Thanksgiving

Here are a few of my favorite Thanksgiving pics. It started out with a Rocky induced coma. The boys cuddled up for a Rocky marathon. Claire and the girls came over to help me finish cooking and to get things ready for my brother and his family. Derek, his wife Christina, Chloe, Devyn and their "adopted" daughter Courtney came about 2:30. I can't think of a time where there were so many little girls running through my house. At one point during dinner Derek's daughter and Claire's daughter announced that they were best friends. It was adorable. We had a wonderful dinner and then a fabulous dessert. As you can see the kids were excited about pie. After Derek's family left Chris, Claire, the kids and I vegged out in front of the t.v. for a couple of hours. Claire and the girls decided to have a sleep over. When we woke up Chris went to the store and picked up cinnamon rolls and butterhorns for us (love Chris).

The rest of the weekend was pretty low key. Trevor stopped by for leftovers, Jonah went to a birthday sleep over, we had pageant rehearsal, did a puzzle, watched more football than anyone can imagine and finally Chris put up the Christmas lights. I am starting to get into the holiday spirit which is nice. Chris and I both have to work tomorrow but it was a nice few days off. I am excited about my lights and I can't wait to go get my tree. This week is hell week with Jonah having dress rehearsal 3 hours every night. Opening night is this Friday and we are all excited.

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving and ate plenty of Turkey.

Max's First Reconcilliation

Max celebrated his First Reconcilliation on Nov. 22nd. It was a great day. Max is excited to be on the road to his First Communion. He is so cute and I can't even imagine what he told the priest. He is such a good boy. I can't believe how big he is getting. I am starting to field old as my little men reach these milestones. What am I going to do when they get married?

Sleep over with Aunt Tanya

So they day started off pretty normal with me not hearing my phone ring 4 times for various people to tell me school was canceled because they expected flooding. Well, this happens to us all the time but they never cancel school (should've been my first clue). We were about to catch the bus when I checked my phone. Good thing Sarah decided to text me and let me know what was going on. Then people kept calling to tell me the flood was going to be real bad this time. After our last experience I took the warning. I called my friend Tara (who's husband works for the city) and she said we needed to go and that they were expecting 20% more water than last time YIKES! So I quickly began preparing the house w/ the flood cresting at 4. I had no time to spare. I figured the road would flood around 1pm. As I was desperately packing and picking thing up Tara pulled in the drive to help me. We put everything in the car and picked up as much as we could and then we were out by 1:15 and still no water....That was good news. So I felt a little over dramatic leaving but I thought it was better to be safe than sorry. Right, right.
So anyway, around 7pm Tara calls to tell me the city workers are going home, Mike drove by the house and it was fine. At the same time Sarah called to say that Kimbell Creek (the major threat to us) was backing up into her yard and she now had lake front property. With conflicting reports we were just happy to be at Tanya's house eating a fantastic dinner and watching movies. At 7am this morning Steve drove by my house and said all was well but the street behind us was under 2 feet of water. I drove into work but stopped at the house to turn the electricty back on and get it ready for the boys. I drove around and noticed the water stopped at my fence and went no further. My back yard neighbors yard were under water and I am not sure if they had any water inside. I felt very fortunate. We lucked out! The water knocked on the door but didn't come in. In the mean time, I am thankful we left because we would have seen the water coming and done another midnight retreat (which wasn't much fun the last time). The boys were happy and comfy and so were we. No stress, no drama. The water flooded the road into our house but the water had gone by the time I got there (not nearly as bad as last time) so that was good. I love my home and where I live but this whole flood thing is starting to get old. Well, I am going to go I am off work and I want to see my kids....

evacuation

We evacuated just to be on the safe side. I will let you all know how it shakes out tomorrow. So far so good! Say some prayers and wish us good luck.

Max's Heritage

Max was recently asked to do a small project about his heritage. He was to pick a family picture and present it to the class along with an explanation of his family traditions and/or heritage. Here is what he wrote:

Hi my name is Max.

We have a big family.

We are hard workers.

We love eachother.

We live in Washington.

We all go to Catholic Church.

We pray.

We sing to God.

We take care of poor people.

We celebrate God's bday.

We are Americans.

We love our soldiers.

We celebrate seasons.

We celebrate Thanksgiving and 4th of July.

My great-great grandparents taught us to work hard and love God.

From Max Duvall

That says it all...Here is the picture he is including. It was taken 3 years ago around Easter.

A weeekend alone

It seems so strange but the second the boys were done trick or treating, Chris left with them to visit his Uncle in Yakima. They went to build an addition on his house. I couldn't go because I had to do the children's mass this weekend and they wouldn't be back in time. The plans were so last minute that I didn't have time to plan a single thing so I stayed home by myself and cleaned out the garage (thrilling I know). I get scared and a little melancholy being here by myself so in true Halloween fashion, I slept with a baseball bat and a butcher knife in the mattress of the bed. I am so ridiculous. I did have an opportunity to go into Seattle and see a friend who is in the hospital and I stopped by the U Village Barnes and Nobles for some book time. (as if I don't get enough of that already) My friends Peggy and Ruth went to the hospital with me and we were sent on a mission to get books. It was hilarious, Peggy is a 2nd grade teacher, Ruth is an Art teacher and I work in a library (all very passionate about literature). We had a difficult time picking out appropriate reading material for a 12 year old but in the end each of us picked our favorite classic. Ruth "My Antoine" Peggy "Jane Eyre" and I picked "Pride and Prejudice" Along with "Why the caged bird sings (her selection) Secret Life of Bees and Tricksters.
I am happy to say she picked Pride and Prejudice for her first "book club" selection....I did shamelessly dance about a bit. The boys finally came back this morning and we have a whole day of pageant rehearsals, and team parties to go to. Back in the grind. I best go they are getting crazy over there. Plus, I haven't had a hug in about 10 minutes.

Halloween

Here are some shots of our treak or treating gang on Halloween. We had a wonderful time at our friends house and the boys had a blast getting candy. Our friend the Fursmans hosted another wonderful Halloween bash and we walked throught the neighborhood. Many of the neighbors got very creative with their decorations as you can see by the graveyard created by a family who lives on Silva St.