These kids are always excited to go through their Christmas Stockings. For them Christmas isn't Christmas with out a watch and an orange in their stocking from Santa. Maisey doesn't even like oranges and she still gets excited to have one! I guess that's "tradition" for you!
Maisey is in the 3 year old preschool class this year and absolutly loving it. They put on a Christmas concert ever year, and she couldn't wait to be a part of it. She knew all the words and actions to every song. We are so proud of her! We didn't get many pictures of her singing, but when there are 40 other people all trying to take pictures at the same time its difficult to end up with anything nice. I thought this one was darling!
This is a picture of one of the many walls. Every wall in the gym was paneled with the Bethlehem skyline. The flash makes it hard to see but the panel is attached over strings of lights so with the gym lights off all the windows have a soft candle glow. It was my best idea ever and a huge hit. People kept turning off the lights and plugging in the panels to show people while we were setting up. 
SMILE!!!....please 
We try to get some pictures taken every year while we are home for Thanksgiving. So here are the ones for fall 2009 courtesy of Joshs dad. It's amazing to see how the kids have grown when you put them next to the pictures from the year before. We have been so blessed to have such cute, happy kids!
Happy Halloween!
I just found these pics on an old camera and thought I would add them. The kids call this the Volcano Water Park. We take the footferry from Port Orchard over to Bremerton and this park is right by the ferry. It's great in the summer time. The kids wouldn't stand under it when the water shoots out but Porter was brave enough to go over and touch it!
Josh decided to finish off a work trip to Montana with a weekend of fishing at his favorite fishing hole. These are some pics from Beartooth Pass. Pretty huh!
These are some pics taken at the fishing hole. The top left are a couple of river otters who took on a black bear the day before. Josh had a very uncomfortable, upclose showing of the battle! 
Who knew peas would be such a hit. Maisey is the garbage gut of the family but she voluntarily ate all the peas out of the pods in her lap and then some. It's frustrated her that she couldn't open them nicely herself but that's when mom comes in handy.
This is just a cute picture. It's not often you get a pic of her not being goofy/moody and looking at the camera!.JPG)
Josh bought a kayak this month and has been paddling around the lake by the house. So today it happened that a fish jumped into his kayak and rather than risk tipping he just left it in there. So, he brings the fish home and Porter bonds with it immediately. Never mind that it's already dead!.JPG)
He looked at it and played with it for like an hour until it started falling apart. Then he was completely devastated when I told him we needed to get rid of it. He kept telling me it was his best friend and he would miss it too much if it was gone. I'm pretty sure it's time for school to start when a dead fish instantly becomes your new best friend..JPG)
So I eventually talked him into burrying it in the back yard and then he was worried that a bear was going to dig it up and eat it. He kept scaring the neighbors cat away from the yard just in case it was looking for lunch!
This is the view at the Port Angeles Marina. Josh was the high bidder for an all expenses paid, day trip for two King Salmon fishing trip. I'm glad he had a friend to take because it would have been wasted on me! The scenery is wonderful though.
This fish was a fighter but to bad for him because Josh really likes salmon.
Here is the King he caught. It was 27 pounds. He will be eating salmon forever! It was as big as Maisey. The kids couldn't believe their eyes when they saw it. Maisey wouldn't go near it for fear it would eat her! He can't wait to go again. Thank goodness there are other people out there with boats or we would have to get our own.
So here is the cake. Let it be known that I will not make this cake again unless specifically asked. There was a lot of trial and error involved and it is amazing what you can cover up with frosting. The most important thing I learned is that you can't just shove the barbie into the cake. You have to cut a hole in the cake otherwise you end up with some amazing cracks!
However, the look on Maisey's face when I walked out with it was priceless and totally worth all the hassel. I put it together while she was asleep so she was completely surprised!
I love how she reacts to the message in this card. Do kids even read the cards anymore?
This is the reaction to her big present from Josh and I. She even jumped up and down on the couch. It was so cute!
Hopefully this will keep her from leaving her artwork all over the hardwood floors from now on! She looks inspired, don't you think? We love you Maisey! 
Porter graduated from preschool! He is such a big boy and is really looking forward to riding the bus to kindergarten. He has made so much progress in the last year and we are so thankful for his wonderful teachers. He is really going to miss Teacher Mary. He is always telling me, "Mom, I know that teacher Mary loves me." You can't ask for a better teacher relationship than that!
This year Josh's brother brought up his 4-wheelers and we couldn't keep the kids off the things. They thought they were great! They had pretend races and did "stunts" and everything.
The kids sat on those 4-wheelers forever everyday. Maisey was usually riding on the back but once in a while the boys would let her "drive."
Those of us not fishing decided to take the kids for a hike into a different lake. So we piled into the trucks and headed to Hidden Lake. It's a nice easy hike but a little long for Maisey's liking. I carried her most of the way in and all the way out, but the view was wonderful..JPG)
I thought it would be fun to surprise Porter with his cake...so here are the pictures leading up to actually seeing the cake. I love his reaction!
In this pic all he can see is that it's got frosting and it's on fire...
But now he can see that it's covered in "Cars" that he didn't previously own. 
Usually we have birthday's with the grandparents but the trip is a bit lengthy these days so we improvised. We invited our wonderful neighbors who have been the sudo-grandparents since we moved in. The kids love them and were so excited to have them here for our party!
I can't believe he's 5. They get big so fast. I'm not big on parties but I figured 5 was a milestone and deserved to be celebrated to here we go....
We invited the boys from his primary class and a couple of his nearest and dearest from preschool. There were only 6 all together but it was still crazy. We had pizza, cupcakes and then they went on a treasure hunt...the kids had a blast popping the balloons that held the clues.
This is the cupcake tower. Not quite the colors I wanted but kids don't care...right!
Happy Birthday my big 5 year old!
Porters preschool went on a field trip to the high school today. In their first workshop they drew faces on cups and then planted grass seed. It was a really cute idea and Porter loved watching his face grow green hair.
In the next work shop they had the opportunity to "milk" a ply-wood cow. They even had one with chocolate milk in it. Porter was not impressed with the idea a refused to even go near the things. In the next one they all got to hammer nails into a block of wood. This was Porters favorite and he was mad that I dared to have him stop and pose for a picture.
After the work shops the class came out and took turns sitting on the tractor. They all really enjoyed this part of the field trip.
This is about half of the class. I don't know where the rest went...I was only in charge of mine!.JPG)
I thought I would try my hand a sewing since I can't ask my mom to do it for me anymore. Here is my first project that turned out like I wanted it to. Maisey thinks it's great!.JPG)
So this picture is almost exactly the same but her face cracks me up every time I look at it so I had to put it on too!
This is the view at the park. This is Long Lake. It's about a minute from our house if you drive. It's great for water skiing, kayaking, fishing and all the other things people do on a lake. It also has a really nice park for playing at...if fish water isn't you thing...fish water is not my thing.!
The favorite for my kids are the swings. They can't seem to get high enough.
You just can't beat a good, old fashioned underdog. The kids prefer Josh for these...Mom just can't get them as high!
Porter likes to play on everything. He loves to have Josh help him with the monkey bars and things but I think he'll be doing it himself before long. They are both growing so fast.
