Christmas!

Christmas is my favorite time of year. Here are some photos from our christmas celebration on Christmas morning. Other than this get together we had David's parents over Christmas eve, and my extended family got together on friday night- neither of which I have picture of, sorry :-).

Josiah got his own digital camera, which only means he will stop using mine :-).

Alex, in addition to the MP3 Player, got a cell phone & a baseball bat.

This was by far the funniest thing all morning, my mom wrapped Josiah's nutcracker in a box that was for a crystal vase. His face was a little shocked and uninterested when he saw that he was getting a vase. We had to explain to him that the picture on the box was not what was inside. He was excited to find a nutcracker inside- for some weird reason he loves nutcrackers. Josiah was also the proud recieptent of a cd player, and a remote control pirate ship.

And then, of course, my quest for the family photo. THis one is actually a tradition every year since we were married we have taken a photo in front of the tree- one year it was only the two boys but every year since then it has been all of us. Maybe someday soon I will get them all together in order and make a nice little frame for them all. What can I say, I love my family photos, the boys grow up so quickly that taking photos is so important to me... this one took about 10 shots to finally get a good one. I hope all of you had some nice family time over the last week and I pray your new year is a great one!

I got both boys in ties on sunday. I couldn't resist the kodak moment.

Josiah got his chance to sing in front of church yesterday and boy what an ordeal. When he first got up in the morning he was very excited, but as soon as we arrived at church he began his weekly meltdown (he doesn't really like Sunday School). So we did everything we could to bribe him to sing first service and with no luck it didn't happen. After getting him into his class we crossed our fingers and prayed that he would do it second hour.... I took this video with my digital camera so it isn't the best- plus it is a little shaky, but you at least get to see Josiah standing around doing nothing, he was so proud that he was up there with us watching and we were very proud of him. Josiah is wearing a green coat and is in the middle of the screen, half was through the first song he waves to me. The second song is 'Come on Ring those Bells' the first solo was sung by Mikayla, the daughter of some really good friends of ours. I love the little country twang she adds to the song!

Dear Friends & Family,

For those of you, who are enjoying the blog for the first time, welcome! Instead of the usually family letter I thought I would share our blog in our Christmas card instead. Feel free to post comments & check back often to see regular updates & photos of 2007; it is sure to be a fun year for us!

So here goes our 2006 recap…. It was another fabulous year in our house hold. Alex finished 5th grade and in our school district that was also the end of elementary school. He played baseball again and although his team only made 3rd place in the league and Alex was invited to play on an All Star team for a tournament. Alex turned 12 in November & sometime this year he grew so tall that he is eye to eye with his mom. Middle school has been an adventure so far, he is running from class to class and keeping up with all the homework that is assigned. He is starting to get into music and things that teenagers like to do. It is so hard to let go at this age!

The highlight of our year had to be the first camping trip we have done as a family (look at the July post for pictures & a detailed story). We spent 4 days at Warm Beach with a large group of families from our church. Both boys got a lot of bike riding in. It was a blast.

In September Josiah signed up for soccer and we enjoyed his first and only game. It was really a riot. If you have never seen 5 year olds play soccer it is a must do for all (look for pictures in the Sept-Nov posts). Josiah turned 5 this year & started preschool. He is learning basic math and his letters. Math seems to be his favorite subject. Josiah also received a blue ribbon for his cookies at the state fair (see previous post).

David & Cori are still both working for Disney in downtown Seattle. They both enjoyed another year on the churches softball teams. Cori is spending another year as director of the AWANA Cubbies program at church. In March of 2007 we will be celebrating our 7 year anniversary, it is so hard to believe it has been that long. We really feel blessed by everything we have been given. We pray for each of you daily & hope that you and your family have a wonderful holiday season!

Lots of Love,
David, Cori, Alex & Josiah

Leavenworth!

We made our annual trip to Leavenworth today. We had a great time and for the first time David joined us. We got a lot of christmas shopping done and the boys got a couple of hours of sledding in for the year. We also made a stop at the Hat Shop, so that should answer any questions about Alex's hat :-). My parents were with us and we took a charter bus with a group from my dad's work, Community Transit. It was a great time!

Josiah borrowed Alex's hat...

And Josiah decided he wanted to take a picture of Alex's hat all by himself...

Hope you enjoyed to photos. Hopefully lots more will come soon!

Thanksgiving.

We had a nice thanksgiving at home. I cooked my first turkey and learned a little in the process. My parents came over to celebrate with us and we all had a lot to eat & a lot left over.
:-)

SNOW!!!!
If you haven't heard yet the Northwest is suffering from some very cold weather.
Sunday night it snowed... four inches. Monday night it all froze, so tuesday the roads were solid ice. And tuesday night it was 17 degrees outside! Wow! we are not used to this. We did manage to play in the snow a little bit, but boy it takes forever to warm up when it is this cold.

At the Begining of November the Disney company sent me and Josiah on a trip to Disney on Ice. We were able to take along 50 kids from a local boys & girls club (Don't worry, they were brought by other adults so I didn't have to watch all those kids!
It was a lot of fun!

Josiah's first Soccer Game.
Ok, picture this: 21 4 & 5 year olds, pouring down rain, on one soccer field. What do you get? A whole lot of fun. We enjoyed Josiah's first soccer game on saturday, and it was a mob of children running up and down the field for 30 minutes chasing after one ball. Josiah did really well and when he was put at goaly he stopped to kids from scoring.

And then there is the trophy that he proudly carried around most of the day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX!!

Wow! he is 12 already!? Hard to believe. First for his birthday we took him to get a new bike. Then on Saturday night we went to La Cocina, Y Cantina for our birthday tradition (every birthday we go there).

And of course, my quest for great family photos! I am actually impressed with this one.

Josiah was a power ranger for halloween. these pictures are from a "mommy & me" day. Last saturday I took him to the Pacific Science Center for some Halloween adventure. we had a great time walking through the butterfly exhibt, learning about how our bodies work & touching the sea life.



Below is a shot of Josiah scraping ice off the car. He wanted to help daddy, it took a long time but was worth the wait!




Alex's birthday is this weekend so maybe I can get some shots of him to share with you all- he is in a 'no picture' phase and I can't get him in one shot!!

It has been another fun week for us, well for me. I was lucky enough to have an all expenses paid trip back to Southern California for some work and fun. I spent 5 days in Anaheim at the Grand Californian, which is by far one of the more up scale hotels I have ever stayed in and this time was no different.
When I first checked in I had been up since 3:00 am, spent the day in Disneyland running around and was in my sweats when I was told that I was at "VIP" Status in the hotel and would I wait because the check in manager was looking foward to meeting me... yes really. That was a little weird, but as soon as I walked into my room the phone rang from Guest Services to welcome me to the hotel and find out if I needed anything (again... huh?). I was taken aback by all this attention... but After the second phone call the next morning to see how I was doing I felt pretty good :-).
I had a blast on Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, Tower of Terror, Soarin and of course Screamin. I walked until I couldn't walk no more and then enjoyed people watching in the Magic Kingdom. After an exhausting day I always find myself pondering why I love this place so much and then I realize how much magic and joy are held in the park and how the outside world is left behind as soon as you walk through the gates. By then my thoughts are usually interuppted by the screaming kid who wants to stay and see Buzz Lightyear.
The conference was a huge success, everyone was very thankful at all the hard work I put into it, but really it was a blast to organize.

On Tuesday night I got to do something most people never do.... I got to go back stage! that was so much fun (for those reading with little children or a great imagination stop reading now). We saw the costume shop, I will be forever traumatized seeing all those character heads hanging on racks, and buzz lightyear taken apart & laying all over the floor. I saw all the old buildings and heard what they used to be and what they are now. It truly is a piece of history I will probably never get to see again. Sorry, there are no pictures of backstage- I was told that if I pulled my camera out I might get shot. :-).

The bottom picture is hard to make out, but it is by far my favorite part of flying... It is the top of Mt Rainier sticking out above the clouds, usually you can see the whole mountain peering out against the blue sky, but on this day it was only the top part.

The view from my room at sun rise.

Soccer!!!

We signed Josiah up for Soccer this year, in hopes of giving him an outlet and a sport to enjoy. Since three of us are already in baseball, we thought it would be best to direct Josiah's sports interest to another area. After the first practice it was very clear that Josiah should have been signed up for Football instead. He got kneed in the head twice, then at the second practice he learned that he could knock other kids down for the ball. He is a good aim when it comes to kicking it in, but I don't think Soccer is the right sport for him :-).

Happy Birthday Josiah!!!!!

Josiah turned 5 on the 22nd and we had a Pirate party for him.
Grandma, Grandad, Grandma, Papa, Aunt neeners, Uncles Nathan, Andrew, and Matthew all came over for some Pirate fun.

With School comes fundraisers! we may hit you up in person, or if you are out of state check out the website at www.qsp.com Alex goes to Harbour Pointe Middle School #425009629.
Thanks for your support!

Entering Middle School...

I didn't cry when Alex went to Kindergarten, but today I got a little teary eyed. My young man has headed off to Middle School, a time of 6 classes in one day, 5 minutes to get there and a locker on the other side of the school.
I tried to find his first day of school photo last year for comparrison, but I think it's on a cd somewhere. Last year he was several inches shorter.

It's hard to see your boys grow up and I can only hope that Alex becomes the amazing young man I know he can be.

First day of Pre-K
Every year I make a big deal of Alex going off to school, so it was only natural that Josiah expect the same treatment.
Today was his first day in Pre-K. No more games all day, he actually learns to write and other things! how exciting.
Look for Alex's first day of school photos tomorrow!

The Evergreen State Fair...

We had a great time at the fair yesterday. The first thing we did was find Josiah's blue ribbon cookie.


We then headed off through all the booths and let the boys ride some rides. We had a LOT of, David & I were exhausted... Josiah & Alex were not.

Sickness in our house...

Well, I honestly have never been so sick in my entire life. Last Tuesday afternoonn I went home from work a little early feeling achy... I had know idea what I was in for. With in two hours i was totally SICK. I couldn't move from all the pain and my throat felt like it was swelling shut. I had a tempature of 101 degrees and I questioned whether in not it warrented a trip to the doctor. After spending all day Wednesday in bed with my tempature at an all time high of 102.6 David decided I should hit the walk in clinic.
Well, I suffer from a kidney infection and strep throat with a cold starting. WHAT? so I have spent four days in bed, taking lots of drugs and sleeping more than I have ever sletp in my life. Today is saturday and I ventured out of the bedroom & out of the house. I am taking life VERY easy, but I have to also get back to normal soon. today was my first meal in five days and I am excited. Continue to pray that I will not over do it but also that the special day David & I had planned for the boys on monday will not be hindered by my energy.

Hope you all are doing well! The exciting news of the day is, David's brother, Nathan is on his way home from Iraq!!!! YAHOOOO! time to find him a nice girl :-).

One more ball game photo... I love this one of Josiah, you can even see all his freckles!

Mariners Vs. Yankees 8/22/06

For my dad's birthday & father's day we treated him to a Mariner's game. We choose the Yankees game because Alex has always been a HUGE fan of A-Rod, and so, he is a fan of the Yankees... I know, I know, seeing the Yankees hat on one of my children's head is so sad and the worst part about last night was when we realized Alex's hat was too small and my mom treated him to a new one so Alex gave his kids one to Josiah. So now I have two boys with Yankees hats... where in the world did I go wrong?

The evening started out innocent enough, until Alex took a bite of his sandwich from Subway and broke a tooth... What did he put in his sandwich? It was one more reminder that Nathan had originally broken the same tooth of Alex's in a pillow fight two years ago...

Overall we had a great time! Josiah kept himself busy with my digital camera (I think i deleted more than 40 useless photos). He learned a bit of patience, on a digital camera you have to push the button & wait. We got lots of photos of the guys on the field, of the flags behind us, the lights, several of the sky... there was nothing in the sky. He learned to get peoples heads instead of their feet and at one point he was directing us so he could get silly pictures. And did I mention that he took great effort in taking a picture of his finger? After a few failed attempts, Josiah finally got this picture of me & David.

Here is a self portait of Josiah...he looks a little tired...

I hope you enjoyed the pictures. The Mariners tied the game up in the 7th and Josiah learned what the Rally Rag was used for... we all received one when we entered the staduim. My poor dad had to hold his hand up to keep from getting hit in the head while Josiah swung it around. He got really excited when the staduim went bonkers and he was right there to join in.

and then there is my quest to get some great family photos in different places. Will I ever get all three of them to look at the camera and smile??? The joys of boys :-).

We had a good time at the Branley Family Picnic this year. It was at my Aunt Mary Jo's in Enumclaw. Josiah got to ride a horse and Alex and the other kids played crochet, football & baseball. It was hot, but a lot of fun to connect with the family.

See what I mean by hot pants?

The last two weeks have been really busy. Sorry for the lack of posts, but my camera died while camping and I have been waiting for a cord to my new camera to download all the fun stuff we have been doing.

Last Friday we enjoyed one of the Seafair festivities by going to the Tour de Terrace to enjoy some great food and watch a smaller version of the Torchlight parade. It is a great parade and you get to see the Seafair clowns, Seafair Pirates & the Lake City Vigalanties, all with a lot less crowd to deal with. All three of these groups is something that I remember from when I was a kid going to these parades and I am excited to get the chance for my kids to have the same memories.
Alex has been hiding away at Grandma Billie's for the last few weeks so unfortunatley none of the photo's contain him... I will try and get a bunch when we pick him up this weekend!

On saturday we went to Mikayla's birthday party at an Aqua Sox game. We had a great time watching the game and just hanging out with our friends.