Darin and Jean

Good Evening from Rome

2010-05-16T13:40:00.000-07:00

Here are some highlights from the last few days...

We took the ferry from Naples to Sorrenton on Friday morning - bottom line - we definitely want to go back and visit and explore the Amalfi Coast. Sorrento was truly amazing. I'll post a few pictures now and more when we get home.

Friday evening we had a LOVELY dinner with Val Laurita - she is the Aunt of my boyfriend from college Joshua and has lived in Naples for 40 years. She is just a gem of a lady and treated us to a great dinner at a sidewalk cafe just around the corner from our hotel.

Saturday morning was primarily spent packing our things and getting ready to leave. We had breakfast at the hotel and Chelsey & Lindsey met us there at noon. We definitely didn't want to walk to the train station after our experience when we arrived so took a taxi and arrived at the station in about 10 minutes. The train ride from Naples to Rome was about 3 hours and the kids slept almost the entire way. We arrived in Rome just after 3pm and found our hotel no problem - it is only about a 7 minute walk from the Roma Termini (the main Rome train station).

We had dinner with Chelsey & Lindsey at a decent but very tourist oriented restaurant. The kids sat in the first high chairs we have seen in any restaurant on our trip!

This morning we caught the 6:10 AM train from Roma Termini to Pisa Centrale. The train ride was just shy of 3 hours long. In Pisa we were picked up at the station by Herbert Mulligan. He and his wife Heidi have lived just outside of Pisa for almost 2 years. They have three darling children ages 1 - Luca (boy), 3 - Katrine (girl) and 6 - Loren (girl). Heidi is originally from North Dakota and Herbert is from Ireland. They are part of our world wide fellowship. We had never met them but had been given their name by our ministers in Paris (who we had been connected with via a minister from Washington state who has been working in France (currently in Switzerland)whose family I have known basically my entire life (her twin sister lives in Everett). I had e-mailed with Herbert before we left the states and then called them last evening to make arrangements. We had a lovely Sunday morning fellowship meeting in their home. Herbert's parents were visiting from Ireland and another lady who travels from 2 hours away (Jetta) was also in the meeting. After meeting we had coffee and sweets followed by a lovely soup and bread lunch with Irish butter.

The kids thoroughly enjoyed having the opportunity to play with toys and other kids - it was so sweet to see them all having such a good time.

After lunch and some singing around the piano, Heidi took us to a historic town near by called Lucca - we took in a few of the sights there which included an antiques flea market which was really cool to see. Darin was very interested in all of the antique door hardware but the set we inquired on was 350 Euro so...we definitely aren't bringing that home!

From Lucca we caught the train to Florence and had just shy of two hours to see a few sights. I haven't loaded the photos from yesterday and today yet so won't be able to post them until later. We also had a quick dinner in Florence and some amazing Gelato before hopping on the train back to Rome.

We had hoped to do some laundry tonight but the lavanderia (Laundromat) closed at 10 so will have to go in the morning - we are definitely running low on anything clean to wear.

Here are a couple of photos from Sorrento for your viewing pleasure!

Good Evening from Napoli, Italy (Naples)

2010-05-13T12:49:00.001-07:00

It has been quite a whirlwind for the last week - sorry that we haven't posted more but I'll try to catch you up.

On Saturday May 8th we went to Versaille (all 6 of us). The Chateaux there was absolutely stunning and Darin got some really great photos. I'll post a few now and hopefully many more when we get home. On our way back to Paris Chelsey & Lindsey kept the kids and Darin and I got off at the Eiffel Tower stop. It was truly amazing - we stayed until dark and had dinner at a sidewalk cafe with a view of the tower and then did a bit of shopping and had desert at another cafe before going back to the tower to take more night photos and then heading back to our apartment.

Sunday we got up early and travelled about 90 minutes to Sunday morning meeting at Sylvain & Louise's home. There were 19 of us in the meeting - 11 of us visitors. They translate the meeting via whisper microphone so we were able to understand everything. We even managed to sing the hymns in French! I wish we had thought to get a photo of the group. The other visitors were a couple from Canada who are living in the South of France while he is getting his doctorate in Cancer cell research. She is working in Monte Carlo. His parents and Aunt from Canada were all travelling with them and we knew several people in common - it is truly a small world.

Sunday afternoon Lindsey & Chelsey went off on their own exploring and Jennie Herting flew in for the night and stayed with us at our apartment. We had a truly delightful evening with a guided walking tour that included dinner at a fabulous crepe restaurant followed by fabulous icecream at Jennie's favorite icecream place. It was so much fun to catch up with a wonderful friend that I hadn't spent time with in many years. It was an absolutely fabulous birthday. The only downside was that the twins chose dinner that night to have pretty much their biggest meltdown of the trip. In general they have been amazing little travelers but that night they were just out of sorts and both ended up having a big enough fit that Darin took them out and stood outside while I finished my crepe. Jennie and the restaurant staff were very gracious about the whole scene and they managed to calm down for the most part for the walk home.

Monday Darin and I had the day to ourselves and nearly walked our feet off! We walked from our apartment to the Louvre and thankfully the lines were very short but we only ended up exploring one wing (we did see the Mona Lisa) before heading on out. We had lunch at a cafe in the Tuileries Gardens and then crossed the river to go to the Orsay Museum forgetting that it is closed on Mondays. We walked from there back across the Seine river and up the Champs Elysee to Pont (bridge) Alexandre III and back across to Invalides (where Napolean is buried). From there we walked back to the Eiffel tower and across the river again to sit on the hill looking back at the tower while Darin did some sketching (all artists must do some of that when in Paris!). From there we found a small cafe with a menu all in french (less of a tourist trap) and had a lovely dinner. After dinner it was dumping rain but we braved the weather and walked to the Arc de Triomphe. We climed the 287 stairs to the top and had spectacular views of the city. Then we walked down the Champs Elysee and caught the metro back to the apartment.

Tuesday morning we had to be out of the apartment by 10 AM but were allowed to leave our bags just inside the door until 5pm. It rained pretty hard most of the day but we were able to get to the Orsay Museum which was outstanding! It was so amazing to have the opportunity to be so close to so many famous paintings - Degas, Monet, Manet, Renoir, Van Gogh etc - so many amazing beautiful works of art. Sam and Sydney were fabulous - no fussing at all! We walked a few blocks towards the Rodin museum but it was raining hard and we couldn't find a place big enough to accomodate the stroller for lunch so we decided to head back to our apartment. The twins both fell asleep along the way and slept for at least 2 hours while we ate lunch etc. We found a lovely little cafe with enough room inside for us all to sit and get warm and Darin and I enjoyed a peaceful lunch with sleeping babies. By the time they finally woke up they were both soaked through with overly full diapers so we ended up buying a few clothing items at the Les Halles mall to hold us over until we could get back in to the apartment. It was so cold that day that we also had to buy coats for each of them just after we left the apartment.

Chelsey & Lindsey met us at 4:45 and we got all of our things and made our way to the train station to catch the train to Bercy. From Bercy we took the Artesia night train to Milan. We had sleeping cars - Chelsey & Lindsey in 1 compartment with 4 other travellers and Darin and I and the kids in another compartment with 3 others. We were very thankful to have good "couchette" mates (a set of Grandparents on the way to visit their daughter and grandchildren near Bologna and a lady travelling alone). The Grandparents were very cute playing with the kids and the lady took Sydney up on the top bunk for a while and made her origami to play with.

From Milan (we arrived at 5:30 in the morning) we took the train to Modena and then a bus to Maranello. The Ferrari factory and museum are in Maranello and of course that was a "must" stop for Darin. We had a bit of a challenge with the bus and language barrier but managed to make it there and back to the Modena train station with only a few bumps and bruises! We had hoped to be able to check some of our bags at the train station but there wasn't a facility for that so we had to carry all of them with us for the day. The biggest news is that Darin got to drive a 360 Modena near the Museum - you pay 50 euro and get to take it for a 10 minute drive. Then you pay 20 more euro and get the video of your drive. So - that was definitely a highlight of the day! On our way from the museum back to the bus I stepped in a bit of a hole in the sidewalk (while pushing the stroller) and fell - fortunately the stroller didn't go all the way over on the kids and they were fine and I just ended up with a skinned knee. We had been told that the bus from Maranello went directly to the Modena train station but apparently that wasn't the case as we had to transfer to another bus. That was a bit of a last minute discovery so in our rush to get off the one bus and to the other one my left toe got run over by the stroller wheel and it ripped my entire toenail off...well actually it was still partially attached and I ended up having to remove it myself once we got on the train. So that was a gross bloody mess but we were able to get it cleaned up and bandaged once we made it on the train. (Yay for the first aid kit in the diaper bag!).

From Modena we took the train to Bologna and from Bologna to Napoli. The directions I had for the hotel had indicated that it was a 10 - 15 minute walk from the train station so we decided to just walk instead of taking the metro. BAD IDEA. It was actually closer to a 20 minute drive from the station and with a few wrong turns ended up taking us almost 2 hours to get to our hotel. We were all exhausted! Fortunately just a few blocks from the hotel we connected with a Canadian woman who was staying at the same hostel as Lindsey & Chelsey and they were able to go on with her. That little jaunt was probably the scariest moments of the entire trip - Naples is so much more "foreign" than Paris and none of us have any of the language, streets are not marked well etc. But - we found our hotel and it is absolutely lovely - a true oasis in the bustle of this amazing, crazy city.

Tomorrow Darin and I will have a free day and are planning to take the ferry to Sorrento for the day. In the evening we will have dinner with Val Laurita - the aunt of my college boyfriend who has lived in Italy 30 or more years. She is the one who recommended the lovely hotel where we are staying.

Here are a few photos:

Versaille:

Eiffel Tower:

Walk with Jennie:

Darin and Jean's Paris Jaunt:

Paris to Modena/Maranello:

This is the couchette - 6 people sat & slept in this space!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Sam & Sydney - this is where we ate lunch in a small little park while waiting for our transfer bus to Modena.

Napoli: \

The first four photos are taken at our hotel - the 5th photo is a street scene nearby.

And - that will be all for tonight - we are headed to bed and will hopefully have as good a night's rest as we did last night.

Paris

2010-05-07T13:04:00.000-07:00

After a mostly uneventful (but very long) day of travel we arrived in Paris at our apartment in the Etienne Marcel neigborhood which is about a 10 minute walk from the Louvre.

The biggest event of our travel day was when I left my cell phone on the airplane - it took almost 2 hours to get my phone back. The worst part about it was that it cut our visit with my old friend Ralph very short. He did still meet us at the St Pancras train station but we only got to say hello and have a quick hug before we had to check in to the eurostar train headed for Paris.

The apartment is great - nothing super fancy but very functional and clean with really comfortable beds. There is a small grocery about a 1/2 a block from the front door of our apartment building and several restaurants within a few block radius (including a Subway right across the street.)

Amazingly the kids actually slept almost through the night. They woke up once right about 4 AM and went right back to sleep and didn't wake up until almost 11 AM this morning.

They have had a pretty great 2nd birthday today - after we left the apartment (around 1 PM this afternoon) we bought crepes - Sam especially couldn't get enough. We carried them in our Mei Tai's on our backs and walked to the Jardin du Luxemborg. There is a beautiful very clean playground for children there (it is pay admission). We played there for almost 2 hours and then they got to ride the carousel and to top it off they got to go for a real live pony ride.

Chelsey & Lindsey took the kids from the park and Darin and I got to go for a stroll by ourselves. We went in a few shops and both bought some shoes and then went to the Notre Dame Cathedral. Notre Dame was just beautiful - so cool to see things in person that we've only seen in books before.

Being in Paris is so amazing - we are just really soaking it in. The architecture, sidewalk cafes, shops, and people - soooo much fun.

Here are a few photos for your viewing pleasure!

Sam & Syd still asleep - we thought it was so cute that they were sleeping in the same position.

Sydney woke up first - happy as usual!

Giving sleepy Sam some big loves.

Sam & Syd exploring our balcony

Our family at the Seine River near the Palais du Justice

Jardin du Luxemborg

St Michel

Playing at the playground:

Riding Ponies - Sydney wasn't nearly as much of a fan as Sam!

Hotel de Ville - maybe we should have stayed here!

Notre Dame Cathedral:

Our Adoption is final!

2009-12-26T20:16:00.001-08:00

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

Samson & Sydney are officially ours as of Tuesday the 22nd at about 11:45 AM. It is such an amazing feeling and definitely the BEST Christmas present ever!!

Here are a few photos for you:

Alot to be thankful for!

2009-11-24T11:12:00.000-08:00

We will be finalizing our adoption on either December 22nd or 29th (depdending on confirmation of court availability).

We will be having an adoption party on January 9th with an open house reception from 4 - 6 PM.

Let us know if you'd like to come and we'll send you the info.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Happy October

2009-10-22T21:36:00.000-07:00

I do hope you are sitting down...otherwise it may come as too much of a shock that I have finally managed to sit down and post an update.

We are so thrilled to report that as of Monday, October 12th the twins are finally legally free for us to adopt and we have started the adoption paperwork process. Our adoption home study has been updated and as soon as our adoption case worker gets back from her Hawaii vacation we will complete the "disclosure" paperwork (this is basically just saying we know their background and yes we want to move forward with the adoption). Once that paperwork is completed it will be submitted to the regional office for processing which takes about 3 - 4 weeks. It will then be sent to our attorney who will finalize all of our paperwork and set the court date. We are hoping to be able to wrap everything up by the end of the year but it may slip in to January. Either way - we are well on our way to becoming a "Forever Family"

Sam took his first steps to me on Mother's day and hasn't stopped since! Sydney has been a bit slower to walk but started about a month ago now and is cruising around at a pretty good clip already. She has had some gross motor skill delays but has Occupational Therapy every other week here at home. We have seen a lot of progress in a short amount of time!

They are saying several words now and know several signs - they can sign "more", "thank you", "please", "water, Please", "dog", "all done" and Sam signs "shoes". They say Mama, Dada, baby, Bobpa, Nana and shoe and others. They love to read books - Sam is especially fond of reading to anyone who will listen. They are learning some animal sounds - "ruff ruff" and "meow" are the current favorites. They are also quite eager to point out their nose, eyes, mouth, hair, and especially belly buttons! Another favorite activity is tickling - not only do they like to tickle Mommy and Daddy - they will tickle themselves and crack up laughing.

They have also really started to play together quite a bit - especially peek-a-boo! It is pretty funny to watch them crack each other up. Tonight we had some music playing and Sam went over to Sydney and took both of her hands and started dancing with her - sure wish I had been fast enough to get a video of that!

Here is a photo album with a taste of what we've been up to for the last 6 months. I will try very hard to not let so much time go by before the next post.

Click here to view these pictures larger

At Long Last - warning mega-post

2009-04-26T22:05:00.001-07:00

Finally a post....with lots of pictures! We've been pretty busy around here with the babies gaining mobility rapidly. They aren't quite walking yet but they are definitely getting around - and FAST!!

Things are progressing with their case and the state is changing their official plan to "adoption". That change will go before the judge on May 6th but is expected to be approved. The process for adoption will still take several more months but we have been encouraged to begin calling them the names we have chosen for them. Drum roll please......

Samson Robert Elijah and Sydney Anna Peytine are their names. We call them Sam & Sydney (or Sam-Sam & Syd-girl!)

So - I haven't posted for so long so this goes clear back to early February. We had 5 month old Akeshia with us for 2 nights while her foster mom attended a class.

Trying to fill Dad's shoes:

One of my favorite pictures - a Sunday afternoon in early February. Darin, our niece Leah with Sydney and our nanny Chelsey with Sam having an afternoon nap:

Sam being extra cool:

And Sydney with her sweet smile and cowgirl hat!!:

A playdate with our friend Hannah who was born the same day as the twins!

Reading bed-time stories with Auntie Suzette:

Sam helping Daddy build a fire:

Visiting Mommy's best friends from HS - Jill & Kari on March 9th (yes, they are twins too!!). It was so fun to spend time with them - the first time in MANY years to just hang out and visit.

March 20th - riding around in a box:

We stayed in a hotel for 5 days during our bathroom remodel (will do a separate post on that once it is completely finished - hopefully will be done this week). We used our moby wrap to tie the twins into a chair for feeding:

The hotel stay was quite an experience - our niece Leah was with us as well as our nanny Chelsey. Sydney found a piece of a snickers bar and had consumed most of it before we noticed what she was up to:

Cousin/Niece Leah feeding both babies at the same time in the hotel:

Here we are back home again wearing our jammies from Nana Shirley:

Sydney with Auntie Bonnita on Easter with her pig tails:

Our little family with Lily the lamb at Uncle Jeff & Auntie Bonnita's place on Easter:

Sydney & Lily:

Sydney & Sam with Lily:

April 16th - our first swimming experience - WE LOVED IT!! Sydney and Chelsey on the left and Sam & Mommy on the right:

Shopping at Fred Meyer:

Playing with our favorite toy in our new diaper covers:

Not quite sure what's so funny but something is absolutely hilarious!!

Sam's first haircut

Sydney fell asleep eating breakfast one morning - nice post-pony tail hair!

And just taken today - Sam & Daddy standing in the doorway:

Handmade surprise

2009-02-05T15:26:00.000-08:00

I managed to be the 5th person that left a comment on my friend Jo's block which means I get something fun made by her. The catch is that I have to post this on my blog too....and, just like Jo - have been wanting to "make something" so, here's my chance to do it and be held accountable!!

Lucky you! The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!

2- What I create will be just for you.

3- It'll be done this year. (might be a little while)

4- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or an article on properly cleaning your face before a masque. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!

5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog.

The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!

So....who will be the first 5 people?????

Valentine's Day Cards for Kids

2009-01-30T08:54:00.000-08:00

I saw an article on CNN about this...you can buy valentine's day cards for your kids that go to provide support to children living in poverty in the United States. Not only is it a good cause - the cards are really adorable.

You can find the cards here.

Pillow Fight and More

2009-01-26T20:26:00.000-08:00

I think the twins have been EXTRA cute lately! So - here's a few more photos.

They both fell asleep on our bed after their morning feeding. When I went in to get them after they woke up - this is what I found. The pics don't show it very well but Peytine was getting in a few licks of her own. Of course they weren't really hitting each other but the back and forth action was pretty funny.

PILLOW FIGHT!

Here are their new shirts from Auntie Kristi - notice that Elijah now has 4 teeth with another one coming in. Poor baby has been getting one tooth after another. Peytine still only has two on the bottom but is working on getting some on the top too.

A few developmental progress notes: We have been teething times two at our house since just before Thanksgiving. They got their first two teeth in succession one day apart for each baby and each tooth one week apart. Elijah has been popping out teeth one after the other ever since but Peytine so far just swells up, her cheeks get hot and red and she drools copiously - no more teeth yet. They are both sitting up on their own with minimal intervention. They are very actively rolling around on the floor and will roll to get a toy that they want to play with. They are showing signs of crawling soon and can both "walk" when you hold their little hands. They make lots of fun sounds including ma-ma-ma and da-da-da. Elijah's sounds are a little clearer than Peytines but she is catching up. Peytine waved "bye-bye" for the first time last week and has been very interested in waving at her self - having just discovered that the hand belongs to her! She is also trying very hard to hold her own bottle - Elijah would much rather lay back and have someone hold it for him. It is so fun to watch their personalities. They really adore each other too and entertain and laugh at each other on a regular basis. We also still catch them holding hands in their crib. They are growing and changing every day and bring such joy to us.

On the legal front: the next court hearing is February 9th. The official state plan is still "return home" to their biological mom - basically they have to have that on the paperwork for a certain amount of time unless the commissioner/judge decides she doesn't get any more chances. She has been showing up for the one hour visits with them every week but has not engaged in any of the other services she has been court ordered to do. We are still waiting to find out about paternity - in typical state agency fashion, the child suppport enforcement agency won't allow the Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS) to have the information from the paternity test without a court order. Even if the bio-Dad is identified and doesn't engage in services, the State is required to try and find any family members of his that may be interested. So - it's a wait and see game but we are hoping to know something more definitive before the end of the year. By law the state is supposed to have a permanency plan in place by the time they have been in state custody for a year which will be the middle of September. It could still be several more months after that before an adoption is final even if the plan at that time is for us to adopt them. We are of course hoping for a speedier resolution than that but are just trying to be patient for now and enjoy the babies. Patience may be difficult but enjoying them is easy!

Happy Sunday!

2009-01-25T20:23:00.000-08:00

We took a "few" very cute photos of the babies today and just had to share!

Twins all dressed up:

Uh-Oh, Mommy caught us taking off a shoe!

Here's one each of me with my little man and little miss:

Elijah hamming it up for the camera:

Jammy time (thanks to our friends Garry & Nancy for the cute PJ's):

Auntie Kristi comes for a visit and more

2009-01-24T21:22:00.000-08:00

Warning - this will likely be a "MEGA-POST"! Sorry it's been so long since we've posted - things have been a little busy around here. Dad/Bobpa came for a visit for a few days for a follow up with his oncologist at Virgina Mason. He had the wonderful news of a clean report and doesn't have to come back for 12 months!!!

This week we had a visit from Kristi G all the way from Sioux Falls, SD. Kristi was my maid of honor from our wedding and my "sister"...we both have 4 brothers and no sisters and ever since we worked together at the Corvallis Gazette Times (Corvallis, OR) we have claimed each other as sisters. The funny part is that people always think we are sisters anyway so it just makes it easier to answer the "is this your sister?" question with a YES!

The twins are growing and progressing by leaps and bounds. They are super funny and cute. Here is a video of the two of them in their exersaucers - Peytine apparently thinks Elijah is the funniest thing on the planet.

Bobpa and Peytine:

Elijah:

Peytine:

Auntie Kristi and the twins:

Auntie Kristi and Watson (who was VERY happy for all of the extra attention!)

Bath Time!!

New High Chairs (They LOVE them and so do we...feeding time is soooo much easier and the high chairs fold up to 7.5 inches wide for quick easy storage...happiness all around!).

Auntie Kristi left to go back home today so we were all feeling sad. To lighten the atmosphere a little Darin was playing peek-a-boo etc with the babies. Elijah was totally in to it and Peytine couldn't have been less interested. Here is a video clip of the fun:

And one last picture for good measure...Elijah was feeling VERY snuggly one afternoon:

Can you believe that January is ALMOST over already???? Yikes!!

Happy New Year

2009-01-05T20:17:00.001-08:00

A Very Happy New Year to everyone!

Just when all of our snow had finally melted away (actually - we still had a small pile at the end of the driveway) we had another small snow storm last night and got about 5 inches! It is mostly melted away already thankfully and we are supposed to have rain for the next several days - much more normal northwest weather!

Leah and Chelsea came and spent a few days with us between Christmas and New Years. They were a FABULOUS help with the babies! Here is a photo of them busy with their other favorite pastime.

One morning we decided to feed the babies with just their diapers on in an effort to conserve on laundry....it was still a mess especially when they decided to fight over the newspaper! Here are a few pics of their first newspaper "reading".

We had a wonderful New Year's Eve celebration at Suzette's place .... unfortunately I was lame and didn't take any photos. Peytine was awake to ring in the New Year with an upset tummy and Elijah woke up with the fire works so we started off the year consoling tired, crying babies - but otherwise had a really great time with Reece and Linda, Suzette, Dave & Sheryl and all of the kiddos. We slept in on New Year's day (or at least I did - thanks Darin!) and spent a nice relaxed day hanging out with Suzette in front of the fire.

Then to top it all off - Saturday, Darin let me sleep until 10:30 AM. It was SOOOOOO wonderful!!

I went back to work today - it was actually kind of nice to be back in the groove of having a schedule again.

Happy Holidays

2008-12-27T14:45:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas here at home with our little bundles, friends and neighbors. Christmas Eve, Auntie Suzette spent the night with us after braving the elements to get across on the ferry from Seattle. Thanks to her neighbor Becky for taking her to the ferry on that side and our neighbor James for picking her up on this side. The babies fell asleep about 15 minutes before I was due downtown to pick her up and James graciously agreed to make the run for me. Here is a photo of Auntie Suzette and Peytine on Christmas Eve:

Darin read "Night Before Christmas" to the twins that night - here is a photo and a video clip of that cute event:

Christmas morning we had the "overnight coffee cake" for breakfast that Darin had mixed up the night before and then the adults opened our stockings. After the babies got up we fed them breakfast and then set them on the couch to open their stockings. Here they are - of course first the stockings went in their mouths and then everything in them. Here are a few photos:

The two little huskies (photo taken earlier in the week wearing the outfits from Uncle Jeff & Auntie Bonnita) each got a University of Washington hard board book in their stocking. Elijah's is titled "Little Husky's first football game" in which the little huskies beat the little cougars OF COURSE! Peytine's book is "University of Washgington 101" and includes everything a baby needs to know about going to college at the UW (Mommy's alma mater)!!

Christmas afternoon our neighbors Keith and Jessie and Keith's brother Talon, Jean's old friend from Seattle college days and our neighbor down the street Beth, and Suzette all shared dinner with us. We enjoyed good food and good company and finished it off with a raspberry trifle for desert.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you. We love it when you post comments so we know you are out there keeping tabs on us!

Darin, Jean and the Twins

Let it Snow!

2008-12-23T00:52:00.000-08:00

I've lived in Washington 34 of my 38 years and don't remember seeing this much snow on the west side of the state EVER! (I'm told that there was more than this once when I was a toddler but that was a long time ago!) We've had snow on the ground for 10+ days now - very unusual for these parts.

Here are some photos of the fun:

Our house with the snowman Darin built for us:

Our gate & fence - I love how the snow piled up:

Our Street - we got 6 - 8 more inches after this photo was taken:

Family - Thanks Keith and Jessie for being our photographers!

Mommy & Babies:

Not snow pics but had to share...

Daddy & Peytine - Thanks Auntie Megan for the cute outfit!

Watson and Elijah hanging out:

FINALLY - an update

2008-12-09T19:28:00.000-08:00

Hello!

Oops - I didn't quite make my promise last week but better late than never right?? And now you will just have to endure a REALLY long post with LOTS of pictures!

The twins are doing great! They really are the cutest babies in the world but then again, I might be slightly biased.

So - here are some pics of the goings on around here...

Kind of embarrasing to be posting Halloween photos in December but here they are...we had two little pumpkins - Thanks to Darin's cousin Sherri for taking the photos!:

Mommy & Elijah:

Peytine:

Here are more pictures from the photo session with Sherri - I LOVE this series and have named it "The Secret"...these are now printed and hanging on the wall in our living room:

The Pumpkins also attended our niece Leah's 18th birthday party on Halloween (actual birthday was the day before). We had dinner at Ivar's on the Seattle waterfront. Here are some pics from that:

Peytine with the birthday girl:

Logan and Elijah:

Tough guy Tyler and Elijah:

Tyson and Elijah:

Darin got the door installed in our bedroom. It replaced a window and makes a HUGE difference in the whole room. It is a "full light" door so we have a nice view of the back yard and what will be a deck sometime in the spring. Here is Darin caulking in the trim with Elijah in the ergo carrier:

After all of their hard work the boys had to take a nap (actually I have to confess it was not the same day but it makes a good story doesn't it?!)

We also attended Leah's final cross country meet of her high school career - she got her season best time!! Congratulations Leah.

The next big adventure was spending the entire week of Thanksgiving in Spokane/N Idaho. Bobpa ended up in the hospital for 3 days to get his dialysis started - he'll be on dialysis 3 day's/week for 4 hours each from hear on out. The good news is that he is feeling SO much better after two weeks of the treatments that he is raring to "get out and do things". Here are the kiddos visiting him in the hospital. They made quite an impression with the staff and other hospital visitors...at one point we had at least 10 people gathered around their stroller in the hospital lobby. We spent several nights at Uncle Tim & Auntie Megan's. Somehow all of the pictures that got taken must be on their camera and not mine...we had an absolutely wonderful time with them.

Bobpa & Elijah:

Bobpa & Peytine:

We also spent a FABULOUS evening at Lisa's place playing with all the kids. You can see photos of that fun time here

Next we went up to Grandma Rosie's for the actual Thanksgiving - the food was great, the company excellent and the babies were completely spoiled by everyone!

Here are 3 cooks in the kitchen:

Uncle Tim & Elijah reading a story:

The table with all of the yummy food!!

From Rosalyn's we went to my Aunt Karen & Uncle Bill's in Spokane where 31 members of my family had spent the day. We spend Thursday evening and all day Friday with the group. It was such a great time with so many members of my extended family. Friday we had an entire day of Norwegian food while kids (and some adults) came in and out of the house to warm up in between 4-wheeler rides.

This is Peytine & Elijah with their cousin Luke (John & Carmen's youngest):

Here are all of the "little" kids...we kind of have two separate groupings of the cousins children. One of teens to twenty somethings and one of babies to 10 or so.

Here is a picture of Kim and her girls (Emily & Katie):

Here is Peytine with the "girl" cousins:

No Thanksgiving family gathering would be complete without singing a few Christmas Carols around the piano:

Saturday morning before heading back over the mountains to the homestead, we spent some time with our friends Scott & Kelly and their amazingly cool family. They have 14 kids. Scott & Kelly have adopted the 12 youngest and they have two adult daughters from Scott's first marriage. Unimaginably, the level of chaos in their house with 12 kids all under the age of 14 is pretty on par with our house on any given morning with just two. I really have no idea how they do it but the kids are happy, well adjusted and BEAUTIFUL.

Here is a photo of our two with their 12 (Left to right: Carter, William, Kiki, Zella (holding Peytine), Emma (holding Elijah who you can't really see), Malachi, Bektu, Adacia, Wyatt, Ginny, Selena, Koby

Here is Scott with Kiki (holding Peytine) on the right, Bektu on the far left and Adacia on the near left.

And here is my wonderful friend Kelly with her youngest boy William (Kelly and I used to work together at the Nextlink Spokane office and have stayed in touch ever since)

If you want to read more about the adventures with their family you can check out their blog here.

Other happenings....

During our week in Spokane we had some family photos taken with Lori Brown at Mystique Photography. We have worked with Laurie previously and took advantage of being in town to have her do a photo shoot with the twins. These are their 6 month photos and 10 year anniversary photos for Darin and I. We are having a dickens of a time choosing which photos to order. So - if you have some extra time and want to take a look check out the photos here and post a note to tell us which ones are your favorite.

Finally - last Sunday my siblings and I had the great pleasure of hosting a 50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration for my parents. So many of their old friends and many of our family members made it to the reception (in Snohomish). It was a really lovely time for all of us. What a wonderful gift to have them both still with us (in spite of all Dad's health problems) and to have their example of learning to love each other beyond human annoyances and failings. I didn't have time to take a lot of pictures during the reception but would love to have some from those of you who attended took. Thanks to each of you who were able to make it from near and far and to those of you who were there in spirit.

Here is Mom and Dad starting out the food line - don't they look great?!:

Mom & Dad and all the kids (from left to right - Stan, John, Dad, Mom, Jeff, Jean, Scott):

Luke & Elijah in their matching outfits:

Laurie N, Mom & Julie Y - Mom worked with these two lovely ladies at the Marysville School district many moons ago. I was a candle lighter in Laurie and Dave's wedding when I was 11. I think it was my first long dress I ever had and I LOVED IT. If I remember correctly it was light yellow eyelet material.

Oh - and one more picture - I snapped this of the babies this evening sitting in their little booster seats on the bed in my office. Aren't they just the sweetest little cuties ever??!!

Sorry for the long absence

2008-12-01T19:33:00.000-08:00

Hi there - so sorry for the long absence from the blogosphere! We've been a tad busy around here (hard to imagine I'm sure!). I do hereby solemnly swear to post some photos of the last month with our two little munchkins THIS WEEK.

Also, for some reason, my notification of comments posted wasn't working properly so I just discovered SEVERAL from the last 6 weeks that I hadn't read previously. Thanks to all of you for the notes of encouragement and support.

So...stay tuned for more in the next few days.

D, J & The Twins

Weekend Visit to Spokane & Sandpoint

2008-10-24T15:53:00.001-07:00

We had a really great weekend visiting friends and family on the "other side" of the mountains. Last Thursday we drove over to Spokane and spent the night at Tim & Megan's. Friday we had a nice relaxed morning with Auntie Megan and then stopped by the Spokane XO office to visit my co-workers there. From there we went to John & Carmen's to meet Mr. Luke (and visit the rest of the family). He is a darling baby and so quiet compared to our two wiggle worms!

Friday evening we had a delightful dinner and visit with Doug, Debbie, Connor, Nathan and Debbie's cousin Brenda. It was so fun to catch up with them again - it had been far too long since we spent any time together.

Friday and Saturday nights we spent with Grandma Rosie near Sandpoint and Saturday for lunch we went to Sandra, Alberto & Gene's place for a WONDERFUL REAL ITALIAN lunch. For those of you who don't know...Sandra was raised here but lived in Italy for many years. She and her husband Alberto moved to the US 6 or 7 years ago to be near her mother Gene. The babies got cooed over in Italian and renamed! That's right - some American sounds/names are too hard for Alberto so Elijah was given the Italian pronunciation (El - ee - ah) which we both quite like and Peytine Melody-Ann was called Anna (ahh-na).

Sunday we had lunch at Stan's new place in Couer d'Alene - he has it fixed up really nice even though he's only been there for 3 weeks and let me tell you the steak he fixed was FABULOUS!

I should just say right up front that I didn't do a great job as a photojournalist of our weekend...I got a few pictures but not nearly enough. So here are the pictures I have and hopefully will get a few more from Uncle Tim & Auntie Megan since they took several while we were at their place.

Here is Mr. Luke ... looking so adorable sitting on Mommy's lap.

Caelyn holding Peytine:

Carlee holding Elijah:

Thing 1 & Thing 2 at Doug & Debbie's place:

Grandma Rosie has her arms full:

Sandra & Alberto with El-ee-ah and Anna:

Elijah looked so cute in both of these that I just couldn't resist putting them both in:

Oh - and to make things a little more interesting, we brought a new kitty over for Grandma Rosie. Her name is Sweat Pea and she is settling in quite nicely!:

And for those of you who wonder how I work with two babies at home:

(Actually, I have to confess, the real answer to how I do it is our neighbor Kay! I'll try to snag a picture of her and the babies soon.)

Here is one final picture - not from the weekend but I just found it on my cell phone and thought it needed to be posted. This is Uncle Todd holding Peytine at Aunt Velma's.

Nana & Bobpa visit etc

2008-10-16T13:36:00.000-07:00

Jean's parents Bob & Shirley (aka Bobpa and Nana) visited Sunday through Tuesday. Here are a few photos of their time with us.

Glen & Hazel came for dinner:

Aunt Velma with Elijah:

Aunt Velma with Peytine:

This weekend we are off to meet our new nephew Luke and introduce Elijah & Peytine to lots of other family members: Uncle John & Auntie Carmen, cousins Caelyn, Carlee and Luke; Auntie Megan and Uncle Tim, Grandma Rosie and Uncle Stan. We also hope to see Auntie Lisa and cousins Johanna, Tati and Rogerio.

More Pictures & Garage Sale update

2008-10-08T15:14:00.000-07:00

Adoption Fundraiser Garage Sale Update:

Several have asked how the big Garage sale went so we wanted to let you know that it went really well. We sold probably 70% of what we had and the rest was donated to Goodwill. We had a few items that we kept after the sale to sell on Craigslist and between those and the garage sale day we made right about $600. Thanks again so much to those who donated to the cause: Garry & Nancy, Tim & Megan, DeAnna & Bob, Jen & Adrian, James & Tamara and special thanks to neighbors Tamara and Kay for helping with pricing and to Kay who helped ALL DAY on Saturday. We appreciate all of you.

In other news...from my previous post you know that we have a new nephew - Luke Andrew. Here are a couple of pictures of Luke and his big sisters Caelyn & Carlee. We are looking forward to meeting Luke and seeing the rest of the family in a couple of weeks.

We've been busy with the camera around here too...such great subjects! Here are a few pictures of Peytine and Elijah from the last week.

In their new outfits on Sunday:

arm in arm in their crib:

Happy at Bedtime:

Holding hands:

With cousin Leah who came to visit over the weekend:

Leah and Elijah napping:

Turn that frown:

Upside down:

Elijah & Peytine

2008-10-03T15:11:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of the babies from this week. They are such good babies - rarely fuss and very smiley and happy most of the time.

Peytine on the left and Elijah on the right:

Peytine Cutie Pie:

Happy Boy:

Watson the crib guard:

Melanie & Alexia come for a visit:

In other news...they both slept through their first wednesday night bible study...it was so fabulous!!

Surprise Babies

2008-09-29T22:04:00.000-07:00

Darin and I have decided to become foster parents again...today 4 month old boy/girl twins were placed with us. This is a "long term" foster placement. There is some possibility that these babies will become available for adoption but for now, for our own sanity, we are viewing this as a foster placement only.

The babies names are Peytine (girl - pronounced Pay-ton) and Elijah (boy). They were born May 7th of this year so are almost 5 months old. They were born premature at almost 35 weeks and are very healthy and developmentally on target but a little small compared to a full term 5 month old.

We found a zip lock bag with several professionally taken photos of the babies in their diaper bag so it's nice to have a pictoral history of them. I scanned in a few of the photos for your viewing pleasure. Also - we took a few pictures tonight and they are below as well.

We'll share more as things progress but wanted to get this update out tonight for those of you that are anxiously awaiting pictures.

They are fairly close to newborn in this photo:

Here is Elijah:

And Peytine:

These are fairly recent pictures of the two of them together:

Here is a picture of Darin and Elijah in one of those happy full baby tummy moments!

Here is Peytine after she finally fell asleep in the Moby Wrap:

And here is one of me with both of them - you can tell that Elijah is a bit bigger than Peytine:

Garage Sale

2008-09-16T11:59:00.000-07:00

You might have guessed from the last post that our Adoption Fundraiser garage sale originally scheduled for 9/20 has been postponed.

Our garage sale will be Saturday 9/27 from 9 AM - 4 PM.

We are definitely still accepting donations to the cause!!

Lemonade

2008-09-15T21:22:00.000-07:00

Sometimes life gives you lemons but what I've learned is that they make the sweetest lemonade if you can find the courage to squeeze the sweetness out of the experience.

My dear cousin Christina passed away on Friday after a very courageous 2 and a half year battle with cancer. She was only 24. In spite of what might seem like a tragedy of a life cut short, she was an amazing example to all of us. Her spirit of acceptance was really remarkable - she definitely made lemonade out of the lemons she was handed and was a beautiful person inside and out. We will miss her but our lives have been enrinched by having seen her sweet smile and the sparkle in her eyes, for having felt her kind, courageous spirit and known the warmth of her love. Please keep her sweet husband Kerry and her family in your thoughts and prayers.

Here is a photo of Kerry & Christina and their dogs from their Christmas card last year.

I received the news of her death on my way to Seattle on Friday to participate in the Alex's Lemonade Stand cancer fundraiser that my company does every year. This year we lucked out and our Seattle office was able to put up our stand in front of Whole Foods on Westlake Avenue. They donated Organic Lemonade for us and gave us a great location. Alex's Lemonade Stand is a non-profit organization that raises money to fight childhood cancers. Alex was a little girl that was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 4 and decided to have a lemonade stand to raise money to find a cure for cancer. Before she died at the age of 8 she had raised over $1 million with her lemonade stand. You can donate to our team's fundraising effort at this link. Our goal is to raise $4000 - so far we are just over the $1000 mark with over $600 of that made on Friday selling lemonade.

Our team was very moved by the news of Christina's passing that very morning and everyone inspired to dedicate our efforts that day to Christina. Thanks Seattle XO team - your extra efforts were definitely noticed.

This year Darin built us a stand to use - it turned out great! The best part is it breaks down and is easily storable so we can use it every year when we do our fundraiser.

Here is a photo of our stand with some of the Seattle XO office team.

So - when life hands you lemons...make lemonade.

Introducing....

2008-09-10T11:04:00.000-07:00

Our new nephew Luke Andrew. He was born late last night. He weighed 8lbs 11oz and was 20.5 inches long.

Congratulations John & Carmen and big sisters Caelyn & Carlee. Carmen & Luke are both doing well and plan to go home today after lunch.

September Already

2008-09-08T12:58:00.001-07:00

I really can't believe it is already September! Most schools have started (except some Universities) and fall is in the air!

We had another busy but very fun weekend.

Friday evening we went to Seattle and visited my friend Laura at her "homestead". She and her husband Francis have a fabulous place in Burien with lovely gardens including a "secret" one! They also have an adorable Pug named Yolanda and a super cool kitty (asian shorthair) named Sushi. It was very fun to see their place and hang out. From there we stopped in on our old neighbors Jeff & Sam at their place in Des Moines. Their kids Izzy & Beck are getting so big and definitely kept us entertained. Isabella had a big breakdown because she couldn't come home with us that night for a sleep over but we've promised that she can come over soon!!

Darin borrowed the panel van from work so we could make a dump run on Saturday - I'm so happy to get that 320lbs of garbage (carpet & pad from the basement etc) out of here. He also used it to transport the door for our master bedroom down to the shop so that he can build a frame and sidelight for it. YEAH!!

Saturday (after the dump run) we worked on cleaning up in the garage. Before we bought the house, the previous owners had a french drain put in all the way around the house including inside the garage (then carport). That meant cutting out about 3 feet of concrete all at the edge of the garage next to the house and leaving a pile of dirt/gravel behind. Well - we finally got that all taken care of and filled in with pavers and it makes such a HUGE difference (pics below).

Garage sale donations have been rolling in! Special thanks to our neighbors James & Tamara (lucky for us, our sale is coinciding with their organizing/sorting activity), Garry & Nancy, Tim & Megan and Laura & Francis. Look at this pile of stuff! We also have a growing pile in our own basement from our own "sorting" efforts.

Sunday at lunch we met 3 of my Fred Meyer co-workers for lunch. For those of you who don't know this - I worked for Fred Meyer my senior year of high school and all 5 years of college. I made some dear friends in those 5 years at the Broadway Fred Meyer on Capital Hill in Seattle. Shortly after we moved to Bremerton I was trying on "undergarments" at the Macy's in Silverdale and the recognized the voice of the woman that came to the door to ask if I needed any assistance. It was Beth - who I had worked with at Freddy's all those years ago. Come to find out Beth is our neighbor - just down the road. Well through this connection with Beth I was also able to get back in touch with Randall and Tobi. The two of them came over from Seattle and met Beth & Darin and I for lunch at Anthony's. It was so much fun to see them. Tobi and I not only worked together but lived in the same apartment building and attended the UW. It was so neat to see pictures of her kids - they are 10 & 9 (last time I saw her she had just found out she was expecting the oldest one). I am just so happy to have re-made these connections. Randall also attended the UW at the same time and now works in International store development for Starbucks. Good Luck with the London opportunity Randall - we'd love to come for a visit! So thanks again Randall and Tobi for driving over here and making the time to get back in touch and for Beth for making the connection. Here are a couple of photos of the 4 of us. Also - special thanks to Darin for patiently listening to the four of us talk for several hours about people he doesn't know and for being the official photographer! From left to right on the top photo is Tobi, Jean, Beth & Randall.

And - just for good measure - here's a photo of Watson the lap dog!

Busy Weekend

2008-09-02T14:18:00.000-07:00

In keeping with our “never a dull moment” theme…we had another busy weekend around here!

More Water Damage:
Last week we had a major rain storm (more rain in one day than we usually get all month). Toward the end of the week Darin went downstairs to get something and noticed that the tack strip in the hall way (where the carpet has been removed from the May bathroom flood) was wet. Mind you, this tack strip can only get wet from the other side of the wall….so it was not a good omen. Apparently we had managed to leave the window open in our guest room and the big rain just came right in! Our gutters were actually totally overwhelmed by the rain and we had sheets of water coming down all the way around the house during the storm. So, those sheets of water plus the overflow from the downspout on the corner adjacent to the window well managed to find their way into the bedroom. The carpet was soaked, piles of dirt and debris etc. So, Friday afternoon we pulled the carpet and will likely end up removing most of the wall board etc in that room to prevent any possible mold problems.

Darin found a really cool set up at Lowe’s for re-routing downspout water and got that installed though and got the gutters cleaned out. So – barring further torrential rains with downstairs windows left open that should take care of the most obvious source of water in to the basement. Of course we were expecting company for the weekend so since the damaged room was our only guest room at the moment we had to do some quick swapping around and empty the other bedroom aka “temporary storage room” and make it into a guest space again.

Blackberry Festival and Darin’s big race!
This weekend was the local Bremerton Blackberry Festival and Saturday morning Darin ran the 5K race. This was his first race since grade school field days and he managed to run the entire thing without stopping to walk once! He reports that this is the longest distance he has ever run without stopping so I am SO proud of him.

Here he is with his race number.

And, lap 2 (it is a one mile course that you run 3 laps of)

This is the video of Darin at the finish…I apparently have to buy an upgraded version of Quicktime video in order to rotate this video…very annoying but I had to include it anyway.

The local Navy Chief Petty Officers (150 – 200 of them) run the race in formation so that was also fun to see. They started after all of the other runners.

After the race we went to the festival and listened to the Smiling Scandinavians play polka music while we ate Swedish Meat balls, blackberry pie and blackberry ice-cream. YUMMM. All of the blackberry products (scones, blackberry filled doughnuts etc) are the best part of this festival. Saturday night we went back and watched Kelly Thibodeaux and Etouffe play some Louisiana “Swamp Rock” (and we shared a blackberry scone topped with whipped cream and blackberry syrup).

Watson Runs away again!
Sunday evening just after Tim & Megan (on their way from Spokane) called to tell us they were in Gig Harbor we discovered that Watson was missing. He apparently got out while Darin was unloading some stuff into the Garage. Darin jumped in his car and headed up the hill and our neighbors Keith & Jessie headed the other direction while I stayed at home in case we got a call (he is tagged now!).

Fortunately, Darin found him just about ½ a mile away laying along side the road. Unfortunately, he had eaten/rolled in something extremely dead, stinky and vulgar. However, he was home, safe and banned to the backyard for the evening.

Company:
Tim & Megan arrived from Spokane about 5:45 and Todd joined us for dinner at the boat shed. After dinner we all went to visit Aunt Velma. She seemed VERY glad for the company and we managed to get the photo below of Aunt Velma, Todd, Megan and Darin.

Monday we cooked breakfast at home and Tim, Megan and Darin headed south to Gig Harbor so Darin could give them a tour of the RCD shop. It was really nice to have Tim & Megan here – it had been almost a year since they visited last.

Watson Seizures:
About an hour after Darin had left for Gig Harbor, I was in my office researching a project online and heard a bunch of activity in the living room – it sounded like Watson was playing with something but wasn’t quite right. So, I called him to come and he came jerking down the hall – almost like he was startling over something. He went jerking past me into the laundry room and stopped and looked at me but didn’t seem like he could make his legs move to come toward me. I finally got him to come down the hall into the living room and called Darin to come home. I then called our wonderful neighbor Jessie to come and be with me and she came right over.

We sat on the floor with Watson for about an hour and tried to keep him calm while he twitched and jerked. I was certain this was the beginning of the end for him and that the cancer had spread to his brain. There was even a couple of times where his breathing slowed and his eyes closed that we weren’t sure if he was just resting or on his way out. Then, just before Darin got home Watson jumped up (prior to this we didn’t even know if he would be able to get up again) and went back to the laundry room and basically begged for food. I gave him a couple of kibbles to make sure he wouldn’t choke and then ended up giving him two scoops of food. This seemed to slow the spasms some but after he was done eating and headed back down the hall he had a spasm that took him all the way to the floor. Jessie and I got him to his bed and were just sitting down next to him when Darin arrived home. Watson got up again (spasms still coming less frequently than before the food) and went outside and begged to have the ball thrown. We decided that even if he was dying that he would die happy if we threw the ball for him so did that for a bit before forcing him to stop and go back in the house.

About ½ an hour later the spasms increased in frequency and severity again so we decided to take him in to the vet. They actually thought that he might have been poisoned from whatever he ate on his run-away adventure and did lab work etc. Fortunately, his liver and kidney function are just fine so they don’t really know what caused the seizures/spasms and by the time we got all of the lab results they had stopped. They sent us home with a muscle relaxant and anti-anxiety medication as well as an anti-seizure med in case they got really bad but he hasn’t had any problems since. So – it could be the progression of the cancer or could have been just something he ate that tweaked his central nervous system for a while. In either case, he’s home and doing fine – although he did seem extra tired last night and pretty much slept the entire evening.

Baby Nephew on the Way!
We have a new nephew due on Thursday of this week so yesterday evening after all of the dog excitement, I managed to design and make a little bunting for him that he can wear in his car seat this winter. (Picture below). I also stitched some ribbon to several cotton diapers to be used for burp cloths. If this is John or Carmen reading the blog you have to hide your eyes and not look at the pictures below until you get your package in the mail! I haven’t pressed out the seams yet so it looks a little funky around the edges but you can get the general idea. I modeled this sizing after a 3-6 month size sack gown so I hope it fits him at least most of the winter.

USS Kitty Hawk:
This aircraft carrier came in to Bremerton this morning through the channel just a block from our house. It came in for its decommissioning at the Bremerton Naval Shipyard. I got down to the park just as it came around the corner and managed to capture a couple of pictures before starting my work day this morning. It was a pretty impressive sight gliding through the water – the group of us watching in the park were in a very quiet and somber mood as it went through. Here is the article from KOMO News.

So….that is the “quick” re-cap on our Labor Day weekend. It’s a good thing we had three days off work to take it all in!!

We are sending special thoughts to all of “our” kids – starting school today.

Adoption Fundraiser Garage Sale

2008-08-27T14:52:00.000-07:00

We are having an adoption fundraiser garage sale on Saturday, September 20th from 9 AM - 4 PM. For those of you that live nearby this is a golden opportunity for you to get rid of some of the "stuff" you have been saving! We will gladly accept any donations you have of saleable items.

We wouldn't normally ask for assistance in our attempts to have a family however, our two failed adoption attempts have drained a chunk of our savings and we decided to try some creative fundraising techniques in the hopes of reducing the amount of time we have to wait before trying again. We need to have at least $10,000 set aside for legal costs and travel (in addition to the $12,000 we have already paid our adoption agency for their fees). Also, neither of us get paid leave for adoption so that adds to the savings needed if we want to have time off with any new additions. I know it seems like a lot of money but really, this is comparable to the costs for a hospital birth - it just isn't covered by health insurance!

We are also researching any possible adoption grants that we might be eligible for - the first one we tried turned us down unfortunately! Our goal is to be ready by the middle of October to give our adoption agency the green light to look for another placement.

We have appreciated so much all of the support and encouragement we have received from our friends and family on our adoption journey and will certainly keep posting updates as they come along.

20 year class reunion

2008-08-25T12:08:00.000-07:00

Darin and I attended my 20 year High school (Marysville Pilchuck) reunion this weekend. Friday night there was a dinner at the Embassy Suites in Lynnwood and Saturday a (very small) picnic at a park in Everett.

I really enjoyed getting to see some of my classmates and find out about their lives in the last 20 years. The best part though was on Saturday when I got to see my best friends from high school - Jill & Kari. Here is a "then" and "now" photo of the three of us.

THEN: This one is from our Baccalaureate with Jill on the left and Kari on the right.

NOW: From the picnic on Saturday with the twins swapped (Kari on the left and Jill on the right).

Here are a couple more photos from the weekend.

This is the group photo from Friday night - lots of scary red eye but sort of impossible to correct with a group that big. This is less than 1/4 of my graduating class. I was really surprised at how many people still live in the local area (we got a class directory and close to 90% of people still live locally - disappointing that more of them didn't come but nice to see the ones that were there).

This is the very small group of classmates that showed up for the picnic - still was fun to visit with people.

Say Cheese!!

2008-08-08T21:40:00.001-07:00

3 years, 5 months, 6 days and $6500 later....my braces are a thing of the past. Now I just have to wear a retainer for the rest of my life! Would I do it again? ABSOLUTELY....the change in my bite has actually added nearly 1/2 inch of space between my nose and chin....that's not a bad price for a face lift!! HA! Seriously though, I do recommend it - I am so happy with the results. And - if you live in the Seattle area, I would definitely recommend my orthodontists Dr's Lyons & Gunsolus at North Seattle Orthodontics. They have been wonderful to work with and have a very friendly, professional staff.

Happy 75th Birthday Mom!

2008-08-07T12:50:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to YOU!
Happy Birthday to YOU!
Happy Birthday DEAR Rosie Mom
Happy Birthday to YOU!

We hope you had a wonderful day yesterday and look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with you. We also hope your sense of adventure stays as strong as ever!

We LOVE YOU!

Darin & Jean

10 Years

2008-08-06T20:33:00.001-07:00

That's right, we celebrated our 10 year anniversary on Friday, August 1st. We actually left home on Thursday, July 31st and headed to La Conner to the Heron Inn and Watergrass Day Spa - a favorite place of ours.

We had planned to head from there to Whistler for 3 nights at the Pan Pacific Mountainside where we stayed on our honeymoon. Unfortunately, there was a large rock slide on the Sea to Sky Hwy between Vancouver and Whistler. SO....we had to cancel our reservations (or take a day long detour to get there which didn't seem very feasible for a weekend trip).

Any of you that have tried to get last minute reservations in the NW in July or August know that we were in a bit of a pickle. So, we ended up finding a camping spot at the Thousand Trails Resort in La Conner - even got to stay all 3 nights for free in exchange for listening to their 90 minute presentation about TT membership. They make a compelling case but we said "no thanks".

Since we were saving a small fortune on gas and hotel costs we scheduled massages and facials for both of us at the Watergrass Day Spa and went on a Whale Watching cruise from Friday Harbor. In spite of the last minute plan change and the fact that we were camping instead of staying in a 5 star resort...we had a LOVELY time and really enjoyed the break.

A special thanks goes to our wonderful neighbors Keith & Jessie that took fabulously good care of our baby Watson while we were away. He seems perfectly healthy at the moment - it's hard to believe that he has a ticking time bomb inside that could go off at any time. Oh well, we are enjoying the time we have left with him.

Here are some photos from our weekend.

Our Campsite at Thousand Trails:

Our cozy (new) tent:

Darin making breakfast:

Scenery from the Ferry between Anacortes and Friday Harbor:

Darin on the Odyssey (Whale watching boat):

Jean on the Odyssey (in my new hat!):

Whales - we saw LOTS of them - it was super amazing. We even saw one of them breach several times. The last photo gives you an idea of how close we got a couple of times...the heads in the foreground were fellow passengers standing just in front of us at the bow of the boat.

And, just for fun - here's a couple of photos we purchased from the tour operator of two of the whales we actually saw. The first one is of L-pod 57 "Faith", a large male that we saw several times. The second is a family portrait of a couple of J-pod whales: J-1 "Ruffles" is the adult male, his dorsal fin is nearly 6 feet tall and we saw him also. Males average life span is 30 years, however, Ruffles is over 50 years old. The other whale in this photo is J-2 "Granny" who is 97 and the matriarch of the J-pod family. Average female life span is 50 years so she is quite the old lady. We may have seen her also but not close enough to identify.

And - here's one of our dream boats spied in the Friday Harbor Marina (yes, we have several!):

Watson Update

2008-07-28T18:59:00.000-07:00

Well, we saw the specialist today and unfortunately, the news isn’t any better. Hemangiosarcoma is just a really nasty kind of cancer. The most is known about the type that originates in the spleen but even when it originates under the skin like Watson’s it has a very similar prognosis. Usually without any treatment or removal of the original site of the cancer the dog will die within 4-6 weeks. If the only treatment is to remove the cancer average survival is 4 months. With the addition of chemo-therapy, survival increases to 6 – 9 months.

We don’t know if Watson has any tumors other than the one that was removed and the pathology report was unclear as to if the entire tumor in that location was removed. The cancer cells went very close to the border so it was difficult to tell if the borders were clear or not. We could have elected to have a full work up (blood work, chest x-ray and abdominal CT for $600 - $700) but the doctor said the only reason to do that is if we had decided to do chemo therapy. Even though the chemo therapy treatment for this particular cancer is not terribly expensive (total around $2000 plus the $600 - $700 of blood work/CT & X-ray every 2 – 3 months) we have decided that Watson doesn’t need to spend his last days with any possibility of being sick from chemo especially since it will not cure the cancer.

Watson may have no symptoms at all until he collapses from internal bleeding that is the primary cause of death of dogs with this type of cancer. So, as soon as he gets his stitches out we are going to throw the ball for him as much as possible, take him swimming and generally spoil him rotten for as long as he is with us.

We are very thankful for all of you that love him (almost) as much as we do. And a special thanks to Jessie & Keith for taking care of him this weekend so we don’t have to cancel our 10th Anniversary trip.

Randy Pausch

2008-07-25T14:13:00.000-07:00

Randy Pausch, the Computer Science Professor from Carnegie Melon University that gave his now famous "last lecture" last fall, died today of pancreatic cancer. If you haven't had a chance to watch either the abridged or long version of his lecture, I highly recommend it. He also published a book in April based on the lecture.

You can watch the video here.

He started his lecture with the following quote "you can't change the cards you are dealt, just how you play the hand".

Our baby Watson

2008-07-23T15:03:00.000-07:00

We just wanted to let you know about the bad news we got on our baby Watson today. You might be aware from our last post that he had what we had hoped was a fatty tumor removed from his sternum area on Friday. He has a 6 inch long incision site and has been a bit uncomfortable for the last few days but has done pretty well considering. We first noticed the lump a couple of months ago and had it checked by the vet – it was very small and felt like a fatty tumor on exam. However, it has grown significantly in the last month and two weekends ago he was very tired/depressed acting all weekend so I took him in to have the tumor checked last Monday. Because he is such a young dog (will be 5 in October) and because of the rapid growth the vet decided it should be removed.

Unfortunately, the lab results have come back and the tumor was cancerous. It is called Hemangiosarcoma and is a pretty bad form of cancer (not that any forms of cancer are good mind you!). It is slightly possible that this tumor was a “skin” tumor and if they got it all that it could be “cured”. Pathology did indicate clean borders but it was deeply embedded in the muscle. However, a surface level tumor of this type is usually a secondary site resulting from metastasis from the original location – usually in the heart or spleen. Usually, this type of cancer isn’t even discovered until the dog collapses since it is usually in internal organs. If the cancer has originated from another location, we likely only have a few more weeks with our buddy. Even with intensive treatment, life is usually only prolonged to 5 – 7 months and it can be thousands of dollars for a dog his size.

As you can imagine, this is pretty devastating news for us. We have a consult on Monday afternoon with an internist Veterinarian at Central Valley Animal Hospital (Dr. Cooke). She will do further exam – decide if further diagnostics are worthwhile and help us make an appropriate plan.

Here's a few pictures of our boy:

Baby Watson - December 2003:

Chasing Ezra (our old kitty who died two years ago):

Good Boy:

Caught sleeping on the couch:

With his good buddy Reuben and our old neighbor Isabella:

With Nicholas and Arianna (he is wonderful with kids and had an especially special relationship with Nicholas.)

Riding in the Truck:

And - his all time favorite activity...chasing a ball

Even better - catching it mid-air:

No more UGLY BRIGHT BLUE TRIM

2008-07-21T20:38:00.000-07:00

The time has finally come to rid ourselves of the "ugly bright blue trim". Seriously, that is how we directed people to our house..."It's the 5th house on the right, light gray with ugly bright blue trim".

Thank goodness for our wonderful neighbors Keith and Jessie who loaned us their sprayer....WOW - that really is the only way to go if speed is at all a concern. We still have some painting to do at the back of the house and some touch ups here and there but it is really coming along - I LOVE PAINT!!! It's not very expensive and it makes a world of difference.

So, here are a few shots of the "BEFORE":

This first photo is from the listing when we bought the house - you can see how few plants there were in the yard then.

This one is probably two years ago:

And this is just a few weeks ago:

Drum roll please.....here are the "AFTER" photos:

As you can see, we also got rid of the unsightly wrought iron railing on the porch. Sometime in the next few months we will be doing a porch make-over with new railings and a new Darin built front door. I can't wait...but we have a few things in the back yard to finish first so I'll just have to!

And, just to add a little excitement to our lives - Watson had a walnut size tumor removed from his sternum on Friday - they had to pick it free of the muscle. The incision is 6" long and we are supposed to keep him "quiet" for 2 weeks....GOOD LUCK. He had been home less than 24 hours when he started begging for a ball throwing session. The vet suggested putting a t-shirt on him to keep him from scratching or otherwise irritating the wound so here he is sporting the XO logo! Please note, that his collar actually matches.

And - here is THE MAN and his dog (Darin really is THE MAN - he did 99% of the painting and got it done amazingly fast).

Just in case you needed proof - here is the painter MAN and his assitant (Tyson the Taper) hard at work last Saturday.

Parties, Weekend Adventures, 4th of July etc

2008-07-14T13:00:00.000-07:00

So, I was looking at all of the photos on my camera and realized there were several events and adventures that I haven't recorded on the blog. I've been a little pre-occupied with the home improvement projects. So...here are some of the non-house related things we have been doing:

First - In April we had the pleasure of attending a "Meet Maddy" party at Auntie Suzette's to welcome Mike & Julie's newest addition. Maddy is from China and is JUST adorable. She also has a wonderful big sister Katrienne to look up to.

Here is Maddy with her Mom & Dad

In April we also attended a WONDERFUL Pipe organ recital at Seattle's Benaroya hall. No photos of that but we highly recommend it if you get the opportunity to watch such a performance.

In May we attended the season finale performance of the Bremerton Symphony - suffice to say, we can't believe we haven't been making a point to attend all along. They do a FABULOUS job. Our friend Melanie plays violin with the symphony and gave us her comp ticket for the performance - it was GREAT! We definitely plan to attend more often.

In June we attended the Seattle Mountaineers Forest Theater production of Beauty and the Beast. Darin attended Forest Theater performances as a child. We missed last year but saw Anne of Green Gables there two years ago. It is a beautiful outdoor amphitheater in the woods near Seabeck. We also visited the Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island - Darin got the photo below of one of the swans preening. These are two MUST SEE locations if you ever have the chance.

Also in June, I helped Nancy M. throw a baby shower for Jessi R. Here are a few photos of that fun event. They are expecting baby girl #3 in just a few short weeks.

Cake:

Jessi & her youngest daughter Elena (big sister Ryann was also there along with Jessi's mom Peggy and mother-in-law Sandra and several good friends).

The last weekend in June Tyson was down again to help with house projects, Logan came down Saturday evening for the night and then Leah arrived on Sunday and stayed until Wednesday. We had a wonderful time with all three of them.

Fourth of July Weekend found us headed southeast to Boise and Twin Falls, ID. We spent Thursday night with Kimberli & her husband Tony in Kennewick. Sadie Subaru lost her air conditioning on Thursday right before we left town (of course NO ONE could get us in to fix it). BLESS THEIR HEARTS - Kimberli and Tony insisted we take their new mini-van the rest of the way. They saved my sanity for SURE! We traded vehicles back on our way home.

Kimberli & Tony:

Friday we headed south to Brad & Patty K's to spend the night. We spent 4th of July evening with Sam & Shanna V - really enjoyed getting to know them and their cute kids. Unfortunately, I left our camera back at Brad & Patty's and don't have a single photo of that fun evening (if you click on the Sam & Shanna link above they have a few pics posted). Saturday morning we headed even further south to Twin Falls, ID for Blair N & Kristin I's wedding. We felt so honored to be invited and just loved having the opportunity to share their special day with them.

Kristin & her Mom walking down the aisle:

Blair & Kristin saying their vows (under the amazing rose covered arbor):

Officially Married:

Blair & Kristin with the Mayor of Twin Falls (who conducted the ceremony):

Newlyweds with Blair's Dad Scott's family (including Darren & Emily that we used to know in Seattle)

BBQ Pizza Luncheon (they actually made the pizza on the BBQ):

Scott & Ellen N:

And, a shot of Darin and I in the WONDERFUL shade tree that the tables were set up around:

After the Wedding we went back to Boise to stay with Brad & Patty and ended up spending the evening in downtown Boise. What a great downtown area and to make it even better we ran in to a "cruise in" that was part of a huge weekend long car show at the local fairgrounds. Here are a couple of the highlights:

Here is a photo of Brad, Patty, Taylor & Braden before we left on Sunday morning. We had a great time with them - lots of singing and catching up!:

Next we were off to see Kim & Doug S & their boys in Ontario, OR. They live on a farm and have four of the cutest boys you've ever seen. They are all so smart in school, excellent at sports and great farmers! We loved our time with them too.

Kim & Robin H (also visiting along with Bonnie S while we were there):

The "big boys" (from left to right: Laramie, Jackson, Sage):

The "little boy" Orin - still sleeping:

We've decided that when we have kids we need to take them to spend a week on the farm every summer!! (We haven't asked permission from Kim & Doug yet though - they may nix the idea:-) And, next time, I'll have to get a good photo of Doug to share!

Last Thursday we attended the Mark O'Connor, Maya Beiser concert with the Seattle Symphony (violin & cello). It was an absolutely wonderful performance. If you ever have a chance to see Mark DO IT!

This last weekend we started painting the house - decided to do it before putting the deck in so that we don't have to do any more taping and draping than absolutely necessary. It went really fast so hopefully will be able to have a before and after photo of that by the end of the week. Tyson came to help again on Saturday.

Sunday evening we went to Seattle to meet Mom & Dad for the evening (they are in town for Dad's cancer treatment at Virginia Mason). Tyler joined us for dinner - here are a couple of photos from our evening:

Tyler with Darin and I (with my very wind blown hair from the ferry):

Tyler with Nana & Bobpa - love this picture:

And the ferry ride home:

Well, that should about catch you up with what's been going on around here - never a dull moment, that's for sure.

Another Masterpiece by Darin

2008-07-09T16:16:00.001-07:00

Darin's company (Real Carriage Doors) moved into a new space several months ago. They have been building a new office at one end and Darin has built all of the office doors. Each one is a different design and they are each made out of different kinds of wood. They are really beautiful. This one is my favorite - it is for Beth's office (she is one of the owners). The panels are made of lace wood and the frame out of mahogany. The window has a glass sphere in the center. If it were for sale, this door would sell for several thousand dollars. The lockset alone was $1200 if I remember correctly.

Below is a photo of the Real Carriage Doors Crew with most of the office doors. Aren't those doors just amazing??!!

New Front Fence

2008-06-27T21:24:00.000-07:00

This week we built the front fence from the corner of the house to the sidewalk between our house and the neighbors (with special thanks to Josh R. for helping with the staining on Thursday night).

Here are a couple photos of the old fence:

And...the new fence (with neighbor Leah in the background):

Nephew Tyson is coming over tomorrow for the 3rd Saturday in a row to help us again. He gets full credit for staining the side yard fence last Saturday and many wheelbarrow loads full of dirt, gravel and concrete chunks. Nephew Cody was here the 2nd weekend of this project and also deserves credit for moving many wheelbarrow loads of sod from the side yard all the way back to the ravine.

This is a rundown of the schedule so far - I'm highlighting the weekends but we've also been spending several nights each week on these projects:

May 23rd - 26th (Memorial Weekend): Concrete removal and building the raised bed above the retaining wall.

May 30th & 31st: Digging sod, cleaning up the side yard and tearing out the old fence (Nephew Cody helped out)

June 6th & 7th: Building the new fence (Watson had to go to the kennel since the back yard was open to the neighbors)

June 9th - 17th: Building the arbor, gate and side entry fence, started side yard path (Nephew Tyson helped out)

June 19th - 21st: Finish the side yard fence including staining. Also completed the side yard path and flower beds (Nephew Tyson helped out)

June 23rd - 27th: Front Yard fence installed, stained - start to finish (Josh R helped out on Thursday)

June 28th....: Back Deck installation including hot tub (Nephew Tyson helping out again!)

And that's just the start of it all.....we have many more projects up our sleeves over the next several months so stay tuned!

20 years ago

2008-06-23T11:52:00.001-07:00

I found this photo a few weeks ago and since several of us are facing our 20 year high school reunions this year I decided I just HAD to post it. This was taken at our annual "graduates picnic" usually organized by Carol H. if I remember correctly - graduation year 1988. (88 RULZ, 88 is great....yikes, did we really write that on our pee chees?)

From left to right...

Back row: Galen G., ?, Andy S., ?, Kristin E.

Front row: Donna W., Kim W., Yours Truly, Donnita S.

If anyone remembers who the two mystery grads are in the back row - let me know. All of us girls definitely had the '80's bangs going on but I have to say that Galen wins the prize with those rainbow shorts!!

Enjoy!

Yard Makeover in Progress

2008-06-21T20:58:00.000-07:00

Here are some before and after photos of the yard projects we've been working on.

First is the side yard..., this was a project that REALLY needed to be done as you'll see in the before photos. The side yard had pretty much become the dumping ground for lawn clippings and other debris from the front yard and was full of weeds etc. We also had a really terrible fence between us and the neighbors that was about to fall over in some places.

BEFORE:

Notice the mostly obscured window well on the bottom right corner of the photo above - that is the same window well in the bottom right corner of the photo below. We had to search for the "right" kind of hydrangea and the nursery where we finally found them only had 6 of the 10 we need. You'll notice some upside down pots saving the spots for the remaining 4 that are on order. It is a "Pee Wee" Oakleaf Hydrangea - a relatively new variety. The other plants include 3 Fargesia "Giant Panda" clumping bamboo plants that will get 6 - 8 feet tall, "Irish Silk" Lady's Mantle, and "Birch Hybrid" Bellflower. We also planted some wave petunias to fill in the gaps until the perennials are more mature.

AFTER:

BEFORE - view of the side yard from the front of the house:

And AFTER:

Here is a view "in progress" before the fence and path were in:

We have a retaining wall above what used to be a patio and sidewalk area. We have removed the patio and sidewalk in preparation for installing a ground level deck at the back of the house. We used some of the concrete to build a two tiered raised bed above the retaining wall. Eventually there will be a dining area behind these new flower beds.

BEFORE:

IN PROGRESS:

AFTER:

And just for fun, here are a few photos of the flowers in our front yard in full bloom. I just love this time of year!

And this is one of our dogwood trees:

Here is the front gate with all of the stain completed:

And to top off a 10 hour day in the yard, Darin washed my car for me. I came around the corner and caught him in the act!!

Here is our "baby" Watson - he was pretty good all day and even managed to stay out of the newly planted flower beds!

And lest you think we won't have anything to do for a while....here is the "before" of the next project. Darin jackhammered out our old patio and cut out the sidewalk in sections (those sections can be seen in their new home in the side yard path in photos above). We will be installing a ground level deck in this area - that project starts next weekend.

Also on the list for this summer is to finally get rid of the unsightly blue trim!! We will be painting the house a really nice "cactus" green with a creamy white trim. A preview of the new color scheme can be seen here in this previous post.

New Gate

2008-06-18T10:49:00.001-07:00

Here is another project that has been keeping us busy. The photo below is the old gate and fence to our side yard.

We have now removed all of the old sod and defunct herb garden and installed a gravel path. The old fence between us and the neighbors has also been removed and replaced with a 6 foot cedar fence. We haven't put the finishing touches on the side yard and fence yet but wanted you to see the new side yard entry gate. We will hopefully finish the fence and side yard over the weekend and be able to post those photos next week.

Drum Roll Please......

Thank goodness for Darin's carpentry skills - It would take MUCH longer to afford this type of stuff if we had to pay someone to do it. I get to come along behind and do the easy parts like staining and hauling gravel and mulch in the wheelbarrow. Although, I have learned out to hang fence boards and will be doing some of that this weekend after we finish staining the top rafters of the side gate arbor.

Sadie Subaru Joins the family

2008-06-05T10:57:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's true, we bought a "new" car. Her name is Sadie and she's a 2004 Subaru Outback H6 VDC Wagon. This is MY car but sometimes I let Darin drive:-).

Watson loves the new car so much that he has taken to "asking" to go along whenever I leave the house. He runs around and waits at the back and jumps in as soon as I open the hatch.

Un-natural Disaster

2008-05-20T13:32:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been a while since I posted last....let's just say things around here have been a little interesting. On Thursday May 8th (the one day in about 3 weeks that I actually went to my office instead of working at home and the day before my 9th 30th birthday) the flapper valve on the toilet didn't close when I flushed it at 6:40 AM just before walking out the door to catch the ferry. I arrived home that evening between 5:30 & 5:45 and jauntily walked down to the mailbox to retrieve several birthday cards and even more jauntily walked back to the house to be greeted by my VERY happy dog. It was only when I opened the bathroom door that I discovered the Great FLOOD of 2008.... I did NOT do anything jauntily for several hours after that!

What, a little old flapper valve malfunction can cause a mess??? Oh yes it can, if you have a septic tank that eventually couldn't keep up with the flow. Once the tank filled, the water then had nowhere to go but down into the basement (yes it WAS a finished space). It was literally raining from the ceiling when I went downstairs to inspect the damage! Fortunately, so far our insurance has treated us very well and immediately called Service Master who promptly removed 150 gallons of water from the basement carpet. We had visits from them every two days for a week, adjusting fans, removing carpet, sections of ceiling and wall in the basement and the floor in the bathroom. We are officially "dry" now and get the lovely job of starting re-construction. One piece of good news is that we did find out just how healthy our drain field is - once the water was turned off it cleared out in under two hours!! YEAH!

I am in charge of project planning and procurement and Darin is the job foreman and generally AMAZING carpenter (I do SOOOOO adore my husband.) So, while the floor is out we are going to do a full remodel on the bathroom and will eventually get around to doing the same in the basement after a few yard projects get finished. What fun!

While we were waiting for the house to dry out, Darin finished up the garage project with paint and I of course have to share his handiwork. We also took out the ginormous pampas grass from beside the house and replaced it with a nice little fence and some concrete pavers to hide our garbage and recycle bins from passers by.

The colors on the garage is the paint scheme we will be using for the rest of the house in June - I am so excited to finally be getting rid of our electric blue trim!!

So - that's what has been keeping us a "little" busy around here for the last couple of weeks.

Here's the newly painted garage:

Here is the house with the pampass grass (painting in progress):

Here is the new (almost finished) fence/garbage can concealer:

And, last but certainly not least - the actual garbage can/hose area (the septic tank is under the gravel that used to be ugly weedy dirt but had to be removed to inspect the tank to make sure it was functioning properly after the aforementioned flood...hence the extreme motivation to replace as shown and not just put back the ugly dirt!)

National Anthem

2008-05-06T17:56:00.000-07:00

My brother John forwarded this a while ago and I just watched/listened again. These little girls do an amazing job. They are ages 8 - 13 and sang the national anthem at a Texas Tech vs University of Texas basketball game. They are called the Cactus Cuties.

From a carport to a garage

2008-05-03T17:32:00.000-07:00

Darin built "temporary" garage doors for our former carport a few weeks ago. We needed a way to close off the carport so we could use it for storage while renovating the shop and soon to be office space. We decided we liked the look so much we would make it permanent and Darin finished it off by framing in and siding the openings.

Some photos of the project are below. We obviously still have some painting to do but plan to paint the entire house this summer.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Mafia Cousins

2008-04-30T14:16:00.000-07:00

I just had to share this photo. As I've posted previously, I recently attended my Grandfathers funeral. My three brothers and the three other male cousins were the pall bearers. It looks suspiciously like a mafia gathering! (apologies guys - but that was actually quoting Jeff).

So, here they are from left to right: My oldest brother Stan, next oldest Jeff, cousin Eugene (Dad's sister Karen's son), younger brother John, cousin Chuck (Dad's sister Carol's and step brother Charle's son) and cousin Erik (Dad's step brother Ken's son).

Watson's Big Adventure

2008-04-26T11:12:00.000-07:00

Thursday brother Jeff, cousins Connie,Coral,Jennifer and Connie's daughter Sarah and I all flew to Sacramento and back for Grandpa's funeral. When our plane landed in Seattle on Thursday evening I called Darin to let him know and he told me that Watson (our beloved 4 yr old Lab/Golden Retriever cross) was missing when he got home from work and still hadn't come home. Of course, I went in to a panic and got home as quick as I could. We walked and drove all over our neighborhood well in to the night but still no sign of him.

Friday morning I called the Humane Society and went to their facility to check for him, had lost dog posters printed and came home to start canvasing the neighborhood. I stopped long enough to place an ad in the paper and post on Craig's List and lo and behold found a "found dog report" on CL with a matching description and photo. Watson had been found on the other side of the water near downtown Bremerton and CJ's Evergreen Park General Store. That is just over two miles from us and across the Manette bridge. I called the guy's number and he never called back ALL DAY. I also e-mailed him back from the CL post and he finally e-mailed us at 9:45 Friday night to tell us that when he got home last night his Grandad told him that Watson had gotten out during the day...so we were back to square one and we didn't read his e-mail until after 11pm.

We drove over to the area where he had been found and searched for him by car and on foot - still no sign of our baby and it was nearing 1AM at this point. After posting some posters and speaking with a police officer patrolling the neighborhood we finally gave up and went home. I checked Craig's List again and posted a lost dog ad there and then checked the Humane Society website and found a pet message board. I posted a lost dog message and then saw the "found dog" reports and again lo and behold - another report of our "well taken care of dog" with no tags and an orange collar. Since we'd had such trouble making the previous connection we decided to just go ahead and call so at 1:15 AM I woke this poor woman, Tina, up and started crying over the phone! She was VERY gracious and told me that her sister actually had Watson but that he was doing really well and was playing with their lab. Tina's sister Eva, has a young child so she understandably didn't want to wake her in the middle of the night but promised to call her first thing in the morning so we could pick him up.

Eva called us at 8:20 this morning and we compared notes on "features" (including the black spots on his tongue from his black lab mother) and Eva was sure she had our dog. So we met her at the Bremerton Tennis club to pick him up. What we have pieced together of the rest of the story is pretty amazing - our dog's wonderful personality and love for kids seems to have been his saving grace.

Watson must have gotten out of the first home early on Friday morning because he was found by some teenagers on their way to school near Mountain View Middle School which is back on our side of the bridge and 3/4 of the way back home from where he was found on Thursday night. He followed them to Bremerton High School - back across the Manette Bridge and nearly three miles from our home. He spent Friday at the high school entertaining and being loved up by MANY kids. His rescuer Iva works at the school and Watson spent a good share of the day laying in her office. Several kids had apparently called their parents and gotten permission to bring Watson home with them. However, Iva suggested they wait until Monday so she could try to find the owners and took him home to Tracyton for the night where he played ball etc.

Watson travelled somewhere in excess of 5 miles during his romp around town and his paw pads are pretty torn up so he is limping quite a bit and just generally worn out. I'm sure he was pretty stressed too so was probably running around alot. We don't know if he went for a swim during any of this time but his coat doesn't really seem like he was in the salt water however, he looked wet in the photo on CL from the first finder so we really don't know. He does love the water and there is a lot of it around here!

After we picked him up this morning we headed straight to Petco for a new collar tag and have filled out the Pet License application for the City of Bremerton to turn in on Monday and make him a legal citizen (I know - we have been lazy!). He did have a collar tag before but I forgot to put it back on his new collar that he got a few months ago. We've definitely learned our lesson on this one though. He will also be getting microchipped on May 31st at the Humane Society microchip clinic.

The photo below is of our worn out puppy dog resting on his favorite bed at home. We are SOOOOOOO glad we found him. Special Thanks to Tina and Iva and their families for being such wonderful dog rescuers. Oh - one more note...Tina lives just around the corner from us. We have walked by her home MANY times - especially in the last few days.

My Grandpa

2008-04-21T19:09:00.001-07:00

I was only 3 when my Grandpa Foster died - I've heard many stories about him my whole life but I don't have any concrete memories of time spent with him. When I was eleven, my Grandmother married her daughter's father-in-law Elvin Ogren. (He was my Uncle Charles's father - Uncle Charles is married to my Dad's sister Carol.) Over the years there were all kinds of family jokes about the infamous song "I'm my own Grandpa" and it certainly did make for some interesting family connections. But, what it meant to me is that I had another Grandfather.

My "step" Grandpa never treated me like a "step" Grandaughter and to me he was never "step" anything - he was just "Grandpa". When I was 15, Grandma and Grandpa came for one of their annual visits but this time my younger brother John and I got to ride back to California with them in their Winnebago motorhome. They took us to Gilroy convention and we got to spend time with our cousins and make new friends. It was a trip I'll never forget. Grandma and Grandpa were always there for every special event - highschool and college graduations, our wedding (photo above on August 1st, 1998) and many visits in between. Even in the last few years with his health failing rapidly, Grandpa would inquire about us and how we were doing.

I have many happy memories of visits to Grandpa & Grandma's home in Castro Valley, CA - this was the home Grandpa Foster built and my Dad and his two sisters grew up in. When Grandpa O & Grandma got married they added on a master bedroom and some to the basement. Grandpa was a carpenter and it seemed like he could build most anything. Once when I visited - Grandpa must have been 80 by then - he was building a new barn on the lower part of the property...he and Grandma had lots of health problems over the years but they never let it slow them down even when we all wished they would be a little more constrained in their activities. I loved spending time there and visiting with my Grandparents - they had so many stories to tell. Grandma died in February 2 years ago - I still have days when I wish I could call her and visit a while. Grandpa died last Sunday, April 13th. His funeral will be Thursday the 24th near Sacramento, CA.

Grandpa was a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne during World War II. He didn't like to talk much about it but when I was studying French in high school and college he tried out some of his rusty French on me from his WWII days and was a little chagrined when I knew what he was saying! Grandpa also taught wood shop in the CA prison system and had interesting stories to tell about his days working with prisoners. Some of my favorite stories were of his teenage years riding the rails to get around Southern Idaho. I can't begin to capture the depth and color of all of his stories - fortunately, I was able to get many of them on tape during three different "interviews" with him and Grandma. If any of my cousins are reading this - I promise I will work on getting these converted to CD and copies made for everyone.

The last time I saw Grandpa was in December on our way home from taking Nick & Ari to their Grandmother's home near LA. We stopped in Chico and were able to catch up with Grandpa while he waited for his dialysis treatment. At first I couldn't tell if he recognized me but before we left I could tell he knew it was me. I'm so glad for those last few moments with him and that glimmer of recognition but what I will hold dear in my heart are all of the years he was my Grandpa - all of the "how are you's", hugs and "I love you's". I'll miss you Grandpa, we weren't related by blood but you were my real Grandpa.

The photo below is from our stop to see Grandpa in December - we've both changed in the 10 years since the photo at the top but please do keep in mind that these are my travel grubbies on the way home from one of the more emotionally challenging life events. I promise I'm not always that haggard looking! (sorry a little vanity in action)

Nicholas and Arianna

2008-04-18T09:57:00.000-07:00

We talked to Nicholas and Arianna earlier this week and thought we would share Nick's expanding vocabulary. He said "hi jean, my name is Nick. I ride my bike. I'm four!". We are so pleased that he continues to make progress on his speech development. Arianna pretty much just says Hi but she did add "Hi Mama, my mama" which of course tugged at my heartstrings. We do miss them - have been missing them a bit more since our last adoption attempt hasn't worked out.

I think their Grandma is doing a good job with them - they are actively involved in all of the necessary services and obviously both making progress. We also really appreciate Becky's continued efforts to stay in touch with us and give us opportunities to talk to the kids. She is the one that called us this week. She said she had "felt is quite strong for about two weeks" that we wanted her to call. The amazing thing is that every time I start feeling like I really need to talk to the kids Becky does call. We are just glad she seems so in tune with us on that front - it makes it so we don't feel like we have to intrude to have contact.

Also, Becky called Grandma Rosie on Wednesday and let her talk to both of the kids (first time since they left us in December) and has also said it is fine with her if Rosalyn comes for a visit in June. We will look forward to the update after that visit. Both Grandma Rosie and Nana Shirley have been quite diligent about sending cards and notes to the kids. Grandma Becky is keeping them all in an album to share with the kids when they are older and can understand better.

Becky has promised to send some updated photos of the kids - we'll be sure to share them when we get them.

Bahamas Trip

2008-04-17T22:18:00.000-07:00

Ok, we have finally gotten around to downloading our photos off the camera and then uploading them to Shutterfly so that you can all see what an absolutely fabulous time we had in the sunshine. It's supposed to hit freezing temperatures here in good old Bremerton this weekend....maybe looking at these pictures will help keep us warm!

Truly - it was a fabulous trip and we had a wonderful time. We highly recommend the Atlantis Resort and hope to return someday.

Here is a link to the complete Bahamas Photo Album .

Of course we had to share a couple of photos here to get you started! The one at the top of the post is of the Royal Towers at Atlantis. The Bridge Suite that connects the two towers rents for $25,000/night and has a 4 night minimum! The picture below is the view from our room.

Uncle Darin is a BIG HERO

2008-04-04T09:14:00.000-07:00

I just received this photo via e-mail and had to share! For our nieces Caelyn and Carlee's birthdays this spring, Uncle Darin built them a "kitchen". It has a refrigerator/freezer, 4 burners, an oven and even a stainless steel sink and wooden faucet. This was mostly made out of scrap wood from the shop at Darin's job. (you can click on the image for a closer view)

Needless to say, Caelyn and Carlee think Uncle Darin is pretty special these days. Carmen reports that Caelyn frequently asks "how did Uncle Darin make this part?" And, Carlee is no longer afraid to go downstairs by herself now that she has her kitchen to play with. Caelyn told me "it is a VERY nice kitchen!"

They also received dishes, pans and wooden play food to go along with their new cooking center. We can't wait for our next visit so they can prepare us a gourmet meal!

Oh, and just for the record - Darin is my hero too:-).

Not this time

2008-04-03T16:50:00.000-07:00

I dialed Tina's number again this afternoon and almost fell over when the phone rang. I had a pleasant, but brief visit with her. Long enough to find out that she is recovering from her surgery, the girls are still doing well - experiencing the typical ups and downs of preemies but continuing to make progress, and - she is definitely planning to keep them. She has named them Janiyah and Jakiyah. They will likely be in the hospital until sometime in June.

We will make up a photo album of the pictures we took of the girls and send it to her - she didn't have any way to take pictures herself so she was glad to hear we would send some.

And so, another chapter in our adoption journey is closed. We have really enjoyed working with Brenda at Abby's One True Gift and will work with her again for another placement. We don't know timing on that right now but we have up to two years before the funds we have paid them expire. We've learned a lot through this process even about the legal ins and outs etc so we'll be better prepared the next time around.

We have received so much love, support and encouragement from our friends, families and co-workers and are so glad to know that you will all be there to cheer us on when we finally do realize our dream of becoming forever parents.

April Fools Day

2008-04-01T18:33:00.000-07:00

It's hard not to feel like the butt of the joke today.

Tina's phone line has been busy for more than 24 hours. We had the phone company test it and it is "off hook". We aren't sure what that means or if it means anything at all. What we do know is that it is frustrating.

We've had several phone calls and e-mails from dear friends and family and reports of inquiries, thoughts and prayers from even more. We really can't thank you enough and want you to know that your love and care is being felt.

Darin and I both came home from the Bahamas with a pretty bad bug - fever, cough, headache and even some stomach upset and dizziness. The doctors aren't sure if it is the flu or bronchitis but have given us both an antibiotic. I am starting to feel some better today with two doses under my belt (day 5 of the crud) so hopefully that trend will continue. Right now we are holed up at home trying to restrict whatever the bug is to the two of us. We made a big pot of "Uncle Tom Chicken Noodle Soup" or as Nicholas called it "Dom Zoup". Between the soup and Advil by day and Nyquil at bedtime, we are managing ok.

The good news: We are still basking in the after glow of our tropical vacation and can only believe that there was some of God's Grace in the timing for our little get-a-way. We also had an incredibly encouraging visit with a co-worker of mine while we were at Atlantis - he and his wife adopted their two sons and also went through several disappointing experiences before their adoptions were final. It was good to be reminded that the adoption journey has ups and downs for everyone who embarks on it and that even great disappointments don't have to be the end of the road. They are just what they are - another one of the twists and turns that make life the enriching and hopefully growth inspiring journey that it is.

Admittedly, we have struggled in the last week to make any sense of the latest loop in the roller coaster of life but are determined that we will not quit opening our hearts to possibilities. We want this experience to soften rather than harden us and strengthen our ability to trust rather than diminish it - that is where we do absolutely need your continued thoughts and prayers.

If you have called or e-mailed and we haven't yet responded, please don't think we don't appreciate it. Between the cough and fever and lots of emotions we just aren't very prompt right now in returning all of our messages even though we do love to get them.

We will let this be all for now. D and J

Baby Update

2008-03-31T14:10:00.001-07:00

Thanks to all of you for all of your thoughts and prayers our direction.

The udpate is that there isn't really an update at this point. We got back home from the Bahamas last night after an absolutely WONDERFUL trip (will post a more complete update and photos later this week).

We have not yet spoken with Tina but will try to check in with her this evening. However, we are not very hopeful at this point that this will go through but are just trying to trust that what is supposed to happen will and that God's plan will become clear for us at some point.

We did speak with Tina's mother last evening and she said the girls were still doing well. When we saw them last Tuesday morning Ruby had "graduated" from ICU and was in the same nursery as Sydney. She was no longer on the ventilator or CPAP and was just getting some supplemental O2 in her isolet. Sydney was continuing to do well.

That's all for now - we will continue to provide updates as we have them.

Bahamas Bound

2008-03-24T10:47:00.000-07:00

Well, we are still in legal limbo. Tina is having a very difficult time making the decision to sign the relinquishment papers while the babies are still so tiny and helpless. Darin and I have decided to give her some space and go ahead and go on our trip to the Bahamas. She is being discharged from the hospital today and will be heading home to Montgomery (about 2 hours south of Birmingham).

She is feeling like it might be easier for her to sign once she gets home and out of the hospital environment. Her Mother and Father continue to be supportive of an adoption plan but her Grandmother (to quote Tina) "is oldfashioned" and says "you made those babies and you need to take care of them."

So, we are on yet another wild roller-coaster ride on the road to parenthood.

In the mean time, thanks to Norm & Lisa for overnighting our passports so we can go on to the Bahamas and thanks to all of you who have been sending your thoughts and prayers our way.

Sydney & Ruby continue to do well. Ruby is off the breathing tube as of this morning and on cpap (prongs in her nose) for the oxygen and was down to 25% O2 which is just 4% above room air. We will go visit them again this afternoon and tomorrow before we head up to Atlanta. We will fly from Atlanta to Nassau on Wednesday.

Here's to warm air and sunshine!!

Our Girls

2008-03-23T12:30:00.000-07:00

We met our two tiny bundles today!

Sydney is in the "Continuing Care Nursery" and Ruby is in the "Regional Newborn Intensive Care Unit". Both of them are doing pretty well. Ruby's lungs are a little bit less developed than Sydney's so she has been having a little bit harder of a time and is still on a ventilator (on fairly low settings of 30 - 50% Oxygen - they can go up to 100% if necessary). She got a dose of surfactant yesterday which is naturally produced in the lungs but some preemies don't have enough. She has apparently done much better since she got that medicine and they are planning to take her off of the breathing tube later today or tomorrow. She will then have the cpap (nose prongs). Once she is stable on the cpap she will be able to move downstairs with Sydney to the CCN. Sydney has been breathing "room air" since she was born and hasn't had to have any oxygyen or ventilator support. Both girls' billiruben was up today so when we saw Ruby she was under a light with "sun glasses" on.

Sydney is getting 3cc's of formula every 3 hours and they are planning to increase that to 6cc's later today - this is given through a feeding tube in her mouth, she is getting fluids via an IV in her belly button. Ruby was getting all of her nutrition through her belly button until this morning. When we were with her she got her first 1.5cc's through the feeding tube in her mouth. It will probably be 4 - 6 weeks before they have the sucking reflex and are able to receive nutrition via a tiny bottle.

The hospital has set up a consultation for us on Monday or Tuesday with a social worker to help us find lodging. We may be able to get in to some townhouses close to the hospital or possibly the Ronald McDonald House. Currently we are staying at a Courtyard by Marriott across the street from the hospital.

Here are a few photos of the girls.

There are three of Sydney - one with her eyes wide open, one with my hands (she is holding my pinky finger) to give you some perspective on size, and one of her by herself in her little bed.

The next three are of Ruby - you can see that she has her sunglasses on and these photos are a little harder to see due to the UV light. The first photo we have her little beany bear laying next to her so you can see how tiny she is! Another one of her by herself and the third she is holding my finger.

We are still in legal limbo today - Tina is having an understandably difficult time right now and hasn't been able to meet us in person. We have spoken with her several times on the phone though and she has given us full access to be with the babies. Her family (Mother Jenny, Father Clarence and her Grandmother as well as her youngest son) are all coming to visit her and the babies this afternoon. Tina will call us when they are all done so we can go back over and visit the girls.

Our attorney is planning to visit Tina tomorrow with all of the necessary paperwork for her to sign so we are very anxious to find out how that goes. This is a very nervewracking time for everyone concerned.

GOOOOOD Friday!

2008-03-21T15:01:00.001-07:00

Well, surprise folks! The girls have arrived!!!

Tina went in to labor this morning and had a C-section about an hour and a half after my last post!

"Baby A" was born at 9:42 AM Pacific and weighs 2 lbs 4 oz and is 15" long.

"Baby B" was born at 9:44 AM Pacific and weighs 2 lbs 3 oz and is 13" long.

And now, for the names (drum roll please!!)

Baby A is Sydney Megan and Baby B is Ruby Suzette.

We are flying out of Seattle at 6AM tomorrow morning. Darin will come home in a week and I'll stay in Birmingham until the girls are ready to fly home.

The best news is that both of the girls are breathing on their own and Sydney isn't even in an incubator. Ruby is in an incubator for some supplemental O2 but they are both doing really well.

Tina is also doing really well but is experiencing the expected post surgery nausea and pain. She has told us that she can't wait for us to get there and that the babies are adorable and she can't wait to meet us in person. We just love her so much and are so thankful for the connection we have with her.

We will post photos and further updates as soon as we have them.

27 Weeks!

2008-03-21T08:10:00.000-07:00

Today Tina is officially 27 Weeks along . The babies are growing really well and have strong heart beats and lungs. They are both over 2 pounds which is normal size at this time for a singleton pregnancy so that is a BIG advantage for them if they are born early.

Right now the doctors are aiming for 30 weeks and possibly 32 - Tina remains on hospital bedrest. The babies are monoamniotic (in the same amniotic sack) so that means there are some risks of getting tangled in each others ambilical cord. However, from what I've read online, cord entanglement usually happens in first trimester and so far they aren't tangled which is VERY good. This is also why we know they are identical - monoamniotic twins are always identical.

The hospital Tina is in, is located about 90 minutes from her home so it is a challenge for her family to visit her and she is pretty homesick. She is a real trooper though and is doing whatever is necessary to keep the babies safe. Please keep Tina and her family and the babies in your prayers.

Dad

2008-03-18T12:48:00.000-07:00

Some of you know that my Dad has recently been diagnosed with esophageal cancer and many have asked for updates so I thought I would post a quick one here.

Dad was officially diagnosed with adenocarcinoma on February 22nd. He had been steadily losing weight (close to 60 pounds at this point) and was having difficulty swallowing and lots of nausea and pain after eating. Because of his symptoms we were all very worried that the cancer was fairly advanced. However, most of the pain was from an ulcer and as that has been treated he has improved significantly.

We got the update last Friday that his PET scan was negative which means the cancer has not spread anywhere else. The spot he has in his esophagus is stage 1 and very treatable.

Dad will have a consult with the surgeon this week to determine if surgery is too risky. If surgery isn't an option they will do a combination of chemotherapy and radiation.

I am spending the week with Mom and Dad in Spokane and am enjoying my evenings with them. My company has an office in Spokane so I am able to visit without taking time off work.

Just this for now. Mom also sends out regular updates about Dad's status so if any of you want to be added to that list just add a comment to this post and I will send your contact info to Mom.

We're Pregnant.....Sort Of

2008-03-11T23:18:00.000-07:00

On the evening of February 11th Darin and I were riding the ferry on the way to Seattle (to celebrate Suzette’s birthday) when we received a phone call from our friend Wanda who has adopted her two darling girls from Abby’s One True Gift Adoption Agency in Iowa. Well, Brenda from Abby’s was speaking with Wanda and mentioned that they had a birth mom expecting twins in June and wondered if anyone in Wanda’s circle of friends might be home study ready and interested. SOOOOO….Wanda called us that night. To abbreviate a somewhat long story – we agreed that we would like to “find out more” and I called Brenda the next morning.

Darin called me from work in the middle of the day on the 12th to tell me he thought we should tell the agency we were interested in moving forward – I agreed. It was so confirming to have him call me and echo my own feelings! That precipitated a week of quickly pulling together all of the necessary paperwork to prove we had a completed home study and fortunately our previous agency (Adoption Advocates International) agreed to do the necessary updates quickly!

On February 20th, we had a facilitated conference call with the birth mother, Tina and it went GREAT. Tina is a warm, loving, friendly and open person. We all agreed to move forward at that time and it was all confirmed by Friday the 22nd of February. As Darin has said: “We’re Pregnant….sort of!”

The babies are due June 20th but Tina actually went in to labor last Thursday and is now on Hospital bed rest. Baby “A” is 2 pounds 1 ounce and Baby “B” is 2 pounds. The good news is that Tina is now 26 weeks along and babies born after 26 weeks and over 2 pounds 3 ounces have a 90% survival rate. Also, Tina has received a full round of steroid treatment which greatly improves the survivability and overall long term well being of the babies. We are talking to Tina at least twice a day now – being in the hospital is really hard for her since she has three young children at home. Fortunately, her parents are able to care for her other children.

Based on the laws in Washington and Alabama, Tina will be able to change her mind until 48 hours after the babies are born. However, at this time, we feel fairly confident that she will go forward with her adoption plan. We are really enjoying our growing relationship with Tina. The most amazing thing is that she seems genuinely excited for us to be parents.

Our families are all VERY VERY excited. Oh, yeah and we found out on Friday that the babies are IDENTICAL GIRLS!!! And, yes, we do have names picked out but you’ll have to wait to hear them until the babies are born.

Ski Weekend!!

2008-03-11T22:54:00.000-07:00

One of our New Year’s resolutions was to spend more time with our nieces and nephews so we invited them all on a ski weekend. Five of them were able to join us up at Mt Baker the 22nd, 23rd and 24th of December. We rented a cute log cabin about 20 minutes from the lodge and all arrived Friday evening. Well….actually, Darin, Leah (age 17), Tyson (age 22) and I all arrived Friday evening. Logan (age 19) had to work until 11 PM so Tyler (age 22) and Dallas (age 19) met him and they all drove up together – arriving at the cabin around 2 AM.

In spite of the lack of sleep they were all up by 7:30 AM ready to hit the slopes. Darin and I manned the table in the lodge (I was working on homework for my Psychology class) while the 5 skiers enjoyed the snow and sunshine. I think the photos below pretty much speak for themselves).

After the mountain closed, we headed back to the cabin and ate pasta and LOTS of snacks and watched movies (Tommy Boy and Blast From The Past). Unfortunately, we also had to endure significant amounts of flatulence. Considering these are all my brother’s children, I shouldn’t have been surprised!!

Sunday morning we amazingly were able to get everyone up and out the door in time to get to meeting in Bellingham by 10:30 – including a stop at Starbucks! After meeting we all went to Jeff & Bonnita’s, where Bonnita had made a WONDERFUL lunch of roast beef and her fabulous sour cream potatoes with fresh, warm chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

And, to top it all off the boys "dressed up" in big glasses and hats. Who does Logan remind you of?

We had a great time with Tyler, Tyson, Dallas, Logan & Leah – they are amazing, smart and funny individuals and we love them all SO MUCH. Next time, hopefully the rest of the kids can come along too (even though they are all getting grown up and Anna-Lisa is even married – we will probably always call them kids!!)

Chez Clark

2008-03-11T22:37:00.000-07:00

So, Darin and I were trying to figure out constructive ways to use all of this extra time we have now that we don’t have kids and decided to turn our house into a restaurant for an evening. We sent invitations to several couples with young families in our area. “You and your valentine are invited to dine at Chez Clark on February 16th.” Knowing first hand how difficult it is to get out for an evening when you have young children, we also told them that child care would be provided. BUT – we didn’t give any other details.

Imagine their surprise when they arrive at our house on Saturday the 16th to be greeted by a maitre ‘d (our nephew Tyler) “welcome to Chez Clark, do you have a reservation this evening?”

We had removed most of the furniture from our living and dining rooms and replaced it with individual tables for each of the 7 couples that accepted the invitation. Lights were low and tables were set with sparkly glassware, flowers and glowing candles. Tyler sat them at their designated table and then Darin and our dear friend Tom swooped in to wait on the guests. Darin and Tom were dressed in “waiterly” black pants and white shirts and immediately served each couple an appetizer after their children were whisked away downstairs and they were seated at their table.

The Menu
Appetizer: Warm Blue Cheese, Bacon and Garlic Dip served with sliced apples and crackers

Salad: Mixed greens salad served with choice of dressing (blue cheese, ranch, vinaigrette, or honey mustard) and a roll

Entrée Choices: Penne Pasta Con Amore – Penne pasta with chicken topped with fresh basil, tomato and caper sauté then baked with fresh mozzarella and ricotta. Served with fresh grilled asparagus
Or
Roast Beef with red wine and blackberry sauce served with mashed potatoes and fresh grilled asparagus

Dessert: Raspberry trifle or Chocolate Mousse

I started cooking at 7 AM Saturday morning and THANKFULLY, my dear friend Suzette arrived to help in the afternoon. My friend Linda’s hubby got sick and couldn't come for dinner so she also pitched in to help in the kitchen and having the extra hands on deck was a HUGE help!

Our basement – had been turned in to a kids play land complete with Pizza (Cheese & Pepperoni), Chocolate Milk, Juice boxes, sliced apples and apple sauce. Our niece Leah and Tyler’s girlfriend Bria (and Tyler after his maitre‘d duties were completed) took excellent care of the kids and all 14 of them played well together!!

Our guests report that they had a lovely time but I really believe that Darin and I had the most fun. The best part was the stunned looks of surprise when people walked in to the “fancy restaurant”…. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a single picture of the waiters or of me in my chef hat!

Bahamas HERE WE COME!!!

2008-02-10T12:17:00.000-08:00

Just in time to fully eradicate the winter doldrums, we are headed to the Bahamas March 26th - 30th. The best part is we don't have to pay for the trip! That's right - it's all expenses paid by good old XO! I was nominated for an eXamples award at work and have been selected as one of the winners. We will be staying at the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island. We fly out of Seattle at 6AM on the 26th through Atlanta, GA to Nassau, Bahamas. This place is pretty much the fanciest resort Darin and I have ever seen much less been to. My company even provides spending money for us while we are there.

Our passports arrived on Friday so it is all seeming more real now. I have never won anything before, much less a cool trip like this so it all seems a bit like a dream (all except the part about wearing a swimming suit in front of fellow employees....YIKES!).

XO is hosting a welcome reception on Thursday evening and a gala awards dinner on Friday night but otherwise we are free to explore and do whatever we want.

Bonnita's Dad Ted is in the Bahamas now with his sailboat and we are hoping it might work out to connect up with him - it will just depend where he is planning to be during that time.

You can bet we'll be sure to post LOTS of pictures from our adventure!

Caucus

2008-02-09T23:52:00.000-08:00

Today Darin and participated in the Democratic Caucus here in Bremerton. It was a first for both of us and a really cool experience. It was especially exciting because Washington's results actually matter in this year’s primary/caucus process (at least for the Democratic Party).

We had the added bonus of meeting a few neighbors including a lady just down the street who we bought a chair from a couple of years ago at a garage sale. She owns an art gallery in Pioneer Square and commutes to Seattle 6 days a week. We pledged to work together to have a neighborhood BBQ this summer!

It was really great to have the opportunity to discuss the election with neighbors and to hear the reasons why people support a particular candidate. Some of you may be surprised to know that I actually didn't give a speech for my candidate - there were several people who did a great job expressing my thoughts so I had an excellent opportunity to sit back, observe and listen. I was alternately amazed by the level of research and careful thought of some compared to the purely emotionally based outbursts of others who tended to crumble when they were asked for specifics to back up their assertion. I really appreciate those who take their civic duty so seriously and carefully weigh the options.

It was also really interesting to see the diversity of the crowd in practically every category: race, gender, age etc. I was particularly impressed with the efforts of many elderly folks to participate. I saw several older folks that could have used their disabilities as an excuse to stay home but there they were actively participating in the process. There were also lots of younger children - who the rules do allow to participate in the conversation - only those who will be under the age of 18 at the time of the November election were unable to place their vote.

We've seen news reports indicating that turnout was at least twice that of 2004 but in our precinct it was closer to 4 times higher. It will be interesting to see the final counts.

We started the process with the pledge of allegiance which was a great reminder to me that we need to celebrate the fact that we do have the opportunity in this country to gather and discuss our opinions freely without fear of recrimination -except for perhaps from a few Republican family members :o)!

So - whoever you plan to vote for in November - VOTE!! It is a great privilege we have to live and participate in a Democracy.

Oh, and by the way - our candidate won by a landslide!! Feminist I may be but I draw the line at voting for Hilary. I am inspired by Obama's message of hope and unity (among other things) and think he has what it takes to eliminate some of the divisiveness that has characterized the last several presidencies.

Resolutions Update

2008-02-04T21:58:00.000-08:00

In our first post we shared a list of "resolutions" with the goal of keeping busy through this transition time. Well - it's working...we are DEFINITELY BUSY!!!

Here is an update on how we are progressing:

•Guitar lessons (Jean): I have the names of 3 possible guitar teachers….this takes some tracking down in this town!
•Making wood furniture (Darin): Darin made me a lovely printer stand for my office it is a combined unit with a pull out platform for the paper shredder that nests underneath the printer – VERY cool!! His next project is a "kitchen" for our nieces Caelyn & Carlee and then a desk for my home office (his list keeps growing every time he turns around!!)
•Visit family more often (both of us): Well, so far our plans to visit family outside of Bremerton have been thwarted by the big snow in Eastern, Washington. BUT – we are planning to visit Jeff and Bonnita this Saturday evening; we have managed to visit Aunt Velma several times and are having Todd over to our place this week for his birthday dinner.
•Have more company (both of us): We have a Valentine’s Dinner bash scheduled for February 16th at our place with several of our friends with children. We are cooking the dinner and providing the babysitters – no more details until after the event in case some of the invitees happen to be reading
•Ski adventure with nieces and nephews in February (both of us): This is on the books! We can hardly wait. We rented a great cabin up at Mt Baker and so far Leah, Logan, Tyson, Dallas and Tyler have all accepted. Anna-Lisa and Kyle are on the “maybe” list.
•Volunteer as CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate - Jean): I have mostly completed my CASA training – just one morning of court observation left. As soon as my background information comes back I will be able to start reviewing possible cases for assignment. I am very excited about this opportunity.
•Back to school for Master's Degree in Psychology - first class starts January 8th (Jean): Class is in full swing – I’ll admit, a bit overwhelming. I have a total of 120 pages of “learning journal” to complete before the end of the term (by March 13th)
•Dog Obedience class (Darin and Watson): We start obedience training on Tuesday night this week. We found a trainer (recommended by our Veterinarian) that will come to the house for an hour per week for 5 weeks for a surprisingly reasonable price.
•Keep a journal (Darin): I’ve definitely seen him writing in his journal (gift from Mom & Dad Foster)!
•Join the YMCA with Jean (Darin): Darin joined the Y last Friday and we worked out together on Saturday. Our plan is to meet at the Y 3 – 4 times/week before he gets home and we get busy with chores!
•Create a web photo album (both of us): Still working on this – we have downloaded the shutterfly software and have been working on getting all of our photos organized.
•Organize boxes of photos (both of us): This is still on the “to do” list
•Take a Pilates class (both of us): First class on Thursday this week
•Oh yes, and last but certainly not least ... lots of house and yard projects!!: House: We met with an architect a couple of weeks ago – he is currently working on a proposal for us; Yard: Our friend Lisa is attending landscape design school and will be working on a design for our yard as a school project – LUCKY US!!

2007 in 40 Photos

2008-01-30T17:12:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm new at this blogging thing so the photos are in reverse order....I hope you enjoy them anyway!!

View from our room at Friday Harbor - Christmas

Anna-Lisa & Kyle's Wedding, December 16th

at Camp Pendleton, CA

Visiting our friends Mark & Andrea in

Escondido, CA baby due in April (December)

These are some of our friends that celebrated Darin's 40th Birthday with us (left to right: Jeff & Sam, Jeff & Bonnita, Darin & Jean, Reece & Linda, Suzette, Tim & Megan)

Darin's 40th Birthday at Jazz Alley in Seattle

Nick, Steven, Arianna & Grandma Becky (November)

First day wearing hats & gloves (October)

The Cow & The Angel - Halloween

Carving Pumpkins with Grandma Rosie & Uncle Todd for Nick's Birthday Party (October)

Visiting with our friends Barb & Steve Rowland in

Junction City, OR (October)

Jean and several members of her team in Saginaw, MI (Sept)

Ari & Daddy @ Deception Pass (Sept)

Sunset @ Deception Pass

Our camp spot at Deception Pass (Sept)

Nick in Friday Harbor (September)

Jeff & Bonnita's 25th Anniversary Celebration

Watson wins a gold medal for FINALLY calming Arianna down - it was a tough night! (Aug)

Nick & Daddy Kayaking at Cole & Diane's

Jean Swimming the Long Bridge Swim 1.76 Miles (Aug)

Camping at Cole & Diane Waldo's Cabin (Aug)

Ari & Nana Shirley on her 2nd Birthday August 4th

Uncle Norm & Auntie Lisa's July 4th

Bremerton Harborside Park (June)

At Lion's Park (June)

Logan's Graduation (June)

Auntie Kristi visits and we take her to Pike Place Market (June)

Nick at Point No Point (June)

Ari & Daddy at Point No Point (June)

Our family at Bobpa Bob's 70th Birthday Party (May)

Nick & Daddy at the Armed Forces Day Parade (May)

Nick & Piper (April)

Spring Break Riding the Ferry (April)

We Love Nana Shirley & Bobpa Bob (April)

Story Time with Cousins Carlee Jo & Caelyn Jean (March)

Snuggles with Mom in our favorite Chair! (Feb)

Nick caught sleeping on the couch (Jan)

Arianna the bathing beauty (Jan)

New Years @ Auntie Suzette's with friends Arlo, Katrien & Piper

2007 in Review

2008-01-30T17:04:00.000-08:00

I know it's almost the end of January but we thought you might enjoy a bit of a review of our 2007 - our year as parents! I did share in my previous post that we might be convinced to share a bit of our story of how we became parents and then empty nesters all in a period of 15 and a half months....it's been quite a journey for sure. I'll apologize in advance to those of you who read this in a recent letter.

It was September 1, 2006 that we brought home two precious children – Nicholas (then age 34 months) and his little sister Arianna (then age 13 months). They had been removed from their parents by the state and were brought to us as a pre-adoption foster home placement. As all children do, Nicholas and Arianna came with a few surprises in store for us….they both had global developmental delays and lots of insecurities. So, 2007 was a year of trying to figure it all out and get them the help they needed to catch up with their peers. We had amazing support from the Kitsap County Early Head Start and Bremerton School District Child Find programs as well as neighbors, friends and family. Nicholas only knew 2 words when he came to us but by his 4th birthday in October had started using complete sentences, was doing simple counting and knew and could actually say his colors! Arianna also worked VERY hard to catch up, she finally started walking at 17 months and was really beginning to use and combine words by the time her 2nd birthday rolled around in August. We have hopes that they will both eventually “graduate” from needing special services.

In spite of the challenges we enjoyed lots of giggles and laughs, slobbery kisses and warm hugs from our two little munchkins. We went camping several times and played at the beach often; visited and played with Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and Grandparents and many good friends. We had the wonderful privilege of seeing our world from a new perspective every day; we saw parks, aquariums, zoos and so many other things in whole new light – even mowing the lawn became cause for celebration! And – most amazing of all, we became “Mommy” and “Daddy”, which is such a miracle regardless of how the children come along.

Every indication was that we would have the opportunity to adopt Nick and Ari once the state terminated their biological parents’ legal rights in court as there were no known relatives available to take the children. However, as these things often are, this was a very complicated case. In July we found out that the state was finally moving ahead with filing the termination but on August 1st we were told that the children’s paternal Grandmother had come forward and was seeking custody of Nick and Ari and their 9 year old half brother Steven who was in another foster home. In a planning meeting on September 7th the decision was made that Steven would go to live with Grandma Becky as soon as all the paperwork cleared (which happened in early November) and that Nicholas and Arianna would follow after Steven was settled in. Steven has done better than anyone expected with the transition so on December 6th, the court reaffirmed the plan for our two little ones to move to their Grandmother in San Bernardino, CA. We left Bremerton on December 12th with our Suburban packed to the gills with the children’s belongings on a trip we would rather have not had to take. We delivered Nick and Ari to their new home on December 13th and then visited with them again on the 14th to help them get settled in. So far, Grandma Becky is adamant that we will be allowed to have ongoing contact with the children and has even given permission for our families and ministers to be in touch with them so we are very thankful for that. She and her husband Brian have been extremely kind to us and we have hopes that this will be a long term, friendly relationship. We have spoken with the children several times now and even though transition is difficult, they seem to be doing fairly well.

When we spoke with the children last Friday night Nick said "Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, me happy talk Mom, Dad!"....that definitely made us both smile!

Joining the craze!

2007-12-27T16:30:00.000-08:00

It's true, we are jumping on the blog wagon....you will now have unfettered access to more information than you could have possibly ever wanted about the residents of a small grey house with ugly blue trim. And, just like our compatriots in the blogosphere, we are totally convinced that the heretofore unrecorded antics of our daily lives will yield you spellbound - addicts perched on the edge of your seat waiting for the next installment of our wild and wacky adventures which will in all truth be mostly mundane.

You have only narrowly been saved from daily recordings of poopy diapers, potty training trials and adventures in feeding toddlers....but don't let out a sigh of relief just yet - there is a possibility that somewhere down the road we may regale you with riveting material of that genre.

For now though, it's just the two of us. Empty-nesters are we...such an odd thing really. In general, in our culture the term "empty nesters" refers to those nearing (or past) retirement age that have finally ushered the last little birdy from the nest after several years of near self sufficiency. In our case however, we have just been relieved of our parental obligations in the midst of those intense TODDLER years. (It's a really long story and if you want to know more you'll just have to wait for our "Happy New Year" letter to arrive in the mail. And, if you aren't lucky enough to be on our mailing list, well - perhaps we'll be convinced to share some of the details in a later post.)

We have been busy formulating plans for all of this extra time that has suddenly been bestowed on us. And, in the spirit of the New Year and that lovely tradition called "resolutions"....here are a few of the things we have dreamed up to keep us busy:

Guitar lessons (Jean)
Making wood furniture (Darin)
Visit family more often (both of us)
Have more company (both of us)
Ski adventure with nieces and nephews in February (both of us)
Volunteer as CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate - Jean)
Back to school for Master's Degree in Psychology - first class starts January 8th (Jean)
Dog Obedience class (Darin and Watson)
Keep a journal (Darin)
Join the YMCA with Jean (Darin)
Create a web photo album (both of us)
Organize boxes of photos (both of us)
Take a Pilates class (both of us)
Oh yes, and last but certainly not least ... lots of house and yard projects!!

We hardly felt it would be appropriate to start our blogging adventures without sharing a few recent photos. In order to have something to look forward to during the last month of transitioning our kids to their new home we made reservations at Friday Harbor House on San Juan Island (http://www.fridayharborhouse.com/) for Christmas. We had an absolutely lovely time - it's a spot we highly recommend for a romantic or just simply restorative get-a-way.

Here we are - standing on the bluff in front of Friday Harbor House - enjoying the scenery!

The views from our window at sunset

We do hereby solemnly swear to post updates to our blog in a somewhat more than totally irregular fashion.