Stephens5

On the 5th day {before} Christmas

2010-12-21T20:14:00.000-08:00

We have a basket full of Christmas books. We add to it each year. Today I got you The Wild Christmas Reindeer by Jan Brett. Mrs. Stensland has been sharing many Jan Brett books with you and your friends. You are especially excited to check out Jan Brett's website. I am sure there are lots of fun things to do there. We will have to take a look after we read the book.

On the 6th day {before} Christmas

2010-12-21T20:01:00.000-08:00

We went to the Keiths' house to decorate gingerbread houses this evening. Nancy made a house for each of you. They all had stained glass windows! You had lots of fun with all of your friends. Fletcher was especially happy to have his buddy Joe help decorate.

Mallory arrived home from her semester in Ireland last night. You had fun with Mallory and talked about her all the way home.

Lily and Simon with their finished product. These will be tough to keep away from George.

On the 7th day {before} Christmas

2010-12-21T19:57:00.000-08:00

Fletcher, you and Simon are very interested in transporting the wrapped presents from my room to the living room. Somehow I think there is an ulterior motive. I don't think you will be able to guess what is in those packages this year :).

On the 8th day {before} Christmas

2010-12-21T19:33:00.000-08:00

You got your annual ornaments from Mommy and Daddy this evening. A peace sign for Lily the groovy girl and robots for the boys. You sure are going to have a lot of ornaments when you leave home, but they are mine for now.

On the 9th day {before} Christmas

2010-12-21T19:04:00.000-08:00

Millie came to stay with you and Calvin on Friday the 17th while Daddy was at Aunt Ruth's memorial service. She brought you flashing Rudolph noses. They were the hit of the day. You like to wear the Rudolph nose and your Santa hat. Sometimes you put two Rudolph noses over your eyes. You are Millie's special boy. There will be many more Millie Christmas memories to come.

On the 10th day {before} Christmas

2010-12-21T18:30:00.000-08:00

Fletcher, you and Eliza were so excited for your ride on the Polar Express! You got to wear your jammies to school.

We are so blessed to have a kindergarten teacher who makes learning a wonderful adventure. This is what Mrs. Stensland said about your Polar Express trip on her website:

All aboard the Polar Express! But wait. . .do we have our golden tickets? Ah, yes, magically they appear!

Tickets please--tickets! Let's get your tickets punched!

First stop--elf games! How do the elves relax after a hard day's work? They play games of course! Santa Bingo! Pin the nose on Frosty! Snow ball bowling! Thanks to our room parents and parent helpers for a great party!

The tracks were so slippery and we had to lean to each side to stay on the tracks! We loved imagining that we were riding the train--and the music from the movie provided a great feel for the day! Next stop--coming up!

Ahhhhh. . .hot chocolate. . .yeah. . .hot chocolate!

The call from the office came--a special delivery! Mrs. Harrington tells us that someone all dressed in green and wearing curly shoes delivered a box for us! It was FREEZING cold--could it have come from the North Pole????

We open the frozen package and have a letter from Santa! He reminded us that there is no better gift than the gift of friendship, and gave us each a bell to remember that by! What a great day!

On the 11th day {before} Christmas

2010-12-16T15:58:00.000-08:00

Today we went to see Santa. You got to miss school. It was the best, fastest Santa visit we have ever had. We walked right up. There were two little girls on his lap and you were next. As always, you gave him you long list of wishes. This year it was:

Kinect

Kinect games

Nerf dart gun

Galactic Heroes

Joker's Hideout

DSi XL

Playmobil Fire Station

FBI dress up stuff

On the 12th day {before} Christmas

2010-12-16T15:52:00.000-08:00

Today you licked the beater for the first time ever. I don't really know how it could have taken six years for this to have happened. You enjoyed it immensely. I am sure you will be in the kitchen immediately anytime you hear the mixer in the future.

Fletcher's 12 Days {before} Christmas Album

2010-12-16T15:45:00.000-08:00

I am accepting an invitation from Marie Taylor(http://marietaylor612.typepad.com/a_day_in_the_life/) to create a 12 Days {before} Christmas album. I decided to make it Fletcher's 12 Days {before} Christmas Album because Fletcher still has no album of his own. (bad, bad Mommy)

10 on Tuesday--Show me the money!

2010-03-16T16:25:00.000-07:00

It has been too long since I posted. We have been crazy busy.
I finally finished the medicare application for work. We should be able to bill medicare soon!
I made $200 today by being a part of a focus study on fiber supplements. The EASIEST $200 I have ever made. All I did was talk to the interviewers about why we use supplements and how we feel about healthy eating and such. The money will go toward George's invisible fence.
We went to the Seattle Dog Show this weekend. So entertaining. Those dog show people are interesting. (George did NOT go with us much to the disappointment of Lily.)
Our nephew Calvin burned his hands badly last week and had to spend two nights in the hospital. He is home now and doing much better. It will take some time to fully heal, but he is a trooper.
Lily has voice lessons today with her good buddy Maggie. Our awesome friend Sally (Maggie's mom) is driving them to and from again.
Simon has his school concert tonight. He has a solo. Lily has her concert Thursday night.
George is barking, begging and stealing food a lot more now. I cannot wait to get the invisible fence. Then he can go outside without us and be safe.
We are having Fred Meyer rotisserie chicken for dinner. YUM and easy.
Dick should be home any minute from his trip to Spokane. Then I think his traveling is over for a while. (YAY!)

10 on Tuesday--Olympics edition

2010-02-16T14:30:00.000-08:00

Dick, Lily and Simon are in Vancouver for the Olympics. They are at the US vs. Russia Women's hockey game right now.

Fletcher was very sad when they left. He got over it when he got his chicken chow mein, spring roll and potsticker from Top Foods.

Fletcher does have Keaton here to play with today. That makes him happy (when they are not fighting like siblings).

I bought a ridiculous amount of junk food at the grocery store.

The bank froze the debit cards due to suspicious activity (large amount of cash withdrawn in Kent for the RV deposit, groceries in Snohomish and a cash withdrawal in Vancouver). All fixed now, and I am glad they are looking out for us.

I need to figure out if I am going to give up something for Lent. Maybe it should be junk food.

There was a stray, un-nuetered dog in the neighborhood for a few days. We could not get anyone to come get it. He was a great dog--until George was outside. When that was the case, they went after each other. Very scarey. Animal control finally came to get him today. Now George can spend some time outside.

I made an appointment for an invisible fence consultation. They are coming on Thursday. I will feel much better when George can be outside for a bit of time even if we are not right with him.

Lily and I are making crocheted, cotton wash cloths to raise money for George's surgery fund. We even had our first sale. Thanks Grandma Wallace!

If you need a good show to watch rent Kidnapped. It aired a few years ago and was cancelled after only 3 or 4 episodes. Netflix had all 13 episodes, which I watched in 2 days.

Here are two pictures Dick sent to my phone.

Over a year? Really? 10 on Tuesday

2010-02-02T18:13:00.000-08:00

I am a terrible blogger. Over a year with no posts. Okay today I will start again. How about 10 on Tuesday? Lots of bloggers I admire do that.

I bought a Dyson DC21 canister vacuum today. It is embarrassing, yet impressive, how much stuff it got out of my carpet. I think this was a good move considering the amount of dog hair we now have to clean up.

George destroyed part of the trim in the powder room. We are no longer putting him in there when we leave the house.

I found Lily and Charlotte's Easter dresses at Target today. They will look so cute. The best part is the boys only need black polos with khaki pants or white polos with black pants.

Fletcher and Keaton spent most of the afternoon outside. The sun was shining most of that time too!

Lily went to voice lessons this afternoon.

George has chosen his person and his person is me.

If I disappear, come to the laundry room first. I think the mountains of laundry might take me down.

My car is a horrible mess and needs to be cleaned out and washed. The sunshine makes me want to do it even more.

I am looking forward to balancing the checkbook at work tomorrow. Kind of crazy, I know.

I am off to Pack 36 leadership team meeting in about 20 minutes. Food, drinks and planning all kinds of cub fun!

Here is a picture of Fletcher and the flower girls from the wedding he was in this weekend.

December Recap

2009-01-03T11:00:00.000-08:00

We had a busy December. The snow made it even crazier. We had late starts for school on Tuesday (12/16) and Wednesday (12/17). Then we had no school Thursday or Friday. It was quite a head start to the Christmas break.

The kids got LOTS of time to play in the snow. Lily and Fletcher spent almost all day outside for a almost a week. By Christmas Eve, they were tired of playing in the snow.

Lily and Bayleigh after their winter concert

Fletch has a little snack break while playing in the snow.

The winter wonderland.

The view just to the right of the front porch.

After nearly 5 days of confinement in the cul de sac, we had to get to Starbucks and the grocery store (along with the rest of the population of Snohomish).

Grandpa with his smallest Stephens.

The biggest grandson trying to catch Mise for a picture.

Don't you just want to pinch those cheeks?

The biggest grandchild.

Gabe was a little camera shy.

Christmas Eve singer

2008-12-25T20:33:00.000-08:00

Lily sang "Some Children See Him" for Christmas Eve family service at church. I didn't catch the very beginning because of technical difficulties and it is rather dark, but you get the idea.

Christmas pictures with cousins

2008-12-06T19:22:00.000-08:00

We went to get pictures with Charlotte and Eli on Friday. Eli missed his nap for the pictures and wasn't very happy. Lily, Simon, Fletcher and Charlotte were troopers. It was a tough job, but we got some cute pictures.

The little monkey turns 4

2008-11-30T06:51:00.000-08:00

Fletcher is 4 years old today. He had a great monkey party yesterday with all his friends. They made monkey door hangers, played monkey games and ate banana cupcakes. I will post pictures when I get them.