♥♥ One Happy Girl ♥♥

Look what the UPS man just brought mere moments ago. . . . .

Aunt Marge in AZ is officially the coolest great-auntie a little girl could have! Brooklyn is literally hugging her new quilt, jumping up and down around the house, squealing "I love it! I love it! I love it!".
Mommy is of the same frame of mind. Isn't it adorable??? I ♥ the fabrics Aunt Marge used. I'd be hard-pressed to even pick a favorite. The polka dot border, the pink heart embroidery, ALL of it ~swoon~. This woman has awesome talent! Every time I visit my cousins' homes, they have another beautiful quilt she's done for them or one of the kids.
She couldn't have made a more perfect quilt for Miss Brooklyn. Pink and brown are the colors in her bedroom, she loves pink, the ♥'s are perfect for a girl born on Valentine's Day, and I could go on and on!

Thank you, Aunt Marge!!!

PS Aunt Marge's birthday was yesterday so I'm feeling a little guilty she sent someone a gift on her birthday.

MLK Jr Day

The kids didn't have school on Monday (of course), so I decided to get out of the house and take them up to the Tacoma waterfront. We went to Ruston Way and went for a nice brisk (brrr...) and foggy walk.

My sailboat left without me...

Jordan has decided cars and trucks are for the unadventurous. He's saving his pennies for this boat!

An old fire boat

A bird encounter - far off.

Um, yeah...about that picture with all kids cooperating - not happenin'. Jordan and Boo were actually doing their best to help out, but not the Mr. in front. Things happen in threes? Having kids maybe, but not getting them to do the same thing all at once.

Looking across Commencement Bay towards Browns Point - no that's not smog, just fog.

Hope you enjoyed your day off - if you had one! We have another one this coming Monday. 'Semester Break' they call it. I really don't recall all these days off when we were kids. Or am I just getting old?

Grandma and Grandpa's

The kids always love to play on the swing set at their grandparent's house. All of the branches are what Uncle Jerry, Jordan, and Grandpa took down when pruning. Looks like they worked really hard!

Our impish girl. She was feeling rather feisty! It was hard to get a picture without her tongue sticking out. That's the Porterfield trait being passed down. At least she likes her picture being taken. Both boys have gone through stages of immense dislike in having their pictures taken. Keith pruning a bit.

Jordan helping Grandma Hansen and Auntie Heather with the puzzle.

Cousin Jenny. She's so good about chauffeuring her cousins around. Thanks Jenny!

Goodbye Auntie Heather! We had a lot of fun being with you and playing games. Look at Jaeden. See what I mean about getting pictures? They're candid, that's for sure!

Brooklyn posing with the mini snowmen she and Jaeden built earlier in the day.

Deja Vu

Welcome to our world tonight. So far we're "high and dry", but there are others preparing for the worst. It's very sobering (especially because it's been just over a year since the last devastating flood) to watch people around town sandbagging, moving furniture/belongings to higher ground and so on. The kids were sent home two hours early today after moving their books and equipment up on tables and desks.

No school tomorrow, but shhhh. . . . .please don't tell them yet. I beg you. . . .please don't. They were off two days early, pre-Christmas break for snow days and now this. So let me pretend they go back to school tomorrow. If only for a few more hours.

It's predicted to be worse than December '07. We heard 10 feet above the flood line. Time will tell. The HUGE snow melt is compounding the problem. I noticed places that weren't bothered by the floods back then that are preparing to be flooded this time around. Anyway, we feel fortunate to be sitting up high. Ya never know, though. Our basement could flood, but we hope not.

On to better things. I misplaced my camera on Christmas Day so I didn't get any pictures of the yummy food, table setting, or family. How could that happen? I'm hoping to have my sister-in-law email a few and then I can post some pics. Guess what? I haven't finished posting from our Thanksgiving trip either. Jordan bugs me about it, too. So I better get busy!

The following snow pics were taken December 21. I must have been getting a bit weary of the snow to not have taken more between these and Christmas. Silly me. . . Now I wish for the snow instead of the rain and flooding. We always want what we don't have. Funny how our human nature works!

Happy New Year!

The kids decided it'd be fun to have a little bonfire and roast marshmallows on New Year's night. The snow had just melted in the backyard and we had a big windstorm hence all the leaves. We were enjoying the outdoors once again in spite of how cold it was!