2 Wheelin'

We've been out running, riding scooters, and riding bikes around the block to burn off a bunch of extra energy that the kids have, mostly from eating too many sugar cookies. :)  Royal's mom has managed to pick up a whole slew of bikes from garage sales in preparation for the kids coming and growing up and needing different outside toys to play with.  Unfortunately the only bike big enough for Jayden to ride that had training wheels on it was purple and he said he couldn't ride a girl bike, so he was stuck on a smaller bike that was getting really hard for him to pedal, especially up hills.

A couple days ago Jayden was getting really frustrated on the smaller bike, so he decided it was time to try out a bigger bike without training wheels, as long as Royal promised to not let go.  Jayden did pretty darn good, he needs a few more practices out there, because he's so concentrated on pedaling and not falling over that he's forgotten how to steer.  :)

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Jayden decided this year that Santa wasn't real.  I never told him that Santa wasn't real, he just decided for himself.  I asked him if Santa wasn't real, who was going to be coming to Royal's work Christmas party.  He told me, 'Oh just a guy in a costume'.  Then I asked, 'So, where do the presents in your stockings come from?'.  He answered, 'They are from you.'  I think today, his disbelief in Santa might have been shaken.

Royal's mom won an appearance from Santa Claus at a silent auction, and he showed up at the house today.  Despite the fact that the kiddos freaked out when the Santa at Royal's work's Christmas party showed up, they did pretty darn well with him sitting in the living room.

Looking out the window at Santa coming up the sidewalk - Jayden's starting to freak out a bit.



Jayden ran away and hid while Santa came in, then finally came back to check him out when he heard he had candy.



We actually got Jayden to sit on his lap!



And Jayden tested out his beard.



Willow wouldn't sit on Santa's lap, but at least got close enough to get her gift and candy cane.



Finally, Santa read the kids a story, Sneezy the Snowman.  I thought this Santa was totally realistic!


Merry Christmas!!!

What Willow Wears :: 7

NOTHING!!!

The girl loves being naked, or in her words, 'necky'.  We've had to put some rules on her nakedness, because with Norma's shop being attached to the house there are people coming and going all the time.  So we try to hold her off until after dinner when there aren't a lot of people coming by, but this morning there was a family friend getting her hair done, so we didn't stop Willow when she refused to put on clothes and wandered out to the shop.

This is how she was treating me when I tried to do her hair.



Then grandma came over and things went much smoother

Big Bouncin'

I finally got the Lovingfoss' house down in Kelso hooked up with some wireless internet, so it's gonna make posting about what we're doing a whole lot easier!

The day before we left, we let the kids open their Christmas presents that we weren't bringing with us.  This was totally strategic, so the kids had some new toys to play with while I finished packing us up.  Too bad Willow was still recovering from the flu and Jayden was too tired from not sleeping for the past few days to be too excited about it all, because the kids really didn't play with them much unless I was standing right next to them...they were a little clingy...

We got the kids a new bouncer to replace the one that finally wore out.  This one is made out of nylon and has an electric pump that keeps air going into it.  I think it's gonna be a whole lot of fun!

Firetruck Birthday

We went to a friends 3rd birthday party yesterday that was at a fire station.  The kids got the usual watch the firefighter get all dressed up in his gear and see who was the bravest and would touch or give a high five to him.  Then the kids got to sit in a truck and pretend to drive around and look at all the hoses and other gear and stuff.  Then the best part, which my kids have never go to do before.  They took the kids for a ride around the block in the fire truck.  It. Was. Awesome!







We had another very excited passenger on our ride with us! - our good buddy Lunden!

(look out Lunden's window...it looks like Royal is having a really good time at the Fire Station too...)

What Willow Wears :: 6

This is the hair edition....although she did pick out her entire outfit today.

She started with the pink striped socks and that was all she wanted, but I told her it was much to cold outside and she was going to Sabrina's house this morning and she needed to wear some clothes, so she spotted her pink skirt on the floor and shouted, 'PINK!', so we put that on.  Then I forced her to pick a shirt, because she kept shouting, 'No!  Top Nekky!  Top Nekky!'  But she finally found one in her drawer that was pink and decided that was good enough.  She chose her black shoes earlier today, but when we got home, she decided she would rather wear Jayden's "Mexican" shoes and trotted around in those for awhile.

So, anyway, Willow and me and her hair do not get along.  I'm barely allowed to touch it.  If I can get near it long enough to get a rubber band somewhere near the top that at least gets her bangs out of her face I'm good.  Then my mom shows up a couple weeks ago, and I say something to her about how I really want to put Willows hair in a pony tail, or pig tails, but anytime I touch the back part of her hair, she swats at my hands and shouts, "No!"  Later that evening, my mom comes up the stairs with Willow and her hair is in a pony tail.  I'm like, "What the??  How did you do that?"  My mom says, "Well she was just sitting on my lap and I started playing with her hair and I just pulled it up in a pony tail."  I respond, "You have got to be kidding me!  She won't let me play with her hair, ever!  When we're sitting a chair rocking, or watching a movie, and I reach up just to play with the back of her hair, she just smacks my hands"

My mom eventually has to leave to go home, so I'm just sure that's the end of seeing Willow with cute hair and I'm back to trying to just get her hair out of her face.  But Willow has been tolerating me on a few days and I've been able to get some pig tails in - which by the way Jayden calls Bully Horns because he thinks Willow looks like she has bull horns.  Today however, Willow was being a stinker about her hair and I kept telling her that I couldn't take her to Sabrina's house with her hair all crazy.  Sabrina would look at me like I was abusing my poor child - if you know Sabrina, you'll know what I'm talking about - her boys are always super cute and all dappered out, and if she had a girl, you can bet that girl would be dressed so cute all the time, and it would probably be born with a head full of beautiful hair for Sabrina to put pretty things in.  Me, well I have trouble making myself cute all the time, much less my kids.  :)   Anyway, mentioning Sabrina helped my cause with Willow, because I'm not sure but Willow just might love Sabrina more than me.  So I managed to get Willows hair in a couple pig tails.  Then when I pick Willow up from Sabrina's house, her hair looks like this!



Are you kidding me????  She sat still long enough for Sabrina to put french braids in???  I asked Sabrina how in the world she got Willow to sit still long enough and let her play with the back of her hair.  Sabrina's like, "I put her on the counter (yup, I do that), I gave her some snacks (yup, I've done that), and she watched a show on the tv (yup, I've tried that!)".  Sabrina's all, "She hardly even moved."  I freakin' give up.....

Happy Birthday, Willie

Today you would have been 30 years old.


I wish I had some new pictures of you to post, but I'll settle on one of the last ones I got.  It's one of my favorites.  It reminds me how cool you always though you were, even in camo hip waders.  And how I had to re-teach you how to dig a clam because whenever Royal or Fireball tried they always just dug up the clam and handed it to you and you were getting so mad that they were just handing you your limit when you actually wanted to dig yours.  And then after you finally got the hang of it and had put a few clams in your basket, one of the razor clams fought back when you accidentally crushed it while trying to pull it out of it's hole.  It's broken shell sliced right through the top of your finger and left it all bloody and nasty and covered in sand, but you kept digging anyway.  Then when you got back to my house that evening you sat in the bathroom downing a couple beers as fast as you could while you cleaned out your finger and proceeded to rip your whole fingernail off.  You were tough like that.  :)

I wonder what you would be doing.  Would you be married by now?  Would you have your own kid to love on?  Would you still be hanging out with rock stars, and football players, and fabulously wealthy people?  and then calling me to tell me how cool you were?  Would you have finally got me my hookup with Dave Matthews?  Would you still be making fun of me for moving to Kansas?  I wonder what would we have named Willow, since she's named for you?  Because Willow is such a Willow, I can't imagine her having a different name.

We sung Happy Birthday to you this morning.  When Jayden heard me say something about your birthday today, he was worried no one would be singing to you, so it was his idea.   Even though I'm not sure you celebrate your earthly birthday in Heaven.  I mean, how do you keep track of that stuff in infinite time?  I suppose anything is possible though.

Happy Birthday Brother.  I can't wait to be with you again someday.

Love, Rachel