House of Dedons

Christmas Pictures in May, I know.

2011-05-20T15:30:00.000-07:00

So many people have been giving me grief about getting caught up on posting pictures. Well, six months later, here you go. Don't have the time to update with dialogue, but that will come later.

Thanksgiving is over, put up the tree!

2010-11-30T20:11:00.000-08:00

We have made it a tradition in the last couple years to get our tree the day after Thanksgiving and try to decorate it during the weekend some time. It only took 10 minutes this year to pick out our tree which could have been due to the pouring rain or that we are just getting better at picking.

Amazing that the three of them were in such close proximity without fighting or knocking the tree over.

Jacob stuffed the top of his hat so that it would stick up. So funny

A quiet, peaceful moment for Jonah as he becomes one with the tree,

Kids did a great job. Only had to re-arrange about half of the ornaments because 3/4 of them were all on the top half of the tree. The Holiday begins. Have a great Christmas Season.

Merry Christmas,

The LeRoy's

Happy Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-30T19:43:00.000-08:00

Got together with my side of the family on Thursday and then Rebecca's family on Friday. It was great to see everyone and have the time to talk with one another.

Jacob had asked if Dana could bring his saxophone over so he could do a duet with his clarinet. Jacob had a great time playing with Dana. Jacob eventually wants to move onto the saxophone but he has to take a year of clarinet first.

Sophia, the monkey queen just loves to play with her older cousins. Astrid didn't seem to mind either.

A little side game going on. I'm sure if you look closely they are probably playing poker.

Stacy and Jonah talking about the stock market and what it's been like the last year.

"Welcome to our home."

Mike got some lazy time with Sophia as they watched the Polar Express.

Need I say more?

Rebecca hates pictures when I take them like this of her.

Gettin' read for dinner

The infamous kids table. We've all been there before. Happy Thanksgiving.

God gives us opportunities to serve!

2010-11-27T14:51:00.000-08:00

It's been an interesting week and I thought I would share some of it and how it has impacted my world view. The past week, we received an anonymous financial gift in the mail specifically for Jacob's medications. It's part of our normal monthly obligation for medications and really do help Jacob, so it's what we do. We felt truly blessed by this gesture and humbled. Today, I was in the car with Jacob and I decided to explain what had transpired this week with the gift. I told him that someone felt led by God to send us this money to pay for your medications for the month. I explained how this person really felt like God gave them a specific amount to use for Jacob's needs. He said, "They must have a lot of money then if they are able to send it to us." I explained that it's not always the case, especially in this instance. Many people send or give money to the church that may be a big step in faith to do so. We both thought about this for awhile and then I told him that God asks us all to keep our head up looking for ways to help others, even if we feel like we don't have a lot to offer. We also talked about how God doesn't always just use your money, but other gifts that people have that can be helpful. Right at that moment, we were in the left hand turn lane in a busy intersection, and some one's car had broken down. I looked at Jacob and said, God is giving me an opportunity to help." I got out of the car, asked if I could help and they were desperate. Cars were driving by and looking but no one was helping. I went around to other car windows and let them know that we needed them to wait at the next light so we could get the car out of traffic. Everyone was willing to wait, but didn't offer to help. We got the car pushed into a park and ride and another person stopped and offered to help look at their car. I was able to push the car off, but am not great under the hood. I hopped back in the car and looked at Jacob and said, "Wow, God gave us an immediate opportunity to help." We then walked into a store to buy a Christmas gift for Jacob's cousin and someone dressed in Harley Davidson clothes with a long beard, handed us a sheet of paper that said, "We are collecting toys today for children at Harrison hospital." Jacob looked at me this time and said, "Dad, we have another chance to help someone." I thought, your right! We got his cousins gift and Jacob picked out another toy for a child and gave it to the people outside. Jacob was really getting into this and it did completely brightened our day. As we drove out of the parking lot, there was a man standing there holding a sign like we see all over now days. Jacob said, "Do you think we could go and buy him something warm to eat and some hot chocolate?" He then looked at me and said, "Dad, it's another opportunity to help." He was right. So, we drove though and got him a hot meal and hot chocolate and brought it to him. He was so excited about the hot chocolate due to the cold weather and was extremely thankful for the lunch.

I wanted to share this story because I woke up this morning feeling humbled and a little overwhelmed by Christmas, worried about not having enough money to buy certain things for people in our family. I wasn't focused on what we have been blessed with but was focusing on what we didn't have. God showed me today that we have a lot to offer other people. When things look down, there is always someone else out there that is struggling even harder than you. It doesn't take a fat bank account to help, but God can use you and the gifts we each have to help one another. All of this happened today within an hour and it changed my whole outlook on this month. Jacob and I were able to experience mini-gifts or miracles today, which was a huge blessing. I didn't write this to show everyone what great things Jacob and I did today but rather to show what God can do in people's lives using each one of us. My hope would be that the people we helped can pay it forward and reach many other people. Happy Holidays!!

Robb

Abby's Bat Mitzvah Party in Charleston

2010-10-17T05:54:00.000-07:00

Wanted to post the pictures and I will try to write down some commentary a little later in the day when we get back from brunch. We had a great time last night and I think Abby did to.

Noah's First soccer game

2010-09-18T20:33:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of the four kids on Noah's soccer team, him included. They play 3 on 3 and so we only have one sub to relieve them when they get tired or hurt. It was beautiful this morning and they had a great time playing.

Noah running around the field. They did pretty well because they didn't just all clump up.

Noah's famous pose of hands in the pockets. Kick back and ready to rock. The Ref had to ask Noah not to slide kick the ball/players. I told the ref that we have only had 2 practices and that I haven't taught him that. He was laughing.

Today they all complained of the hot weather and tomorrow they will all be complaining of the rain. Never happy. They had a great first game and they won 10-1. Good job Cheetah's!

Oh to Fridays!

2010-09-17T05:10:00.000-07:00

So for the past year, I have committed myself to running a men's Bible study on my day off (Fridays) which allows me the opportunity to get up at 4:30. I meet 4 other guys and we make a big breakfast between 5-6 and at 6:00 a.m., we have anywhere from 14-25 guys come. It was a stretch at first to get up on my day off, but now I love it. The hardest part is actually getting to bed on time on Thursday night and rolling out of bed on Friday mornings. Now that the stage is partially set, the boys' and I sent Rebecca away for four days to San Diego to see her good friend, Stacy, so she could have some relaxation time and fun. Good birthday gift idea. Well, this meant that I had to stay home on Friday morning and I couldn't run the Bible study and cook. I couldn't leave the kids you know. So, low and behold, this morning at 4:30 on the nose, Jonah calls out stating that he needs to use the bathroom and he was scared to walk there himself. Afterwards, Jonah asked to crawl in my bed which just means that he shakes, turns, wiggles, jerks, bounces, coughs, snorts, and finally says, I can't sleep. All to say that I have now been up since 4:30, not cooking breakfast for 20 guys, but laying in bed longing for the time when I can actually sleep in on a Friday morning. I just don't think it's in the cards for me. So, here I sit bloggging at 5:18 in the morning, wondering what the rest of the day is going to be like. So here is to all of you attending Bible study this morning, "I'm up!!!!" The question is, "What else can I get done this early in the morning, besides starting the coffee maker? To all of you out there that are up earlier than you had hoped this morning, I raise a cup of joe in your honor.

Roberto

Week in Chelan

2010-08-21T13:57:00.000-07:00

We headed off for Lake Chelan this past Monday and stayed with my parents and Stacy and Tom and their condo. It was craziness, but we wouldn't have it any other way. The kids always love going down the center part of town which is on the water and jumping off the dock with the big kids. I did go out there and jumped with them, but the day we went was really choppy, so I made Jonah wear his life jacket. He was mortified. I let him take it off a couple times, but not always. It was a fun day,

Jonah being creative with his life jacket swimming with it off, but in front of him.

Rebecca went down with them on the dock first and had to show them where not to go. There is a wall that you can't climb up, so the kids had to learn where to go.

Noah took the plunge. He stood around for awhile and finally decided to just do it.

There are the three amigos down there on the dock together.

The plan was to spend the week at the condo, and then go off and stay at Daroga State Park for two days and camp. When we arrived, we started setting up camp, and found that one of our tent poles was broken. That mixed with the 30 m.p.h. gusts of wind, made it nearly impossible to keep the tent up. Right then, sprinklers also came on that shot right into our tent, so Jacob thought quickly and put a cup over the sprinkler while we evacuated the tent.

Really doesn't show the wind very well, but trust us, it was bad. We had to move the tent off the foundation, which had pulled out the stakes anyway from the shear force of the wind.

This was one of the small moments that the tent was up and kind of functioning before another big gust came up.

Jonah was even blowing up air mattresses nicely and doing a good job. Within 15 minutes, we had to deflate all the air mattresses when we were fleeing the camp site.

Jacob was doing a great job setting up part of the tent before we had to stop and take it down.

Noah is great with a hammer.

I thought ahead and brought enough hammers for each child so they could pound away.

All to say that we had to take the tent down after 15 minutes because it was broken and the wind launched it across the street. So, instead of camping, we drove back into Chelan that afternoon, got a motel, played on the beach, had pizza for dinner and let the kids play video games. It cut our trip short, but like we told the kids, "You just have to roll with it guys." Seems to be our motto recently.

hanging out on the beach at Wapato Point. We always had to go down early and put out our chairs so we had some shade under the trees. It was in the 100's, so shade was a must.

The one moment that I went out in the water, not to swim, but to relax, all the kids were out within minutes. You can never hide from them. It's like they have a homing beacon.

Noah and Nolan got creative with a log and used it to float around the swim area. We brought all these blow up toys and they play with a log.

This is the position Jacob was in all day long. He swan around the whole swimming area making friends and talking to everyone. Once we looked over and he was giving two kids rides to the dock.

My parents took all of us to breakfast at Blueberry Hill. It is a restaurant overlooking a blueberry orchard. It was beautiful that morning and we had a great breakfast.

Blueberry Hills after breakfast.

You know getting this picture took about 15 minutes because everyone wouldn't cooperate. It did turn out good though

This is a perfect example of taking your eyes off these two for a minute and they get into mischief. Nolan almost got stuck in a blueberry bin. They were finding marbles in the bottom.

Sophia going with the flow.

Two monkeys

The more mature crowd, or so they would like you to think.

Grandma trying to get some quiet time on the water, which never did happen. The splashing began.

We also had my dad's boat so we had two flotation devices and a knee board. We had a blast out there even though we were going 5 m.p.h. some times.

It got so hot out in the boat sometimes, we all jumped in the water in the middle of the lake for a cool off. It was great.

Here is Noah, who got up on the knee board, doing some of his tricks. Boy does he get cocky fast.

Rebecca trying to shade Jacob and herself with her hat.

Isabelle also made it up on the knee board which was awesome.

Jonah said, "I think I could live in Chelan, it's my kind of town." The things he comes up with. He would love to have a job some day where he can play in the water all summer and get paid.

Our compound on the beach. We all had so much fun and the weather was great. Despite the camping mishap, it was a great trip. Thanks mom and dad for the use of the condo.

The angry Barber in Lake Chelan

2010-08-21T13:34:00.000-07:00

So we got to Lake Chelan on Monday morning and played in the water all day. Tuesday, we decided we had to get the kids' haircuts. We went to a barber in town and this is the first thing we noticed, the shop rules. Just by reading this, it sounds like someone doesn't love their job. Then, once we got to meet and talk to the lady, she was a peach herself, which I'm sure was the one who wrote the rules (that had three spelling mistakes, as Rebecca added). She was true to her mood through all three kids.

People would come in and she would say, "Well, there is a line in front of you and I'm taking my lunch at 1:00, so I just don't know if I can fit you in." Mind you that it was 9:30 and we were done by 10:30 with all three kids.

Kids didn't want to get there haircuts, so that's why we have enthusiastic pictures of the before.

Jonah never tries to hide his true feelings.

Noah followed suit on the sullen face since Jonah was. Noah needed it the worst, but we thought knock them all out at once.

This was the after picture. Jacob said she took too much off the top, Noah said she cut too much hair from behind and Jonah said he didn't care. Glad we got that out of the way on vacation. Anyway, the rest of the day we played in the sun and water all day long and they didn't even notice their hair. That is the great thing about boys, once it's over, it's over! But they will always remember the bitter, angry, haircut lady.

Bible camp this week

2010-08-10T18:55:00.001-07:00

All three kids went to camp, even though we just have pictures of Noah doing wrestling camp. Our church did basketball, soccer, wrestling and art camp this year. Noah and Jonah picked wrestling, since that is what they do best, and Jacob picked soccer. They all had a great time and it was hilarious to watch Noah learn how to take down kids bigger than him.

Kind of blurry, but you get the point. They were so tired when they came home everyday. They also really looked up to their leaders.

Jacob played soccer and he had a great time with his team. We didn't get up to the field in time to take pictures, but they sent home team pictures and an individual one.

Anyway, Newlife puts on a great camp and the kids can't wait until next year.

Noah's Pirate Birthday Party!!!

2010-08-10T18:24:00.001-07:00

Even though Noah's birthday was on August 1st, he didn't have his birthday party with friends until today. He wanted a Pirate theme, so Rebecca got to work in her spare time. Rebecca constantly amazes me how she can put these things together. After a light day yesterday of watching her niece and nephew and spray painting furniture in the garage, she came in and made a pirate cake. I promise, she is human. It tires me out just watching.

Rebecca and her mom made the vests the other day and she picked up the eye patches etc somewhere else. It turned out to be a nice, sunny afternoon, which made it great for the kids to play outside. Jonah was also a big help in setting things up and hiding treasure. Noah had a great time.

Here is Elijah in the full garb.

Of course, the trampoline always provides good entertainment for the boys. You only have to plan about two games the the kids use the trampoline to expel the rest of their energy.

Noah was dying to have some of his friends over from school. Yes, he needs a haircut, but this just makes the picture look all the better.

Here is the crew. They look like a scary bunch.

organized chaos on the lawn where they were playing games. Trying to pop each other's balloons. Thank goodness for a large lawn.

The picture I think of for Noah this summer is wearing this tee-shirt, shorts, and with no shoes on. He is in heaven here. School will be a tough transition.

Noah and Marcus--he is so excited that Marcus is going to school at Brownsville this year.

Elijah who found the most treasure and won the balloon popping game.

Noah's best bud and cousin, Nolan. Pirates is a good disguise for them.

The cousins. Sophia fits right in.

Camping in the Hood Canal

2010-08-03T19:47:00.000-07:00

So, all the pictures are backwards in order, which would drive Rebecca to do them all over again, but I don't have the energy, so you will have to read backwards. This picture starts towards the end of our trip when Tom and I took the kids down fishing and he fished a brand new pole out of the water. It even still had the price tag on it.

The kids would fish for two hours at a time. Tom and I never got to sit down, we were pulling hooks out of fish that were way too small. They love catching them though.

It's amazing how you can take 6 kids to a dock and you can look around for a second and find that it is quiet. Something about fishing.

Last morning at breakfast. The kids were itching to go fishing.

The night before we left, we celebrated Noah's birthday and did cupcakes, making him blow out one of the citronella candles instead of a real one.

Now he is 7, even though we told him he wasn't allowed to.

The same Ranger from last year was there and she plays the violin. It's pretty cool because she is like the pied piper with the children. She asked it someone would like to try and play and Jacob was the only one. She also asked for any songs and Jacob said, "The Christian song." She gave an interesting look and said, "I don't think I know that song. Jacob said, "You know, the one that you sing if you are a Christian. Then she said, "Oh, you mean Amazing grace?" He said, "Yeah, that one." We cracked up.

Typical camping picture with all of us around a table with the nice tent trailer in the background.

The sun did come out enough for the Jonah and Isabelle to jump off the dock. The same dock that Papa Doug broke his arm on just one day earlier (OOpps, I will get to that towards the end)

Isabelle and Jonah swimming back to jump off one more time. The both did it last year and loved it.

There goes Jonah with Isabelle at the bottom looking a little scared.

Jonah wasn't sure that first jump, but then he took the plunge anyway.

They look like two old men looking out at the sound.

They loved playing in the water. Saturday turned out to be a nice day.

Sophia getting her groove on in the water.

Jacob wanting some private time out on the water.

We had to watch the two of them closely because they have a tendency to quietly get into mischief

The picture before the first morning of fishing. Filled with high hopes and big dreams.

Nolan putting bait on the hook. No one got hooked in the ear this year (that was me last year if you have forgotten).

We should have gotten an aerial view of the dock.

Just fishing to pass the time away.

Grandma and Grandpa came back Saturday morning to bring Noah's presents and pick-up their dog. They had to run off to the ER the night before (oh yeah, later!)

Grandpa showing Jonah what part of his wrist he broke. Jonah's look is perfect.

Here comes Grandpa with the sling

Jacob wearing his fishing vest that is a little too small for him now.

Nothing like PWT like sitting around the fire in the morning wearing out PJ's

I don't even have to say it. The ever popular picture of kids shoving marshmallows and graham crackers in their mouths.

The first morning's breakfast.

Little bit of running through the stream. Notice we kept them in the same shirt to keep track of them better

O.K., so here goes the story. Why is Stacy holding the fire extinguisher? Friday night after my mom took my dad to the ER, we came back to cook a late dinner. We started the propane barbecue and one of the kids yelled, "It's on fire." I turned around and yelled at the kids to scatter and get behind trees in case the whole thing blew up. As the kids were running around screaming, Rebecca calmly states for us to get a fire extinguisher. Stacy grabs it out of the tent trailor and then we play fight to pull the cord so we can put it out. Stacy saved the day and coated the barbecue. We then busted up laughing.

Here is the picture of Stacy with the fire extinguisher and the barbecue in the background. Of course Stacy really looks like she is dressed for camping doesn't she?

O.K. the rest of the story. We got to camp and before we were going to make dinner (Which didn't turn out well), we went on a walk down to the dock. My dad brought the dog and we left. We were walking down the ramp and he slipped and broke his arm. We had all the kids with us and it wasn't a pretty picture when he lifted his hand up. Rebecca took the dog and kids back up to camp while my mom and i stayed with my dad. We ended up calling 911 and they came. Then the ranger came down and stayed with us while we waited.

My mom on the phone with 911. By that time, Rebecca had gotten back to camp so Stacy ran down to see how things were going. It was beautiful out, but my dad was in pain.

Here is the green grate that my dad slipped on. I also slipped on it behind him, but I caught myself since I am only in the 30's and have a quick sense of balance.

Waiting for the ambulance

This was all prior to the ambulance arrival as we sat around camp looking forward to an uneventful weekend.

I would have guessed that one of the kids would have hurt themselves, but not the case.

Jacob learning how to set up the tent trailor and my dad in the background prior to slipping on the dock. Interesting to look at things in reverse, huh?

So we had just pulled in and we were getting things set up for out weekend at the Hood Canal. We had great plans and were looking forward to a stress free weekend. So sorry that my dad hurt himself later that day. He had surgery on Thursday, August, 5th, and is recovering fine now.

Happy 15 years honey!

2010-08-03T19:16:00.000-07:00

This year, Rebecca and I had our 15th Anniversary and we decided to spend the evening with the kids at the park. I brought lots of good food and some good desserts, and we had a picnic, played boccie ball, and enjoyed the nice weather. We had both thought we would be on a cruise for our 15th Anniversary, but life throws you funny curve balls. We did have a nice time with the kids though. This shot was a self-portrait, which yes, I know makes my nose look big. But, it makes Rebecca shine, so I decided to go with this one.

We were trying to tell the kids what we would be doing out to dinner for our anniversary and they thought it was funny that we would want to take a long time to eat and enjoy our food. Jonah eats like a shark, swallowing everything whole.

More beautiful than the day we got married. Doesn't look like she has aged at all. I on the other hand, am carrying all the grey hairs for the both of us. She says it looks distinguished, but secretly she is happy to have dodged that bullet.

Kind of corny, I know.

Pretty good boccie ball player. I little scary allowing all the kids to have two large, heavy, balls to throw around, but no one got hurt.

Noah, always picking the color red, did pretty well and won two rounds.

One of the rare moments when the kids weren't moving and I could actually get a shot of Jacob and Noah together.

Had to take a couple of these to get one where Rebecca wasn't tripping as she jumped into her seat.

I got a pair of sun glasses from Rebecca. Those of you who know me well, know that I lose, sit on, and otherwise crush most sun glasses that I own. Rebecca never spends more than $5 on glasses for me because I can't keep track of them. Just in June, I put them on the top of the car in Moses Lake and drove off with them sliding off the roof. Rebecca turned and gave me the look. Anyway, she bought me $15 sun glasses (One dollar per year of our marriage). I have yet to break or crush them. Cross your fingers.

Kids down at the Lake. They love water.

We had a really nice time with out kids that evening and they were excited to be included in celebrating 15 years of marriage. I love you honey and can't believe we have survived this many years already. To many more.

One of Rebecca's Talents

2010-07-24T15:46:00.000-07:00

Just had to take a picture of Rebecca who has been working the last two days on re-finishing dressers and cabinets for re-sale. It is pretty amazing how she turns these around so fast. She has the vision to look at something and see what it could look like once cleaned up, sanded and painted. She really enjoys doing it, but she is also really good at it. A mom who can do anything.

If you are looking, you will probably see these babies on craigeslist in the next 24 hours. She does good work.

Skateboard park

2010-07-24T15:31:00.000-07:00

Took the kids to the skate park early on Friday morning, 9:00 a.m. If you go there before about 11:00 a.m., there are no skaters around and the kids can bring their bikes and scooters. It was fun to watch them burn off some steam while I sipped my coffee and watched, always making sure to give tips and pointers.

Jonah would like to think as himself as being a skater, but the last time we came, he fell on his back off the skateboard and now is a little shy of the whole experience.

Jacob preparing for his final jump into the bowl.

Just tell Noah that he can't do it, and he will try his hardest to prove you wrong.

Jonah hanging in the bowl. They had a great time and were tired by the time we left. Don't worry though, 5 minutes in the car and they had recharged their batteries and were ready to go again.

Jacob's Camp

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

Well, we successfully completed Jacob's two week day camp on Thursday of this last week. When we looked into it in February, we knew we had to try to do anything to get Jacob there. It was a day camp in Seattle for chidlren with Aspergers and ADHD. We had looked into going to other states where they had good camps, but just couldn't justify the cost. We found this one and met with the director, Ben, who is also a UW graduate of the MSW program. He was great and really liked Jacob during the interview. With an enormous amount of financial and commuting help, our entire family pulled together and we made this happen for Jacob.

We haven't seen him happier than when hbe was going there during those two weeks. He was like a different kid in the evening, even after a two hour commute home. he would come home and say, "it was the best day I've ever had." He also made a ton of friends, which is a big deal for chidren with Aspergers. He was beaming from ear to ear telling us each night about all of his friends. The camp did an incredible job. They completed a creek resoration project, went to the zoo, the UW arboretum, the beach, and a whole lot more.

This is a picture of the head director, and jacob's counselor, Ben. Jacob really looked up to Ben and you could see the change in Jacob as the week went along.

It was sometimes the small things that would make an impact on his day like when all of his cousins came to pick him up. He was so excited to see his family there supporting him. Jacob's family means a lot to him and he wanted to share this experience with them.

So, Rebecca and I wanted to say a deep hearted Thank you again, to all of our family who helped out in so many ways from driving Jacob, making sure he got his medications on time, sleepovers, early wake-ups to catch a ferry and helping our other two boys at home during a time when mom and dad weren't around a lot.

Jacob picked out a beverage hat from a fun store they went to in Seattle. Rebecca and I drove up for pick-up on the last day and saw him wearing this hat. Wej ust cracked up. It's perfect.

The was the groups final good-bye cheer on Thursday. Thanks you all again for making this happen for Jacob. You need to know how much this meant to him.

Two of the other counselor's, Karen and Adam. Jacob really liked them as well. All of these counselors either work in the schools with this population or as a counselor in some capactiy, so they had a great amount of knowledge.

On ou way home in the car. Jacob ended up drinking two water bottles worth of water in about 5 minutes, which was way too much. We told him the dangers of that kind of hat.

Priest Lake 2010

2010-07-13T20:17:00.000-07:00

I wanted to get these pictures on the blog and will type some words later. Had a great time

Rebecca having some down time on the beautiful couch.

You have to watch out for these two together. They have so much fun together.

Aunt Sarah, Thomas, and Jonah

One evening after dinner, we took the kids out to get ice cream and sat on the dock. It was so nice to just relax. The lake was so calm that night. I had to fight the urge to jump on the jet ski and slice throught the water.

Noah always gets into his food

Great shot of the moon coming out at 8:00 p.m.

I'm really surprised that no one actually fell into the water.

Can't believe he is turning 7 on August 1st.

I'm not quite sure what to say about this picture other than Jonah is way to cool for himself. I'm sure if he had a facebook account, this would be his picture.

They always have a great time in the boat. They can't get enough.

Looks like he is in the mafia

Jacob loves to get buried in the sand because he said the pressure on him feels so calming.

Two fish

You never know what that kid is thinking.

We caught Sarah and Josh having a moment to themselves without any kids. I snuck through the bushes to get this shot. Yeah, I am a little strange.

The finished product. He spent so much time laughing, that all the sand fell off.

He must have been searching for gold on the bottom.

Jacob tried to bury Noah, but he had too many rules--no sand here or no sand there, or not near my ears etc. Jacob walked off. Too high maintanence.

Jonah and Noah did join another family reunion in progress and they played volleyball.

Always against better judgement, we let the kids drive the boat.

Noah does this tongue thing when he tries really hard. It is very cute. We haven't told him yet.

We must have towed the kids for hours on this thing. It was one of the best father's day gifts ever.

Jonah chillin.

Rebecca and I took the jet skiis over to Elkins Resort and sat on their lawn and had coffee one morning. It was beautiful there. I think we mapped out the next 5 years of family planning for our children in 30 minutes. It's amazing what you can do in 30 minutes uninterrupted.

DAREDEVIL

Sarah pulled the two boys on the jet skit. It worked pretty well.

We did rent kayaks on two different days and it was a fun alternative. The kids loved it. I had to take a try and bring it over to them. They all did great.

It was tiring, but Noah pushed through and did a great job.

Jacob had a great time exploring on his own around the creek.

Noah was fighting hard to make it back once the water got a bit choppy. He was exhausted afterwards.

Jonah waiting patiently for his turn.

Jacob normally does some sort of project when we are there and this time it was a pirate ship. He worked on it for hours and went out to find the perfect pieces of wood.

Had to try and take a picture of the clear sky at night with the beautiful moon. Hard to capture.

Noah is quite the thrasher when it comes to sleep, so we always have to take pictures of him to prove ourselves.

Cousin, Charlotte, out at the pool towards the end of the trip.

Picture of Noah thrashed from two hours of swimming. he just doesn't know when to stop himself.

Papa with Thomas waiting on the edge of the pool.

Noah is so good with Thomas and Thomas really enjoys being with Noah.

Getting closer to the end of the project time.

Josh and thomas after he got back in the boat from knee boarding.

Jonah big thing this year was to knee board. He tried hard and had a great time doing it. He was so proud of himself

I wish we could rent this place for a month and hust hang out. A goal for the future.

What's not to love about this pklace?

Some pre-dinner play time

The place owns their own plane and so the kids ran out there to watch it take off.

This was right out in front of our unit.

The finished product. We did try it out and it did float in the hot tub.

Dressed just in case it turns arctic all of a sudden

Jonah trying to navigate the water ways

Noah couldn't take the wind anymore so he had to wear my sweatshirt.

Working so hard.

Teamwork people. Work together!! We had a great time this year and as always hated to leave, but we will be back next year. Good-bye Priest Lake.

May pictures, birthdays, Lake Chelan

2010-07-13T19:11:00.000-07:00

O.k., so no real reason why it has taken me 2 1/2 months to download pictures to the blog. Yes, we are all busy, but it just got away from me. In May, we did our birthday celebrations with Stacy, Jonah, and Nolan. The weather was actually nice back then. Since that time, the weather has been awful. Think about it, there was one weekend in May when the sun came out and the next time was July 5th.

Nolan turning 7-where does the time go?

Jonah is too cool for 8 so he slid over to the 9 column.

Stacy was tired of being 35 so she danced her way to 36, only to find out that 35 wasn't half bad--can't go backwards now Chica!

We always have a great time celebrating all the birthdays and yes, it is chaotic, and fun.

The bat and ball came out. I think this is a hilarious picture of Jacob trying to hit the ball. he actually did hit it and it went over the fence. He looks like he should be yelling, "Attack!!"

Sophia had to be one of the gang too and she made some attempts at hitting the ball.

Jonah working on his bunting skills--still some work to do.

Fire doesn't usually mix with children, so we let Tom be in charge. Was that a good idea or not? Probably not.

Switching to taking the kids to Lake Chelan where my parents have a time share. Jonah and Noah out on the lawn playing catch. It was beautiful over there.

It was non-stop activities from the time we arrived to the time we left. Swinging, baseball, miniature golf, swimming, boating, you name it.

Kids having a great time building a fort at the beach on Saturday morning while the adults sat and looked out at the water with out coffee.

Grandpa Doug taking some time relaxing. There was very little of this kind of time, but we all tried to sneak it in.

I took out each child in the canoe and then my dad took out each child and then we each took different combinations of children at different times. Sounds like a math problem to me. They got more time on the water and in the water than they did sleeping.

then of course there was skipping rocks, which always brings to mind running to an emergency room at some point. They all stand right next to each other or in front of each other and begin to throw. It is a miracle that they don't peg each other more often.

Grandpa in the canoe with Jacob and Noah.

Jonah starting his early career in modeling. Actually, right after this picture he jumped in the water with his clothes on. Real nice.

"Canoe is coming in too fast, too fast I say." Thank goodness the dock was there. We won't talk about the 35 people that fell off the dock when the canoe rammed into it.

Oh, I forgot about the tennis lessons that Noah and Jonah took one afternoon. Again, they did every single thing they could do in a 72 hour period of time. They had a lot of fun with the pro.

Noah was a little tiger out on the court. He loved it.

Look at the other kid who took lessons with them. He was so tiny, but pretty good. Jonah did a couple double takes when he hit the ball over the net.

You know that prior to this picture, they were all fighting. Just thought I would clarify that fact. Don't want you all to think that we have the perfect family or anything.

Noah did end up jumping off the dock but Jacob looked down and saw fish swimming around, so he didn't. At first, I said, "there aren't any fish in there." But there were actually some pretty large ones swimming around. I need to learn to trust my children.

They really wanted to take a dip in the lake in the evening, even though it was cold.

Nice goggles boys.

This was the morning view from the deck. I could have sat there for hours with a cup of coffee, but sitting is child's play. We had to be moving at all times. That is why couple go away on their own sometimes, so you can just sit.

More of that rock throwing that I love so much

We did play domino's but that is because it was 7:00 a.m. and it was too early for the kids to go outside or to the pool.

the kids finally turned into prunes from being in the water so much.

Jonah with his best friend, Sam. They tire themselves out because they run non-stop. Jonah had a great May birthday month.

My boot if off--Just in time for vacation

2010-06-22T08:06:00.000-07:00

So I had to wear the boot for about a month and went to get x-rays the day before we left on our trip to Priest Lake. The hairline fracture has healed nicely, so my doctor said I can start transitioning out of the boot. The first day we headed to a water park in Moses Lake and I did wear it around on the cement but did take it off to do the lazy river with Noah. Doctor was specific and said no water slides. Now that I am at Priest Lake, I am just trying to wear my normal shoe and it feels great. My doctor, knowing me well, said, "No water skiing, knee boarding, or riding he jet ski over enormous waves. I have to ride the jet ski like a 90 year old woman, sitting on my butt and taking in the sights. It's better than nothing. Anyway, happy not to be in the boot anymore. Vacation will be sweeter. Pictures to come later.

Robb

So it's official, I'm a dork!

2010-05-29T15:51:00.000-07:00

My left foot has been hurting since last week when I fell out of the recycling can as I was jumping up and down in there trying to make more room. The first three days, it hurt, but I managed. After that, it took it felt alright with a steady stream of advil. Then, the other day, it really became uncomfortable again. I had made an appointment to see my doctor this coming Tuesday, but this morning, it was hurting too much. I went to urgent care hoping to get a "not to worry, there's noting wrong." Instead, they came in after the x-rays and said, "You have a hairline fracture and you need to wear this boot. I have to admit, I was shocked. So, now I am part of the boot world, where people stare and wonder how you hurt yourself. I'm sticking to a skydivng accident instead of falling out of the recycyling can. Pictures to follow at some point in the future.

with my head held low in embarrassment,
Robb

10 Things you should never have to say outloud

2010-05-21T20:04:00.000-07:00

Since I have been a parent for 10 years now, I've figured out that there are so many things that I can't believe come out of my mouth. The boys and I are in Lake Chelan this weekend with my parents while Rebecca has to work. We have had a full day of events that seem to never stop. In the midst of all the "fun", there are so many things that we just shouldn't have to say out loud.

1. Everyone must wear underwear at all times during the day, no exceptions.

2. Everyone must flush the toilet and wash their hands at all times, and I mean everyone!

3. We don't hit each other in the penis, ever, is that understood?

4. The shower curtain always goes on the inside of the bathtub, never on the outside. (That was a messy one to clean up.)

5. No, you can't hit your brother with the bat, even if you are mad. (I am so glad he asked first, but still, did I really have to answer that question?)

6. You don't run out to the car naked to get a toy, even though you felt like you couldn't wait to get your hands on those lego's.

7. Everyone must use toilet paper after pooping even though you think you may not need to. (It is wrong in so many ways, I can't even understand.)

8. That fish isn't that big at all guys, just jump in. (Once I looked, it was about a foot and a half long--ooops!)

9. Make sure to turn off the water when you get out of the shower each and every time.

10. Noah, stop grabbing yourself in front of the other kids on the playground!

And there you have it. These are all just from today. It is amazing that we have to say these things as parents, but we do. Have had a great day, but I feel like a burnt out cruise director who doesn't want to re-up my contract for the next year. Bedtime is soon. Have a great Friday night.

Three strikes and your out!

2010-05-21T06:18:00.000-07:00

Now it's not too often that I just blog without pictures and discussion about what fun things we have done that week. This week, I'm just sharing what stupid things I have done. It started out Monday night when I had to take the garbage and recycling down to the curb. The recycling bin was once again, too full. So, I did what I always do. I get step ladder and climb into the bin and jump up and down, making more room for the pile of recycling waiting to be shoved in. This time, I got a little too extreme, and the back wheels gave way and the whole thing came tumbling over with me inside. I went flying and fell on the stairs. I scraped my hand, fell on my arm, and hurt my foot. I had originally thought I had broken my foot it hurt so bad. The best part is that right afterwards, Noah came out with more recycling and walked over my tired body lying on the stairs. Once he stepped over me he said, "What are you doing lying on the stairs dad?" I told him I fell out of the recycling bin and he then said, "What were you doing in the recycling bin? That's dangerous." Thank you Noah. He did help me up and helped me clean up all the recycling all over the floor. Like the good (stupid) husband I am, I still rolled both garbage and recycling down to the curb before I cam back inside and promptly iced my foot with a three pill advil push. That was only Tuesday.

I woke up ten minutes late and hobbled to the bathroom on Wednesday, took my shower, popped more advil and made my way to Starbuck's for some good brew. While sitting in line stationary, not on my cell phone or any other electrical device, all of the sudden, a car back into the passenger doors of my car. So, a coffee run has now turned into exchanging information and hearing a story about how she doesn't want this to go on her insurance. I think to myself, "I better slow down today, this isn't starting out well." An hour into work, as I am running around doing too many things, I begin to get multiple text messages about patients who need me to call, but they aren't my patients. I come to find out that this is the one day of the month where it is my turn to be the "social worker on-call". Once a month, we rotate and cover other social workers who are sick or off on vacation. It makes the day crazy, and you are supposed to plan your day very lightly in order to deal with the crisis at hand. I hadn't done that. In fact, I had a fully packed day. Strike two! By the time I got home that night, I noticed that my eye was hurting a bit and a little red. As the night progressed, it was clear that I would have my first ever in grown eye lash forming a large, red, protruding, bump, that is quite uncomfortable I might add. Strike three, I'm out.

Thursday was spent working and trying to get quotes from auto body shops on how much this is going to cost to get my car fixed. The only redeeming quality about the day is that I am taking the kids to Lake Chelan to meet my parents for the weekend. Oh, I forgot, our dog Lego, hasn't been eating the last three days and is pretty lethargic, so Rebecca gets to take him to the vet on Friday morning. She had to stay home this weekend because she has three classes. I know she would rather be here, but work calls. Anyway, I am hoping that the end of the week proves to be much better than the beginning of the week. Three strikes and your out! Have a good Friday.

Robb

Jonah's 9th Birthday Party

2010-05-15T16:21:00.000-07:00

Jonah's birthday is this coming Monday, and as any good parent knows, it's mean to make a kid wait until the weekend after the birthday for a party, so we threw it this weekend. His request? A sleepover (cue dreadful music). We agreed to 4 friends. One could not come because of baseball, and one came for the party but not the sleepover (also because of baseball), so we had 3 for the party and 2 for the night, which worked out perfectly. This is them eating their dinner on the trampoline. Jonah's choice was meatball subs.

Jonah's best friend, Sam, with Sam's gift: A gift certificate to the local mini-golf place cleverly disguised as a rock, wrapped in a box!

Here's Jonah, Sam, and Evans--The 3 sleepover hooligans.
And, this is what we ended up with this morning. What you see here is Jonah, Evans, and 5 extra kids from the neighborhood. Not pictured is Sam, who was reading in the back yard quietly, and another extra neighbor boy. That's 6 extra kids all before 10 AM. We're not exactly sure how it happened, but apparently our house is the place to be.

All in all, it was a great birthday party. Jonah had a fantastic time, and it was just what he wanted. Go to sleep time: 12:45, Wake-up time: 6:05. Oh, to be a kid again...Happy almost birthday, big guy!

Mother's Day-What a beautiful day

2010-05-15T09:32:00.000-07:00

On the ferry to Seattle

Jonah got a lesson in how to train a seeing eye dog. He loved this.

wrong way Noah

Noah made this for Rebecca from school and she wore it all day long for him.

We saw this "Rubiks cube guy" last year and Jacob couldn't stop talking about him. We saw him again and this time we bought the CD and Jacob got a picture. He is the man who can complete a Rubik's cube in 17 seconds. Jacob is always mesmerized.

Jonah got a chance to be involved with card tricks. He loved it and now wants to be a magician

Always a great time to look at the smelly fish. they love it when the guys throw them around.

We did have time before church to get up and make breakfast for Rebecca. Each child got to carry in some sort of the breakfast. Jonah wanted to carry the coffee since he thought he was the most responsible. So, we brought in Rebecca some breakfast and gave her the present she had once asked for....her very own automatic screwdriver that no one else can use.
We went on a hike in the grand forest of Bainbridge the weekend before with my parents and had a great time. We brought Lego and Andy with us and they did great.

Jacob wants to be a surgeon when he grows up so he often dresses up and does surgery on stuffed animals. This is what his surgeon outfit consists of. Who knows why the Santa hat is a fixture, but sometimes we never know. By the way, he also wants to be a engineer.

Weekend away for Mark's 60th Birthday

2010-03-21T19:49:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to put the pictures up and will write more this week once I have some more time. The Snelling clan went away for the weekend to celebrate Mark's 60th and we had a great time. We rented a house on Vaughn, down near Shelton. It was a beautiful weekend and we had a great time playing games and eating great food. Lots of pictures to look at, but worth it. More commentary to come later.

Jacob's 4th Grade play-Lewis and Clark

2010-03-21T19:39:00.000-07:00

We went to jacob's 4th grade play on Wednesday, March 17th. He was a buffalo and had a small speaking part. He did a great job and it was fun to watch.

He had a funny line in the play, which fits him well.

His cousin, Isabelle came, and then we all went out for ice cream afterwards at Dairy Queen. It has become a tradition that we go there after any play or school event that the kids are in.

Playing Hockey at Showare Center in kent, WA

2010-03-21T19:15:00.000-07:00

Jonah's hockey team went to Showare center and played a game on the ice prior to watching a professional game. They were all so excited to get dressed in the locker rooms and play on the ice in the huge arena. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins came to watch and Jonah got to play goalie, which was his first time. Just getting dressed is an undertaking because you have to put even more gear on. It was fun to watch.

He had a great time taking the 1/2 hour just to get everything on. We made sure to ask him if he needed to use the bathroom before he suited up.

He did really well on the ice and blocked a lot of shots. Even though he loves playing other positions on the ice, he said he would play goalie again.

I know it is hard to tell, but it is Jonah.

Grandma and Grandpa LeRoy came and stayed for the game afterwards along with everyone else.

We all had time to run to lunch afterwards before the game started. It was a fun day. Jonah was on cloud 9.

Always the party animals. It was also child appreciation day so they had a bumpy house and a lot of other activities out front, but most importantly, they gave away free hot dogs, pop, and chips to all the kids.

Jacob got a dragon tattoo, which he thought was awesome

Thomas was wide-eyed watching all the action before we went in.

There come the professional players and all of Jonah' s team watched in amazement.

Jonah and some of his team mates.

After the game started, they snuck down front to watch for awhile. They did get reminded later by the staff that their seats were up farther. It was a great end to the weekend and Jonah was so glad to have his family around supporting him.

Lake Chelan Getaway

2010-03-21T17:23:00.000-07:00

My parents have a condo in Chelan and they let us use it in February for a long weekend. We had a great time. It felt nice to get away from all of the scheduled activities and work. We yanked the kids out of school for two days and headed to Leavenworth one night and then on to Chelan the next day.

We stopped at a diner on the way into Chelan for lunch and the kids wanted to learn to take pictures with my camera. It's always an experience watching a child maneuver a camera like a football, but I tried to keep calm.

Noah always tries to play "tough guy" role even though he has a soft heart. Tough shell to crack.

At the Condo, they have miniature gold you can play and they still had the ice rink up, which Jonah loved. It was warm weather, which is strange for February, but it made it that much more fun.

We all worked on our miniature golf, swimming, and ice skating skills. We had a great time. After looking at the picture, I realized I do take most of the pictures, so I'm, never in the shot. That's gotta change.

All the kids were learning how to use the putter the right way from the Reba.

We were the only ones out there, but it was so nice to have some time alone.

I think this was the put that Jonah launched over my head. I tried to let them know that they weren't teeing off, but just putting. I would have done the same thing at his age. This was the same Condo area that our family used to come with good friends, the Wells, a long time ago. It brought back a lot of good memories.

It was a bit chaotic, kind of like herding cats, but I would have been surprised at anything else.

Looks like summer out. The kids wanted to try and go swimming because they thought it was hot outside.

Here's Jonah practicing on the ice with the moon coming out that night. He loved being out there by himself.

Jonah didn't want me to get a picture of him falling, because it's not cool. He said he did that for the camera.

He has sure improved a lot in the past 6 months!

Reba had some time to work on a puzzle, which she loves being able to do.

Jacob is also someone who likes to work on puzzles.

We took a picture of this clinic, which is where we had to bring Jonah when we were here in 2004. We were in the pool area and he fell and cut his head open. I remember sitting with him feeding him m&m's during the evaluation. He was writing a paper on this experience during this weekend, so we took a picture of it.

It was nice that Jonah took time out of his busy hockey schedule to work with Jacob on foot work. They had a great time together.

We did have a fire and ended up roasting marshmallows and making s'mores. We just had to do it. It was so nice to get away,even for a couple days. Thanks a lot mom and dad, we really appreciated every minute.

Basketball Season

2010-03-21T14:32:00.000-07:00

This season, I have been able to assist in coaching Jonah and Noah's basketball team again this year with Brent, a good friend. He also has two boys on the team, so it has been fun for both of us. We had a get together at our house with all 9 boys and their parents. It was loud, crazy, and the kids had a blast. We had pizza and let the kids run around the house. Now, we just run them more often on the court to get their energy out.

We did get them calmed down for at least 10 minutes so we could talk strategy and go through some announcements.

Here is all of us going in for the cheer to end the evening out. Basketball has just ended and we have had a great season where everyone showed great improvement, and the team really came together and played well.

Having snacks after one of our games and talking about the win we just had. The kids always want to know the score.

Noah was amazing on Defense this season, and although he is smaller than most of the other players, he is a shark on the court. He would take it from everyone.

Jonah worked hard this year on making shots since he was tall enough to play closer to the basket. He saw much improvement this season and I can remember the smile on his face when he would make those great shots. I am so glad that I was able to help coach. It is a great feeling to help out on a team with your children.

Toothless and starting Ice Hockey-not in that order!

2010-01-13T20:27:00.000-08:00

Noah finally lost the last front tooth that has been tangling there since Christmas Day. He couldn't even take a bite of anything without it moving around. It was awful. He finally lost it when we told him to go out and play on the trampoline with his brother. Ten minutes later he came in and it was out. Gotta love boys

On a separate note, Noah got to start playing Hockey for the first time on Sunday. Putting the gear on is always very time consuming and hilarious. We had to buy Noah his first cup. I think we could have used a plastic drink cup from home, but we went and bought one at the store and did it the right way. Once we got him dressed, it was hilarious to watch him. His uncle Josh helps coach some of the kids and Noah just loves that part of it. He said he had a great time.

He is smiling there even though you can't tell.

I think after the picture he told me that he couldn't move.

I had to coax him out on the ice for the first couple minutes, and then he loved it. He wanted to wait for Jonah to come out of the locker room, but he was taking too long. There goes our little baby who looks like he has been taking steroids. he goes every Sunday and can't wait until next week.

New Year's Eve adventure

2010-01-13T15:32:00.000-08:00

We headed over to Spokane on December 31st to spend the weekend with my brother, Mike and sister-in-law, Andrea, and their family. My parents also came and my sister and brother-in-law. We had a great weekend of snow and sledding. This was a picture of the boys on the way over in Ellensburg, WA. First potty stop of the trip. They thought the snow was cool. We haven't had the pleasure of seeing any snow so far this season in Bremerton.

The kids got to make a toast to 2009 with sparkling apple cider before they went off to bed at 9:30 p.m.

Mike and Andrea had a puzzle up in the living room, which Rebecca and Andrea enjoyed working on.

It was fun to all hang out around the table and talk. We did have time for feeding the kids first and then having an adult dinner later on. It was great to be there.

Deep, after dinner discussions.

Tom and Stacy feeling a little tired from the drive over that day.

Sophia always is the life of the party. She had a great time ordering her cousins around. They all deserved it.

Jonah had been running through the house and he stepped on one of Rebecca's knitting needles, so we had a little issue. Jonah thought the needle went through his foot. Once we told him that the needle only left a red mark, the crying stopped and the chaos resumed.

This was the children's dinner. They had a great time and we were so glad we waited to have ours a little later.

Since Grandma, Grandpa, Stacy, and Tom were staying at a hotel, the kids got to take advantage of the pool as well which is always a great way for the kids to let off some steam.

We promise, we only let them stay in for 1-2 minutes because of their young age.

Don't mess with Astrid. She can be one scary girl if you cross her.

On Saturday, we headed up to Silver Mountain in Idaho and rode the gondola's up to the top of the mountain. Dana and Hannah went skiing and the rest of us went inner tubing. We had a blast. The gondola ride was 20 minutes and it was enclosed so it was a great way to start and end the day. So here is the chaos of trying to get everyone dressed at the car. Kids are losing gloves, have the wrong boots on and are getting knocked over by other oblivious kids. It was organized chaos.

Everyone took a hand and we were on our way.

The gondolas fit up to 6 people, I think. It was a fun ride.

The kids couldn't wait to get up the mountain.

Noah wanted me to take a picture of this for him. It was the local "watering hole" at the base of the mountain.

For those of you who forgot, Rebecca stayed back at the house with her foot up all day long lounging about. Actually, she had the whole dinner prepared when we walked in the door later that night with brownies to boot. Thanks honey.

Stacy, Tom, Isabelle, Nolan, and Sophia

Mike, Andrea, Dana, Hannah, and Astrid.

We all had lunch up there before we went out in the snow. At this point, we were all dry and warm.

It was beautiful up there and it was snowing hard all day long. The kids loved it.

Uncle Tom spent a lot of time fixing the kids' gloves, hats, boots, etc.

You would have thought they were lounging at the beach the way the rolled around in the snow.

I thought this was a great picture of Jacob catching snow flakes. The hill for inner tubing was cool because they had four slopes and a "flying carpet" to come back to the top. It was like a moving carpet that you stepped on and rode up the hill. When I was a kid, we had to sit down on our tube and have the rope tow us up the mountain. It always ruined our gloves.

Noah got a little wind burn from being out so long.

I don't think Jonah was mad, I think he was going for the cool snow boarder look.

We had a great day and had to wait in line to go back down the mountain. It was beautiful and not too cold.

Uncle Mike always looks funny in a snow hat.

There was one VIP gondola and we let Andrea, my dad, and Astrid go in front of us before we knew it was the nice one. They were loving it. It had 4 bucket seats and a stereo. They rode in style down the mountain. We were all jealous.

The 1 1/2 hour drive on the way home proved to be too much for Noah. I don't think I have seen him fall asleep in the car since he was two years old.

Jacob played his DS and listened to music. It was a great day. We came home on Sunday and had great driving weather. We were tired, but had a great time with family bringing in the new year. Happy 2010.

Catching up on December pictures

2010-01-11T19:17:00.000-08:00

Boy, I thought that having time off being home with Rebecca after surgery would allow me a little more time to post some pictures, but that wasn't the case. Rebecca went in on December 18th for foot surgery so the Holidays were spent on the couch with her foot up on pillows and multiple bags of ice. It also meant we had to be ready for Christmas a week ahead of time. Some how we did it.

I took a picture of Rebecca before she went into surgery. She even makes the gowns look good. She wouldn't let me post the other pictures that I took when she was asleep or in recovery. Those will be posted later. As you can see in the picture, her gown is hooked up to an air blowing machine that pumps in hot or cold air so that you are comfortable while you wait to go in under the knife. I thought that was cool.

A day or two after surgery and she was knitting away. Who knows how everything actually turned out since she was on some nice medication on board. On the phone, ipod in hand, and making Christmas gifts. It was a very interesting Christmas.

I was able to take Family medical Leave from work and was home until Jan 11th. This allowed me time to teach the kids this year a tradition that goes back to my childhood. Scotch eggs. All the men in my family would make Scotch eggs the night before Christmas and we would have them Christmas morning. This year, the kids were ready to gets their hands dirty and we wrapped all the hard boiled eggs and they were ready for cooking Christmas morning.

We did have to go over the ground rules of not putting their fingers in their mouths once they had their hands in the sausage.

The finished products before baking. They are the best.

You have to flatten the sausage out in your hand and put the egg in the middle and then wrap it around. It is hard with little hands, so Noah struggled a bit, but he did great.

Christmas Eve we also had Sarah, Josh, Thomas, Charlotte, Mark, and Sue over for dinner. It is customary to open one gift, although this fact is highly debated every year. Rebecca was on the couch with her foot up and so she was the one to decide that the kids could open their pajama gifts from Mark and Sue. Also, Sarah and Josh gave their gift to the kids Christmas Eve since they were going to be at his house Christmas Day.

Jonah, Noah, and Thomas hanging out before dinner. Thomas loves hangin with the boys and they love having him around.

I think Josh is showing the signs of having a new baby. Catch sleep when you can get it.

We somehow were able to move the table to accommodate everyone on Christmas Eve and Christmas day.

Little Charlotte getting her meal in before we opened gifts Christmas Eve.

Dinner on Christmas Eve, and the answer is No, I didn't cook the Christmas dinner. Mark and Sue cooked it and brought it over, which I will be forever grateful.

The big gift of the evening from Sarah and Josh was Lego rock band for our whole family. The kids went crazy and had a great time playing it that night. They got two guitars and the drums.

Noah has gravitated towards the drums, Jacob the guitar, and Jonah, the microphone. He stands on the table and belts out these songs that are hilarious.

Jonah also didn't do half bad on the guitar. Funny to watch them.

The whole family got into the act. It was a great gift and the kids loved getting it Christmas Eve.
Definitely loud, but fun.

Sarah and Thomas opening gifts.

Christmas morning, the kids are opening their blankets that Reba made them prior to surgery. The week, before, she spent lots of time sewing these flannel blankets for the kids. In the background, you can see that Jacob has one with a map of the United States on it. They love them. Now no more fighting over blankets in the morning while they are on the couch.

Charlotte doing what she does best, sleep. Aunt Reba bought her a Barrett for the massive amounts of hair she has.

The kids all got Snuggies this year, which they all wanted. They are hilarious to see on them. Don't worry, you won't see out family wearing them to a football game or on a picnic outing like you see in the commercials.

Jacob got a Lego Star Wars ship and went right to work building it. It was pretty cool.

Here is the finished product. He was so proud to have gotten this for Christmas.

Later on in the day, My parents, Stacy, Tom, and their kids came over and we did Christmas with them and had dinner. It is always fun to see the cousins together. Noah and Nolan got and received the same gift this year.

Snow inter tubes!

Jonah and Isabelle chillin Christmas Day

The crazy two-some got matching jackets this year from grandma.

Grandma with her two monkeys!

Jonah got an electric guitar from grandma and he loves it. Now he can be in the band he always wanted to be in with his friend, Sam.

Uncle Tom trying out the Lego rock band with all the cousins.

Even my sister tried her hand at the guitar. She loves it when I get shots of her like this.

At the end of Christmas Day, all of the adults were so tired.

Aunt Hannah playing 3-D cnadyland with Noah and Jonah. I think Noah made papa be the princess character in the game.

We had a great Christmas with all of our family. It always goes by so fast. I will try to put up some pictures of when we went over to Spokane on New Year's Eve and went sledding. Have a Happy New Year!

Gettin ready for Christmas!Yeah

2009-11-28T17:11:00.000-08:00

We went out to get our tree the weekend before Thanksgiving because we wanted more time this year. Thomas thought the whole things was strange with cutting down trees and getting cold. I'm sure he loved the candy cane.

Jacob wearing his Indiana Jones hat just in case we ran into trouble out searching for a tree.

Sarah, Josh, and Thomas also wanted to get a jump start on getting there tree since they have another baby coming on November 30th. Everyone is getting a jump start.

It didn't take long this year for us to try and find our tree. I'm not sure if it was the rain that was coming down or that it was just the perfect tree for us.

Jacob wanted to show is strength by throwing it in the truck by himself. He did a great job. He is freakishly strong, like his mother.

Rebecca puts the lights on the tree because quite frankly, I wouldn't do a very good job. I would kind of throw them on and be satisfied.

Kids did a great job this year decorating the tree. We still had to educate on not putting 6 ornaments on one branch, but other than that, there were no take downs or wrestling matches for certain ornaments.

There is always one in the group who isn't listening to the story.

On Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, we had our annual Christmas party with my cousins side of the family. Here is my nephew Dana and His cousins Lars, who goes to Whitworth. They were thrilled to get their pictures taken with Santa Hats on.

This was the best. Seeing all the kids wearing their hats.

The kids had their own projects that my cousin organized. They were sending a care package to a soldier in Iraq so they were making signs and we all brought things to add like cookies, hydrating drinks, candy, DVD's etc. They had a great time doing this. It was a nice idea.

Dana helping Sophia with her card to the soldier. She was telling Dana what to write for her. It was hilarious.

The kids really got into this. Great idea Marcy@

All the adults do a white elephant exchange which is hilarious. This was the gift that my sister, Stacy got.

The ladies talking over a glass of wine.

Of course, Noah and Nolan, hitting the dessert table hard at the party

Stacy got a wine holder with plastic glasses. It was great. It did get taken away from her.

There always seems to be a picture of my brother wearing some hat or ear muffs at the party. This is one that he got. Love the color Mike.

Th whole clan as we played white elephant.

Andrea got a large Fork from the 1970's. It is super ugly--something you can only use for a white elephant gift.

My uncle Ken got a book from the 1970's on how to dress for success. It was hilarious.

Tom working on Christmas Lego's with the kids.

Today, we got our Christmas stuff out and began decorating. The kids love to see all the stuff from the year before. We are trying to decorate early this year since Rebecca goes in for surgery on her foot on December 18th. We need to have everything done by then. We now we get to have a week extra of enjoyment. It has been a fun weekend so far. Have a greatr end to your Thanksgiving weekend.

Robb

Advent Conspiracy through our church

2009-11-28T16:54:00.000-08:00

Every year our church encourages us to spend less on ourselves at Christmas and more on local community projects or global needs. Our church has adopted some groups and we have done things like paid for a well to be dug in Africa all the way to putting toiletry bags together for the local people who have nothing this time of year. It is a great way to teach your kids about the meaning of Christmas. Last week, the kids took their own money and bought food for the food bank and today, Rebecca and I bought toiletry items, Bibles, granola bars, etc and put bags together that will be passed out to people in the area. It was fun to do.

We separated all of the groups of things and each child was in charge of putting their product in each pile (much better for less fighting). Because our kids are so passionate for competition, they would have seen who could have passed out faster, in turn, smashing the bottles of shampoo or something. It worked out well.

Noah took his job of organizing the shampoo very seriously. He organized by color.

Jonah wanted to be in charge of toothpaste and deodorant, and the soap. I told him we could put a pack together for him with those items since he doesn't love to shower. He gave me the glare. The truth hurts Jonah!

Jacob got in on the action of snapping pictures and did a great job.

And here is the finished products. We decided to pray over the bags and that they help those who really need it this year. I wanted to go out and put 10 bags but had to hold back. Trying to teach the kids that a little bit of help can add up when everyone does a part. Have a Great kick off to the Holiday Season.

Robb

A helping hand

2009-11-22T06:51:00.001-08:00

We were driving around Silverdale yesterday running some errands and Jacob pointed out a man sitting alongside the road with a sign that said he was homeless and in need of work. Like always, kids encourage you to think differently about situations you can pass by each day without even noticing. Jacob said, "we should go and buy him some hot chocolate since it's raining out. It was a great idea, so we went and bought some hot chocolate and came back. Jacob, Noah, and I got out of the car and went over and talked to him for a minute. He stood up when we came over and Jacob told him that he looked cold and thought he could use some hot chocolate. He thanked Jacob and started drinking right away. We asked him if he had any offers for work today and he said no, but he did point out that one woman had bought him toiletries and he had enough money to stay the night in a hotel and get out of the rain. I told him that we would keep our eyes open for a job and he was very appreciative. It was a great experience and changed my whole focus for the day. We decided that we would keep watching for him and maybe go back again and spend more time talking to him and finding out what his story is. There may be other ways we can help other than just giving money. Sometimes it is just someone who will notice him and take the time to get to know him. We also know enough people, you never know how we may be able to help. It was a great experience. Good idea Jacob.

It's amazing what a cup of hot chocolate will do

2009-11-14T14:13:00.000-08:00

LeRoy Work Camp for Youth, 2009

Every time I drive in the driveway from work, I all the leaves that are now, all over the ground. I always wonder when I am going to get time to rake them all up and put them in the mulch pile. I sat at the table with the boys after lunch and thought, why am I still trying to do all of this work. I have three boys who have enough energy put together to fuel a small city. So, I said, If you raked all the leaves into piles, you can have some hot chocolate." Before I was finished, the chairs were spinning and they were running about getting coats, gloves, and rakes. I didn't know it would be so easy.

They were all trying to rake in one small area, but on the other hand, that small area didn't know what hit them. The area under the tree, is officially raked. Jonah came running in after 10 minutes and said that they could all go around the neighborhood and charge people for them to rake leaves. I cautiously agreed to the great brain storming that was going on while they were working but said we should still wait and see how this all turns out before we start talking franchise. Jonah agreed even though he had no idea what that meant. Oh, thank heaven for hot chocolate.

Rebecca and I will hire them out to you for any Saturday leading up until Christmas!! Sounds like a win/win for us.

A little late on Halloween pictures

2009-11-14T09:43:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I know, it's just a bit late this year-2 weeks overdue, for Halloween pictures, but here they are anyway. The kids took some friends and we went over to Aunt Hannah's church for the day since they had a carnival. The kids had a great time, and it was just enough to tire them out. I think the boys loved this the most. The bouncy house obstacle course.

Jonah and his friend, Sam must have run through this 20 times.
Jacob got into knocking over milk bottles and did quite well. He has freakish aim.

This was the most fun to watch. It was like sumo wrestling, but more fun. It was like they were wearing a donut around their waste.

Who could eat the donuts the fastest.

Jonah and Sam got so violent with this that they knocked each other into the wall.

Aunt Hannah sat down with Jacob and did some crafts. There was also a cake walk and all the kids had a chance to win. Needless to say, we came home with 5 cakes between everyone. Just what we needed the night of Halloween. Like there wasn't already enough sugar.

Taking a little rest before we all shoved back into the car for the drive home.

This was hilarious. They were taking pictures so all the kids went up and they started knocking over part of the display. Rebecca and Hannah were up there putting things back while I snapped pictures.

The motley crew

We came home in time to have dinner and then get out in the neighborhood for trick-or-treating.

It was a fun, exhausting day

Noah's big Adventure

2009-10-30T16:09:00.001-07:00

Noah had an adventure yesterday at the Allergist. We had been trying to get him in to the Allergist and were relieved when they called Wednesday to see if we could come in for a cancellation the next day. Our concern was that he seemed to be allergic to something. He was constantly rubbing his eyes, coughing at night and in the morning, sniffing his nose, and itching his throat. They asked if he had any history of asthma. We said no, and we were not really concerned with any tests for asthma since our main concern was his apparent allergies. I was very interested to see what he was so allergic to.

Here is the best 'before' picture of him. He was all jazzed when we got there. He jumped up on the table and took a good look around.

The Medical Assistant took us into another room for all the preliminary tests and vitals. He was interested in the blood pressure machine, but didn't really like the squeezing, which he said made his arm hurt.

This was one of his favorite parts. He got to choose his own mouthpiece, and take it home!

Here he is blowing out 'computer candles.' I was a little surprised that on the 3 tries, he was not able to blow out all the candles on any of them.

Then began the waiting. When we came in, we got lots of funny looks for all of the things we brought. I was told it could take 2 to 2 1/2 hours for the appointment, so I came prepared. We brought Noah's DS (handheld game player) and all of our games, my Ipod, on which I had downloaded some of his favorite PBS shows, his home reading book from school, our reading lesson book, my knitting, and a myriad of snack foods.

Then, it was time to see the doctor. We were very pleased with Dr. Jacobs, who was a new doctor to us. I had read about him online, and was happy to see that his demeanor was icing on the cake of his qualifications. Noah happily shed his shirt, and hopped up on the table for Dr. Jacobs to listen to his chest.

Next came the allergy testing. He was already nervous about this part because we had tried to explain it to him in the most innocuous yet honest way possible. We had told him that he would get little scratches with each of the allergens on his back. What we didn't tell him is that there would be 40 of them. Or that it would hurt like the dickens by the end. Or that he wouldn't be able to touch them, and whatever he was allergic to would make him itch like there's no tomorrow.

Then, the tears began. This was so hard for me and for him.

So sad. Then, he had to lay still for 10 minutes before she could read the results. He calmed down quickly when we read a book that required him to find things on the pages. He loves to read, but it took some convincing at that moment.

A close-up of the results: The far left is the control histamine, which everyone should be allergic to. The next red spot is one kind of dust mites--bigger than the control histamine! Next to that is another kind of dust mites. The far right red spot is cats. That was new news to us, but should not be surprising considering my allergy to cats could hospitalize me if the exposure was long enough.

This is after we wiped off the ink and histamines from his back. Still red and itchy.

Even though I predicted that he would have some allergies, he had nowhere near as many as I had thought. We had already known that he was allergic to dust mites since his pediatrician had done a blood test for that not too long ago. But, I figured he would have more allergies to other things.

Then, came the surprise. Finally, after 3 hours of testing, Dr. Jacobs' diagnosis for Noah? Asthma. I had always thought of asthma as wheezing unpredictably, uncontrollably, and often with exercise. I had no idea that many of the symptoms Noah has been experiencing have been because of asthma. So, he got a baseline chest x-ray (which he thought was very cool), and 5 different medications. We are going to try them for now to see what works well, then have another appointment in 2 months to re-evaulate. So, 2 different inhalers, anti-histamine, nasal spray, and anti-histamine eye drops. $100 in co-pays later, he is already doing a lot better. Very little coughing today. We gutted his bedroom today, got an encasing cover for his mattress (we already had one for his pillow), got rid of all the stuffed animals, and practically boiled all his bedding. We are so thankful to know what has been going on with him for the past 6-8 months. We know this will improve now.

I lost my first tooth!!!

2009-10-25T15:53:00.000-07:00

Noah has been watching this loose tooth the past two weeks and couldn't wait until he lost it. We kept telling him that he wasn't allowed to lose his tooth because his little teeth are so cute. We were in the car today on the way home from church and a friend's party and it came out. It was so cute because he was so excited. We wished we had a video camera because he couldn't stop smiling. It is so fun to watch because he just didn't hold back all of his excitement. He gets to tell his class tomorrow and his name goes on the "tooth board".

Congratulations Noah on a great smile!

Mom and Dad

Pumpkin carving and re-painting a dresser

2009-10-24T20:40:00.000-07:00

We went out and gathered pumpkins today in between picking up a dresser for $10, having lunch, and taking Jacob's friend home from spending the night. I have to admit that I did get to sleep in until 9:20 this morning, which I was forever grateful. I felt normal again today.

There was an extra pumpkin, so I got very creative and carved out our last name in the pumpkin. I never said I was very creative. Rebecca knows this. She would have done a better job, but while we were doing the pumpkins, she was over in the driveway painting her $10 find, a dresser. She always knows how to find the great deals and can see a diamond in the ruff.

I did the cutting, while Noah told me exactly what to do. He was quite pleased with the final outcome.

So this is the dresser before it was touched by spray paint. It looked very 70's to me and I couldn't see how it could possibly work, but she did a great job.

The kids did end up having a pumpkin seed fight on the front lawn when I went in to wash my hands. It only takes a second and the kids will take advantage of the absent adult.

We did get to roast a lot of the pumpkin seeds which is the best part, I think. They smelled pretty awesome in the house.

While we carved away and picked up pumpkin seeds off the lawn, Rebecca was over trying to get things painted before it possibly rained. She always loves these pictures when I sneak up and take them from around the corner.

Striking similarities!

The finished product.

After some time of breathing in the fumes from the spray paint, I found Rebecca wandering aimlessly around the neighbors yard. We led her back to our house like a lost elderly person and she was able to finish the task at hand.

So here is the finished product. From noon when we picked it up to 7:30, when we both lugged the thing in the house. Another great find honey. She still seems to be a little dingy from spray painting, but I'm sure that will clear with time. If you see her wandering along the road, stop and bring her home for us. Happy Saturday.

Noah's Field trip to the pumpkin patch

2009-10-24T20:27:00.000-07:00

Noah was so excited to go on his first official field trip for Kindergarten. They went to a pumpkin patch on Bainbridge Island and then went to the children's museum. Noah's has a really good friend, Tommy. Rebecca had the privilege of going with all the chitlins. It rained off and on, but it is October in the Northwest.

Noah looks so intense. He is either bored or really interested in the lady talking about all the different kinds of gourds.

Noah has a loose tooth on the bottom and we have told him that he isn't allowed to lose it because then it means he is growing up. We can't handle that. It will be any day now.

Class picture at the pumpkin farm. They had a good time then went on to the children's museum. They ended up going back to school to have a "picnic" in the their classroom since eating at the park would have been miserable. He had a fun day because he got to stay the whole day and ride the bus home with his brothers.

2009-10-19T20:04:00.000-07:00

Waiting in line for their turn at the shower

Strange things happen in a house filled with boys some times. Tonight we were at the dinner table and the boys were laughing a being a little crude. I have to admit that I may have added to the crude meter. iI looked across the table and Rebecca had her head down in her hands. I think she was thinking of a far off time where there are no stinky little boys. After awhile and when things had calmed down, she got a whiff of Jonah who smelled like a dirt clod and grass all mixed together. She said, "You know what, I think your dad needs to give all of you a shower 101 course again. Do you all know that when you shower, you have to wash every part of you?" They looked at her blankly, so I knew we needed another class on cleanliness. I had to agree since I had also gotten a whiff of Jonah. Just when you think that your job is somewhat done, you are standing there teaching all over again. I can't tell you how many times we say, "Did you flush the toilet, wash your hands, wash your hair, etc, etc, etc." It never stops.

So, at 7:00 p.m., after all homework was done, all the kids lined up in the hallway with their towels on and the challenge began. I came up with 7 areas to wash in the shower and briefly went over these with them. Jacob was the first one to go and he scored a 35/40, technique was good, but he was a little distracted. Jonah went and it was like a train wreck at first. Part of his hair was still dry when he put the shampoo in, he skipped major steps, so we had to do a little re-teaching. Noah was a pro because he had his brothers to watch a gain some much needed tips. Jonah scored a 35/40 and so did Noah. The funny thing was that I wasn't just giving them all the same score. After the shower, we all met on the couch for the unveiling and they all found out that they all lost one point since the towels were all left on the floor and not on the rack. They were clean though. Have to count your blessings though. Who says it's easy to parent. These are things I have been teaching them since they were 2 years old, but it just goes to show you that my job will never be done with these boys. Over and out.

Robb