Meet T

Yesterday our second foster child joined our family. He turned two in November and is quite a ball of energy! About two minutes after we got home he was running laps around the house, climbing up the back of the couch like a little rock climber and then jumping from it with abandon. This little tyke climbed up to the top of the bunk bed (without the ladder) and today we found him perched atop of the cat tree - he's so little and yet seems to have more arm strength than Robert and me combined!

He loves drinking his "baba" with milk, loves petting Kai and chasing the kitties, and his two favorite words are "no" and "mine" - hmm, sounds quite a bit like all of the other 2 year olds I know! He also seems to really enjoy bathtime. I was wondering how I was going to get him clean, but as soon as I mentioned the word bath he was taking off his clothes and jumping into the waterless tub. He loves playing with his bath toys and dumping cups of water on his head. He also really likes to play hide and seek and give hugs to Papa B (Robert) and he's currently sitting on my lap "helping" me write this blog!

T's case is a little unusual - mom is being very cooperative and really wants to turn her life around to get him back so DHS thought it would be good if we all met and got to know each other so yesterday when we picked our little guy up we also met "mom". It was, of course, a very emotional day for her, but she was friendly and tried to make the transition as smooth as possible for T.

Robert met with T's mom, the caseworkers, and the judge today, and the first hearing is set for January, so we are pretty sure we will have T through Christmas.

A $5 Christmas Tree, Hot Cider, and Dolly!

Beautiful Mt. Bachelor (taken from the passenger seat)

Ready to find our Christmas tree

Kai helping us look for the perfect tree

She's the one

Got her!

Our lovely tree

Last year Robert and I purchased a beautiful live potted white fir to use as our Christmas tree and then we planted it in our front yard. This year, we decided to spend $5, get a tree permit, and hike through the woods to cut down our own tree! Although it hasn't really snowed yet in Bend, as we drove towards Mt. Bachelor, (about 15 minutes from our house) there began to be patches of white on the side of the road and an awesome view of the great white mountain. After driving around for awhile trying to find a forest road to turn onto, we decide to just pull over to the side of the road and trek our way in. We didn't have to go to far before we found quite a few good-looking Christmas trees. Granted, these aren't the big, round, symmetrical variety you find at your local tree farm, but a real life Charlie Brown tree is exactly what we were looking for! Kai had a blast running around in the snow while we picked the perfect (well, perfectly imperfect) tree, Robert sawed it down, and we headed home with our lovely Christmas shrub.

Later that night we put on the Bennington Christmas CD of choice (Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton), drank hot cider, and decorated our lovely 9' tree - which looks a lot bigger in our house than it did in the forest!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Thanksgiving 2008

My Thanksgiving pies

My mom and cousin Mike waiting patiently for food.

(And there's me taking the picture and Robert in the kitchen!)

Russ, Terri, and Mike's tattooed arms

Dad and me in the party room - their garage!

Robert and cousin Mike being silly

How many men does it take to carve a turkey?

Apparently it takes my two step-brothers: Russ and Mike

Frank and Marlene all the way from Maui

Sewing!

My lovely tree skirt

Well, it was another very busy Thanksgiving for us! Robert's cousin Mike came up from Corvallis to spend the holiday weekend with us (for the second year in a row... it's a tradition now!). We had my mom over for brunch Thanksgiving morning, and then headed over to my Dad and Terri's for a big family reunion - with family members coming from as far as Minnesota and Hawaii! After a full day and a delicious meal there, we headed over to Gene and Penny's for some late night pumpkin pie:) On Friday Penny got out her sewing machine and helped me make a lovely tree skirt! My mom came over and we all went for a walk around Sunriver. On Saturday morning I headed back over to my Dad and Terri's (Robert was sick), for breakfast. Marlene made exquisite french toast for Terri's birthday and I had a chance to say goodbye to everyone. It was a whirlwind but it was so good to see everyone. I think from now on we'll be hosting all holidays at our house... I don't think I have the energy to do that again! :)