Shopping!!!

As if there isn't enough shopping going on for Christmas we like to add a little more. Tonight it was...

 This is one of my favorite activities for this month. I love watching the kids get so excited to buy something for someone else. I love watching them sneak around the store trying to stay out of the way of other family members and I love seeing what they come up with.

Rob had Emily and he got her a Littlest Pet Shop.

 I had Rob and he got a pair of socks, a pack of gum and tootsie rolls.

Taylor had Austin and he got a geyser tube and a Pez dispenser. 

 Austin had Taylor and he got him Mighty Beanz, twizzlers and notecards.

I got socks and gloves from Emily.

It's not much but we love our traditions. Emily asked if we could raise the amount to $10 next year. We'll have to see about that.

It's No Rockefeller Plaza

One of our advent activities is to go look at the Capitol Christmas Tree. We tried to do it last year but they were doing construction on the capitol so they decorated an existing evergreen about a block away and called it good. We called it lame. This year we knew they would have a good tree so we packed in the car and headed downtown. We were not disappointed.

Afterward Steph told us about a Christmas thing the Anniversary Inn was having. You can go tour all the rooms, have cookies and hot chocolate and get your picture with Santa for free. We figured we were already down there so why not. The kids loved seeing all the cool themed rooms and getting there picture with Santa, even though "that wasn't the real Santa. We could see his moustache coming out from under his beard." To top it off the great night I got a call a couple days later and we won a free nights stay at the Anniversary Inn! Woohoo!!!

John S. Fitch 1926-2010

I found out Saturday, December 4, that my grandpa went home to be with Jesus. He has battled Parkinson's disease for many years and Friday night he told my grandma that he was ready to go home. She said "Then, Honey, you need to go. And I won't be far behind you".

I have so many fond memories of my grandparents. As a child I spent many summer days in Wimer, Oregon with them.

I don't know if there could be a more picturesque couple miles of road than the stretch they lived on. They were about a quarter of a mile from this bridge so we spent lots of time walking to and from this place to drop rocks off the rail into the river and watch the water go by. Just the other side of the bridge on the right was a small ice house where Grandpa would take us to get treats. My favorite was the blue Nehi cream soda. Grandpa always said it looked like battery acid.

We walked the devil out of this road. And we knew all of the neighbors by name. I can remember walking to the creek and every so often we would have to stop so Grandma and Grandpa could talk to someone. Such a sweet place and such sweet memories. I can still vividly remember how their house smelled and how the walk in pantry in the garage smelled. And I can hear the sound of their white Peugot as we drove around town and see grandpa with his driving gloves and straw hat on. It was so familiar. Every afternoon grandpa would lay in the middle of the living room floor and take a power nap. Every day. Every night he would get up and take me to the bathroom so i wouldn't wet the bed. There was as steady stream of classical music that came from Grandpa's office and sometimes grandpa would sit in there with the door closed and crank it up. He loved his composers. There was always a book case full of National Geographic to look through and I always went to the same issue. It had a picture of a small child in a dish tub full of water with a baby monkey on it's back. I loved that picture and some years later they framed it for me and gave it to me as a gift. I still love that picture. My brother, cousin and I had our own metal cups that hung by the sink for brushing our teeth, getting water etc. and we had ice tea breaks every day.

They moved from that house many years ago yet we still sit around and talk about the great times we had there. Unfortunately life moves forward but I am so thankful for the man my Grandpa was and the memories I will always have of him.

Winter Wonderland

It finally came. It started snowing late Tuesday morning and didn't stop until Wednesday afternoon. The kids got a snow day and we ended up with a little over eight inches of snow!