Gramma Sue

Mom is here visiting this week, we've been having fun going to lunch and shopping.  Haven't been good about taking pictures, but here's one from tonight.  Acobas came over for pizza, except for Morgan & Kristi.  Hope Morgan is feeling better soon!

Early Birthday

We celebrated my dad's birthday a few days early.  Kristi has better photos on her blog, you can see here.  But here are a couple from the night.

All the grandkids.

The perfect number of cousins for a pyramid.

Invasion 2011

The weekend was the annual invasion when my mom, Aunt Penny & Great Gramma come to visit and shop. You can see previous years here, and here. On the first day, I dropped my brand new camera and broke it. :( So I don't have as many photos as I'd like.

We had a great time hanging out with the kids on the snow day Thursday, shopping at Washington Square, rearranging my family room (it looks great! thanks Penny), playing games, including a wild bunco night and all in all having a great time.

My kids are going to be in such withdrawal tomorrow.

Sunday

We started out the morning with a sword fight with Gramma Sue...
and then quick game of Rummicube before she had to fly home. It was a great visit, we were sad to have them go home!

Shopping, Games and more Games

We spent Friday at Washington Square shopping until we dropped into the Cheesecake Factory for lunch.

Saturday was spent watching 3 basketball games. It was very fun to have such a big cheering section. First up was Max. He is the happiest basketball player I have ever seen. Almost skipping down the court and smiling at the grammas to make sure they saw him.

Then, the highly anticipated match-up between Maddie & Emily & Morgan's teams. Let's just say Maddie's SkyHawks are still undefeated, but it might have been due to Emily missing the game. She didn't feel well today and missed out, which was a big disappointment.
Last but not least was Peyton's game. She did great, scoring 6 baskets and wouldn't give anyone eye contact afterwards, but was very proud. :) We are exhausted, but we had a great time!

Saturday Basketball Circuit

Saturday we spent the day going to 3 basketball games. Here are the players, coaches and fans.


Go Grey Wolves & Grey Sharks!

Go Hot Tamales!

Friday Activities

Friday we hit Washington Square for a little shopping... and lunch at the Nordstrom Cafe...
then home for card games with the kids after school.
We finished the night with a nice dinner at McCormick & Schmick's. Note the personalized menu and the fact that we are all in black, except for Jeri. We were missing the bright colors of Penny & Gramma!

Aunt Jeri Arrives!

The second half of the Billings crew arrived today. We were very happy to see Jeri and have her stay with us. She played lots of cards with Max, Gramma Sue and I this afternoon. Tomorrow the shopping begins!

Gramma's Here!

Gramma Sue arrived today for this year's mini-invasion. We are eagerly awaiting Jeri's arrival tomorrow!

A Great Christmas Eve!

Tradition

A little snow can't stop us from our tradition of making meatballs. Mom made the trek from Tigard with Wayne, Dad and the kids to make the meatballs for Christmas Eve dinner. It's a good incentive to make sure they make it back tomorrow night so they can eat them! Hopefully the freezing rain won't appear!

Kids had fun sledding with Jim and Wayne...Peyton and Max made a snowman in the backyard too.Dad was hard at work shoveling, but didn't get a photo of that!

Vacation. Part 3. The Overlap.

The highlight this year was the much anticipated overlap of our vacation and the Acobas at the cabin at the same time. We hadn't been there together since Peyton was 1 years old. We were cozy, but it really was fun.

Gramma with Emily & Maddie.
Emily, Maddie & Morgan on a hike (just after seeing a moose way too close for comfort.)
We played several tournaments of "lasso golf" this year. Here's LinSue in full concentration. I do realize there will be full payback for this photo being included.
Here's Dad receiving his breakfast as grand champion. All the losers had to make him breakfast and serve it to him.
We had a great time. Can't wait until next year.

Vacation. Part 1

Just home from 2 weeks in MT. Lots of pictures to share!

We spent the first 4 days in Billings. I had my 20th high school reunion (more fun than I thought it would be) and then spending time with lots of family.

We celebrated Peyton's 6th birthday a week early with many of her MT cousins. It was a very fun nice night of slip n slide & pinata in Gramma Sue & Papa's backyard.

We also celebrated cousin Blake's 1st birthday the next day. Here's Gramma Great with all the great grandkids that were there.Then, our annual trip to Big Splash where the kids and Jim go wild on the water slides.