we went to the beach

Yesterday morning Mike Perry called and invited us to join them at the Perry family beach house at Road's End for a night. We thought that sounded like lots of fun so we threw some stuff in the car and headed West. Although it was too cold and stormy to go down on the beach, we still had fun looking at the big waves and being away from home with some fun friends.
That's a classic Phillip Perry look if I've ever seen one........... There were some seriously steep stairs that went up to a lookout room on the top of the house. Of course, this was the boys' favorite place in the whole house. Once they learned how to navigate the stairs, it was good fun. Here's Nate on his way up.
The highlight of Sunday morning was feeding all of the seagulls. This picture shows just the one who is a regular to the deck, but shortly after this picture there were LOTS of birds. Do seagulls eat mandarin oranges?...well, yes they do.
We made a Goodwill stop with both families after we played at a park on Sunday morning. Each of the boys got a 'treasure'. Chris found this great 5' long green snake. He named him Pretzel...very cute. He fell asleep in the car on the way home and Pretzel kept him company.

Merry Christmas

On Christmas Eve everyone came over to our house for dinner. The kids all got new Christmas p.j.'s from g'ma and g'pa. These cousins have A LOT of fun together!Busted! Catie was sneaking candies off of the gingerbread house. Yummy!
After dinner, all of the kids went downstairs and there was a beanbag for each of them from g'ma and g'pa. They were very excited! Of course, our bean bags are blue and orange. :)
Here's a picture taken after Santa had been to the house, and before everyone awoke in the a.m.

Aunt Susan and Uncle Greg got Land's End down vests for all of their nieces and nephews. They are awesome! Now the boys look just like me with my green one.
In the afternoon we all went over to Mark and Claudine's house for Christmas dinner and a gift exchange between the cousins. We had prime rib that was delicious!
The whole fam-damily in a group shot. Hard to believe that everybody has their eyes open and we're all actually looking at the camera. Not a bad looking group! :)

bowling fools

What else do you do with 6 kids who are all under the age of eight, one infant, and 6 slightly hungover adults on a rainy Sunday in Portland? Yes, you go bowling! We all met at Hollywood Bowl to fill up our Sunday morning with some activity. It was very fun. It may not be very funny to any of you, but Susan and I were laughing until we cried at how we bowl exactly the same. The picture above gives a bit of the feeling, but you'd have to see it in real time to see how synchronized it was.
Grubbin' on lots of greasy food at the bowling alley---popcorn, french fries and soft pretzels covered in "butter". The boys thought they had died and gone to heaven, since I usually just bring along cheese sticks and some crackers. The aunties are so much more fun than their mom!
Uncle Mark and Will. What handsome fellows!


Chris, Nate, Grace, Caroline, and Ella do their rendition of Happy Feet. Those bowling shoes sure were fun on the smooth, hardwood floors!

a night on the town

The unthinkable happened here last night.....all of the Slater siblings and their spouses went out on the town! We went to a restaurant in the Pearl called Sundari. Amazing Chinese cuisine! It was great to sit down and enjoy each other's company without children running around.
Greg, Kathy, Mark and Susan. Hey, we're even standing in our birth order! Can you tell who is the oldest? :)
Paparazzi shot! Susan and Greg get busted coming out of the restaurant. It's so hard to be so famous!
Cheers!

a funny one...

Tonight in the bathtub:
I noticed that my 'grown up' shampoo and conditoner had made it's way to the bathtub ledge from the counter. I asked the boys which one of them had put it there.
"Nate did," said Chris. "But mommy, it says bunnies can't not use it because it will get in their eyes and hurt them!"
Why would he think anything different with a picture like that? :)

A letter to Santa

This morning I found Chris writing a list to Santa. He saw it on the Mickey Mouse Christmas movie, so I guess he figured that he needed to have one for Santa, too. I asked him what asked for. In case you are having trouble with reading it, I will translate.
A bologna sandwich, snowman with skis, brown dog, black horse, new DVD player(?) and new pair of headphones.
Nate did not write a list to Santa. I think he's getting a little bit nervous that Santa won't be bringing him much of anything but some coal this year because he continues to have issues with stealing Chris' chocolate treats out of his advent calendar before Chris can get to it. The boy truly can't seem to help himself with this issue. Santa is watching!

Ho-Ho-Ho

Saturday morning we went to a holiday brunch at the Younkin household. There were lots of families there with little kids, and good ol' Santa made an appearance and handed out toys! Here is Nate greeting Santa as he came to the door. Thanks for the fun time Todd, Wendy, and Henry! Each boy got a nutcracker from Santa. How did he know how much they love those things?
Here's Todd and Chris being buddies at the party. Notice Chris' fancy leather belt? Right before the party Dan took one of his old, worn-out belts and cut a little bit (o.k., more than a little bit!) of leather off the end and poked a hole. Oila! a perfect size belt for a little man.

18 chocolates

Considering that it's only December 7th, does anything about this chocolate advent calendar look funny to you? Yes, that's right, the chocolates for days # 7-25 are GONE. Days 1-6 went great--the boys each opened one door in the morning, and that was it until the next day.
Last night after dinner the boys were downstairs while I cleaned up the dinner dishes. When I went down to join them, Nate came right over to me and gave me a hug and a kiss (a little bit suspicious behavior, should have been my first clue). At the time I thought he smelled kind of like coffee or something, but I didn't put much more thought into it than that. Then, I noticed Nate's advent (the boys both call them ALVENT calendars...very cute!) didn't look quite right. I started to lift up each little hinged door and surprise, surprise there wasn't a chocolate left to be found anywhere! Nate started squirming, and acting very silly----the way he gets when he knows he's done something wrong. He finally fessed up that he had eaten them all. "they were sooooo good!" he said as he rubbed on his full and tight little tummy like Buddah. 18 chocolates just sitting in there. Sometimes temptation just gets the best of us. :)
Here's a letter/envelope that Nate addressed to Santa. He sounded out the word Santa all by himself! He is planning to take it with him tomorrow when he will see Santa at Todd and Wendy's party. Inside he drew a beautiful trace of his hand, and colored all of the fingers different colors. Santa will surely love it!

gum

It's official---Chris and Nate now know how to chew gum without swallowing it! (yes, accidents do happen) I promised them each a piece of gum after their nap today, and they didn't let me forget it. Dan and I were laughing so hard on Sunday when they were working on this new skill. They stood there all stiff, hands in pockets, chewing without moving their heads, and learning to bite down on the gum when they needed to swallow the 'juices'. It was quite a sight.

The video of Nate is so cute. He was almost near tears about his mishap. I only wish that I had the camera rolling about 10 seconds sooner. We could have seen the big Juicy Fruit go down!

Tis' the Season!

Yesterday we decked the halls around here. About as far back as I can remember (well, actually about the past 12 years), the Chandler family has had their annual Christmas Tree gathering party on the first Saturday in December. It's truly one of our favorite family outings to go and ride Big John's flatbed tractor in the mud to find the perfect Christmas tree, see the same faces, visit the cows, eat some great food, then head home with a tree on top of the car....a great tradition. However this year it had be canceled because Cindi had her appendix taken out and she is in recovery mode. Not having the party this year really made us appreciate this event even more. It wasn't nearly as much fun to go and pick up a pre-cut tree. So, thanks Chandlers for all of the years of tree parties. It's just not the same without it!
Here's our tree...it actually looks really good---even better in real life! The boys had so much fun decorating with me, and quickly fell in love with all of the nutcrackers. It's hard to see in the picture, but the bottom 1/2 of the tree is loaded with ornaments and it's got some sag. That's what happens when you're only 3' tall and the lead decorator! It's going to be a fun month.

Happy Birthday!

Dear Daddy,
Happy Birthday to you! Since you are turning 38 today, we thought we would share 38 things that we love about you. Love, Chris and Nate

1. You taught us each our own secret handshake.

2. You play with us when you get home from work.

3. You have taught us the rules of football and all of the hand signs.

4. You take us with you to the Home Depot, even though it would be much easier and faster to go alone.

5. You let us drive on your lap down the bumpy alley. That's very fun!

6. You give us very big hugs.

7. You ring the doorbell when you get home rather than use the key so that we can open the door and find you.

8. You have taught us about our favorite teams---the Gators and the Cubs.

9. You taught us how to make fires in the fireplace, and how to use the lighter safely and crumple the paper.

10. You take us to dog park to collect nuts, play soccer, climb, and watch the polo guys.

11. You always encourage us to try new things.

12. You take lots of great pictures of us.

13. You let us collect the change out of the ashtray in your car---and keep it!

14. You do a good job of brushing our teeth and playing dentist.

15. You get so proud of our accomplishments, and share that excitement with us.

16. You let us take showers with you and use your big man soap.

17. You share your real tools with us....and teach us how to use them.

18. You play games with us like Uno, Cariboo, and Go Fish.

19. You teach us to be tough and to 'walk it off.'

20. You let us open your beers with the fancy opener on the chopping block.

21. You push the cart backwards at Costco so that we can see where we're going, instead of where we've been.

22. You always ask us how our day was and what we did.

23. You buy us cool things online, even though mom doesn't think that we need them.

24. You rarely get grumpy with us.

25. You teach us about science things, and are always fun at OMSI.

26. You watch "Ask This Old House" with us after you get home from work on Tuesdays.

27. You laugh at our joke about the bee going to the doctor every time you hear it...even though you've already heard it 50 times.

28. You taught us about Crystal Hot Sauce---yum!

29. You rassle with us and taught us how to 'tap out' when we're feeling done.

30. You provide for all of us.

31. You share your last bite of food if it's something that we love.

32. You taught us the words to "Take me out to the ballgame" and F--L-O-R-I-D-A.

33. You know the names of all our friends, and ask about them.

34. You never leave for work without giving/getting a kiss from us.

35. You talk to us on the phone.

36. You let us do crankers when we are at the zoo.

37. You take us down the alley to explore.

38. You are our daddy, and we get tons of love from you every single day.


Thanks for being such a great dad!

something for the refrigerator

Can you see the little yellow post-it note just below the water dispenser on our refrigerator?
I just discovered it there when I went to get some H2O for Nate. I think that Chris put it there, but I don't know why, or exactly when, and I don't know what it says. I just think that it's really cute.
Here's a close-up of what he posted. I am sure that it is something very important. He actually did the tape dispenser successfully by himself, which in itself is a huge accomplishment.

update---Duh, I figured it out! It says Moore. See the M, O, O, R, and E? Way to go, Chris!

Thanksgiving Dinner

We have so much to be thankful for!

Happy Thanksgiving! We went over to Uncle Mark and Aunt Deenie's household to celebrate the day. Here is Claudine, Sookie, and lil'man Will. He was such a handsome boy on his first turkey day!

Oh yah, Mark really knows how to 'sear in the juices' with that turkey fryer. He did an excellent job and the bird was tasty! Stand back, fire hazard!!

Here we are watching Uncle Mark fry his turkey. We're steering clear, so we don't get burned by the hot oil! It was very cold, but that great turkey smell made it worth the shivers.
Loving cousins! Claudine had some arts and crafts for them to make...notice the very fashionable foam hats? They just love to peel those stickers and stick them.

Our lovely feast. It looks like Chris is already asleep...it must have been the tryptophan in the turkey that he snuck. :)

Did you say pie? Chris and Nate watch very closely as Sookie slices the pie. mmmmmm good! A perfect ending to a great day with family.

Thanksgiving breakfast

We went over to Uncle Greg and Aunt Susan's house this a.m. for a yummy Thansgiving breakfast. We had tasty sausage, bacon, eggs, and of course, tons of Susan's delicious baked goods. It was a nice way to start the day!

preschool celebration

This morning at the boys' preschool they had a family celebration for Thanksgiving. Aunt Claudine and Daddy were their guests. Here's a group shot. They were excited to show her and daddy their cubbies, their sign-in names, and all of the areas in the classroom. They also drew turkeys with their hands.
Claudine is getting a kiss from Chris, while Nate goes for his second pumpkin pie tart. He just LOVED them! We are really thankful that Aunt Deenie came as our guest. She was so much fun!

Here is their class singing their "Good Morning" song. They have been working on it since the first day of school, and the sign language signs, too. Listen to Nate at the very end...he's such a thoughtful little guy. The Moore boys are easy to find since they always have a hat on their heads!

sushi and bowling on a rainy Sunday

Bowling Alley Fashion Shoes
The Moore family has found their calling! We were meant to be bowlers. We all went bowling this morning at Hollywood Bowl and had a great time. The boys LOVED rolling the balls and seeing what they had knocked over at the other end. When it was Chris and Nate's turn, the bumpers popped up in the gutters, so every throw was a success. We'll be back! Here's Chris right after letting the ball go. He really got the knack of running and letting the ball go at the same time.
Nate, on the other hand, was really good at running up to and stopping at the line(see above), but he would then just toss the ball out which would land with an incredible thud. Good thing we were down at lane 2 where the workers couldn't hear the rumble or see the dents on the floor! :)
Here's an action shot with Nate bowling, Chris and Mama watching and waiting! The boys could have bowled all day, but we decided that 2 rounds was enough. We went to Sushiland and had lunch. One really nice thing about our boys is that they will eat pretty much everything, and are always willing to try new stuff. Today they ate miso soup, tofu, kim-pop, california roll, udon noodles, crab, and cucumber salad. Even though they enjoyed the food, I really think that their favorite part was taking the sushi plates off of the conveyor belt.

Engine and Caboose

Nate was getting dressed this morning and he said, "mommy, I have a penis and a butt."

"Well, yes you do...isn't that great?" confirming how wonderful his body is.

"Yep" he said. "This is the engine, (pointing to his front), and this is the caboose." (pointing to the rear)

I couldn't have said it better myself. :)

Weekend in Seattle

We had a GREAT weekend in Seattle with the cousins! The boys were SO excited to go, and they loved every minute our time there. Of course, they didn't want to leave on Sunday. We went to the Children's Museum in Everett, which was so much fun! But most of the time was spent hanging out at their house playing, coloring, bouncing on the blow-up beds, chasing, watching Ratatouille,( and the dads watching football on Dave's new 42"' plasma t.v.), eating, etc. etc. Some outside time too, riding bikes/scooters and a trip to Cowan Park to play soccer and ride the trolley. The moms even got to do a little thriftin'. A perfect weekend. Aunt Susie has a cupboard where she keeps her 'goodies' and the boys think that it is pretty much the bees knees. Every trip to Seattle she has let them have free reign, so in their minds it is just a fantasy cupboard. They talked about it all the way there. This is a picture of Chris and Aunt Susie in front of that cupboard. Aunt Susie is so much fun!

The big goal was to arrive in Seattle by 3:45 so that we could meet Grace and Ella's school bus. The boys really were looking forward to this, and we arrived 10 minutes prior to the bus. This video shows Ella and Grace getting off the bus after a day of school.....with elated cousins waiting for their arrival! Thanks for having us Dave, Susan, Grace, Ella and Caroline----we love Seattle, and we love being with YOU!

a lost art

After Nate's nap, we were sitting on the couch reading a little trivia book filled with questions for 2-3 year olds. He was having a great time, and could answer every question without missing a beat.
Then we turned to the page where it showed a monkey ironing a shirt.
"What is that called?" I asked him. Total silence and lots of thinking on his part. After a pause, "A mixer?" he said since he couldn't think of anything else.
"Have you ever seen one of those?" I asked him.
"'No."
Poor kids of today....(at least the kids in this house!) They'll never learn the art of ironing a shirt. I didn't know if I should feel guilty for never exposing him to the appliance, or feel grateful that Dan's shirts can be cleaned and pressed for .95 each at the Shirt Shop. Everything else can just be fluffed in the dryer. :)

wrinkles

I was sitting at the table as the boys ate their dinner tonight and Nate got a puzzled look on his face. He got out of his chair and came to me quite seriously.
"Mommy, what are dose?" and he points and touches right on my forehead and my wrinkles.
"'Well, Nate, those are wrinkles. You get them when you get old."
"I don't want to have dose!"

Well, none of us do. Thanks, Nate.

A Diamond Day

Remember the John Denver song lyric that goes "'some days are diamonds, some days are stones...."? Well, several years ago my sister Susan and I coined the term for our thrift shopping. We both love going to Goodwill and other second hand stores and seeing what we can find. The joy of finding a real treasure makes a trip to the Goodwill a diamond day. The days we come home empty handed is a stone day. You get the point.
Well, today was a diamond day at the Goodwill for Chris and Nate. We went in search of nothing in particular, but left with some real treasures. Chris found the Tonka bulldozer truck which was in perfect condition. Very durable, and perfect for their new construction area out back. (scooping and dumping rocks from the window well) Nate was feeling a bit bummed because he hadn't found anything worthwhile....and he knows that I won't just buy something for the sake of getting one for each boy if it's a piece of junk. So we decided to take one more stroll down the aisle next to the toys. We couldn't' believe our eyes when we found a roller truck that even made sounds and lights! He was so pleased with our find. Both boys pushed their trucks all the way up to the cash register (how they can bend their bodies like that, I don't know) Thanks to whoever the kids were that gave those vehicles to the Goodwill....they made our day!
Chris bulldozing some leaves.
Nate signaling for these trucks to head his way. The one in the middle is the forklift that we had found during our last visit to Goodwill. We've got quite the collection going!