Thanksgiving Report

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with our cousins.  We are so grateful that our cousins moved from Georgia and now live 2 hours south of us.  We are so happy to have family close!!!  We spent a wonderful weekend with them at their house.  We were joined by our other closest family members living on the other side of the mountains about 5-6 hours away.  

Thanksgiving Day we ate too much.  I had the best pecan pie I have ever tasted.  Ditto for the homemade stuffing with homemade breadcrumbs shipped from a neighbor's father's bakery.  Ditto for the wonderful sweet potatoes.  I definitely ate too much....

The kids had fun playing together.  They also wrote with quills and berry ink like the colonists did.  

Notice the "Respect the Bird" sign in the photo above.  (Sorry it's blurry....) My cousin gets a little irritated that Christmas seems to begin after Halloween and people ignore Thanksgiving.I have to admit that I have been listening to Christmas music for at least a month already.  My presents are all purchased and wrapped too.  I love Christmas and I dislike shopping.  I love to do fun things in December and not worry about gifts.

Anyway, back to Thanksgiving.....Thanksgiving really is an important holiday.  I certainly have so many things to be thankful for.  I am so thankful for my girls.  I can't imagine life without them.  I'm thankful to have family close.  I'm very thankful for my Savior.  I could go on and on....my life is full of blessings and things to be thankful for. 

THANKSGIVING DINNER KID TABLE

WRITING WITH QUILLS AND BERRY INK

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On Friday, we went swimming at a great community center swimming pool.  The kids had a great time.  Here are a few of the many pictures......

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 On Saturday,  (today), we walked around a nature trail and ended at a park.  We then took advantage of free carriage rides and free train rides at a great furniture store near my cousins' house.  We enjoyed driving over a lighted covered bridge too.  We missed seeing Santa by a few minutes, but nobody was too disappointed.  We'll see him again I'm sure.

peeking through a cool stump along the trail

This group of kids were the first to arrive at the park at the end of our nature trail walk.  They thought it was funny to hide from the adults.  They had a lot of fun playing together.  They even got their dads to run around and play freeze tag with them.  I enjoyed watching while sitting on a bench.

TRAIN RIDE

CARRIAGE RIDE

SITTING IN SANTA'S EMPTY CHAIR (we missed Santa by a few minutes...shucks...we'll see him again this season I'm sure...besides who needs Santa when you have great cousins....)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

I needed another character so I added Grandpa.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Birthday Present from the Doctor or Nachos Heals All Wounds...I Can't Decide Which Title I Like the Best...

The girls made their annual birthday checkup trip to the doctor yesterday.  November is a great time for a doctor visit because Erin Joy's birthday is in October and Rachel's birthday is in December.

Rachel still hasn't reached 40 pounds.  She is below 1% in height and weight on the Caucasian growth chart (I still haven't checked the Asian chart, but she is generally below 25% on that chart too).  Erin Joy, on the other hand, is 75% for height and 65% for weight on the Caucasian growth chart which means she weighs more than her sister and she is slightly taller.  Rachel HATES being smaller than her sister.  Erin Joy LOVES being bigger than her sister.  I'm sure when they are teenagers, their feelings will be the exact opposite.  I just hope they learn to love themselves for being exactly the way they are.  I think they are both perfect:)

Rachel thinks she magically won't be the shortest person in her class when she turns seven next week.  She excitedly told me the other day, "When I'm seven, I'll be really tall and I can wear 7T pants!"

I laughed and said, "Well, when you can finally wear your 4T pants without a belt maybe you can wear 7T."

She didn't think I was funny.

Anyway, back to the doctor visit......

I told the girls that the doctor gives them shots for their birthday presents.  They were not amused.

Shots and finger pokes are not Rachel's favorite thing.  She turns into a monster when she sees a needle.  This year was much better than last year.  Last year, she kicked, screamed, hit me, scratched me and knocked my glasses off before managing to fight her way off my lap and run around the clinic screaming.  She ran out the door and into the parking lot before I managed to catch her.  She made quite the scene.

I am not above bribery.  I told them both that if they were as brave as they could be and didn't make a scene, we would have nachos at "Tinker Bell" (Taco Bell...one of their favorite fast food restaurants).

Poor Rachel.  During her shots, she screamed loud enough to wake people napping in the neighboring town.  She kicked a chair over in the examination room and let me know what an awful mother I was to make her endure such torture.  The finger poke was no fun either.  I had a death grip on her this time so she couldn't escape.  She screamed, but at least she didn't kick me or manage to get off my lap.

Erin Joy handles shots and finger pokes much better than her older sister.  It is a good thing she is the one who has to make frequent trips to Children's Hospital for laser treatments and not Rachel.  She is used to being poked and prodded I suppose.  Erin Joy's problem is the urine sample.  She usually has a difficult time peeing in the cup.  This time, however, she did great!  I was grateful we didn't have to wait hours carrying around a cup waiting for her to do her thing.

I figured since Erin Joy peed in the cup so nicely and Rachel just screamed and knocked over one chair this time that they had earned their nachos.  

Nachos are better than Tylenol for easing the pain of visiting the doctor.

While ordering nachos, I had the following conversation with the teenager behind the counter:

"Oh, that's too bad she has a burn on her face," the teenager says while pointing rudely at Erin Joy.

"It's not a burn.  It's just a birthmark," I respond.  (I'm tired of comments and questions.  It rarely happen any more because her birthmark has faded so much with laser treatments and is hardly visible.)

"Oh, I bet that's just so embarrassing to have to walk around with THAT on your face."

Stupid girl.

"I'm NOT embarrassed.  My daughter is NOT embarrassed.  YOU should be embarrassed for saying such rude things to your customers.  We'd like two nachos please."  That ended the conversation.

Neither of my girls commented about the conversation.  Thankfully, they were distracted by food.  Nachos can ease not only physical pain but emotional pain as well.  

Candy Anyone?

When I told Erin Joy to take care of her dirty socks, I certainly didn't mean to put them in her Halloween candy bucket!  Yummy!

Glasses Just Like Rachel

"I have glasses just like Rachel," Erin Joy said to me last night. Silly girl.

Thanks Aunt Becky!

Aunt Becky asked for pictures of her nieces and nephews with the afghans she crocheted for each of them.  Aunt Becky is so sweet to make one for all the new additions to our family.  She has made 18? 19?  I can't even remember....

Anyway, I figured as long as she was putting these pictures on her blog, I'd put them on my blog too.  My girls love their beautiful afghans from Aunt Becky.

I have pictures of them as babies with the afghans and the afghans seemed a lot bigger then.  I'll have to find those pictures so I can compare.

Authors

Listen to Erin Joy and Rachel's great stories. Erin Joy wrote a story about snow. Rachel wrote a story about how to catch a turkey. Luring it with chocolate is a great idea. She could certainly catch me that way! Later, I asked her how to cook the turkey and told me you have to throw it in the oven really fast so it doesn't bite you. I wish I would have captured that on video :)

If you make it to the end of the video, you will see them dancing. This is their favorite thing to do.

Snowy Owl Report

Rachel worked hard on her nocturnal animal report and visual.  She chose the Snowy Owl because it is her favorite owl.  She learned that the Snowy Owl often hunts during the day because the nights are so short in the Arctic.  I guess that means it's not really nocturnal.  Oh well.  The brown animal next to her owl is a lemming.  We learned that lemmings are the food of choice for a Snowy Owl. We also learned that the male Snowy Owl gives a female Snowy Owl a lemming for a present during mating season.  During the years that there aren't many lemmings, there aren't many owlets either.  Rachel will tell you all about it in her oral report at the bottom of this post.

We had fun with the glow-in-the-dark paint that we found at a craft store.

We painted in my classroom.  I'd rather have the mess in my classroom than in my house.

Erin Joy made an owl and a lemming too.  She was covered with paint by the time she was done painting.

Rachel will tell you all you need to know about Snowy Owls. She has worked hard on her nocturnal animal report.

The Sun Really Can Shine Here

We had to take advantage of the sun and play at a beach by Puget Sound. It was a marvelous day. Rachel didn't want to be in pictures. She's tired of Mom taking too many pictures. Erin Joy happily posed for me though.

I love this great salmon slide.

Erin Joy loves it too!

Oh, to be young and carefree again! I love watching my girls enjoy childhood.

We came home to a gorgeous sunset by the river. By the time I got my camera, the sunset was pretty much gone. Imagine a beautiful pink sky.

It felt great to see the beach. The beautiful sunset is behind those beautiful trees. As my father said when he was visiting, "The scenery is beautiful here, but it's too bad you can't see it with all these trees in the way." Silly man. The trees just add to the beauty.
Of course, I have to admit that the sunset outside of my parent's front door is breathtaking. (Erin Joy was posing with olives on her fingers while we were visiting last summer.)

This is what the river looked like a few days ago:

Here is the same spot tonight...notice the sand..the tree in the previous picture was to my left farther up on the beach:

Flood Pictures

I feel so blessed to have not been flooded.  Check out pictures from some other rivers in our area:

KOMO News flood 2008 pictures

I'll Rest Well Tonight

The river crested at about noon today. It didn't even get as high as it did last week. It was predicted to be two feet higher than last week. I'm so glad the prediction was wrong. It was supposed to rain 10-12 inches in the mountains and 8-10 inches near the mountains where I live. It ended up raining 6 inches. Phew. It is still raining, but not as heavily. There is even sun in the forecast.

I gave myself high blood pressure for nothing. Our car was packed with overnight suitcases and sleeping bags. I'm very glad we didn't need them although Erin Joy is very sad that we aren't staying at our friends' house tonight. I want to say it is because prayer really works, but I know others living by neighboring rivers were praying too. Other rivers in the area are flooding. I feel for everybody affected by the recent flooding. It is no fun to clean up after a flood.

I took the pictures when the river was about 11 feet high. It reached 13.68 feet before it crested. The trees are on the beach where we like picnic and build sandcastles during the summer.

Sleepless in Seattle

Rain, rising river, and the presence of emergency personal parked by the river is making sleep impossible.  The flood watch is now a warning.  It is being compared to 2006.  Oh, please don't let it be so.  I just can't make another claim on my flood insurance....

Local News Report

NOAA River Gauge 

Official Flood Warning

New Decor

A good place for the lawn mower during flood season is in the house by the front door. I can't balance it on the shelves in the garage so it is adding beauty to my living room decor at the moment. (My house is six feet up and shouldn't flood, but the garage is vulnerable.)

We are packed and ready to stay at a friend's house if we have to evacuate.

The river is supposed to be in flood stage again tomorrow. We'll see. It is two feet lower than the prediction so hopefully it will remain that way.

A nice fireman knocked at our door and talked to us about the flood watch.  (It is still a watch...not a warning yet...)  I was disappointed that it wasn't the pizza delivery boy.  We have stayed in our pajamas all day.  The girls have watched movies, played, ate Halloween candy, and I have scrapbooked.  Thanks Veterans!  We had a great day!

I let Bella into the bed with Rachel after Erin Joy woke up this morning. I still need to wash all the bedding. I can't believe Erin Joy is allergic to our cat. I'm going to brush her, give her baths, and leave her outside as much as possible. I hope that helps Erin Joy enough so that I don't have to find a new home for Bella. Funny, I never wanted a cat and it took the girls a long time to convince me to get a cat and now Bella is just part of the family. I can't imagine giving her away...

Anything but the Cat....

Erin Joy had allergy testing today.  She is not allergic to any foods, but she is allergic to our house.  Dustmites and cats were the spots that had the biggest reaction.  NOT THE CAT!!!  I love our cat.  I almost cried in the doctor's office.  His advice was to find another home for the cat.  For now, the cat will stay outside and will certainly no longer be allowed to sleep with us.  I just can't bear to part with our sweet kitty.  She has become one of the family.

I'd love to get rid of the carpet and get hardwood floors.  I'm going to get an air filter, wash everything very well (including the cat), get covers for the mattress and pillows and see if that helps her constant nasal congestion and sneezing.

The doctor commented about her huge tonsils and suggested a trip to a ENT doctor.  I'm tired of doctors.  I don't want to find out that she needs her tonsils/adenoids removed.  We have seen enough doctors lately.  I just got off the phone with her pediatrician about testing for melamine kidney stones.  Between laser surgeries, allergies, melamine, immunizations, and tonsils/adenoids I have had enough and poor Erin Joy has too.

Her severe allergic reaction before Halloween was probably a result of a reaction to a virus compounded by being allergic to our house.  I hope it never happens again.  I really NEVER want to use the epi-pen that we now get to carry around with us.

By the way, we are watching the river rise again.  Please don't flood, please don't flood, please don't flood....

Santa Letters

We were shopping a few days ago and Rachel began begging me for a toy.  After refusing her request, she said, "I wish you had as much money as Santa Claus.  He always brings me lots of toys and you never buy me anything."

Silly girl.

I went home and ordered the toy she was asking for online (one for Erin Joy too).  Santa can bring it.  He certainly does have more money than I have.  Maybe Santa will come and pay off my credit card bill....

We wrote letters to Santa to make sure he has enough time to fulfill requests. My girls are allowed to ask for one thing. Erin Joy has wanted an I-Pod for a long time.  Both girls like listening to mine.  An I-Pod?  Last year, she wanted a pink ball.  That was easy.  There were pink balls at the dollar store.  She's lucky I saw MP3 players (1 GB) in the last Scholastic book club order for only $20.00.  They come with a few stories already recorded.  I thought it would be a good idea for the girls to have a MP3 player for our airplane ride so I let her ask for one.

Here is Erin Joy's letter asking for an I-Pod (the picture is a self-portrait of herself listening to an I-Pod):Rachel wants a scooter.  Oh good.  Santa already bought two scooters and they are sitting on the top shelf in the garage waiting for Christmas.  (There are several other presents on the top shelf.  I have learned to put important things on the top shelf.  If the crazy river floods, I will NEVER lose Christmas presents or Christmas decorations again.  I will never forget my sweet neighbor giving me Christmas ornaments after I cried to her about being upset about losing Christmas decorations.  She lost more in the flood than I did and it was so sweet of her to think about me during her time of loss.)

Anyway, here is the translation for Rachel's letter:

Dear Santa Claus,

I want a scooter.  Thank-you for all the presents.

Love, Rachel

Please bring a present for my mommy.  My mommy wants a big panda bear.  She really wants a Webkinz panda bear.

Bella the cat too.

I think it is sweet that she always asks for something for me too.  One year after opening so many presents, she stopped and said, "Why didn't Santa bring anything for you, Mommy?"

Santa now always brings me presents too.  He is bringing me a panda Webkinz.  He'll bring me some chips and salsa too.  That's going to be a tradition.  Maybe he'll bring me some Almond Roca too.

Hurry Santa, hurry!

Tagged

 I think I have done this one before, but I'll do it again.  I like being tagged.  It is kind of fun.

So here are the rules:
1) Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.
2) Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.
3) Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
4) Let each person know that they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Ok here it goes:
1) **Lavonne TAGGED me ** 


2) a) I love to eat spicy food.  I always have a BIG bowl of homemade salsa in the refrigerator.

b) I enjoy playing on my daughters' online Webkinz accounts while they sleep.  I earn "Webkinz cash" for them by playing silly games.  

c) I enjoy playing the piano.  It is a great way to relax (when I'm not busy playing Webkinz on the computer).

d) I love China/Taiwan.  I served a mission for my church in Taiwan.  I learned Mandarin and I learned about the culture and the people.  I love my daughters and I am so glad that they are from China.  

e) I love playing with my girls.  We do something fun every day.  Some days when I feel like I have too much to do and not enough time to spend with my children,  I set the timer for 30 minutes and tell them I will play whatever they want me to play for that amount of time before I have to do boring mommy chores (dishes, laundry...).  I love our 30 minute play sessions.

f) I love trees, mountains, waterfalls, rivers, and the ocean.  I love our beautiful world and I love exploring God's creations with my girls.

g) I still believe in Santa Claus.  He brings me presents every year.  This year he is going to bring me my own panda Webkinz so I can play with my own Webkinz and not have to play with my daughters' Webkinz on the sly.

Ok now it's your turn...how about the first seven people who read to the end of this post are the seven people I tag.  Have fun!

Queen Kitties

I love it when my girls play together nicely. They were crawling and meowing like kitties. They were playing "Queen Kitties."

13.85

The river crested at 13.85 earlier today. It floods at 14 feet. Phew! That was close! It wouldn't reach my house until 16 feet, but I glad it didn't get my neighbors either.

Hopefully, this is my last post about November flooding....

Weather Woes

The crazy river will crest in two hours. It will be anywhere between 13-16 feet. It floods at 14 feet. It reaches my house at 16 feet. In 2006, it was 21 feet. I'm probably okay, but still a little nervous.

There is a sink hole in the only road out of my neighborhood. I will probably have to park above the sink hole and walk home. Could be interesting....

This is the latest information from Snohomish County Emergency Management (as of 3:45 am this morning):

River / Gage Location
Projected Crest / Time
Action Stage
Flood Stage 1
South Fork Stillaguamish @ GraniteFalls
Crest 13.4 ft 10 AM Friday
12.9 ft
14.0 ft
North Fork Stillaguamish near Arlington
Crest 13.06 ft @ 10 AM Friday
10.7 ft
13.0 ft
StillaguamishRiver @ Arlington
Crest 16.8 ft @ 10 AM Friday
12.5 ft
14.0 ft




SkykomishRiver @ Gold Bar
12.8 ft @ 7 PM Friday
12.2 ft
15.0 ft
SnohomishRiver @ Monroe
14.5 ft @ 4 AM Saturday
10.0 ft
15.0 ft
SnohomishRiver @ Snohomish
24.4 ft @ 6 AM Saturday
20.0 ft
25.0 ft

We're Still Dry

The river continues to be on flood watch, but at least it is a "watch" and not a "warning."  It crested last night at 12.9 feet (it will spill its banks at 14 feet).  I don't think we will have any flooding.  It is still raining heavily and is supposed to continue to rain throughout the day so we aren't out of the woods yet.

The girls and I spent about an hour or two putting everything up high so we are prepared for the flood season.  We have done this every year except 2006 when we were taken by surprise and ended up with over 3 feet of water in our garage.  We will never be taken by surprise again!

You can click here for weather information if you are interested.

What kind of idiot buys a house in a flood zone?  Me.  I sure love this river when it's not flooding, but it gives me insomnia during the rainy/flooding season.  I'm grateful my house is built 6 feet up.  Some of my neighbors aren't as fortunate.  Flood waters have never reached my house, but just cleaning out the garage was enough for me.

Here is a memory of the 2006 flood:

Flooding?

Here we go again....our silly Stilly river might flood tonight. I sure hope it doesn't. Rachel hopes it does. She likes floods. She likes staying in motels and other people's homes. Maybe I should make her shovel out the stinky mud.

Our crazy river that is supposed to flood every 50-100 years has flooded twice since I have lived here. Once in 2003 and once in 2006; both years flooding in November. I figure it is due to flood in 2009. I plan to move before 2009. It had better not flood in 2008.

I just get nervous every year in November.

Here is a letter from the district office:

Hi everyone – we’ve received word from Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management (DEM) to “expect localized urban, small stream and creek flooding” that includes the main stem of the Stillaguamish as well as many other rivers throughout Snohomish, King and Whatcom Counties. The foothills of Verlot is specifically noted in the alert with “heavy” rainfall. DEM has been in touch with our local fire department and I’m in touch with them also in case we have road closures or displaced families.

As of right now, DEM anticipates late tonight to 4:00 am tomorrow to really tell the story of exactly what, where, and how much flooding we might see.

For anyone that lives on, or near, any of the potential flood areas keep in mind roads may be blocked and transportation routes MAY be altered.

Stay tuned to radio/TV for any updates.

And of course, we’ll run the staff phones trees in the morning if appropriate as well.

Be careful driving home today and on your way to work tomorrow morning, even side streets could have standing water.

Being Educated

My lesson today from Rachel included being taught the difference between "to" and "too," question marks, apostrophes, and being told that "ck" is always preceded by a vowel.  (She didn't seem to notice that she misspelled deck by forgetting the "c."  That was the only mistake she made however.  She was so confident in her teaching abilities that I didn't point it out.)

Sheesh...she is really learning a lot this year.  I wish my fourth graders knew all the things she was teaching me too.  Maybe I should send them to Rachel's teacher....

This is what Erin Joy taught me when it was her turn to be the teacher.  Notice the drawing of the person in the middle of the whiteboard.  The big circle on the tummy is a belly button.  She taught me belly buttons are important.  She taught me it's okay to be messy.  She let me have free time, sing cute little songs, and play with Barbie Dolls for center time.  Now that's my kind of teacher!

In Honor of Erin Joy...

....please consider making a donation to Love Without Boundaries to help one of these beautiful children receive surgery to remove/reduce hemangiomas.  One girl passed away shortly after arriving by plane.  This makes me so sad.  Maybe we can make a difference by helping another child.

Dr. Lisa Buckmiller is a vascular anomalies specialist from Arkansas.  She is in China now to help this children.  She has a daughter adopted China with a hemangioma.  You can read about her daughter on the LWB site.

I have a special place in my heart for children with birthmarks.  Please click here and go to the bottom of the page to another link that will take you to the donation page and consider making a donation (if I had more money, I would just pay for everybody's surgery and not make this plea, but I can't....)

Happy Halloween

Our Halloween was very busy and very fun.  We started our fun-filled night by trick-or-treating at a few local stores, fire station, and police station.  We went to several friend's homes.  The girls had full buckets in just a short amount of time.

We then went to a Halloween Carnival at our friends' church.  It was a lot of fun.  The girls filled up sacks with candy, toys, and trading cards of the characters from last summer's VBS.  The "Slime Time" theme was very appropriate.  

Erin Joy is crashed out on the couch because after two hot dogs (we ate at the police station AND the Halloween carnival), two donuts, (she helped Rachel finish hers), and too much candy her stomach couldn't handle all the food.  Why am I up at 3:00 in the morning?  I just finished cleaning up her mess.  We both had to have a shower.  The cat was helping me clean up the disgusting mess on floor by eating it so I threw her outside.  I'm feeling a little guilty because I hope nobody hurts my sweet black kitty on Halloween night.  Rachel slept through the whole thing.  I even sprinkled baking soda all over the carpet and vacuumed and she continued to sleep.

I really hope her tummy troubles are due to eating too much and NOT caused by the two different medications she is taking for her allergic reaction earlier in the week.  She doesn't have a fever so I'm hoping it is just a case of "Halloween Over-Indulgence."

Here is a quick movie of our fun adventures (I wish I would have washed the ketchup off of Erin Joy's face before I started taking pictures....sheesh....)