Family Family

Cousin Derian is now a teenager! I don't know how my brother and sister in-law feel but this makes me feel like time has zipped on by.

Do they look like they could be related?

Happy 13th Birthday Derian!

Cole and his home made AK-47

He said he started making this at school but only the rolled up paper as he said he didn't want to get into trouble with having a gun at school.  So he assembled the gun at home.

Cole also informed me that we are out of "kid" paper now.

Love the imagination Cole and Jo have.

Speaking of paper, here's a little more!

Santa and his reindeer!

Santa and his 21st century slay and flying animals.

Jo pulled all her stuffed animals out that have some sort of horn or antler.

On Billy Goat, On Unicorn, on Cow and a generic reindeer, 

On Giraffe, On Rudolf, On Jo!

The Family Bed is getting smaller!

Especially when we add Doug.

Doug is sleeping with the kids each night and enjoying himself.

I thought this was darn cute as Jo covered him up and he stayed all night.

Out for a walk with Jo and Doug after dinner and Jo was a little tired and apparently still hungry as she stated "I'm hungry" more than a few times.

I finally asked, "I hear your hungry, what would you like me to do about this".  Jo: "We could knock on someones door and ask them for food."

Dang she is too funny.

New Circus room at Bounce!

Trapeze, Cloud Swings and a Hoop are the new additions to her class.

Cole has been participating in Duck Baseball camps.  Conditioning Day.

Keeping the Little Man physical so he does not drive us or anyone else crazy with his extra energy!

First DANCE!

The kids had their very first dance.

Cole came home about  a week before the dance stating.

Cole: I have to go to the dance.

Mom: Why?

Cole: Because a girl asked me to go.

Mom: What does that mean?  Do we give her a ride?

Cole: (loudly) NO!

Mom: Are you to bring her a flower?

Cole: (Loud and embarrassed) NO MOM, Sheesh!

Mom: Well what does it mean that you were asked?

Cole: (shrug) That I have to go to the dance now.

(Whew, I like all those answers)

Thomas, Cole,  Simone & Jo

After the dance I hear this conversation.

Cole: Jo, why do girls walk around in packs, giggling and talking?

Jo: Because we are talking about boys.

Cole: Oh, we don't like it.

(Well at least that has not changed over the years)

New Family Member!

Well we finally did it!

Our meeting with 4 year old (Duke) at Greenhill.

(Oh, the cone of shame is due to a healing cut on his hind leg)

Though Duke is a good name we thought he should have a BS Family name.

Meet Doug!

 

A tour around the house and Cole took Doug out back and they both RAN!

Our lives have change, and so has Doug's!

Dec? No, November Wrap Up!

Remember Cole and his bass?

Yes, he takes it to school on the bus.

I asked the bus driver if taking it on and off the bus was an issue and she stated, "Cole is so determined to do this, it's not a problem."  And he is! Cole has not made it anyone else's job to help him as he wants to do this alone.  Thank goodness we have a nice bus driver!

Oma and I got a weekend away...What?

Yes, the kids went to Rachelle & Connie's for the weekend and we headed to the coast for some time alone.

Here is where we watched the Ducks loose their second game of the season.  GREAT SEATS!

We never did see the actual beach but what we did do: ordered room service, geocached, hit a great candy store, gambled (Oma likes Spanish black jack now), went to a movie theater for an R rated movie, read books and yea, I guess that was about it.  VERY relaxing time thank you very much.

Private First Class Conkey!

Thanksgiving this year was at our home as Andrew wanted to come.

He flew in on Thanksgiving day so instead of having turkey we had steak and some home made apple crisp (Thank you Gma Marie) and celebrated Andrew's 21st Birthday.

As you see, we like to do things high class around here and he blew out a match to make a wish.

Andrew has tons of family around this area so some stopped by for a visit.

Gma Burel, Peggy, Randy, Julie and Andrew

Thanksgiving Meal!

I think this is the way your suppose to pose with a cooked turkey right?

Small bird as we had a small family gathered.

Todd/Corri/Derian visited for the morning and left Derian for the day so she actually ate two Thanksgiving meals this year.  Lucky girl!

A little post meal wrestling.

The three were still no match for Andrew.

Homework?

Thank goodness Andrew was here to help us all understand how to work one of Derian's math problems.

Civil War!

Andrew and Cole went to the Duck/Beaver game and had a VERY good time!

Cole, Andrew, Julie & Randy

Julie/Randy are seasoned game goers so they came to give the boys a ride.

Fan Cam

Go Ducks took a high resolution photo all the way around the stadium.

This is where Andrew and Cole were sitting.

See them?

Ok, how about now?

Not yet?  I'll zoom in for you.

Now?

Ok, I can see them now!  You?

They weren't quite sitting yet but here they are!

All decked out in green like they should be for this game and smiling!

Great seats too, only 8 rows from the bottom.

(Note to self, take a dang full family photo when Andrew visits next time)

I think this is the only one of the two of us.

I hope he comes back again soon.

It was awesome to have Andrew here.

Love to you all and Happy Thanksgiving!

Jo - Circus Freak

November Family Time

Jo moved to an intermediate Circus Arts class which has her on the Silks more and she is loving this.

Left: she is doing her Bat Hang which she then had to do twenty sit ups.  (yes, while she hung there) Right: she is learning more difficult tricks as if the ones she has learned already were not tough enough.

Because we don't want simple instruments at our home....

Cole has started with a Strings group at school.  He had a choice of the Violin, Viola, Cello or Bass.

As you can see he chose the smallest instrument to play so he can carry it on and off the bus with ease.

When he told us what he wanted to play I held my hand high and said "You mean a BASS?"  He followed my question and adjusted my hand height and said "Yes, but they make them smaller for us".

Yes, SOOO much smaller Cole!

  

Walnuts anyone?

Nuts are dry and quite tasty.

Geocaching Hike.

This is how Cole likes to hike with us.

I wonder some times if he will ever start getting embarrassed to dress in full football gear to go out and about when it's not his "game time".  I hope not, as Oma and I sure enjoy their ...

Field of Dreams.