Paige celebrated her eighth birthday by having her first 'sleep over' party. We had six girls (and Ben) arrive about 4pm on Saturday afternoon. After a few crafts and games, we had pizza and soda (sleepover must haves). after cake (shown below which Paige picked out of a magazine and I adapted to fit her penguin theme) and presents, the girls settled in to watch movies and do 'makeovers'.....all of this involved much giggling and laughter of course. By 1 am I was exhausted and lay on the couch in the living room with them hoping my presence would induce them to settle down and finally go to sleep, and my plan worked. They fell asleep within minutes!

We were surprised to see them all up and wide eyed by 8am the next morning. All the moms came to pick them up in time for us to head to church. I think everyone had a wonderful time and Paige received some LOVELY presents from all her friends who know that CRAFTS are her favorite thing of all. Thanks everyone...

Our next 'family birthday' is Shelby. Her birthday is a special Birthday this year- she officially becomes a Teenager. Yikes. While her actual birthdate is the Second of March, we will celebrate together as a family when she is out with us for spring break (end of March).

With each birthday that we have, we marvel at how quickly our children are growing. Katie will be 20 this summer. She is doing awesome living in Hawaii and going to school to be a vet. She is already doing surgeries and I am so proud of this girl I can't even put it into words. Sam will be driving soon, Shelby is teetering on teendom.....Paige and Ben are both in school (even though they were just born yesterday)....It won't be long and Mark and I will have a houseful of adults and young adults instead of 'kids'. As we watch these kids grow, we see the best and worst of ourselves in them.....and we hope and pray that they find their way in the world and that they find the true meaning of inner happiness. At the end of the day, that is all that any parent wants for their children.

Hugs,
Mark,Jaye and Gang

I was just reading on CNN this morning, that 2006 is the warmest winter on record. Well.....not if you live here in WA state! We got hit with more snow this morning...only a mere half inch. It WAS enough to cancel kindergarden for Ben, cancel school for Sam and have Paige start 2 hours late. The people in this state really are NOT used to snow...Mark and I have some good chuckles over it! :)

While the amount of snow was not that great, it is the temperature that is really amazing for here...it's quite cold out and it's noonish. The prediction is for it to drop into the single digits several times this week! Unheard of for here!

Meanwhile, back in WI, which is supposed to be cold and snowy and nasty, it is a balmy 60 degrees or so!WOW!

We took Paige out for dinner to the Olive Garden for her Birthday on the 5th (she turned 8). She is having her first sleepover birthday party next weekend, should be interesting! Her 'theme' this year is Happy Feet (the Penguin movie)....I will take pictures of her cake as I am making it myself this year with a new awesome recipe that I found!

Mark is counting down the days until he leaves the boat. He is looking forward to a new and interesting job! For those of you who don't already know what his new duty station will be, feel free to email us at pinger29@web-o.net to find out! :)

Hope all of you are warm and happy......I am off to Paige's school for an hour or so..and to enjoy the S-N-O-W!

Hugs
Jaye

Happy New Year to all our Friends and Family!!! I can't believe it's 2007 already....but I am happy...cause it means one really great thing (amongst others!)...only three years till Mark retires and we move to WI!!

So I couldn't blog about the New Year without talking about resolutions! I have several...some trivial...some big. I want to get healthy. This means lose a little weight, but mostly get back into shape. With kids and school and life in general, I have allowed ME to get put on the back burner. I turned 40 this year and so I need to get healthy again. A healthy ME will be a better Wife, Mom, friend! :)

I will finish my degree this year! Which means I will be using this year to get my feet wet in the legal world! Getting my degree with be THE biggest thing I've ever done (OTHER than have my children of course!) that will give me a pride beyond belief....I can't wait!

I resolve to learn to handle the 'difficult' people in my life with more Grace. To give them the benefit of the doubt. To undersand that their intentions may really be good. And if they really AREN'T good, I will still show them Grace. It will make me a better person in the long run, and I will get rid of so much 'drama' that comes with these people.

And I resolve to just enjoy life. I had a serious health scare last year. But I have been free of the illness for a year, and so I have been given a clean bill of health. But it showed me that life is too short and you never know when your time is up. I have been given the gift of more life. I don't intend to waste a second of it!

So Happy New Year to all my friends and Family. You are all important and special to me. I couldn't imagine starting the New Year without any of you!

Hugs...
Mark, Jaye and Gang