Extreme Snow Storm

He may be smaller....but he's tougher.

Boy-0-boy was this one ever touted as the biggest snow that would ever hit Portland! For the past 3 days everyone was waiting in anticipation of this mega event. I can't say that it lived up to the hype, but I can say that it sure was nice having all of the schools closed for a snow day....which meant we were all able to stay home and enjoy the snow before it melted away a few hours later.

Harry is a Snow Bengal, after all....so we let him out to see if his native instincts would kick in. Not so much~he wanted to get back into the warm house.

Mama's Birthday

My birthday was on Saturday, so I decided that I wanted to spend it with my favorite people at my favorite place~the lovely Oregon Coast.
One of my favorite parts of the weekend was Nate's new look. We stopped at the Gap Outlet on the way to Newport, and found this fine looking hat for Nate. He wore it with pride and got 18 compliments on it from all sorts of people. He is also taking a liking to 'button shirts' so he really was extra fashionable all weekend long. I love this boy.
We stayed at the Elizabeth Street Inn. The biggest priority for our family when looking for lodging is whether or not there is a pool. This pool was great...and a hot tub to boot! The boys made 3 trips to the pool. Since it was my birthday, I had the option of sitting out. Which I took complete advantage of.

Dinner was at the Rogue Brewery. It's a fun spot right on the water underneath the bridge in Newport.

Lots of pretty bottles all displayed neatly in a row. How about the artistic flair to this picture? Dan got me a really nice new camera as a birthday gift.

Chris and Nate at the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse.

Christopher looking for whales. No luck.

Mama and her boys.

We swung by grandma and grandpa's house on the way home from the beach to get my birthday present from them, and were treated to some lazy-daisy oatmeal cake and some chowder.
44 isn't so bad.....I'm truly thankful for another year.

Christopher has a rich Grandma

"When I go to my Grandma's house she has two cats. And she is a millionaire. She has a remote controlled chair. It leans like ninety degrees forward. She lives in Salem. The lucky part is that she gives me change that she does not need. So that's how I get rich. The last time I was at her house and it was her birthday and she got a T.V. It was 3.d, but it didn't come with the glasses so it was just a plain T.V."

Harry's fun in the night

This is what I awoke to this morning in the kitchen. It looks like Harry had lots of fun last night.

Spin, spin, spin. That's a lot of paper towels!

It's kind of cute when toddlers do this to toilet paper.....not quite as much when it's a cat gone stir-crazy.

Each towel was torn and poked. Crazy cat.

Piano Lessons!

The boys started piano lessons at Ethos. They've had 3 lessons so far, and are really liking it!

It will be really fun and interesting to see them make progress in this skill, as neither Dan nor myself has any musical talent....what they learn will be a 100% result of effort and ability. You can listen to a fine sampling of their skills below.

Chris (top) and Nate (below) play the notes for "Mary Had A Little Lamb." (teacher Andrea on the chords.)

Yes, we're alive and well.

It's been so long since I posted that I forgot I have to upload these photos in reverse order. Lame. I promise that I will work harder at staying current.
The latest craze around here is making tetrahedron structures (?) with marshmallows and toothpicks.

The boys got new bunkbeds. Chris on top, Nate on the bottom.

The only shot that was taken as we rang in 2011 with the McMullens.
I'm tellin' ya...I've been really lame about taking photos.

Christmas 2010

I'm feeling rather negligent in my Christmas post this year. I was really bad about taking pictures, plus, our computer crashed last week and I've been struggling to figure out where to find the pictures, etc. Despite the lack of photos, we did have a wonderful holiday season around here. Aunt Leann and Uncle Frank were in town for the week prior, then the Cotters came to town on Christmas Eve.

If you're looking for much better coverage of our past week, please click here and here. Aunt Leann did a wonderful job of documenting the festivities. Chris and Nate sitting on Santa's lap right in our front room!

Looks like Santa found his way down the chimney! His carrots and cookies look nibbled on, too.

Christmas Eve was spent at our house. All of the cousins got their Christmas jammies from g'ma. This year they were not all matchy-matchy.

....but wait! There were Snuggies, too!

Ah, Snuggies. What American household doesn't have at least one??

The Slaters. Merry Christmas!

He's a Poet

December, December

Right after November.

December, December

It's a month to remember.

~by Chris Moore

Christmas Ships

Last night we went to watch the Christmas Boats parade by on Sauvie Island. The McMullens live right on the water, so we joined them for an early dinner, then walked down to the boat dock and watched the boats go by.
It was wet and windy, but it's always fun to hang with the McMullens, regardless. We even got a personal history from their salty (and somewhat intoxicated) neighbor man who has lived on the Island for 50+ years...he told us the whole story of the boats at Christmas, and gave us a few chuckles, too.

Their favorite was the firetruck boat, and the big blue whale.

Co-ho-ho!

Christmas Tree Hunting

You've gotta be strong to haul this big tree out of the forest.
We went and got our Christmas Tree on Saturday at a farm on Sauvies Island. It was nice and all, but it sure wasn't the same as the Chandler Family Tree Party. The hostess, Cindi, is very pregnant, and it was a good year to take a break from this big event. We missed it....and hope that the tradition will continue on next year.

Gnomes

It was definitely a diamond day at the Goodwill this morning when I found these antique gnomes tucked away in the Christmas section for a mere $1.99 each. I did a little happy dance in the aisle upon my discovery because they're so cute. They were all the buzz at checkout too, as others saw my great find!

Eat your heart out, fancy gnome at New Seasons for $29.99.....I've moved on.

Thanksgiving 2010

Uncle Greg and Aunt Susan were host and hostess extraordinaire for Thanksgiving 2010. They did an absolutely fantastic job, and this year there were 21 of us there....the whole Slater family, plus about half of the Schubach family as well. It was fun to have such a large group!

No kids table for this crowd. Look at this amazingly gorgeous Thanksgiving dinner table. All 21 of us were seated around it. Pass to the left, please. I was impressed!
Looking down the table. I love that Bill's (Susan's brother-in-law), head actually showed up forefront in this picture...he warned me about it, but I didn't take him seriously! :)
Mmm. Every single morsel was made lovingly from scratch. It was seriously divine.
OK, so it's not a totally clean plate, but there were a few refills between the pre and post pics. We were all stuffed...and thankful for such a wonderful time.

trying to catch up

Boy, have I ever been lazy about posting on here! Working 40+ hours a week is to blame.

Above is my class on Halloween. No I don't only have 17 kids...4 of them were absent that day. What a great group they are! I do love the red leaves on our oak trees this time of year.

A funny piece of homework that I discovered in Christopher's backpack.

Yes we used to be wild.

save your fork....there's pie!

Today was a 'no school' day for the boys, so g'ma came to town to watch them and show them how to make an apple pie. They had tons of fun. First you make the crust....

.....then you peel the apples.
The pie is ready for the oven.
(I think they added some flour to their faces for special effects)

Nothing like a pie that is baked with love.

The finished product. Good thing g'ma showed them how it's done. These boys just don't get exposure to some of the things that were commonplace in yesteryear.

Oh, and she also made a delicious dinner for us that consisted of meatloaf, baked potatoes, and some cheesy broccoli casserole. It was delish. Thanks, g'ma...can we book you again?!!

trick-or-treat

A little bit of pre-function action with the McMullens...
two pirates out on the town...

In front of the house with a bag full of loot....

Wow! What a fun evening.

This was Chris and Nate's first year of really doing the the trick-or-treating the old school way~only in our neighborhood with friends. Just how Halloween should be celebrated.