Tagged

I was tagged by Danelle - this is the 6th picture in the 6th folder. I don't know the year but it's Byron high jumping for Clackamas High.

MMM Good 2

McKay LOVES sucking on his toe so much that he's developing a callous.

MMM Good!!

When I came downstairs the other morning Katie quickly announced, "Mom we haven't had breakfast yet...well Madi has, she had chap stick." Yep, sure enough, Madison did have an entire tube of Lizard Lips chap stick (the best chap stick I have EVER used FYI). MMM, I bet it was tasty.



In other meal news...McKay is now eating cereal and loving it. He literally dives on the spoon. I promise he's more excited with eating than either of these pictures demonstrates.

McKay recently had two teeth break through. I'm so happy because he's been drooling so much I can't keep the poor boy in a dry shirt.

What a sister!

Katie is such a great big sister. I can't tell you how thankful I am for the amazing helper she is with Madison and McKay. She loves her siblings and it shows in how she interacts with them. She loves playing "mom" with McKay. Sometimes she gets a little too confident in her ability to carry him around. Luckily, he's pretty tough so he withstands the jostling very well.

Katie says some pretty funny things. The other day she said, "Mom, I think we can take my training wheels off when I'm 16." This evening she was explaining to me the difference between a stamp and a stomp (thank you Leslie) - she's really enjoying her tap dance class. A few weeks ago she asked me a math question and after I gave her my answer she said, "Wow, how did you do that without using your fingers?" Ahh kids, they think their parents are so smart because we can add 115 and 115 without pulling our socks off.

Katie is my sensitive sweet girl. She often sneaks in a very sincere "I love you mom" when I'm not expecting it. Usually it happens when we are playing together - it's a great reminder to me of the importance of spending time with my kids doing things they enjoy. I think those are the moments when they really feel my love for them. Motherhood is wonderful!!

Recently Katie has become obsessed with modesty. She is constantly pointing out girls and women who are not dressed modestly. She points out people on TV, in restaurants, at Target, at the park. I'm thrilled that she is beginning to understand what modesty is and hopefully why it's important. However, the challenge is teaching her that not everyone views modesty the same as we do and that she shouldn't make her comments too loudly in public places. How do you teach social appropriateness to a 4 year old??? I pretty much decided that it's impossible right now and I'll just have to deal with the embarrassment of strangers thinking I'm rearing my daughter to be very judgemental. I'd rather that than have her not understand modesty at a young age.

Those of you who know Katie very well may laugh at the purple Halloween shirt she's wearing in the picture below. I haven't yet been successful at sneaking it into the DI box - I guess I don't have the heart. The wacky girl would wear that thing EVERY day if I'd let her.

Letter to Megan

Katie wrote a cute letter to her cousin Megan yesterday. She is getting very good at writing her letters but she's convinced she'll never master lower case.

Daddy's Lunch

Byron went upstairs to finish getting ready for work. When he returned downstairs he asked Katie where Madi was. Katie's excited response was, "I don't know but she gave me licorice!!"

Babies Float!

Did you know that babies float? At least my baby does. As long as he's still he floats with his face just barely above the water (see picture). Isn't he adorable? You should hear him talk and laugh (maybe I'll post a video of that).

Painting

My kids love painting and I am loving that they are getting better at not making a massive mess when they do it.

A Few Recent Pictures

This picture says it all. I vividly remember feeling the same way when I was a girl. Every Saturday night my mom would put pink sponge rollers in my hair while I watched CHiPs and Hee Haw. Now look at me, torturing my own girls.

For Valentine's Day I surprised Byron with a little getaway. We didn't go very far (30 minutes to downtown Portland) but it was a nice break. Thank you, thank you, thank you to Byron's parents for keeping our girls for a few days. In this picture we're standing right on the water front just outside the hotel.

What a cute boy!! Chillin' in the swing.

McKay's National Nap Debut

I finally was able to get our little Good Morning America appearance from the Tivo to the computer. See very bottom of this page.

(If you look quickly you'll see Laurel, Cathy, and mom too)

Family Bonding and Kleenex

I love this time of year when the whole family gathers in the steam-filled bathroom trying to clear their sinuses before going to bed.

I came home from NYC just in time to enjoy a week of quickly emptying Kleenex boxes and miserable sleepless nights. Thankfully all that has passed and everyone is healthy. We are now back to our typical chaotic life.

New York City with the Girls

Earlier this month I went to New York City with my mom, 3 sisters, 2 sisters-in-law, and McKay. Despite the extreme cold (the coldest it's been in 4 years) we had a GREAT time!!! By far the best part of the trip was simply being together with all of the women in the family. We saw breathtaking sights (The Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, site of World Trade Center, Times Square, etc.), ate delicious food (Carmines, Uno Pizzaria, etc.), navigated crazy public transportation (bus, subway, ferry), enjoyed outstanding Broadway shows (The Lion King, Phantom of the Opera), bargained for cheap purses and watches (Chinatown), made our debut on national television (Good Morning America), made fools of ourselves (Cathy & Laurel dancing at the bus stop, mom's hat, Christy & Cathy getting stuck in the subway turnstyle), window shopped (5th Avenue), visited the temple, walked NYC streets, etc. etc. etc. We had so much fun!!!!

On board the Staten Island ferry. Times Square. McKay was a trooper. He was a perfect little travel partner. He was content to be hauled around all day in the front pack. He was even satisfied with his drawer-bed.

Taking a break from the masses of clothing he wore all day long in the frigid city. (No, McKay's ears do not stick out like that without the hat on.)

Tagged (I'm really sorry Cathy.)

As expected I received a phone call from my sister this morning desperate for me to remove her picture below from this post. Since posting it last night she has already been ridiculed by a couple of her cousins and a mission companion. Instead of removing it I've simply reduced its size significantly. Hopefully that will appease her enough to not embarrass me on facebook (see her comment below).

"Cathy Flake said... Angela, get this picture off of here right now! If it isn't gone by today, you will find a few fun surprises on your Facebook page."

This is for my sister-in-law, Janna, who tagged me.

This is the 4th picture in the 4th file located in "My Pictures."

My sister is going to hate me for posting this picture. In fact, take a good look at it right now because there's a VERY good possibility that, once Cathy sees this post, I'll receive a phone call
insisting I remove it.

A few years ago I scanned in all of my parents' old photo negatives. This is just one of the many gems. Cathy must be around 9 in this picture and for some strange reason she's dancing with my dad. For another strange reason she's wearing really short shorts and a tank-top (both forbidden in my childhood home). She has nice legs, huh? She's received many compliments on her legs over the years and now you all can admire them.

I tag:
My friends: Mendy, Rockelle, Tina L, Heather S, and Rachel S.

Open your 4th folder and post the 4th picture along with an explanation, then tag 4 people to do the same.

Genes

Below are baby pictures of our family. The first set is Byron and me. The next two sets are our three kids (taken at the same age) Katie, Madi, and McKay (in that order).

I'm Dreaming of a Green New Year's

We have had a lot of snow fall around here recently. In fact, this has been the most snow Portland has seen in 40 years. I was really grateful to have such a beautiful white Christmas and we took advantage of all the fun outside. The girls LOVED it. However, I'm ready for it all to melt away and for life to get back to normal. Since Portland rarely gets this much snow they don't have many plows or sand/salt dumping trucks so people simply hibernate until it melts away. We tried to find chains for our van without any luck - all of the stores sold out of their entire stock in one day. So, cabin fever has started to settle in somewhat. The roads are fairly clear now so I'm taking the kids and venturing out tomorrow.

We think we ended up getting about 1 1/2 feet - you can see the depth of snow on this little deck in our backyard.

There were no sleds to be found at any store so Byron tied a rope to one of our recycling bins and took the girls out for a spin.

What little time McKay spent outdoors he slept all bundled up in the front pack.