Take 30

You look at this photo of Little Miss and assume that it was so easy to capture it. The fact is there is usually quite a story behind these shots.

Sometimes it is the hardest thing in the world to get photos of kids. Can I just say that a digital camera is the best thing in the world for this. I love my camera and the ability to hit the delete button. At the same time the process is usually the best part.

When we asked Little Miss to smile she grabbed the corners of her mouth and pulled up her cheeks.

Then we had to get rid of the blanket.

Leo just didn't feel like cooperating. At least this captures his real personality.

Midge is always photogenic, and an absolute joy to take pictures of. As long as she is in the mood and keeps her eyes uncrossed.

Our Events This Past Week

We are enjoying the holiday season.

The weather has been extremely cold last week. As a result the pond in our backyard was frozen over several inches thick. The kids had a great time skating on the ice.

They wanted all of their friends to come over and play on the ice as well.

On Saturday the ice was still several inches thick, but because of the rain there was water on the top of the ice.

Little Miss in her Christmas outfit.

Baby number 4 is getting bigger. Tonight while I was reading Leo a bedtime story the baby was kicking. Leo was able to feel the baby and thought that was pretty cool.

I had to bribe Leo it wear a tie.

Midge did her hair and I thought she looked so cute. She won't let me do her hair anymore. We have such battles around it. We have finally compromised that I get to style her hair 3 times a week and she gets to do it 4 times. The condition is when I style it I have to do it in 10 minutes or less.

Rose Bowl Memories

With all this talk of the Oregon Ducks going to the Rose Bowl I keep remembering the last time they went my freshman year in college. I was able to travel down to the game with some friends. We stayed with my roomates grandparents. We had so much fun jet skiing, watching the Rose parade, going sight seeing and then of course the big game.

Here is a shot of all of us outside the stadium (left to right) Bill, Jen, Tricia, Julie, Eric, Me, Jon and Emily was taking the picture.

I even saved my ticket. Go Ducks!

Roses and Trees

We are so thrilled that our Oregon Ducks made it to the Rose Bowl. It brought back memories when I was able to travel with some friends to Pasadena my freshman year of college to watch the Ducks play in the Rose Bowl. The kids had fun watching the game and cheering for the team.

Man if looks could kill.

On Saturday we had planned on going to a Christmas tree in Corvallis to get a tree at a tree farm. We woke up on Saturday morning to Midge yelling that Leo was sick to his stomach. Needless to say our plans changed. We still had to get a tree, so Midge and Ken led the search for the family. We have a tradition in our family of cutting down our own trees. Each year we try to get a different tree than what we have ever had before.

Ken and Midge looked all over a tree farm. The above one was a type of cedar.

This was a 10 foot white pine, a little too big for our house.

Here is the one we chose. It is an 8 foot white fir.

It was a very heavy tree, but Midge was such a trooper she helped Ken carry it all the way back.

Little Miss and her Bud

Do you remember watching The Cosby Show and Rudy had the adorable little boy known as Bud? They would do everything together and they were little buddies. Our Little Miss has a Bud as well. Twice a week these two get together to play. A few weeks ago she started saying his name for the first time. It has been so funny to see her refusing to get dressed and then I will tell her Bud is coming over and she will run over and start trying to get her PJs off and get dressed.

The funny thing is that Midge also has a Bud. Coincidentally her Bud is the older brother of Little Miss's Bud.

A Civil War

The big news around here is the UofO vs. OSU football game tonight. In Midge's school each classroom has had to choose a University to support and Midge's classroom was selected to represent Oregon State. Ken and I are both graduates from University of Oregon as well as Ken's mom and dad. Oregon Ducks runs in the family, but we have tried to be supportive. Today Midge's teacher wanted the kids to get up in front of the school and sing the OSU fight song. She looked pretty darn cute up there with her class singing. Of course we had to be a little rebellious and she had a nice green ducks shirt on underneath her OSU T-shirt and her hair done up in green and yellow. It should be pretty interesting today in the schools and around the town because emotions are pretty high. Go Ducks!!!!!

Thanksgiving Card and Poetry

Midge wrote this cute little poem for Thanksgiving I wanted to post:

Turkey, Turkey on the plate in the fridge and by the gate. Yummy yummy nice and plumpy. But when it comes to pumpkin pie then I’ll just go high, high, high.

Oh turkey turkey on the plate. Now it’s time to find your date. But then your date is late, late, late, but you just ate.

Oh turkey turkey nice and sweet I got a poem for you to meet.