Weekend adventures...or lack there of.

Is it true....could it possibly be????? Are sports really and truly over until January!!!! There is a Lord up above who takes care of me!!!!

Friday night we did.....................Nothing. Christian was invited to a friends house to go to the Mt. Si football game and a Haunted walk through the woods. So, I got boboli pizza stuff and we made pizza's and watched Harry Potter. Chris was asleep by 7:58 which was cracking me up. I wasn't awake much longer. It was lovely.

Saturday I worked but I took an hour off so that I could make it to Christians last football game. He say he likes it when I hold the chains on the sidelines because he can hear me cheering for him. I told him I thought that it would be embarrassing to have me on the chains screaming my fool head off. He said "well, some of the things you yell are pretty embarrassing but I like it anyway." I loved it! Because it was the last game they worked Christian in on defense for the last three plays of the game. He was in on both stops until the tallest, fastest kid on the other team got the ball and ran it back on the left...Christian was on the right he went in the backfield to put pressure on the QB (a little retribution) when there was a hand off to the monster kid who couldn't be stopped. Christian took off after him and was the last kid in the back field. He ran so fast and so hard he was passing everyone! It was one of those moments where it looks slow motion. He was two steps behind him when the TANK entered the endzone if there had been 5 more yards to that field Christian would've had him. Why is this important? Christian has been working so hard to recover the strength/speed in his legs. He knew he had beat all those kids up the line and he knew he came from the back! I looked at him and said I had never been more proud and that he could finally put the issue of the "leg" behind him. I think for the first time he really believed that was true. So, the officials blew three calls that were (touchdown related) one of them was a touchdown for Christian. I was on the line so I saw him cross. So the officials weren't the greatest and we totallly got creamed but in the end Christian did awesome and walked away a big time winner. YEAH Skippy.

Then Saturday Night we did nothing....
Sunday we went to Church and then had breakfast with the Kolodejchucks. It was nice. It was just them and us and we had a really wonderful time just hanging out and we were so thankful they invited us.
After, Tanya and Travis came to pick up Max. They took him on the Halloween train. Mrs. Roy had loaned Max a skeleton costume and he loved it. After, Travis and the boys had an impromtu yard football game which lead into dinner. The kids had a blast playing and loved seeing Tanya's kids. It was great. Dinner ran a little late but it was good and I was so relaxed just hanging out. Tanya and her family are fantastic guests. I am really glad she doesn't live in Georgia anymore!!
So that long blog is what happened this weekend. I hope to do a lot more of Nothing in the weekends to come.

Happy Birthday Mom

So you know I am super lame when I not only post Derek's birhtday late but my Mom's too.

Happy Birthday Mom. My mom had the difficult task of raising four children. Raising three has proven challenging enough. With the absense of my father my mom truly had to become the super mom, she worked, she raised kids, she taxi'd us around she did it all. She once said that she thought that I thought I was a better mother than she was. I told her that I just have a different set of circumstanses to deal with. What she doesn't realize is that in many ways she set the bar very high. I struggle everyday to be the perfect mom not despite her but because of her. She taught me how to fight everyday and to never give up. She tries so hard to please everyone and to be an important part of all her grandkids lives. This is never more evident that when she comes for a visit. Of course she spoils the kids but that isn't what makes her great. What makes her great is that she take the time to get to know them individually and to learn their strengths, dreams and goals. She has a special relationship with each and everyone of them. When they succeed at something she is one of the first people they think to call. She supports them and nurtures them. I am thankful she is in their lives. Holy Cow the bar for Grandma is virtually unattainable. (but if anyone can do it, I can..hehehe) Happy Birthday Mom.

Happy Birthday Derek

UGHHH, I am sooo late on this but oh well. Happy Birthday Derek.

Derek is my older (much older) brother. He turned 36 on Oct. 19th. Derek is the father of two adorable little girls Devyn and Chloe (toddlers) and the foster parent of Courtney (teenager....crazy). Rumour has it that they have opened their home to another teenage daughter. How God thinks it is a good idea that I have all boys and he keeps giving Derek daughters like crazy is beyond me. But, that is my lot in life and I love it anyway. Derek is a Pastor at Christ the King in Bellingham. He has been there for years and loves it. He is a great Father, Husband, Brother and Friend. He is always very supportive of my children and their efforts and it is not unusual for Christian to pick up the phone and give him a call to let him know how is latest sports endeavor is going. I am thankful that Derek is my brother but I hardly tell him so. That is mainly because when I was growing up and trying to get some sleep he would get on the piano and play these ridiculous songs he made up about me and I don't think I have really ever forgiven him.
I am proud of my brother and the man he has become. From Spirit Man, New Cans on the Block, to Pastor and Daddy Day Care oh yeah and he helps his wife coach cheerleading! We've come a long way. Happy Birthday Derek.

A new slide show

I haven't posted a slide show in a long time. I felt these pictures were worthy. Chris left today to go visit his family in Seaside. They are celebrating his Dad's birthday. The boys and I stayed behind. We were just not able to clear the schedule enough to make it work. The upside to us staying behind is that I did clear some time. After I got off work, I went to pick up the boys and we decided to go to the pumpking patch. I have been taking the boys to there for years. I tried to talk them into Safeway pumpkins but they just weren't having it. We were there at the perfect time in the afternoon. The weather was perfect and we had the place to ourselves. They gave us a private tractor ride. The guy kicked it into high gear for the boys and they loved it. Mudd was flying off the tires and going everywhere. Max was covered in it after the tractor ride. They picked out more pumpkins than we could possibly ever need. After my friend Jerean and her son came over for some pumpkin carving. It was fun. Mitchell turns 14 tomorrow and Christian was very impressed. Jonah entertained them with his dancing. Max made a police man pumpkin. It was a fun night and I am glad. We needed a good night at home and it makes up for not being able to go to the beach.

The Pumpkin Patch

Peter Pan was a success!

Jonah was Peter Pan in the school play. It was great. The people that came to the school to put the play on were fantastic. They met once and to audition and try-out for parts. They practiced for an hour and a half once a week for four weeks and then this was the final product. I could not believe the play was almost a full hour and the kids really new their parts. Jonah was adorable. Tanya brought Tristan and Tori to the play which was awesome. Thanks to her I have a few clips to share of the play. Enjoy. Sarah (Mrs. Burns) also came out to support Jonah. He is so lucky to have such great people in his life. Here is a little sample of what he can do.

As for the Christmas Carol tickets are $12.50/15.00. The play is appoximately 2hrs. The tickets have not gone on sale Yet!

Jonah as Peter Pan

From Peter Pan to Tiny Tim

Well next Tuesday is Jonah's school performance of Peter Pan (he is Peter Pan). He is very excited.
Last night he went to a reading for the Christmas Carol at a small theater in North Bend. He got a small part in the production and is looking forward to playing Tiny Tim along with a couple of small rolls. He was so thrilled. He called Mrs. Burns (one of his biggest fans) and my mom. They appropriately oohed an awed for him. He is mostly looking forward to hundreds and millions of people seeing him on stage. All morning I listened to him go on and on about how it has always been his dream to be on a real stage. He cracks me up. You can get tickets to his performance from their website. http://www.valleycenterstage.org/ It looks like they will run the play three weekends in a row. I am not sure how much the tickets will cost but if I remember correctly it is not very expensive. Christian and I went with his third grade class two years ago and it was great. I am looking forward to watching my little man perform!!!

working working working

Well, that is all I have been doing lately. I worked everyday this week except Wednesday (I ran errands). Next week I look forward to working doubles on Monday and Tuesday with Wednesday being my only day off. I am sure I will run errands on that day too. I have been trying really hard to keep up with the house cleaning on Mondays and Tuesdays because I work nights those days. I have to say though, it is very difficult. I am just getting by.

Jonah has been asking for a family night so I think tonight after baseball we will cuddle in and watch a movie together. Who knows maybe we will have a Duvall Family Wii Tournament.

Chris comes home and Christians team pulls off their first win.

What a crazy week from start to finish. Chris has been gone which I hate. I don't sleep well and I am getting sick too. Not cool. The kids and I have been busy with school and their activities. It sure makes a difference having Chris home to share the responsibilities. Thanks to Mr. Burns, though, for giving Christian a ride to and from Football all week. It was a huge help. Also, Claire came out and watched the boys while I went to the schools curriculum night. My mom is here today taking care of the boys while I work. I get off in a few minutes. She took them to the movies so I am sure they are having a blast. Thanks mom.

The girls at work let me sneek out for an early lunch so I could watch the second half of Christian's game. They did great. He threw a 20yrd pass for a touchdown and had a fumble recovery plus several Quarterback keeps with good yardage. He is so cute. They won the game in the last 31/2 minutes and the defense worked hard to hold on to the lead. Christian was excited, the last play of the game was him taking a knee to run out the clock for their first victory!!! Yeah Skippy. Chris was of course bummed that he missed the game but I was there waiting on the sidelines phone in hand so the first person Christian talked to was his dad. He was so excited. Their relationship is so cool. I love that they are close buddies.

Chris texted me between flights, he is just now catching his plane out of Denver to come home. I miss him a ton and can't wait for him to get home!!!

Chris Duvall is in San Antonio, Texas

Chris left today for a business trip and won't be back until Saturday night. I need a cup of coffee and I hate being without him. The kids have a busy week and I have rearranged everything to make it work. I plan on trying to find time to sit and have a glass of wine with a girlfriend while he is gone so I don't go crazy.

By the way, My Texas friend is fine and all is well but I can't get a hold of another friend Coleen who was further inland. There phone hasn't worked for days. ...gotta go finish later

Jane Austen

I recently read an article about Jane Austen and it basically said "Why do people have such a problem with Jane Austen being a spinster." The article was talking about the movie "Becoming Jane". (Which I love) The whole point of the article is people can't fathom how Jane could write such wonderful love stories with the absence of true love in her life. Therefore there is a constant quest to find out who Jane truly loved and what went wrong. There are two choices: Tom LeFroy (which the movie addresses) and the speculation of a captain who died at sea. I don't personally care which, or whom she was in love with. I love Jane Austen with or without romance. The reason is she just didn't write love stories. To me the books were wonderful explanations about life, people, and love. She touched on ideas that I can relate too. Pretentious women, arrogant men, a lack of fortune but most of all relationships. Relationships of deep passionate love, comfortable love, convenience, relationships for gain or duty. It didn't matter she mastered all of them and those are all relationships I see around me to this day.

I think Jane wrote about love because she was in love with the idea of love. Perhaps she didn't get married because she trusted her heart and mind more than any other. She knew she could fall in love with a whim in her mind and maybe that was all she needed. Perhaps she loved Tom LeFroy and he couldn't marry her because of her lack of fortune. I don't know but I like her anyway and I resent anyone who suggests Fans aren't happy with her spinsterhood. I think it makes her cooler....But that is just me...

Can you tell, I am at work???

Happy 30th Birthday Tanya.

Tanya, me and Melissa





Happy Birthday to my dear sweet cousin Tanya. "Nicki" is the closest thing to a sister I have ever known. She is a wonderful friend to me, a fantastic Aunt to my children, and above all she is a great wife and mother.
Some of my favorite Tanya memories are:

1.Dancing like idiots in our bedrooms.
2. Wearing too much make-up.
3. Dating all the wrong boys...ughh
4. Finding the right boys...Yeah
5. Our Weddings (Made of Honors)
6. The birth of Tristan
7. The time we got lost coming home from the movies (her dad was sooo mad)
8. Oh yeah, that reminded me of trying to teach her how to drive a stick shift!!
9. Red Robin
10. Getting our Christmas tree this year was a huge highlight.

To the past, present and future. Thanks Tanya for being there for me always. You know everything that sucks about me and you like me anyway. So thanks for being an amazing, kind, honest, strong, peacemaker, smart, funny, directionally challenged, beautiful, fantastic women. You inspire me!!!!
Love ya, D
p.s. remember the time we locked Meli out of my bedroom (hehehe she'll never let us live that down!)

Remembering and Prayers

First I just want to ask for prayers for my good friend. She and her family were recently just stationed outside of Gaveston Texas and have obviously been evacuated. When our home flooded a few years ago they opened their door to us and let us stay with them. She also has saved me many other times along with demoing my kitchen (babe in arms), she helped me with my carpet, Max's room, she and I moved all the furniture out of the house to re-do the floors. Basically if I need anything she is always there. Just pray that the family is well taken care of and that their new home is still there and in good shape for them to return to! Thanks, Y'all!

The second thing I wanted to talk about is 9-11. I remember as everyone else does Exactly where I was and what I was doing. The strange thing is we did not have television. Therefore, my experience was dramatically different from most. Last night NBC aired two hours of the original broadcast from that day. First I am so glad I saw none of it on that day. Second, I was deeply touched by the timing and images I watched last night. What a day that was. I am so amazed at the wonderful response of good will that we had in those days and I hope as we move toward the future we can regain some of that.

The Duvall Boys head back to school.

Oh my Snoqualmie Elementry better look out because the Duvall boys are back. The kids were so excited to start school this morning. Everyone was up and dressed early. Jonah made lunches for everyone. What a good boy he is. After practicing our piano we were off for our first day of school. I had to do our pictures which Christian was irritated by, but it was necessary. Here are the boys with their teachers. Max has Mr. Z, he calls his class camp cougar so Max took his binoculars today. Mr. Crumb is Jonah's teacher and the doll is Chucky. When we walked in the Beatles were playing (Jonah is at risk of liking school too much). Mrs. Hodgins is Christians teacher. Thank God! Christian asked me nearly everyday of the summer if he had Mrs. Hodgins or not. He is soooo excited to have her this year. Well, I better get to cleaning the house and getting it set for the school year. I have exactly four hours left til they come home...Crazy!

Busy Weekend

Well, It was another crazy weekend for the Duvall's. It started out Friday when my brother graduated from the police academy. The boys got to spend some time with their cousins. I finally met my neice Devyn who is beautiful and such a happy baby. My cousin Tanya was there with her kids and my other cousin Charles who I never see. So all in all it was fun. Thanks Mom for lunch it was great and the kids had a blast. Saturday Christian played his first full game and they did great. I had to work but was able to sneak out and see a little. When I got home the boys were playing the wii with Chris (strange). The next day we went to mass and then off to Tanya's church for Tristan's baptism. She had a photographer taking pics so I will post those when I get copies. I was honored to be the God mother and it was such a special day. She put on a nice brunch and my other cousin Melissa was there so it was great to see her. Then we went to dinner at some friends house which was nice.
We finished the weekend painting the house, doing yard work, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning. I worked a little yesterday and was exhausted when it was all over. The house is basically finished being painted with some touch ups needed but nothing major. SIGH OF RELIEF to have that behind us. Well, I have to be off to Meet the Teacher. I will post first day stuff soon and the pics from the baptism....

Blogging at work.

Ok, so I shouldn't blog at work. But sometimes I just can't help it. It is very quiet tonight in the library and I am sick of searching the web. I was watching the Olympics for awhile but now that they are finished I half to go back to surfing. Plus a girlfriend came in and I was showing her how to blog and then I just had to post.

Christian played in his first game ever. He did a good job and had a couple of pass completions, and even ran for a few yards....Nice.

We went to some friends for a bbq this weekend. It was nice to spend some time relaxing.
Chris broke our shower on Saturday which caused a lot of commotion but in the end worked out ok. We needed a little extra drama so Chris stepped up and provided.

As a football fundraiser we all went to the movies and watched Remember the Titans. That was fun for the kids. We came home last night and snuggled in bed after a long, tiring weekend when at about 10pm I shot up out of bed. I remembered that I was supposed to get 600 mailers out for the school today. So I stayed up til about 1am stuffing envelopes until I couldn't stuff anymore. I woke up at 8am and began again. I put the last label on at about 1:30 this afternoon....Note to self. Don't sign up for that one on a busy weekend where Chris decided to break plumbing, we have a game, funeral, bbq, movie and a birthday party planned. Leave it for one of the slow weekends....uh what is that?

I hope school starts next week and our teachers don't strike. I support them if they do but I sure hope they don't!!!

Happy Birthday Max

Ok, so I am super LAME. I was looking back at my blog and realized I forgot to say Happy Birthday in the Blog world to Max.

We were out of town for Max's birthday which was fun but busy.
So here is a little bit about Max. He is hilarious rough and tumble kind of kid. He loves everyone and is super compassionate. He is so much like Chris. He is stubborn and quiet. He is a huge cuddler and never misses a day without cuddling his mommy. He acts like a big kid but will quickly turn into the baby of the family if it suits him.

I love Max's smile. He is always grinning. My favorite thing about Max is he still kisses his mommy goodnight, good morning or whatever. If mommy needs a kiss Max is the one who is there. He is so loving. He is also a surprise. He doesn't talk much but when he does I am always laughing. He also surprises me in the smarts department because he will just whip out this knowledge and you never knew where it came from. He is an inventor and is always thinking of things to build. I think he will be an engineer like his dad. He is building a car in the garage. I video taped him talking all about his plans for a battery, lights, steering, a trunk etc. He has it all planned out and the crazy thing is all of his ideas should work....He is way too smart.

So Happy Birthday to my boy. My thinker, inventor and explorer. I can't wait to watch him quietly change the world!!

p.s. I will post a pick when I get home from work. I shouldn't be blogging at work anyway.

I just bought two tickets to the gun show!

Ok, I will start with the gun show.. Jonah is cracking me up lately. The Olympics have totally inspired him to work out and be fit. He is working really hard in his gymnastics class and he is loving the rings. I taught him to say "do you want to buy tickets to my gun show?" I know I shouldn't have but it makes me laugh so hard.
Football has begun and Christian is having a great time. The gymnastics is really helping the strength in his leg and he is working hard. He loves doing flips on the parrallel bar. This is his first year playing football and some of the kids have been playing 2-4 years already so he has a lot to learn. But never the less the kid works hard and has won the spot of starting quarterback. (this dissapointed him because he wanted to hit people). He got his jersey today and is super excited so I took a couple pics of him to share.

This is Max and his friend Anna Pehlivanian. They are so cute. We only get to see them a couple times a year but the two of them are great buds. Anna was excited to see that Max had a picture of them on his bulletin board. They were cuddling listening to books on tape after an evening swim. Max just started Soccer and is having a great time. He doesn't know a single kid on the team but you would never guess. He is also having a great time with gymnastic. He is really good at tumbling and loves the trampoline.