I think that he had a good one

Lots of card, lots of love.

Harry even joined in the celebration at the last second.

Lordy, lordy, look who's 40!

Happy Birthday to you, Daniel Moore!

(editor's note: I showed this to the boys and Chris said, "he looks goofy!)

We love you and wish you the happiest birthday.

xoxoxox

Age is strictly a case of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. ~Jack Benny

Seaside

We spent the night in Seaside last night as a birthday celebration for Dan, and because the boys constantly beg us to go to a hotel with a pool. Good times.

Hotel room beds are made for jumping. The kitchen counter ledge made the perfect jump spot.

Wheeeeee!

The pool was another good place to get tossed around.

Chris found this huge pencil on the beach. Perfect for drawing a line in the sand. Get it?

Mr. Potato Head enjoying a pint with us at Bills pub.

mmm......Thanksgiving!

I'm still full as I type this. We celebrated Thanksgiving at Uncle Greg and Aunt Susan's house and it was de-lish!
The boys made these darling place tags for everyone, but I forgot to take them with us! (bad mom) Luckily, Greg and Susan had pens and construction paper so Chris, Nate, and Catie were able to make another round of them.

The bird...all 26 pounds of him. Perfectly browned with good drippins'.
The food was amazing, and all made very lovingly and from scratch by Susan. Mashed potatoes, scalloped cheese/chive potatoes, green salad, stuffing, homemade rolls, carrots, gravy, fresh green beans w/ bacon, onions, mushrooms, sweet potato something or other that was amazing....you get the picture. Lest we forget desserts. Pie, cheesecakes, and a pecan tart. mmmm

The tradition has been set. Greg and Susan officially claimed Thanksgiving as their holiday to host each year. What a treat! Along with hosting means coming up with the annual scavenger hunt around the house. Chris and Nate just love this event, probably because it's like a Survivor challenge.

Gathering around the 16' long table.

The boys were great eaters! Chris loved the green beans, and Nate was really fond of the stuffing and the 'chewy' meat. I think that Chris experienced his first food coma, as he laid on Dan after dinner and didn't move.

For some reason, this picture will not load in the right direction. Oh well. It's Uncle Mark's plate. Being a homicide detective does not guarantee a 9-5 job or holidays off, and he had been working a new case pretty much non-stop for the past 24+ hours. We were all thankful that he was able to join us after we got started! He was good and hungry, too.

I couldn't resist. This wiener dog has been a part of every holiday/special event since I can remember. It's old....about 50 years.....my mom bought it for my grandma back in about 1958. The amazing thing is that all 3 segments of the dog are still intact. Greg inherited the dog, and it is a prized possession to say the least. I can only imagine how many olives I have eaten out of this fellow over the years.

After dinner, a few rounds of connect four. What a delightful day! Thanks so much for hosting, Greg and Susan.

Family Challenge

Both last night and tonight we all partook in some family challenges (based on the same premise of the challenges on Survivor, I'm certain). After dinner Dan and I were summoned to the basement where this challenge awaited us:
Family Puzzle Night. We would divide into 2 teams (Chris/Daddy and Nate/Mama) On the go, each team would need to race to complete 4 puzzles each (which were ready to go and sorted into rather fair piles, if I do say so myself) On your mark, get, set, go!

This was actually really fun, and a true competition. Dan/Chris won the first night, Mama/Nate smoked' them the second night.

Then, the second challenge was a drawing challenge. Christopher set up 4 papers and a bunch of crayons on the table. We all had to do our best drawing. Go. Time was limited, but we all created some masterpieces. I can hardly wait to see what tomorrow night's challenge will be!

Recycling at it's best

Toilet paper rolls. Egg cartons. Cottage cheese tubs. Spinach tubs. Milk cartons. If I want them to make it to the recycling bin I have to act fast---and not let Christopher see the empty item with all it's potential.
Above is a plastic bin that some spinach came in. He had already laid claim to it as it sat in the refrigerator full of leafy greens. "Mom, can I have that spinach container when you're done?" "Sure, Buddy."
This one was turned into a bank, with a slot in the top, and $ signs on each end.
Sometimes it just drives me crazy because I just.want.it.to.be.in.the.recycle.bin. But then as I rinse out an old milk carton, or scrounge around for an old plastic water bottle, I do remind myself how lucky I am to have bright and creative kids. Anyone in the market for some NASA rockets? We happen to have a few.......thanks to Dasani water bottles, some paper, and tape.

camping at home

Last night the boys had a camp-out in the front room. Aidan and Liam were supposed to spend the night, but Aidan got sick so our fun plans fell through. We made the most of it, and set up the tent, played games, and roasted marshmallows in the fireplace.

Veteran's Day Parade

Chris, Nate, and I went to a Veteran's Day Parade this morning. There were lots of Veterans, marching bands, and local officials that we waved at, gave thumbs up, and saluted to. They even threw candy out of several cars which sent the kids into a frenzy. I love parades! Thanks to all of the Veterans who have served our country.

Salem adventure

After a week of being stuck in the house with 2 very sick boys, it was nice to finally feel good enough to get out and about. We went to Salem and did a little sight-seeing with Grandma. After visiting Grandma's house, driving past my old elementary school, and lunch at Panda Express, we went out to see Grandpa at the shop. The boys were hoping to collect gizmos and gadgets (which believe me, there are a lot of them out there!), but instead came home with wires, packaging bubbles, and some non-working police radios that clip nicely to their belts.

Our next stop was the state Capitol Building. This was very exciting because Chris and Nate have asked about the gold man on top. The top deck was closed for the season so we didn't go all the way up, but we did cruise around inside and saw the Senate/House of Representatives chambers, as well as Governor Kulongoski's office. He cut out early for the weekend, so we didn't get to see him.

In the capitol building there are some lovely built in phone booths. I had to explain to Chris and Nate that back in the 'old days' people didn't carry cell phones, so you would have to find a phone booth if you needed to make a call when you were out and about. So, they checked out these retro phone booths, complete with a sitting bench, and a public phone. It won't be long before phone boots will completely be a thing of the past. Of course, Grandma is always good for souvenir trinkets (which I never buy for these guys) so Chris chose a statue of the gold pioneer man, and Nate got a snow globe with the capital building and a beaver inside. It was a fun day. Thanks for hosting us, Grandma!

The list

In case you are starting your Christmas shopping early, here is the list that Christopher made on Sunday. Let me guess....at school they must be working on capitalizing the first letter of the first word, and periods. I love the development of writing in kids....makes me smile every time that I look at it.

1. Wii Sports Resort.

2. Boxing gloves---2 pairs.

3. Signed baseball by a Cub.

4. Tebow wrist band.

5. New computer---Dell kind.

6. Cool rocks.

7. Nutcracker.

8. All-star baseball cards.

9. Stuffed animal--flamingo.

Halloween

You're probably coming here today to see two cute little boys dressed up in their Halloween costumes, right? Well, not so much this year. Unfortunately Nate was one sick boy, so he just laid on the couch with a wicked fever, a cough, and eventually, a big barf.
Chris and I did dress up and do some trick-or-treating in the neighborhood, then we went over to a party at Uncle Mark & Aunt Deenie's house.

Chris and Catie.

Some party action.

Courtnie, Justin, and Mark. Justin's outfit was just wrong....big fat rent-a-cop complete with very low riding pants, if you know what I mean.

Poor sick Nate. At least his brother will share the candy. There's always next year.

best in show

No, they're not scary Halloween cats. They are some fancy Devon Rex kitties that we saw at the cat show that we went to today.
It was fun to see all of the fancy felines, but I have to say that the people who are involved in the showing didn't seem to be the most socially skilled people. They're all about their cats---
My favorite part of the day was when we were cruising the aisles, admiring the cats, and meeting the cats. We would often times see the cat's name on the front of the cage. Well, there was one lovely cat and I told the boys that his name was Toyger. The cat lady on the other side of the aisle must have thought that I was a total dumb-ass.
"Um, that's a Toyger cat....he's not named Toyger," she said with attitude and an eye-roll.

Oh, silly me! and on we went.

so handsome

Such handsome boys in their official kindergarten school pictures.

They've sure changed from a year ago!

Wiley Kraut Fest

Yesterday we went to the party of the year---the Wiley Kraut Fest. Who would have thought that a party where about 50 people sit around and smash cabbage to make sauerkraut would be so much fun....but it was. It was top notch, and I bet that everyone else in attendance would agree with me. Not only was there this really fun and unique experience of making sauerkraut, but there was amazing food, great beer (Guinness...my favorite!), fun new faces, perfect fall weather, and activities to keep the kids busy and happy.
This was the first round of kraut makers. We sat on a long bench with a 5 gallon bucket and a wooden mallet in front of us. Pound, pound, pound the cabbage. The cabbage was added 5 lbs. at a time, for a total of 40 lbs. per bucket! (and a very carefully measured 3 Tablespoons of salt per each 5 lbs. of cabbage) Dan is down at the end with the orange bucket, while Mike Wiley supervises.

Nate and I take our turn at smashing the cabbage.

While some were busy working their magic at the cabbage smashing, others did the prep. There was a whole other area set up with cutting, slicing, and weighing the fresh cabbage. The back of Mike's truck had 800 lbs. of cabbage!

Everyone helped. Nate carries the cabbage.

Chris watched the scale--5 pounds exactly. The kraut-master of this event was VERY picky about having the exact weight measured out.

Chris and the kraut-master. They were a good team once he realized that Chris really did kn0w what he was doing.

Mike finally gets his turn to make some kraut after being quite the busy host. He and Mary sure know how to throw a party!

There were even awards at the end of the night. The salt lady was acknowledged for her great ability to salt each bucket without missing a beat. She really was good at her job!

The other fella won a kraut award for being such a hard worker. I saw him chop more cabbage than anyone else there! The teamwork at this event was awesome.

Here's some video of the second group in action. Thanks so much for the great party, Wileys! We sure hope that this was the first of many kraut fests to come.