More holiday pictures

As far as Ryan and James are concerned, Christmas is all about the presents.Fortunately, there were lots of presents under the tree on Christmas Day 2008.

Ryan unwraps another flying machine.James checks out Ryan's Lego Mars Mission Mother Ship,and then heads back to the tree in search of more presents. Comparing notes.

The peanut gallery watches the action from the safety of the couch.

Capturing the chaos still from the couch.Once the presents were open, Ryan and Papa sat down at the table to figure out the electronic toys.
James' big gift was a new, blue scooter.

I think he likes it.Yep, he definitely looks happy!
Mom and Dad gave Ryan a voice changing megaphone. This was voted Most Annoying Gift by all the adults.
Christmas isn't just for kids. Abbie enjoyed her edible card. Maggie had a card too, but she was too traumatized by the voice changer to come out and pose for pictures.

Pictures from this past week

Christmas is over. The holiday guests have come and gone, and things are slowly getting back to normal. Here are a few pictures from my visit with Karley. The first is Karley's three year old daughter Mia playing the piano.Karley and Mia with Ed in the background. Karley and Mia.

Karley and me.

December 2008.

Christmas past

Erin's favorite picture that I keep forgetting to mail to her.
Christmas 1970.

Safeway brothers

Sometimes my kids are so weird...

Ryan and James decided to spice up a boring trip to the grocery store by covering their faces in Safeway stickers while I waited in the check out line. Ever the observant parent, I did not notice this until it was too late to stop them. The store employees did notice but they all thought it was pretty dang funny and did not stop them either. Ryan and James were pretty proud of their new look and rode all the way home like this. It wasn't until they had to pull the stickers off their eyelids and eyebrows that they realized the error of their ways!December 2007.

I'm always smiling...

...when I'm attached to a pretty horse. House (and horse) sitting for Kathy, summer 1988.

Staff photos

Tom Sawyer Day Camp Horse Staff, 1985. Back row from left--Missy, Jennifer, Dave, Laura, Alisa
Front row--PeeWee, Kim

James and Dayanna

James made this holiday card at school. December 2008.

This is the face...

...of a seriously bad dog.The couch is not a dog bed!December 2008.

Temper tantrum

Much funnier now than it was then. September 2001.

School horses

I started taking riding lessons at Eaton Canyon Riding Club when I was ten and a half years old. My instructor was named Ann Armstrong and Holly was my first equine teacher.

Chalk Dust was the first horse I rode on a trail, the first horse I galloped, and (I think) the first horse I jumped.
Still, it was Love N Stuff who was my very favorite. I always saved a treat for her even on days when I rode someone else. 1981 and 1982.

Crash victims

January 2004.

Wonder Cave

I have a lot pictures of Wonder Cave. There are two reasons for this. The first is that I love Wonder Cave. It's one of my very favorite places, and the second is that I was lucky enough to go there a lot in the mid 1990's. These pictures were taken on one of my first trips. I'm not sure of the exact date but it was definitely before June 1994 because I did not have Abbie yet.

This A-frame building is Wonder Cave Headquarters. If you were a tourist hoping to go on a tour of the cave, this is where you would sign up.
This small building was built onto the entrance of the cave. The lanterns were all stored in here.The Wonder Cave grounds had a lot of religious statues.More.Not surprisingly, the pack of cave dogs was one of my favorite things about Wonder Cave. This picture is of Tigger who would go on every single cave tour. He knew his way around the cave as well as any tour guide and would indicate all the notable formations by lying down in front of them.This is Princess,And this is Mitzi who was smart but kind of crazy.Bear was the big boss dog.There were other dogs, too--Red, Snuffy and Baby Baby. I'm sure they'll turn up in pictures from other Cave visits.

Christmas 1981

These pictures were all taken on Christmas day in 1981. The first picture is of me looking stylish on the couch. This must have been one of the few years Mom didn't give us new pajammas on Christmas Eve so that we'd look cute in the holiday pictures.

Me again.

Dad trying to assemble Erin's Barbie doll head.
Erin inspecting Dad's work.

Colleen.

Mom and Dad looking pretty happy about something.

Black eye

If you give yourself a black eye doing something you know you shouldn't be doing, please do not make it worse by telling your teacher that you have no idea how you got a black eye. That is considered a suspicious answer. Your parents will be questioned by school officials. Just don't do it... Spring 2008.

Ryan's first photo

Ryan was born April 27, 2000 at 7:10 pm. He was 9 lbs 2 oz and 21 inches long.

Highline stars

Today was the Highline Community School 2008 Winter Awards Ceremony. This was the first time ever that the entire school was in attendance and boy was it crowded! The gym was an absolute sea of children.The kids were just getting seated when I arrived and I was able to take this picture of James and Ryan's good friend Abenezer. The kids with perfect attendance wore green buttons and were seated separately from their classmates.All the awards had new names this year. Ryan won the Excellent Effort award. There were so many kids on the stage, it was hard to get close enough for a picture.

School James does it again!

"Exceptional Attitude" is the new name of the Best Behavior award. James has now won it two years in a row!

(Now if we could just get him to behave at home...)