Annual Christmas Tree Hunt

Our Christmas tradition always has been to go our for our tree the weekend after Thanksgiving weekend, which usually the first weekend in December.  For the past couple of years we have driven up to Stanwood to a tree farm near Douglas and Lara, though we have never done our tree hunt with them until this year.  This year we went together.  We started with a really nice pancake breakfast that Douglas made for us.  Then headed to the tree farm.

This is Spencer with Kevin who is the youngest of the Chandler grandkids and a pretty awesome kid.

 Spencer is holding the saw, but he didn't actually assist in cutting down the tree or even helping with it.  Cooper is the one who did the sawing this year.

 The tree farm is just that an actual farm.  This is one of several horses that was in the field next to the place where we found our tree.

 Coop did help with the sawing and carrying.  He is frowning because he didn't like the tree we picked.  He thought it was too small.  We had to get a smaller tree because we currently have two sofas in the living room--a new one and our old one.  We haven't quite figured out what to do with the old one and won't until after Christmas.  So there is less room so we needed a skinnier tree.

 Here is the whole gang.  Oma came with us (Opa was not up to it).  Douglas and his boys and then us and Coop & Spencer.  Tucker won't be home until near Christmas.

 You can certainly tell that Douglas and Dennis are brothers.  They both look pretty good here I think.

 So this is the last year we will be able to go to Alan Acres.  They are no longer going to have their tree farm.  Technically they weren't even open this year.  There is a young boy in Stanwood with cancer and the owners of the place let a group of people raising money for his treatment sell off the trees.  So 100% of the money earned went towards the boy's medical treatment.  So here's the boys and Oma taking a last ride on the Alan Acres train--complete with Santa and an elf in the background.

So here is the finished product.  It is a little skinnier than trees we have had in the past, but it is still really nice.  Nothing like a fresh cut tree.  Love this part of Christmas!

Graduation & Promotion

Spencer graduated from Ballard High School last Friday, June 13th.  

 Walking to Memorial Stadium.  We got lucky and found parking right on the street.  We had been on the road for about 20 minutes when we realized that the "no parking" time was 5-7pm and it was now 7:04pm--so we parked right where we were much to the chagrin of the people behind us!

 Spencer in the sea of faces.

 This Cailey from the Prom pictures in my last posts.

 These are two girls who went to elementary school with Spencer.  Carissa the girl in black was his best friend in Kindergarten.  She went to a different high school but came to the graduation because she knows lots of kids from Ballard.  Natalie in the red has also been with Spencer since Kindergarten.

 Cooper was promoted from middle school to high school today, June 17th.  The ceremony is outside the school in one of the parking lots.  It's low key because it's a promotion NOT a graduation.  This is us hanging out before the event.

 This Cooper and group of his middle school buddies after the ceremony.

 The other ginger boy besides Cooper in this picture is a boy named Jayden that always calls me mom at school.  Funny kid!  The tall boy in the blue polo shirt in both pictures is his best buddy Jack who has been his friend since pre-school.  Hard to believe but they have stayed friends all this time.  Jack is on the waitlist for Ballard next year and will hopefully get in, otherwise this will be their last school years together.

None of the pictures from the actual ceremonies for either one are that great so I didn't post them.  A big couple of days in the history of the Chandlers.

Spencer's Prom

This was Spencer's actual date for Prom, Jesse Murray.  Spencer says they didn't actually spend much time together that night.  Kids are weird that way these days.

 This is Spencer with his good friend Stephanie that he has known since elementary school.  They have been in cross country together all for years of high school.

 Spencer with his usual photo pose - mouth open.  He's with Jesse & Cailey.

 Spencer & Cailey again and his usual photo pose.

 Spencer with Jesse.  It is a really nice photo I think.  Turned out really well.

 Not sure who the first girl is in the I Dream of Jeannie out fit, but the 2nd one is Stephanie, then Jesse and another friend, Natalie that he has known since elementary school

He had a great time that night I think!

All these kids went to elementary school together and were together for prom night.  Imani, Claudia, Morris, Gail, Max, Sophie, Peter, Bev, Sean, Shelby, Tanner, Gail, Mark, Stephanie, Spencer & Carissa.  All grown up now.

Prom & Other Stuff

So I  know this first shot looks like a jail mug shot, what with the wifebeater t-shirt and all, but it was a big day at the Chandler home about a month ago when Tucker got his acceptance letter to WSU (Washington State University).  At the time he wasn't 100% sure he wanted to go there.  He was still holding out for maybe the UW (the only 2 schools he applied).  Then he learned that the UW wouldn't announce which transfer students they had accepted until June 1!  Crazy.  He decided that he would go to Wazzu.  He is all set up to go in August.  He and a friend who is already going there are going to share a furnished apartment.  He has already signed up for classes and is hoping to get a job working in a chemistry lab.  

 Yes, Tucker is finally headed to college.  He plans to major in Biochemistry and Biogenetics!  Crazy.  Who would have thought.  Spencer also got accepted into several colleges - Marymount Manhattan, University of Hawaii, WSU and Wester Washington University.  He had thought that he would go to Western and we visited it twice to check things out.  But financially it makes more sense for him to do one more year of community college before heading off to a 4 year school.  He will be staying with us and switching from North Seattle CC to Central Community College which is right in downtown Seattle.  He wants to major in Graphic Design.

 So both boys will be in college next year!  It is good that Tucker is finally heading out on his own and I am happy to have Spencer for one more year at least!

 Cooper made the varsity soccer team for Whitman Middle School.  He was hoping to be the goalie but was beaten out by a pair of brothers.  He could have played goalie for the JV, but opted to play defense for the varsity.  It has been fun for him.

 Though I have to say he is the smelliest kid ever.  His shinguards could cause a person to pass out!  If you put them in combination with goalie gloves it would be lethal!  He love soccer and is hoping to try out for the Ballard team when he gets to high school.  We will see if he makes it.  It's hard for kids who don't play select soccer to compete with those who do.

 Spencer is off to his senior prom tonight.  He did not rent a tux but bought himself his first suite.  It's the new skinny style suite which he can pull off cuz he is skinny.  Though it kind of emphasizes his feet I think.

 This is Spencer with his friend Cailey.  She is not his date, he invited a girl named Jessie.  Spencer & Cailey have been friends since middle school and she works at the same place and he & Tucker.  She is a sweet girl whom I have loved since middle school.  She has had a tough situation in her life.  Her mother abandoned their family when she was little and her dad has been raising her, her older sister & younger brother on his own--the best he could.  I have always liked her.

 I don't have any pictures of Spencer and his date because Cailey and her date picked him up to take him to the place where they were having dinner before the dance.  They were taking pictures there so I hope I will get some of those.

 So that is what's going on with us these days.

Whatnot

This post is for Celiac because I know how much she loves to know what is going on with all of us and she is not on Facebook (not that I am recommending that she should--I am only on it now so I can play Scrabble with Crazy--otherwise I think I would totally give it up, it's the new Spam outlet of the internet.  It replaced email as the forward all for spam...but I digress).    So these first few pictures are from Christmas (and yes, I know it is now March).  I got all the boys head lamps for their stockings and of course they all did the same thing with them....

 Notices that Spencer's is a different color and on a different eye.  Actually I won them at work and they turned out perfect as stocking stuffers because there were three of them. 

 More of the head lamp/eye patch complete with Jester hat.

 So most definitely this is not the best photos of Dennis & I, especially the slice of light from the window cutting across my head and cutting into Dennis's ear, but I include it because to me I look like this perfect juxtaposition of mom and dad on my face.  The bottom half of my face is dad (dare I say even Grandma Vadenesque--though the thought causes a shudder) and the top half, particularly the right side, is mom.  Perhaps I am imagining it, but that's what I see.

 Cooper has grown a solid inch since this picture was taken at Christmas time.  He is a whopping 5'9" and still growing.  I took him to the doctor last week and she said he is still tracking, as he has since he was a baby, in the 95th percentile for height and weight!  He is going to be a bruiser.  However, recently when I commented as his brothers were giving him a hard time that they better watch out because he would be bigger than them and could beat the crap out of them, his response was "But mom, it's just not in my nature."  Truer words were never uttered.  He is a sweet happy-go-lucky boy. In just the past couple weeks I have had several of his teachers (current & past) comment what a great kid he is.  We love our Cooper.

 Tucker considers himself quite the hunter now.  He got a shot gun for Christmas and has been pheasant hunting twice now, ergo that makes him a hunter.   It's actually quite hilarious.  To hear him you'd think he'd been doing it since he was a wee lad.   Funny kid.

 Ah Spencer.  Always the camera ham, boy with the snarky comment and the stylish sense of fashion.  He has applied for 5 colleges and been accepted into 4 of them.  He wanted to go to Marymont Manhatten in NYC which he has finally given up on due to $$$ and his mom saying it was too far away.  He is currently hoping to attend Western Washington in Bellingham in the fall.  He still has to convince his dad that he can afford it but it seems reachable.  We took a tour over the mid-winter break from school and the campus is very nice and more cozy, friendly than UW.   Final decision to be continued...

 Another cyclops man photo.  Cooper is also sporting the new comforter he got for Christmas.  Which comes in handy now that his "bedroom" has moved downstairs in the family room.  Spencer had been complaining that Cooper's snoring was keeping him awake (and he does saw some pretty loud logs...ala his two grandfathers).  He had been sleeping on the sofa in the family room periodically and then we finally just decided to make it permanent and moved his bed down there.  He has his man cave with TV/video games and Spencer finally has his own room.  Everyone is happier.

 These following pictures are the "Popeye" arm photos from Dennis' elbow surgery in February.  He had this surgery about 15 years ago because of loose cartilage floating in his elbow was making it so his elbow wouldn't been fully extend.  So he started having the same issues again recently so he went to surgeon and ended up having surgery again.  He has a little arthritis in the elbow and some bone spurs as well as cartilage floating in there.  So when it was done he sported this ACE bandage for about four days. 

 This butterscotch pie is what I made for Tucker's recent 22nd birthday.  Wrong order, the uncovered one should be first, the 2nd one is after the meringue.  Best meringue I have ever made.  Even stayed fluffy until the next day.

So that is the whatnot that has been going on at the Chandler house recently