The Polar Express

Jillian and Karen were fortunate enough to have been invited By Chris and Owen to take a train ride on the Polar Express in Hood River. They got cocoa and cookies, were visited by Santa and elves and overall had a great time.

Just Horsin' Around

Unfortunately, I think I'm the horse.

Skin Cancer

For those of you who didn't know, I was diagnose with skin cancer a couple of weeks ago. The good news is that they removed it all today. The above photo is what happens when you don't use sunscreen.

We made the newspaper!

Every year the neighborhood closes off the street and has a "Monster March" at Halloween time. It usually draws about a thousand people give or take. This year Jillian and I made the neighborhood paper!

Jillian's classroom

We have added a link to Jillian's classroom website. It is on the left side of this page under our favorite links.

new camera tests

I purchased my Christmas present from my parents early. I bought a tiny Sony camera that would fit in my pocket and be easy for even Jillian to use. The image quality isn't as good as my bigger and more expensive camera, but for $100 it does exactly what it's supposed to and more. Great for taking quick shots to post to the web.

School Pictures!

Jillian's kindergarten picture has arrived. We have the digital image and can make copies if anyone wants one.

Leavin' on a Jet Plane...

We took Jillian to the airport EARLY this morning. She is going to Scottsdale, AZ for 7 days with my parents to see the desert, play in the pool and have an awesome time in the sun. At first, John and I were thinking, "Wow, we're kid free for a week," but as we watched her walk through the terminal, to the ticketed area, we both were very weepy. Now we're thinking, "Wow, we're kid free, " with a bit of sadness.

My mom called and said they landed, and Jillian talked the whole way and was very excited to look down from the plane and see all the swimming pools.

We beth know that she will have a ton of fun and are expecting a call nightly to talk about the days events.

Today John and I had a morning gym date, ran some errands, and are having a dinner date at our favorite Lebanese restaurant.

I cannot wait till I get to hug Jillian at the airport next Saturday!

I'm going to spend this week reconnecting with my best friend-husband, and take some peaceful moments for myself.

Our SPOOKY house!

And the critters who inhabit it.

42nd birthday beach trip

Just a few pictures taken on our long weekend at the coast. More to come.

WAHOOOOO!

Mustachio

Julia's 6th Birthday party

Jillian met up with the old gang from preschool for a friends party. It was at an Art Studio. They learned about Horizon, splitting their pictures into quadrants and using clay. Jillian had a blast, once she warmed up. Her finished product is the middle painting. The clay cat, we could not take home, but it was so much fun to see her using different art mediums!

Silliness...

From the Top: Why Vampires should never kiss; the overbite!

Sugar: The Greatest Halloween Cat EVER!

Next: I went to a 90 minute Zumba costume party on Friday night. If you have never seen Pulp Fiction, you owe it to yourself to at least Google pictures from the movie. I dressed the character Mia Wallace. She, by accident, snorts Heroin and has to have a shot to the heart! It was spot on and I won first prize. SO sweaty dancing in a wig for 90 minutes.

Not sure if I posted this one yet, it is from my Back to School night at work. There were all sorts of silly wigs and hats to wear in the "photo booth". Fun never stops around here!

Take a Bite outta this!

More Hood River pictures.

The last one is of the pumpkin Jillian got when she went to the pumpkin patch with her class on Thursday. She may have been more excited about riding the bus to the patch.

Oh.. just some spooks and blood suckers!

Wow! We have been busy this month. We went over to dinner at Owen's house last night and it turned into a blood bath. Those little blood suckers were out for all of us!

Jillian and I have also taken a couple trips to Hood River with Grandma to get apples. She even got some for her class for snacks.

As some of you have noticed, Jillian and I are growing out our bangs. Above is our best impersonation of Cousin IT from The Addams Family.

Halloween!

The decorations around our house are starting to go up. Spent Sunday afternoon building our scarecrow. JIllian is shown here sitting next to the "small" pumpkin that Grandpa grew. The other two "big" pumpkins will be delivered later by truck!

A LONG time

It's been a while since we posted anything on here. We've been busy, just not doing anything really worth reporting. The weather has turned for the worse already. We are in the 60's for highs and the rain is here. The depression is already setting in for me.
On the bright side, Jillian's doing well in school and is reading almost every night with us. She does pretty well with most words. She has also started swim lessons again. I'm hoping that someday soon she will be able to go swimming with her old man.
The above picture is just a simple portrait that Julie took before we went to a wedding this past weekend. I like it and therefore am going to post it. Peace.

A few more swimming pictures

A few more pictures of us during the Columbia River Crossing. The stern wheeler is what took us across the river and then they made us walk the plank and swim back.