An apple a day . . .

5/27/2010 Planting the garden

2011-01-11T21:09:00.000-08:00

Thursday
Today we planted part of our square foot garden. We did yummy vegetables like: broccoli, corn, cabbage, cucumbers, onions, etc. Now cross your fingers that they live. I started my garden to late to start the veggies by seeds, so I bought the plants at a nearby veggie store. (Mainly my goal for this year, is to hopefully not kill everything off. Then my goal for next year, is to get more of a harvest.)

Cea pulling the first load to the garden

Casper with the second load

Everything is here for mom to plant

Casper waters

Cea helps Casper

Cea's turn to water all by herself

I do the finishing touches

Here is the partially planted garden.

Playing in Dad's new boat

A new worm for the garden

5/26/2010 Eagles Concert

2011-01-11T21:04:00.000-08:00

Wednesday
Bryan and I went to an Eagles concert. The concert was supposed to be on a Thursday, but one of the band members was sick, so they canceled and rescheduled for a Wednesday. It was a lot of fun. The music was great. (The girl behind us who screamed and screamed was not so great.--we did like it when her voice gave out the second half!) However, we still think the Bob Seger concert was the best out of all the concerts we have attended.

5/21/2010 - 5/23/2010 Staley Wedding in Maine

2010-10-25T21:37:00.000-07:00

Friday-Sunday
Bryan's friend from the Navy, Jason, invited us to his wedding in Maine. (He was the best man for our wedding.) We decided to make it a get away time for us, and so we decided not to take the kids with us. Instead, Casper and Mircea would spend the weekend with Uncle Steven and Aunt Candy. Our itinerary was very simple: Friday--do a bit of sightseeing and hopefully see Jason and a couple other of Bry's old Navy friends. Saturday--Wedding. Sunday--Sunday Morning meeting, lunch with the meeting, and then off to the airport.

Friday
We arrived In Maine. After dropping our stuff off at the hotel, we went into town (Portland, Maine) and walked around a bit and had lunch.

Our Lunch Stop

Off to go see Fort Williams Park It had a light house and remnants of an old base. It was first purchased in 1872 when they began building the Post. It was fully manned for WWI and WWII. The Fort was closed in 1962 and bought 2 years later by the Town of Cape Elizabeth.
We had a beautiful sunny day, and it was nice to get out after being cramped in an airplane.

a Tugboat and a barge

Bryan with something in his mouth

Fort Gorges on Hog Island Ledge
The government decided to build this Fort after the War of 1812. However, they did not start building until 1857. The Fort was completed in 1865, just as the Civil War was ending--but it was already obsolete do to better ways to blow things up. They started to modernize it in 1869, but lost funding in 1876 causing the Fort to never be completed. The Fort was last used in WWII to store submarine mines.
I thought it was awesome, and wished we could see what it was like on that little "island"

This is called house island. It is thought to have the oldest European house in Casco Bay. People would refer to it as "the island with the old house on it"--hence the name. The government built Fort Scammel on it in 1808 and a quarantine station later on on the other side of the island. Neither were used much.

These rocks were so cool! We brought some home for Mircea for her "collection".

Bry served in the Navy with these guys: L to R Jason, Bryan, "Ritchie", and Dan.
The stories they had were fun! It was also good to hear what they all have been up to since they left the Navy (Jason is the only one back in the Navy--as an Officer now).

Saturday Wedding Day
The wedding was beautiful. The ceremony was the shortest I have ever seen--but it got the job done, and really, it was just perfect. Jason's bride, Lauren, did a wonderful job planning the day. Everything was gorgeous!

The Lodge the wedding was hosted at

a nervous groom waiting for his bride

Here comes the bride!

A welcome to the marriage

"With this ring, I thee wed!"

You are now married

Kiss your bride

Here are the Mr. and Mrs.!

The first dance as husband and wife

This end of the table hosted Jason's friends, and thankfully his mother who kept them all in check! We had great seats here to see everything from the dancing, cake cutting, toasts, etc.

Jason dancing with his Mom.

Bryan, Jason, "Ritchie", and Dan. They all clean up nicely!

Jason's good friend he made as an officer, James, mixes well with the group

The S'mores were a great idea!

The couple left with sparklers flaring around them!

Congratulations Jason and Lauren!

Sunday
We were lucky, as the 2 ministers for this area were in the little Sunday meeting we attended. What made it more exciting is I have known Anneliese for a long time, it was great to see her!

Meeting, lunch and visiting were great! We had such a lovely time today! It was so neat to meet everyone and finally hear a Maine accent! We felt so welcome! And it was great to find out how many people we knew in common!

Now, just waiting for our plane to load. . .

It was a fun trip. Congratulations to Jason and Lauren!

5/20/2010 Enjoying my kids

2010-10-25T21:32:00.000-07:00

5/18/2010 Casper gets into. . .

2010-10-25T21:30:00.001-07:00

Tuesday
I walked down the hallway, and happened to glance into the main bathroom to find this:

Clean up will take place after pictures are taken. . .

kids can be so cute while they cause trouble!

5/17/2010 squeaky clean

2010-10-25T21:29:00.000-07:00

Monday

5/15/2010 -5/16/2010 Dewey and the garden

2010-10-25T21:28:00.001-07:00

Saturday and Sunday

Dewey has come to visit. So just like all the other times. . . we put him to work! This weekend his job was to build me a garden. A square foot garden to be exact. This meant taking out some sod, and building the garden, adding the special dirt, etc. Thank goodness Dewey had a lot of help from Mircea and Casper; otherwise the job might have never gotten done!

Boy, Dewey, that sure looks heavy. . .

Here, little Dude will give you a hand. . .

What a helper you are Dewey. . . I mean Dude!

And with some more help from Mircea. . .

Dude pushes the wheel barrel over to the other side of the yard to be unloaded.
(At least it looks like Dude did the pushing.)

Mircea finds a nice worm to feed our fish Jack.

She also does her fair share of moving the grass.

A little break on the swing is nice.

Tossing everything in for the last load.

Unloading. . .

Making the ground level. . .

Working just as hard in the sandbox.

Mircea finally gets out of her pj's into play clothes.

Look!! My garden is almost done!
Thank you Dewey!

Dude is carrying a dried up old basil plant, that he tended to "unplant" up on our deck. I had "replanted" it many times, but I guess he finally tossed it off the deck.
He just found it now.

Our strawberry patch, rhubarb and potatoes
The kids love to run to the strawberry patch hoping for strawberries

Mircea got to plant a zucchini seed at Mosby Farms.
It grew in the house and now we are planting it outside in a special spot just for her.

Daddy helps her get it out of it's little pot.

It is Sunday, and time for Dewey to go!
We will miss you Dewey!
Come back home soon!

Bryan gives him a push, and he is on his way, with a bunch of stuff from our garage!
Enjoy the record player!
Drive carefully!

5/14/2010 Mircea is fancy

2010-10-25T21:26:00.000-07:00

Friday

5/13/2010 Casper on the trampoline

2010-10-25T21:25:00.000-07:00

5/12/2010 Mircea and Austin

2010-10-25T21:23:00.000-07:00

Wednesday
Mircea and Austin are great friends, I thought I should have a picture of them together on the blog. They both enjoy playing together at music class. It is fun to watch my kids play with kids whose parents I grew up with.

5/9/2010 Mother's day at the zoo

2010-10-25T21:16:00.000-07:00

Sunday
We met my folk's for lunch at the Ram--Happy Mother's Day, Mom!
My mom and I had a very enjoyable Mother's Day lunch with Dad, Bryan, Mircea and Casper. Then we headed off to the Woodland Park Zoo for the rest of the day. The rest of the SUNNY day, I might add!
So many animals to see! It was exciting to sign the animals to Casper, and watch him sign them back. Mircea was full of energy and fun, and looked especially cute with her new sunglasses from Grandma. I must say it was a wonderful mother's day, and I am very happy with my lot in life!--I have a wonderful husband and 2 fantastic kids!

Casper, Papa and Mircea

Typical: One kid is being held so the other one needs to be also!

The 2 mother's!

Bryan, Porsche, Mircea, Grandma, Papa, Casper

Thanks for a fun lunch!

Now, Off to the zoo. . . .

Cea likes to climb anything and everything. Her favorite thing to climb is trees.

Watching for penguins

Such a cutie in his Sunday clothes and new sun hat

Look Dad!

Mircea ran over to the sign so she could read it!
The fact she cannot read yet doesn't seem to matter! :)

Thanks for your help pushing the stroller Casper.

This play area at the zoo was fabulous!
It was perfect for the kids to run around and blow off steam.

They were fighting. It was interesting.

What an adorable turtle!

We got to try out every drinking fountain!

The kids really enjoyed seeing the monkey so close!

Mircea and Porsche
We had a lot of fun today!

5/6/2010 eating lunch

2010-10-25T21:15:00.001-07:00

Thursday
It is fun to see the kids having fun together.

5/8/2010 Professional pictures

2010-10-25T21:03:00.000-07:00

Saturday
It is that time of year where I get "professional" pictures of the kids. So we popped over to Sears, and had them take some photo's.
Mircea and Casper are wearing sailor outfits that our wonderful Elder's wife, June, made for them.

Mircea 4 years old

Casper 1 1/2 years old

This is the one we hung on our wall

5/1/2010 Papa's Birthday with a bike ride

2010-10-25T20:17:00.000-07:00

Saturday
Happy Birthday Papa!
It wouldn't be a proper birthday without a bike ride, so all the grand kids showed up with wheels. Papa has definitely brainwashed I mean influenced his grand kids into thinking that bicycles and bike rides are the greatest things in the world. All of them are looking forward to doing the STP together and the kids don't even know what STP means! grin!

This is Papa.

He is babysitting in this picture, making sure the kids stay out of the road, etc.
This also explains why he can only charge 35 cents an hour for babysitting--
you get what you pay for!

Everyone is ready for the big ride. . . .

around the block

Thanks Grandma for having everyone over for a party and bike ride!

And they are off. . .

Down to the stop sign, where they are VERY responsible and STOP like it tells them.

From youngest of grand kids to the oldest, they are all excited about the ride.

Mircea tries out a bicycle for the first time.

Joe and Mircea go for a spin.

A rest stop halfway around the block. (Papa got tired!)

Bryan tried out a tricycle and got stuck, much to the amusement of everyone.
I almost had to go home to get his jeep so we could pull him out.

Dude tries out a bicycle. He was very disappointed that his feet couldn't touch the pedals.

Hey dad, remember that quote. . . "if you aren't the lead dog, the view never changes!"

Mircea can go pretty fast on her trike!

It starts out with an idea to pull someone on a scooter with a bungee cord. . .

It escalates to a longer rope . . .

And sooner than you can say, "make sure Grandma doesn't see you doing that!,"
they have you hooked up to a bicycle and cruising down the road.

A happy family

Coming back from another ride around the block. Mircea still beats Grandpa home!

Monkey see. . .

Monkey do!

The following are some videos I enjoyed of the day. . .

4/27/2010 Banana pops

2010-10-25T20:12:00.000-07:00

Tuesday
I made chocolate covered banana pops today. While they may not look appealing, they are yummy!

Mircea thought they were "deee-wicious!"

Bryan didn't say much, but he ate 2!

The picture says it all

Such a silly girl!

4/17/2010 Mariner's game

2010-10-25T19:53:00.000-07:00

Saturday
It was a bit cold today but we were all excited a ready for the start of the baseball season. We have season tickets again.

Mircea enjoys her pizza

Casper enjoys the shared lemonade

He is now at an age where he will watch the game and cheer!

I like the pink backpacks the rookie pitchers have to carry

Casper has other things to do to keep himself entertained during the game as well.

Go Mariners!

4/4/2010 Mircea does her own hair

2010-10-25T19:49:00.000-07:00

Sunday
Mircea came to the table to eat quite eager to show off her new fancy hairdo.
Good Job, Cea!

3/23/2010 A special surprise visit from Eric

2010-10-25T19:35:00.000-07:00

Tuesday
Today was a nice day outside, so it was good to get out and play a bit. But the highlight of the day was a visit from Bryan's old college friend Eric. He was on a business trip to Safeco field calibrating the giant video board, and so he called to see if we could hang out. We went out to dinner and caught up a bit on each others lives post college. We used to hang out a bit with him and his wife Janelle--dinner and card playing. It was fun to see pictures of their 3 kids and learn a bit about their life in S Dakota. We miss them!

Ahhh! So nice to be out and feel a bit of sun!

Cea felt Casper and I should get our pictures taken too!

Eric with our little family

Eric is missing his arm. (He lost it when he was a little kid.) He and Bryan used to joke that as lab partners they had one good set of hands between the 2 of them. Mircea and Casper really enjoy getting their arms stuck in their sleeve now; as Mircea will then shout, "look at me, I'm Eric!"

The 2 smartest guys in the Electronics Engineering Program.
It has been 5 years since they graduated.

3/12/2010 A Sing for Oren

2010-10-25T19:25:00.000-07:00

Friday
Tonight we had a sing for Oren at his care home. It is so humbling to visit him. Here we come to visit and encourage him, and leave feeling that he was the one who encouraged us. The evening is as follows: we visit a bit until everyone shows up, and then we sing hymns. It is so sweet to see how much Oren loves Mildred, and her love for him in return. Mircea and Casper really love Oren and Mildred. Oren is in a wheel chair and Mildred uses a walker. Many times Cea and Casper have played "Oren and Mildred". They will use a doll stroller for a wheel chair and a stool as their walker, and then they will sing hymns! One aspect of our fellowship that I love is this relationship of little children and elderly people. Mircea gets concerned about Oren and how he is doing, and if she doesn't see Mildred then she is worried about Mildred.

Mildred, Mircea and Oren. Mircea dressed up special just for Oren!

A group of us who sang (not everyone made it in the picture)

3/8/2010 Grandma's Birthday Party

2010-10-25T17:24:00.000-07:00

Monday
My mom's birthday is actually March 10th, but it worked out to have a party for her today. It wasn't a surprise party, as she knew she was invited! But mom did not know that the party would be a miniature tea party! It was one of her favorite birthday's ever! It was a lot of fun! Happy Birthday Mom! Happy Birthday Grandma!

Beth hosted the event.
The table was set with mini tea sets, and kids play kitchen dishes.
The food: star sandwiches, mini jello's, heart shaped ham and cheese slices, mini veggies and dip, mini fruit kabobs (on a toothpick), hard boiled egg slices, mini candies, and of course--Tea (with sugar to add).
For dessert were mini cupcakes, with mini m&m flower decorations and mini donuts

Mircea with her Birthday Grandma!

Casper, Porsche, Grandma, Beth, Danny, Joe, Mircea

The Birthday Grandma!

Getting ready for a fancy tea party!

Sipping tea like a proper young lady!

dessert

This video cracks me up. 3 happy kids singing, and suddenly Mircea has a meltdown because she can't blow out the candle, and she abruptly disappears from view.
Can you say "drama queen!?!"

Another opportunity to blowing out the candle

Grandma with her grand kids

Casper did all the work cleaning up, while everyone else partied.

Marge, Grandma, Mircea, Joe, Elaine

A tea party isn't complete without a good sword fight at the end!
It kind of looks like princess Leia and Luke Skywalker sparring.

3/2/2010 Brushing teeth

2010-10-25T17:20:00.000-07:00

Tuesday
This is just too cute! My big little boy!

2/27/2010 Birthday present from Steven and Candy

2010-10-25T17:15:00.000-07:00

Saturday
Steven and Candy came over to visit, and arrived with a birthday present for Mircea!

Thanks for the tutu and bow! . . .

I love them!

2/26/2010 Friday Happy Anniversary Oren and Mildred

2010-10-25T17:06:00.000-07:00

Oren and Mildred are 2 very special people in our Sunday meeting--The kids just love them. It is their anniversary and so the kids drew them some pictures to send to Oren in the care home.

2/20/2010 A Date with Sara

2010-10-25T16:41:00.001-07:00

Saturday
My "Old" college friend had a layover in Seattle, so we all got to hang out together. Besides eating, we went out for a "friendly" game of miniature golf. We are always glad when Sara is able to make time to see us! We can't wait for her next layover!

3 fierce competitors! Sara, Cea, Bryan (or is Bryan just Casper's "Caddy"?)

Sara shows off her form

Quiet Please!! I am trying to concentrate! :)

Going for the hole in one

Cea did a great job! But I think we need to work on her counting a bit more!--she would count how many times she hit the ball, and then give us a different number for the card.

Sara, Bryan (with Casper peeking), and Porsche

we are all still friends after our "friendly" match

The score card--ummmm Sara could use some more practice!

Getting a kiss from a very well behaved and patient little boy!

Looks like he had fun from his point of view!

Good bye Sara! Have a good flight! Please come back soon!!!!

2/15/2010 Mircea is 4 years old!

2010-09-07T20:06:00.000-07:00

Monday
Today is Mircea's birthday! I can't believe she is already 4! Of course she is disappointed that she is not 5, as she really really really really really really really wants to go to school!

We invited the neighbor girls over after lunch for cake--and this was when we ate the princess cupcakes. It was fun to have them over to play!

Tonight we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house, as they had Mircea's birthday present for her. Mircea finally got the scooter she wanted--as cousin Samantha and cousin Joe both have scooters!

A little cupcake party with our neighbors: Sarah, Noel, and Hannah.

Casper liked the frosting

Singing and blowing out the candles are some of Cea's favorite birthday things to do!

If it is big, it has to be good!

Opening the gift--who is more excited? Cea or Casper?!

Making the "loop"--down the hallway and back through the kitchen.

Casper gets to try it out

Writing with water--look closely and you can see a C E A

2/14/2010 Mircea's Birthday Cupcakes

2010-09-07T19:45:00.000-07:00

Sunday
Today we made Mircea's birthday cupcakes. Last year I made her a really pretty princess cake--she asked that I make one for this year as well. However, I decided that we would do cupcakes that she could decorate instead. Then, I thought--why not use her polly pockets, and make mini princess cakes?!?!?! So we did. . .
And. . . now that the cupcakes are made, we need a party. . . so we had Grandpa come over for dinner, and then the Young's joined us for cake and presents. It was a fun evening.

Mircea decorated the regular cupcakes
and then did a taste test to make sure they were okay. . . and they were!

So I tried 3 different "bottoms": Snow White's bottom was made in a pampered chef prep bowl, Blondie's was 2 smaller cupcakes stacked, and the 3rd (little mermaid) was a big cupcake (i overfilled the tin).

Snow White has been completed.

All 3 girls are decorated.
Now all we need is a cupcake for the candles

Ta Da!

I am quite proud. Mircea helped shake on the sprinkles, decided the colors, etc.
We had putting these together.

Here is the birthday girl!

She is quite happy with the end result.

Bryan is in the back cutting up the pizza.

Papa is here for dinner!

Presents--Mircea loves her Polly Pockets! Thank you Young Family!

Marina and Dakota help little dude open his present--a laughing Elmo--an instant hit!
Thanks for thinking of him!

Well, at the last moment, we decided not to eat the princesses tonight--
and you will find out in the next post why!

2/13/2010 Mircea's Birthday Ballet

2010-08-01T17:48:00.001-07:00

Saturday

For Mircea's 4th birthday we told her we would take her to the "Sleeping Beauty" Ballet in Seattle. We told her this over a month before her birthday. She was so excited, she would tell everyone she would see that she was going to the Ballet when she turns 4!
It was a special evening of just Daddy, Mommy and Mircea. We went out to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory, and sat in the train. Then we arrived at the ballet. Mircea picked out her fancy dress for the event, and brought her hippo ballerina from her cousins Joe and Danny.
It was a very long ballet. Her favorite part was "the kiss". She kept asking when are they going to kiss? She loved the dancing, and the outfits. During the (I believe it was) 3 intermissions, she would dance out on the foyer. Everyone was enchanted by her. One of the ushers showed her some ballet, and danced with her. It was wonderful! She was enamored by it all, and everyone was so impressed to see this pretty little girl behave so fantastic at her first ballet.

2/7/2010 A case of Whodunnit?!

2010-08-01T17:42:00.000-07:00

Sunday

Well, Mircea says Casper did it. . . and well, Casper doesn't say anything at all. . . but given the location of the drawing. . . . . . . . . . . I believe it was Colonol Mustard in the Billiards Room with the Candlestick!

2/5/2010 Donating a Truck

2010-08-01T17:39:00.000-07:00

Friday
We have had a pickup truck sitting in our driveway for a while now (and it doesn't drive). We decided to donate the truck, and today they picked it up! Cea and Casper really enjoyed watching the tow truck. I enjoyed seeing our driveway empty!

2/1/2010 Artwork together

2010-08-01T17:33:00.000-07:00

Monday
It was fun to see the kids play so well today! As Casper grows they are able to do more and more the same things. They definitely had fun drawing pictures together!--(when they weren't arguing over the same crayon, or crossing "the line" with their feet-grin!)

1/30/2010 At home

2010-07-15T22:44:00.001-07:00

Saturday

Cea gets to play with her lite brite while Casper takes a nap

Cea and Me

A special privilege--a movie in bed!

1/29/2010 Casper and the green marker

2010-07-15T22:33:00.000-07:00

Friday

You know the book series "Harold and the Purple Crayon"?
Well, this is nothing like that book!
Needless to say, Sunday Casper still had a green tint when we headed out for meeting.

Anyway, today was actually the day Bryan and I celebrated our birthdays. We left the kids with Sean and Carol (Thank you!) and we went out to dinner at El Gaucho's. We were dressed up nice, so we should have taken a picture--bummer. Anyway, it was a delicious dinner. However, we decided that since we get our beef from Nebraska, (and it is amazing beef), that really steak restaurants don't impress us so much--we can do just as good at home! I can't decide if my favorite was the banana's foster, or the cheese/fruit/nut platter that night.

Happy Birthday to us! I am 33 and Bryan is 32. We have a 1 year and 16 day age difference.

1/25/2010 Spaghetti

2010-07-15T22:30:00.001-07:00

Monday dinner

Mircea is our clean eater.
This is actually pretty messy for her--nothing on her clothes just a bit around her mouth.

Let's just say that Casper is different from Mircea! :)

1/23/2010 Sledding with Daddy and Uncle Dewey

2010-07-15T22:25:00.000-07:00

Saturday
Mircea, Bryan, Uncle Dewey and a friend of Dewey's went sledding.
You can tell it was fun! Cea still isn't all that fond of going fast though! You may note that Cea and Dewey have the same brand of hat.

1/19/2010 Casper in pink Cowgirl boots

2010-07-15T22:22:00.000-07:00

Tuesday

Looks like we need to get him a pair of his own!
For some reason he doesn't have an pink outfits that they would match!

1/16/2010 Cea playing with Grumpy and Daka

2010-07-15T22:17:00.000-07:00

Saturday evening

I have 2 stuffed muppets--the 2 old critics. Mircea started using them as her babies when she plays meeting. She named them after her grandparents: Grumpy and Daka. (really, it is a compliment! really!)

1/14/2010 Take our picture, Mom!

2010-07-15T22:14:00.000-07:00

Thursday

1/13/2010 A normal day at home

2010-07-15T22:07:00.000-07:00

Wednesday

So Casper found a hat that he really liked! snicker!

So cute to wear your sisters panties on your head!

Cea feeding Grumpy while playing meeting!

Cea working on her numbers while Casper snacks on grapes

1/12/2010 It looked worse before I picked some of it up

2010-07-15T22:02:00.001-07:00

Tuesday

I guess Casper decided I didn't have enough to do today. While I took my shower, he managed to pull out all our art supplies, and preschool project bags and dump them on the ground. I was NOT happy. He hid under the table while I cleaned it up, cuz I kept glaring at him. Then we hugged when it was all done.
Unfortunately, the picture was taken after I had cleaned a bunch of it up. But I think it portrays a pretty accurate picture of a total pile of a mess! (To top it off, a lot of the art pieces were small items like beady eyes, etc.--so it was a lot of picking up and sorting!)

1/11/2010 & 1/16/2010 Cousins come to visit

2010-07-15T21:29:00.000-07:00

Monday 1/11
My cousin Tricia came to visit with her family, as her husband attended some job interviews in the area. Since Tricia, my sisters, and I are all stay at home mom's (each with 2 kids) we decided Monday would be a great day to get together at my house and hang out. So we did.

The art project--we decorated door hanger things.

Keelin feeds our fish

Everyone playing in Mircea's room
The mom's chatted in the living room.

Saturday 1/16
Today, my mom had everyone over at her house for Lunch. This meant the dad's were along this time, as well as cousin Lester.

A yummy lunch of Lasagna, garlic bread, salad, and fruit

The kids eat in the kitchen.

Playing outside. Everyone got WAY dirty! It was a blast!

Uncle Bryan played just as hard as the kids did! They all loved him!

Bryan developed a growth on his leg

Isn't it cute!?

Keelin and Casper

Mircea wasn't feeling especially well, and so she went up and took a nap

The cousins--

well 2nd cousins, or twice removed cousins, or whatever you want to call them!
BackRow: Joe, Eli, Mircea, Samantha, Keelin
Front row sitting on the couch cushion: Danny, Casper, Alex

We asked the 2 blonde cousins who are pretty close in age to sit together,
and this is their response. So typical of kids! sigh

But we did get some smiles

Casper only had a somewhat clean t-shirt to wear after playing in the dirt!

Bryan shows us that real men can wear pink?????????

Grandpa making Danny and Casper giggle as he tickles them and pinches their noses!

Lester and Bryan. (Bryan is standing on his tiptoes!)

Getting ready to go home. Grandma and Cea play "stacking hands"

12/31/2009-1/1/2010 New years EVE

2010-06-24T15:39:00.001-07:00

12/31/2009
We went shopping at Cabela's. I needed some hiking boots. The kids were great in the store! It was a fun afternoon and we soon lost track of the time. . . until the store stated they were closing and we realized that we were supposed to be at Sean and Carol Y's and we weren't there, and we hadn't made our part of the food for the party. So we did a quick stop at the grocery store and then had a fun evening to welcome the New Year and to celebrate Sean's birthday.

While mom tries on shoes, Mircea and Casper eat raisins.

Cheese

Dakota and Mircea are playing with their hamster rodent thing.

I wish I had gotten a longer video--but the video is a short clip of Mircea and Dakota. They formed a band. Dakota was the lead guitar and Mircea was the lead singer. It was quite cute! They play great together!

Casper was their groupie!

Mircea enjoyed playing dress-up with their dress-up clothes

I bought a gingerbread man cookie kit, for all the kids to decorate a cookie.

Mircea and her cookie

Sean's birthday cake--it was delicious.
He was also kind enough to let Mircea blow out his candle!
Happy Birthday, Sean!

12/29/2009 Bryan and Porsche go snowshoeing without snow

2010-06-24T15:38:00.000-07:00

Tuesday
We found a baby sitter for our kids, and had the plan to go snowshoeing again. Unfortunately, there was no snow (well, little snow) where we wanted to go. However, as it was a nice day, we decided that we would hike instead of snowshoe. So, while it was a bummer that we couldn't use our equipment, it was a fun day. The trail itself was covered in many places with fallen trees, etc, so that made life a bit exciting trying to climb across.

The start of the trail.
Bryan just bought the sled, and created his own harness to make it into a pulk.
He decided to pull all our stuff, just in case we ran into snow.

Pulling the pulk without any snow

This fallen tree we could climb under.
I wasn't such a fan of those we had to crawl over, as it was slippery.

Lunch time

A pretty waterfall close to where we ate

Crossing a "bridge" finally seeing some snow
I had already bailed, as I couldn't get across some blown down trees.
(The pulk stayed with me.)

The end of the trail.

Bryan at the lake

12/25/2009 Christmas Day Sledding

2010-06-15T15:34:00.000-07:00

Friday Christmas Day.

Bryan and Mircea head out to go sledding. Wish Casper and I could have gone with them! However, once they got to the sledding area, Mircea didn't really want to sled, so they went hiking instead.

Ready for sledding

PB&J the perfect sandwich after all that work!

12/24/2009 Christmas Eve at Grandma's (and Grandpa's)

2010-06-15T15:12:00.000-07:00

Thursday
Today we celebrated "Christmas" at Grandma and Grandpa's house.
This was the group: Grandma, Grandpa, Lucille, Allan, Beaner, Steve, Ginny, Samantha, Alex, Troy, Beth, Joe, Danny, and us. The plans included dinner and "fishing" for some small presents.

First we went to McDonald's for a little playtime

Nice hair Mircea

Time for presents. Papa has his camera ready.

The crew in front of the fishing curtain:

Mircea, Casper, Bryan, Samantha, Joe, Troy, Danny, Steve, (and Alex)

Beaner and Allan are in charge of attaching the presents

Casper fishing with his Dad

Fishing for presents

Us moms got to take pictures

Mircea "catches" a Snow White Polly Pocket
In case you can't tell, she really likes it!

Check out their loot

Art time: they made sticker pictures--courtesy of Aunt Beth

Casper climbs on Papa as they watch the "bigger" kids do their art

Cea's finished product

A parade around the house

The paraders

Such a sweet little girl!

Allan kept trying to hold Casper, and then Casper would cry.
Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera, the final time, when Casper finally didn't have any issue with Allan holding him. Sorry Allan, maybe I will get a picture next time!

Grandma sat at the kids table during dinner.
She regaled them with stories of when she was a little girl.
There was a lot of laughing and eating.

Lucille and Casper had fun playing together. He liked it when she would chase him around!

Casper goes on a treasure hunt for his last present--a pair of pj's.

Cea finds her present of pj's too.

Time to go home! Good night and Merry Christmas everyone!

12/19/2009 Snowshoeing with Candy and Steve

2010-06-15T15:01:00.000-07:00

Saturday
We have snowshoes, and then we found out, so do Candy and Steve. Therefore, we all decided we should go snowshoeing together. It was a fun day out on the mountain (Rainier). Pretty much our goal was just to let Candy and Steve get used to their snowshoes, and how they work. It was a lot more crowded today then the first time Bryan and I went snowshoeing here. We had a good time chatting, and walking along. We also had a great lunch of summer sausage, bagels, cheddar cheese, and some fruit. We shall have to do this again!

Bryan digging (as usual)

Steven throwing snowballs

Candy and Porsche (taking a break from chatting to pose for a picture)

Candy getting ready to take the group photo, which involved clicking the button, and then frantically trying to get over to the group amidst hysterical laughter. The following is the resulting group photo!. . . However, as I am still waiting for a copy from Candy, so I will post the picture when I get it. . .

12/19/2009 Mircea's NEW Hairdo

2010-06-15T14:56:00.000-07:00

Saturday
Mircea tells me how she wants her hair, so I have her explain it on video as well. (The Karena she mentions is her cousin.)
I think it is a cute hairdo, and will be a regular around our house.

A Braid and a Pony

12/18/2009 Cea does a "flip"

2010-06-15T14:41:00.000-07:00

Friday evening
Cea was practicing trying to do a flip on the couch. Of course the flip she did right before this video was way more like a real flip--but I was too slow with the camera. I personally liked how hard she would breathe while she was jumping, and then she would do a somersault.

12/17/2009 - 12/18/2009 Special Meeting Worker

2010-06-15T14:22:00.000-07:00

Thursday night - Friday morning

We had the privilege of having Kelvin spend a night at our home. He is one of our ministers from New Mexico. It was great to meet him and introduce him to Sauerkraut pizza! The kids just adored him. We were very happy that he could stay with us.
It was quite funny, when Ross dropped him off at our house, Mircea was right there to greet them. She then was quite confused that only Kelvin was staying. She said, "But there is supposed to be two of them!"
Mircea loves the workers and worries about them too. She likes it when they stay with us, because they play with her, and because she knows for sure then they have a bed and food.
We were glad that Kelvin could spend time with us, and we enjoyed our study and visiting with him.

Casper, Kelvin, and Mircea

Mircea talking with Kelvin

Mircea having another Bible study after Kelvin leaves

12/17/2009 A birthday for Mircea's Friend

2010-06-15T13:50:00.001-07:00

Thursday
Laura, a friend of Mircea, from Music class, had her 3rd birthday. Mircea was invited to her party. It was held at Pump It Up in Tacoma. A place that has lots of inflatable slides, bounce blowup/rooms and cute obstacle courses. They also provide a party room and the cake. It was a lot of fun! Mircea could do everything on her own, and she was amazing. Casper couldn't do everything on his own, so I would help him out. He had a lot of fun too! He would just try to copy Mircea.

Mircea listening to the directions before we go into the room

Porsche and Casper at the top of a ladder, getting ready to slide.

Bouncing in a bounce house

Mircea and Casper climbing up a "ladder" to go down a slide

Casper at the top of a slide

Part of one of the rooms

They even had a little car for Casper to drive

Cea sliding down

Cea going through an obstacle course

A picture of most of the kids at the party

2 of Mircea's friends, Nicole and Laura (The birthday girl)

Sara--Laura's mother. She did a great job planning the party!

Mircea loves the blow toys!

Blake and Mircea eating cake

Laura opening her presents. This is the Elefun game that we gave her.

Happy Birthday Laura! Thank you for inviting us to your party. We had fun!

12/13/2009 A visit Uncle Steve's and Aunt Candy's

2010-06-15T13:39:00.000-07:00

It is Sunday evening and Joe and Danny have left; so we head over to visit and drop off some stuff at Candy and Steve's house. (And, of course, let them feed us!)

Uncle Steve and Casper spend some quality time together.

Casper is helping him bring the cooler inside.
You are a good helper, Casper!

Aunt Candy has the coolest toys!

Wait, why is she taking it away?!

Bryan is under all these kids.

He was hardly around all weekend when Joe and Danny were around,
yet why is he the one who is exhausted?!

12/11/2009 - 12/13/2009 Joe and Danny spend the weekend with us

2010-06-14T20:59:00.000-07:00

Friday-Sunday
Beth and Troy are having a weekend to themselves (plus a work Christmas party, etc.) so we Joe and Danny are spending the weekend with us. This means I will have 1 one year old, 1 two year old, and 2 three year olds for 2 1/2 days. It should be fun!

Friday, we go and meet up with them all at Ikea. We have lunch and hang out until it is time to head home.

Looks like a wonderful start to a fun weekend!
Danny, Mircea, Joe

Saturday was a full day.
The morning started out with hilarity--Joe wanted to wear Mircea's panties and Mircea wanted to wear Joe's undies. . . and so they did.

I'm surprised the picture turned out, we were laughing so hard!

We headed out to a 3rd Birthday party of a friend of theirs--Mark. His party was held at an old fire station where there was an old fire truck. It was a fun morning, with Pizza for lunch. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, and so there are no pictures.
Once we got home, it was time to play dress up. Joe and Danny, for some reason, do not have any princess dresses at their home, so they were quite excited with all the choices at our house!

So much fun to have a friend to play dress up with!

And even better to have a friend to play dress up and meeting
They sat on the stairs and sang hymns and played meeting

I had made a paper tree and attached it to our glass slider, for the kids to put stickers on and decorate as a fun art project. It would be a unique Christmas tree. We had all kind of stickers (though they all fought over the princess stickers) and then round circles with tape on the back to put on the tree.

Decorating the Tree

Even Casper got involved

The finished product and its' artists

Time for a quick snack!
I like your crown, Danny!

Trying on even more dresses!

Woot Wooh! So pretty!

More princesses should pose with their tongues out!

Coming out to dance in their dresses

Danny wasn't extremely fond of the dresses, but he did like hanging out in his diaper!

Mom is washing the floor, so "All Aboard" on the train.

Now we have a steering wheel too.

Daddy is coming home.

Danny the fireman.
It reminds me of the Bobbsey twins--Mr Bobbsey would call Freddie Bobbsey, "My little fat fireman". Danny's not fat, but he definitely put out a lot of fires this weekend!

Daddy gets in on decorating the tree.

Bath time.

Danny was quite the artist with the green pen.

To quote Mircea, "Look a fish is biting my buns!"

Sunday
Unfortunately, I didn't take too many photo's today either. It was a fun morning of Dress up and Dutch Babies. Then off to meeting where all 6 of us sat on the couch. Everyone behaved beautifully, and no one had to be taken out. The seating arrangement was Mircea, Joe, Bryan, Danny, Porsche, Casper. Everyone was so impressed with the kids behavior. Bryan and I decided to take all the credit for it!
After meeting we packed up everything and met Beth and Troy at Tres Hermanos in Redmond to give them back their kids. It was a fun weekend. And now Troy and Beth owe US a weekend without kids!

It's 8:30AM, Do you know what your kids are wearing?
Joe was trying to fit in as much dress up experience as possible

Breakfast of Dutch Babies.

Everyone liked the Dutch Babies

Joe finds Cea's fancy panties.
He decides to wear them under his suit!
We decide not to tell his parents--we figure it would be a fun surprise.

Casper liked Danny and Joe's suit jackets.

Thanks for coming to visit Joe and Danny! Please come again!

12/9/2009-12/10/2009 Dewey gets some chores

2010-06-14T20:37:00.000-07:00

Dewey called earlier this week to say that it was too cold in the Tri-Cities to work; so he was going to come over and visit. Immediately, I started making a "Dewey Chore List".

Dewey arrived Wednesday, we gave him the job of turning our tiny downstairs closet into a bigger closet. Whoever built this house did not make the closet under the stairs to include the space under the stairs, so it is VERY small. Dewey was to take out the back wall of the closet to expand it farther under the stairs, and then put up drywall, and make it look nice. To make this "chore" even better, Mircea was his assistant.

On Thursday, little dude and I went to visit Baby Naomi and her mom Katie, and Mircea was left to babysit Dewey. (Or was Dewey left to babysit Mircea--I am a bit uncertain.) They finished the closet, we met them at a sing, and then went out for donuts.

Thank you Uncle Dewey for all your help! We are always happy to have you stop by (even when you can't do chores)!

Wednesday Pictures:

Mircea--a self photo

Dewey (Taken by Mircea)

Dewey measuring (Taken by Mircea)

Dewey on the phone and his best and favorite helper, Mircea

Thursday Pictures

Little Dude and Naomi. He was quite fascinated by the baby.

At the donut shop

Mircea was quite pleased with her snowman donut

Well, it must have been good

Bryan's Family Comes to Town Day 8

2010-02-20T13:28:00.006-08:00

December 5, 2009 Saturday

We all met in the morning at Nancy and Gary's house where Derek Pierson would be taking our family pictures. Words cannot describe the experience, so the pictures will have to! grin.
Nancy and Gary were great, they had hot cocoa, let us change in their house and take over their yard. . .

That afternoon after pictures, it was decided that Darren would go home back to Nebraska with Lauren and Laurel and Carmel; so we all split up again, as some had to go help him pack, and we were all heading out on the road to the Tri-cities to go to special meeting. We didn't get in to Richland to our hotel until around 11pm. The only thing that made it worth it to travel so late in the day was when we stopped in Ellensberg, we ate dinner at the pizza hut, and there was a Nebraska football game on the TV. So we had a great time watching the game.

Our family picture
Keep in mind that Mircea is starting to get a cold, she has a black eye, a huge scratch on her forehead and a bruise on her cheek. She was totally beat up for family pics.

A closeup -- formal family picture

The Appleman Clan:
L-R
Dewey (Cameron), Steve, Candy, Bryan, Porsche, Mircea, Casper, Darren, Laurel, Loren, Karena, Christine, Craig, Clark, Kip, Esther (Polly), Brad, Carmel

L-R
Dewey, Candy, Steve, Karena, Christine, Kip, Craig, Clark, Laurel, Loren, Darren, Porsche, Bryan (holding Casper), Mircea, Esther, Brad, Carmel

Dewey and everyone else

A quick Clothing change into Casual Clothes. . . .

Casual Family Picture

Casual Family picture

The whole group again

Leaping into the air.

(I didn't post the picture of the family doing the wave, but that was done as well.)

A bunch of pictures were taken of everyone running around and doing weird things.
This is one of them.

A dog pile at the end.
(Kip is near the bottom again, and getting squished.
Bryan IS on the bottom, and he just had surgery the day before.)

We all then headed inside for more hot coco and then back to Candy and Steve's house for lunch and to pack up to head to Tri-Cities for Special Meeting.

The following pictures are us at Pizza Hut

Candy is being a backseat Driver while Dude drives

Casper grins while Bryan keeps his eyes on the game!

Casper letting his belly hang out

The pizza is good!--not as good as the pizza hut in Ainsworth, but still good.

Darren has some Taco Pizza

Cea picking off the topping

So, are we watching Dude? or are we watching the game?

Everyone hanging out

Back into the vehicles. Grumpy is stuck in the back

Hooray we are at the hotel! Cea immediately goes to sleep!

Bryan's Family Comes to Town Day 7

2010-02-20T13:28:00.005-08:00

December 4, 2009 Friday

Today started with another Bible study, and then a quick walk to the park. Then Bryan, Casper, and I left to come back home as Bryan had surgery that afternoon. Dewey left to see friends. Others left to visit other places, etc. It was a free day--feel free to do what you want. We just all had to keep in mind that tomorrow morning, Saturday, would be family picture day.

Bible study Dewey led some of the hymns

Casper scooting to the park

Mircea, Bryan, Casper, and Porsche and their backside

Now our Front side (It was a bit cold out)

heading down the trail

Craig

Little Dude is great at walking--pretty fast also!

The kids and Bryan on some mini railroad tracks

Here comes Casper

Cea sliding down a skateboard ramp

Bryan's Family Comes to Town Day 6

2010-02-20T13:28:00.003-08:00

December 3, 2009 Thursday

Today was the day to celebrate Grumpy and Daka's 35th Anniversary.
This was the day we all would hang out around the house ALL DAY with each other. We started the day with a Bible study. Then music and eating galore! There were games, lots of visiting, lots of crazy antics, Daka brought out the quilts her mother made and had each "family" select one for themselves in a secret ballot.
That evening, Brad and Esther joined us and we had a wonderful dinner of roast beef (from Nebraska), scalloped potatoes, and lots of other yummies. After dinner Candy and Steve each gave us a gift--very sweet of them! AND then they gave Grumpy and Daka the photo Albums they had put together. One photo album was of relatives that had sent pages they had put together of memories with Loren and Laurel. The other album was of friends of the family who had sent in pages. They were so awesome. And of course Laurel cried! :)
It was a wonderful day! It is not often that everyone gets to just hang out.

Just waking up! Cea snuggles with her Dad.

A tower of Appleman's
bottom up--Bryan, Dewey, Kip, Karena

Getting breakfast ready, as well as the roasts for dinner.

Uncle Dewey spends some time with his favorite girls!

Casper and Kip

Cea gets a better view on top of Uncle Dewey

Looks like Casper wants his Aunt Christine

Of course this wouldn't be an Appleman day without some "good-natured" wrestling.

Dog pile!!!! AGAIN!!
um, why is Uncle Darren on the top??
Most of you can't tell, but Kip is on the bottom; you can barely see his feet stick out.

Morning Bible Study and sing

It was quite special to be able to read a Bible study all together.

The following picture and video come with a pre-story. . .
While trying to make plans for this week, there were several e-mails. At one point Dewey sent one out to let everyone know he agreed--However, he wrote, "I can curr".
Bryan immediately informed everyone that to "curr" meant to hoot like an owl, and that he was looking forward to hearing Dewey curr. Of course that meant everyone was looking forward to Dewey curring, and there was a discussion about whether their should be a talent show. The following is a bit of the talent show. (Please keep in mind that I just the word "talent" loosely.)

"I can curr"

Sure enough, he could curr

Casper is delighted with Grumpy's talent

Here he goes again

Dewey and Carmel try to out handstand each other
Dewey of course didn't have the handicap of worrying about his panties showing.
He said he wasn't wearing panties

On to the arm wrestling. . .

Steven versus Dewey

Bryan versus Dewey

We laughed at these boys. All snuggled up on the couch. Looks like they need a "Snuggie"

2 friends playing a duet
Clark and Mircea

Craig versus Dewey

More piano playing

They are so cute!

It was quite a show

Darren versus Dewey

I wish I could say Candy beat Dewey, but she didn't-
but I have decided to say it was a close thing! grin!
I believe there was a face off between Loren and Dewey, but I didn't get a picture.

Clark and Mircea

Carmel and Casper

Quilt 1--Craig

Quilt 2 --Went home with Daka

Quilt 3--Candy

Quilt 4--Carmel

Quilt 5 --Bryan

Quilt 6--Darren

Quilt 7 --Brad

Those holding up the quilts got carried away.

Quilt 8 - went back home with Daka
(Grandma Eleanor died before she could hand quilt it, so it is quilted by machine)

Quilt 9--Dewey

Boy hang out time in Candy' and Steve's room

Darren and Dewey haven't had much time together since Dewey moved away.

Daka and an accordion

Looking up Accordion playing on the Internet

Lots of music: Bryan-Acoustic bass, Porsche--Viola, Christine--Cello, Daka--Accordion
I didn't post the video of the music because it is best left up to one's imagination

Daka moves to the piano

We open the piano up to see the keys move

Steve grilling a ton of hot dogs and hamburgers

Cea playing with cars

Dewey, Kip and Bryan playing the guitars

Darren joins in on the cell0

A hug for Grumpy

Opening gifts at dinner time

A cute outfit for Cea

Daka and Grumpy open their gift and see the albums

Looking at Mircea's page

Looking at Casper's page

Their anniversary cake

The happy couple who made all this possible :)

Everyone gathered around to view the albums with Grumpy and Daka

Craig wearing one of Cea's headbands.
(Once he took it off, he had a dent in his hair the rest of the night)

Casper receiving a zerbert from Aunt Carmel

Dishes--there were a lot of them!

Cea posing in her new flipflops from Daka

Casper wanted in the picture too

Carmel starts learning electric guitar on her own

Casper playing with another gift from Daka and Grumpy right before he goes to bed

Bryan's Family Comes to Town Day 5

2010-02-20T13:28:00.001-08:00

December 2, 2009 Wednesday

Today, Daka, Grumpy, all the grandkids, Craig, Christine, Carmel and Darren all went on a field trip, while Porsche packed at her house and Candy cleaned at her house.
I don't have many pictures for today, but some of the ones I do have are lots of fun!

The field trip was to the Boeing Flight Museum. They met up with Bryan for lunch at Red Robin and then they all went to the museum. It is an awesome museum. It sounded like they all had a blast.
They all came to our house to quickly pack up their stuff and off we went for the rest of the week at Candy and Steve's house. When we arrived, Candy had made pizza for everyone. We ate quickly and then headed out for Wednesday night Bible Study. (Brad and Esther met us at Bible study. It was great to be together at Bible study. We all enjoyed chatting with Nancy and Gary after meeting, and we asked if we could come back to their property on Saturday to take family pictures. They assured us we were welcome, and after a lot more visiting we headed back to Candy and Steve's house.
Dewey arrived and Candy and Steve's around midnight, or later. While we were waiting for them, Daka and Grumpy went to bed, so the rest of us looked at the photo albums Candy had made for their 35th anniversary. With Dewey now here, that meant everyone had arrived! There was a lot more goofing off, and then we all went to sleep.

WARNING Christine and Daka may need smelling salts before they look at the first 2 pictures. Also, please note that these photo's have NOT been photo shopped, retouched or faked.

Craig is washing spoons and bowls for us to use for breakfast.

Since I could not believe my eyes, I took a 2nd pictures just to verify it was Craig, in the kitchen, at the sink, washing dishes. Hooray for Craig!

One side of the table at Red Robin for lunch.
Bryan left work early to hang out with the family!

The feet/legs under the table

The other side of the table

Casper and Uncle Craig still really enjoying each other!

Running on the bridge

The only picture I have of 3 of the cousins at the flight museum.

Everyone came home, we packed up and left for Candy and Steve's, had a pizza dinner, went to meeting, and then came back to Candy and Steve's.

Bryan was great with all the kids. It was cool to see him sitting in the living room, playing different games with them all! They all adored him!

(The game they are playing here is Snorta. It is a funny game involving animal sounds!)

Darren peeling an orange

Brad and Polly come over for a little bit.

Still playing games

Ice Cream. Need I say more?!?

Casper and Kip.

Kip was so patient, and just totally great playing with Casper!

Most people are now in bed at this point, when. . .

Dewey arrives! The brothers are soooo happy to see each other!

I can't believe that they are posing "normally" for a picture. . . .

Well, that didn't last long, now it is time for crazy balancing ideas

Now Bryan gets in on it!

TaDa! Dewey is holding up his brothers!

Looking at the photo Albums Candy created for Daka and Grumpy's anniversary. All the siblings kept those of us just married into the family in stitches as they told us stories of how they knew the people in the pics or how they were all related, or what they remembered of the people when they were kids.
Good Night!

Bryan's Family Comes to Town Day 4

2010-02-20T13:27:00.004-08:00

December 1, 2009 Tuesday

We went to West Seattle to spend some time at Alki Beach. It was fabulous weather--clear and sunny (Though rather cold). The view was great. Our goal today was for the kids to be able to be on a beach, and for Christine to get some pictures. I think we accomplished it, and it was a lot of fun. We then at some fish and chips at a small joint, and then home to wash all the rocks and seashells that were collected. (Craig was great--he carried Casper around all day in the Ergo carrier!)
Once home we played around until Daka, Grumpy, and Carmel arrived. Then Bradley and Darren showed up, and then Candy and Steve showed up.
We had dinner--Corn Bread, Beer Bread, Chili (made with Bry's venison).
Lauren and Laurel and brought Nebraska beef for everyone (YUM!), so the siblings got together to divide it up, and then of course there was all the other stuff they brought! grin! The ride-on tractor was a definite hit!
It was a fun filled evening of talking, music, eating, stories, and playing. There is never a dull moment when Bryan's family gets together!

Karena did a great job collecting items on the beach herself. She also was the one who washed them all at home.

Looking for shells, rocks and other treasures. (We came home with a couple buckets full)

Casper bundled up at the beach

Playing in the sand

Christine completely happy with the weather--a very clear day, the view, and the fun on the beach. She should start a blog, as her pictures are way better than mine!

Uncle Craig carrying nephew Casper in the Ergo Carrier. Thanks Craig!

The boys heading out on a jaunt looking for shells

Running in the waves! Hooray for rubber boots!

Mircea and a treasure

Christine taking lots of pictures. She is an excellent photographer!

Porsche and Cea

4 cold cousins, who are really enjoying the beach.

Cea copying Clark

Clark helping Mircea down from the wall

Lunch at the "Fish and Chips" It was yummy!

Grumpy and Daka arrive. Casper meets Grumpy for the first time!

Clark sitting in the massage chair!

Casper snuggling with Daka

Kip and Casper and some stellar glasses

Grumpy and Cea

Auntie Carmel and Casper

Casper loves his tractor from Daka and Grumpy!

One of many acrobatic moves that causes mom to gasp while she grabs her camera!

Casper proving he is 100% Appleman!
Kip was laying on the floor, so Casper jumped on him!

Music, Music, Music

Bryan's Family Comes to Town Day 3

2010-02-20T13:27:00.003-08:00

November 30, 2009 Monday

Today, Candy and Darren joined up with the "Craigs" and went to Seattle to see Pikes Place Market and then The Ballard Locks. Most importantly, they got to experience public transportation. It sounds like they had a great time.
We did not join them for today's excursion, as we had a funeral to attend of a dear old friend.

I thought I would post a couple pics of Mircea and Joe walking to the funeral. I thought they looked rather cute.

Bryan's Family Comes to Town Day 2

2010-02-20T13:27:00.001-08:00

November 29, 2009 Sunday
Today we went all went to Sunday morning meeting together. After meeting Craig and family headed up North to see some of Christine's relatives and spend the day with them. They then came back Sunday evening. That evening, the kids had fun goofing around playing "Elefun", and generally enjoying each other. Then we had some music, as Kip started to learn to play Bryan's bass guitar. We were quite impressed with his talent--GO KIP! When it was bed time, Kip took the top bunk, and the younger kids all slept underneath. Cea and Casper are definitely enjoying having their older cousins over!

Clark, Kip, Casper, Karena, Mircea
Everyone dressed up for meeting.
Casper and Cea are not cooperating with smiles.

Trying to get a smile. . . oh well. . .

Kip rode with us to meeting.
Casper giggled the whole way!
He loved the attention from his older boy cousin!

Craig and Bryan
2 "luddites" with technology! It makes me giggle!
a luddite is: any opponent of technological progress

They all played the game "elefun" together, but then found it to be even more funny to blow the "butterfly's" in each others face.

Kip showing off his musical talent.

Casper showing off his musical talent (with a little help from Karena)

Clark and Mircea played with the train set a lot and for a long time! Even though Clark is a couple years older, they got along great, and seemed to enjoy playing the same things. Mircea said she liked having someone who could play with her!

Now the real music begins!
Kip started to learn how to play Bryan's bass. Christine played the piano, and Bryan joined in on his acoustic guitar. It sounded pretty impressive!

We all believe this will be a great start to a very musical week when all the rest of the family arrives!

Casper spending quality time with Uncle Craig

It appears that Kip will be getting the top bunk tonight

Here the other three are all planning to snuggle together for the night!

Bryan's Family Comes To Town Day 1

2010-02-20T13:25:00.000-08:00

November 28, 2009 Saturday Evening

Bryan's brother Craig, his wife Christine, and their 3 kids: Kip, Karena, and Clark arrive in town. We are sooooooo excited to see them! This is Casper's first time meeting his cousin's on his Dad's side, and Cea is quite happy to have these BIG, OLDER kids to play with!

At the house we give them a gift of small art projects, that we have had at our house for almost a year, that we keep meaning to mail out to them. Then we have a box of Mariner items for them to go through.

It is a great evening, and so good to see everyone!
Cea loved being read to by Karena, and was escatatic that they were sleeping in HER ROOM!
This has been a wonderful beginning for this next full week of family!

Karena and Bryan

Looking at all the Mariner stuff

Craig wearing a Youth Sized Mariners Shirt

Age means nothing!!! Kip and Casper were instant friends!
(Kip is the oldest cousin and Casper is the youngest)

The first of many dog piles --Clark and Casper

Aunt Christine loves being around a "baby" She was quite willing to help with diaper duty!

In pajamas, these are 2 excited little girls!

Bed time stories

Thanksgiving 2009

2010-02-20T12:16:00.000-08:00

November 26, 2009 Thursday
Every year for the last while, we celebrate Thanksgiving at my sister Ginny's house. This year ended up being no exception. Candy, Steve and Darren joined us as well, at it was a delicious day! (Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday!)

Getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner.
At least one person in our house will arrive freshly shaven! :)

Not yet time to eat--however, everyone has been snacking on many yummy appetizers in the kitchen

Grandpa and Casper!

Casper and Dad
(Wow your Dad is VERY hairy Casper!--Maybe he should have shaved with Mircea!)

Candy, Steve, Bryan and Candy and Steve's baby--I mean Camera!

Good Work Ginny and Steve!

Just one glimpse of The yummy spread!

Everyone at the table
Starting from the left and around:
Steve, Candy, Dad/Grandpa/Bruce, Porsche, Bryan, Casper, Ginny, Alex (you can't see him but he is there!), Steve, Lucille, Darren (Mom/Grandma/Donna is taking the picture)
Samantha and Mircea got to eat at their own table!

Casper enjoying some play time without the other kids after dinner

Bry and little dude (Casper)

Cea, Samantha, Grandma and Grandpa went to Beth and Troy's house to drop off a bed frame that we brought. They were decorating cookies there--to the delight of Cea and Samantha, so they were able to decorate a cookie too!

Decorating cookies

Cea's Cookie

Samantha's cookie

Steve and Alex

Looks like the Turkey worked! 2 more succumb to the tryptophan!

Steve, Darren and Bryan

Cea and Darren

Casper and Accessories

2010-02-18T20:51:00.000-08:00

November 24, 2009 Tuesday
Casper looked so fancy, I had to quickly grab the camera--This is exactly the type of picture we will need to be able to access when he is a big tough teenager!

Bryan's old Rocking Horse -- Cheyenne

2010-02-18T20:48:00.000-08:00

November 23, 2009 Monday
As we now live in a safety conscious society, it is quite evident that really none of us should have ever survived our childhood! grin! Nothing makes this more obvious, then when our kids get to play on some of our old toys!
For example: We ended up getting Cheyenne--Candy and Steve were kind enough to bring her out when they moved out here! We searched around the house and found the nuts and bolts we had been given at an earlier date to put her together with. She was very well loved by Bry and his siblings, and now is very well loved by Mircea and Casper. Other horses, that are newer, just don't have the same experience that Cheyenne can offer. All of her springs are exposed, some of the bars to climb on aren't fixed in, so they make climbing aboard that much adventurous, and the potential to fly over the handle bars is quite high (Bry says we just need a bean bag chair to land in). I have to say, I believe that she is probably one of the favorite toys in the house!

Visiting The Tacoma Children's Museum

2010-02-15T01:45:00.000-08:00

November 18, 2009 Wednesday

Today in stead of music class we headed down to visit the Tacoma Children's Museum. To make it a little more exciting we parked by the Dome and took the Trolley to the museum. It was a fun outing!
It was quite cold that day and very windy. The museum offered fun toys to play with in a market setting, a very cool Native American exhibit/story area, an art area, lots of bubbles, and more. We then had a private room for lunch, and then we headed back home.

Playing in the market

The bubbles were great!

Mircea and AnneMarie painting

Casper writing on a window (umm don't do this at home kids!)

In the lunch room

Laura, Mircea and AnneMarie eating lunch

Kids playing on the rail while we wait for everyone to start heading back to the trolley stop.

Mircea, Laura, and Sara

James, AnneMarie and Mircea

Trying not to be blown away at the corner

Waiting for the Tram

Climbing aboard

Mircea and Laura
This might have been the favorite part of the whole trip

Casper and me

Chirstine, Cea, Laura and AnneMarie
We are almost to our stop