Christmas Cookies!

As you can clearly see, we made a lot of Christmas Cookies this year. These are always a favorite as they have lots of colored frosting and fun sprinkles to shake. Evelyne and Gilbert loved doing the frosting the most, and eating the dough of course.

Christmas program prep

coming out from behind "the curtain"

practicing the "shouting" part of the program

sleep in heavenly peace

oh that's just being silly

We all enjoyed evelyne's christmas program at her school a couple of weeks ago (luckily before the snowstorm). The kids sang all kinds of cute songs, rang bells, and got to show us around their classrooms. We had grandparents over for lunch beforehand and had aunts and uncles meet us there, it was great fun to see all the kids dressed their prettiest and handsomest and on their...ummm.. best behavior.

bah humbug...

I'm really upset right now. Just went out to the garage to get the chocolate cherries I've made and finished dipping yesterday. It's a fabulous recipe from my friend Danelle. ....and....a mouse got into them! The entire pan is now in the garbage. Those of you who have made these know how labor intese they are...I'm really mad.

happy holidays!

Santa and his reindeer wish you a Merry Christmas!!!!

Arctic Blast 2008

Looking down our street...very icy!
The kids had fun sledding down hills

Our house looking very festive for december

Evelyne sledding!

Love the names the news channels give the storms...this one has been dubbed "ARCTIC BLAST 2008" oh so dramatic. Anyway, it is extremely cold, for Portland anyway, only about 25 for a high today and it's expected to last all week. We had a bit of snow all day yesterday and then quite a bit of wind last night. The snow blew off of all the trees! Of course schools are closed and the weather is expected to last so I wonder if everyone will get an extra long winter break this year????

"I fought the wall and the...wall won"

oh so sad...
poor gilbert

This is why we don't jump off of the couch onto the floor, or wall, as in this case. Just in time for photos with santa...ahhh...boys.

Ok, so I'm taking a break....

Just sitting here working, yes, well, taking a break now but really I WAS working. Drafting and have come to an impass so decided to take a break. Can't think anymore or space plan, just need to switch gears.
Had to include this moment of Gilbert getting his shoes on, ready to go pick up Evelyne at school. Yes, his diva shoes, turquois with puffs on the toes. I don't know what it is about these silly shoes but Evelyne loved them, too. Remember the photo where she was running naked in the garden with nothing on but THESE SHOES. (See the archived "Tickley Shoes" July 06) Yes, they are obviously a family favorite.
So, Gilbert, hey whatever floats your boat man...if it's the diva shoes then so be it!

Early Thanksgiving Feast

Evelyne had a Thanksgiving Feast at her preschool last week and we were all able to attend. The kids all did a little program of songs and sat down with their class to a table decorated with plates, napkins, and even candles. Each child made their own "craft" turkey out of apples as a place card. So special to actually see all the kids sitting together enjoying their food. The teachers brought around trays of rolled turkey, popcorn, rolls with butter and jam, olives, and cider. The kids made pumpkin bars at school the day before and they enjoyed those for dessert. Gilbert even got to have a snack after the kids at the tables had been well fed. Evelyne is donning a cute pilgrim hat made of paper. They had the choice of wearing the native american hat they'd made or the pilgrim hat. Most kids chose the native american head dress but evelyne wanted an "all white hat." Her words of course...

Fall Birthdays

Evelyne's face painting of "cinderella" at Milanno's birthday
Trying to take a photo of the kids at Milanno's birthday

Gilbert's car on his face...game day of course

Evelyne enjoying a car at Carson's birthday

Carson and friends opening gifts

So, we've had quite a few birthdays this fall....here are two that we recently attended. Carson Shaffer who turned 4 had a birthday that was full of cars and lots of kids running to and fro and on cars whizzing past parents and toddlers...so much fun. Milanno Camarena celebrated his 5th birthday super hero style with face painting and a "pin the appendiges on Milanno" game...very funny. The kids had so much fun, and I think even the parents did, too.

a note on our historic election (opinion of dianne..I won't drag nathan into this one)

So, we have a new president elect....whew I'm so glad all those ads etc. are over. Honestly, I would have been happy with either candidate for president. Both have terrific qualities to lead our nation into the next era. I voted for Obama. It was a tough choice for me but when it came down to it I wanted someone different, someone with a new vision, a new attitude. Someone with excitement and when I realized what an impact their campaign made across all nations I was sold. I'm an independent so often find myself in a political quandry. So, these past couple of days have been exciting; exciting to see everyone excited, refreshed, with hope for the future and renewed confidence in our country. We all know there are going to be no lightning bolt changes in our economy, but the point is there is change in our general attitude. And if you've ever been in therapy you know that attitude is EVERYTHING. So, cheers to Obama and his campaign...his wife is lovely and let's hope her brother guides the Beavers to victory. Sorry to Tina, I'll miss your skits and my late night laughs....see you on 30 Rock.

Gimmee some Candah!!!

Cousin Camryn pondering my mask..Cousin Spencer playing a boxing game with Tinkerbell

Tinkerbell Evelyne with her special hairdo

Dianne getting nephew Grayson ready to go outside!

Evelyne and Gilbert ready to go with Cousin Henry in the back ground

Halloween 2008 was a blast of kids, a burst of excitement, a blitz of candy and a boom in Lafayette. We celebrated this year with Lindsey and Matt and their family as it was also the evening we celebrated Brantley and Spencer's birthdays. All the cousins gathered and it was quite fun. We enjoyed pizza and salad before the rumble began outside, and finished off our candy with birthday cupcakes for dessert..oh wait...we'd already had dessert.

We trick or treated with one Indiana Jones (Brantley), one Power Ranger (Spencer), one Tinkerbell (Evelyne), one Dalmation (Grayson), one Dog (Gilbert), one Cat (Camryn), one Honeybee (Henry)......... and a partridge in a pear tree....oh wait, that's next month.

Great fun was had by all, the weather couldn't have been nicer.

Gilbert turns Two!

Our baby Gilbert is now officially not a baby anymore...though yes he still ends up in our bed at night and yes, I still give him a bottle of milk at night when he wakes up....he is a toddler. We celebrated his birthday a couple of weekends ago with a brunch of yummy food and a lovely farm themed cake from Lamb's. I figured, I made all the food, couldn't do the cake, too and I'm glad I didn't. It was very cute with a farmer and his crops and bunnies hopping in the distance. Gilbert is REALLY into tractors and trucks and absolutely loved it.
Photos will follow, just have to get them developed.
Gilbert is talking a lot now and you can understand most of the things he says. His favorite phrase is "who's that" which means either "who or what is" that and results in endless responses to endless questions....hmmmm....that sounds familiar....I'm still doing the Q&A game with a darling 4 year old we all know and love!
Ultimately, Gilbert's favorite person, next to mom of course, is his sister. He LOVES Evelyne and she is really pretty good to him. She will share with him, help him on his potty, read to him, share colors with him, and let him play in her room with her toys. The only objections she has is if she has been doing a craft and he comes along and bulldozes over it with a pen or a truck or his person...but c'mon who wouldn't object to that.
All in all, Gilbert is a sweet soul. He is very loving and cuddly and often says "I love you" in a whisper when he kisses you. He is starting to miss Nathan after he has him for the weekend. Inevitably Monday morning rolls around and he says "Daddy Go?" Meaning where is dad...
He loves. He loves us and we love him back...isn't that just the best feeling in the world? I hope it continues beyond two in some form anyway....

My Scarecrow

Yikes, there's a scarecrow in my car!
A scarecrow at home

With friend Gabby, a chicken farmer

and again by her pumpkin....

So, farm day at Evelyne's school happens in the fall and means everyone dresses like a farm animal or farmer....so, Evelyne picked a Scarecrow. Well, a scarecrow is kind of like an animal, I mean it scares birds and farmers create them so technically we figured we'd be alright....

I hadn't an outfit or anything.. just had to throw it together in the morning...it turned out pretty good....some raffia I'd saved from some craft I'd purchased at michaels craft store a while ago for hair ribbons, some tights from last year's snake costume, some hula skirt cut up from a hawaiian outfit for straw, some brown eyeliner, blush, and an old handmade 70's sack that once held doll clothes was cut up to make a skirt held together with a belt...very quickly...
whew...pays to procrastinate and be a pack rat....

here are the results.

Gnocchi Birthday

Potato Gnocchi
Ryan rolling out the dough

Gabe making the butternut dough

Mom doing the sauces

Sadie creating the finished product...yummmmmm

We celebrated Sadie's birthday with a Gnocchi party at my mom's house. For those of you who have never experienced this marvelous dish, I'm sorry. It is FABULOUS and not difficult to make, but is time consuming and tastes like heaven. Basically, the Italian version of potato dumplings...you make a dough and slather it in sauce and freshly grated parmesean cheese. My mom made a few sauces; marinara, mushroom gorgonzola, and an italian meat sauce. We had a new gnocchi thanks to sunset magazine and a few tries by me, mom, Sarah, and Gabe and Sadie...we've adopted it...Butternut Squash gnocchi. Gabe and sadie came up with a butter, sage and cheese sauce which was to die for. Anyway, Sadie had a great birthday, we all had fun making and eating the creations!

Pumpkin Patch 08

All the kids off the busEvelyne and her friend, Anna
Evelyne and Gilbert watching animals
Evelyne and her teacher, Lynda picking a pumpkin together
Watching the goats

Another year of pumpkin patch mayhem is now behind us. This year, Gilbert was oh so glad to join in the festivities with Evelyne and her friends at school. The highlights of the trip were of course selecting pumpkins, riding the tractor, and jumping in the "nut house" which was a small shack filled with hazlenuts.

We went with Evelyne's preschool and parents were allowed to bring siblings along. Gilbert even got to ride the bus on the way back to school without mom! Evelyne and her friend, Kianna took good care of him on the bus and informed me afterwards the "he only stood up on the seats a couple of times."

"a dream is a wish your heart makes"

the mickey mouse ears for gilbertolivia, evelyne, and vanessa having fun on the tea cups dianne & kids at the castle
our princesses all ready to have lunch with the REAL princesses
our boys, gilbert and cole loving the cars as seen by their shirts

...when you're fast asleep. In dreams you will lose your heart aches, whatever you wish for you keep.....or something like that..oh Disneyland where you remember being a kid and often times wish you were there again. The best part about it is watching your own kids enjoy it as much as you did! We had a BLAST on our first official family vacation to the "happiest place on earth." Aside from being in the midst of a Hannah Montana sweet sixteen soiree, and suffering 90 degree weather we survived, thrived, and lived to tell the tale.

Highlights for me were the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, love it as much as I ever did, and the Indiana Jones ride which makes you feel like you're part of the movie. Nathan loved the California Adventure side of Disneyland. (For those of you who haven't been in a while, it's a new theme park where the parking lot used to be). They have the typical "thrill" rides, a large roller coaster and something called the "maliboomer" which shoots you straight up in the air and then drops you. We both were impressed with the Hollywood Tower of Terror which is a 30's style haunted hotel straight out of the Twilight Zone. You ride in an elevator that continually goes up and down at alarming speeds. It freaked me out.

Evelyne loved the Pirates, haunted house, seeing the princesses at lunch and all the disney characters. Daddy stuffed her shoes with socks to make her tall enough to ride on Splash Mountain and Thundermountain Railroad which she loved. She also liked the Matterhorn even with the scary snow monster! She's a brave soul like her dad.

Gilbert loved any train or car we went on and HATED waiting in lines. So, we would alternate often. He was scared of the characters and didn't want them to get too close but liked admiring them from afar and would call out "Goopy" for Goofy and "Chickmunk" for Chip and Dale. He really loved Autopia where you can drive a car yourself; he was so in heaven doing that.

We all enjoyed the company of our friends, Danelle, Tim, Olivia, Vanessa, and Cole VanWinkle. They are Disneyland pros and were very helpful telling us where to go and when. We all survived kid meltdowns and elations which made for a lot of fun memories for our family.

Back to School

Evelyne and her friends Katelyn and Anna...and little brother

Evelyne's teacher this year is Teacher Linda

Crafts with Kianna

So happy to be back!

Fall is just about here, I'm so ready. I love this time of year. Evelyne went back to school this week and was thrilled to see her friends again. Katelyn and Anna were her closest friends last year, she greets them with big hugs and it's so sweet. Gilbert of course has to be a part of the group, too. The night before the first day of school Evelyne came and asked me to do curly hair. We tie her damp hair in rags and she sleeps on it...then pouf...really curly hair the next morning. She loves it.
This year she's said her new friend is Kianna and we're already scheduling play dates. It's so much fun seeing her enjoy school and other kids. She seems to have grown up over the summer. No quams about not seeing me every day all day; just happy to be enjoying school. Gilbert misses her. He keeps asking where she is. I miss her too but know she's happy and enjoying the little life she's creating for herself away from home.