Sigh - Tucker is 19

So very true. Don't know when it happened, but we all got older. Yes, I know I have about a week behind (his birthday was literally a week ago Saturday). I've got no excuses. We had a little family celebration which didn't include the usual Chandler Mexican fare. Tucker opted for Swedish meatballs and Caesar salad oddly enough. The nifty vest he is wearing in the photo was made for him by his Aunt Lisa similar to the one she made for her own son, James, for Christmas. He also got a new stereo for his truck, tickets to Comicon (or Nerdcon as Spencer was want to call it) and quite a bit of cash which is always useful for a poor boy like him. (Comicon is a comic convention which is happening right now as I type. A three day affair at the convention center featuring comic book authors, illustrators plus other Sci Fi kinds of thing--complete with people dressed as super heroes, Star Trek & Star Wars characters, etc. So yes, Spencer is correct in calling it Nerdcon). Tucker is currently working at Office Max though not as many hours as he needs. He is supposed to be looking for more work...or hopes that his old job at the Dirt Exchange will be available again soon (it's getting more towards construction season again so hopefully that work will pick up). He will be back in school again in April so he won't have quite as much free time on his hands as he does now. He's still a pretty awesome kid (if mom's are allowed to weigh in) though he is currently suffering from that self-centered, ego thing that lots of kids this age seem to have. This too shall pass I assume. It's hard to believe my little 6 pound 8 oz baby turned into this 5 o'clock shadow (well okay a day or two without shaving) boy!

I've Got Nothin'

I keep thinking I should update my blog. Then I think, "With what?" I could tell you about my new cute boots that made me fall 5 times at work the first day I wore them with the big brown bruise on my left knee pictured as proof. Only I didn't take a picture and how thrilling is that anyway.

I could tell you about our Christmas but pretty much the only pictures I took were from this day where we got our tree. I have none at all of Christmas itself.

I could regale you with stories of Cooper's comical basketball team, but I've only seen one game and don't have any pictures of that either. Although it is funny to watch them finally get "called" for things they have been doing for year--traveling, 3 seconds in the key, double-dribbling, stepping over the line when throwing it in. Really only a video could do it justice, but I haven't got that either.

I could tell you of Spencer's high school woes, but that's just a typical teenager story. Plus it would probably just add to his misery knowing it was shared. Suffice it to say, he will survive it all and look back on it in wonder one day just like we all did.

How about Tucker's school and employment constant changes for a topic of conversation. No, that's not really anything new either.

So lest you think life is all dull and uninteresting for me, here's proof that you can be surprised. Dennis spent this past week in Florida, which he pretty much does annually. On Friday, the day he was returning I got this lovely arrangement at work. The funny thing was, when it was delivered I was on the phone and ignoring it. Imagine my surprise when my co-worker looked at the tag and brought over to my desk. I was still wondering who could have sent me flowers (it's true). When I read the card I almost started crying. See Dennis rarely sends flowers (can't even remember the last time) so when he does send them it is always surprising and that makes it all the more special.

Maybe I do feel like I don't have anything interesting going on right now. The reality is while it may not necessarily be interesting, I've got everything. At least everything I need and that's what really matters.

Cooper is 11!!

Crazy but, true. Cooper celebrated his 11th birthday on 12/21. He actually started the celebration on Monday 12/20 with a sleepover with four of his school friends. The boys were told at 11:30 they should turn off the TV where they were playing video games. Apparently that was interpreted as just turning off the video games because I had to tell them to go to turn off the TV and the lights at around 1:30. Somewhere in there they may or may not have fallen asleep briefly. Dennis had to yell at them at 4:30 again that it was too early to be awake and to go to sleep! Oh to be young and stay up like that all night (not really).

Cooper is a fun loving, always smiling young man. He loves to laugh and is often doing just that. He loves to play with any kid any age. On his actual birthday, Dennis had arranged for our whole family to go on an Argosy cruise around Lake Washington with the Christmas Ship. It is a little flotilla that gathers every night and may include just the Christmas Ship which has a choir on it and the dinner ship which is the one we were on if the weather is bad or if the weather is nice many ship oweners join in the "parade" around the lake. We got lucky and the weather was nice so there were probably about 10-15 boats all decorated with lights and such that followed along. The Christmas ship stops twice to perform for people on shore and all the other ships gather round. We got a lovely four course meal and the lounge band sang Happy Birthday to Cooper (and a few others on board). It was lots of fun for the whole family. Something he will probably remember for awhile.

Winter Wonderland

You'd think we lived in Idaho and not Seattle. The forecaster have been saying we would have a wetter & colder winter than we have in some time. I guess they were right. We did have school today but only a 1/2 day. It started on time and got out two hours early. That means we do not have to tack an extra day on at the end of the year (yeah!). We however, still the biggest wimps in the universe when it comes to snow. We have maybe 2-3 inches and the city is practically at a standstill. I asked Spencer my budding photographer to run out and take a few photos to commemorate this glorious occasion where the forecasters have gotten something right (at least for now--we still have the rest of the winter to go).

Our street corner

Fire hydrant on the corner
The neighbors hours and a look at the snow blowing sideways. That's also a big part of this snowstorm. Gusts up to 40 mph or more.

The view looking south down 22nd street.

The 2-3 inch accumulation.

The storm is supposed to blow through about 10pm tonight and the temperature for tomorrow is forecasted to be below 30 all day. Who knows what that means for a school day (or not). Meanwhile the poor neglected 3rd child (Cooper) is out trying to sled on a cardboard box, because of course it never snows in Seattle so why on earth would you have a sled?!

Visit To Aleta

Halloween weekend we drove over to Pullman so Dennis could scare some pheasants. Okay they actually shoot them (I guess that is scary for the pheasants). While Dennis scared pheasants the boys (Cooper & Spencer--Tucker had to work) and I went to Leah's volleyball game. It was a little trip down small town memory lane. Lots of fun. Volleyball has really changed since I played it (well that was over 30 years ago after all). Here's Leah in action and Kimberly playing in the band.

Kimberly did a huge project for her senior project. She volunteered to spearhead the repainting of a huge railroad boxcar that sits on the side of the track/football field. Aleta said Kimberley ended up doing alot of the work herself. So here is a "before" picture that is the boxcar behind the one Kimberley did which is what hers looked like before she painted it.

Here is the after picture. Amazing isn't it!! Kimberley did a great job didn't she. Aleta said one time the football team was practicing when she was painting and they gave her a "standing ovation. Pretty cool huh!

It was lots of fun to hang out with Aleta & fam. Always a fun weekend.

Unlike everyone else, I do not have a Halloween photo to share. Poor neglected third child, Cooper did not get any photos taken by his bad, bad parents. He did go trick-or-treating and got lots of candy and I guess that's the whole point.

XCountry Kid

I was going to post something around his birthday, but the pictures are still on the camera. So instead I will post about Spencer's new sport this year. He joined the Ballard High cross-country team. He has pretty much been running every day since August (except when he got his wisdom teeth out). He's not the fastest but he's not the slowest. He seems to be enjoying himself despite the constant running and being tired. We are pretty proud of him for sticking with it and doing his best. He gets up for Seminary at 5:30am every Mon-Fri and runs after school from 2:45 until 5pm. Needless to say he is one tired puppy at the end of the day. Here's just a couple pictures from recent meets. He keeps getting better every week. He has been cutting of a few seconds every race. Look at my pale boy run! However, at last weekend's meet is was sunny (weird but true for Seattle) and scorched is arms and neck.

So I was hoping to do a birthday post for him because he got his biggest wish ever. A cell phone! With an actual plan that includes all the texting he wants. And, it wasn't me that caved--it was Dennis. Weird I know. It was so fun to give him the present. He was so surprised. He hadn't even put it on his wish list for his birthday, he was so convinced it would never happen. Fun times.

Beach Camping 10

Okay it was over a month ago I know, but that gives you an idea of how my life has been going lately (translation--all I have been doing is working). But I knew I needed to change of my blog so here it is.
As most of you know we go camping every year with the whole Chandler gang (minus Oma & Opa now--but that's a bitter story for some other time) plus various add-ons. This year it was a little cold and a little rainy but we endured.
We stopped at Spencer's old piano teacher's house on the way because she lives in Olympia. We hadn't seen her since the baby was born so we wanted to see little Sophie. Lisa has four girls now! I wanted to get a picture of her & family with Spencer because they will most likely be moving to California soon. As pictured they are Allison, Isabelle, Lisa holding Sophie and Spencer holding Emma. Emma is very quiet but a little cuddle-bunny that I would always hold while Spencer had lessons. She had changed the most of all of them since the last time we saw them. I also spent time reading stories to the two older girls at various times during lessons as well. We will miss this really sweet family! This is Spencer with his cousin Kelly (middle) and a friend of hers from her Sorority, Allison (one of the add-ons this year). Spencer always shares a tent with his girl cousins because they are such good pals.

Did I mention that it was pretty cold?? Somewhere between 50 and 60 degrees. That did not stop our intrepid boogie boarders, Cooper & Trevor w/Kevin in tow. The spent hours and I do mean hours boogie boarding in the 48 degree water.

Trekking to the beach the first day at about 4pm. Where they stayed until probably 6 or 7.

That really isn't grimace of pain or cold on Cooper's face, they literally had a blast! (Me I was sitting on the beach with a sweatshirt on wishing there was a fire).

I thought this was a really sweet picture of Kevin & Trevor.

Spencer & his cousins spent a little bit of time trying to get pictures where they were all jumping together. I was off to the side trying to figure out how to time it with my darn camera. These are the best ones I got. I love Emma's vertical leap in this first one.

Spencer just looks joyful in this one.

Cailey, the little blonde is a gymnast (nationally ranked) so it's not surprising she can get that gymnastic looking pose in the air.

This is David with one of his two dogs, Walter. I just thought it was kind funny. David is quite proud of his cowboy had because his noggin is not exactly easy to fit (over size 8 which always requres a custom hat)

My battery died and that is all I got. It wasn't the best weather, but as always, camping with the Chandlers is memorable and fun. I don't know how many years we have left of this tradition but I hope a few more!