Merry Christmas

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

May you have love in your hearts, family in your midst, and food on your table.

With much love,
Jeff, Andrea, Braxton & Adelle

"But Baby it's cold INSIDE"

FREEZING WEATHER + MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT + BROKEN FURNACE = REALLY COLD!

Yeah so in the middle of the night Friday our furnace stopped working! Burrrr! We are laying there in bed and it's about 4 in the morning. We hear Braxton wake up and he has to go potty. So Jeff gets up and takes him and meanwhile I get up and go to turn on the heat because I was just chilled. I turn the heat up to 70 and crawl back into bed. Braxton crawls into our bed because he was cold too. I'm laying there and the heat isn't coming on. Finally I whisper, over Braxton, to Jeff that the heat isn't coming on. We waited a few more minutes and then get up to investigate. It's true, no heat! So we put Adelle into our bed with Braxton with a warm rice bag in between them and Jeff goes out to the garage to see what's up. I am in charge of keeping rice bags warm for hands for everytime he comes in to defrost.

Can't figure out whats wrong, look on-line, call Barron heating (who wanted $135 an hour to come take a look. Jeff even climbed onto the roof to see if something was stuck in the airway thing. Mind you it's like 5 in the morning by now.

So Jeff makes a fire and I turn on the oven and start washing dishes in hot water to stay warm. Then the kids wake up and we start to panic because they are cold and not wanting to stay in bed where it's warm. So we bundle them up and set them on the chair directly in front of the fire. Then we call my dad who tells us to come on over and have breakfast and then he will come back with Jeff and look at the furnace.

Yippie! We go eat breakfast at a warm house and drink hot apple cider. Then Jeff and dad come back here and within about 3 minutes we have a restored furnace! Thanks Dad! His years of wisdom pointed out to Jeff that the fan wasn't moving which meant that the air wasn't flowing. With a little twist of the screwdriver the fan was spinning again and the house was warm! Brilliance!

The Big 27

Aren't they stinkin' cute!

I know you can't believe it but it's true, Jeff is 27 today! Happy Birthday Bay-bah! Still lookin' young as ever!

True Story:

The other night we took Braxton swimming at the aquatic center. Adelle stayed at my parents so we could have a night with just Brax. So the three of us walk into the center and up to the counter to pay. As Jeff is getting out his wallet the girl at the counter (probably about 22 or so herself) looks up at me and says, "ok one adult and two youth." Are you kidding? "Uh, only if I'm the youth," is what I said in a probably less than friendly tone. Jeff then turned around and the girl was like, "oh, sorry I didn't see your face." Totally funny. She thought Jeff was a youth. The funniest part was that I was totally annoyed because everyone always thinks he looks so young. And Jeff was annoyed because he is sick of everyone thinking he looks young. So it was basically a loose - loose situation but I guess it makes for a good story.

The Agenda for tonight includes lots of Jeff's favorite things:

Steak dinner with company potatoes enjoyed by Jeff, Andrea, Braxton and Adelle

Sparkling Apple-Marionberry Cider

Presents wrapped and decorated by Braxton

A night on the town with his young cute 26 year old wife (if we still venture out in the snow we will be going and finishing some Christmas shopping)

Tillamook Mountain Blackberry Ice Cream - Jeff's new favorite, thanks to my brother Bryce for introducing him to it!

A date night on the couch after the kids are in bed to watch WALL-E...he's been wanting to watch this movie for a while now.

I love my husband so much! He is so simple and he will be so happy with all we have planned. It will be a total blast and I am so lucky to get to spend many more birthdays with such a sweetheart.

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow....

Ok Christmas can come!! We are a very happy household now that it is snowing and sticking! Braxton is the most excited of all. He would be out in the snow all day if we let him! So fun! It really makes it feel like Christmas when there is snow.

I wish you could all smell the fresh bread I made this morning! Yum! Nothing better than coming in from outside to warm fresh bread and butter! Now we just need Jeff to come home from work so he can play outside with Braxton. I was out there earlier and Adelle did not have a fun time watching us out the window! Next year she can play too but today she thought I was the meanest mom ever when I sat her in her highchair looking out the back sliding door to Brax and I rolling around in the snow. It's tough being 6 months old.

Bringing Back the 80's Baby!

Straight Up! Don't ask me what started the conversation Jeff and I were having the other night but it led us to KIDS INCORPORATED! So funny. It was like midnight when the conversation started and both of us were lying in bed, unable to sleep because we couldn't remember the theme song. Then it came to me and I sung it like it was nothing. I used to absolutely LOVE this show! So did Jeff....those of you who really know him are not surprised by this information. Lesha (my sister) and I would always argue over who was Stacey. I always really wanted to be her because she was the star but Lesha actually looked like her and had way more singing/dancing/acting talent than me so she usually was Stacey. I have such good memories of coming home from school and watching this show while singing and dancing along. I consider myself so lucky to have gotten to be born in the 80's! Maybe I wouldn't be so "anti-t.v." if shows like this were still aired! Seriously, whatever happened to good clean fun on t.v.?

So....as our quest continued into the next day we got online and found these videos of KIDS INCORPORATED on youtube. Talk about a total time-buster. I have a million and one things to do but instead I sat at the computer with Jeff and brought the 80's back right in our living room. It was really refreshing. Then Jeff's asks, "Stacey Ferguson, is that like, Fergie?" "No!" I told him absolutely not. Then we looked and sure enough it is Fergie! What? Are we the only people in the world who didn't know that? Then I got sad and I said to Jeff, "Hollywood really ruins people!" Take my sweet little superstar "stacey" and look what she turned into...I'm not so much a Fergie fan, nor do I listen to her or even really know what she sings. So, there you have it. This is what has been consuming our "alone" time together after the kids go to sleep in the evenings.

So if you were ever a fan of KIDS INCORPORATED I would highly recommend looking them up on youtube. It makes for great entertainment and could bring back some pretty fun memories! Did we really dress like that? I know I did! And the hair? Yep, even the hair!

Happy Reminising!

*Thanks Vashti for the step by step instructions for posting a video from youtube...easy!

Six Months Old!

Adelle is growing up right before our eyes. She is so stinkin' cute and she totally knows it, just like her brother. Her personality is so fun. She is so mellow and really truly the best baby ever although I have this feeling that she is going to give us a run for our money in due time. She has this really mischevious look she makes when she is about to do something and it's really funny. It reminds me of myself actually, when I used to look at my dad, and now my husband, with that innocent look that basically gets me whatever I want. How funny that now I'm the one who's falling for it!

She continues to completely adore her brother and is getting closer and closer to chasing him around. Today I laid her on her belly, on her blanket, while I made a couple phone calls and this is what I turned around too. She had completely scooted herself backwards off the blanket and literally across the room. Are you kidding me? You are barely six months old!

Tradition

One of my favorite things about Christmas has always been going to the tree farm and cutting down the Christmas tree. Growing up we would do this and it was always so fun to pick out the tree and then help cut it down and drink cider and eat candy canes and popcorn afterwards. We let Braxton pick out our tree this year and he did a dandy job! It was raining on Saturday when we went but that didn't stop us from having a good time and getting the perfect tree.

This year I realized something that has never even crossed my mind before. Going and cutting down a tree is lots of fun for everyone but it's lots of work too. Afterwards I told Jeff that I really loved him for putting up with my traditions. I realized that I really like going and looking at all the trees and picking one out and getting all bundled up, but when it comes to cutting it down I never help him because every year I have been holding a baby. So Jeff cut down the tree, with the help of Braxton. Jeff carried the tree to the car and then tied it onto the car. What a guy!Thanks Jeff! You're awesome. Maybe that's why I like this tradition so much. I get to share in the fun without having to get down and dirty. I promise one day when all the kids are grown we will still go cut down our own tree and I will be right there on the ground with you, sawing my little heart out (and cursing the saw that always seems so dull at tree-cutting time).
Until then however, I will enjoy being the mom and getting to come along for the fun, drink the cider take the pictures and pose by the tree. Somebody has to do it!

*how cute are all of our boots! I made sure Adelle's were still on for the picture. She really likes to kick them off. Thank goodness we live in Washington and our 6 month old has her own rainboots!