We love our Ducks!

Thank you to Brandon Bair (Ducks #88) for setting such a good example, on and off the field, for the kids in our community.

We really hope that your "little" brother one day plays for Oregon too.

I know that the Ducks didn't officially win the national title but they sure came out on top in the class department.

And that means a lot.

Here are my twins with Brandon and his little brother...

Oops...

Let me move back and try that again...

Much better!

Thanks Ducks...it's been an amazing year!

Sure can't wait for next year...

Oregon Ducks are the Best!

#1 The referees blew several key calls that ultimately cost the Ducks the game

#2 Auburn showed terrible sportsmanship and even I was embarrassed for them

#3 I don't care what the score said...Ducks came out on top

A lot of Duck fans feel terribly robbed tonight...

Nuff said...

Normal Canning...Times Ten

Times 10?

My poor tired aching feet might beg to differ.

More like 100 they think.

My dad has mega connections.

He arranged for delivery of another "box" of apples, just like last year.

Did I mention that the box contained 1000 pounds of apples?

Here they are in all their appley goodness...

Purdy, no?

Thankfully we still had the strainer that Dad attached a motor to (yes, my arm thanks him) and the apple cutter that he engineered using a tire pump.

Yes...he's a genius.

Why couldn't I have inherited that gene?

My mom came out two days and worked tirelessly.

Her energy is amazing.

She did most of the stirring at the stove.

Can I just tell you how nice it was to have my canning buddy back?

I sure missed her during peaches/pears.

She was fighting a lil thing that we refer to as cancer.

But she kicked it in the butt.

Here we are working away in the kitchen.

I would be amiss if I didn't mention that Corey, Michael, Joseph and Timothy also worked really hard...the entire time...without complaining.

Frankly, I'm suspicious. I'm still waiting to hear what it is that they want.

Here is the finished product.

All nice and neat in the locked pantry.

Kidding...we really do let the kids eat the food we can.

I just wish they would slow down.

Final count?

Drum roll.....

325 quarts...

In two days...

A new record for us.

Whew!

Christmas 2010

If I were to sum up our Christmas in one word it would be...

Relaxing

Don't look at me like that...I'm serious.

I was a woman on a mission this year.

Christmas pasts were full of rushing, sleep deprivation, cramming in events, stress and pressure.

Doesn't sound like much fun, huh?

This year I was determined to make things different.

So I planned way ahead for once.

Shopping, wrapping, family pictures, Christmas letter and cards, Christmas dinner, family activities and traditions and goodie plates

I gave myself a timeline and made sure to include plenty of time to just kick back and relax.

As a result...

The best Christmas ever

We put up two different trees this year.

Our "Duck the Halls" tree we put up downstairs.

The Ducks are playing in the National Championship game this year, for the first time ever, so the Duck tree was a must.

Complete with a Duck train and station.

We put up the family tree in the master bedroom where it would be safe from the toddlers so we could put the presents out sooner, knowing that they might actually stay wrapped until Christmas morning.

We have a tradition here regarding the angel on top of the tree.

Each year a different child gets to put the angel on top.

So in a family with nine kids, your chance comes around twice.

Michael mentioned how this has scarred him for life.

He can imagine a time in his future when he is married and has kids.

It will be Christmas time and one of his kids will ask to put the angel on the tree.

He sadly tells me that he can see himself grabbing the angel, clutching it tightly to his chest and shouting "mine, mine, mine".

I'm pretty sure I should check on counseling for him after winter break is over.

Anyway, it was Lily's turn this year.

I had started shopping for presents back in October and was pretty much all done by the time Thanksgiving rolled around.

We kept it simple again this year with the kids each getting two nice, meaningful gifts.

I asked the grandparents to keep it simple this year too.

It was refreshing.

I wrapped the presents and had them under the tree a week before Christmas.

I use code names for the kids so that no one knows which presents are theirs until Christmas morning.

It is so funny watching them try to figure which name belongs to whom.

Sleeping Beauty, Grumpy Smurf, Hercules, Hulk, Lightenin' McQueen, Cinderella, Alice, Batman and Goldilocks were the names we used this year.

The week of Christmas was so much fun.

We played games and watched a different Shrek movie each night.

We just hung out.

We made amazing nachos.

I even had time to bake 10 different cheesecakes and give sampler plates to our friends.

We hung out in our PJ's and just enjoyed each other's company.

Can someone tell me how this could possibly be comfortable?

The kids each made a little gingerbread house.

Our whole fam damily.

We hope you had an amazing 2010 and we wish you an even better 2011!

Happy New Year!

Thanks for the reminder...

I love my kids.

Just thought I should put that out there first.

I miss my house.

The clean one.

The one where there are no marks on the walls and stuff is actually not strung out all over the floor put away.

Sometimes the disorder really gets to me.

I was upstairs today, putting away clean laundry and I was having a "moment".

You know the one?

The one where you are just so darn sick and tired of...

Picking up...puzzle pieces...game pieces...bits of crayons...

Stepping on Legos (my heel still winces at the memory of that fateful night)...beads...food on the floor...

Looking around and wondering...why there is paper all over the floor...where did my clean house go...why are there crayon marks on the wall...again...

Pining away for...free time...a clean house...my remodel finished...

And...while I was having my extended moment...

I forgot...

About the big picture...

About why I do this...

But then...

Levi handed me a small piece of paper.

It had a heart on it that he had colored.

I stopped putting away the laundry and said...

"Thank you Levi! I'm going to put it into my pocket where it will be safe."

"Mommy," he said, "there's something on the back too."

I turned it over and this is what I found...

My first thought was..."Huh?"

But as I looked closer I was able to pick out some letters so I totally guessed made an educated guess.

"It says, I love you?"

He was positively beaming as he nodded his head, so proud.

At that moment, my crayon-picking-up, lego-stepping on, clean house missing hardened heart melted a little.

I scooped him up for a big ol hug and told him how much I loved him too.

And I remembered...

Why I do this...

Day in and day out...

I'll do better...

And try not to ever forget why again...

Thanks Levi for the reminder.

My Q-T Pies

Love these kids...

They are a three man destruction team.

And they are quickly slowly destroying my house...

Lucky thing for them that they are so cute.

Am I that kind of mother?

Ya know the kind?

The kind that takes pictures of her children sleeping...

Lovely, angel-like pictures...

But what about the less than attractive ones?

Like when they make little piggy noses?

Am I that kind of mother?

The one that takes pictures of her pre teen sleeping...drooling... on the couch?

And posts them on the family blog?

Apparently...

I am.