Thanksgiving 2012

After a few weekends of no excitement besides my winning fantasy football team and business at work, Thanksgiving week finally arrived.  The kids had the whole week off from school and had a couple night sleepover at Yaya and Papa Ron's to start the week.

Thanksgiving day we went up to my parents to spend the day with my parents and Annette and Walt.  Siena wore her new favorite Hello Kitty shirt to celebrate the occasion.

My parents did the lion's share of the cooking.  Annette made her great jello salad and I pitched in a couple of pies.

The spread...and it was as good as it looks!

The boys.  As in each Thanksgiving past, Luis and Mason are sporting their sweater vests.

Papa Ron made a pumpkin creme brulee for dessert.

Papa Ron and Mason split the wish bone.

Oddly enough, both ends broke off and the bottom fell out.  Mason's was slightly longer than Papa Ron's so he won.

We played a bunch of The Christmas Story Yahtzee before heading to Luis' folks to celebrate with them.  The kids had so much fun with their cousins there that they did a sleepover.

Yaya and Papa Ron came over again last night for our annual viewing of Christmas Vacation.  The rest of the weekend was spent watching football, putting up decorations, and me dealing with my cold.  We're ready to get back at it tomorrow!

Fall - The Best Time of Year

Fall has always been my favorite season. There's birthdays and holidays, it's the heart of football season and the start of the Blazers season.  Leaves are changing colors and the weather gets cool enough for snuggling with a blanket in the evening.

Last Saturday, Luis took Mason to the Timber's game.  It was cool and rainy but it didn't seem to damper anyone's excitement.

Mason contemplates becoming an official member of the Timber's Army.

The cousins and their friends were at the game too.

The Timber's Army was in full force.

Mason.  Ponderous.

Wednesday was Halloween. Halloween snuck up on us (well me) a bit this year with all of our birthday and sports business but we got additional use out of the Harry Potter costumes from Mason's birthday party.  This is us getting ready to go trick-or-treating.

This was a relatively quiet weekend, aside from this little mishap.  Another rod bites the dust.  Perhaps our daughter needs some monkey bars...

The pumpkins.  I forgot to get a picture while they were "fresh" but you get the point.  Siena's (left) is a kitty and Mason's (right) is a zombie.

Lucky #7!!!

Yesterday was Siena's birthday party.  She has been planning this party since before Mason's birthday party last May so she was so excited when the big day finally arrived.

Since she is so into baking these days, we went with a baking theme for her birthday party.

She's also helping me blog this week so here goes:

Siena said "These are the big cupcakes we made!"

Here's the birthday girl.  She says "I'm so excited for my big party today!"

First activity was decorating aprons with fabric paint.  Siena made "a lovely picture with the paint."

Sharon helps Giada with her apron while Siena's classmates Myla and Angelina make good progress on theirs.

Here's Siena, Ellia, Berren, and Tristyn working hard on their aprons.

Siena "love's her apron!"  Here's Mason's skull and cross bone apron.

Now that we have a bunch of aprons that need to dry, it's time to decorate the cupcakes!!  Here's Giada and Tristyn working on theirs.

Even cousin Kendra joined in to decorate a cupcake along with Ellia.

Luis and Heidi chatting at the party...hopefully about a future trip to Norway...

PRESENTS!!!!!!

Yes, the multiple photo editing options got the better of me here.  I couldn't help it with the cute picture of the October birthday girls Siena and Tristyn reading cards together.

The pinata!!!!

Due to October Oregon rain, we had to pinata inside.  It was the lower key string pull variety though so it still worked.

And the kids got plenty of loot!

"I got lots of candy!!!"

Huh...somehow these pictures ended up out of order... Oh well.  Here's the aprons all set up and ready for some kids.

Mason post party finds some fun with the spare chairs.

Blowing out the candle on her cupcake...while eating another cupcake.

JUSTIN BIEBER DOLL!!  Only one person could have picked that out for Siena...Kendra.

Today we went to Tristyn's cowgirl birthday party which was also a lot of fun.  Lets not forget that the kids also had soccer and dance this weekend.  It was another crazy busy weekend but a lot of fun.

Happy Kumla to Mama

Another busy weekend and another year older for me.

Yesterday Yaya and Papa Ron came over to help with the big project of painting Siena's room.  Don't adjust your monitors, that's bubble bum pink.  She also got a new bed spread, night stand, desk, and dresser (dresser is off to the left).  Siena LOVES her new room and it does look pretty good.

I got to spend my birthday one of the best ways I can think of...eating KUMLA!!  Since I was more focused on eating, I didn't take a bunch of pictures. However, after last week's blog, I figured that was okay.

Kumla is potato based...straight from Auntie Lou's garden to the cat litter bucket, to our bellies!

Here's Auntie Lou with the newest member of her family Oxford.

And here's the aforementioned puppy Oxford um, introducing himself to my cousin Amanda's dog Remy, as only dogs can.

Joanne ponders the fluid on her arm after rubbing up against Remy, post Oxford.

Yaya and her Nannies!

Part of the kumla group - Luis, Dad, Heidi, Mary Lou, Mom, Matt, and Chelsey.

It was a wonderful day, at least until Luis got home and started barking at me to put the groceries away.  Guess it's back to reality.

Sunday Sightseeing Spectacular

Craig and Janene were in town last week following the 50th Anniversary Party.  I took off work Friday to spend some time with them, which included breakfast at Original Pancake House and Voo Doo donuts for lunch.  It wasn't until dinner at Brian and Debbie's house that I had some real food that day.

Saturday was spent at Mason's soccer game followed by dinner with the out of town group at the food carts.

Sunday was out big sight seeing day.  We started out at my parent's house and headed down the Gorge on the Washington side from there.  Due to a needed bathroom break by my kids, we stopped at Beacon Rock.  We couldn't (immediately) find the bathroom so Luis and the kids relieved themselves in the woods which resulted in Siena getting her shorts wet.  So we stripped her and headed off to Skamania Lodge.

Here's mom and Janene at the Beacon Rock pit stop.

After ushering a britchless Siena through Skamania Lodge, we were finally able to buy her some shorts at the pool spa.  Once that was done we could finally settle down and focus on lunch.  As you can see Craig and Mason were very focused on lunch.

Mom and Janene were very focused on the word find on the kids menu.

Is it an elk or a moose?!?  After much debate...we determined moose.

Mason and the moose.

Tables are just their size.

Aaahhh yes, adirondak chairs, sunny day, beautiful view...this is the life.

Mason found some fun.

From Skamania we headed down the hill to the interpretive center.  I love climbing on old mechanical equipment.

Papa Ron mans the rusty tractor.

Mason likes climbing on old mechanical equipment too.

Luis channels his inner saskwatch.

Fish catcher.

Inspecting the old lumber truck.

What's in there?!?

How does this work?

Got any trees that need cutting?

Dong.

Steering the ship...

Firing the cannon...

Them some big rope cables (comparison to Siena's hand).

Mom and Janene in front of the logging truck.

Pilot dreams.

Checking out the old school desks.

Might be a little small for some kids...

What's in here...

Did I mention my love of rusty machinery?

Channeling my inner farmer.

Mason too.

Siena's happy to just go along for the ride.

After the interpretive center, we crossed over the river at Hood River and spent some time at the shops in downtown Hood River.  We also enjoyed some ice cream and these family sized chairs!

More ice cream enjoyment.

Kids behind bars!

When in Chicago, my cousin Carrie was looking for some flip flops for walking around the city.  The cheapest she could find were $30.  These $5 ones were a much better deal!

Siena on a big pink, uh, chair?

After shopping in Hood River, we drove up to Timberline Lodge at Mt. Hood.  Not much snow this time of year but the mountain is still impressive.

Not sure if Mason is enjoying the love from his sister or not.

Luis, Janene, mom, dad, and the kids in front of Timberline.

The cool old chairs in Timberline.

Yaya and her boy on the balcony.

Fun facts...

Mason tests his new coin trick at an old desk in the lodge.

Shuffleboarding.

Siena has a new hobby!

I found Craig's hat.

Old style picture like the one in the background...still in Craig's hat.

I love the old remnants in the lodge.  I half expected to see Jack Nicholson's head pop up behind these bars.

And the old mail boxes.

After a wonderful dinner at the lodge, it was time to head back.  It was such a fun day and so nice to be able to spend time with Craig and Janene before they headed back home.