Conferences

I came across a tablet that we had taken to SD this past summer.  As I was flipping through it, I came across the above page.  I knew that Madison and Campbelle played school a few times and Madison was the teacher.  I didn’t know that she had written a report card for her.

I couldn’t agree more with Miss Madison when she states that Campbelle ‘needs sitting improvement’.  But the observation that she colors on her nails seems a bit trite.  :-)

The kids can’t wait to play with their cousins again.  We can hardly wait until Tuesday!

Such a big boy

Beckett rolled over for the first time.  Christian takes credit for teaching him this new trick…. he’s been practicing with him for days!  After laying in front of Beckett and rolling over multiple time, Christian exclaimes “Really Beckett, it’s the easiest thing in the world to do.  Watch me!”  Well lo and behold, today Beckett did it.  Christian was sooo proud.

Beckett used his exercauser for the first time today too.  He seems to really like it, but needs to have some extra blankets around his tummy to keep him in place.

ANSWER

Ok…. well some of you already know the answer.  It is indeed 61 trees.  (I actually thought the NPR story – which was my source – had said it was 65.  I misspoke. )

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96758439

But now I’m left with the difficult job of trying to decide what to call the tree that we will plant in our yard. 

The Cheaters tree.

Doesn’t have a good, love mother earth kind of vibe does it?

(And don’t tell me that I didn't specify in my rules that looking up the answer wasn’t allowed.  A quiz is a quiz people – no cheating should be assumed!)

Quiz

Here’s a little quiz for you. 

How many trees are there on earth per person?

Post a comment with your answer.  The winner (or whoever comes the closest) will win a prize.  The prize:  A tree will be purchased, and planted in our backyard and will forever be referred to as

“____ so and so___’s tree”

Go ahead, take a stab at it.  I’ll post the answer soon.

From Campbelle’s point of view

Leif gave Campbelle our old digital camera to have as her very own.  She has been taking photos of everything.  She wants to start her own blog, but since she doesn’t really spell yet - I promised I’d put some on my blog.  Here are her masterpieces:

3 months old

Ha!  You thought I’d forgotten - but I didn’t. 

Beckett is 3 months old.  He is such a big guy.  I had him in to the doctor last week for what I thought might be an ear infection (turned out just to be bit of unusual crabbiness – I guess we can all have one of those days) and he weighed 15 lbs 1 oz!!  He’s in the running to beat Campbelle for big baby award!

Here are the other two at 3 months of age.

Seriously??!!

(because the rest of the story is just too good.  Here is the whole story now – I don’t think I’ll get into any copyright trouble) 

Do you know what a server is? I bet you do.  A server is a funny looking box.  It makes friends with computers.  Big people have a server at the ‘office.’  The office is a boring place where big people go and do boring things.  Offices are why big people get grumpy and say bad words. 

But guess what?  Some servers aren’t boring.  They don’t go in office…. they go in houses!  Maybe in your house!  How does it get there?

When a mommy and a daddy love each other very much, the daddy wants to give the mommy a special gift.  So he buys a “stay-at-home” server.

Then he installs it.  It’s easy! He does it all by himself!  Now all the computers in the house are connected .  Your family can share pictures, and music, and almost anything else. 

You can even share file with people outside the house! Like Grandma and Grandpa.  Or your uncle Bill who smells like bark.  Or even…YOU!

When you’re away from your house, you can still connect to the server.  And files don’t get lost, even when bad things happen to your computers. (image an illustration of a dog pooping on the computer)  Because they’re all back up in a special place… on the server!

Do you think the server is great!  Of course you do!  But… not everyone thinks it’s great.  Some people think servers should only be in offices.   They might make fun of your home server.  And their kids might even make fun of you!  But that’s okay.  You know why? 

Because they’re just jealous!  Deep down, they wish their daddies would buy them a stay-at-home server too.  They watch the lights on your server go blinkety-blink.  Blinketey-blink.

But you have  Daddy and Mommy who love you!  And a Windows Home Server!  Does that make you happy?

I bet it does!!

 

 

I found this book on our desk at home (yes – the desk where our home server resides).  I can only assume that Leif brought it home from work – but I don’t know the details as he is traveling for a couple days.  Please, please tell me this is a joke Leif.  Otherwise, someone might want to say a quick prayer for our children so they don’t grow up completely nerdy!  :-0

 

And now I should kindly get paid for my advertising as well!! 

The Quest for a good family Christmas photo

You know how it goes.  Getting a good family picture is not an easy task.  Especially if you have kids.  90% of pictures in our household usually never have all kids looking in the same direction; some type of ‘monster smile’ face going on; or you simply can not get them to sit still long enough.  The past few years I’ve basically just given up on the kids and decided that if Leif and I look decent – that’s what I’m going with (regardless of how the kids look).  Heck to be honest, I’m mostly just concerned with how I look. :-)  This past Saturday, a colleague of Leif’s – who has superior camera skills, and a son who has a really great ability to get my kids to smile nicely – took some family photos at a local park.  And we got some really, really great pictures.  Here are just a few fun ones:

And, believe it our not – we got a really nice one of ALL of us looking in the same direction, smiling nicely – but you’ll have to wait for Christmas! :-)  Thanks Jason and Andy!

Oh yeah, and then there’s this one of Doctor Evil.  (No wonder Beckett is crying!)

Same Same

So, do you think these two cuties might be related?

YES We Can!

 

I’m so happy and excited about tonight’s election results.  And am really looking forward to  - what someone on NBC said tonight “restoring the great America that we once were.”  Here are my favorite parts of Obama’s victory speech:

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To all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.

That's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves -- if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.

This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It’s almost time….

I could tell you who I’d like you to vote for, but the fact of the matter is that I just really think you should vote.  Period.  (and if you so happen to vote for my guy, all the better).

This is going to be a historic election either way it ends up.  Be a part of it.  No matter how long the lines are.  Don’t be stupid.  Vote. 

www.declareyourselft.com

Oh the Fun!

What a great Halloween night we had.  It started off with the kids and I meeting Leif at Microsoft to do some trick or treating there.  Same as every year, it the Jackpot for candy.  Most people just set their candy outside their offices and close their doors.  You don’t even need to be cordial to get some candy.  The kids made out like bandits.

Then we headed home to meet up with our friends at our house.  After some quick pizza – but come to think of it, I don’t think the kids really ate- it was off for some more candy hunting.

It was a gorgeous night and I’m pretty sure all of Snoqualmie Ridge were out walking the streets.   I stayed home with Beckett – who went to bed early – and my friend Kelly from Fargo.  Here is some of our group:

I lost track of counting, but I think we had over 200 trick or treaters.  Here are the trick or treaters at our house – for about an hour, it was a steady stream of kids (while parents waited on the sidewalk).

When they returned home it was time to survey all their goodies.

We have a thing called ‘The Candy Fairy’ that comes to our house and changes all their candy into some kind of toy … so the kids each got to pick out 10 pieces of candy and the rest was going to the fairy.  Campbelle had no problems picking out her 10 and going upstairs to play.  Christian, on the other hand, really contemplated his choices.  It took him quite a long time to decide.  But finally, he got it narrowed down to 10.

It was such a fun night with our friends.  The kids ended up watching a few movies upstairs and the adults played Apples to Apples. 

We did really miss the Keyes family though.  :-(