Jo’s Date with Mom!

One of Jo’s Christmas gifts Jo was two tickets to Annie at the Hult Center; from Trish, Mandy & Andrew. Wonderful is all I can say.Do I have to caption this photo? Mom doing Jo’s hair. I could have shown the photo Oma took that included the whole me but this is all about Jo and besides my hair was not done yet either.

Here we are, ready for our
lunch date and musical!



Are we looking “HOT” or what?











Lunch

We had planned on going to sushi but the restaurant did not open until 2pm. (Bad Mom for not checking this before) so we ate at the 6th Street Grill.

One-on-one attention was good as you can see by this photo, I’m sure my face was about the same.

Art Show
After finishing lunch we walked through the art gallery and we learned how to point without touching and critiqued the art that we could not quite figure out.

Quite a bit of the art was still life and the pomegranate painting was her favorite.

Waiting to enter the theater.
She wanted to walk on every floor, looking at all the art on the walls and statues that were around.

I asked her if she would stand next to the Annie sign for a photo and her comment was “Fine, is this the last one?”

No, this is the last one.

We had a very nice afternoon, though I figured out when the lights went down that my girl was running a fever. She was a trouper not wanting to leave, clapping and laughing at most of the correct moments.

When we left she asked if Cole could come next time because she thought he would have really enjoyed the play too. (One of those teary eyed moments for mom…oh, the love) I said yes, we would work on doing this again as a whole family.

The Date was just delightful. Another date with Jo will certainly happen again in the future.
Merry Christmas to Us, and THANK YOU Trimand!

January Stuff

Back in the Pool
Once in a while I notice how big the kids are getting and these shots make me think, wow, they are growing up.

Cole is in the final stage of swim class called Park Sharks. He is doing great and loves being in the water, although I think he would rather jump off the diving board and do tricks rather than actually swim.

Jo started Pre-Swim Club so she gets to swim in the lap pool. She will, however, tell you that she likes the warm pool better. She’s swimming ten or more laps each class and not only is she getting stronger but her endurance is improving as well.

Jo’s class did a small race holding kick boards so they could only use their legs. She managed a first place twice. The girl has a very strong kick. They also did a couple freestyle races where she forgets to kick while using her arms and then will use her legs and forget her arms. It will all come together at some point. (The pressure of racing I guess.)

GEOCACHINGWe are getting out once in a while searching high and low for more boxes of treasures. This one was hidden well, and because of the weather was quite muddy, but the hike to and from was quite fun.

Oma’s Number One!

Oma got into a fight with a can of green beans and lost. I sort of called her a wimp (ok, not sort of I just did) when she said she was going to go to the doctors to see if she needed stitches. When she came home with two I had to apologize for calling her whimpy. Sheesh…(I would have just bandaged it up and toughed it out…I still say wimp, but don’t tell her)

Basketball Trophy

This would be his first participation trophy ever and he is very proud. Basketball has been over for quite some time but with the holidays and schedules the party was a little delayed. It was good to see all the families again and the boys had a good time playing before their awards were given.

(He made me take a photo of him kissing his trophy but told me I was not allowed to post that photo. He said nothing about sharing that story though. The photo turned out cute)

Lunch Visit

Oma brought the kids out to my work on Monday for lunch and some visiting. Nice to have them hang with me outside of our home.

I walked out of my office at one point and found Cole was on the exam chair having his knee looked at by Mary. Oh my! I’m not sure who told Mary that his knee was sore but he was examined and all cleared and had a fun ride on the chair.

Art
I have been doing some artwork on the computer lately, which inspired the kids to paint a little over the weekend. Cole created two paintings, one for Oma and one for Mom.

This one is for MomCole: Here mom, this one is artsy because that is what you do.

This one is for OmaCole: This is a picture of Oma, she is mopping, because its what she does best.

HA HA…I am still laughing!

Tina, the Working Woman…HaHa!

Now that you have picked yourself up off the floor and are back to reading this… yes, it’s true. Something new for me (and not the working part either) but the type of job itself.I know, you’re asking yourself (and some of you probably out loud) what qualifications do you have to work at a Clinic? Hey, I can stick you with a needle with the best of them.
Ok, that’s not the job I have.My work station; and I am working. Really…I am working. Right then when the photo was taken. I WAS TOO!

I gave myself the title of Administrative Assistant or Add. Ass.
for short, though Jayne thought “Jayne’s Little Helper” was a perfect title. I thought the “little” part was misleading.
Jill calls me a “Billing Technician.”

Say Cheese!Dana Medical Assistant, Tina, Jayne holding Carly, Mary-FNP holding Luke, Cathy and Beth.

They all made me feel right at home and now it feels like I have been working there for years. It’s a family feel and I fit. ;O)

Jayne is training me and though this is all (I mean “all” as in everything I am doing…EVERYTHING) new to me she’s a
very patient teacher and says I’m doing well.She doesn’t see me banging my head against the computer screen wanting more to sink in than already has.

I leave this post saying Goodbye to Dana. She pouts when I leave work each day. Though I think she is totally awesome she made me feel old the day she asked if I would be her “Cool Aunt”. She said that Mary and Jayne are like her Cool Mom’s and then of course she has a real mom so could I be her Cool Aunt? Cool Aunt? Cool AUNT?! What the?….My gosh I have gotten older! Why not Cool older Sister or Cool Friend! Cool aunt…sheesh…Better than the Cranky Aunt I guess. So I’ll take it, Dana, and thanks for thinking of me as at least Cool and you even want me related some how.

Now you can understand why some of our blog posts were a little
later popping up than they used too. Back to the real world
of the working people.
I like it.

Family Christmas – Happy New Year

Christmas morning
and our tree.

Santa left everyone toe socks in their stockings.Oma and Cole are shown here.

Our eyes are puffy but we
are awake.

New robes, warm and fuzzy.

Jo trying out her new Hannah Montana light up drawing table. She draws just about every day now so this gift was a hit.

Cole practicing on his Rip Stick-G that Santa left him.

Two wheels seems tough but he does well along with the other boys on the block. Rip Sticks were a hot item from Santa this year.

We made our trip to Gma Marie and Gpa Norman’s for the afternoon meal and gift exchange. Once again I forgot to snap a photo or two. GREAT dinner and always a nice visit with family.

We then met up with the Ruiz Clan (Jill’s sister and family) at the Woodburn Outlet Mall for some lunch and exchanging gifts. Who knew there would be sales of 50% - 70% with another 40% off of the lowest prices? DANG IT! We didn’t spend too much but couldn’t resist the sales. Oh yeah, the gift exchange and hanging out with the family was great too.The gift from Gpa Dave and all the family and friends who drank Coke and sent him points was a telescope that we had to put together that evening and brave the 24 degree temperature to take a peak at the moon and a star or two! We will enjoy this gift for years to come as well as all the others.

Happy New Year!
Our New year’s eve was spent with Rachelle and Connie.

The kids were going to stay up to cheer the New Year
but Jo just couldn’t make it.She did try though.
Cole and Oma made it!No surprise for Cole, he is quite the night owl and made it longer than Oma too.

Our New Years Toast and Smoke!Renee, Mom, Rachelle, Connie, Janis and Andy.

(Don’t show our kids this shot, they will ask why I want to die early)

Jo woke early and happy! More happy to take Dasher for her walk with Connie. The country sure
fits this girl,
she is outside more here than any other place we go.






Hope your Christmas was Wonderful and your New Year will be even better than the last.
Love The BS Family

UPDATE to Christmas Eve.

I'm going to try and catch up on our posts over the next few days, I hope. More on this delay later.
SWIMMING JO!
Jo passed her last swim class and moves into Pre-Swim Team. We are very proud of her and we see she is proud of herself as well! Pre-Swim Team will teach competitive swimming in a non-competitive atmosphere while working on her strokes and endurance. She is excited to be in the pool three times a week for 45 min instead of twice a week for 30 min.
WhoooT!

Snow….SnoW…SNOW
Ok, we got quite a bit of snow but not near the amount as family and friends to our North. Jo, along with some neighbor kids walked down to our park, which has a small hill to see if they could get in some sledding.
Jo had a ball!

Falling over at the bottom was a highlight for her and always made her laugh.

Sleeping? Yes, she knelt down next to Oma and talked to her for a few, then crashed right there! Guess all the sledding wore her out.

Gingerbread BakingWho said they should always be men?
(they were yummy too)

Turkey DinnerMom was missing out on turkey leftovers so we cooked up a turkey dinner, had a couple friends over and ate like it was Thanksgiving all over again. The kids wanted the legs (who didn’t as a kid?) Eating with your hands, ripping the meat off the bone…LOVE IT!

CHRISTMAS EVE!We had Christmas Eve dinner with our neighbors again and like always we had fun. Most of you know Francis and Dale (right) from past posts here. We love them and always enjoy spending time with them. Kristy (left) is their daughter who spent the holiday with them. Old Jim (left) is just a hoot! He pretended to break a spoon while at dinner, I was horrified that he would do this and Oma thought, “Boy, Jim, you have a lot of guts!” He didn’t really break it but had both of us thinking he did. Said it before: We love our neighbors.

After dinner and the kids were ready for bed (yeah, right…Christmas eve…like they were ready for sleeping) they opened the gifts that they got for each other. Seems like this has become a tradition in our house.


Cole took no time at all to get his jeep out and raced it around the house. Only hitting ankles a few times…only a few.


Jo’s gift was a little more work and watching her pretend being a scientist was fun. We of course did something wrong at some point because no crystals formed. Work in progress; after all the light bulb did not light the first time either.

I will leave this post with a breakfast conversation from our home.
Jo: Cole, what would you do if my face was on fire?
Cole: I would sit on your face and fart because a wet fart would put the fire out.
Jo: (looking up and pondering this for a moment) Mom? Would a wet fart put out a face fire?
Mom: Well, the wetness would put the fire out but not the gas part.