Superbowl Sunday

I just wanted to assure all of you that yes, in fact, we are still alive. We're doing quite well, but we're busy... and not with the kinds of activities that generate fun photo opportunities. (Oh, National Boards, how I loathe thee!)

That's right. I've been heavily involved in career-oriented navel gazing. But I did take a break to do Superbowl Sunday with the family. Mike and I joined my parents at their house. My brother's family was there, too.

It's a good thing I'm not a die-hard football fan... because I barely got to watch the game! Instead, I was chasing after nephews and nieces. Everyone was playing with blocks, puzzles, and potato heads. And the fact that they're tall enough to climb in the toy box and reach Grandma's spatula drawer? Good, good times.

(Click on the collages to make them bigger!)


Of course, the adults had a lovely time as well. My brother was thrilled to have a chance to watch the game. He may have been a little less thrilled about our birthday present for L :) It was a brand new Fancy Nancy book ("Way to go, Katie. It's got pink glitter on the cover." That's right, bro. I do what I can.)

The food, as always, was fabulous. And Mom made too much potato salad (shocker, I know).

All in all, it was lovely to spend a day with family!

Belated Christmas Clean-Up

I'm ashamed. We just took the tree down this morning and de-holidayed the house. That took much longer than anticipated! In my defense, I didn't want to take down decorations while I was on break. That would be tantamount to acknowledging my return to work. And then, said return to work was so stressful that I fell asleep within two hours of coming home every day this week. So there you have it.

In addition to putting the decorations away, I've also finally downloaded all of the Christmas music to my I-Tunes. Next year, we won't have to bust out the CD player! It's a very exciting thought.

But as I was redecorating the halls and taking down the boughs of holly, it occurred to me that I never put up pictures of Christmas with Mike's side of the family. Without further ado, here you go!

Denise and one of her daughters

Mike and his brothers

other family pics

I must say, I'm so grateful that our two families get along. My parents have been coming to Christmas Eve almost since Mike and I started dating (and Denise and James have been bringing their family to Thanksgiving at my parents' house).

We gave our nephew E some DS games. He's right at that age where he can't quite read the directions for himself, but he's very impatient to start playing. So Mike showed him how to play the game...

... and then the brothers got intrigued by the game and took it away from young E. Ah, well. Boys will be boys, right?


I think the most popular gifts this year had to be the musical instruments, though. As you can see, everyone wanted to play!


Once the kids had unwrapped their presents they disappeared to enjoy the loot. That meant the adults had time to play games. This year, it was all about Hand and Foot... but I was too busy losing to take any pictures!

As always, we enjoyed the holiday. I am so grateful for our family--the one I was born into, and the one I was blessed with through marriage!

Christmas with Katie's Side

I hope that everyone had a lovely Christmas!

I am in process of going through many holiday pictures. It was easier to edit down the photos from Christmas at my parents' house, so that's what you get to see first. (The kids are so active that it's hard to get them to sit still. The adults are so busy chasing kiddos that they can't exactly pose for pictures, either.)

If you click on the collage, a bigger image will pop up!


We had a lovely visit. The kids are finally old enough to rip into their presents. Of course, they were just as excited about the wrapping paper as they were about their gifts! While little R ran around swinging a gift bag like a lasso, I managed to entertain his brothers for quite some time with a bear puppet.

It was good times!

A Midsummer Night's Flashback

If you're on Facebook, you probably know by now that I was involved in a theatrical production at RRHS. No, really. Having a few hang-ups left about the whole high school experience, I approached the entire experience with trepidation. (As David T. joked, "Your journey to the Darkside is complete. Indeed you are powerful.")

Actually, it was really fun--helped me clear a few skeletons out of my closet and reminded me of all the good times. I had some serious flashbacks. It wasn't just the theatrical rituals (like passing the squeeze) or the familiarity of the space (sitting in my old chair in the green room while doing makeup). It was the kids themselves... the flirting backstage, the obsessive analysis of what a boy's actions might mean, and the excitement of a show romance. There were kids making comments I actually remember saying (almost word-for-word), most noticeably "I can't wait to graduate and go to a college far, far away from here."

It made me quite nostalgic. It also made me quite grateful that I am an adult now, and have weathered some of those self-identity storms! I'm sure there are more on the horizon, but I know myself much better now than I did the last time we performed A Midsummer Night's Dream at RRHS.

Now, if only I could reconcile myself to how easy it was to make me look matronly for the show... :)

Big Brother

I love watching my brother with his kids. He is such a good dad! That's pretty much all I had to say... just needed to do a Dan shout-out (and really wanted to share this photo)...

Weekend Whirlwind

Recently, we had a whirlwind weekend full of amusing events. Thought I'd share... we've been so busy lately, if I don't blog about it I am likely to forget!

On Saturday, we went to our nephews' third birthday party. There were presents everywhere but, not surprisingly, the boys were most fascinated by a tiny tear in the window screen. They kept sneaking over to widen the rip and eventually tried to escape the house! They were quite miffed when Dan rotated the screen and the rip was out of reach. Luckily, distractions came in the form of many wheeled toys. The boys really love cars and trains (which makes my gift-buying life so much easier...)

Unfortunately, we couldn't stay long... though our reason for leaving was also fun. It was off to Mike's brother's house, to watch our nieces get ready for Homecoming. (Lie: Mike just wanted to intimidate their dates, especially since one of them is apparently nicknamed "the Stallion." He is an overprotective uncle... I weep for our unborn daughters.) Don't the girls look gorgeous?

We spent the night at James and Denise's and then got up early to head towards Seattle. We met up with T and K. It was off to the pumpkin patch with their adorable toddler. Little A is big enough this year to actually enjoy the art of pumpkin-picking, to say nothing for all of the farm animals she got to see. A gravitates towards piglets and kittens... good taste, I say!


We are so lucky to live in beautiful Pacific Northwest, near so many family members and friends. Reflecting back on that weekend makes me so glad that I moved away for college... and so glad that I moved back. Now I can really appreciate my good fortune!

The Great Gaming Weekend

I am lucky. I married into a great family, and I really enjoy my in-laws. James (Mike's middle brother) and his wife Denise host all of the big family holidays... as well as all of the not-so-big impromptu family weekends. I love those weekends. They usually go a little something like this: out for dinner, home for hours of board games and/or dominoes, and maybe a brief stint in the hot tub. Fabulous!

We didn't used to play so much, but then Mike and I discovered some great board games and decided to share the love. Now, whenever we get together we play one of the following:

• Mexican Train dominoes
• Carcassone
• Ticket to Ride

If you're pondering Christmas presents for the upcoming holiday season, might I suggest these as a fun gift for a whole family? And while we're on the subject... what kinds of things do you like to do with your extended family?