Christmas in the Couve

In our first house here for Christmas - me, Brennan (8), Harrison (19 months), Kristy and Bella (4).

Thanksgiving 2000

For Thanksgiving, we went to Utah and had Thanksgiving dinner at Hubby's Aunt Bev's house. The family dog had puppies and Brennan and Bella had THE most fun playing with them. That was a fun time.

Brennan in Little League

In 2000, when Brennan was 8, he played Little League T-ball. This and soccer are the only organized sports he's played - he also liked football for a while in 8th grade. It's fun having these rare sporty pictures of him.

Here he is - outstanding in his field.

Swinging...

"Run, little man!"

This was the last time Harrison had any amount of fat on his body... love those little pudgy dimples.

Later that summer, we went to Fuddrucker's restaurant and Harrison crawled over to the fireplace and burned his little hand. I knew he burned it, but I didn't know how bad it was until a couple days later when I noticed he had something weird going on with his hand. I opened up his fingers and he had a HUGE blister, all over the palm of his hand. Poor little guy! I wrapped it in gauze and tape, and then wondered how I would keep him from trying to take it off. I decided to play on his vanity, and I told him, "Oh, Harr Bear! Pretty 'hanny!'" a few times, showing him his new bandage. He looked back and forth at his hand and at me, grinned, and never touched it once.

Trip to Dad's Place

Years ago, Dad bought some property near the Canadian border. We took a trip with Dad, Uncle John, Neenaw and Gran to see Dad's property - we had a great time. It was a gorgeous day up at Dad's place and the kids ran all over and had fun. Afterward, we spent some time in Seattle and rode the ferry. What a great trip!

Front: Isabella (4) and Brennan (7). Back: Dad, me holding Harrison (1), Gran, Neenaw, Uncle John

Uncle John took this one.

MEEEEEEEE... Behind me are Neenaw and Bella, and our stupid car that never ran for more than three months at a time - for most of the time we had it, it was dead in the driveway. Eventually we donated it to the Washington School for the Blind, who fixed it and are probably driving it right now.

Isabella & Brennan, enjoying the dirt. I found a tick in Bella's hair that night from all their playing around in the scrub.

Climbing... pretty fun for these little city kids.

"Look how high we are!"

Lake Osoyoos - "I saw youse" - which is half in Washington and half in Canada. I can't get over how beautiful this place is.

The ghost town of Molson, which was really fun and interesting. We had fun looking around the little museum and the old farm stuff outside. What a gorgeous day!

We spent a couple of nights nearby in Omak, then took the North Cascade Highway toward Seattle. Such a beautiful, beautiful drive.

There will be more pictures - I haven't scanned them all yet.

Harrison's First Birthday

"That flame... I must burn my fingers with it... it's so fascinating..."

"What do you MEAN, I can't touch it!!??"

Thank goodness the candle was in a piece of cake. That made everything all better.

Brennan's First Grade

Brennan's first grade year was most rewarding. The school he went to had lots of fun activities - first an Author's Tea, put on by his teacher...

Cute tiny guy with the book he wrote

Muffins with Moms - I'm wearing the famous sheep sweater and my bangs are starting to go gray, but otherwise I like this picture...

Love my sweet boy!

... and Donuts with Dudes. Normally it would have been "Dads" but the school didn't want to offend families without dads. Hubby, who IS a dad, decided to be offended at being left out. Not really, but I wouldn't blame him if he did.

Cute dudes

.