Some New Random Photos

Cousin Peyton and Morgan playing Calico Critters together. What fun to be two!


















Anita came over a couple nights ago for a movie, pizza, and cookies night. We made the cookies and she brought all of the cookie fixin's. Fun fun! But we watched Lake House which is WAY confusing... but a good flick. It was my second attempt at understanding it and I think I have it now. I think.
This is my face right now that is really saying despite the smile, "I don't want to work out at all tonight. But I guess I will, I'll be glad once I start." Here goes...

Valentine Candy Caper

A couple days ago we caught Morgan red-handed with an open bag and a full mouth of Valentine chocolate hearts from the annual package that my Mom sends us for Valentine's Day. Do you notice how many empty wrappers there are compared to the 3 lonely hearts left? We LOVE your Valentine's goodies Mom, thanks!

Girly World

Our little princess displaying her fabulous new box of Cinderella Pull-ups. (did you notice that she is sitting in the box?) She is only slightly potty trained at this point, but they were on sale. So Daddy decided to surprise her one night after work. She loaded and unloaded them in and out of the box, then into her shopping cart, and after a few days of carrying them around she stacked them in her closet where we keep the diapers. There are only two different pictures on the front of them, but each one she gently lifted from the box amidst oohs and awes. Each time she picks one out to wear, she always picks the one with just Cinderella on it as she is displaying for you below! Oh, and need I mention that she is way into dress-up??

Day Two...

Day Three...

Honeymoon Photo Booth

I love these pictures from our Honeymoon on the Oregon coast 7 and a half years ago! We had no one to take our picture so we had to be separate in the "I LOVE YOU" photos. We had fun taking those pictures in the Redwood Forest because Jeremy's parents have a picture of themselves from years ago at the very same site. I scanned them a couple years ago and I just came across them this evening. What fun memories of carefree days! And it's hard to believe that we have three kids now to add to the fun of our life together. Who knew? Oh yeah, HE did.

Our visit with Dr. Dolittle

The other day the boys had dentist appointments. Their first ever.. oops. But all went well, no cavities. So to prep this little Gavin "funny", we are reading Dr. Dolittle the chapter book for Drew's school. And the boys love it.

Gavin had just finished his cleaning with the dentist and had already said thank you to him, said his name etc... Then we went next door where Drew was just starting his cleaning and Gavin asked the same dentist, "Dr. Dolittle are you going to brush Drew's teeth?"

I asked the dentist if he had heard what Gavin called him and he replied, "I only wish I could talk to animals!" Pretty funny. Gavin didn't even realize he said it.

new photos!

Gavin the Quarterback

The Stokes Family out for a visit!

Danae, Chris, Greg, Danika, Damon, Derek, and

Derek's girlfriend Sarah all were home for Christmas!

Shopping and chatting on the phone with Grandma!

A snowy hello from Drewy.

Grandma and Morgan enjoying milkshakes together.

Ya like Morgan's Pampered Chef "curlers"?

Drew, our little photographer, caught Mama on camera.

He caught Daddy too.

Morgan pouring over a Pottery Barn Kids catalog. That's my girl.

amazing

I found this picture on the web this week when I was searching for pictures of snowflakes for MOPS this week. It is a snowflake from 1976 that was preserved in super glue by a Japanese scientist! I am fascinated by snowflakes. And there sure are plenty of them to be fascinated by in my neck of the woods!

You're out of the club!

Good evening! As I sit here in the quiet, on the couch, and the DVD menu of the movie I just finished plays over and over, I thought I'd take a moment and catch this blog up to our lives.


Lately Drew has been making all sorts of "clubs" for all of the toys they play with. For example, the Playmobil club, Lego club, etc... and whenever he's upset at Gavin, he always comes back with, "Well then if you won't do (fill in the blank) you're out of the Playmobil club!" Ouch, huh? (He gets in trouble, by the way, for talking so ugly to his brother.) So tonight as were getting ready to tuck them in their bunk beds and pray, Jeremy and I hear screams coming from their room. Gavin is bawling and Drew is cowering. Drew threw a pen from his top bunk down at Gavin and hit him in the ear. (how rude!) So Gavin was a mess, and we hear him yell, "You're a bad boy, you're out of the club!"

They really are best buddies. This morning, as I was dreading getting out of bed, Drew had come in and was lying on the floor next to my bed. Gavin came in, so he of course pretended to be asleep! Gavin was rubbing his back saying, "Buddy! Buddy! Buddy wake up! Buddy, buddy, buddy! Hey, Buddy!" It was so cute, I hadn't heard him call his brother buddy before! Heartwarming as it was, it still didn't get me out of bed. It's usually when I hear Morgan calling, "Mommy! Mommy, come on! Mommy up!" That forces me to put on my glasses and greet the morning. The boys play so well together in the morning. They used to get into arguments and fight in the morning when they woke up.. and that turned me into Monster Mommy real fast at 8am. But now, it's much more peaceful.

Enjoy the pictures from a camping trip last August with two other families from our home group! We had a blast. The top picture is Gavin studying washed up jellyfish! How cool is that? This last picture was us hiking away from the base of a glacier! We actually held chunks of ice that had fallen off and were floating away in this river!


Well, goodnight. I should get to bed, so I'm a chipper Mama in A.M.

My big little man once again in the morning...

This morning, the first sound I heard was Drew saying, "Mom, I love you. I love you so much!" While he was rubbing my arm to wake me up.

"Hi bud."

"I love you even more than Satan." he said.

"Well, thank you!" said I.

"But Mom, aren't we supposed to love God more than people?"

"Yep, you're right!"

"Well then if God loves everyone, shouldn't we love Satan too?"

"Hmm... how about we find out about that one in the Bible"?

"Okay, can I have my computer time?"

Then just a few minutes ago, he came up to me and said, "Mom, can we watch the movie about Bill the Ancient Dolphin?"

"What???"

"Just kidding, I made it up!"

It doesn't stop there... the boys are in the bath together right now and I overheard Drew giving Gavin a sermon:

"Gavin it's not all about you... it's about GOD! If you think it's all about you, then you believe in Satan! God's the best, and he's better than you! He has super powers, can walk on water, he can heal people... It's real, Gavin. He's in heaven, but he used to be here. "

"God's better than you, got it? He's better than anyone!" He said all of this in a forceful get the point across voice. I think he needs to work on his tact though... tee hee.

"Do you want to pray to God? Okay, I'll pray first..."

"You can say amen, or in Jesus' name amen, or Ahhh-men."

What a silly little man. That's all I have to say!

Who's In?

For all you gals out there, who I'm sure are the only ones reading this, are you up for a challenge? I love challenges. Especially if I can drag some buddies along with me. I just received my new Turbo Jam DVD set that I won on ebay. And my great friend Jessica got me two more for Christmas! Thanks, Jess.

Do you want to get fit with me? Rachel, your TaeBo DVDs are on the way, they're in the car ready to go, I just have to pop them in the mail tomorrow. Wouldn't it feel great to be lighter and tighter by summer?? Sounds good to me! I worked out yesterday and today, and my goal is to exercise 4 days a week at least. Ya in? Choose a workout you like such as videos, gym, running, etc... and get at it!

I love Turbo Jam, it so fun. I'm pretty sore today, and it feels great!

I took my measurements and weight and wrote them down. And I'm going to (GULP) take a picture of myself in a bikini from olden days. (No, I won't be posting that one!) And then redo the picture in a few months, etc...

I was thinking we'd email each other (everyone who's "in") once a week on a Saturday or Sunday and report how we did that week, and our goals, etc... And then if you'd like, once every month or two report any weight loss! It's a no pressure way to get us moving and losing. Just email me and I'll add you to the list, so far there are 8 of us!

I lost 20 lbs after having Morgan by doing TaeBo 4 days a week and eating better, but in the last year I've stayed at the same weight and it's time for a change. I have no excuse now... she's two years old!

Join me, friends! Okay, gonna go dig out that bikini!

Christmas Eve...

Well... the first two pics were not taken today.. but two weeks ago. But I have the same shirt on today, so same diff. And the one of Miss Morgan showing her lovely bottom teeth is from this afternoon. And of course the lovely Auntie Heather at her best. We're having a great Christmas Eve out in Willow. Jeremy's two sisters Heather and Jen are up with their hubbys Gerry and Jimmy. We love our time together as a family of crazy people. But we're missing Aaron, who couldn't be here for Christmas. He's spending it with some more Bacons in California, then heading to Europe on a trip with Talbot Seminary where he goes to school.

Jen, Jimmy, Heather, and Gerry spent the night Friday night with us. And the entire time Morgan called her two uncles "Uncle Kris." It was so cute. She sees Uncle Kris all the time... and it's stuck in her brain. Kris said it mayde his day. Jen and Jimmy were sleeping down in the basement on the futon by the boy's room and when the boys woke up. Drew instantly went out to wake Uncle Jimmy to see if he wanted to play with them. Gavin followed suit and walked to Jen's side and said, "Uncle Gerry, do you want to come play too???" Funny funny. We got a good laugh out of that one. Here's our Gavin after he opened some piano books of his own from Grandma Bacon. He's chomping at the bit to start lessons like Drew. He was so adorable pretending to read the notes and play.

Well, I'm off to play a mean game of UNO. As you all know, I can be quite the competitive game player.

Auntie Heather being her lovely self.

Breathin' Easier

Early this morning we trekked into Anchorage in all this snow for Morgan's long awaited appointment with the Pediatric Neurologist. And... he thinks she is having migraines! I say that with an exclamation because that is exciting! Crazy, right? But with all the looming thoughts of tumors, heart defects, etc... headaches are great! Of course there is no way to diagnose migraines in little ones. But he thinks that the pain lasts just a minute or so, but it is painful enough to make her pass out like she has been doing. And the blue lips, he said, could be caused by her blood pooling in a different part of her body when she passes out (falls asleep.)

Our next step is to get her in for an EEG (while she's sleeping) scan of her brain. With all of these crazy electrode things stuck to her head. We had to do one with Drew a couple years ago.. no biggie. Except you have to try to keep them up all night so they'll sleep at the crack of o'thirty when you bring them in for the test. That part, I remember, was brutal on the Moms and Dads.

He wants to make sure that there isn't something we've missed because her brain hasn't been checked out yet. Only her heart. I told the Dr. I can deal with headaches, then stopped and said, actually I can deal with anything. He said he was surprised I was holding up so well with all of the stress of not knowing what was wrong with her. Not any credit to myself, on my own power I'm a worry wart. So hooray God!

Thanks to all of you that have been checking on Morgan and praying for her. We really appreciate your concern. She's such a blessing. Tonight on the way home from Anchorage, she kept copying Drew in the car saying, "Daaee, I'm so dursty." Translation: Daddy, I'm so thirsty. I'm not sure she knew what it meant, but she sure was adamant. She repeated it for a good couple minutes.

So goodnight, sleep tight. I'm gonna get working on some more Christmas presents I'm making. And watch White Christmas. Haven't done that yet this year. I LOVE White Christmas. I love old movies. Bing Crosby rocks.

Progressive Dinner

If you read my pal Anita's blog, this will be a rerun for you... Thanks, friend for the pictures! Last night we had a progressive dinner with our Seniors. It was a normal Tuesday youth group night, but it was our chance to pick what we wanted to do instead of having normal youth group at church. So... we picked this! Appetizers at the Greenstreets, Main dish at the Ellers, and Dessert at our place! We had root beer floats and watched a goofy Christmasy movie on the big screen. We borrowed a projector from church and watched Jingle All the Way.

It was a dress-up night, but we also wore crazy socks to make our dresses more fabulous. I got my dress at a thrift store a few years ago. I actually love it, it's my "I Love Lucy" dress. It has pockets and everything.

Our girls (and guys) are getting to be so grown up! It was a blast....

One more Drew story...

I say that, but I'm sure there will be many more Drew stories to come! We just went out for dinner because today has been an especially trying day for this Mama... and after we finished eating Drew announced that he was going to get a lot of money. I asked him how he was planning to get a lot of money, and he said he was going to sell milk!

I asked him where he was going to get the milk and he said, "I'm going to play a song to make some money, then buy some milk and sell it!"

That seriously tickled my funny bone in the restaurant while Jeremy was up paying. He is such a goofball. I don't know WHERE he inherited that from. tee hee

Our Early Morning Encyclopedia

At 4am this morning, I woke to footsteps and crying. It was Drew, he had a nightmare and wanted to sleep with us. His nightmare was about a ghost made out of paper plates and paper spiders by the way! So he slept with us until morning. At 8am, his eyes popped open and he got out of bed and walked to the living room.

He came back into the room and said, "Where are you Mom?"

"I'm right here, in bed."

"Oh, I thought you were in the living room! Why do they call it a living room? Why don't they call it a sitting room?"

"Some people do."

Without missing a beat he said, "You know those helicopter toys with a stick that you rub your hands together on to make them fly?"

"Yes..."

"Did you know they are Made in China?"

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, they don't have regular toy helicopters over there. Did you know that if you get too close to a Panda they will be rough?"

"Yes, I did know that. You sure talk alot in the morning."

"I know, I just have a lot to say!"

DON'T WE KNOW IT!!! So that is an early morning conversation in the life of Drew's Mom.

Hooray!

I finally got a call back from the Pediatric Neurologist this morning and they've moved her appointment up from Jan. 25 to Jan. 4! And the Dr. has some openings early next week for urgent appointments and Morgan may get one! So they're having me call next Monday to try to get her in Tues. or Wed.

My good friend Shelly was over this morning to work on a photo slide show because she's speaking at a MOPS group this week... and a verse she placed at the end of the song is Psalm 139:16b. It reads: "All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."

Wow, we can insert any name into that one... be it Morgan, you, or myself. What an awesome God, just think... the God of the universe has everything taken care of already. Phew, that takes a load off, huh?

MOPS Christmas Brunch

Today was our annual Christmas Brunch at MOPS! What a fun morning that was. We had lots of special music, a fun gift wrap game , of course great food, and a wonderful speaker on keeping Christmas simple and focusing on the celebration of Jesus' birth. We always have a good time at MOPS, but this one seemed to have some extra warm fuzzies thrown in.

We had 72 ladies attend which is the norm this year. We love our new church building and the room it provides for our ever growing program for Mother of Preschoolers. I have a burden for each and every one that walks through our doors. I told Jeremy that as I'm driving through town, if I see a Mom about my age I think.. She doesn't know about MOPS yet! I think we could fill the entire gymnasium twice a month if we had enough precious souls to keep our cute kiddos.

Our leadership team is amazingly talented. They sing, play the piano, bake like nothing else, and are so willing to help. I'm so honored to be serving with these friends of mine.

Isn't that button wreath so cute? If I had the time or energy, I'd make them to cover my tree.

I also found this cream puff wreath... If you make it, I'll eat it for you, okay?

I was planning on doing this fun slide show of unique wreaths at MOPS today... but technology did not allow it.

My Dad took our Christmas pictures last weekend out on our snowy hammock.. Here's a fave of mine, but it's not the one we're sending so you won't see it anywhere else. hee hee

Well, I've got to get busy getting all of my Christmas tubs out of the living room becuase I'm hosting Bunko tomorrow night!

It's Pajama Night.. plus we're having a sock exchange after a few rounds of Bunko. Can't wait.

Cutie on the Grand Piano

Drewy had his first ever piano recital this afternoon! And he was 1st up out of twenty other kids that were performing! He has been practicing his three songs that he plays with his wonderful, amazingly talented, Mary Poppinsish teacher, Grandma Anita. He practiced up this morning, but had a brief time out on his bed for sighing and whining his way through his practice time. Which is like 5 minutes long. So after he decided it was better just to get the practicing out of the way, he was amazing!

On the way to the recital, he said... "I'm a little nervous about playing my songs in front of all those people!" We prayed for him in the car and reminded him that he'd be playing with Grandma and we'd be right in the front row to cheer him on.

Let me tell you it was ADORABLE! After each song that he played perfectly, by the way... he smiled and waved at the audience. It was so cute it brought a tear to this proud Mama's eye.

We ended up with a missing tape for our camcorder once we arrived... and my camera battery died as he started his first song, imagine that! But Grandma Marla Kay saved us with some picture taking of her own. I'll never forget his adorable closed lip smile that he spread across his face between each song. He seemed quite at ease, our boy has never been afraid to be in the spotlight. I would have been TERRIFIED at age six, or any age to play 3 songs in front of a room of strangers. What a little man.

Thanks God for our Drewy.

Well, that was fast!

5 little Thanksgiving
turkeys vying for a
chance in the spotlight
after our Thanksgiving
finger puppet show!
I just posted last night about the fact that Morgan's appointment with the Ped. Neurologist would be 8 weeks away. So I decided to get ahold of the Cardiologist and see if her symptoms would bump her up in priority... and I just got an answer!

He said he would call the Neurologist's office for us and get her bumped up and that they will be calling us for an appointment! Thank you God!!! In our eyes, anything closer is better than 8 weeks away!

Thanks for caring.

Say It Isn't so!

A Morgan update... I called the Pediatric Neurologist that we are to visit next and the next available appointment is the end of January or early February! So please, my friends, keep praying for a timely appointment for our girl.

The office hadn't yet received the referral from the Cardiologist we saw yesterday. And the Dr. wanted her to see the Neurologist immediately. SO... hopefully he can get his fellow Dr. (they're buddies) to bump her up due to her symptoms.

If we do end up waiting that long, we'll push to get some of the testing like an MRI out of the way before we see the Neurologist. So we don't have to wait another couple months to see him again. Yucky Poo.

Today I just lost it after I got off the phone with the receptionist that told me it would be 8 weeks away. And then I chilled out and remembered who has this all worked out already. No need to worry. It's tempting, but there's no need. Today has enough worries of it's own, why dig into tomorrow's?