weebs.  Oh, he's a love.  This little guy was smashed when he was a baby and so now he walks funny.  He is obsessed with pony tail holders and hides them under the family room rug.  If the girls can't find one then they go looking under the rug.  One time I found over 20.  Weebs sleeps at the end of my bed every night and sometimes he'll come and crawl in between Troy and I.

 He sleeps with his paws covering his face.  It's so funny to hear the kids walk past him and say they want to eat him.

 Anna snapped this pic of all three of our kitties a while back.  I call her the cat whisperer.  Weebs will only eat one kind of food and if we get it wrong...Holy cow!  

Poppy, our grey cat, is anti social.  It's always on her terms who and when she wants snuggles.  She's happiest outside during the day killing and tearing heads off of poor little animals.

 Ted Wait For It

He's mammoth.

Weighs a ton and loves to climb on you when we are in bed.  It hurts.  He will sit and stare at you just like the pic.  It's funny to see him stretched out on the beds.  

We love our kitties in this house.  When I was visiting Jana and staying at her house, I found it so odd not to have creatures all over the house.  There is a comfort to be found when you sit down and there is a warm furry body wanting held.  There is always laughing from the funny things they do.

I even don't mind crawling into bed and finding Ted fur all over my pillow.  Just flip it over!  I know, you are thinking EW!

Custer Holiday Performance

 That's our girl!  The 3rd grade performance was a little crazy to say the least.  The kids learned several dances from around the world and then they got to teach it to a partner.  Soren was the lucky one from our family that got to go out in that mess and dance with Olivia.

 I sat back and laughed until my sides hurt.  

Hey Lynn, your lookin hot!

I say every time that I go to one of these functions that I wont ever miss going to another one.  In reality I will.  It makes me so proud to watch Soren go and dance with his sister and make her laugh.