This is also at "glass beach". Payton is giving bunny ears to Nolahn while Grandma MaryAnn holds on to the walking stick. It's amazing how many rocks kids will pick up and put in a bag when they're not the ones carrying it! Once we had them carry their own, they didn't seem that interested in picking out any more!

Fort Vancouver

We had the great fortune of spending some family time together in Vancouver, WA and Portland, OR last month. This was taken at Fort Vancouver. Regann and Mayson are official Jr. Rangers becuase they answered all the questions in their visitors' books. It was beautiful to see all that green grass and blue sky. Notice Nolahn the Kung Fu kid in the corner.

Carbonara

Payton wanted to cook yesterday, so we made carbonara. It is essentially spaghetti with bacon, cream, parmesan, salt & pepper and egg sauce. She was so thrilled to help out that she cleared the table, set it and called everyone to it to eat. Then she realized that her Christmas chopsticks would work perfectly for eating it!

Christmas Eve Pajama Party

It isn't tough to line the kids up for pictures with truly happy faces when they know they are about to unwrap everything under the tree. As a bonus, they are even mostly color coordinated in this photo. What fun!

Giggly Girls

Payton and Regann decided that since we don't get snow very often, they were going to stay out in it as long as they possibly could. We have about 5 inches of snow at the moment and they were still out there at 9 tonight playing in it.

Our little snowflake

Payton sang for her school at their winter concert on Monday night. Here she is with a sign for singing "Santa" to the tune of "Bingo". They hold up the card as the say the letter. It is the funniest little version ever.

The Mysterious Man

Me: Hey Nolahn, how'd you get that drawing on your back?

Nolahn: I don't know.

Me: Payton, do you know how Nolahn got this drawing on his back?

Payton: Hmmm... I think he did it. Yeah, he did it himself.

Nolahn: Yeah! I did it myself!

Me: Really? A person with arms and eyes? You are clever. Keep playing on the computer. Thanks for being so honest.

The Big 0-6

Our little Miss Payton is officially 6 years old. I can hardly believe how quickly they are all growing now. It seemed like an eternity when they were all smaller, harder to manage, crying, in diapers and depriving me of sleep. Now I can't seem to slow it down for anything. What's a mom to do? (Regann made the cake from scratch; isn't she talented?)

Aunt Gina

Regann and Payton seem to have a great affinity for their Aunt Gina. Can't say as I blame them. We were thrilled to have her hang out

with us for Thanksgiving. She makes me feel young. :) Rock on!