back side view....Jody

Hi girls...I am in Denver for a training and it is soooo cold! This blog would be a great excuse to have a smart phone! I just don't want to spend the money....so I didn't have my camera and I have my work laptop but I thought of you and wanted to post...I took a break  during this training and this was my low rise view....

Old Family Photo

I'm posting from my work computer again in my Bob Cratchit attic office, where I have very few pictures. But here's one of them: my dad's family in 1952. My grandparents are on either side, w/four kids in between. My dad is 3rd cowboy from left. My grandfather was a Scottish preacher who'd always dreamed of the American West. So he started a Christian youth camp with a western theme, and today my brother is its executive director. Check out River Valley Ranch.

Oregon rainy days

This is where I spend as many evenings as I can...reading in front of the fire :)

Strange Pig

Friday there was no school (again!) because of snow, so the girls & I walked to the "Dollar Deals" store to buy Amelia a piggy bank. The only one they had was this paint-it-yourself kit, and the manager was really sweet and gave us two for the price of one (because he "couldn't bear to see her sister not get one, too.") When we got them home and opened them, it took me a while to figure out what the FOUR lumps were on its top. But I think those back "lumps" are its rear legs & that it's supposedly sitting on a really, really big belly.

wanting to go on a walk...Jody

Here is Amelia wanting to take the dog on a walk...wearing her brothers water pack...

Roller skating

Well,We went roller skating.I hadn't been for 18 years.I started out slow but then I got the hang of it.Rainey's best friend was helping Nana learn :) I didn't fall and that is a good thing....

Mom's feat of strength....Jody

My Mom (85) wanted a new lighter iron...here she is proving she can lift the thing....I suggested she just wear her shirts wrinkled...she made a disgusted face and a spitting noise like it was the most disgusting thing she had ever heard!

My Past Life

This is what I would have been doing the summer of 1984 if I'd not been in Kenya w/Jody & Becky. To think I once hung off horses and dug ditches and mixed mortar and layed blocks. Now I have kids hanging off me and dig through piles of laundry and lay my weary head on the pillow at the end of the day!

Still about the baby

We have a family shower tonight for Patton.Should be a fun day :)

Former Snowman

Yesterday we had an unexpected snowstorm, and we built an AWESOME snowman. But then it rained and snowed some more, and somewhere in the night he fell over. Here are the girls this morning, posing on his remains. To see him in his glory, click here.

Amelia decorates baby....Jody

Amelia was not happy with her bald baby...

My great nephew

Today one of my sisters and I are going to Corvallis to check out our first Great-nephew,Patton David :)

Our Amelia's Corner :)

Ever since Jody posted the picture of her "Amelia's Corner" in her house, I've smiled each time I find our Amelia tucked away in some corner of the house, sorting through her "little things." She loves being little, she loves little things, and she loves little spaces.

Jody, getting baby to laugh

Have enjoyed having a baby visiting...love getting her to smile!

Oregon 1985

Here's a flashback just for fun :)

Science is cozy

My mom gives the girls memberships for their birthdays--the Zoo and the Science Center. They love the big dinosaur exhibit at the Science Center, where Amelia always snuggles into the dinosaur footprint she is supposed to be measuring with that yard stick.

Here's where I start & end the work week

On Mondays and Fridays I am the music teacher at Battle Monument School, a self-contained, Baltimore County Public School for severely challenged students ages 3-21. It's a pretty cool place--and this week marks 21 years since I first started teaching there! Yikes!

Oregon Coast

It's suppose to be sunny the next few days and 55 degrees.Hoping to make it to the beach one day this week.....

A neighborhood stroll, anyone?

I used to be REALLY disciplined about getting my girls outside every day. Now we're lucky to do one of these a week. They actually like walks, but often, to get a little "real" exercise myself, I make them sit for the first 20 minutes packed like 2 sardines in the jog stroller. As you might guess, they prefer walking. :)

Nieces!

My niece Summer is here from MN (green shirt), and my niece Diane is here from CA,...they are visiting their Grandma...we are all trying to make baby Angela smile and enjoy tummy time!!

Puddle Jumping

My girls have been into puddle jumping lately.Usually they like to go with their friends late at night but this is Rainey with her cousins.

Maybe I'll Take It Down Tomorrow

(They're not the only two who will miss it!!)

Jody reads in bed

I love to read in bed! I usually fall asleep reading and just put the book under my pillow and Gene protests after we have 3 books and two magazines under our pillows.

Reading Spot

My aunt & uncle practically gave us this super cool furniture last year and now this is my favorite room in our house--the library.

Reading Spot

This is where I read almost every night.A friend of mine bought that fuzzy blanket for my birthday :) (notice the paper and the bible are also accessible)

This is eventually where our TV is going...

...but we still have it around for things like football, and to show the kids movies on our......drumroll please..........VCR(Remember those?)

Local Entertainment in Canon City, CO

Spotted in a store front window...Jody

Becky's nephew

My nephew Levi is a senior in Meridian ID and he got offered a full ride scholarship at Idaho State to play football next year.....

O Christmas Tree

Yup, it's still up, gracing the entry way to our house. People come in and say, "You still have your tree up? And it's real?" Yup. We're hangers-on.

Working from home in Colorado

okay this image is just embarrassing! This is our bed and you can see my newspaper, my planner, my laptop, and my patient husband....after 10pm I just can't sit at a desk anymore so I work in bed. Jody

Baltimore--Home of Hairspray

Doing our part to keep Baltimore weird, too, hon. (All it takes is winter weather and a head rolled against the sofa cushions.)

Oregon

yeah,don't have to worry about it.It's plenty weird :)

Tina's Back!

Alan and I snuck away to NYC for the weekend, thanks to my cousin Shelley, friends from church, and my parents, who all took turns keeping our girls. It was WONDERFUL! We stayed with my cousin & his wife in Jersey city and had a couple of REALLY relaxing, easy, grownup days. This is us on the finished part of "The High Line," which is a raised, abandoned freight train line is being converted into a long, over-the-streets park that winds it's way through the west side of Manhattan.  I walked to Time Square to feel the buzz and, while Alan was hearing his favorite pianist play at Carengie Hall, finished a delicious book called "How Green Was My Valley" while sitting in a corner coffee shop called "Fluffy's." :)

Oregon-This is Bob

Bob is our other family pet.We have a bird and a turtle and that is plenty for me.Bob is Rainey's Russian Tortoise.

Jody, Amelia's corner

this is Amelia's corner...when my brother in law designed our addition he called it that and we've called it that ever since. the baskets under the seat are full of craft supplies and books. 

Jody, Prep

On the weekend I do a couple hours of prep to get ready for meals for the week ahead.
I love putting NPR on the radio and cooking and baking.  This view right here is one of my favorite spots in my house.

Jody, coffee at the Vineyard

One of my favorite things in the world is being on the barista team at our church.  Here are two of my morning buddies.

Destiny and Ray's birthday outing

I took Destiny and her friend Ray to a trampoline place,Cheesecake Factory and an arcade for their birthdays.We had a lot of fun.I didn't jump though :)

We love popcorn!

I used to be addicted to microwave popcorn until a friend served us some popped in a stove-top Whirleypop. My mom scored us a Whirleypop at a yard sale and we've never looked back. We get organic popcorn kernels in bulk from a local natural food store and ta-da! ~Tina

Rainy Days in Oregon

It's been very rainy the last few days.I've been building fires in the fireplace and reading.....

Jody

my newest great niece, Angela PJ.  She is coming in 2 weeks! I can't wait to meet her!

Raising Sisters

I love that both Jody and I have daughters named Amelia. And I love that both Becky and I have two daughters. It's nice to share the most important things in life with friends...or sisters. In this picture, Evelyn is hoping Amelia will share her doughnut, which is currently on her list of life's most important things.

Oregon

My redheaded baby girl is 17 today......enjoy your kids everyday it goes really fast.......

Jody, frozen curls

Avery is growing his hair long, which i love! but if he doesn't start tucking that hair under his hat those curls might snap off!

I can't post tonight...I'm getting an error message.  Drat!

My mom and me

Tina's Skills

You don't grow up in a Baltimore row house w/out honing some serious parallel parking skills. And I still got 'em. I know I'm a bit far from the curb, but I didn't even tap any bumpers getting into this spot. (Don't ask my kids how long it took, though!)

Jody, Small Group

This is the small group that meets at our home on Tuesday nights. We share a meal then dig into God's word.
A sweet sweet time every week.

Becky's exchange student

This is Nanae playing her sanshin which is kind of like a 3 stringed banjo....when she plays it and sings I realize she is a long way from home.

Stayin' busy in Baltimore

The pictures my girls take with their camera crack me up. They've been occupied lately by "making cards," proving again that there are truly cheap thrills: colored paper + scissors + tape = hours of fun. (And how did I miss posting yesterday, too??) ~Tina

Jody, Snow Day

Finally a snow day! Our first in 5 years! But did Amelia sleep in...Noooooo.  She woke us up early and wanted to head right outside.