Stickers!

Who would've guessed that stickers would do the trick?  Not me!  This ripped out piece of notebook paper stuck on the fridge with masking tape did the trick for Bryant to go potty in the potty!  I mean this worked for Taylor and Sydney, but in the beginning Bryant didn't want stickers.  So I bribed him with trains, candy, mints, lollies anything... but he just wasn't ready.  Now he goes all the time while we are at home.  We still have to go when out, but we are making progress.  He loves getting the stickers!  Yeah!  I am so happy!  And he is too!

Snoqualmie Falls

On Saturday, we were bored and wanted to get out of the house.  We drove to Snoqualmie Falls.  This is the river that Todd and the girls fish quite a bit, but the falls were beautiful and misty wet in the air.  We should have come when we were getting all the flooding a few weeks ago.  Now that would have been cool! 

Poor Bryant, all of his jeans have holes in the knees!  He was freezing!  
This is a road near the Tokul river that flows into the Snoqualmie river.  It was washed out!  The kids loved it though.  There were a few houses on this road.

This little creek had tons of huge trout, with decaying spots on their bodies.  They were huge and just swimming along in this tiny creek!  The kids were amazed!

Children's Museum

I just found out we have a great Children's museum not too far from us!  On Friday Bryant and I met my friend, whom I've know since fifth grade and her son, at the museum.  The boys had so much fun!  There was a tree house, water play area, music area, a semi-truck to climb through, a blower/vacuum system (in the photo below), and art and dress up area, and a 3 and under area with a great big huge train table. I was thinking of getting a membership pass, but once Bryant turns four in April he won't be able to go to the train table anymore!  He will definitely not like that at all!  But there is a great Children's Museum in Seattle we may join and meet our friends there.  So much fun!

This is B with our friend, who wouldn't turn around and look at me!  

Basketball

Bryant had his first of six Basketball classes at  the Highlands Community Center.  This is his first ever organized class of any kind.  He started out slow, being shy and I had to be right with him.  They start by running two laps around the gym, they stretched and then learned how to dribble and worked on that skill the rest of the time.  He can almost dunk the ball in the hoop!

They are supposed to be dribbling the ball down the court, but most balls were runaways and had to be chased down.

This is blurry, but way too cute!  Thanks for the pose, Bry, but your supposed to be dribbling the ball!
The class ages range from 3-5.  Bryant will be four in April.  About 3/4 of the way through the class he told me to go sit down and watch.  I got these photos then.  At the end of class he was asking when the next basketball class was!  Too bad it is only once a week!

Snow fun

Yesterday we headed up the mountain to play in the snow!  My friend Cathy invited us to go with her two girls and the kids had more fun eating and playing in the snow, than sledding.  The hill was short, so the hike back up was not too bad!  It was perfect for the littler ones but, Taylor and Todd were wanting a bit more excitement.  Taylor is trying to stand and ride like a snow board.  She wants a board so badly!  She has taken the wheels off of one of her skateboards and tried to use it in our yard when we had snow, but forgot to bring it to the mountain with her.  Next time...

Here the kids are climbing on the snow plowed snow bank next to the toilets!  And having a blast!
This is our friend and Bryant on the left. I am taking the photo downhill from about mid way up.

Two weeks ago when we were all flooded out and stranded in the Seattle, this avalanche happened.  Look at the dark area above the buildings in the middle.  It took out houses and a ski lift on the left of the clearing.

Toxic Fumes mistake

I turned on the oven earlier this week and opened the door to put the cookies in and ugh!  Toxic heat wave!  My eyes were burning!  I turned off the oven, but smoke continued to billow out!  We had the stove fan on and two fans blowing it out the slider door near the kitchen.  It was freezing outside too!  Then I decided to clean the oven...wrong thing to do.  It was horrible, as we were at home!  I won't make that mistake again.  Next time I clean the oven, it will be summer so we can go outside!  Those cookies were darn good too!

Aunt Rhonda's cookies

1 cup butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 cup oatmeal

about 2 cups (or more) of any combination: chocolate chips, M&M's, chopped pecans, macadamia nuts, pistachios, coconut, raisins or craisins or other dried fruit (mango, apples, etc) 

Cream butter and sugars.  Add vanilla and eggs.  Beat mixture until lighter in color and fluffier texture.  Incorporate dry ingredients.  Then add chocolate chips/nuts, etc.  

Bake at 375 F for 9-11 minutes.

I added chocolate chips, M&M's, craisins and macadamia nuts.  Oh, my, gosh!  The chocolate, sweet and salty was the best combo!  Enjoy!

Flat tire

This is what happened to me today.  I had an appointment at the doctor's for an injection at noon.  I came out at 12:20 and saw that my van had a flat tire!  Ugh!  Todd is always out of town when things go bad.  So I called him, what do I do. I was waiting and hoping he would tell me to call AAA or road side assistance... no, he said get out the manual, read it and change the tire!  What????  Are you kidding?  I've been shown how to change a tire several different times, like in Young Women's... but to actually do it on my own...  I was trying to think of someone to come help me or at least sit with me and talk me through it.  So, then I thought of whose husband might be home during the day...  I called my friend Kristina, whose husband works for his family business and is sometimes home during the day, he is also a student.  She was nearby and was meeting him, luckily and came by to help.  By the time they drove up, I had the car jacked up and was taking off the bolts to get the tire off.  He helped with the rest.  The hardest part was getting the jack out of the car!  I had to read that you are supposed to twist it to shrink it to pull it out of the slot!  Ugh!  Then it took forever to jack it up cranking it ever so slowly... but now I know that I could do it if it were to ever happen again!  Then two more hours at Les Schwab.  My tire was irrepairable, they said.  I knew they were getting pretty bad... so now I have four brand spankingly new tires!  Boy do I ever feel safe! :)  By the way this is my first time copying a photo that I didn't take to my blog, hope it turns out okay.

A Bryant Taco!

Bryant loves it when the girls wrap him up like a taco.  He helps them lay out the blankets and then lays right down to be wrapped!  Then they tie him up and he hops all around the room. They all laugh and Bryant has so much fun, anything to get them to play with him!

Mistake

I forgot to post the last post yesterday, which was our actual Anniversary.  January 5, 1993.  We always forget our Anniversary, both of us, weird huh?  Well, for some reason we both remembered this year!  

Happy sixteen years, Toddy!

Todd and I met at Washington State University 17 years and two months ago.  We have lived in Pullman Washington, Fair Oaks California, Hillsboro Oregon, Swindon England, Portland Oregon and now in the Seattle Washington area.  We are good friends and enjoy spending time together.  I'd rather be with him and my family instead of a "Girls night out".  I love that he chooses to spend time with us, his family.  He is a hard worker, is always trying to get me on a budget, but doesn't make me.  He wants to go to Hawaii or Mexico and take us with him.  He is a wonderful father and husband and is so easy to get along with.  He is athletic, he thinks he is funny (he he), and will cook occasionally (the kids love "Dad's pasta"), is smart and has common sense.  What I love the most is that he is hunky, and my kids are good looking because of his genes!  Just kidding...  I love him, and he loves me!  Happy Anniversary Toddy!

Baker's New Year's Eve Party

The kids played the Wii and watched movies, while the adults talked and played Cranium upstairs.

We watched to count down at the Space Needle, the first time I'd ever seen that.  I always watch the Times Square count down... now I know!  The kids are all blowing their horns and jumping up and down.  It was so loud!

New Year's kiss!  Noooooooo!

Christmas is here at last!

Every day since Christmas, Bryant has asked if it was Christmas and if he was getting more presents!  The girls are trying out the new Wii Music game.  Tay is playing the trumpet.

Bryant got this new train signal from Nana, he picked it out at Toys R Us and couldn't wait to open it.  He asked everyday up until Christmas if he could.
Taylor got a microscope, that she can't wait to tell her science teacher about.  She got a bike from Santa.
Sydney is really excited about her new Clarice book set.  She got a robot dog from Santa, it is laying in front of her on it's side.
Bryant got a big boy bike from Santa.  

Christmas pajamas!

Sorry, the photos are backwards... oops!  Nana buys the kids their Christmas pajamas every year and Sydney's were seriously a foot too long on her and they were marked as a size 7/8...  she loves them anyways.

We loved the snow while it lasted!

Taylor had taken the wheels off of her skateboard so she could use it as a snow board!  It worked okay, she just need a slightly steeper hill to try it out on though!

Our home.  The garbage collectors did not come that week for collection!  I wonder why?