See Jon Sled

This is the sled run that Jonathan built in our front yard for Holland and her neighborhood buddy, Aiden.

He's just "testing" it out...... AGAIN!

Daily Dancing

This is a scene that you can pretty much be guaranteed to see (or participate in, depending on what you level you choose to be involved) on any given day in the Potter home! Holland is dancing through out the house, and Dylan is ever so intently watching her fanciful moves. It's all in the footwork, you know!

I bet you can just imagine what happens next.....

The Year's Highlights

Rang in the new year in Oceanside, California

Visited Disneyland, Legoland, San Diego Zoo, & Safari Park
Ballet lessons for Holland
Art classes at Corbin Art Center
Attended lots of Zags games
Volunteered time for the "Taste of Hope" charity event
Went on a date to the Todd Snider concert
Celebrated Easter at the Abbey
Holland became a member of the "no cavity" club
Dylan sits up for the first time
Dylan crawls
Took girls to the circus
Celebrated our 9th anniversary
Took multiple trips to Seattle
Attended Gabrielles's graduation
Took a family trip to Disney
Saw High School Musical Live
Dylan took first steps
Dylan said first words and hasn't stopped talking since
Ran in Bloomsday with Carmen & Rick
Took Salsa dancing lessons
Attended Chanda's wedding
Holland sang a solo at a music performance
Saw Beauty & the Beast Live
Celebrated Dylan's first birthday
Jonathan hosted a Bob Dylan birthday show on the radio
Started autism photo shoots
Ran in the Cherry Pit Trot with friend, Mary
Holland started playing soccer
Got a new dog
Went to Johnny Lang concert on Silver Mtn.
Girls took swimming lessons

Planted a fairy garden with Holland

Trained for 36 hour relay race
Ran in Spokane to Sandpoint 190 mile relay
Volunteered time for Isaac Foundation Golf Tournament
Hosted summer outdoor movies
Went to Guemes Island for a getaway
Met our new niece, Teigan Jean
Ran Iron Girl Race in Seattle (with an injury)
Started Ashley Potter Photography
Flew to Italy for a wedding (sans kids!)

The girls stayed with grandma and granpa for a week
Attended the Essencia Bakery's Grand Re-opening
Got a fancy new camera lens
Saw Peter Pan Live
Saw Alice and Wonderland
Dylan learned how to do "fancy feet"
Bought Season tickets to the Children's Theatre
Produced "2008 Faces of Hope" calendar
Celebrated Holland's 5th birthday
Went to Seattle for Thanksgiving
Cancelled our trip to Chattanooga

Opened up a facebook account
Made Gingerbread houses at the Davenport,
and watched Gingerbread house contest
Went to Madeline's Christmas
Celebrated Christmas with mom and Westcotts
Went sledding on sled that Grandpa built
Fell asleep after the ball dropped in NYC

Bye, Bye 2008 - You were a good year!

Speaking of Ten.

1. Snow. Snow. Snow. That is our life these days. We have between 3-4 feet of snow at our house, and there is more in the forecast. It is totally crazy. I don't think I have ever seen anything quite like it. The snow is piled up so high, we just have a narrow passage way in our driveway. We barely have room to get out of our car and walk around it. The snow banks are so high in our backyard that Boden keeps sneaking out and into our neighbor's yard. He can just jump right over there fence. It is seriously unbelievable!

2. Speaking of unbelievable....Jonathan and I bought each other the same Christmas present this year. It was a set of wireless speakers that we can use with our Ipod, our projector to watch movies, our TV, etc. etc. etc. I opened mine first and just chuckled, and then I let him open his so he could chuckle! It was pretty funny.

3. Speaking of chuckling and being funny....Holland was so incredibly funny this year about the presents she bought for everyone. She gets to go to a little store called "santa express", and shop with an elf for anyone on her list (No parents allowed). We get to tell the elves how much money she can spend, and they make sure she stays within budget. Everything is priced from .50 cents to $7.50. Anyway, she begged us all to open her gifts on Christmas Eve for our "open-one-gift-on-Christmas Eve-family-tradition", and she could hardly contain herself. She was dancing around the living room saying, "you're gonna love it",{insert happy dance} "hurry up and open it (fill in the name of whosever turn it was)",{insert running around, jumping up and down}, "just open it", "you won't believe it", {dance, dance, dance}. It was absolutely priceless, and definitely one of the highlights of this year's celebrations!

4. Speaking of celebrations..... We celebrated Christmas, Hannakuh, my niece's 19th birthday, and Shabbat, all in one week this year! My niece, Gabrielle, is a wannabe Jew and has been for quite some time. She has always been intrigued with Jewish traditions, and has celebrated Hannakuh for many years so this year she was at our house for the whole week, and asked us to celebrate with her. It was nice to be introduced to a different tradition and to take the opportunity to explain to Holland how there are many different faiths and belief systems. She goes to school with a couple of friends who are Jewish so I really wanted her to learn how important it is to respect others and their differences. She got a kick out of playing Dreidel!

5. Speaking of getting a kick.... I am getting a kick out of Dylan each and every day. She is just a crack up, (most of the time). She wasn't a crack up tonight when she refused to go to sleep though. Anyway, she loves to tease these days and she will take off running when I try to give her a kiss and shout "no", "no", "no" and giggle the whole time. She also loves to bounce and jump, although she hasn't quite figured out how to pick her feet up off the ground, so her body does the action of sqatting, and then she quickly raises her arms waaaaay up high, and then she squats back down again, and repeats these actions over and over again, all while looking so incredibly proud of herself. Occassionally, she will get slightly airborne,and she just lands right on her bottom with feet straight out in front of her! You probably need to see it to get the full picture, but I have a pretty vivid visual as I am typing this, and I'm the one that wants to preserve the memory so that's all that really matters, I guess!

6. Speaking of preserving memories..... I haven't preserved any memories in the form of scrapbooking in over a year. Poor Dylan doesn't even have a scrapbook to speak of (second child syndrome). I even have a couple of pre-made ones that I made while on bedrest, but I haven't put a single thing in them. Pathetic, I know. I am hoping to get back on track a little bit as this New Year is rolling around. I don't know if I will do the same sort of scrapbooking that I did for Holland, but I do love telling stories, adding pictures, and preserving the wonderful memories. I just need to figure out a system that works for me.

7. Speaking of a system that works for me.... I am hoping that the quickbooks system I just ordered will work for me. I am so NOT a business person, and I really need to get a system into play with all this photography business that I've been doing! I've heard it is super easy to use, and it has quite a few features that will simplify my current, convoluted (no rhyme or reason) system that I have not even totally set up, yet!

8. Speaking of having a few features, I got a new grill, griddle, and panini press combo (that I asked for) for Christmas. It has interchangeable plates that are pretty cool. I have always LOVED paninis, and I have been kinda on a little panini kick since our trip to Italy. Yum-o.

9. Speaking of our trip to Italy..... we had gnocchi for dinner tonight. It was delish.

10. Lastly, speaking of dinner tonight.... Holland asked me (over dinner) when she could get her ears pierced, which was not too long after she had asked me if she could color her hair(while riding in the car earlier today), which was on the heals of going nuts over a poster of Troy, from high school musical, that she saw at the dentist office today! Nice, huh? I tried to redirect her to the snow each and every time! : )

Happy (almost) New Year, Everyone!

Stirrings from the Studio

As the new year is approaching, I am wanting to have some more consistency in my blog, and one of the ideas that I've tossed around is to have at least a couple of ongoing threads. One of these threads will be posts regarding Holland's new art studio. You can expect this thread to have posts of funny stories, Holland's art work, photos of Holland creating masterpieces, favorite art supplies, art reviews, etc.

Today's post will be a piece of artwork that Holland made for her Grandma for Christmas. It is entitled, "Angels". (with an upside down G, no less!)



Medium: scultping clay and art play foam

It's A Wonderful Laugh

I absolutely adore the movie, "It's a Wonderful Life", and I look forward to watching it every year. And every year, I cry and cry like I've never seen it before. This year I was hoping to watch it with Holland and take it down to her level. I wanted to tell her how we never know how many people's lives that we may be touching, and how important it is to live life wonderfully by being kind to others, and having good morals, etc., etc., etc. It was going to be such a special memory for me watching it with her for the first time! (that's kinda how my fairytale mentality gets me in trouble!).

So, it's Christmas evening, and we project the movie onto the wall above our fireplace. Holland immediately runs right over because she is a movie junkie and will watch anything and everything she has an opportunity to watch.

She notices right away that it isn't in color.

She says, "Mommy, is this whole movie grey?" "How do you even know if it is daytime or nighttime?"

She watches for another minute or so, and then she runs off. "I don't think I want to watch this movie, Mommy."

And just like that she's gone. She doesn't even try to sneak a peek the rest of the movie. (That has NEVER happened!).

I guess it will probably be a few more years before my special-family-fairytale-christmas-movie-night happens. And until that day comes, I will just enjoy the wonderful laugh!

The Big Christmas Surprise

Jonathan and I decided to do something totally different for Holland for Christmas this year, and it was a HUGE hit. We were dreading the influx of more, more, more when we are seriously trying to have less, less, less. We are still recovering from the big multi 5th birthday party celebrations in which Holland acquired more stuff than any child needs in their life time! Anyway, after discussing our options of what to do for her, we decided we wanted to put together something that would create an experience or a whole host of experiences. We decided to put together her own private art studio! We spent countless hours cleaning out this little room we have in our basement. We took 3 trips with a crammed full van to the local value village to donate who knows what. We re-arranged some furniture, we painted the room, we put in a floor, we hung up some of Holland's art, we filled up a desk full of art supplies, we put a book rack in there full of books about art written for kids, we put some blank canvases on the wall for free exploration, we bought lots of other art supplies for her to unwrap, put down a splat mat, and then let her go to town. She was tickled. She told us "this is the best Christmas present, ever". She immediately sat down and started exploring. She also told us, "I don't like it, I just LOVE it!".

Here are some pictures of it.....

Sense of Wonder

My Darling Dylan!

Snow Storm 08!

It has been snowing nonstop since last Thursday here in Spokalou, and we are buried! Apparently, we broke a record for the most snowfall we've ever had in a 24 hour period, and that was about 19 inches or so. And it has been snowing ever since! I'm not sure what the total accumulation is at our house right now, but I know that when I step into it, it comes up to my thighs. Seeing how I am from Tennessee and all, this is quite an experience for me! Every year, I learn knew things (or I am reminded of things that I forgot) about living in a snowy winter wonderland. Here are a few of the things that I have learned this year:

1.I learned the term "high center". I had never heard that before, even after living here for 8 winters. Last year, I learned what a snow berm was.

2. Kids need water proof gloves in order to play in the snow! I forget this every year when I am buying gear for the season, and then inevitably Holland freezes her hands off when she goes out for the first time!

3. Pushing a grocery buggy (that means cart for you non-southerners) is NOT easy in a parking lot full of snowy, icey chunks and ruts.

4. All Wheel Drive is the only way to get around town. Thank goodness for ours!

5. Cute boots don't always mean warm boots!

And the Winner is.......

The winner is a long, long, long time blog reader - (like back to bedrest boutique days), and guess what? this is the first time she has ever left a comment! Congratulations, Chasity! I can't wait to do a "real" photo shoot with you and your beautiful family! See..... commenting isn't all that bad, now is it?!

Thank you to everyone who participated in my first ever giveaway! I think I sold 14 or 15 calendars these last couple of days, and a total of 20 or more this week from my two blog posts. Keep the orders coming in! If you know of anyone who would like to purchase a calendar, please send them here! I will be getting in touch with all of you who committed to buying one and setting up plans for delivery! Thanks again so much!

XXXOOO

5 more to go

I need to sell 5 more calendars for the contest to be valid! If you have read my comments, Michelle M's purchase doesn't count because it was the day before the contest! I'm trying to drum up MORE sales here, folks! Hurry and buy a calendar or get your friends to so I can proceed with the contest! Chasity? Jen F? EWU long time lurkers? Mary? Go now and leave a comment that you want one! : ) XXXOOO

First Ever "AshMash Giveaway"

If I can sell at least 10 Faces of Hope Calendars through this blog by Friday evening at 8:00 pm (pacific time), then I am going to give away an Ashley Potter Photography package. I will give away a free photo session, an 8 x 10, 5 x 7, and 8 wallets. This is worth approximately $100- $125.00. The recipient must be local, and by local I mean Washington state. I do a lot of traveling throughout the state throughout the year so I'm sure I could work it out to be in your area at some point over the next year! If you want a calendar, please leave your contact information and the number of calendars you want in my comment section, and I will personally deliver them to all you local Spokies! The calendars are only $10.00, and chances are whoever you are, you will have an excellent shot at winning! If you are not local and you just want to contribute to this wonderful cause and be a part of my first ever giveaway, then you can buy a calendar here or here.

Whoever leaves a comment will be put in the random drawing for the photo package - you don't necessarily have to buy a calendar to be put into the drawing, although it would add a nice touch!: )

Thanks to everyone who has already purchased a calendar!

Faces of Hope Calendar

The 2009 Faces of Hope calendar is now available for purchase, and I am going to try and solicit some sales here on my blog! This calendar was a labor of love for me, and I feel so incredibly blessed to have been such a big part of the project. For those of you who aren't familiar with what I am referring to, let me get you up to speed.

Most of you know that I am a pediatric speech therapist that works primarily with children with autism. Most of you also know that I dabble in photography and recently opened my own photography business. Well, this last spring, I decided to join two of my passions and volunteer to put together a fundraiser photography calendar of photos of children with autism from our community. The end result is the 2009 Faces of Hope calendar.

The fundraising portion of the calendar is for a local non-profit organization called the ISAAC foundation who provides therapy grants for local families of children with autism. So many of our families spend thousands and thousands of dollars each year on therapy so this is a way that they can get some relief from a portion of the financial strain. The Isaac foundation was started after Isaac Lytle, a three year old with autism, passed away in his sleep due to an undetected heart disorder. The family took the memorial funds and started this organization, and they already have given out over $25,000 this last year.

If we sell all of the calendars then we will have close to $10,000 more dollars to put back into the therapy grant funds. So, this is where you come into play! For just 10.00, you can be the proud owner of a calendar full of photographs of children with autism and also be the a very proud supporter of an incredible charity that is doing amazing things for families with autism.

Who do you know that would enjoy this calendar? a teacher? a special ed teacher? a therapist? someone who loves children? a family member with a child with autism? a friend with a child with autism?

You can purchase the calendar here, or you can leave me a comment with your contact information, or you can email me at: ashley@milestonespllc.com

Thank you so much for supporting this cause!

Guess Who's 18 Months Old?

(that's kinda the way I feel about it, too!)

Tonight's Ten; or in other words "randomocity"

1. I got out the Christmas decor this morning, and slowly put things up here and there around the house. Although, it's feeling a little forced this year. I think partly because we still don't have snow on the ground, and it just doesn't feel very wintery or Christmasy. It's just a little over three weeks away though. YIKES!

2. I am not looking forward to all the stuff H & D will acquire over Christmas, especially on the heels of two family birthday parties and a huge (27 total) friend birthday party for Holland. I seriously don't want her to have that much stuff, and I think this year she was totally overwhelmed. I have found a couple of partially opened packages that have just been abandoned in random places. This says something. I am really struggling with how to handle it. We have bagged up bags and bags of stuff to donate, and other bags and bags of stuff to toss. It just keeps coming though, and the worst part of it all is that I feel like she doesn't have a sense of appreciation for things. Everything is RIGHT NOW and JUST BECAUSE so when she does get a "special" gift she doesn't quite know that it's special. I've got to come up with a plan, but I'm not sure what it's going to be. I am totally open to suggestions!

3. I have five photo shoots scheduled this weekend! Yippee. I kinda feel like my friend, Mary, except that she schedules 5 in a day!

4. My "Faces of Hope" calendar is finished and ready for order and delivery! We have 1000 to sell so if you are interested in buying one or giving one as a gift, please let me know! I will personally deliver it to you, or put it in the mail! I am pretty proud of the whole thing, but I must admit it was the drive and passion of my friend, Holly, the founder of the ISAAC foundation, that motivated me. I had offered to do something similar for another group in the area and there just wasn't any enthusiasm about it so I let it fizzle. I'm so glad that I did because for one, I am a much better photographer now than I was then, and for two, I really, really believe in what the ISAAC foundation is doing and I am so glad to be a part of it.

5. Dylan is going to be 18 months old tomorrow. My Oh My! Where does the time go?

6. I received an email yesterday from someone who found my bedrest blog after doing a google search. She wrote to me about her situation and told me how encouraging my blog had been. She thanked me for telling my story so candidly and leaving it out there for others to read. It was so refreshing to hear that people are still benefiting from that whole ordeal of mine! I have received quite a few emails and messages over the last year 1/2 from people who have stumbled upon Bedrest Boutique, and I continue to be shocked at their responses. It's nice to be reminded that we may be touching lives even without realizing it.

7. For the last four years, the bottom of my Christmas tree has just been a wreck! Holland has taken ornaments off and put them back on again since she was a toddler. Last year, she was a little more elaborate in her taking them on and off as she would work them into her "stories" that she continuously creates and narrates. I would find the ornaments in random places interspersed with princesses, stuffies, and playmobil figures. I was looking forward to this year being a little different, and hoping that I could talk Holland into leaving the tree be, but I forgot about Dylan. So I guess the cycle begins again.....

8. I'm so excited for Zag basketball! They are ranked number 5 this week after winning the Old Spice Tournament and beating Tennessee. I felt somewhat like a traitor when I cheered for them instead of the VOLS, but I'm realizing more and more each year that my southern roots are getting shorter and shorter.

9. Holland was playing "baby Jesus" tonight which meant she was Mary and she and Joseph were having a baby. She informed me that she had the baby all swaddled up, although she wasn't using a boy baby, she was using a girl baby instead. When I peeked inside the swaddling clothing (actually a swaddled furry, winter hat), she had a groovy girl playing the role. I didn't say a word!

10. Facebook is a crazy,wonderful, weird, and freaky world of long lost connections. I had a message this week from a boy that I went to a prom with twenty something years ago! I didn't know the boy, but he was from a local preppy all boys school and I thought it would be cool to say I had gone to the "McCallie Prom". I was a hostess in a restaurant and this boy and some buddies came in one night and were having dinner. They were kinda flirting and he wrote a check the box note on a cocktail napkin asking me to go the prom. I'm pretty sure I said no that night, but must have given him my phone number anyway. Needless to say, I ended up at the prom with him. We didn't dance a single dance. I think we walked around the grounds of the facility for a few hours and then left early. I am afraid I was a terrible date. (who am I kidding? I KNOW I was a terrible date). I have often felt bad about the whole deal. I was so totally shocked when he sent me a message this week. What a crazy cyber world we live in. So, I did reply to his message and I even embedded a sincere apology. I don't totally get the facebook etiquette thing though - so now what happens? It's too weird, really it is.

At Just Five Years Old, She Has......

been to 12 states
ridden on a camel, an elephant, and a pony

fed a pelican, lamas, goats, horses, and chickens
built sandcastles on numerous beaches

counted the rings on a tree

made a fairy garden

watched a meteor shower

watched butterflies emerge from their cocoons

ridden in a convertible

sailed on a catamaran along the Na Pali coast

seen belugas, orcas, humpbacks, and dolphins
flown on an airplane multiple times
flown in a helicopter over a canyon in Hawaii
been to Disneyland 3 times

seen the Grand Coulee Dam

been to the top of the Space Needle
become a big sister
scored her first goals in soccer
performed on stage at her ballet recital
learned how to play a few notes on the piano

played around with harmonicas, recorders, guitars, and drums
become a dog owner
flown a kite on the beach
ridden on a ferry boat
screamed on a roller coaster
spent the night in a monastery
dressed up as a bunny, a purple dinosaur, a puppy, Belle, & Padme Amadelia
sang a solo at a music class program

been to an impressionist exhibit
written a few poems
illustrated and authored numerous books
ridden the conch train in Key West, Florida
ridden in a limousine
composed a few songs

learned some Spanish

begun learning to swim
attended numerous live theatre productions
seen a Broadway production of The Lion King (in Spokane)

splashed in a waterfall

hiked on a mountain

camped out

gone sledding

caught several fish

ran a few children's 50 yard dashes

etc.

etc.

etc.

Birthdayisms

I have heard some pretty funny stuff these last couple of weeks leading up to Holland's birthday! I have been trying to write them down, but I know I missed a few. Here are some of my favorites though -

Holland was telling me about something she wanted for her birthday, and I said to her, "I think that would be a good present for Dylan to get for you".

She responded, "Are you kidding me, Mom? Dylan doesn't have any money she only has one lucky penny!"

**************************************

We sent out 15 birthday invitations to Holland's birthday party and we also invited all of her friends in her class, which is about 14 kids. I seriously only counted on 10-15 friends coming, but as I already reported, we had 27 kids at her party! Anyway, as we were talking about it one day, she said, "I wonder why all these friends are coming to my party. They must love me or something!"

***************************************

Then after the party, I think we were talking about all her friends again, and I think she must have been overwhelmed with all the attention, presents, and activity from the party. She said something like this, "Mommy, I'm gonna make a little bit or 2 or 3 of my friends stop loving me, but not my boyfriends."

Huh?!

****************************************

As we were preparing for the party, she told me, "Mommy, I want all my boyfriends to sing "happy birthday to you, you live in a zoo" because it's funny and they love to sing that one!". I want them to sing regular happy birthday first, though!

******************************************

On the drive home from her party, she informed us, "That was the most funnest birthday party I've ever been too!"

******************************************

Then just randomly, totally out of the blue, she said, "One day when I get bigger, can I go to Antarctica and see the icebergs and stuff?" she paused then exclaimed, "I know! How 'bout for my sixteenth birthday?!"

*******************************************

Birthday Loot

Birthday Bash Guest List

Holland made this birthday party list a few weeks ago, and along with these guests, I allowed her to invite her school friends. She has 14 kids in her class so that was quite a few invites going out. I decided to go ahead and let her invite that many kids, because I thought we would only get about half of them to come. Well, today is the big bash, and we currently have 27 RSVP's! We were still getting them last night. We are having her party at the Spokane Elite Gymnastics facility because we attended a couple of parties there this year and it was a big hit! There are trampolines, trapeze bars, balance beams, high bars, and even a big zip line!

This party goes against everything I have ever said about birthday parties for my kids. I swore I would never have character plates and napkins. Guess who we're having? A combination of Ariel and Spiderman! They're the new Hollywood couple, didn't you know?! I also swore I wouldn't have a party with more kids than I can handle. Well, the 27 RSVP's kinda speak for themselves, however that doesn't even mention all the toddler siblings that will be toddling and crawling around. I think I have counted at least 6 or 7 of them (including her toddler sister)! I have even said I didn't want to do a party at the party facility type places, and well, you see where that got me.

I guess I have always wanted to be the creative domestic mom that has original parties at her house with homemade crafts, baked goods, and fun themed activities (a pirate/princess treasure hunt, a fairy garden tea party, etc.) You know, the types of parties that Martha Stewart must have thrown for her daughter!

I think my problem is that reality is setting in. The party facilities are fast and easy and it takes the pressure off of you. And the bigger the guest list, the more fun the kids have. (theoretically) The character plates and napkins are what all the kids want and expect. So, how could I deny all that, and plus I am suppose to be "embracing" this sort of thing. It is my word for the year after all! So as I sit here and ponder why I didn't ask the kids to bring art work or letters for Holland instead of gifts, I am going to be thankful that she has 27 friends who are coming (with gift in hand) to celebrate her and all her wonderfulness!

Tune in later for a more in depth report and probably a couple of pictures, too!

Ten.

1. I had a visit last week from my mom and one of my nieces from Kentucky. I hadn't seen my neice in almost five years, and she just turned 18, so you can imagine how much she has changed in that period of time. It was so great to see her, but it made me sad that we are so far away. I seriously want to do a better job of keeping in touch with her. I have totally dropped the ball on that one. I think I got scared when she and her siblings turned into teenagers, I just didn't know how to relate. I got to do a photo shoot with her one day that she was here so look for those pictures later this week!

2. We have finished our "faces of hope" fundraiser calendar for the Isaac Foundation. We are just waiting on the production of them to be wrapped up. we will be selling them for $10.00 a piece almost ALL of the proceeds will go into the therapy funds for giving out scholarships to local families. If we sell them all, then that will be $10,000! How cool is that? If you are interested in ordering one for yourself or for Christmas presents, just leave a comment here or get in touch with me and I will make sure you get a reserved copy! They might go fast, you know?!

3. Dylan is at such a fun, fun age right now. She is really starting to imitate everything we say,in addition to acquiring her own little repertoire of words! I absolutely adore this phase. I guess it's time to clean up our language again! ; )

4. Holland is turning five in a couple of weeks. I can't believe my baby girl is growing up so fast. I know, I know - that's so cliche. It's so true though!

5. I've been selling a lot of the gallery wrapped canvases to my photography clients. They are so, so cool. I don't ever want to part with them. I just want to hang them on my walls even though they aren't my kids or my family! Holland likes them too - I had a big 24 x 30 canvas on our wall of the Goins family and she was so bummed when I took it down. She said, "I love that picture, mommy. I think we should keep it on our wall!"

6. We bought Boden a heating pad to lay around on all day, and he hardly moves from the thing! It is under our steps in this little closed in area that claimed for his abode. He is getting bigger and bigger these days, and he is learning to follow these commands: "sit", "lie down", "stay", and "get on your bed".

7. I am secretly dreading the birthday present component to Holland's birthday party. It seems like all I do is weed through her stuff. I am constantly getting rid of things, and now we are going to get a whole influx of toys, stuffies, and who knows what else. I did tell her that we were going to have to get rid of some stuff to make room for the new stuff, and she promptly went into her room and started collecting a pile of rejects. She ended up with two paper grocery bags full of stuff. Not bad, huh? We just need to do it a few more hundred times!

8. I am enjoying our extended fall her in the Inland Northwest. We are still coasting right along into the middle of November without any snow and not even in the 7 day forecast! That is wonderful! We had such a long drawn out winter (getting snow in April and May) that I still haven't recovered! I do plan to do some winter sports this year though. I have said for the last 3-4 winters that I want to learn to cross country skii, and I just found out that my moms in motion team is going to have a couple of lessons in January. Can't wait for that!

9. I still haven't gotten over my heal injury so I haven't been for a run since August, and I am seriously missing it. I keep saying I'm gonna just take off on a run and see how it goes, but I'm having a hard time finding the time. Maybe this weekend.....

10. We have some new neighbors that live two houses down and Holland has gotten to be really good friends with their five-year-old son, Aiden. (He's the one that's influencing the star wars and legos phase that she is going through right now). His parents came over the day to drop Aiden off for a playdate and we invited them in. And three bottles of wine, lots of parenting stories, and a pizza and breadstix order later - we have a new set of neighbors that we now call "friends". Such fun!

That's all for now!

A Birthday Cake for the Birthday Girl

Holland did this drawing on Jonathan's tablet laptop tonight. She did another one right before this and accidentally deleted it -- and Jonathan was a lot more upset about it than she was. To her it was no big deal to just dash off another one. While he was putting Dylan to sleep, she slid a note under the door that said: 'DAD WIL YU PLES SAV" -- i.e. Dad, will you please save [the picture of the cake I just drew].

You're Not a Bachelor Anymore

Dear Sweet Husband,

Thank you so much for taking the initiative to do a couple loads of laundry. However, I prefer that my panties and and other girly garments are not washed with the towels.

Lovingly,

Your Sweet Wife

P.S You're not a bachelor anymore!

Dylan's Baby

Dylan has found a constant companion - her sister's baby doll, Annabelle. The only problem is that Annabelle isn't much smaller than Dylan so she is pretty heavy to lug around! She has a pacifier and bottle that she will latch onto and make sucking noises, and she will also coo, cry, and giggle. I think this means her head is full of hardware which makes her much heavier than the average baby doll.

Dylan often wrestles with her and gets easily frustrated, but she just keeps at it! She wants to love her, feed her, groom her, and cuddle with her. She wants her at the dinner table, in the car, and often times will take her into her crib with her.

It is all very, very sweet.

(Until the pacifier pops out and Dylan can't get it back in, or until Dylan drops baby Annabelle on her toe and screams for 10 minutes, or until (last but not least)Holland suddenly decides after two years that she is interested in babies again!)

Oh yeah - for those of you following the penny story - it has been retrieved!

Birthday Poem for Grandma

I love you, Grandma
with my heart
To find a little
angel tart.

footnote: angel tarts are "little pop tarts that angels eat"