Maui 2010

Hailey took to snorkeling right away and was brave enough to go out in the ocean.  I was impressed, especially because I'm not really brave enough to do it (that and it makes me queezy).

We had some really fun nights in Lanai and Whalers Village and of course, playing on the beach.

Crew likes all things pirate lately.  He's even wearing a pirate shirt in this picture.

Hailey practicing snorkeling in the pool before hitting the ocean.

Paige just trying out the flippers.

Here we are at the resort in front of the Koi pond.

Ice cream always tastes better with goggles on.

Before we boarded the boat for the whale and dolphin watching excursion.

We saw a lot of dolphins, it was so fun.  They raced and jumped along side of the boat.  We also saw quite a few whales.  We probably saw more at the beach than we did on this trip.  We got some great video but not any pictures of the whales.

We all got a little seasick. Poor Crew missed all the action and fell asleep on the boat.

We went to a luau on the last night.  It's quite a production, the kids really liked it.

All of our kids enjoy being on stage. 

When Crew gets a little nervous or tired, he likes to twist his hair.

An Early Christmas Present

One of the selling points when we were considering our current house were the seperate "his" and "hers" closets in the master bedroom.  After living in a charming 90 year-old home in Spokane where we shared a tiny coat closet, I dreamt of having my own spacious, neat, organized, space.  One thing Jim and I have in common is our love for clothes and we both have way too many of them.  One thing we don't share is a love for order and neatness.  Jim does his best in every other area of the house, but his closet is one place where he expresses his chaotic, haphazard, side.  I usually just try to turn a blind eye and shut his door but it was getting to the point of possibly being a health hazard.  There was a strange smell coming from the closet which I later found to be a rotten banana stuffed in a plastic bag along with various items he'd crammed into a trash bag after cleaning his car out.

I couldn't take it anymore so today I decided to give Jim an early Christmas present and organize his closet as a good-will gesture in the spirit of Christmas (my own compulsive need for order had nothing to do with it of course).

                                                                            Before                                                                   

After

Is it strange that I actually get a huge amount of satisfaction and peace from going back and looking at this? I can't help it, it just makes me happy.  I hope it makes Jim at least a little bit happy.

Tree Trimming 2009

We finally got around to buying a tree this week.  Each year we contemplate buying a fake one but always end up with the real thing.  Here the kids are putting on our hodge-podge collection of ornaments.  Some of them are from my childhood, my mom made a lot of them.  It always brings back special memories for me and is part of the reason why I can't bring myself to buy fancy matching ornaments that actually look nice.

During December we trade night-time reading in bedrooms for Christmas books by the tree.  Jim can be a very entertaining narrator.

This little horn has haunted me for years.  My brother used to torture me with this thing, it actually works, it almost sounds like a duck, but worse.  Now, the horn lives on through my kids, especially Crew, he loves blowing it in his sisters ears and listening to them shriek.  It still gets on my nerves after a while but I think I've developed special "mommy ears" that can handle annoying noises for longer periods of time.  In a weird way, I actually like it now.

Another reason why we don't have fancy ornaments:  Crew is constantly playing with them, throwing them, feeding them to the dog.  He's broken so many already.  He brought this one to me today along with his Handy Manny tools, thinking he could fix them.  I wish he could!  We've got to stock up on the super glue for the next little while.

Boise Thanksgiving Continued...

We stayed in a great hotel in downtown Boise for Thanksgiving weekend.  The kids had a great time at the pool (I forgot to take pictures) and I had a great time shopping at all the fun, nearby shops.  The day after Thanksgiving we told the kids we were going to see Santa on the Polar Express, they were so excited.  Here they are as we are leaving the hotel.

We are all on the train! We went with Anneliese & Zach and their kids.

Looking for the North Pole!

Anneliese and me!

There was one car of the train that was open to the outside.  It was pitch black and freezing!

Finally we made it to the North Pole and Santa!

Ty and Paige with Santa.

Santa rode the train back with us. Paige and Crew really had fun with him.

A magical night!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving weekend in Boise at had dinner at Anneliese's & Zach's house (Jim's sister).  Red & Marianna (Jim's parents), Bryn and Luke (Jim's other sister and Zach's brother) and Josh (Jim's brother) all came as well.

The beautiful table with 24 karat gold trim plates and crystal classes.  The traditional shrimp cocktail was served for the first course.

Preparation...Marianna and Bryn did a lot of work, thanks!!!

Jim watching football...he was quickly removed and put it the kitchen to help.

Hailey playing Hungry Hippos with her cousin Bryton.  She was great at keeping the little kids occupied.

Me enjoying some tapenade that I made along with my 44 oz. diet coke, so classy, I know.

Finally sitting down to dinner, this is the kids table.

Papa after dinner, he's not being grumpy, he had terrible back and shoulder pain.

Ty and Paige, both 5 years old and in Kindergarten. More like twins than cousins.

It was a fun weekend and nice to spend it with so much family.  Thanks Anneliese and Zach for hosting it at your house!