Don't report me! :)

So when you see these pictures, don't report me to PPS...Pet Protective Services! :)
I never thought I'd turn into this kind of pet owner, but as my own children grow and as I get older, I do weird things...ok, WEIRDER things (I've always done weird things!). So here are Sassy and Morpheus in their Christmas gear! :)



Here is Morpheus the 'red nosed cat deer' with Paige...





and here is 'Sassy Claus' with Dani, Sams girlfriend....





Can you just hear Morph saying to Sassy "And what the HELL did they make YOU wear?" and Sassy is saying "I don't even want to talk about it"....
Oh Lord..now I am making up conversations for my pets...I need serious help....




Hugs to all,

Jaye

Celtic Yuletide

I firmly believe that every parent has the desire to instill the 'finer' things in their children, one of which is the Arts. I LOVE the theater. LOVE IT. Musicals, plays...I've seen quite a few of them too (my all time favourite play is Miss Saigon!). I get this desire to pass on my love of the arts to my kids even more so during the holidays. So the OBVIOUS choice is to give the kids some culture all wrapped in a Christmas theme!

I bought tickets a few months ago to 'Celtic Yuletide'. The write up said it would be of an Irish theme (duh!) with music, story telling and Irish dancing, all along a Christmas theme of course. PERFECT!

So Wednesday night, I made everyone dress up (for the boys-Mark,Sam and Ben this meant anice shirt with their jeans!) and off we went.

What a show! It was AWESOME! Two 45 minute programs with an intermission. So not so long that the kids would be bored, but not so short that I was left feeling I hadn't really been to the theater. It was at the Admiral Theater here in town, which is one of those old historical restored buildings from way back. SUCH a nice venue! And there was indeed music and dancing and story telling. We learned how to say Merry Christmas in Gaelic (don't ask!) and 'hupped' and 'wahooed' and clapped the night away. The kids ALL loved it and in fact expressed the desire to make it a part of our 'family Christmas tradition'!

It was a successful venture into the Arts to say the least. And a very nice way to spend an evening prior to Christmas!

Now I am looking for our next foray into the cultured world! :)

Hugs to all,
Jaye

Zoolights

Every year the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium puts on 'Zoo Lights'. They have hundreds of thousands of lights all over the zoo and as we have a one year family pass, we decided to take advantage of the free entrance (for pass members) and check out this annual event. It was UNBELIEVABLE! We all had a great time wandering around the zoo absorbing all the light displays along with the ambiance. As it was a chilly evening (the lights go on at 5pm) everyone was dressed up 'like eskimos' as the song goes..mittens and scarves, sweaters and heavy winter coats. At one spot they actually had a snow machine which was awesome! You literally walked into a snow flurry! How fun was that!?! It was just unbelievable how many lights there were and how well they were done! It was something we all enjoyed and were glad we actually saw!


Mark and Ben and I just inside the entrance to the Zoo...Of course you can't really see Mark as he is in camoflauge (go with me on this one!)....



Mark and the kids posing together...




Some of the lights around the zoo...









This was the entrance to another exhibit....

Entrance to the aquarium...




Paige and Ben with their 'glow' items from the zoo...and Paige is on the phone with Gramma discussing Pogo!





Me...posing in front of some of the many many lights...






Mark and I in front of a garden of lights...





Sam and his girlfriend, Dani....





A display of seals chasing a salmon...all in lights!





One of Paiges favourite displays...of course!




Zoo deer....






Entrance to the kids area of the zoo...






By this point in time, Ben was tired and hungry and just wanted to go eat...




Sam and Dani on the carousel at the end of the evening...



Paige on the carousel....



The only shot I could get of Ben on the carousel....


What a great time we had.....

Hugs to you all,

Jaye

Santa Fest 2008

There are things that become a part of your families Christmas traditions, some with purpose, and some quite by accident. One of the 'accidental' traditions for our family is the Annual Santa Fest at Green Mountain Elementary (where Ben attends, and where Paige used to attend). The first time we went, Paige was in Kindergarden. The following year we went because we had so much fun the past year and Ben was now old enough to really enjoy it. And the rest, as they say, is History! We look forward to going every year and it has become one of the 'things we do' to usher in the Holidays. It starts at 9am with breakfast-this year it was cinnamon buns, bacon, fruit and hot chocolate/coffee. The cost was four dollars a person but if you brought a non perishable food item, the cost was three dollars per person, so after scrounging through our cupboards for things that we thought would make a nice addition to someones holiday dinner, we spent a total of 12 dollars for breakfast for the four of us...not bad I'd say. In past years, breakfast has always been pancakes instead of the cinnamon buns and I thought our 'hates any type of change' kid would NOT be happy with the replacement of pancakes with cinnamon buns, especially as he (you guessed it..BEN) doesn't even like cinnamon buns -or so we thought! He ate TWO of them....as Ben said "My tastebuds have changed". While we ate, the choir from one of the high schools serenaded us with Christmas Carols...they did a wonderful job!


Mark and Paige having breakfast...Ben has already headed to the craft activities by this point...






After breakfast, the kids go around the gym to different 'stations' and do a variety of crafts, all with a christmas theme. They made snowflake ornaments....





and metal ball ornaments with glitter...



clothespins were turned into Santas, and I think we got more glitter on our clothes than anywhere else! Santa showed up at 11 and Paige actually sat on his lap, which is only the second time in her whole life!




After the kids had their fill of 'crafting' we headed out to do our weekend grocery shop and then back home to get ready for our NEXT event of the day! It was a very busy Saturday!!

Hugs to all,
Jaye

Great White Hunter

So Mark loves hunting. That is no secret. He hunts every year. Used to get lots of deer when he lived in WI. Nothing since living in WA state. But he is not deterred! He is determined to get something sometime! So in his quest to better his hunting experience here, he continually buys hunting 'toys'. This past week he bought a self climbing tree stand as you cannot permanently affix one to a tree here in WA....it's a law..I checked. :)

So the tree stand was bought late Saturday night...he tried it out in the dark, with his big halogen lights on but he wasn't very successful. So bright and early..did I say EARLY??? Sunday morning this is how I found my dear sweet man spending his time!


Up in a tree...





And climbing a bit higher...





And look! You can take it all apart and turn it into a backpack! wheeeeeeeeee.....



I am keeping track of all the money spent on this 'hobby' and am going to find one of my own! I figure at this rate, I might be able to make going on cruises my HOBBY! lololol

Hugs to all,
Jaye

The Tree is up!

The tree is up! This past weekend we went to Huberts Tree Farm...our favourite tree farm in the area...they keep the grounds clear of prickler bushes and vines...the land is easy to traverse and their whole operation is just......nice. You can go and pick your tree...cut it down...go and have apple cider or hot chocolate in the gazebo overlooking their whole spread and just enjoy your time there. They have little signs all over, and this was my favourite! They had to explain that the air you were breathing was GOOD CLEAN AIR! hahaha....





Here is just a very very small portion of their land. You can see how nice they keep the whole place. It's been in their family for generations.



Ben found 'The Tree' this year! He did a really good job too! Over the years I think I've drummed it into them 'no holes, we don't want it lopsided, we want lots of branches'...I AM picky about our tree so when my 7 year old finds the perfect tree, I know I have done my job! His wife and children will thank me! :)





So I had to pose with the kids and the tree too!










Of course Mark gets the honor of chopping it down..the rest of us have no interest in laying on the cold ground in the dirt!





Although once it is down, the kids like to take the glory!





And it's up to me to get it situated on top of the van! Ta DA!







And of course I have an opinion about how it should be tied on there too!





Because when I let Mark take over, THIS is what happens! He tied the two front doors shut! hahaha....





It didn't look this big out in the field!!!





But it sure looks nice once it's all decorated!





Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Hugs
Jaye