First Birthday Party

Last night was Griffin's first birthday party. The day before was his birthday and we celebrated in our own little way. Lets just say this year has been a tad overstimulating. First we have 3 different Christmases to attend and that's all ways chaotic and everyone's handing him these shiny packages to pull on, and lets face it ... he just wants what is inside and couldn't care less about all the frill to get there.

Maysen got a wagon for his first birthday, but I'm hoping that this one lasts a bit longer than the 3 years that Maysen's was alive and kicking. The handle to this one is all metal, which was the main problem on M's wagon. This one just seems ... more sturdy. (Noting ridiculously large blow-up wagon wheels similar to an ATV)...


You'll notice that M's hand is very close -- that's because Fin wasn't in it for longer than a minute before big bro (Bubba, as he's been named lately it seems) jumped in. I had told him that Griffin had to get in first because it was his. Within seconds Maysen was bounding in, leaving Fin a little ... awe struck at his speed and agility of wagon-hopping.

Oh great ... a hammer! (He loves this thing! He has pounded on it all day ... note the new shirt, dad?)

And he grasped this concept really fast ... he just can't figure out how these stinking things go in!

Here are the "cake shots". Thanks again to Jessica for baking the super cute Snowman cake for Fin to eat. It was perfect! Fin sat awfully quiet while we sung Happy Birthday and sort of looked at everyone as they sang thinking, "Am I paranoid or are they all staring at ME?!"

This is awfully sticky ... but good ...

Does this heaven really exsist in a small snowman? I'd better try it again ...

IT DOES! See dad? You gotta try this!!

I love this world ...

Why am I starting to vibrate?

Ok, I'm hallucinating ... because I swear this bee is talking to me ...

Happy Birthday, Mr Boozle-Oozle-Wooze-Doozle. We love you and have had the best time over the last year. We're looking forward to many more ...

PS: Tomorrow is Griffin's last (hopefully) and final appointment with his neurologist at OHSU. He's only seen him twice and both times were good news and that "He looks completely normal!" so we're expecting nothing less tomorrow. Will let you know how the appointment goes.

Santa Came

Can you believe it's over? It went as fast as it came. This year was another exciting holiday season as this week started with an ambulance call and an all-nighter in the ER. Yes folks, leave it to Leslie to start things off just blissfully (sarcasm). I had a sudden run of SVT, a very fast heart arrhythmia. I am fine, and aside from a few tests to make sure there is no heart defect, things are all back to normal now.

We got Maysen a hope chest this year for all of his keepsakes. Of course he didn't think this was nearly as cool as his Transformers or other cool toys, but I think he'll grow to appreciate this.

Griffin really didn't "get" Christmas or the whole present thing. He did pick up on the excited mood and did start to join in on the excitement with his own squeals and claps.

Once the toys were open he was having a ball. How to get them open and ready he left up to his brother!

Since I can't keep my stethoscope off of Maysen's neck and out of his ears, he got a doctor's kit for one gift. We've got to be the most immunized family on the block!

It was a fun Christmas morning and now it's all over for this year. Maysen snuck out of his room after Santa had come and fell asleep. He was covered up with a throw blanket and woke us up not stating that Santa had brought toys, but that "Santa ate my cookie!". All in different perspectives, I guess. Nate outdid himself this year. We had decided on a budget for "our" gifts and apparently he doesn't listen (why does this surprise me?) My two big gifts were a bread machine (something about the smell of fresh bread...) and a 70/300mm zoom lens. I love that man!

Christmas Eve was held at Nate's mom's house. It was fun as always ... and just as chaotic. There are 5 grandchildren that run laps around that house. I remember doing stuff like that as a child, so I can only imagine the memories those kiddos are forming with each lap and laugh.

Nate's mom made her lasagna ... so yummy! Along with lasagna we had wine (Um, yummy!) and by the looks of things, we had a few too many sips ... but pictures can speak a thousand words! I won't tell what we were talking about. That might incriminate me ...

Am I the only one who wonders why she's checking internal temp of lasagna? Hehe .. only kidding, mom. If someone ended up sick you'd never hear the end, and now you have proof it wasn't your lasagna! It was so perfect ...

The boys had a hard time sharing the job of Santa this year. Or, should I say MAYSEN had a hard time. He was Santa last year and wanted to be it again this year, but it was Jonas' job. Mom actually is "Santa" while the boys were the elves and helpers.

Then yesterday afternoon we had Christmas #3 at my sister-in-laws with Nate's dad. The above picture is of Nate's grandma and great aunt -- those two girls are very frisky and don't let them fool you. They crack me up with just about every phrase they can whip off their hip (like "that's softer than a frogs tail" ..?) and they're just so ornery I love it!

Is this a true Scovil or what!? I get such slack because I'm not a coffee drinker and apparently to be a real Scovil you've gotta be drinking coffee out of your bottle. Aunt Bonnie is the culprit behind this photo -- and also the culprit behind why Maysen likes coffee already. You're busted Aunt Bonnie!!

I attempted to take pictures for the family this year. We have one of "those" families where it's nearly impossible to get us all together so when we are, we have to take advantage. I'm not too happy with how they turned out, but lighting and miscommunication with my focus mechanism weren't my friends yesterday. Here's a pic of all the grandkids with Papa and Grandma Sherill.

Jenn was supposed to come, but due to an absolute freak of a snowstorm that hammered Portland, the weather was too dangerous for her to drive down here. She'll be coming tomorrow and staying the night. We'll be celebrating a late Christmas but also Fin's first birthday ... in a little over 14hrs, my baby will officially be one year old. And with that, another season is gone, a new year is around the corner, and we'll start all over again. Here's to hoping each and every one of you had a great holiday season ....

Holiday Chuckle

My dad sent us a package containing the boys' Christmas presents. "Wow!" I thought, "this would be a great box to send THEIR Christmas gifts back to them in." Away I went packaging the box back up, standing in the Post Office line for 25min, $21.00 and 3 days later and I had that goldmine package at my doorstep. Nate exclaims, "They sent it back!" .. "Why?" ... "Oh." Upon looking closer at the box, the Postal Service did exactly what they were supposed to do, because we never changed the address. We spent $21 to mail that hummer directly back to ourselves. This time I'll "Return To Sender" this thing so it gets back to them ... and for free!

Frosty the Smokin' Snowman

During our snow #2, the boys put together a Smokin' Frosty. It was our 13yr old neighbor, D, who decided it was a great idea to put a smoke bomb in Frosty's mouth. I'm currently finding his humor hilarious. Reminds me of my dad in a way ...

Although we finished Christmas shopping a few weeks ago, we decided to head to the mall (Saturday, 4:00pm) to return some PJs that I had bought for Griffin for Christmas. Nathan and I stayed up until 1:00am wrapping presents last night and when I whipped the PJs out I realized they were 12 months and there would be no way they'd fit. So! To the mall we went and that was a 3-ring circus. As I get older, the more and more I loath crowds and despite the recession that is going on, that baby was packed.

So I was pondering last night wrapping presents; Do you remember when you learned there was no such thing as Santa? I pondered this because my story relates to being a clever kid. I don't remember how old I was, but as I was nosing through the garage, I stumbled across a box that ironically was filled with presents. I didn't recognize the wrapping paper, but I did recognize the handwriting on the labels, some saying "From: Santa". I was puzzled because Christmas was still a week away. Carrying a gift inside I walked up to mom and asked the dreaded question "Just what is this? Why are Santa's presents here?" With great pause and hesitation, I heard it. Yes, it hit me like a brick wall, "You see. I have to confess. Don't you find it silly that Santa can deliver those presents all in one night? Well. The truth is, he has to deliver some early and it's our job o put them out for him." I bought it for about an hour until I thought more about it, and apparently guilt settled in, and mom had to spill it. My stomach dropped and I can still remember, Christmas really wasn't the same after that.

As I wrapped gifts I soon realized that it would only be a matter of time before we'd have to start using "secret" wrapping paper for the presents from Santa and disguise our handwriting. I can hear it now if we don't do it within the next year or two, "Mom, Santa has the same wrapping paper as was on the present you gave Grandma!!". Smart little buggers...

Alllll Aboard!

Tonight Maysen and Griffin got to open their Christmas present from Grandpa and Grandma "Motorhome House". Maysen is weird in the fact that he *loves* getting clothes. He gets so excited. Well, dad and Jo got him overhauls that look like the train conductor pair and he is so in love with them. Before we could get them all out he was taking his clothes off to put them on and has insisted in sleeping in them tonight. A new obsession. So! Good pick Grandma and Grandpa!!

I now understand why my dad used to charge me $0.10 everytime he caught me keeping the lights on. "Oh, Maysen keeps them on" you might be thinking. Um. No. It's my husband. I came home the other day and every single light was on in each room. I walk from room to room turning lights!

Christmas break has officially started at our house. Maysen had his party today and now we're home for almost 3 weeks. THREE WEEKS. Thankfully Nate will be home on vacation almost the whole time with the exception of Mon/Tues next week.

Someone has to pee ... with their overhauls on, so I've gotta go.
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Spoke too soon!!

I spoke way too soon last night. In an act to prove me wrong, the Gods unleashed the snow last night around midnight. I woke up to Griffin ready to eat and was surprised by the white glow I was getting from my kitchen window. It was quite a pleasant surprise and although it was late, I got that giddy/excited feeling and I had to wake up Nate. “Oh Lord!” I can hear most of you saying while rolling your eyes. But I was stoked!

In total we only got about 4-5” but that was enough for us! Nate stayed home and worked from home. Nate had remembered to run to the office and grab his laptop on Friday so he would have it for this “impending storm”. Now they’re calling for more snow on Wed/Friday. We’ll see!!

We got the boys outside playing this morning. It was Griffin’s first snow. I dressed him multiple layers and then put him inside some PJs that were too big for him to protect his feet. I didn’t think he’d want to put his hands in the snow, so never thought about it. To my dismay he went full fledge into the snow and within minutes he was screaming bloody murder.

He did get over it after a warm soak in the sink. When he came back out, he steered clear of the "big" snow and stuck to the little snow on the deck. Improvising we put Maysen’s socks on his hands which kept him at bay for a bit anyway. Who buys mittens in Oregon. I learned my lesson!


Maysen made snow angels and had a blast going down his ice-ridden slide. He flew down that sucker like greased lightning which he thought was hilarious!! The snow is like powder so it’s hard to form into snow balls so the snowball fight didn’t happen but M still grabbed gobs and heaved it into the air.

Nate then thought it would be great fun to punch the top of Maysen’s “tree house” cover high into the air. Did look pretty cool.

We'll see what the week brings, but we had our fun Oregonian Snow Day today. I wonder what would happen if I called other people liars ... maybe the lotto people? Think they'd give in and give me the lottery anyway since I called them liars?

Liars!!

Christmas Program
Last Thursday was Maysen’s 2nd Christmas Program. He did really well and I was happy that we had so many family members who were able to be there to watch. He was a proud sheep and you could see it. He sung his heart out and waved many times to make sure we didn’t miss him.

I worked again on Friday, which was a busy but fast day. Again I was reminded of how nice it can be to get out, but always nice to get home to all 3 of my boys!

Karate Test
Saturday morning Maysen had his karate test. I was so proud of him! There were about 40 people watching their children test, and one-by-one they go in front of the judges. When Maysen got up there you just heard the “Awwww’s” from the other parents. He is the littlest/youngest of the group but he got his first stripe for his belt and his new patches for his uniform. He even did a sidekick and broke his board on the first try!

Snow Liars
We settled in for a weekend of cold, ice, and snow – per the meteorologists. I *love* snow and I treasure any chance of getting it because since moving to Oregon I can count on one hand how many times I’ve seen snow since moving here. On Friday I joked “You watch, it’ll be blue sky and sunny all weekend.” Of course I was just being facetious, but little did I know how true this would be until my last and final hope of snow today dwindled. However, just 2hrs north of us were plowed by snow. I hate to say it really did put me in a sour mood but I just need to learn that when the weather man says something, don’t believe it especially when they’re so persistant about it. We’ve heard all week about “all this snow” we were to get this weekend and we got none. In fact the sun was out most of the weekend. Ha! Sick, sick joke!

I did get over my sour mood this afternoon and we made sugar Christmas cookies (with cookie cutters from Grandma Jo … thanks Grandma!) and our Gingerbread house. That always puts me in a good and festive mood.

We are going to be getting air from our Canadian neighbors this week and although it’ll be sunny with blue skies the temperature will remain below freezing all week – a change for us Oregonians. It’ll probably blizzard this week … only because they haven’t forecasted it.

Keen Observation
Maysen finally got his Gi in, so he's now one of the kids! It's amazing how he could tell he was different at karate. For awhile he had Athlete's Foot (which I totally blame on the karate floor -- what 4yr old has athlete's foot?) so I was making him wear his sandals while doing karate while I was medicating his foot. He had kids saying "Why is he wearing sandals?" Just an interesting observation how kids that young point out who's different and why. And it only gets worse as you get older ...

Old Roots
Tomorrow we're going to the KSU vs Oregon men's basketball game. I haven't decide whom I'm going to be rooting for - my home roots of Kansas State ... or my new roots of Oregon. We're also meeting up with one of my friends from Kansas (who I met at Kansas State University) who moved to Portland, OR a few years ago. Hoping to meet up with her and some other KSU fans at a nearby bar before the game. Nate's mom and step-dad also got tickets last minute so we'll probably run into them at the game.

New Babysitter
The time finally came ... the dreaded "use of new babysitter". Our old babysitter went off to college in August and we've been holding off on finding a new one. Finally the time has come and we're using our swimming lesson's teacher's sister, Amber. She will babysit tomorrow for the first time. She did come over on Wednesday to meet the boys and say hi before she just came over and we took off tomorrow. She seems like she'll work out just fine and we've a couple of years before she heads off to college as she's only a sophomore.

Back to work
I'm working a few extra days this month, as they're short of RNs for triage/resource because of everyone taking off for vacations, etc. I worked with my old doctor yesterday and that was fun. It's amazing I haven't worked with him in almost 2 years but once I saw him and we prepared for a small biopsy procedure, I got right back in the groove like I had never left. Isn't it weird how you can just get back into a routine? Even meeting up with good friends I find is like this. There are some things that I think just get ingrained in your mind ... and heart. Its so fun going back. Believe me, I love my "no schedule" but I love the fact I can go back, make a little money, get some hours logged, and see all my great friends. There's something comforting about going back to my other "home" and seeing everyone. I get a break from my everyday wiping butts and faces. And I gotta tell you - leaving a list of things (including laundry and dishes) for Nate to do while I'm gone feels pretty darn good! I opened the cleaned dishwasher the night before I worked. I sighed and I as tiredly took out the glasses I thought "why am I doing this? I'm not the housewife tomorrow!" and gleefully added that to my "to-do" list.