Snow pictures!

This was taken on 12-19-08

This is the same tree taken this morning.

This is one of our trees out front.
Again, on 12-19

And the same tree, this morning!

Here's some random pictures of our yard.

PNW Snow 2008!

So we were pounded with snow last night. (Not pounded by most of this country's standards by any means, but defanately pounded by ours, haha!) Whitney had to work grave yard at the Latte stand last night so when she got off work this morning she called me in hysterics about how the hell was she supposed to get home, because all of the roads were totally iced over. I told her to just go very slow and no matter what, don't slam on her breaks. She calls about an hour later, she's about a half a mile from home, at the fire station and she can't go any further. Cars are just stopped everywhere because, you know, we're not used to all of this ice and snow! So James agrees to go get her from the fire station on the quad. Between our house and the fire station is a pretty large hill, and there's no way we'll get up or down it with out chains, even in the Blazer because 4 wheel drive does just about as well on ice as bald tires.
We all know what a girly girl Whitney is! She hates the quad, she hates snow, she hates getting wet. So I just had to video her and James coming up the driveway, and James had to throw in his own little flair, ofcourse, just for Whitney's sake, hehe!


Here's a few other pictures I took this morning of our beautiful landscape!
Grammy and Papa, do you wish you were here? WE SURE DO!

Christmas lights, our Christmas Tree and an update on JJ's broken thumb.

James totally outdid himself this year with the outdoor lights on our house. He worked for 3 days straight and after 3 separate trips to Walmart, he finally got it perfect! He did a wonderful job! Unfortunately, I just realized that the lights around the living room windows weren't on for this picture, so I'll have to take more pictures.




Our Tree!




I took JJ back to the Orthopedic Specialist on Monday to have his thumb rechecked. JJ had his heart set on getting that cast off and being done with it. Well, I tried to warn him that it might not happen that way, that they might xray it and see that it hadn't healed 100% yet and put him in another cast. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened. It's healing nicely, but it's just not 100& yet, and with a kid as active as JJ is, it's better to be safe than sorry. So he has another 3 weeks to go. Poor kid was in tears!


And last but not least, here is Miss Whitney, taking a picture off JJ, taking a picture of her, haha!

JJ's latest Boo-Boo!

I got a call today from Mikey and JJ's school. They have JJ in the nurses office and they think he may have broken his thumb. He was playing football and, as he says, was going for the interception and jammed his thumb into the ground. He said it was bent way back and he couldn't move it so he pulled on it and heard a loud "Crunch!" and then it started hurting really bad. So I took him in to Urgent Care, and sure enough, it's broke! They splinted it and gave me the number of an Orthopedic Specialist and told me to call right away since it was already Thursday and they probably wouldn't be able to fit him in to the schedule for a few days. So I called, and luckily they told me that if I could have him there in 15 minutes, they could squeeze him in. So off we ran and got there just in time. The Orthopedic Specialist agreed that it was infact broken and they were able to cast him right then and there. Thank God, it isn't a really bad break, meaning he won't need surgery or pins etc. and the break isn't near his growth plates so he shouldn't have any further problems once it heals. On the way home he told me, "At least I got the interception!!"
Can somebody please get us a plastic bubble for this child? ASAP!

Great Wolf Lodge part 2

Like father like son!



JJ singing in the Gr8 Space teen center:


The aftermath of Mikey's chocolate dipped waffle cone:


Mikey and Mama on a waterslide:


Mikey in the hot tub:


Mommy and Daddy and the Great Wolf Lodge!


Interesting sights and The Great Wold:
The Lobby:


On top of one of the structures in the water park, there is a 1000 gallon bucket of water. It dumps all 1000 gallons about every ten minutes or so and if you are with in about 50 feet, you will get soaked!


One of the smaller slides:

A really cute area for the really little kiddo's:


This was outside of our balcony. It's the "Howling Tornado" from the outside. (The read and yellow.) We couldn't believe that Mikey loved this ride and went on it over and over again!


The wave pool area:


The ridiculously large amounts of stairs we had to climb to get to the top of the waterslides:


Another picture of the smaller slides:


JJ, Nanette, Abby and me:


Nanette, Abby and Me:

Great Wolf Lodge!

James and I surprised the boys with a short vacation to the Great Wolf Lodge. We left on Halloween (Friday) and came home on Sunday. Timothy brought his friend Patrick along and we all had a blast. My step-sister Nanette, her fiance Anders and his daughter Abby joined us on Saturday. They had a really fun-filled "Trick or Treat Trail" at the Great Wolf and Mikey and JJ had fun doing that while Timothy and Patrick had a great time in the Gr8 Space teen room that is filled with all sorts of video game systems and nightly teen dances. The water park was amazing and everyone had so much fun!
Here is Mikey and JJ in our room. We were able to get a "Kid Cabin" that had a log cabin style section for the kids with a set of bunk beds and a twin bed enclosed. They even had their own flat screen TV! Here's JJ and Mikey in their "Kid Cabin, sporting their Werewolf costumes!






For Halloween, The Great Wolf had a "Trick or Treat Trail" with a Dr.Suess theme. It was sort of like a scavenger hunt with clues to find the next "Candy Spot". It was really cute and JJ and Mikey loved it.



Here they are with a wolf statue:


All done with the "Trick or Treat Trail"




Timothy doesn't let me get very many pictures anymore, but here are a few of him that I managed to get:
Coming off of The Tornado that scared the daylights out of him!



Timothy and his friend Patrick walking through the waterpark:



Playing "Guitar Hero" on the big screen in the Gr8 Space teen hangout:


TJ and Patrick goofing around:


James, JJ and Mikey coming out of "The Howling Tornado" waterslide:

Mikey telling daddy "We went THIS high!"


JJ and Mikey on a waterslide: