The first video clip is of the kids' teacher, Joyce Kelly (aka Ms. Joyce or Ms. Kelly). The Manager of the Steinway Piano Gallery urged her to play a bit during his introduction. Here is part of the piece she shared. She is truly an amazing pianist (and this segment isn't even close to the best part). The second clip is one of the 6 short numbers Spencer performed. Tina got everything on video, but I missed his first two (and most complex) pieces with the digital camera.

Who says you never use math in real life...

The kids and I went to Taco Bell for lunch after the St. Patrick's Day parade two weeks ago. (Tina worked the night before and was sleeping). Maddie had already eaten a 5 layer nacho but kept telling me how hungry she was, so I got her another one. With eyes opened wider than should be physically possible and both hands held up in front of her, fingers extended, like she's stopping traffic, Sophia says, "DAD, THAT'S 10 TOTAL LAYERS!!!"

A few nights later, at dinner, Tina was talking about work and said something about how many CNA's were on duty and how many patients they had when Spencer blurts out, "I feel a story problem coming on!"

Warrior Boy

Last night I looked over to find Spencer holding my 48" metal ruler I'd left on the floor next to me in the front room. His eyes were beaming as he said, "Man, you could go to battle with this thing. You could seriously hurt somebody!"

Star Wars: Episode 3.5

Our good friend Mike, who happens to be an aspiring filmmaker (among many other talents - he's also single ladies), made the mistake of telling our children about a feature in one of his editing programs that creates a lightsaber effect. He got roped into demonstrating it using footage of them. Over lunch one Sunday afternoon last summer Mike took some footage of the kids using Spencer's plastic lightsabers and created this. I've been meaning to post it forever. Tina recently brought to my attention that Spencer has requested some edits....Apparently he would like Tina and I added to the video and the tagline changed from it's current "3 New Jedis" to "3 New Jedis and 2 Padawans." Enjoy. Well done Mike. (oh, and ladies... he's also a brilliant writer, cartoonist, photographer and prince of sarcasm. He's no Magellan when it comes to navigation [possibly the understatement of the millenium] but he loves God and has a huge heart. If you would like to contact him through this site, feel free to post here. My finder's fee is negotiable....)

Grandma and Grandpa & great Grandma Come to town

Grandma Lu and Grandpa Tom and Great Grandma Haley came into town last weekend for a visit. Dan had called his mom on Friday morning and was teasing her by telling her to bring her snow clothes since we woke up to 6 inches of snow. Of course she bought it!! But he came clean and told her he was joking. But who knew it would literally start snowing an hour before they got here. So we only had a couple inches but it still led Grandpa and the kids into a full on snow ball fight! They also built two great snowmen. We took them to some fun stores and also took the kids bowling! Had a great time!



Spencer got caught!~




G-pa Tom teaching the kids paddle ball!

Happy Thanksgiving

This year for the holidays, Dan and I have chosen to stay close to home and keep things simple. For thanksgiving we had a wonderful opportunity to spend the evening with our friends Ryan and Amber and their girls. Ryan is a long time friend that grew up across the street from Dan and he and his family moved to Spokane just shortly after we did. We had a great time and the kids had a blast playing together. Dan and Ryan had a few (quite loud) matches at the ping pong table, I think by nights end they were tied. It was a wonderful evening! Thanks Bissells!

Happy Halloween

HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2008!!! Alvin, Simon and Theodor sent this picture to their Grandpa Tom for his October 31st Birthday. (side note... we removed our wood stove this fall and are sending it down to Grandpa Tom for his shop at the coastal house.)

The kids love the newest Alvin and the Chipmunks movie that came out last Christmas and have been planning on dressing up like them for Halloween for the last several months. They had a blast this year!!!! Even more so because they were very excited to have Grace join them for the annual "Candy Carnival" put on by our church. It was a great success and the kids absolutely make a hall on goodies. They didn't even bother to go trick or treating in the neighborhoods.











Here, Josh is showing all the children how they really need to get the right crank on the ball for the bowling game.

Pumpkins X2

We carved our pumpkins as a family last Sunday. BUT Cousin Grace came to town on Tuesday and revealed to us that she had not yet carved a pumpkin so we had a second round for her just before Halloween. This was a pivotal year in the carving festivities... The kids designed their own faces on paper and then Dan and I transferred the pictures for them, but the best part was that they ALL carved them by themselves....woohoo no more hand cramps! Dan and I both agreed this was the best year all in all for the kids' designs. Maddie drew a really cute care bear face and Sophia chose that to be hers and it tunred out great! And of course Dad...the Blazer fan was very creative too. I think the kids were awe over his fancy design.

Family from Home!

We had the privilege of housing Conner, Trisha and Alicia for a weekend while they were up here for the wedding of a college friend in Coeur D'Alene. The kids were ecstatic to see some of their favorite babysitters from back in the day!! Funny to watch the kids, even as they are older now, they love these guys just like family. They were hanging on them all the time they could and begging them to come watch all 3 soccer games. Thankfully they were (as always) gracious and went along and cheered them on with Dan and I. Poor mom-to-be Alicia...very close to her a due date was keeping right up. As always, it was a blessing to have them be here and a reminder of how much we miss everyone from home! We love you all a ton!