The rest of the highlights of 2011

How Autumn looks here in Portland 

Horses that Cosette loves out at Grandpa's ranch.

Lego towers.......this one in particular was started by Uncle Morgan and the boys kept adding to it.

Mornings at the Macys.

Our little cover girl in training......who's that lady?

Daddy kissing Coco's ouwie while camping off the Clackamas river near Estacada.

Now it's all better!

Our tent was just a few yards away and the boys loved being by the water.

Mommy taking a breather!

Ammon loves camping because his chances increase sleeping on a bed.  However, he is a bed hog and he can never sleep with anyone without him taking up the whole sleep area.

A back view of my flower garden.

One day Oliver got his head wrapped around the idea that he wanted to catch a squirrel.

When daddy got home for lunch he helped Oliver devise a better system to catch one.

Oliver sat in the swing for two hours in major hopes of  out-smarting a squirrel.  

and........he didn't catch one after all that hard work!

Play structure that J-P made for the chit-lins. He's amazing.

Calvin's 7th Birthday!  For his day we went and saw Dolphin Tale with some friends and came home and ate pizza.  I made some cupcakes and called it a day! 

Cosette's 2nd Birthday

Coco's Birthday dinner at Spaghetti Factory. Naturally, where else would we go?

 Halloween jack-o-lanterns in the making.

Have you ever wondered what the inside of a pumpkin would look like if you took a picture of it?  This is what it looks like!  Compliments of Calvin!

Cosette was a unicorn. A great hand-me-down from Jennifer, my sister.  J-P showed his Halloween spirit by wearing his orange shirt.  In fact, he wears that same one every year.

 

Not that my costume was any better than an orange shirt.

Calvin was a werewolf and this was the only view I have of him in costume.  And even worse, none of Oliver! I am the worst mom.  Oliver was Jango Fett.

We went out to a pumpkin farm called Baumans and it is a wonderland of fun for the young-ins.  One particular favorite was this obstacle course.  My favorite more, because it wore them out.

Oliver is wire-wheeling the rust off a part that fits to a teeter-totter. 

Calvin as Tiny Tim in Christmas Carole.  I have bragging rights so I can say he did a terrific job!  He had to sing for his audition and normally they cast two Tims to split the work.  Calvin performed four shows in three days.  Luckily his parts weren't long, but we practiced for months before the show opened.  It was a great experience for Calvin and I have to add that it came so natural  to him.  He loved doing it!

I was also in it, but didn't have any major parts. I sang and danced and was in about five scenes total.  I also had so much fun and was sad when it was over.  This production was put on by our stake.  Pictured above was my dance partner who was distracted by ribs back stage and forgot one of his parts. LOL.

Scrooge and Tiny Tim

The Thompsons were also in it and they did a terrific job playing the Andersons!

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Cosette at her pre-school party.

Thanksgiving day at the Macys!

We went out to Grandpa's ranch and had the Thanksgiving feast there. Jeanette cooked as usual and as always did a fantastic job!  

Zita came to town for a Thanksgiving visit and we loved having her here.  It had almost been a year since the kids had seen their Grandma and they loved her presence in our home.  Zita also baked and cooked and added her fabulous touch to the feast as well.

Our little Christmas tree. This particular species of tree we have never purchased before, but will now be a Macy tradition.  It doesn't loose its needles and it is full like a Fir, but has the flat branches of a Noble.  The underside is white so it looks frosted.  It is called a Nordman.

Our ward Christmas party was a Luau and so the whole family dressed like we were on a Hawaiian vacation.  Calvin telling Santa he wants a gun for Christmas.

Thompsons Christmas party. Lots of laughs!

Christmas Eve!  We sat down to our traditional Polish Christmas Eve dinner!  J-P made another great pot of borscht. The kids still won't touch it(can't blame them), but I know one of these years they will.

Santa came to town and spoiled us. We had a great Christmas!

 Mrs. Claus

We went out to eat with John/Jeanette and Greg/Cherri to the Benson Hotel in downtown Portland.  It was very fine dining and lots of fun to be there with great company!  I loved all the hotels fancy Christmas decorations they had out for the merry season.

My little drummer boy!  Oliver has learned a lot of sign-language at his school and for the Christmas performance he signed two Christmas songs.

We felt privileged to go to the Great Wolfe lodge with the Thompsons and the Starkes, our next door neighbors.  It's a huge indoor water park that is attached to a very nice hotel.  We stayed for a night. 

And last, but not least, we saw Jenn in Seattle.  We drove up for the day and got to have lunch with her.  We also went to the top of the Space Needle!  

It has been an outrageous year. We have made so many memories with our children and also our friends!  We hope that 2012 will be another dynamite year for us.