12-30-14

Half day vacation, decided to go Ingressing in Cathlamet in the next county over.  Highway 4 is truly beautiful, I've always loved following the river.  Nice to have some drama free portal capturing too, even if it was freezing cold.

12-29-14

The kids went to he store and got an amazing quantity of real, nutritious, fresh food.  They are chopping and blending recipes to drink their way to sugar detox over 3 days.  Xander is hungry but sticking with it.

12-28-14

A week of lasts.  My last day off work in 2014.

Bruce and I spent it playing Ingress.  We set of fat about 9am to walk across town to coffee, and four hours later only came home because our phone batteries were dead.  Back out after lunch, met up with a Ingressing friend.

All in all we walked 11.5 miles, 28,000 steps, and each leveled up to be stronger agents.  Getting out and about, it's all good.

12-27-14

This evening was our last church service in 2014.  The year is winding down, enjoying some down time before winding up for the new year.  Today we also tried to get Bruce up to level 8 in Ingress in Rainier, and I started tackling the mess in the garage, prepping for our summer garage sale.  Life is good.

12-26-14

Home again finnegin!

I love love love coming home; the only thing I don't like is the mess we come back to.  Because we left a mess, we brought home a stuffed carload of gifts, and I did a lot of after Christmas shopping this morning.  So, slowly pick away at the mess, find new homes for all the lovely gifts, then the Christmas decorations, nice to have two more days before going back to work!

12-25-14

Merry Christmas!

Amethyst played Santa, Mom can remember what the wrapped gifts are, and Diana pulled Dad's camera to take some photos of him.

And all is merry and bright...

12-24-14

Christmas Eve.

Spent the evening at Diane's, with great food and a fun mug exchange.  The stairwell turned out to be a good spot to chat with people and stay out of the way.

Here's Stacy, still little, but now eleven!

12-23-14

Let the Christmas festivities begin!

We drove and drove and drove to the middle of nowhere and checked into the vacation rental we shared with Mom & Jerry.

First night, fantastic asian food and the christmas lights at the Warm Beach Conference Center.  This photo is from the kiddy train we waited in line in the rain to ride, only to squeeze in with no room for knees and have a piped in train whistle bombard us for the whole ride.  All aboard!

12-22-14

To conserve space in the car, we opened a chunk of our gifts this evening.  Really my family will use any excuse to not wait!  Merry early Christmas!

12-21-14

We had a Fischer family adventure this afternoon.  We went to Winlock to visit the worlds largest egg and all their roosters, to the big Yardbird crow in Chehalis, and to a fundraising dinner at a house for recovering young ladies.

12-20-14

Ho ho ho, happy weekend!

Woke up at 5am, got all the gifts wrapped while everyone was still sleeping.
Bruce and I went out to play Ingress int he pouring rain, focusing on submitting new portal requests.
Met up with the Fischers, went to dinner and a Christmas play Sadie was performing in.  Plenty of hilarity.

Laughter is good for the soul.

12-19-14

End of a really long week, and what do I decide to do?  Stand on my feet for four hours playing with two new cookie recipes.

Anastasia and I held a little mini cookie baking day evening.  And we seem to have cookies coming our our ears... she went traditional, I went healthy...

TGIF!

12-18-14

This evening was our annual caroling in the Highlands.  Our numbers were smaller, only 8 people, but we still blessed many houses with a song and a smile and a shout of Merry Christmas.

12-17-14

I haven't been at my office much lately; just running from meeting to meeting and using the office as a dumping ground for acquired but disorganized to do's.  Today after lunch I made it to my desk, and was surprised to see an arrangement.  A thank you gift from a co-worker for the help this year.  What a nice surprise!

12-16-14

Mr. Reindeer had to be relocated.  Seems he was in the path of kids throwing backpacks.  

Starting in January the kids will get deducts from their spending allowance for leaving belongings on the first floor.  I cannot wait to have a clean downstairs!  

12-15-14

Bruce and I have been walking the lake in the dark a lot lately.  The Christmas lights are so pretty.  Hard to photograph, but enchanting to walk toward.

12-14-14

On-line activities make strange bedfellows.

Today was a sunny relatively warm day, a great day to be outdoors.  Today was also a meet-up for our Ingress team – 12 of us met at the lake and worked together to accomplish more.  Here’s Anastasia on the bench, battling with our teammates and Athena the pooch who wishes she had opposable thumbs to play too.  See the vehicle just barely in the lower right?  That was one of our enemies counter attacking us.  She eventually got out and said Hi.

I also got some Christmas preparations done, so not all day was spent playing.  I have over 20,000 steps today, though, so this game keeps us moving.

12-13-14

Xander and I spent the morning volunteering at the Weyerhaeuser Childrens Christmas party and Bruce and I spent the afternoon doing two Ingress missions in Woodland - we toured a lot of art and churches and "battled" in a cemetery.  Fun day, nice that it is warm and dry enough to be outdoors and that I feel well enough to want to do things.

12-12-14

Dressember is a collaborative movement leveraging fashion and creativity to restore dignity to all women, opposing the worldwide trafficking and exploitation of women. Last year Dressember had 1,233 registered participants in 32 countries across 6 continents who collectively raised over $165,000.

I group of teens in Longview, including Anastasia, took on the creative challenge of wearing a dress for the 31 days of December.  Last night, during the storm, a few teens, including Anastasia, decided to drop out of the challenge.  She sure loves her jeans today.

Anastasia might beef up her dress choices and try again next year.  Maybe next year she will actually officially register too.  Regardless, we can still donate to Dressember and International Justice Mission, a human rights organization that works to rescue victims of slavery, sexual exploitation, and other forms of violent oppression here:  https://support.dressemberfoundation.org/checkout/donation?eid=37240

12-11-14

Christmas at Heathman!

I made my annual work related overnight trek to the Vancouver Heathman.  It's like a huge cozy cabin decked out in Christmas.

This year was extra fun because I could access an Ingress portal from my hotel room.  Level 4 here I come!

12-10-14

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...

12-09-14

My family seems to be infected with Ingress, a new game.

Per Wikipedia, Ingress is an "augmented reality massively multiplayer online role playing GPS-dependent" game, a startup within Google, The gameplay consists of establishing "portals" at places of public art, landmarks, monuments, etc., and linking them to create virtual triangular fields over geographic areas.

Imagine walking around glued to the phone screen, pushing buttons to get points and fight for control.  Imagine phone batteries being drained in the blink of an eye.  Imagine the whole family wanting to walk, since it is geared toward playing on foot.

This is how I spent two hours of my vacation day, walking a multi-portal mission in downtown Kalama, in the rain.  On the plus side, think I am starting to feel better!

12-08-14

The word "code" seems to be following me around.

Bruce and I have been watching a lot of Dexter,a nd he has a code to determine which bad guys he can kill.  Today my study Bible asked if I had a code in my house of how to behave.

I do have a bit of a Christmas code:

• Buy angels, not Santas
• Send Christian Christmas cards, preferably the nativity
• Refuse to buy things that say season's greetings, hold out for Merry Christmas!

12-07-14

This afternoon we went to the Grainger's for a wreath building party.  I assembled cross shaped greenery, what fun!

"Why is it so green, Mom?" - Anastasia

12-06-14

Mom and I trekked around Portland, with the Moda Center as our hub.  To Lloyd Center, to Blossoming Lotus, to the hotel, to Starbucks, to Mi Mera Mole in International District, to the hotel again.  We got a little wet, but it felt good to move.

12-05-14

Women of Faith!

Mom and I remembered what hotel we were booked at (barely), fought our way through Portland Friday traffic, waiting in the LONG groupon line, got reassigned to seats that actually existed, then finally got to enjoy great praise music, hilarious Anita Renfroe, and wonderful Biblical teaching with 7,000 other women.

Deep breath...

12-04-14

"There have been a lot of packages arriving lately" - Xander

Yep, that is the beauty of online Christmas shopping.  Ah, but I found and ordered this darling large purse for myself.  I wanted something big enough to put folders in for work.  It arrived today, just in time to take it away for the weekend.

12-03-14

My world seems to have shrunk to work hassles and snuggling up on the couch watching TV.  Oh well.

I can always visit Xander in the kitchen.  We buy eggs by the multiple dozens now.

12-02-14

The kids bought each other matching UW crocs for Christmas.  

Happy December!

12-01-14

First it was just Xander.

Now several of us are orbiting around tissue boxes.

I don't have time to be sick!!!!  Again...

11-30-14

Back home and back to family.

Breakfast at Starbucks, check out of our London flat, church, and Thanksgiving dinner at Fischer's.  Here Anastasia poses with one of three dessert choices with Kayla.

11-29-14

Saturday was our out and about around Seattle day.  Woke up to snow coming down.  Explored Pioneer Square (where Weyerhaeuser HQ will be moving), another trip to Pike Place market, and two trips to the 73rd floor of the Columbia Tower to see great daytime and night lit views.  Love this city!

11-28-14

Friday started out weekend away in Seattle.

This year we rented a studio apartment downtown, near I-5 and the library, in a 1900's vintage building.  It was a great unit, a great location, and a wonderful landing pad when it was too cold to be outdoors.  

In the evening we headed to a winery and did  a PaintNite class.  About 30 of us did the same painting with the same instruction and only white, black, red, blue, and yellow paint.  It was so cool to see how similar yet different they all turned out.

I normally only post one photo, but know some will want to see the creative process, so here goes:

11-27-14

Gobble gobble!

Xander photo bombed the veggie turkey.  Thankful for Bruce and the kids, flavored M&M's, extended family, sweet potatoes with pecans, and oh so much more.

Happy Thanksgiving!

11.26.14

Made it to the long weekend!

As we prepare to transition to a weekend on the go, I've realized that this week we have spent a lot of time at home... working on projects, cooking (food and dessert items), and reading college essays for the kids.

Thankful that life is a balance of going and staying.

11-25-14

This is the second time in a month that I used a vacation day to work on holiday projects.  Must be the season of too few hours in the day!  Mom and I enjoyed shopping for and building layered jar gifts.

11-24-14

Christmas decorating!!!

I know it is a few days early, but I needed to get into a bunch of the boxes to assemble and wrap some early gifts.

So as Grampa tried to watch the Ferguson riots unfold, we made the house all festive.

11-23-14

Our big Sunday excitement was watching Fiddler on the Roof.  I haven't seen it since I was quite young, but amazing how the songs come back!

11-22-14

Busy Saturday!

Packing and delivering Thanksgiving food baskets, Mom & Jerry arrive, church, and a Buff Puff fundraiser volleyball game where Anastasia was cheerleading.

11-21-14

Is it time for bed yet?!?  This week has been so long, I am so tired!  I did go to a worship service tonight, that was a nice chance to slow down and soak in the coming weekend.

11-20-14

This week is flying by.  Still, looking forward to the weekend for some extra sleep.  And house guests!

11-19-14

Look who got a perm... but no test results about her blue hands yet...

11-18-14

This evening Bruce and I dropped 52 packed shoeboxes off at the area collection site.  They weren't packed in the car very good, so it was like a clown car of shoeboxes, but the welcome team had fun loading them onto a cart and helping us get them inside to tally while I dealt with the paperwork.

'Tis the season to give back.  Maybe the next thing will be the 15 can challenge Christy posted on Facebook.

11-17-14

Anastasia: What's up, Mom?
Me: I need a blog photo.
Anastasia: Is that why you're following me around?