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.

The Frozen maniac turns 9

OK, I'm going to be playing catch up.  The crazy holiday season is over and now I can start to slow down.  Isn't that how it works?  I know, I live in a fantasy world.  Troy is home for more than a couple weeks at time for now.  I have so been taking advantage of that!  

My goal this year is to really stay on top of my family blog.  I want my family and friends to have an idea what is happening with us Dunow's. 

I did something unusual this year for Olivia's Birthday.  I actually gave a birthday party within the "30 day limit".  Do you know how many birthday parties I have thrown for my kids that have not been even in the same month as their birthdays?  I don't want to talk about it.

Can we guess the theme?

 Yes, That blasted movie Frozen.  Just goes to show you how much we love Olivia.  We had too many kids, too much time and not enough patience for little tantrums.
Nine year old girls are not fun when you put 20 or so in the same room.

Little cutie in the flannel is also an Olivia and a complete opposite of my Olivia.  Crazy, but they play so well together.  Both are amazing little Olivia's!

Regardless how much I honestly hated the whole party, I was happy that Olivia and her friends had a good time.  She's not going to be a little girl much longer and I'm hanging onto it for dear life.  I find myself making little kids crafts for her and Soren.  When I give it to them and am so excited, they just look at me like I'm crazy.  I need someone with a small child that I can give random gifts to so I can appease my toddler yearnings.

Anna made a beautiful snowman cake for our little darling.  Troy, Ella, Anna and I all made blue fleece scarves tied up with gloves for the thank you gift.  It warms my little heart to see my Hubby using scissors making crafts.  Best Husband Ever.

There was A LOT of squealing, screaming, crying and tattling.  Regardless of all the drama I would of done it all over again in a heartbeat.  

My baby is growing up.  I'm having a hard time with this.  People tell me this is normal to feel this way for the youngest.  Well, I don't like it.  I want this back.

 Anna and Ella would haul Olivia around like one of their baby dolls.  I think they would still do it today if she didn't weigh so much!

 I say I want to go back, and in some ways I want too.  I want my Mom to see the amazing children I have. Our little Miss Muffet has grown into such a kind, caring, funny little girl.  She has a wicked sense of humor and great comedic timing.  Her laugh is a true belly chuckle.  If your lucky enough to hear Olivia laugh, it makes your day.  This last picture of Olivia and Mom made me bawl.  Literally.  Olivia had just made it through a major pneumonia scare.  They had just put her on oxygen for sleeping.  She looked strong and healthy here but she was one little sick baby.  I had my Mom with me for support.  As a family we supported each other through fighting for Olivia to get better.  

Today she still struggles.  She is healthy.  She is strong.  She is beautiful.

She is funny.  

She is smart.  Holy cow is this cookie smart! (Luckily all my kids took after their Father!)

I struggle with my baby growing up but boy am I thankful she's this little girl now!  

Happy birthday to my Little Miss Muffet.

OK, so I may have been a couple of months late writing this post but at least I wasn't a couple of months late with the birthday party.