When it snows, it rains, and then snows again!!

We have been enjoying watching the snow from inside, however Terry has had to drive out in it everyday. I worry about him, but he seems confident with his chains on. With all of the wind and blowing snow, we aren't sure how much we really have, but without measuring, it looks to be about 8 or more inches of snow and they say we should expect more tonight. Tristan and Melissa took a ride on a friend's snowmobile today and had a blast. It is too bad that we got freezing rain as the kids aren't too interested in playing outside as it is just too hard to play in. The last time we had weather like this Tristan was just a newborn baby, but it didn't stay around so long. I am beginning to feel like a midwesterner!!

This picture was taken last night before the freezing rain hit. Today it is totally encased in ice and is so beautiful.Terry, Sofia and Tristan enjoying the snowy backyard last evening! They made snow angels, attempted to make a snow man but the snow was too dry and had a snow ball fight. Tristan doesn't quite understand the concept of a snow ball fight yet. His idea is to hit Papa but Papa better not hit him back!!

Tristan clearing off our "outdoor freezer". Last week our heat pump went out and this week our big upright freezer died. Great time to have a snow storm though as today these coolers are nearly covered in snow and ice today !!

We haven't heard of too many accidents during these recent storms and we pray that each of you who are experiencing the snow and ice will be safe and warm.

From our home to yours!!

Dearest Family and Friends,

Not every year have we written a Christmas card or letter, but every year we do think of each of you and enjoy so much the news you send along with the pictures of your families! In the interest of saving a tree (going green), saving stamps (Terry’s hard earned cash) and my time (precious) we are writing via our blog!! Maybe this will be the up-and-coming thing to do.

This past year began with a sad note in Cyndy’s family. Her Aunt Kay fell ill and several days later entered heaven! Thankfully her husband, her three girls, as well as her four grandchildren were present and they described her “entering heaven” as very calm and peaceful. As it seems to go, when you send one family member off to Jesus, another one comes to be loved. Cody and Anna surprised us with the news in February that they would be adding a fourth grandbaby to our growing family and on October 15th we had the JOY of welcoming Reid Michael Lail! Reid weighed in at 8 lbs, 13 ounces, 21 inches long and he continues to be a very healthy, adorable, sweet and precious little baby boy.

In May, our sweet little Lillie (grandbaby # 3), daughter of April and Chris turned one year old! What a milestone that was. She had several gatherings to celebrate her birthday and all of them included family and friends as well as an outdoor party complete with a wading pool filled with splashing and laughing children!

In June we all flew to LA to join up with Cody, Anna and baby boy Lail to enjoy the enchantment of Disney Land. It turned out to be the hottest on record in LA and you could have fried an egg on the concrete! No matter, we all enjoyed ourselves (and the pool) and vow to return to the Magic Kingdom as soon as we can. Terry and I drove to Pasadena with Cody and Anna and packed up their apartment to move to Portland!! We are so thankful that they are home again. Cody is currently working for California Pizza Kitchen while enjoying Reid’s every move and finishing up his degree via the internet. Anna loves being home with Reid, cooking with Cody, being close to family and renewing their Portland friendships.

We had a wonderful summer enjoying our back yard, playing with our grandbabies, throwing a few garden parties and camping with April and Chris in early September at our favorite campground in Madras, Oregon. April continues working for Lacamas Credit Union as a Manager and Chris is currently working part time for Costco. Chris is also continuing his education at Warner Pacific University. They enjoy their sweet Lillie and she is growing so fast. She talks a blue streak and everyday she adds words to her vocabulary! I am watching Lillie while Chris and April are working and she and I have had some wonderful one on one time together. She reminds me so much of April when she was little, that sometimes I forget what year it is!!!

Melissa is teaching Pre-Kindergarten this year and spent most of her summer preparing for her first classroom! Tristan is one of her students and most of the time that is a JOY for them. Like any other 5 year old he sometimes pushes his limits and learns that Teacher Melissa will discipline him just like any other student. Sofia will turn 3 in January and she has been going to school 5 days a week too and both she and Tristan have really blossomed both academically and socially. Sofia’s big accomplishment this year was being potty trained! If you listen and watch them while they play you will hear many songs they have learned as well as see them signing the words! Melissa and kids continue to live with us and we have learned how to co-mingle, most of the time! She continues to work for Starbucks but like most businesses this year, they have had to cut back and she doesn’t work as often as she needs to. Terry and I take care of Tristan and Sofia on the nights she works and it is special to have time with them alone.

Terry continues with Walgreens and thankful for a job. We both enjoy our family, our church and our friends!

It is snowing heavily as I write to you and I can’t help but notice how beautiful everything is when it is covered in a blanket of pure white snow. During this time of uncertainty in our world, we pray that each of you will feel the warmth of Jesus and know for certain that His birth is the greatest free gift you will ever receive!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!

Love,

Terry, Cyndy, April, Chris, Lillie, Melissa, Tristan, Sofia, Cody, Anna, Reid, our kitty Ashes and Tristan’s new 4-H project Nippers! (Can you guess why Tristan named him Nippers?)

We are finally all decorated for Christmas!

It seems that each year, I have the best of intentions to pack up Thanksgiving and Fall before we go Christmas Tree hunting. However, like every year before, I again didn't finish when I wanted to. We have had our tree up for over a week now with only the lights, ribbons and icicle garlands. Today we enjoyed the snow (what little Vancouver got), finished decorating the house and tonight we finally added the ornaments to the tree.



Sofia took her sweet time eating dinner so she only got to hang her own ornaments (below) but you can see by her picture, (above) that she was more interested in posing then hanging ornaments anyway! Don't you just love her choice of "snow day clothes"??

Tristan really enjoyed helping to decorate the tree this year! He was quick to add the gold hangers to each ornament and then before Grandpa or I could suggest a good place to put it, up it went. You can see that most of the ornaments are on the bottom third of the tree!!

A busy and Thankful weekend!

Isn't Sofia becoming such a big girl?

Our sweet Lillie is now 18 months old and really is enjoying all the festivities of Christmas!

Our Thanksgiving table was filled with lots of family and delicious food too!

These are our 4 grandbabies all dressed up in their new Christmas Jammies! Tristan is 5, Sofia almost 3, Lillie 18 months and Reid 7 weeks!

Tristan, now 5 just loved being by the campfire at the tree farm!

This is our precious Reid and his first trip to the tree farm!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU ALL, AND BY NOW, A BLESSED ADVENT GREETING TOO!!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day celebrating with our children, their children, Cyndy's Mom and Dad and older brother Terry and his wife Patti! We enjoyed great food, wonderful conversations, play time with the grandkids as well as cards, a fire, hot apple cider and delicious pumpkin pie!! Can you ask for anything more?

On Sunday we made our traditional trek to Farrell's Tree Farm, picked out the perfect trees, enjoyed a campfire, hot cocoa or cider and had the most wonderfully warm day with an awesome sunset as we drove home to have a taco bar for dinner, some more card playing, gift opening of Christmas pj's and ornaments for the Grandkids and a sleep-over with Cody, Anna and little Reid. This was Reid's first Thanksgiving and tree gathering and he was such a good little boy!

Sick and Tired

Do you remember your Mom or Dad telling you they were "sick and tired" of this or that? Well, we are sick and tired of being SICK AND TIRED!! First I started out with a horrible sore throat that lasted about a week. Had to take meds around the clock, then Terry began getting sick and has a head cold that has left us sleeping in separate rooms as he is snoring like a freight train. Melissa started out with a head cold, then moved to the sore throat and now has a sinus infection. Amid all of this hacking, sniffling, blowing of noses and popping of pills, our sweet little Tristan gets his tonsils and adenoids removed!! He has been very brave and quite the trooper. Today we realized that he was talking kind of funny like he has a canker sore but when we looked in his mouth he has a huge white square of something on his tongue towards the back!! Has he chewed his own tongue, did the doctor cut something on his tongue and that is a scab? Who knows, but we will check with the doctor tomorrow.

Anyway, we are hoping that we are all on the mend. Melissa is on an antibiotic, Terry and I slept in the same bed at least once this week, my sore throat is gone and Tristan was dressed and teasing his sister, so I guess we are all not so sick and tired anymore!

Elections are over!

I am sure that all of you are relieved that the elections are over and we don't have to watch and listen to any more negative TV or radio ads!! Even though our household did not vote for President-elect Obama, we will honor him as our President. We may not always have agreed with past Presidents' behavior or decisions, we have always honored them as our President. We pray that God will guide his decisions as he guides our country through these difficult times.

Boooooooooooooooooooo Bash!

Hello,

Had a glorious time at Boo Bash in downtown Camas on Wednesday! It was like stepping back into the 50's! The whole downtown closes down for regular business and opens up for trick or treaters! Each merchant hands out candy and it was so fun to see the beautiful fall leaves, hundreds of kids and their parents and the most wonderful array of costumes! The weather couldn't have been more perfect. There was a small breeze which made the leaves falling from the trees a site to behold. All of our grandchildren were there along with many of their friends. Reid was a tiny little black cat and Draven was a red chili pepper and they both slept the whole time! Sofia was dressed as a fairy princess and many of the costumes were a bit scary for her, but she continued on and was very brave. Tristan really enjoyed picking out his costume this year and has nearly worn out his honeybee costume. Don't you just love his antennas? Lillie our little flower was sweet as ever in her flower costume. Mommy has enjoyed dressing her up as a flower and wonders what she will choose when she is older. Halloween day was supposed to be rainy, but it cleared up in time for the kids to go out trick or treating. Lillie joined Tristan and Sofia in our neighborhood and little Reid and Draven stayed home with their parents for a quiet evening at home. This Halloween season has been such a wonderful time spent with all the grandbabies, aunts and uncles and Great Grandparents too. As we continue to watch the leaves fall we are looking forward to Thanksgiving and giving thanks for our little family that has grown so beautifully!

Pictures From Pumpkin Day

Reid & Draven in identical outfits.


Lillie, Sofia, Tristan and Reid in costume.

Reid in Anne Geddes style

Our pumpkin carving carnage.

Is this The Great Pumpkin?

Choosing the right pumpkin can be challenging.

Fun in the Pumpkin Patch!

Yesterday we had the most glorious and fun day! Our children and their families along with our brother and sister-in-law and their new baby, Draven enjoyed a wonderful afternoon at Joe's Pumpkin Patch eating lunch tailgate style, searching for the perfect pumpkin, exploring the corn fields, taking pictures and riding in the hay wagon!!
We came home and set up on the picnic table in the backyard to carve our pumpkins and sort through the guts for seeds to roast. The weather was fantastic allbeit the wind blew like crazy. We enjoyed laughing, taking pictures, even one with baby Reid in his Daddy's pumpkin shell. As the sun was beginning to set, we went inside to eat our traditional harvest meal right out of a pumpkin shell.
After dinner we dressed the kids in their halloween costumes, took 5 cameras-worth of pictures, then dressed them in their Halloween pj's and again took many pictures. They were sooooo cute. My parents came down from Olympia to meet Reid for the first time and enjoyed all of the festivities. Terry's younger brother Ted and his wife Sarah had their firstborn little Draven, 10 days before Reid was born and we truly enjoyed having these two little boys to "ooh" and "ahh" over. As you will see by the pictures, Reid and Draven, only 10 days a part are nearly the same size. It just so happened that they both had the same sleeper and knitted pumpkin hats. They couldn't be more precious!

Joining the crowd

After receiving a blog from my niece Michelle, we decided to join the world of bloggers. I don't think ours will be as interesting, but we will do our best!