They are not that old yet

I have always known that one day the kids would be doing things like wearing my close and sneaking things out of the house...... But I had always thought that this would happen in there teens not at 9 and 6.

For example. Jackson has been waring my socks and gloves for about 6 months and this last Sunday wore  a pair of my brown shoes to church. They are the kind that you would never know that they were girl shoes.  

Not to be out done Miss Ainsley has been sneaking her own dress shoes to school in her bag and changing them in the middle of the day. And yesterday she left the house in jeans and a tee shirt and when I picked her up from school she was in a dress. It turns out the she had put the dress in her bag and changed in to it right after she got to school before class started. 

It looks like I'll be doing a bag search every morning before school from now on.

Not Resolutions. Goals

I have all sorts of goals for this year. I would like to get the kids and me all healthy so that I can get my butt back to the gym. It's not like I had been going all that long or often for that matter. But when I did go I felt amazing. And the way my brain has been lately I am about ready to try anything.
I need to get back into the woods more. I am at such peace in the trees especial the Gorge. It is my happy place and I am too far from it here in Salem.
More time with my mom. She needs the break as much as I do. So if we run away together we both get a time out.
Catch up on my blog. I have a good start going I just need to keep it up. It's just all the back blogging that is slowing me down.
Blogs for the kids. Not Blogs so much as online diaries. Once a week we will set down and talk about what they are thinking and what the best parts of their week was. My hope is at the end of the year I can have their thoughts made into a book that they can have to keep forever. And with the help of my dear sister I got that started this morning.
I would like to find some sort of balance between kids and housework. Other moms don't need housekeepers why do I.....not that I have had one in 6 months.

I Love You Honey

It's been the day......no week from hell.
#1 I know that going back to school after being out for 2 weeks does something to kids, I do. But this week has been so hard for everyone in the house. Seriously they have all gone crazy.
#2 Jackson and I are over our colds, but now the girls and Jeff have colds.
#3 Because of said cold Ainsley barfed in the check out at WinCo today.
#4 Trying to get the house back in order (not that it ever is in any sense of the word) after a holiday, vacation, party, over night company or illness takes forever. But to have all of these things and all three kids out off school makes it impossible.
Oh!!! #5 My kids saying a bad word when the neighbor girls were at the door. That was awesome. It wasn't so much saying a bad word but Jackson whispering to the baby "say *#@*#" and then Ainsley saying "we're trying to get her to say *#@*#". They got sent to bed.
That was a proud parenting moment let me tell you. All of that and it's only Wednesday.
I have called Jeff every day with my unhappiness. So today without being asked he came home with groceries so I don't have to go out tomorrow and my two favorite candies.
See he is a good man.

Happy New Years Day and day after!!!!

Just as soon as the Bergs got there we went over to the Huckleberry Inn for our New Year's Day breakfast. One of the best thing about coming up here is all the food traditions. We always start our trip with lunch at Calamity Jane's on our way in for their burgers and chilly fries. I am fond of the Canadian bacon pizza burger myself. The next day it's breakfast at the Huckleberry Inn with their amazing donuts. Then the last night we always go to the ZigZag Inn for Italian food. Pizza for the kids and mouth watering chicken raveole for me.

This is what I'm talking about when I say amazing donuts.

Starting a fire out in the snow was something new this year. I don't know why we never did it before.
It was cozy and as long as we were outside the kids didn't think they needed to come in and out of the house 100 times.

Our snow fort. It took most the day , but we had fun doing it.

See cozy and way more room than inside.

Just hanging around

The kids and I wanted to go down to the river.

and see the cool icicles.

I just had to brake one of to show the kids

and of course dinner at the ZigZag. Mmmmmmmmmmm!
The next day I finely got a picture of my kids in their Christmas jamers.

The kids sledding down the drive.

After sledding we went for a drive in the snow. We saw this giant porch swing and had to get a picture of the kids on it.
There was enough snow to make everything look so pretty, but not enough to keep us from driving all over the mountain.

We found this whole cliff covered in ice. The boys had to go check it out.

Now it was time to start back home. Just in time to get a good night's sleep so we can go back to school and work in the morning.

Happy New Year!!!!

As we do every year we headed up the mountain for some fun in the snow on new years eve.
The kids love this tradition so much that they ask us all year
"when are we going to the the cabin with our cousins?"
This year however our cousins would not be joining us until New Years Day. We still had just as much fun as ever.

Ski Bowl at night.

Oh happy day.

Our neighbor Ron got some pictures of us caroling Christmas eve.

Christmas Day