On a Saturday

We decided it was time to get out of the house and headed to Yakima.  We got a few things at Hobby Lobby (so Ryan can make candles from his beeswax).  Ryan also needed a pair of back up glasses, and I requested a Costco cheesecake for my birthday cake.  We had hot dogs for lunch.

 When we got back to town, we picked up Ryan's truck and went to find ourselves a Christmas tree.

 Then we got to work decorating our Christmas tree and putting out our Christmas decorations.  The kids were so excited to get out all of our ornaments and put them on the tree.  Our tree was decorated with a good deal of... zeal.  No artistic, "pretty" magazine worthy Christmas trees for us.

 Christmas is coming!

We watched our first Christmas movies this weekend- Home Alone on Friday night, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas tonight.

Thanksgiving, part two

When you have the big Thanksgiving dinner at your in-laws and you need left-overs of your own, you may find yourself cooking your own Thanksgiving dinner the next night.

Happy Thanksgiving

Sometimes I think the thing I am the most thankful for about Thanksgiving is the break from school.  The kids went to school Monday and Tuesday, and then we were off the rest of the week.  It was especially nice this year, as we pretty much all decided to get sick.  It's good to take some time off from the craziness of our life.  

Elizabeth had been telling me about the cornucopia art project she's been working on, and she was so excited to show it to me when she came home Tuesday. 

 Thursday morning we needed to make an apple pie to take with us to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  I had helpers.  It was not the prettiest pie ever made, but it was made with lots of love... or at least a lot of enthusiasm.

 Ryan's parents made two turkeys.  I guess they figured the 11 of us there were super duper hungry.  It was just Ryan and his family, and Caitlin and her girls who came for dinner.

 We had a pretty nice spread.

 This was my plate.  Yum.

 A Ryan and me selfie in bad lighting.  I wore two shirts and a sweater.  I find that I need to plan ahead for my own warmness.  I am in the minority in needing warmer temperatures.  At one point during the day, the inside temperature had reached comfortable (for me) from all the cooking going on which meant that everyone else was apparently dying of heat exhaustion.  Both the front and back doors were opened to air the house out-- keep in mind that the outdoor temperature was about 25 degrees during the day.  After two minutes I quietly closed the doors.  There was absolutely no reason I should be freezing while standing over the stove.  I ought to be warm!  Please?

 Ryan had the pie cutting job.  We lined up and let him serve us pie.  Yummy, yummy pie.  We had two kinds of pumpkin, pineapple, and apple pies.

 Caitlin left before we started eating dessert.  But this is the rest of the group.

 My pie.  Ryan served my whipped cream between the two pieces.  I think he was trying to be helpful?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Getting Ready For Bed

Tonight as we were tucking in the twins, we said prayers and we were going over our "Favorite and Least Favorite" portions of our day.  Out of the blue, Maddie begged her dad to make "tooting noises with your arm pit."  It was rather an odd request as we were pulling blankets over them and settling them in for the night.  But, Ryan obliged.  The noises and giggles brought in the other two girls to watch the fun.  

Annie wanted and tried to make similar noises with her own hand and arm pit, but was unsuccessful.  She wanted her dad to teach her how.  Ryan got a glint in his eye, put his hand in Annie's arm pit, and told Annie to flap her arm.  Strangely enough, tooting noises emerged, but not from Annie's arm pit.  

A foul smell followed.

Maddie gagged.  She still gags when she sees or smells something gross.  This made the rest of the family laugh even more, while covering our noses.  Not at all deterred, Maddie demanded that she get to try Daddy's trick next.

Can you believe Ryan was able to oblige?

Boys.  Seriously.

Later, as I was tucking Elizabeth into bed, I noticed she had hung up her skirt yesterday when I pulled it from the washer and told her to hang it up in her room to dry.  But she did not use a traditional method.

Dust

We have a ceiling again!  Hooray.  That hole was not attractive.  But the dust that accompanies fixing drywall is pervasive.

I think he needs a shower.

Purple Day

McTeacher Night

A bachelor's degree, a master's degree, a principal's certificate, and Ryan is working at McDonald's.  I'm so proud.

(It's fundraiser night at McDonalds for Ryan's building.  We had to go check out Ryan's skills at making ice cream cones.)

Burke Museum

We took the kids to the traveling Burke museum for an evening of science.  We looked at rocks with a magnifying glass.

 Compared our arms to the wingspan of birds.

 Looked and chatted.

 And dug in oatmeal looking for "fossils."

It's free and it's fun.  Everything an evening should be.

Holes and Leaks

One night while Ryan was upstairs taking a shower, I was folding laundry when I heard a suspicious drip dripping sound in the kitchen.  Drips coming from the ceiling and hitting the floor.  Our Pergo flooring that hates water.  Thank goodness I was still downstairs to hear it, otherwise our kitchen floor would have been awful in the morning.  Turns out the drain pipe became unattached from the shower and most of the water going down the drain went into the floor and downstairs ceiling.

 So, the ceiling got ripped out, and the plumbing redone.

 Now we are waiting for everything to dry so Ryan can fix the ceiling.

Christmas card pictures

Well, we are not doing proper family pictures this year, so I took it upon me to take some of the girls for our Christmas cards.  I dredged up clothes that we already had and we took pictures this afternoon around our house and in our neighbor's alfalfa field.

They are a cute bunch.

Twinsies

One of the joys of having twins is having two toothless smiles at the same time.

A Little Day Trip

We took a quick day trip over to my grandma's house, and stopped at to check out Snoqualmie Falls.  It was raging with all the rain they've had lately.

 And it was misty while we were there.  Check out Ryan's glasses.

Twins Party

Annie was feeling better this morning.  Annie and Maddie wore their new matching outfits from Grandma and Grandpa to school.  I came in this afternoon for a combined class party.  Annie and Maddie aren't the first set of twins with the same teacher combination to have a birthday, and those twins set a precedent.  We never go quite as big as other families, and this year was no different.  We took cookies and juice and that was it!

Puke-y Birthday

Annie and Maddie's birthday started quite a bit earlier than we anticipated.  We all awoke to the sound of Annie puking in her blankets on the floor.  That is one of the worst sounds ever to wake up to.  It's already happening, and you can't get there fast enough.  Thankfully, Annie missed Maddie's hair, but the damage was done.  We whisked her to the bathroom, where she puked more and more.  We got her washed and changed, but then it got worse.  Both ends started.  And all Annie had to do was breathe wrong and we went through another change of underwear.  I took a trip to Wenatchee's Walmart at 6:30 am to buy a package of underwear, a clearance Halloween bucket, and a towel for the ride home.  I went in my pjs and no make up, because that's how I was feeling.  We'd been up for hours, and I had a long ride home in the car with a doubly sick child to look forward to.  Yay.

At least Annie was able to fall asleep again for a little while.  

 Ryan headed off bleary-eyed to the last day of his conference, and as soon as I thought Annie was as done as she was going to be, we headed home.  2.5 hours in the car, plus two stops for puking and clothing changes.  It was a memorable trip home.  I left a bag of barf in a garbage can along the side of the road somewhere.  I did, however, have to bring some poopy pants home.  The towel I bought at Walmart to put under Annie was a good idea, but had to be replaced after one of the stops.  The only thing I could come up with was Emma's coat to protect Annie's car seat.  Emma was NOT happy with me.  She had to empty her pockets, which I'm pretty sure she was treating like Hermione's undetectable extension spell bag.  Sheesh.

But eventually the road trip from you-know-where was done, and it was time to do laundry and bathe Annie again.  We were all tired, and I thought it would be a good time to open one of the presents for Annie and Maddie even if Daddy wasn't home yet.

 Movie time!

Annie and Maddie had chosen to have ravioli for dinner ahead of time, so we went ahead with that for dinner.  Annie was a little sad she wasn't getting any.  No one wants saltine crackers and apple juice for their birthday dinner.

 Finally Dad got home, having caught a ride home with his principal.  And it was present time again.

Maddie talking on the phone.

 Cake time.  I wasn't feeling very inspired in my cake decorating.

We didn't let Annie blow out candles on her cake because no one else wanted her spit and germs on their piece of cake.  So she got one candle of her own to blow out.  She wished to not be sick on her next birthday.  Me too, kiddo.  Me too.