A hodge podge....

Maybe my sons will have a better eye for photography than me! James and Glenn both LOVE to take pictures, and James took this cute color schemed picture. I was quite skeptical, but he assured me that it would look good, and I love it! Great work James!

Ellie is now sitting up, and LOVING it! Here she is, sitting in the only mudless area of the field, but definitely still wet. She is such the trooper, and a wonderful example to us all... she loves life, especially when she is surrounded by those she loves. She helps us all take a moment to stop to enjoy the moment, and not rush off to the less important things. We are so blessed to have her in our family!

This last week, we were asked to be part of a live creche exhibit for our local community creche exhibit. I so hemmed and hawed over whether to bring Alex. I love that child, but he can be crazy. But he can also be a dream. I only wish I could predict which he would be more frequently! Well, I wanted him to be a part of our family, and wanted him to share in this experience. So, though I had many offers for people to watch him, I decided he needed to come.... hoping in the back of my mind that I wasn't going to regret it! So, we all took a deep breath, dressed up, and sat for a half hour. Alex was a dream. He loved it, and just sat watching all that was going on around him.... ahhh.... how wonderful it was for all of us to be up there, and for "Joseph" not needing to talk sternly to the "shepherds" :-) We loved the experience, and the boys TOTALLY got into it, getting their own costumes, including the watch dog for the sheep, and Papa helped their excitement by making shepherd crooks out of PVC... classic :-)

Ok, so it IS actually supposed to snow this weekend, but I am a little abashed to say that in this picture, it was maybe 45 outside, 65 in the house, and Todd was cold... in the house..., so he put on his big down coat to stay warm. Boy, we'd have to have coats twice this size if we ever decided to move back to the midwest! We are definitely 'pansified.' Ellie LOVED it, though.

James and Glenn have both loved studying China! They can't get enough of it. So, when we invited someone to come over to talk to the kids about China, he taught them some Chinese words. We had no idea how much this would stick! James asked every day if he could learn more. So, we found a website with free Chinese words, but we also ended up buying a Chinese language program. This is James learning intently on the computer. Alex is completely enthralled, and went to get his own earphones.... no, they were not plugged into the computer, but he didn't care! And Glenn was watching, patiently waiting his turn! Although they are seeing that is a difficult language to learn, they LOVE it, and look forward to their Chinese language lessons!

Well, I guess that's about it for us! We finished our last cross races last weekend, so we're relaxing this weekend with tree cutting festivities! Todd did awesome on his last race, and I felt more like a pinball machine getting knocked down left and right by flying pinballs! But we all had a GREAT time regardless, and do look forward to next year! As do our kids!!!!! Here's a link to a news clip that was done on the race in Eugene. Todd's the first frozen person before you press play, and he's in one other shot in there. And the kids and I are in background shots, but you would have no idea, unless you were us! Anyway, enjoy if you want. Take care everyone!

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