He Was Supposed to be Sleeping....

...but he covered the walls around his bed with Lego mini-figure stickers instead.

Duck Fever

Over the past few years Fuller has become a pretty serious fan of the Oregon Duck football team. He watches all the games, follows the players and reads about the team online. He loves his Ducks. This year the Ducks had a really good season, so the Duck loving reached new heights at our house.

Fuller found friends that shared his love of the yellow and green. They spent the season cheering on their team while eating their weight in pizza rolls.

And sometimes they even allowed non duck lovers to join them. And we discovered our neighbors also love the Ducks, when they had the high school marching band show up to play the U of O fight song on the day of the civil war game.

The Ducks finished their regular season 12-0 and were headed to the BCS game against Auburn. Fuller requested all new Duck gear for Christmas. Excitement was in the air! So much excitement that Paul's brother Jason and son Gabe (Montana's biggest Duck fans) decided to fly in so they could watch the game in Oregon with other fans!

Yesterday was game day Paul and his brother and his Dad took the boys (minus Rowan who could care less) to see the game at the Bagdad theater in Portland, so the could see it on the big movie screen with hundreds of other fans. They reveled in the experience! But alas the Ducks couldn't pull out a win. It was a close finish, and a very heartbreaking loss for my young Duck fan.

After the game we (Fuller) received a bit of payback. Earlier in the season he may (or may not) have had something to do with Oregon duck signs ending up in the yards of certain local Beaver fans. So last night he shouldn't have been too surprised when a large Auburn flag ended up hanging from our front porch. It also came with a blue and orange cake. When he saw it he kind of wanted to just smash the cake, but the rest of us hate to see a perfectly good cake go to waste.

The mood around here was kind of somber and grumpy this morning. But there's always next year. And hopefully he will just be able to focus on how fun and memorable the season as a whole was.

So, GO DUCKS!!!

Christmas 2010

We started Christmas morning off with the obligatory "make the children wait at the top of the stairs til we're ready" torture.

Then it was serious fun!

Santa's gifts were a huge hit! Sleds for everyone, so it better snow this Winter. Grayson's big gift was a pogo stick, which he loves and is getting quite skilled at.

Rowan's Christmas wish came true with the arrival of Lego Harry Potter.

And Fuller scored some 007 action. (Not quite sure what Santa was thinking on that one.

Then it was over to Grandma and Grandpa's house to celebrate with everyone else. As the youngest child present Rowan was put in charge of passing out gifts. Everyone got super spoiled as usual!

It was wonderful to have my entire side of the family there! What a great group of people!

We spent the rest of the day eating way too much, putting together legos,

playing games, and making memories.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve day we were treated to a visit from Paul's dad. The boys had a great time playing with him and laughing at his jokes. We mostly spent the day at home relaxing, except for Paul who spent the afternoon finishing up some Christmas shopping. Being out of town most of the month of December didn't give him too much time to prepare. We played board games, made sushi and ate lots of homemade goodies from the grandmas.

As it got close to the evening the boys started getting antsy to open their Christmas Eve present.

At our house the boys always get the same thing on Christmas Eve- new pajamas and a book to read. The book is to give them something quiet to do if they have trouble sleeping that night.

Rowan was so excited about getting the new "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" book that he had to dash over and give me a hug.

The jammies were pretty cool too.

I had wanted to make Oregon Duck fleece sleep pants for the boys, but had trouble tracking down Duck fabric. The 3 stores I tried were all sold out. Popular idea this year I guess.

And after everyone went to bed Buster stood vigil, waiting for Santa.

Handmade Christmas

I had tons of ideas and good intentions for lots of homemade Christmas gifts, but once again neglected to start them early enough to finish them. Maybe if I start now I'll actually finish things in time for NEXT Christmas. But, I did manage to get a few things completed.

Some half eaten gingerbread men ornaments. (I definitely need to make more of these guys since I gave them all away and forgot to keep one for myself.)

A little throw quilt for my parents. ( Don't look too close it's very uneven).

Some festive place mats.

A couple of scarves.

And a cute little hat that wasn't really a Christmas present, but a welcome gift for a special little one.

Christmas in the City

We had a fabulous day spending time in the city this Christmas! I think it was probably everyone's favorite day of the vacation.

We dined at some of Portland's famously wonderful food carts, Korean BBQ, Hawaiian chicken, Indian curry, etc. You can probably tell by the way the boys are attacking Paul's plate like a pack of wild jackals, it was REALLY good!

The weather was nice and dry, but very cold the day we went, so of course we had to stop in at Starbucks for some hot chocolate.

And spend some quality time enjoying the tree. I'm really glad it didn't get blown up.

And finally, a stop at Finnegan's (aka the best toy store in the world) so the boys could spend some of their Christmas money. Rowan got a money sorting bank and Grayson was very enamored with the prank section, and came out with a joy buzzer. Beware if he ever asks to shake your hand.

We were also treated to some fabulous entertainment. We saw "Silver Statue Guy", a trumpet playing Santa, a fantastic bagpiper, drummers, singers, and this crazy guy who was dancing his heart out for hours. Every time we passed by he was strutting his stuff.

I also met and heard the life story of a very interesting transient. Haven't had that happen in awhile.

Man I love the city!

2010 Reading List

I've got lots of Christmas pictures to sift through and post, but I just finished my first book of 2011, so it's time to start a new list! My goal for 2010 was 50 books, which I surpassed, but ended up reading a number of books that weren't exactly written for adults. What can I say, there is some good writing going on out there for young adults.


1- I'm a Stranger Here Myself- Bill Bryson
2- A Long Way From Chicago- Richard Peck
3- Ya-Yas in Bloom- Rebecca Wells
4- A Long Fatal Love Chase- Louisa May Alcott
5- The Heretic's Daughter- Kathleen Kent
6- The Lacuna- Barbara Kingsolver
7- Real Murders- Charlaine Harris
8- The Return- Victoria Hislop
9- A Bone to Pick- Charlaine Harris
10- Three Bedrooms, One Corpse- Charlaine Harris
11- The Julius House- Charlaine Harris
12- Dead Over Heels- Charlaine Harris
13- A Fool and His Honey- Charlaine Harris
14- Last Scene Alive- Charlaine Harris
15- Treasure Island- Robert Louis Stevenson
16- Poppy Done to Death- Charlaine Harris
17- The Fasting Girl- Michelle Stacey
18- Little Altars Everywhere- Rebecca Wells
19- Atonement- Ian McEwan
20- The Host- Stephenie Meyer
21- Comfort Me with Apples- Ruth Reichl
22- Nanny Returns- Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus
23- Anne of Green Gables- LM Montgomery
24- City of Bones- Casandra Clare
25- The Story of Edgar Sawtelle- David Wroblewski
26- Dead in the Family- Charlaine Harris
27- Marked- P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast
28- City of Ashes- Cassandra Clare
29- City of Glass- Cassandra Clare
30- The Gates- John Connolly
31- Chosen- P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast
32- Hunted- P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast
33- Anne of Avonlea- LM Montgomery
34- Anne of the Island- LM Montgomery
35- The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers- Thomas Mullen
36- The Penderwicks- Jeanne Birdsall
37- The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch- Joseph Delaney
38- The Last Apprentice: Curse of the Bane- Joseph Delaney
39- Snowbound- Blake Crouch
40- The Last Apprentice: Night of the Soul Stealer- Joseph Delaney
41- Jane Austen Ruined My Life- Beth Pattillo
42- Mr Darcy Broke My Heart- Beth Pattillo
43- The Goose Girl- Shannon Hale
44- Mockingjay- Suzanne Collins
45- The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate- Jacqueline Kelly
46- Enna Burning- Shannon Hale
47- The Girl Who Fell From the Sky- Heidi W. Durrow
48- The Crying Tree- Naseem Rakha
49- An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England- Brock Clarke
50- River Secrets- Shannon Hale
51- Forest Born- Shannon Hale
52- Fairest- Gail Carson Levine
53- Raven Stole the Moon- Garth Stein
54- A Blessing on the Moon- Joseph Skibell
55- Little Princes- Conor Grennan
56- Book of a Thousand Days- Shannon Hale

As usual there are books on this list that I didn't particularly like. There is also another group of books that didn't make it to this list because I disliked them so much I never finished reading them, (a rare thing for me).

Here are my top 5 picks from 2010 (in no particular order):

The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers- Thomas Mullen
Comfort Me with Apples- Ruth Reichl
The Heretic's Daughter- Kathleen Kent
Little Princes- Conor Grennan
The Return- Victoria Hislop

My goal for 2011 is once again 50 books, but with the added challenge that at least 5 need to be classics.