Happy Birthday Dear Megan...

10 years ago, right now ... Wow - a decade ago we had just met our Megan Muff. It seems like forever and like just yesterday both at the same time!



Now look at her!!



Megan had a few friends over to celebrate with us this year!



Tell me again why they're called SLUMBER parties??? I remember "reminding" them to go to sleep at midnight...this morning they informed me that they were still awake at 3am - ugh! Those were the days!




I am sure they all had a blast! They are such fun little friends!




And since so many of you have been so kind as to contact us on the phone and through countless emails to check on our little man, Joe - here he is! He's truly doing great!



A little added bonus to the memory of Megan's birth is the birth of my friend Amy's daughter Hailey - she was born in the same hospital the day after Megan.

Happy Birthday (tomorrow) Hailey!!


Megan (L) Hailey (R)

Black Friday...

We celebrated Black Friday by STAYING HOME! And then Mother Nature decided to add some decoration to our party...darn it all!

It started off slow and innocent like...



A little skiff - nothing too threatening...



In fact, it prompted us to set fire to one of our many slash piles... (and I'm looking at this picture right now realizing that it probably doesn't LOOK like it was very safe, what with an entire forest within inches...there really is more of a safe zone around it than it looks like!)



Through the night the snow continued to fall - by morning the fire had died down ...



... but we had a couple of inches of snow ... enough for a snowball fight Dad & Joe VS Jason, Jared & Jacob...

Joe would pack them and hand them off...



And dad would hurl them at the boys - quite a team!

I-Care-Kid

Malorie was chosen to be November's "I Care Kid" from her classroom!



(Sorry, I still have camera issues ... just figure all pictures that I take in a Gym are going to stink until this camera of ours flat lines!! Which shouldn't be too much longer!)

Her teacher said: Malorie listens when her teachers or classmates are talking. She is helpful and kind to others. She always uses "I Care" Language. She is a good friend to all!

Thanksgiving 2008

Wow - it came and went, just like that! It seems like I blinked it and was over!
Thanksgiving was great this year - as we've done the past few years, we once again traveled north to my aunt and uncle's home for Thanksgiving dinner. The food and company were great - what more could we ask for?

The buzz in the kitchen...



And buzzing in the dining room...



And little buzzer's at the "kid's table" (I hope my kids don't hate the "kid's table" as much as I did when I was a kid...)



Grandpa and the big boys...



The birthday girl and Jason...



The High School Cousins...



Dad and a few of his girls...



Mom and her Pixie Girl...



My sister Lindsay, Auntie Joy & Megan...



Grandpa and his turkey hangover...

Twilight

Yes, we went - no not at midnight ... I'm all for fun and excitement, so long as it doesn't interrupt my sleep!

I surprised Maddie with tickets Friday night. We had a great time. I was worried that she would be embarrassed to go with her mom...luckily, we ran in to my cousin Mardi and her daughter Kera and cousin Marcus...so it was fun and cool to be with Kera and Marcus...the whole "embarrassing mom" thing was mulitplied 100 times by having Mardi and me together! :) We all had a great time. The movie was good. The company was great!

Kera, Maddie, Shiela & Mardi



Kera & Vampire Mardi



Kera & Normal Mardi



Maddie & Shiela



Marcus - who wanted NOTHING to do with having his picture taken! LOL

One gets 'em - One loses 'em!

I'm talking about teeth!

I'm sure y'all'll (hee hee, can you contract that?) remember that Gracie got her first tooth this week. Her very first experience with teeth! Last night, Joseph had his very first experience with LOSING teeth. "Wait Shiela, you must mean Melanie...Joe isn't old enough to lose teeth." Yes, you are right! However, the piano had other plans and when his little mouth collided with it full on, the piano won and 3 of Joe's teeth bit it (no pun intended, lol).



I called our wonderful dentist within seconds of realizing what had happened. I told him I was holding 2 of Joseph's teeth in my hand, roots fully intact, what do we do?? He said, "Nothing, we don't put baby teeth back in." I was physically ill! I must have sounded like a blithering idiot on the phone. I was trying really hard to hold it together! lol

I gave Joseph some Motrin - realized he had in fact lost 3 teeth - (I decided to stop looking in his mouth b/c every time I did, another tooth was missing.). He settled down on my lap and went to sleep. About 15 minutes after he fell asleep, our dentist and his sweet wife showed up at our door! He had already told me how to take care of Joseph over the phone, but man it was nice to have him take a look at Joseph himself. He said Joseph's mouth looked great "From a dentist's point of view...(obviously)".

Today Joseph woke up happy. He has been able to eat and drink just fine. His mouth doesn't hurt. And his smile isn't as bad as I spent the entire night thinking it would be! I pictured more of a Hillbilly sorta thing...

Never a dull moment at our house, I tell ya!

8 Months Ago, Right Now...

My goodness, eight months ago - right now - Meredith was about four hours old. It's hard to believe that it's only been eight months. And really only seven since the first month was spent in NICU. I had a few minutes alone with Meredi at church today - and since I have a snazzy little camera in my purse now, I was able to catch a few quickie shots of her being her cute little self!



This baby is such a joy! She snuggles, she coo's, she smiles and laughs...she SLEEPS! She is the sleeper baby that we have only dreamed of for the past 14 years...we finally got one! She will go to bed between 8-9pm and sleep through the night until 10am. JOYOUS!



She a seasoned "roller" now - and we learned that she can even sit up. I guess being number 9 we just weren't as eager to get her to do tricks like we were with the first few. A few days ago I was on the floor with her and wondered how close she was to sitting...I propped her up and she does it. (Hope potty training goes as easily!)



I realize this isn't the best picture - but I took this one...and then zoomed in down below so y'all could see...



...her TOOTH! (I know you can't really see it - when I enlarge it in Paint Shop, I can see it...so I circled it for you!) Brandon discovered it during Maddie's Volleyball game last week - kind of like realizing that she can sit up..."Hey, did you know she has a tooth?"



We have loved every second we've had with Miss Meredi. We look forward to many, many, many more wonderful seconds!! *swoon*

Give me an M...Give me an A...(You can tell where this is going, right?)

Madilyn had her first game of the season last night (7th Grade Volleyball). They played *gasp* Colville (mom's alma mater). They won one and lost two.



Maddie did just great! It's fun watching her develop a love for sports.



She sure enjoys Volleyball. She's anxious for her next game in Chewelah (another of mom's rivals growing up). The family is anxious for her next game as well - we really had a good time watching Maddie and her team play!

Court of Honor

Wednesday was our boys' Court of Honor. I am the Scout Committee Chairman, so I've been working on this shin-dig for several weeks. Because it was held the day after Veteran's Day, the Committee decided to do a Patriotic theme and recognize the Veteran's in our ward. (We only had 4 show up - and 3 of them had to be there because they work in Scouting, but next year we're going to make sure we get a great turn out!)

Jared's Cub Scout pack sang the National Anthem and America the Beautiful. I was the perfect example of why girls shouldn't be in Scouting - I sat and blubbered throughout the entire performance! Luckily, I get that tender patriotism from my UNCLES, so maybe it is ok after all? :)
(Jared is the 3rd from your right...tucked behind the boy with the song book.)



Jacob received his Tenderfoot rank. We're excited for him to finish this one up. His leader has had a change in his work schedule and hasn't been able to really work with the boys like he once was - and Jacob has kind of been at a stand-still for a few months. When Jacob saw the date of the Court of Honor on the calendar, he asked what we needed to do to make sure he could advance and then helped make it happen.



Mom getting her Tenderfoot Mother's Pin! This is one of my favorite parts of Rank advancements, not just for me - although I do love getting my pins, but I love watching all of the Young Men pin their awards on their mothers' lapel. I've had several mothers tell me that they don't feel like they "deserve" the pin because they don't really understand the Scout program and have done nothing to help their sons with Scouting. Just raising son's today who are willing to dedicate themselves to the Boy Scout program, respect their leaders and love their family is "helping" their son's more than flipping through any merit badge book ever will - they are MORE than deserving! We have such GREAT young men in our program...and they all come from great parents!



Jason completed and received his Citizenship in the Nation merit badge. He is now just three or four badges from having all of his Eagle Rank badges complete. He is putting together his Eagle project to submit to the council for approval. As parents, Brandon and I feel so blessed to have so many wonderful friends around us for our children! Jason is among five (soon to be seven) buddies who are working on Eagle projects right now - they are so fun to watch...encouraging and challenging one another. I can't wait to attend each and every one of their Eagle Courts of Honor!

Thank You.

Thank you, again - this year and every year...today and every day...this very minute and every minute of our future.

Thank you to those who protect our little family and to those who have provided for us the freedoms that we so enjoy - and shamefully, too often take for granted.

That's what I get!

Less than an hour after I shared the pictures of the snow on our mountain...I look out the window and see this. When I said our days were numbered, I didn't mean numbered to 1 !!!



I was already committed to a trip in to town, so I took another picture from the road off our driveway.



The words of Laura Ingalls Wilder keep running through my mind..."The Long Hard Winter." Oh sure, Half-Pint had it much worse than I can even imagine...but I still think the words nonetheless! ;)

Oh, no....

So we're driving home from town yesterday afternoon, and what to our wondering eyes should appear?? SNOW! So of course I stopped the car in the middle of the road and took a picture! Our home is at the base of the smaller mountain in front of the snow mountain...but when it gets this close, our days are numbered!



This is the last turn before our driveway (Those are NOT our dead cars in the field!). Those who know me well know that I'm all for hunkering down and not setting foot out of our house until Spring. Alas, school, sports, church, work, etc don't work that way - so I'll dig out the studded tires, put on my frowny face, and pout until Spring...or until the first real snow when I my attitude softens because it's so darn beautiful here in the winter! (There really is no pleasing me!)

Halloween Party

Since we got all of the Trick-or-Treating out of our system earlier in the week, we opted to host a Halloween Block Party here this year. We invited a few of the families who live out here in the sticks with us and we had a great time. We had a wonderful time visiting with friends and the kids enjoyed playing around the house.

Dry Ice Rootbeer...



Our High School had it's last home football game on Halloween night - so around 9:30 the second wave of guests hit! I wish I'd kept my camera out and taken pictures. We counted that all in all we had 55+ guests throughout the evening! SO MUCH FUN!

Floating severed hand...



I made an attempt to get everyone's picture in their Halloween shirt, but failed miserably...Here's Meredi and Mom



Jaynie (I'm not sure why I didn't have Malorie step in beside her...you can see her off to the side...duh!)



Joe's pumpkin belly



Jared wore his shirt for about 4 minutes - he said it was scratching him, but his wise mother knows that it was b/c he wanted to put on his costume to play with his friends who came!

Rumpelstiltskin

This week Megan participated in the Missoula Children's Theater performance of Rumpelstiltskin at her school.

She practiced every night after school until almost 8pm. Last year she was in The Little Mermaid and really enjoyed it. This year I think she had even more fun.

In this video, Megan is the 2nd "boaster", Glenda Good
(Yellow dress, blue vest).



("As I was wandering hither, I saw a pile of rocks. And lifted one high over my head, twas roughly the size of an ox.")


Sorry about the quality of the pictures - do I even need to explain any more?



They put on two shows on Saturday - Grandma Janet went to the afternoon show and took Megan to lunch before the evening show.