Mr. Leaning Snowman

I wanted to take a picture of Tom's snowman this year, but during the Christmas meelee we seem to have misplaced our digital camera. So I will describe him in minute detail: He was ten feet tall, four big snowballs piled on top of each other. He had two half-oranges for eyes, a green christmas light for a nose, two solar lights for ears and a flower pot hat. He was a really cooooool dude. We woke up this morning and noticed that he was leaning a little to the left. Or right, in his case. Winston wanted us to go out and make a snow pillow for him to land on when he finally tipped over. When the inevitable happened, unfortunately it was not a pretty sight. He was decapitated by the fire pit. Poor Mr. Snowman!

In other news: we had a very enjoyable Christmas with Tom's family here. I'm sure we did lots of things but the thing that stands out most is that we all passed around the germs and almost everyone got sick with headcolds and flu and poor little Jack got pink-eye. I read in a magazine that in the 'olden' days the custom was to throw open the doors and windows at midnight on Christmas eve to let out the evil spirits. I proposed that we do it here just to let out the evil germs. Unfortunately because of the freezing temperatures, no one was interested in doing that. Before everyone got sick we had a big snowball fight. The little kids got in some sledding in the back yard. The barn game-room got lots of use by the boys - little and big. All-in-all it was a picture of family togetherness! We are now doing our best to get all well so we can enjoy a little New Years family time before we get back to school and work.

It's the Holidays! WooHoo!

I am now officially on the Christmas Break. I get to enjoy it one day earlier than my kids! Woo-Hoo! What will I do with this extra day? I'll drive into Pullman and get my driver's license renewed. I tried to do it over the internet, but I was rejected. They said I needed more evaluation (whatever that means). I think I just pushed the wrong button and they think I'm blind or something. So anyway, my day off will be spent in the Department of Licensing.

We have been getting ready for the Holidays. Tom's family will start showing up on Friday night. It will be a lot of fun. Marcia has been doing a lot of baking in preparation for it. I've baked a couple of batches of cookies so far. Oh, and Grandma's 'Oh So Good' fruitcake. I'm the only one who eats it around here, but I was doing the baking, so I made what I liked. We went to Keaton's Winter Band Concert at the school last week. It is really neat to see our hometown school helping the kids develop such talent. I kept elbowing Tom in the ribs when I heard Keaton's trombone. We had a great time. Well, we hope you all have a great time over the Holiday Break and best of wishes in the New Year!

Mama's got a piano!

My new (old) piano! Tom had a friend from work who was getting rid of his family heirloom piano and asked if we would like to have it. When Tom asked me if I wanted it - well, the answer was obvious! I've been wanting one for years. It looks so neat in the living room. It was built in 1906 - and it looks beautiful. It was well cared for over the years. The boys and I have had fun trying it out. I really have a long way to go to get my 'piano fingers' back. Winston enjoys putting out a tune or two, too.

I finally got my Holiday Cards out this morning. It feels good to have that done. I've been so busy with work that I just can't seem to keep up with everything else.

Well, we hope you all are having a great time out there - shopping or whatever. That's the nice thing about living in a small town area - nowhere to shop. We like to keep it simple around here. Take Care, Ya'll.

Bad Coyotes!

We made it back home after a very enjoyable visit with our family down in Southern Idaho. We came home to a little bit of snow and received more over the past week. It has been so pretty to see everything blanketed in white - but today it is raining and the snow is melting ):

Winston has recently picked up the habit of blaming everything on Coyotes. Whenever something goes wrong - or he is involved in some mischief like breaking something - he says "Bad Coyotes did it!" We do have a bit of a coyote problem around here and get to listen to them quite often at night. Winston really dislikes them, so I guess that is why they are the obvious choice for him to lay blame. It's really funny though, to hear him say it.

He also learned two letters this past week. He has been working with an electronic toy called the Alphabet Apple. It has buttons on it that are shaped like the letters of the alphabet, and when you push them the 'Apple' tells you what letter you are pressing. Well, Tom thought it would be funny to show Winston the letters 'P' and 'U', and pressed them in succession. Winston thought it was so funny, so he spent the weekend running around pushing the P-U over and over again. I can't wait to see what his teacher has to say!

Keaton got his first time in the Solution Room at school today. The Solution Room is our school's version of in-house suspension or detention. He gets to spend his lunch time today and tomorrow in there. I'm not exactly certain why he is having to serve time. He was somewhat vague about what happened. He said he had been looking for me at the school to tell me something and went through the wrong door. I wonder what the real story is (: It is kind of impressive that in the years since he's gone to school there (since 3rd grade) this - being his 8th grade year - is the first time he has had to do this. If you know Keaton like we know Keaton, you'll know what I mean!

Nothing out of the ordinary going on with Preston..........he's the 'perfect' child. (ha ha)

Tom has been busy, though, with good and bad things. The good: He spent last weekend building a backdrop and mantle for our woodstove in the living room. He used some old barn wood that he salvaged from a fallen barn of one of our neighbors. It looks great! And what a change to the looks of the living room. Even though it looks old - it looks new!

The bad: On Tuesday when Tom left for work he decided to play 'chicken with a snow drift. The snow drift won. He ended up putting his car in the ditch. He was lucky that one of our kind neighbors gave him a lift into town and he was able to spend an hour or so at the Library. He had to wait for the snow plow to come through so I could go and get him. We tried to pull his car out (the whole driver's side was buried in the snow bank) but the car wouldn't even budge. We ended up calling the tow truck. Tom and the car are doing fine - although the car gets new snowtires today! It's Bad Coyotes for us!

Tom's latest winter-cabinfever-so bored he couldn't see straight- project. (I love it!)

Thanksgiving Time: The Man's Holiday!

I'm experimenting with blogging away from home. We just enjoyed a great Thanksgiving with my family in Mt. Home. We will be spending some time with Tom's family before heading home. It has been a lot of fun getting to see everyone again. While we were at my parents' Tom enjoyed burning tumbleweeds and driving a road grader. Winston got to go swimming in a very cold swimming pool. Preston and Keaton disappeared into the abyss of video games, emerging long enough to find food. I got a nice visit in with some of my family members. We are having a great time and will update more when we get home. Happy Thanksgiving - a day late. Happy Black Friday to you crazy shoppers!

Our Latest Family Picture

We decided to get the painful task of family picture taking out of the way this last weekend. It took about 50 tries, and finally we got one or two pictures that we could stand to look at. Here's the one we're framing:

The Family Life for Us!

I'm trying to keep up with this blog about once a week - although not much happens on some weeks. This is one of those weeks. So I'll just re-cap what we've been up to. Keaton recently finished his Jr. High Football season. His team won every game, finishing the season with a 6-0 record. He got to sign the game ball along with the team and it now sits in the Jr. High trophy case. It's kind of cool getting to walk into the school and see his name in there. He also got to participate in the Mass Band Festival. That is where school bands from all over the state get together and learn from college and professional orchestra members and conductors. This year they did the "Halo" soundtrack. He had a lot of fun and enjoyed learning from the greats. The only mishap was that he dripped catchup on his white shirt during lunch - which was before the concert took place - so he had to wear a dirty shirt through the whole thing.

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Preston has been continuing with Driver's Ed. He gets to drive at least once, sometimes twice a week with his instructor. He even got some night driving in with his Dad. I think things are coming along with all that. We had to pay the Driver's Ed fee the other day - ouch! But at least it's done. He has another month-and-a-half of class and he'll be ready to take the State Driving test.

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Winston has had an off-week this week. I think it was because of the time change. He was just kind of hyper and very stressed at school. After a couple of days if it, I decided to make him go to bed an hour early and that seemed to be his reset button. The next two days went well for him. Especially since Tom and I went into school to observe his behavior during circle time. He was an angel then - of course! Lately his favorite thing to say is "I don't know". He says that to just about every question we ask. I think his mind has been too busy to formulate an answer, so it's easier for him to just say "I don't know."

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Tom and I have been fighting colds - 'tis the season. Now Preston has one. Besides that, Tom's been moved to a new shop at work - even though he still has the same job. He got a new desk and everything. He also got to do some 'up high' work at the Colliseum last week - which he is glad is over. I've been working hard at the preschool. Not too much longer then it's on to Mom & Dad's place for Thanksgiving. We'll also get a Moores visit down Boise way while were there, too.

****************Sorry this is so long - no pictures this week. It's our life as we know it!

Home-Made School Pictures

Every year we seem to have a hard time coordinating with school pictures. When we do get the kids pictures taken, there just doesn't seem to be the packages we are looking for at a price that we want to pay. So we've resorted to taking our own school pictures for the past few years. Fall is our favorite time to take them because there is so much color outdoors. Here are our latest:

Preston

Keaton

Winston

Finally - A Day Off! (maybe).

I have finally had a day where all my kids are at school and I don't have to go in to work. I recently was hired to work with a little boy I worked with last year. It's only four hours a day, four days a week, so it works out well for my schedule and Winston's schedule. Winston is now going to school on Fridays, too, which is the day I have free - so I have a little free time. Tom took me out for breakfast - he's so nice. He is getting over having Strep Throat. There were a couple days this week that he was very miserable. He's feeling a lot better now. So I suppose I will spend this morning getting caught up on everything that I've put off during the week - namely the never ending laundry. I guess it's not really a day off. So it goes in the life of a Mom. (:

Waterfall Walk:

The waterfall walk that the guys went on last weekend:

The "Pointy Picture"

Tom and brother, Paul:

Some Pictures

Cougs at a Duck Game:

Winston supports his team from home:

Ducks Win??? and Septic Systems!

So last weekend Tom and the two older boys went to Oregon to see the Oregon Ducks trample our poor-poor Cougars. Just wait for next year - we'll get 'em! The guys had a great time visiting Uncle Paul. They got to go for a nature walk and saw some awsome waterfalls. Keaton was especially impressed by one that you could walk behind into a cave. At the football game, Preston and Keaton had standing-room only tickets. They had a hard time watching the first part of the game as the Duck fans crowded the view. By the second half, though, they had a great view because the Cougs were so far behind nobody stuck around to watch the rest of the game. Tom and Paul had seats and the seat next to Tom was empty for a short time. Evidently at some time during the game a gal came and sat next to him and was being very friendly(: I think it was flattering for him. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODAY, TOM!!!

Winston and I had the house to ourselves for the weekend. We enjoyed playing some games together. We wore our pajamas all day Friday and ate Chicken Nuggets and French Fries ( His favorites! ). On Saturday we had an in-depth discussion about where the "stuff" in the toilet goes when you flush. I explained to him what a septic tank was and where it is. He went to the window and pointed right to the place - smart kid. Then he surprised me with a complete picture that he drew of a house, toilets, waterpipes and a big square septic tank under the ground near the house. He even detailed what was in the septic tank. (Really smart kid!) His therapist was impressed! She said it is obvious that he is going to be an engineer one day.

WINSTON'S SEPTIC TANK

I Think I've Got it.

I think I've finally got this figured out. Now for our first "Real" blog. As a family we have been very busy lately. I've been doing some sub work, along with being the family chauffeur lately. Preston has been taking Driver's Ed (scary!) in the mornings so I have to take him to school early for that. Then I have to take Winston to school because he's not old enough to ride the bus yet. Then I pick him up a couple of hours later. And it's back in to town to get Keaton from football practice in the evenings. My days have been pretty full lately.

Preston has been doing very well in his Driver's Ed class. It all looks good on paper, but I'm still nervous when he's behind the wheel! Tom has been taking him out to drive for a few minutes in the evenings. He still has a few weeks left before the class is finished. Preston has also been elected Photo Editor for the School yearbook. He has been enjoying that, getting to take pictures at school events and doing things with the yearbook staff. It really keeps him busy and challenges him with keeping up with his other class work.

Keaton has been working really hard to keep his grades up, too. In order to be on the football team he has to maintain a good grade average. So far the Jr. High team has not lost a game yet this year. During the first home game Keaton intercepted the football during the last quarter. He was pretty excited about that - even though they were already several points ahead of the other team. He's been working hard at practice and really enjoys football. He also has been doing well in band where he is the lead trombone player.

Winston has been a study in patience for Tom and I. He's such a joy to have around, but some days we are really feeling our age with him. He's been seeing a speech therapist and a psychologist to see what is going on with him. It was thought that maybe he had Aspberger's Syndrome because of some of his activities. The psychologist ruled that one out, but is still considering that Winston could be on the Autism Spectrum. Near the end of the summer he really seemed to be coming out of his shell, was speaking well and was doing better at participating in activities. Then about three weeks in to school he kind of shelled up again and became a little wild child for about a week. Now he is back on track and writing ABC's. It's really quite a puzzle to figure him out. We are hoping to figure out what his triggers are. We've really enjoyed some of the little language things he comes up with. Right now he is obsessed with moths and tries to capture them all the time. Two weeks ago his obsession was with night lights. He went around the house unscrewing all the coverplates on the night lights when we weren't looking. We have only been able to find about three of them so far! What a character!

As for what Tom has been up to - "Winterizing". There seems to be a lot of that kind of thing to do around here this time of year. Between the house, Barn, Cars, Sprinkler systems, etc, there is a lot of "Winterizing" to do. He also got the boys' game room done and it's been nice to have a warm place to go and play pool. I'll post some pictures sometime. He's also looking forward to the Coug-Duck game next week! And then his big "40" the week after that! He's really looking forward to that!

Well, hopefully this catches everyone up on what has been going on here lately - and excuses why many haven't heard from me lately (: I don't forsee it getting any less busy in the near future, but maybe this blog will be easier for me to keep up with than letters. Take Care, Ya'll.

I'm not sure if I'm doing this right!!!!

Howdy to all... this is our first attempt to do a blog - and keep everyone updated on what is going on in our lives. My sister-in-law, Rachel, gave me the idea to set one of these up, so hopefully I can get it figured out. Right now I'm just learning how this thing works. I'll post more later.