Pictures of the House

Thom looks like he doesn't believe that this is his kitchen? ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! It is we signed the paper work today. Below is my bathtub with two good friends Robbie and Stacy. I have so many good friends which alone makes me the luckiest person in the world.

We signed papers for the House

Wow! After a very long wait we did sign papers TODAY on the House! The papers were signed after 5p.m. so we will not get the keys to the house until Monday late afternoon. However it is signed for and I don't care that my eyes won't stay open for pictures!

Christmas 2008

Christmas Eve, my sister hosted a dinner at her home. I did not have my camera but the table was very "Martha", we had turkey, two types of stuffing, and many other dishes. I had to come directly from work so you wouldn't want pics of me anyways:)

Thom, the kids and I stayed at my moms that night. As many of you know we did not buy a tree as our house is currently boxed up in hopes to move into our first home soon. It was fun to stay the night and wake up with them in the morning. Mom and Greg were awake first and opening presents from each other by the time we all joined in. That was fun to see what they gave each other and the excitement. Hollie and Lauren snuggled in, Lauren with me and Hollie wanted to snuggle with Nana. The picture below is when we gave them the cell phones. We have really been playing up that they weren't going to get cell phones until they were at least 20yrs old. Lauren had a breakdown at one point. This was the last picture I got before getting mauled in gratitude by the two of them. They spent a good two hours texting each other and occasionally their cousin or friends. We did get unlimited text package.



Picture of my Mom and Greg, Greg just received some really nice golf clubs.

We had a huge breakfast my mom prepared Italian sausage, eggs, pancakes, Cinnamon rolls. It was fantastic. Then we got ready for the day and headed back to my sisters house to meet up with my dad. Maddy unfortunately we missed she had already headed back to her moms house. My dad gave me a ring from my great grandmother the kids played with Amelia, Hollie snuggled with Papa. We headed back to my Moms for dinner and presents. Below is several pictures of the evening.

Hollie and Nana, she is my true Christmas baby. I don't know if you all remember but her name was going to be Allison. When she was born with the bright red hair and so close to Christmas I had to name her Hollie.

Lauren 11yrs old going on 30 !

Hollie 15 yrs old and Amelia 5years old sitting together. Everyone loves to snuggle with Hollie. I think this was the most calm Amelia had been all day!

My sister and her husband Chris pictured above! Melissa will be graduating soon with a Nursing Degree and hopefully working with me at the Hospital. They were the ones that hosted a grand Christmas Eve dinner. Maddie I didn't get a picture she had to go back to mom's before I got there on Christmas day.

My brother and his girlfriend Michelle. I believe they have been together 3 years now. We are all secretly hoping that he marries this one! In fact my grandma sent his Christmas card addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Wagner. I personally have seen a wonderful caring Patrick who puts her needs above what he wants to do most of the time. He is still 30 yrs old after all and I know my husband as well as many others have a hard time with those two to four hour video game marathons. No one is perfect needless of all me!

My brother Greg his wife Joanne both wonderful people dedicated to our community and their family. Chris their oldest son has a wicked sense of humor. He is working on his PhD in Mathematics/Physics stuff (best way I can describe it is some next to level shit well above our heads). Cynthia is about to turn 21, she is in school for her BSN.

My brother Sean and his wife Kelly (who makes the most unbelievable dishes). There daughter Anna is so into princesses, it reminds me of Lauren at that age. She had a really cute holiday outfit to wear but she prefers her princess dress. She and Amelia together are a hoot, they at one moment would be coloring together~2sec later running and chasing each other~ and then tears and complaints that one wasn't being nice to the other. Typical 4-5 yr old friendships. I love having the younger kids around.

All in all I think Christmas was a success this year.

Laurens First Band Concert

These are pictures from Laurens first band concert. It was fun the clarinets were in rare form as only a first band concert could be. Lauren played Jingle Bells,Good King Wenceslas, Jolly Old St.Nick, Ode to Joy, We Wish You A Merry Christmas on her flute. She practiced every chance she could after school on the weekend. At the end of the Concert the Music teacher explained that he feels Children learn music better if they learn movement for example dance! So the Concert ended with all the bands, no instruments, dancing to Boot Scootin' Boogie. Loved it!

END OF SEASON Party 2008

End of season soccer party was tonight December 14th! The girls celebrated the end of their successful season by going to the Pool and then to The Rock pizza in Federal Way. They each got a plaque personally made by the Coach with pictures of each girl on it which was amazing! The girls had a secret Santa exchange, Lauren got a ton of candy. It was a fun party. Lauren's favorite part was swimming and jumping off the diving board.

SNOW ! ! ! ! ! !

Here are the girls in the snow! This wonderful white stuff started to fall last night while the girls were at our friends house for a birthday party. All the kids went outside in less than appropriate winter gear. This included no coat, some went out with out shoes, and no gloves. They were so fun! First thing this morning Lauren woke up and like a young child wanted to go out right away. So I told her to go wake up her sister. I know not very nice esp since Hollie loves to sleep in! Lauren's favorite tv show is Friends and in one of the episodes Chandler gets in Joey's face and says I have a favorite song it is called wake up. This is how it goes wake up wake up wake up~! Hollie is such a good sister I think mine would have been missing a few teeth. They had fun and came in to a warm house full of love and Hot Chocolate!

Second Place in the District

Wow ! ! ! ! What a game, they started off both teams standing in front of friends and family. In attendance for Lauren was Mom, Dad, Nana, Opa, Aunt Missa, Uncle Chris and Cousin Amelia. They announced the teams by each individual, everyone stepped forward when their name was called and the crowd cheered. Now Lauren however loves to be different! Laurens name is called and she steps forward like a rock star with her arms up in the air. Amelia was beyond cute she just kept Chanting Lauren! Lauren! Lauren! then when we would cheer for her other teammates she would say no not Emma, Lauren has to win. The concept of team escapes her but that is not surprising. Lauren had some fancy footwork she set up a few attempts on goal. Our team was the first to score, then Harbor team scored twice. We got it tied up but in the end Harbor got one last goal. Final score was 3-2 and for the first time we got titled Second Place in district. Wow! that it all I can say is wow! Nana brought hotchoc, Uncle Chris had the space heater, and Opa called the penalty before the refs. I love watching her play !!!!!!!!!!!

Leahs Work Chirstmas Party

Here is part of the Gang I work with including Santa! We had a potluck style dinner, door prizes, and a visit from Santa that was heart warming. One of the littlest children she was about 22 months saw Santa coming in and headed towards him with her arms wide open and a big smile. Last year we had more children and they were missed. Well maybe I will just have to have another one.

A NEW HOUSE

So this is the model of home that we got at auction, I will send real pictures as soon as I can get down there and take them. The auction was an experience that we wouldn't have even tried for but Grandpa said that he wanted me to buy new construction (and a specific builder who doesn't work on this side of the mountains) I think he had a hand in getting this home. This whole process has been stressful, fun, and all the other emotions mixed in between. Right now we are going through the "closing" part with finalizing the loans and escrow. Please keep us in your prayers so that all goes well and also for our real estate agent Jon Hunter and Debbie McNeil our loan officer who have to survive me! Yes I am in rare form! Thank you to all ~ Leah