Idaho Adventures

Spencer, Cooper and I visited mom & dad over our Mid-Winter Break--not Spring Break, that's the end of March, but mid-winter break because you can never have enough breaks from schooling in the Seattle Public Schools. Anyway, we flew from here to Boise, rented a car and drove to Pocatello where we were able to spend a little time with Karen and also, bonus, Celiac! It great to spend time with both. Monday we drove from Poky to Mackay and spent the rest of the time with mom & dad. The boys played in the snow....
Went sledding down the Mine Hill almost every day, often accompanied by Kendra, who is a little speed demon on the sled!

This is me just moments before my sled flew out from under me and I landed, really hard, on my tailbone after only going about 1/2 way down the hill and on my first run no less--ouch. With tears almost coming to my eyes, I slowly made my way down the rest of the hill and that was the end of my sledding escapades for the trip. My tailbone is still trying to recover!

The day after the sledding "accident", Randy took the boys & I snowmobiling up Pass Creek. I rode behind Spencer and Cooper rode by himself. I think both boys were pretty proud of being able to drive the snowmobiles themselves. It was a beautiful day and a really nice ride despite my sore tailbone.

All and all it was a fun trip and a nice visit. I am glad we made the trip!

(Sorry we missed you Amy. I was mixed up about when our flight left Boise and we had to leave sooner! See you this summer though)

Budding Photographer

As you can see by the name on each of these photos, they were taken by Spencer. This is what he has been doing in his spare time lately. All of these were taken inside the house. He takes them and then goes on Picasa or this other website and maniupulates them. These are just a few from the last couple of days. I think he has a really good eye for someone who knows next to nothing about photography other than point & click. I think they are really clever and interesting, but then I am his mom I guess. I am hoping to find some kind of photography camp for him this summer but so far haven't found anything online. Will keep looking since it apparently is something he is very interested in. I definitely think he has potential!

On a completely different note, I guess the romance is over. Tucker informed us tonight that he broke up with Caitlin. Didn't seem too cut up about it. Says he wants to "focus on school right now". Whatever.

Lethargy vs. Motivation

I have been thinking that maybe I have SAD (seasonal affective disorder). You know the one where you get the blues when the weather turns gray. (Like that ever happens in Seattle--ha). In thinking about it, it seems like every year around November I start to get blue, lose motivation to do anything (and I mean anything). It generally seems to last through January and some into February. Now I don't know for sure, but it seems pretty suspicious that I get this way nearly every year.

This year I was cruising with going to the gym. I could get my sorry behind out of bed at least 3x a week for serious exercise. My main motivation was that I would say to myself "You're going to Hawaii, get your butt out of bed" or "You're going to Hawaii you don't need that cake/brownie/candy, etc" This worked really well until I actually WENT to Hawaii in October. After I came home I had nothing to tell myself for motivation, but managed to still get to the gym at least twice a week and still 3x sometimes. Then November hit and it got worse and just kept going that way.

It's not just the gym, it's getting out of bed, leaving the house to go anywhere, doing any kind of housework. I just want to curl up in the chair with a book or worse, just lie on the couch doing nothing. How pathetic is that.

It's not like I wasn't seeing results from going to the gym which has sometimes been the case with exercise things I have done. You feel like you are working your butt off and no butt is coming off!! I was actually seeing some butt coming off (not to be crude but there it is). I WAS seeing results and feeling good about it all. Then came November, then December and January.

So here it is February, the weather has been really nice here in Seattle. Still rather gray, but the days are getting longer and we are seeing some sunshine. My gym membership is up for renewal and I am hesitant to renew it in case this lethargy, inertia, whatever it is continues. Or maybe that's just the motivation I need. (That and the fact that I can tell I am totally losing what I worked so hard for all last year!)

SAD, well who really knows but it seems mighty suspicious to me that my motivation seems to be going up with the lengthening of days and improvement in the weather!

(Not my picture BTW, just one I found when I googled seattle weather pictures)

Tucker Has A Girlfriend

Yipes! Shortly after writing about how Tucker was longing for a girlfriend in my Christmas letter, Tucker got his wish and announced that he officially had a girlfriend. Her name is Caitlyn (at least I think it's spelled that way and no, I don't know her last name--I'm not even sure Tucker does).
She is a Senior at Nathan Hale High School which is across town from where Tucker goes to school. Which of course begs the question "How did they meet?" She is a friend of a girlfriend of one of Tucker's friends--it's complex.
She has had dinner with us once or twice and seems like a very nice girl. She even puts up with Dennis' bad jokes. They spend alot of time at our house and Tucker has not even met her parents yet. Hmmm.
It's still a hard thing as a mom for your boy to have a girlfriend. I can only imagine how traumatic it is to be the mom of a girl with a boyfriend. As you can tell by the cat who just ate the canary smile, Tucker is quite pleased.

Christmas Cheer

This is Spencer with his cousins Emma and Kelly on Christmas Eve. They are great pals and have lots of fun together. Kelly is a Freshman at the UW and Emma is a Senior in HS. They made a fun little scavenger hunt for the for the three youngest boys to do on Christmas Eve.





















Cooper on Christmas morning. He LOVES penguins as I think I have mentioned before. He also recently celebrated his 10th birthday (12/21).




















Spencer loves Christmas. I think he pretty much wrapped every present--even some for himself. He is always asking "got anything to wrap??" I think he liked it this year. He didn't get all 37 things on his list (of course) but he got a few.

Tucker wanted camping gear and that is mostly what he got for Christmas. I think he really is serious about want to hike and camp more. Perhaps he will be ready soon to go on a Death March with his Uncle Chuck and Inkom Crazy Lady??

In Search of the Tree

Every year since Tucker was a baby we used to go down to Centralia and cut down a tree with Oma & Opa. This continued even after they moved up here to Seattle--until last year. Last year we got a tree from the lot where Tucker was working because we got it for free and we just couldn't find a good time to travel all the way to Centralia to get a tree.

This year Oma decided she had had enough of fresh trees and bought an artificial one. They boys are still trying to get over the shock of it.

We decided we wanted to cut one down again. Instead of heading south for Centralia we went north to Stanwood where Douglas and his family live. Dennis researched tree farms online and we selected the first one on the list. It just happened to be right off the exit to Doug's house. In fact it was probably less than a mile away from his house.

It was fun to tromp through the fields and search for the perfect tree. We finally agreed on one that was a little shorter than usual and a little more full on the bottom, but perfect for hanging the tons of ornaments we seem to have collected over the years.

I didn't realize how the star was really making the top lean until I took the picture. Oh well. I do love the smell of the pine of the fresh tree. We also go some cinnamon scented pine cones so the house smells really nice.

I threw in the cross-stitch stockings for Des. When I was around the same age, I was really into cross-stitching and it lasted for years & years. I made stockings for each of the boys--even though they have really cute ones that Oma made for them--and also made the ones here for Oma, Opa & Dennis. I also have a cute little doorknob hanger on black fabric that is really cute. I don't cross stitch at all anymore, but it is nice to have these little keepsakes.

I think I might be getting more in the Christmas spirit. Still haven't done any shopping to speak of. Although I did manage to get an invite out for Cooper's birthday yesterday. And so it goes.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Just a couple pictures from our Thanksgiving weekend. The Miste/Cooper picture are the place markers that Spencer made for everyone for dinner. He loves doing that for special occasions. I think he is pretty darn creative. The paper is obviously pre-printed but the names are pure Spencer. Note the gravy spill on Cooper's--no explanation necessary other than it's Cooper's which should be self-explanatory.
The day after Thanksgiving Tucker worked and hung out with friends and Spencer went shopping with a friend. That left Cooper home with mom & dad by himself. When asked what he wanted to do it was go to the zoo. So that's what we did. He totally loves the zoo and it was a beautiful, sunnyish kind of day. Fun day with mom & dad.
Saturday the two younger boys and I went to see The Fantastic Mr. Fox which is one of the weirdest movies I have seen in a long time. Creepy animation to boot. The boys didn't laugh once I think--three thumbs down. Although I have heard that some people think it's the best movie ever--must be a different sense of humor than mine. (Maybe the Napolean Dynomite crowd).
Dennis & Tucker went to the shooting range with Dennis' brother Dan and his son James.
A fun weekend for all. This weekend it's the search for the Christmas tree. Maybe that will get me in the mood. I have done zero shopping. Spencer pointed out the other day that I didn't even put out the advent calendar Oma made for the boys--still haven't, that's how bad I am. Here's hoping the tree gets me in the mood.!