Lunch?

Geesh, how can you say no to that?

Our new toy room

A place for everything and everything in it's place.

I didn't know how good it would feel to have a "place" devoted to the kids' toys. Previous to this, we had toys in the bedroom, toys in the office, toys in the living room, and various toys scattered all over the house. We gave up our spare room (sorry to any visitors, you will be sleeping on a mattress in the middle of the toy room!) which was not getting used, but once or twice a year, and moved the office in. And voila! we have a new space. This is the bigger room (upstairs) so the kids have plenty of room to make a mess (and pick it up) and future plans for a set of little table and chairs. All I bought were the two white shelves ($40 Shopko clearance), the posters and frames ($20), paint ($20) and this very cute clock ($8.50 marked down from $40!).

Here's my sad attempt at piecing together 4 shots into a panoramic.
Our walls really aren't that crooked.

Here's the cute airplane clock, that really doesn't "go" with anything,
but I liked it (and the price, too!) The propeller rotates as the "second" hand. Cute!

PS. I also want to point out how much I really like the "Good Guys" poster I found at Walmart. And without getting on my soapbox about societies attempt to de-masculinate (yes, that is my own word) my sons, I will quietly promote their need for guns, swords, honor, chivalry and to feel proud of being a boy (without the need to demean girls). My future daughter-in-laws will thank me.

Proof that he is not my baby anymore!

Just in case you didn't notice the missing tooth, Colton is pointing at it!
He's a little excited about it.

Holding his prize!

And in his own words:

Anyway... he'll always be my baby even when he's an old man. Now I am going to go sit in a corner and read Love you Forever by Robert Munsch.

2nd Annual Crab Dinner

So every year we go to California for Christmas (crab season), our request for crab gets larger and as we share in the bounty of the sea, we also host a quiet little dinner for a few friends. This year along with Jeremy and Laura Beth, and Kris and Rachel, we added Jason and Alisha to the list and had to move the dinner over to Laura Beth's house. The food was delicious, the conversation was hilarious, and the company was spectacular.

This is really the only big event that we host, so I really try to "go all out" and treat our friends to a great night (and it transports me to somewhere other than Great Falls). Enjoy the pics:

Laura Beth and Alisha

Alisha, Jason and Kris getting ready for the feast.
(Rachel hiding behind the camera! No really, thanks so much for taking the pics or I wouldn't have any!)

The table

The Menu:
Appetizers... Crab Stuffed Mushrooms, Crab Salad Hor d'ouerves, Shrimp Cocktail
Salad... Apple, Pecan(I used Almonds), Cranberry, Avocado Spinach Salad
Main... Crab (with butter and homemade buttermilk Ranch dipping sauces)
Baked Scallops, Bacon-Wrapped Asparagus, and Cheddar Bay Biscuits (like RL)
Dessert... Chocolate lava cakes with whipped cream and fresh Raspberries (sorry no pic, we ate them too quickly! but they were really pretty!)

The appetizer plate (minus the shrimp around the top of the glass. opps)

The main dish
(I meant to have wild rice as a side, but the texture just wasn't right, so I didn't serve it... turns out we had plenty of food!)

The busy chefs hard at work! I loved having two separate ovens!

My mom makes this same face!

Thank you J & LB for opening up your home to us and our friends for the great company and letting us pamper you with a scrumptious meal!

Christopher the Climber

While moving the office to the spare room and all of the toys to the new toy room (old office), all of the toys in the living room were too much of a climbing challenge to resist. He was actually standing up on his tip toes reaching into a bin when I caught him.


Here he used a chair to climb up on the desk to have full access to pound on the keyboard. I saw him before he saw me, so I grabbed the camera quick to get the caught-in-the-act look on his face!

Colton/Calvin

Jesse will appreciate this one. We had a "discussion" in the cereal aisle. He wanted me to get the kids Wheaties. I am such a big kid.

Tagged

I was tagged by Amber two days ago. sorry I'm a slacker.

1. Five names you go by
Cortney
MomMY
Mom
Snortney (family)
Hun

2. Three things you're wearing right now
Ratty old Aeropostale tshirt
Fleece sweats
socks

3. Two things you want very badly right now.
Chocolate... especially B&J Phish Food
A clean house

4. Two things you did last night
Move another twin bed into the boys' room
Watch HouseM.D. Season 3 courtesy of Netflix

5. Two things you ate today
Applebees Oriental Chicken Rollup (lunch w/Jesse)
homemade Chicken and Dumplings!

6. Two people you last talked to on the phone
Jesse
my bro John

7. Two things you are doing tomorrow
attempt to move our spare bedroom into storage, our office into aforementioned spare room, and ALL toys that we own into previous office space.
Go on Anniversary Date with Jesse (yes, our ann. is Dec 10th)

8. Two longest car rides
From Arcata, CA to here via Boise... thanks crummy Portland weather (one week ago)
The drive home from dropping off Colton at his dad's for a month during the summer

9. Two of your favorite beverages
Dr. Pepper (trying to wean myself for the health of unborn child)
Juice... orange, grape, apple anything these days

10. People you tag
Jackie
Summer
Rachel M
Debra
Mandi

Basketball and 2 year old behavior

Colton had his first basketball practice last Tuesday and had a great time. We were kind of nervous because he has a really competitive spirit and doesn't take failure very well. I was really impressed with how well he did, considering that he has pretty much never played before.

On another note Christopher has really embraced his soon-to-be-two-year-old status. He has successfully mastered the word "No". So that has been fun...

Micheal Jordan watch out!

He's got mad skills!

It's tough being little and wanting to play with the big kids.

Just wanting to play with the big kids!

To California and back

Here's just a quick post to catch up on our Christmas trip to California:

Christmas Morning

Muyah, muyah... blowing kisses to Elmo

Pretty proud of his pile... "I guess I really was a good boy this year!"

Cookies for Santa, designed by Colton

Plate to put Santa's cookies on.

Happy 2009!

Me and Christopher... and a crab.

Hoping that if he gives them weapons, they will start fighting.

Whhoooo hoooo!

Filling Grandpa in on all that happened while he was at work!

Dat, dat... means crab in Christopher language

Cute little eskimo baby

Trying to get the crabs to fight eachother

Heyyyyyy, heeeeyyyyy... said with a Boston/Finding Nemo accent

Splashing in puddles.

Angels?!?

Rocking out to Christopher's toy

Dancing... Christopher style

Wild Angel

Colton's Wish List

1. Ashoka and Rotta
2. Hulk car
3. Spy Gear
4. Sk8/parks
5. Lego sw (Star Wars) rebel attack
6. moon shoes
7. a guitur
8. a Nerf gun
9. Air wick
10. Heeleys
11. J-ello
12. baken (bacon)
13. humidifier

Can you guess, by looking at his list, when we moved from the toys to groceries? The air wick was for Christopher's diapers and jello was to make, I don't know about the bacon.

Sierra

A week ago we had to put our dog of 10 years to sleep. She was known for going on little "rendezvous" but was always back a couple of hours later. On Wednesday we let her out and she slipped away. She came back a little while later and was acting funny. I was certain that she got into something, but it had happened so many times before, that I didn't think much of it. Thursday night she left a present for me in the living room at 4:00 am and then Friday morning, she started throwing up. She spent the day outside while I ran errands and as soon as I let her in, she started vomiting blood every 5-10 minutes. Jesse and I decided that we couldn't spend the money that it would take to fix her (if it was something besides ingesting antifreeze, which we couldn't do anything for her), so we had to put her down Friday afternoon.

Colton had a hard time saying goodbye, but he saw that she was pretty sick and knew that it would be better for her. He was surprisingly mature about the whole thing. So after many tears, he took responsibility carrying her pillow for her to "go to sleep" on, we prayed for her and said goodbye. We went to Dairy Queen for ice cream and told happy memories we had with her.

I know she had separation issues and we couldn't trust her at home alone, she would follow me around-room to room, and the hair everywhere. But she really loved "her boys" and would not go to bed until she checked their room, she was always bothered when Colton stayed at his dad's, and she would pretty much let the kids climb and roll all over her. She loved us so much and was such a good watch dog (even to a fault). I'm all about my dog being a dog and not being put above humans, but there's something to be said for the way a dog moves into your heart and becomes a constant, non-judging companion. We love her and miss her.

Making sure the windows were being properly installed.

Christopher hoping to grab whiskers, Sierra hoping for leftovers.

Sierra loved to steal mittens.

If Colton could've only figured out how to attach the sled to her. (Yes, he tried)

3 years!

Happy Anniversary Jesse!
Thank you for always loving me. You are my best friend.

My lover is mine, and I am his; Song of Solomon 2:16

20042005

2005
2006
2008

Here's to countless memories yet to be made and endless laughs!
I love you!

Cowboy Night @ AWANAs

These were just way too funny not to share: