MeRrY ChRiStMaS

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from our family to yours. May you all have a wonderful holiday season.

Allie

It was a sad night at our house last night. We had to make the decision to put Allie down. She was old and had really slowed down the last few months. She got sick suddenly and we didn't think it was fair to her live out her days uncomfortably. We knew that she wouldn't be with us much longer but it hasn't made it any easier.



We got Allie as a puppy. She was like a child to us. She followed us everywhere we went in the house and even slept in our bed. That was her most favorite place to be...as you can see from the pictures. =0) Look how comfy she is!

She even loved to snuggle with Milo when we brought him home. Milo loved her so much. He would whine and cry when we would have to take her somewhere (usually the vet) and leave him behind. If he only knew she was just getting poked and prodded in place he probably would not appreciate being poked and prodded.

Allie was a good companion, protector, outdoor adventurer, exercise partner, entertainer, and snuggler. We loved her and will miss her terribly!

blogging...

I have decided that I am not very good at this blogging thing. I get really excited about new picture I have taken or things that have happened and am all ready to blog about it and then I just don't take the time. Slacker!!!

I just did a couple of posts about summer. Maybe I will be better now??? Enjoy!!

other stuff we did this summer...

We hiked.

We went fishing,

D lost more teeth.

D played outside as much as possible.

D roller skated.

More hiking.

More fishing.

We went to the beach.

We had a pretty good summer. Too bad it is over.

Lost Lake

This summer we really wanted to do some camping. So we did some research and decided on a place called Lost Lake. We loved it there. We ended up going there twice this summer. We had a great time fishing, swimming, and hiking around the lake.

Great veiw of Mount Hood from the north side of the lake.

D and I hiked around the lake to the view point on our first day there.

D posing with Big Foot in front of the general store at the lake.

D loved swimming and throwing rocks in the lake. I don't think this one went very far.

This is the view of Mount Hood on the way home from the Lost Lake...so beautiful.

D's Birthday

D turned 7 this summer. We had a little party at the house with family and friends.

D opening presents.

The awesome fishing vest was a big hit!!

The birthday cake!!

Kindergarten graduation

D graduated from Harmony Montessori School on June 14th. He had a great year there and we were excited for his graduation day. They had a very non-traditional graduation ceremony. No caps with tassels. The children sat in the "Friendship Circle" and walked the circle to their teacher when it was there turn to get their certificate. The teachers said a few things about each of the children. Teacher Kristin talked about how kind D is and how he was so good with the younger children in his class.



A last picture with teacher Kristen. On to the 1st grade!!!

School Play

Right before the end of the school the aftercare children at D's school put on a play..."Small Cloud". D played the part of "Whistling Wind". Teacher Kristin made this awesome costume for D. We were so excited for the play...we had been hearing about it for weeks! D did a great job!!

Sleeping

Sometimes D asks if he can sleep in the bed with Jack & I. This is why the answer is ALWAYS no...

Chickens

Here is the coop with planting boxes on top for our garden...



Here are the chickens...

And our first egg...the small one.

The first egg was so little..it was odd. We now get normal sized eggs pretty much every day.

Happy St Patrick's Day

I know it is a little late to be blogging about St Patty's Day but I couldn't resist. After putting D to bed on March 16th, I started experimenting for his green lunch. Just so you know, green food coloring does not turn apple sauce green...you have to us blue. Who knew??? So I came up with green apple sauce, green cream cheese (even though it looks yellow in the picture) for his bagel, green jello (I am sure school loved that one..."no sugary snacks allowed"), green apple fruit snack, and a green cup for the day. When I picked him up at the end of the day, I asked him about his lunch. He immediately giggled, "It was green!!!" Too cute!!

Advent Calander

We put our Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving. As soon as we put it up, D started asking EVERY day if that day was Christmas. My solution was an Advent calendar. I figured it would give him a visional of how many more days until Christmas. This is what I came up with...

I had seen one like this on a blog and thought it was pretty cute. It was more work then I thought but it was fun to make and I think it turned out pretty cute. Oh, and it really solved the "How many more days until Christmas?" problem. He was excited every morning to see what was inside the little jar for the day. I just put candy in it this year but next year I think I will try to be a little more creative and find little toys onlong with candy for the jars.