WHAT!!! Case is 2 !!!???

Of course, Case HAD to get his first Wii game...I mean honestly, he WAS turning 2 for crying out loud. It's about time.

This boy CAN'T live without trucks.

And THIS boy can't live without building. This time it's a catapolt to launch the plastic chicken.

Thanks for the chicken Grandma, it's amazing how often it comes in handy.

GROSS. No friends are going to want to play Uno at the Thomas house after seeing the way we play here.

Okay, so this goes something like...what do you get when you cross a banana with a mitten.

Actually, I just love the little tiny hands that fill this mitten. I needed some way to show how teeny they are (hence the banana). I love these kids.

RUSS' blue truck from childhood. Russ' cat would crawl into the back and Russ would launch it down the stairs. Yep, you read correctly. Then Russ would open up the back of the truck and the stupid cat would walk over and get back in so it could go flying down the stairs again. Of course, as soon as my kids heard the story, their first thought is:

but we don't have a cat.

And their second thought is:

but we DO have rabbits.

NO KIDS!!!

Why is my life full of so many crazy stories!!??

AHH Valentine's Day...

Wednesday night: Layne (4) starts screaming. Turns out, she poked herself in the eye. She was running to hide from Case and was running with her fists in thumbs-up position. She poked herself with her thumb. We decided (incorrectly) that it was just the skin beside the eye.

Thursday: By 11AM (why yes I AM the worst mom in the world for waiting so long) we decided that we really needed to go in. She had a huge scratch on her cornea. NIIIICE. FYI we had a nice family discussion about running with your thumbs tucked in :)

Friday: Russ and I went to dinner and then I gave him Gettysburg. So Russ, me and KORD (yes he was still awake when we got home so he wanted to watch it) watched GETTYBURG for Valentine's. NIIIICE again.

Saturday: 6AM Russ did this little ditty in...what else...church basketball. So we headed off to the urgent care at 9:30. I had a hair appointment (ladies, you know how you never want to miss that) at 10:45 so I ended up getting Russ through the x-ray and back to the doctor and then headed off to the stylist with all FOUR kids. Which, ironically, I scheduled for Saturday so that I wouldn't have to worry about the kids.

Saturday afternoon: This story actually starts 10 days previous. I just wanted to go the the stake dance...JUST ONCE for crying out loud. Well, Russ wasn't so excited and then ended up coming home with tickets to Monster Jam for Saturday. lovely. This weaves into the previous story since, evidently, he thought that Monster Jam wasn't enough to get him out of the dance so he had to do THAT to his foot too!

No d&$% foot injury was going to stop Russ from bringing his boys to see vroom-vrooms so he hobbled, jumped, and yanked himself to the Rose Garden arena. What a cute daddy

Sunday: Well, how could you beat the precursors...I did the fun little valentines things for the kids in the morning but than that was it. I even forgot to make the milk pink for crying out loud. No pink mashed potatoes. No pink soup. I'm such a loser.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S WEEKEND!

I'll do better on St. Patrick's Day

Doings' in winter

Mom to Case (almost 2 yrs old) “Honey, that is not chapstick, that is a gluestick”

Hadley wrote a verb book in first grade. So it was “Kord runs. Dad works. Case plays. Mom eats.” REALLY. Are you kidding? At least is wasn’t “Mom drinks”

These kids crack me up. We went on an excursion down the hill from my house complete with checking out the big ol' waterfalls, getting SOAKED by Jamie's d%#$ dog running through the muddy water, 8 kids having a ball hiking 2 miles on rocky trails, and calling Jamie's husband to come get us back to our cars after we ended up on the other side of Camas. Thanks Tim!

Layne and Hadley were discussing their aversion to Grandpa Merrill’s pool because it has a vacuum that drives around on the bottom and looks a little scary. Hadley said, “I’m scared of those things”. Kord, immediately and calmly replied, “Yeah, Sam lost a cousin in Montana”. Sam is Kord’s best friend from down the street.

It's Salon Thomas

Oh yeah--give me a piece of THAT action.

Lowe's Kid's Workshop days.

Tea party! Having a sister is the best!

Hadley played basketball this year. Her team was the only team of all girls. They didn’t exactly dominate the league, but they were ALL smiles the whole time. Hadley got the first basket of the season. At half-time of the last game, Hadley was practicing some shooting and wasn’t making the baskets. She ran over to Russ and I with all smiles, “Don’t worry, I’ll get it.” Then we talked about how she was TOTALLY going to get one last basket of the season. With 30 seconds left in the game she plowed through the huge boys on the other team and got her basket. After the game, she came up to us with a huge smile and all the confidence in the world, “told you I’d get it”.

Long story short:

• pineapple can dropped on toe
• tough kid
• middle of night...screaming
• Russ tried to heat needle and poke hole in toenail to release pressure and blood
• Didn't work...called Dad...said "right idea, wrong tool, try a paper clip"
• wisp of smoke, spurt of blood, faint smell of branding cows in the air (so says Russ)
• Happy Case...asked for fruit loops
• 

ODE TO THE BURTONS

What will we do without the Burtons? What will our lives be like? How will Camas survive without their hilarity? How will Nordstrom Rack’s doors remain open? (Kristen and Scarlette, it’s all up to you now…oh, let’s admit it, Shawn too!)

There are so many things that they have given us.

Kendra made sure to leave the largest possible carbon footprint that she could, now another town gets those plastic bags and gasoline fumes.

For the nod of agreement that went through the congregation when Mike Convey was announced as counselor to the Bishop, and the gasp of shock and awe when they announced Bruce—you will forever be remembered.

We need your stories! How many people have put their child’s finger in a ziplock and driven to the hospital?

The question is: will some lucky guy be at the urinal beside Bruce in Kentucky and get a commentary on the great quality of Gap socks---that’s a lasting first impression for Russ if ever there was.

What will we do without Kendra—from being the BEST enrichment leader with the kookiest committee(besides me of course) to the one and only semi-compassionate service leader—Prune Hill ward will be at a loss.

Maybe Bruce will beat his record with the Camas dry cleaner and some lucky dry cleaner in the east will get 58 of his shirts at once to launder.

It’s not fair that Kentucky is getting an awesome kid who makes faces on the eggs in the carton…and all we get is the d$#% rain.

Whether it’s scout trips, business trips or providing service to others, Bruce seems to run into a higher than average number of people pooping in strange circumstances—you can't put a price tag on that!

Perhaps we should warn Bruce’s new ward leaders. If you have him come on scout trips, understand that you’re not adding one more leader to supervise, but one more kid to manage.

From laying down the law that frappuccino IS coffee, to making your very own “fancy pants”, you’re going to be missed and those Louisville people don’t know how lucky they are.

I mean honestly, how many people do YOU know who take a year off of work to manage their friends on Facebook.

601 miles

OH, one more thing...

...I went 601 miles in 2009!!! I joined a challenge in January to run 500 miles. Some was running outside, some on my treadmill, but I did it!!!

I LOVE…

…that Kord knows all the words to the Yukon Ho song by Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes)

…that Hadley eats Dad’s super-hot Kim Chi soup, but that she eats it with one hand on a glass of water and the other hand holding a napkin to wipe the spice off her lips, both of which are used between every bite of soup.

…that Hadley sings alone with her piano playing, “When the dog bites, when the cheese stinks, when I’m feeling bad, I simply remember…”

…that Layne spends 4 ½ minutes EVERY time it’s her turn on Parcheesi because she has to do a crazy shacking dancing with the dice, toss them (there-in knocking all the piece on the board askew), re-arrange them in whatever order she finds the “prettiest”, etc, etc.

…that Layne loves that her hair is ALMOST down to her bum but doesn’t want it any longer because “I don’t want to have to pick it up to pee”

…that Case’s response to “Casers, it’s 8:30 why hasn’t anyone put you in bed” is, with a shrug of the shoulders, “I know” instead of “I don’t know”

…that Russ comes home from work, grabs me, throws me back over his leg and kisses me like he has for 12 years now.  Happy New Year!

Sleep in Heavenly Peace

What happens at 6:30PM when Case wakes up at 6AM and won't take a nap. The excitement of Christmas could only keep him awake so long.