BAD BLOGGER!

I am sorry I am such a bad blogger. I am really going to try and be better in 2009. WAY too much has happened since Easter last year to try and blog about it all, so I am posting our Christmas letter to catch you up.

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and that you have an even better New Year.

click the image below - it will get bigger in order to read it.

Last One to Catch Up

I'm back... just a short month later and I am ready to finish the "Catch Up" blog post.
This time I am going to post the items in reverse order. I realized my last post is in the opposite order to how normal blogging should go. So I am starting with this last weekend and moving back to Halloween. That should catch you guys all the way up.

Last weekend was Easter. We had a wonderful day with my mom. She came up to our house on Saturday to watch Elijah while we went with the teens on a Mystery Bus Trip. She then stayed the night and went to church and brunch with us on Sunday. She brought up baskets and eggs for an Easter egg hunt on Saturday. Here is Elijah enjoying his eggs.




The Mystery Bus Trip's theme was "80's Prom." The Roth's, Mark and I had a great time dressing up. Thank goodness for Value Village! We had a lot of fun.... taking the teens rollerskating and to Dick's for dinner. Can't wait for the next one.



In the middle of March we took a quick trip up to Schweitzer Mt. with the Roths, Jenna and all the kids to ski, hot tub, sled, relax, eat out and have a really fun time. Sorry no pictures..... but Gracelyn learned to ski... the little boys went sledding, we had a lot of fun. We were lucky enough to be able to stay at My old Bosses Condo. It was great!


This is Elijah at 11 months! Still really Cute. He loves to be outside... also to stand at the window and jibber jabber at anything that moves or drives by. Really Cute.



Mark hosted an all day "Movie Marathon" on March 8th. All the guys from our small group (8 in all) camped out in our basement with the speakers rumbling all day and enjoyed ALL of the "Lord Of The Rings" movies in there extended versions. See his wonderful flyer below.



We sold my old 1990 Honda and bought a new 2001 Honda. It is great.... tinted windows, leather, sun roof, 6 disk CD player.... they have really made some good improvements since the end of the 80's in cars. I really really love it. Elijah does too. We put his "big boy" car seat (forward facing) in the new car. He loves being able to see where we are going.


At the end of February we went out to Anthonys (yum!!) and to see Brain Regan with our good friends the Roth's and the Donahoe's. We had a great time out with no kids, great food, and lots of laughs.


Here is Elijah at 10 months... can anyone say "CUTE"!? Again wanting to be outside. Can't wait till it warms up for him.



The first weekend in February was the Teen Winter Retreat at Pinelow. We had a nice weekend away... Elijah stayed with my parents and that was hard..... Friday through Sunday! Wow! But I made it. We had a great speaker, good food, lots of fun in the snow and a good time of bonding with the teens.


This is Elijah's second atempt at enjoying the snow (scroll down to see the first time). He did great. He made a snow angel.... with some help. We had fun showing him this wonderful new thing. His nose gets red oftly quick this little so we had to make it a short play time.



We have had SO much snow this winter. It was the most I remember since 2nd or 3rd grade. Schools closed and there were lots of snowmen and forts in the neighboorhood. Here is a picture of our house when the snow started to melt off. I don't think we will see a winter with this much snow... or lasting this long for a while.... there is even snow on the ground as I write this.... and tomorrow is APRIL!



Elijah got a Seahawks jersey for Christmas from his Uncle Greg... he was a true fan.... look at the excitement and dedication in those eyes.



At the end of January we went out to P.F. Chang's and to see the Blue Man Group with my parents and Greg and Marissa. It was a lot of fun... and very interesting. Don't know if I would go again... but it was a great family outing.


Here is Elijah at 9 months.... I think he is just soooooo cute! Getting into the shoes and frisbee golf disc in mom and dads closet!



For my mom's birthday the whole family went Bowling this year! What a kick! I can't remember who won... but I know it wasn't me.


Mark and I were lucky enough to score tickets to 2 Gonzaga Mens Basketball Games this year! It was great to see them in person. Although I usually complain about the sometimes corney announcers I realized that when you are at the game you really have to pay attention because you can't hear those guys telling you what is going on.


Christmas was soooo much fun this year. Watching your own kid enjoy christmas is way better than all the presents you get as an adult... not to say that I didn't enjoy my presents... or that I want to stop getting them...heheheh... we just loved to watch Elijah's excitement. It was all new to him this year. He needed help opening... but something tells me next year he will be all over it. Here is Elijah with his walk behind car (which we got for a gift before he was born, but he is now old enough to use it so it was his "big, unwrapped" surprise this year).


My Family being crazy.


And more cute Elijah.



Here is the cutie at 8 months. Smoking in the bath again! hehehe.



This is the First snow for Elijah....


He was ok for about 4 min. then......



We had a great Thanksgiving in Tri-Cities with Mark's Family. Elijah tried a few things from the traditional feast.... didn't like them much.... maybe next year.



CUTE at 7 months too. Enjoying his mobile.



In November we took Elijah to his first Chiefs Hockey Game. He got a free kids hat and was such a good boy the whole game.



Halloween was great again. Somewhere after 6th grade or so, Halloween stopped being really fun.... it was a little better in college when we all dressed up and went out... and it was pretty fun when we got out first house... and got to hand out candy for the first time.... BUT this year with Elijah all dressed up and Mark as Bob the Builder, and me dressed like a Crayon headed out to our church's Harvest Party. We had fun trying to help Elijah play the little games to win US candy. I guess things like this are just better as a kid or through the eyes of our own kid. I sure enjoyed dressing him up and having fun. Can't wait till next year.






That brings you up to date... and I vow to keep this blog as current as possible... to keep you informed and keep me from having to do these giant posts!

I'll Try and Catch You Up.

I (we) have been such BAD bloggers. I am going to make an attempt to catch you up to the current goings on of our house.

This is Elijah at 5 months! Too Cute!


We are working with our youth group at church with a few other couples as the "interum youth pastors". We lost our youth and senior pastors so not only has the church been busy but so have we with all sorts of events with the teens. Here is Elijah and Mark joining in on the action at a x-box night.


At the end of September we went to Tri-Cities to visit the family and meet Ryan and Lauren's little guy Kaleb Christopher.
He wasn't really happy in this picture... but Elijah was sure curious.


We headed to Long Beach on the Washington coast with Mark's parents. We met up with some family friends, the Knights. We had a really great time and can't wait to go back. The weather was absolutely amazing for October - sunny and perfect. We flew kites, played lots of games, ate good food and had a wonderful time just being together.


Elijah really enjoyed all things "Fall." He loved Grandma Schlatter's pumpkins as you can see here.


This is Elijah at 6 months. Yup, still cute.


For my birthday in June, Mark got me tickets to go on a train ride up in Northern Washington. It was very beautiful with all the colors changing.... I went as a kid and remembered it as such a great time so I wanted to go again. We took Elijah and enjoyed it as a family. Over rivers and through the woods... even a "train robbery" for fun.



This catches you up to just before Halloween... out of time for today but I promise I will keep adding.... must go take a shower while the boy is still asleep. It is amazing how simple things like taking a shower before 3 pm seem so hard to do with a busy little guy.