Not speechless anymore...

Since Katie's Thanksgiving post, life's been a whirlwind of activity. (don't you love that word...'whirlwind')

Christmas was wonderful. It was Halle's first birthday, and we got to talk to Tanner for over an hour. That was the best part of the day. The kids (ok the parents, too) have loved Rock Band 2, and the Wii has seen more use the past month than probably in the entire year previous.

We had a little birthday cake for Halle (red velvet, of course) but she wasn't feeling too great...little cold, little teething...and she was a pretty mellow birthday girl. We plan to really throw a fiesta on April 4...the one year anniversary of her coming home from the hospital and 'really' joining our family. Stay tuned for details!

As I reflected over the events of 2008, it was overwhelming to see the blessings in our lives. Halle is a true miracle. She has grown leaps and bounds, at least developmentally. Our 1 yr old weighs 12 lb 10 oz and is 24" long. She is so sweet. There is a peace and calm about her that brings sheer joy into this home. We are all completely smitten! She is crawling everywhere, sitting up, and pulling up to furniture. We are so grateful - and so proud - of each milestone. I am lucky to be her mother.

Sara's arrival home from China was another blessing. She had a great experience, and came home safely (keyword: HOME) It has been so fun to be together again, and makes us even more excited for Tanner's return on JUNE 2! Sara is working at the Lion House and began this semester at SLCC. It is fun to have her around, and I often spend the mornings begging her to stay home and hang out with me. Gotta stop that!

Katie is busy at school. She maintains excellents grades all on her own, and is accompanying the school play..."Peter Pan". Should be a great production; they always are at Evergreen Jr High. Chloe is a busy 3rd grader and the assistant mother around here. Science projects are in full swing...if only we could think of something involving sparkles, makeup, or nail polish. Meg is doing great. She works so hard and is reading! She has had a difficult time learning and the girl just never gives up. She is hilarious...and reminds me of Tigger...."Bouncing, bouncing, bouncing, bouncing...fun, fun, FUN, FUN, FUN!" Mati is speaking Spanish quite well nowadays...it's pretty impressive to watch how she understands things, and hear her speak occasionally. She is a little shy...but sometimes we can get the Pledge of Allegiance out of her en espanol.

Mat spent last week in Chicago and I am the first to admit I am not a good single mom. But we have fun, and all sleep together til Dad comes home.

Best news of the new year...THE KITCHEN IS almost DONE!! It is pure heaven. I have fired up all 3 ovens and we are loving every square inch. I feel like I'm dreaming sometimes.

That's the latest here...photos coming soon. Promise!

Happy New Year!

It's 2009. I can't believe it. In fact, I am speechless. More later.

Thanksgiving Shmaksgiving

This year for thanksgiving Tanner is gone and Sara is gone so the family participated in a 3 family thanksgiving extravaganza. Can you say Party! Its been enjoyable not having to go to school(this is katie) but i wish sometimes my sisters were in school haha. We have so much to be thankful for its amazing, that we even have like lights or food or anything. You would never know that i am thankful for those dumb things but i am. My mother has been very busy catering for a wedding and a big birthday thing, she is quite the lady always figuring out another way to be creative. My father is still the same, special man he has always been. I am going to play the piano for Evergreen Junior High's musical Peter Pan, that should be interesting. I have a chorus concert on Wednesday so if you want to come 6:30. The girls just love William Penn, especially because my mother is the PTA president. We are all ready for christmas, 25 days!

Hmph!

Ok so I don't know how to load new photos. And I really don't know how to add a post here without the whole page being uneven. Like, all the posts on one side in a big long list, and all the photos..in a big long list. Bugs!

Perhaps someone could come give me a private tutorial? I will bake for you if you'll blog for me.

And the update is:
Mat and Chloe are in Sun Valley helping Marvelous winterize the cottage. (I think I am hilarious calling that home a cottage) Mostly they are eating well, enjoying the out of doors (Chloe learned to fish.) and I heard a rumor that they went to a movie.

Tanner got the package with meds for his scalp crustacians. Not sure how to help with the stomach issues. Pretty sure he gets his own bathroom when he comes home.

Sara is on the countdown. 59 days. And all the while she talks about missing us and being homesick, she is talking about going back as a head teacher...perhaps Finland...or nannying in Germany. Huh? I'll wear a dierndel (sp?) and make a mean streudel if she'll stay home!

Katie is bossing us all around as always. She is stoked to try out for Peter Pan the Musical at Evergreen.

Meg and Mati are both in love with Troy Bolton, although I prefer his friend, Chad. We've seen HSM 2ce (well some of us 3 times) and we are proud of our love for HSM and are not hiding it.

Halle is still everyone's joy...pushing up on to all 4's. Doing a quick army crawl around the room, but still no regular crawl. That's ok. She gets to do whatever she wants whenever she wants.

Now...someone come help me learn the art of blogging. MWAH!

School's in session!

So the 2008-2009 school year is in full swing! Katie headed to her 9th grade - and final year- at Evergreen (Go Eagles!) She is taking some fun classes, and hoping to play the piano more this year. The rest of us - me included - are at William Penn. I am PTA co-president w/ Ami Neff. I have no words, except whew. It's been a lot of work so far, and we're only 2 weeks into school. Chloe is in Ms Graham's 3rd grade class, Meg is in Ms McCullough 2nd grade, and Mati is in Ms Foulke/McGavin 1st grade Spanish immersion program. She would prefer if we speak Spanish to her, but that's been difficult since none of us habla. Halle is growing and doing so well. She is over 10 lbs and pushing up on to all 4's. She is a little punkin and we are all more in love with her than ever.

Katie Here

So this is the favorite child here again taking over the duties for my mother. The things i do out of love haha. Anywho school starts Monday and i am kinda having a brain aneurysm about it. Summer just seemed like it was way shorter then it should have been, i am just getting into my "ready mode." Ya know? But ya it starts on Monday and my sisters are excited about their new teachers.
Tanner is doing really well, he has the language down, he writes home telling us how much he loves the people, and it sounds like he finally is a true missionary. I know everyone out in the field is a missionary but there is a certain point where they like get into the full mode, well he is there.
Sara is loving China, sorta. She is homesick but that is to be expected. She can say a couple of things in Chinese, just enough to get by. The group she is in isnt allow to go to any Olympic activities so they know just as much as we do. She sounds excited to teach the kids now.
I am so sad school is starting. I really don't want to go, not because it wont be a learning experience i just love the freedom of summer. I babysit all the time, and i love it. My life seems so boring to other people but i am very content just doing what i do.
The littles are just being little girls. They are so ready for school, we are all ready for them to go to school too :) They just are really active children, running, screaming, playing, screaming.... just normal kid stuff.
Halle is the "Mirical" child. She can roll from her stomach to her back and from her back to her stomach. She can reach for toys, lift her head. Her doctors are just amazed at the things she is doing. She is a really funny gal, we sure love her.
My parents are so boring. I guess that is just what happens what you get older. My mom is going to be the co-PTA president at William Penn this year. She is really "busy" with that. My dad works out of our house, enough said. Our house still functions with me being the oldest so i am thinking it should be permanent. Thats just what i am saying

Joi Gin, Sara!

She did it! Sara left for her 5 mo. adventure in Zhongshan!

She was packed and ready to go Wednesday, so Thursday morning, all her friends came over for a crepe fete. It was lots of fun, lots of crepes, and so fun to see all these kids together. She got a call that her flight had been bumped up a few hours, so we scrambled to throw last minute things together, and headed to the airport. We didn't even get to go for our leisurely last supper out, but I don't think we could have eaten anyway. The little girls struggled saying goodbye---esp. Chloe. She just sobbed. Sara is so good to her. They went with the Winegars while we took Sara. So Mat, Katie, Halle, Joey, and I were the farewell crew. Sara was brave and off she went. We will miss her terribly, but are SO excited for the adventure ahead. She met Breanne in Hong Kong and I am relieved they are together now.
Her email is sara_j_andresen@hotmail.com , and I am quite sure she'd love an email now and then....

Fun Weekend!

What a great weekend we had! On Saturday, Mat and I enjoyed a night out with some friends at The Police concert. It was a perfect night for sitting on a blanket and watching STING and enjoying some good 80's music. Bonnie scared us by having some premature labor, but she was kind enough to curl up on the blanket til the concert was over. :) We dropped her off at the hospital on the way home. Fortunately, she was discharged in the morning and all is well so far. No Baby Boy Burton No. 4 ... yet! I think he is just a big Sting fan, too, and wanted to come out for the concert.

Then Sunday was Halle's blessing day. It wasn't fast Sunday, but we realized that Sara only has 2 Sundays left with us before she leaves for China ...til December! So we decided to bless Halle so Sara could be here with us. (It's hard enough having Tanner gone!) Mat gave her a beautiful blessing, and we were so happy to have the support of family and good friends. We had a little bagel bust afterwards...bagels & schmears, fruit, Italian sodas, etc. The Stephens, our awesome next door neighbors, are in Chicago this week, but they just finished their incredible deck and backyard, and offered to let us party there. It took all stress out of the day for me, and it was a beautiful place to enjoy breakfast. (Except we missed the Stephens' being there!)

I posted a million photos, but Halle is just so darling, it's hard to choose only a few. You have to keep scrolling down to see them all :) Her dress was made by my friend, Mindy Myers, and was absolutely gorgeous.

Thanks everyone for coming and making it such a special day for our family.

Mid Summer!

After much fun and driving....we are already mid way through summer. We kicked off Summerfest '08 with Sara graduating from Oly. She barely made it. Whew. Lots of cheering through the years...and we almost forgot to get credits in.

We spent the 4th of July in Sun Valley with the Melville side. We had a grand time as always. The 4th was spent at the Hailey Rodeo, where Meg represented us all well in the Mutton Bustin' competition. She rode that sheep right into the ground. She was proud as can be, and I am pretty sure she is the first black cowgirl to compete in the Hailey Rodeo. We had a fabulous Family Olympics, (thanks, Brad and Mindy!) and my personal favorite, riding the River Run Lift to the top for lunch. Monday we centered ourselves with a private yoga class by Grandpa Marv's yoga instructor, Master Richard, and we were all at one with the universe prior to our road trip home.

As always it was fun to be all together. It is so rare anymore.

Big Day, the 8th of May....

Mati and I began our day at the zoo...yes, the long awaited Kindergarten Zoo Day. Of course, I signed up to be a chaperone, but I always make Mat go. I HATE the zoo. Mat went to Dallas. So...I was the Zoo Mom. It was far less painful than I remembered, and the kids liked the train ride best.

Then we headed to Hires for lunch with Aunt Shari, Aunt Mindy, Cousin Sally, Heather, and Jalane. Mindy and Shari gave Halle the initiatory "Oh, Cuddie, Cuddie, Cuddie" with the traditional finger tickle. And who should we run into, but Jodi's mom, Deb, and Grandpa Lowell. Aw ...good times at Hires.

To finish off a fun filled day....HALLE smiled! Her first real smile! We were all so excited, and she is just the cutest. Hurray!