Easter Teaser

*A more thought-out post about Easter will be coming soon. I just feel extremely guilty leaving "Christmas" as my most recent post, although I've been skipping all over the place the last few months.*

I broke my camera while taking a picture of our Easter lunch (yummy Thai peanut noodles and fried crab rangoon), so I never did get a good picture of Ally and Cora together in their Easter dresses. And by "Easter" dresses I mean the outfits they each chose to wear. Ally's dress was originally meant for play and not for church, but she designated it her Easter dress 2 weeks in advance and there was no switching it out for the flashy new dress I was sure she would've picked.

Here's a video of them hopping around like bunnies.


PS: I really hope my brother Mark appreciates my playful anagram.

Was December Really 5 Months Ago?

The details of Christmas have become quite fuzzy. (Darn that aging brain of mine!) If you're interested in a different perspective (or fresher recounting) of our Christmastime fun, you should check out my sister-in-law Erin's blog. Unlike me, she posted her memories within a month of the actual holiday.

We ended up with a bunch of interesting faces and no stellar poses when we tried to get a cute picture for our card. My favorite "can't-use-that-shot-either" was the one where Ally's throwing up gang signs. We also ended up with a CTR ("Choose the Right") ornament that Cora stole from the tree. (She's already not making very good choices.) I'm pretty sure it's still down in our basement somewhere 'cause we could never remember to take it back to church with us on Sundays.


The day before Christmas, my brother Mark and his family drove out from Seattle. They brought their three children and my parents (who had flown out from PA) along with them. Ally excitedly anticipated their arrival. The whole week beforehand she'd remind me that "4 plus 5 plus 2 equals 11 people" and "six adults and five children equals 11 people." Good thing Daddy bought us such a big house!


The kids reenacted the Christmas story. Ally quickly volunteered to be Mary since she's so good at popping out babies. Chris read the story from Luke chapter 2 while a very-pregnant Ally rode into Bethlehem on donkey Mark's back. Bryce was the ever-diligent Joseph, making sure she didn't fall off. Aubree played an angel, and Cora crawled around on the floor like a lamb.

Here's some never-before-seen footage of Jesus' birth.


Ally and Cora in their jammies on Christmas morning:
Most of us slept in Christmas morning. When they did wake up, I had the kids wait behind a baby gate so they could all run out into the living room for presents together. Santa and his elves left a huge stash of goodies on our fireplace and under the tree, so we must have been playing host to some well-behaved children.

Some pictures of everyone enjoying themselves:


Chris requested that he be able to make our Christmas meal. He also requested a liberal budget. The man wanted to try out a recipe for prime rib. I would've been crazy to stop him. To compliment his chosen entrée he baked mushroom and wild rice stuffing, and he whipped up my holiday favorite-- his crock pot yams. I made the rolls, but the best thing on the table was the meat. I doubt he'll do it again anytime soon, but it was a definite success. I'm thinking he should open a restaurant if this whole epidemiologist thing doesn't work out.

We did other things during that week, but I can't quite remember what. I know we saw the dancing Christmas light display at a local landscape business, played lots of games, and let the children run wild.

In No Particular Order

I have 4 or 5 months worth of memories to catch up on, so get ready to experience a lot of blogging flashbacks over the next few posts. (At least you'll get to see some cute pics of the girls and how much they've been growing recently.)

It's always a circus around here. I really don't think our life is all that complex, but I never seem to be able to get anything done. And things rarely go as planned.

We had a flood in our basement the end of April. Thankfully we were home and saw the inch and a half of water within 10 minutes. Thankfully it was clean and not sewage. Thankfully we have insurance. Although our basement walls and carpet are still in construction mode, I'm grateful we didn't lose anything. Somehow most of our stuff was either elevated off the floor, in plastic bins, or moved out of harms way before the water could touch it.

Chris did find my boy Cabbage Patch Preemie face down in the lake that was our laundry room. To add insult to the situation, he was wearing a Minnie Mouse dress. I thought he was a goner, but I placed him in the wind tunnel created by one of 14 high-powered ServPro fans and he dried out quite nicely. I'm sure we'll have to pay for therapy some day.

Note to self: Make sure the garden hose is disconnected from the outside faucet next winter so this little pipe doesn't freeze. At least I got to spend some quality time with ActionMan again. I'm glad he was nice and didn't scold me for not listening to him.

Then yesterday Mr. Appliance dropped by to take a look at our refrigerator. (I just realized, it sounds like I've had to call upon the Superhero Squad-- cheaper than the Justice League-- to solve a lot of problems recently.) The fridge has decided to join the chaos by not following recommended temperature guidelines for adequate food safety. Mr. Appliance will be returning on Thursday to replace the evaporator fan motor. Until then, most our "cold" food is vacationing with different friends while we eat the basics out of two chest coolers on my kitchen floor.

At least we're alive and not suffering from encephalitis or anything like that. (We love you Kenny and are glad you're getting better!)

How Do You Say/Spell That?

We drove out to Pendleton, Oregon in April to see what we could see. Our first order of business was to have a yummy picnic lunch on the sidewalk at the rest stop.



Then we moved on to the Museum at Tamástslikt Cultural Institute, which is next to the Wild Horse Casino. If you're unsure of how to say or spell Tamástslikt, don't feel bad. It's a Native American word, and apparently the people that run the center have the same issue.








The museum sits on Umatilla Indian Reservation and portrays the history of all the various tribes in the area. They have some neat life-sized dioramas, teepees and a gathering tent, photographs, videos, and a multimedia campfire presentation that scared Ally.

They were also hosting a traveling exhibit from OMSI on aging. Ally had fun seeing how wrinkly Mommy and Daddy are going to look in another 20 years.


On our way home we took a 10 minute self-guided tour of Pendelton. We didn't find anything of interest except a small downtown area and the wool mill. Not much to talk about, although I think we'll try to go back in September for the Pendleton Round-Up.

Palouse Falls

This Saturday we took a drive out to Palouse Falls. I'll be breaking from my traditional blogging style by posting a lot of pictures with just a little commentary. But, rest assured, it really is me posting this.













We hiked up the hill to an overlook shelter and got a better view of the whole landscape.








We ate our picnic lunch in a slight drizzle of rain.








"Hey, let's go hike up there to get an even closer look."






A very important message.






Ally started to bawl when we yelled at her for not wanting to hold our hands and trying to run. I thought she was crying because she didn't want to die. (We DID tell her she might fall off the cliff and die and be gone from us forever and then Cora wouldn't have a big sister anymore.) Turns out she was MOST upset about getting into trouble and potentially losing a book for not listening.










Beautiful views without any fences + elevated, uneven, and rocky path = one awe-inspired but very nervous mother.


On the way home we experienced the rolling hills of Eastern Washington, with the brown and green fields. This picture doesn't quite do it justice. I think this was in the little town of Prescott.

Mother's Day

Ally had her church singing debut today. She and all the other Primary children stood up front for a special musical number dedicated to the mothers in the congregation. She performed a solo encore for me by the light post in the parking lot after church, and then she gladly sang it once more when we got home so I could record it. Enjoy!

Little Artist

I left Cora downstairs for a few minutes this morning. I knew better than to leave her alone, so I made sure Ally was there to supervise. When they came upstairs, Cora was holding two open pens and grinning. Then she showed me her belly. Apparently Ally is a very "hands on" supervisor, 'cause she had a Cora masterpiece on her belly, too.

I'm glad no walls, furniture, toys, or clothing were harmed in this act of artistic expression. And I'm glad my children are washable.