New Job for Kyla, Peck and Gnome Business

Kyla just found out she got the job she applied for in the the Linguistics department. It is a half time position and she is pretty happy. Congratulations to Kyla!!!! We knew you could do it.

Jed spent Saturday and Sunday putting in new gutters on their rental with a friend, Scott. Kyla spent the time running errands and cleaning up the yard a bit and then came out to eat dinner with us. Jed came a little later. You should have seen Emmy's face when she saw the new black chick. Her eyes were absolutely huge and she was so excited. This particular chick would hop on Jed's arm and run up to his neck. Here are some pictures of that chick and Jed.

Emmy named her "Peck"

Peck "pecked" Jed's neck

EEEEWWWW, Peck pooped on Jed's neck

The gnome appeared in my car in the drivers seat this morning all buckled in with a note attached saying "I wanna go for a drive with you, baby". Made me laugh. That Jill! I hate that gnome...it is sooo ugly. But Dave won't allow me to get rid of it because it was a gift his aunt had painted for him years ago. The gnome has appeared in many places, but my favorite was the time I, naked, opened our shower door and there he was gazing up at me. Scared the 6:00 a.m. wits out of me. He has kind of a leer on his face.....slimy is all I can say! He is now in Jill's back pack in the back seat of her car waiting for her to figure it out when she gets out to go to class tonight. Apparently Jill tried to sleep with him last night....that will teach her for not making her bed. She couldn't tell the difference if there was a lump or just bunched up blankets. Obviously she eventually figured it out. But we are telling Wade about her cheating ways.

New Chicks and a Trip to the Coast

Kyla, Jed and Emma spent Saturday at the coast visiting the aquarium. Sunday evening they came to visit and have dinner with us and got to see the new baby chicks that Dave brought home. They are very cute I have to admit but they are living in a large cardboard box with a heat lamp, food and water in my utility room for now. We have to let them be here until they are big enough to go out to the chicken house because those hair brain hens we already have are not willing to take them as their own. So between kicking up cedar chips in their water and food and pooping everywhere in the box, we are kept pretty busy right now. But they are cute!

THE THREE........

FACES OF...........

EVE, ER EMMA

Emmy and Kyla at the coast aquarium

Valentine Cookies, Wedding Cake, Bats in the Belfry, Bump on the Chin and the Flu

One thing Dave always liked to do was buy those huge cookies that were decorated for each of the kids on their birthdays etc. The place that used to make them closed long ago so we decided to make them for Valentines Day. We delivered them to the kids on Saturday and then Dave took me to dinner at the Electric Station and gave me some very beautiful roses.

The large cookies

Emma's cookies

Monday Jill, Wade, Wade's mom, Liz and I went to the coast to look for a person to make their wedding cake and order the flowers. Something must have been in the air on the coast because the day was not very productive. One lady was called away to a funeral so we had to meet with her catering partner, who did not do cakes. So we didn't get a huge amount of information from her. The second person never even showed up or called to let us know. We found out later on our way home that he was called away for an emergency. But with an appointment set up you would think these people would let us know before driving to the coast. We did meet with a nice English lady but she doesn't think she has the skill to do what Wade and Jill want. The flower store was closed so we struck out there also. However, we had a very nice lunch and toured a lovely Bed and Breakfast. I think Jill and Wade are going to go with Sweet Life Bakery in Eugene to make the cake even though it is a little more expensive to deliver because there seems to be few people on the coast that can do this.

Thursday evening after we arrived home, Jill said there was a bird flying around in the house. Well the bird turned out to be a bat. After chasing the poor thing with Dave's fishing net and catching it three different times, Dave and Wade finally released it outside. We are having two of our chimneys repaired and there is tarp over both of them so I guess the bat was in one of them and could only come in the house.

Dave and Wade, the Bat Busters

Poor Emmy had the stomach flu all weekend. Friday she had a nasty fall at preschool and hit her chin. It swelled up and turned black and blue so she looks pretty pitiful. End of our week!

Happy Valentines Day, New MRI Results

Kyla and Jed returned from San Francisco last weekend and her scan was clear again. Now she only has to go every three months instead of two. She was very excited about that and so are we. Emmy spent the night while they were away and we picked them up from the airport and then had dinner at Marie Calendars. Last Saturday Emma and her friend Alex, painted hand prints on her new bedroom walls. It turned out very cute.

Emma and Alex the Painting Pros

This morning Jill and I saw the most beautiful pink sunrise....just in time for Valentines day.

February Sunrise

Happy New Year, A New House

2004! Time is spinning past us. January has been a very busy month. We had a snow storm which is not too common around this area. Emma and Grandad had fun building a snowman and playing in the snow. Kyla and Jed bought a house back in the Thurston area which is where they went to school. The house is bigger than their first and they moved in this month. They are very busy painting and unpacking and have a lot to do to make it like they want, but they are very happy to be back in the area. The other house is now a rental.

Grandad and Emma enjoying the snow day

Snow 2004

Merry Christmas

On the 18th we had a pre Christmas celebration with Joe and Sheri at Round Table Pizza. Kyla and Emmy came but alas, Jed was ill. Kelli, Isaac, Jill, Wade, Brian, Charo and of course Dave and I were all there. Lots of fun and laughter. Thank you Joe and Sheri!

Too much Christmas fun

Kyla, Emmy, Jill and Noah

We had a wonderful Christmas. Emmy spent the 20th with Gram and Grandad making cookies for Santa. Christmas eve was spent at GG and Grandad Max having clam chowder and oyster stew. Brian, Charo, Kelli and Jill spent Christmas eve and Christmas morning after opening gifts and having brunch we spent the afternoon and evening at Mike and Linda’s. They put on a spectacular dinner for all the family.

Cookie Exchange, Birthday Dinner and Tree Cutting

Friday Dave and I did some Christmas shopping for a few hours and got a few things. Saturday Kyla, Jed and Emmy went to a cookie exchange and came back with lots of great cookies which they brought out for a treat that night. We had a birthday dinner for Charo and Wade Saturday evening and watched "A Christmas Story".....one of my very favorites.


Sunday I managed to drag all the Christmas decorations down out of the attic and have begun to decorate. In the afternoon we took Kyla, Jed and Emmy to cut our Christmas trees at the Munsell tree farm in the pouring rain. We ran into Joe and Sherry who were there to do the same.


After that we went home and Dave made chili and we had hot chocolate and watched "The Wizard of Oz".....it was Emmy's first time.