Happy New Year!!!

My "old man" Dan with baby Cyrus [who is one week old here]. I have been looking through all the pictures from when the kids were babies- so cute and I just can't believe the kid size that they are now. I thought the picture would nice for the New Year!

Now for those pesky New Year Resolutions!

1] Join a gym and more importantly use it :) Today is nice enough for a walk- finally no rain!

2] Make menu plans for every 2 weeks

3] Spend intentional quality time with each boy. [Kind of have to follow a schedule here for that to happen, home to stay clean, and all my millions of errands to be done but intentional quality time sounds better than sticking to a schedule].

4] Make a friend who happens to be a Mommy too that I can hang out with and possibly our whole families can hang out together...

5] What New Year Goal you think I should think about?

Quote

"To fulfill a dream, to be allowed to sweat over lonely labor, to be given a
chance to create, is the meat and potatoes of life. The money is the
gravy."
-- Bette Davis

After spending time with my father-in-law who has an awesome camera and his talks about this photography class he has just taken- I am getting inspired- I want to get back to creating photos so I am going to try to take a class this summer and start on a portfolio. First I do want that better camera- I need something that can take pictures of my kids playing sports- my current little guy just doesn't cut it so what have you heard that works/recommendations?!

Pictures from Grandpa Dave's super nice camera

Merry [White] Christmas

We had a snowy Christmas- as you can see snow falling in the picture on the left... It has all melted by tonight but it was very pretty and just fabulous to have on Christmas Day!

We [joined by Aunt Liz and Grandpa Dave] had a wonderful Christmas and was truly entertained by the boys opening their presents. A lovely supper cooked by moi and great pecan pie baked by Aunt Liz.

Merry Christmas to all and Good Night!

Sane?

Well Dan has had a psychological evaluation and has been declared sane! Unfortunately my bad luck sometimes rubs around Dan's aura and there were some personnel issues and it took longer than "most of the time" to hear back about the saneness so he will not be hired by Portland Police tomorrow- the 20th. But wait- there is good news: Dan has a physical test on the 26th- day after Christmas- basically checking your vision, heart-rate, etc and all stuff he should pass. So here is hoping for a New Year Resolution of Dan getting and keeping a police job *cheers*

We'll give an update when we have one...

Update an hour later: He is taking his physical evaluation tomorrow!!! This is good news because we can know sooner when he will be hired. It is about 3 days turnaround for lab results so will post more when we know more...

Update 2 hours later after above- looks like the hiring date will be December 27th :)

Addiction

I probably go to Trader Joe's for most of my food- I adore that place. I probably should work there so maybe I can get sick of it but after trying one box of the Candy Cane Joe-Joe's [yes you read that right- I ate ONE box by myself] I am hoplessly addicted. Then I behaved after my sugar induced coma with a very sick stomach- I did feel better after sleeping through the night, having eggs and hearty toast for breakfast, vegetable soup for lunch, baked chicken with vegetables then I ate another box- this time Dan helped me. You are incapable of stopping at 4 or even 10 cookies and reading the label while eating doesn't stop me nor anyone else for that matter. So I will be thankful when it sells out [Trader Joe's employees have promised me] and the holiday cookies are gone then I will work off those sugary, minty, chocolately, candy cane bits, cream and a crunch in the same bit, goooey goodness- well ummmm now that I am thinking about it- there is another box in the kitchen..... So do not buy a box or make sure you have to share with 5 other people so your portion will be shorter than a box of holiday cheer!

Quote

"A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner."--English Proverb

Our new baby

We found out that the Barnards are not very good fish keepers so we had a family meeting to figure out what kind of pet would suit our family. Thanks to Dan's experience with his pet lizard [a Tagu] named Edmund nn Ned when he was a teenager- we agreed to get a lizard.

I decided that everyone in the family should help "pay" for it since it would be a family pet and I wanted to stop the boys Christmas cries of "I want..." and help them understand the great value of work. The boys picked out toys to sell through the consignment shop [I was really impressed by their devotion] and earned $200- I would have gotten more through craigslist but I didn't want them to change their mind while waiting for things to sell and be picked up. Dan sold some hobby stuff through E-bay. Don't worry I contributed some too. Got the cage on my birthday- was able to raise funds quickly. Then yesterday, Dec 14th we got our lizard. Our baby lizard, Ignatius nn "Iggy". He is a bearded dragon and is incredibly docile and doesn't mind being handled. Still adjusting to his new home but we love him already [we won't really know the sex until he is older but the boys wanted a boy lizard].

Welcome to the family Iggy!!!

Christmas Tree

We had fun decorating a tree...

(Almost had) Snow

After church on Sunday- we had flurries- SNOW and while we hoped for a good snowfall that we could play with and even have a snow day- off from school. Alas the the snow didn't stick and we had a beautiful sunny day the next day. [Also ignore Solomon's bare arms- I did ask him to put his jacket on- at least he is holding the jacket...] So maybe we'll get a snowstorm soon- we're hoping!

My Birthday

Thank you everyone for your calls and items in the mail- I love them all. I had a very nice birthday! Next week, I will have my sushi dinner [also a date with Dan] and a movie [I Am Legend] so I am looking forward to continuing the good times.

Much Love,

Monica

First Theatre Performance

Solomon and Cyrus had their first part in a play- "Christmas In a Box" put on by St. Matthew Lutheran Church's Sunday School kids.

Preschoolers and Kindergarteners were only on stage for one song- they wore sheep or donkey or goats [my boys] hats as part of the shepards' flocks surrounding Bethleham.

Solomon was in the back in the furthest corner from me so I didn't get a picture until afterwards....

Meet the Grinch

Here is a fun twist on the traditional 'sit on Santa's lap to ask for what you want for Christmas while Mom gets a photograph' that doesn't work for us since Solomon never wants to sit on Santa's lap- face it- he is scary.

So imagine my joy when I surprised the boys by taking them to a bookstore [Powells bookstore in Beaverton/Cedar Hills location] to meet the grinch. This location is really new so this was the bookstore's first character appearance. First a man read the story of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas by Dr. Suess- you can see Cyrus reading it in the bottom right picture. Then after the story was over- the Grinch comes with a dog on a lease [see bottom left picture] for the kids to pet then we went over for "picture time". Solomon ran ahead of Cyrus and myself to be next to the Grinch when I didn't have my camera ready so by the time it is our turn- both of them are goofy or weird looking but not at the same time. The boys really enjoyed this and hugged the Grinch bye when it was all done. It was exciting and a better than Santa Picture for a holiday picture. So enjoy!

Dan

Here is an adorable picture of Dan at 3 years of age!

Lighting of a Tree in Beaverton, OR

Countdown for Christmas has begun....

Boys and I enjoying some 30 degree weather- at least it was not raining!