Dinner at Grandpa and Grandma's

Gail and Jean invited us over for dinner last night. Mark brought a pot of chili and Jean made her famous baby back ribs and then we all ate until we could barely breathe.

And also... Cameron in his Rudolph hat after his day of skeeting. He glued his hand-antlers on by his very own self at school.

Skeeting

See that chairlift? That one right THERE?------>

That's how Cameron got from the bottom of Mt. Bachelor to the top of the Sunshine Express lift to take each one of his two (2) runs on this glorious day.

It might apppear that I'm laughing in this picture, but I'm really hyperventilating because my Lord, that chair was very high and my precious three year old was all but dangling from it with only two ski poles and my Iron Mommy Grip to keep him from plunging to his demise. Oh yeah, Grampy was there too.

So today was Cameron's first day of the new ski season. And yes, we drove 50 minutes each way to take two runs, but it was worth every minute.

I should also provide a quick Cameron Dictionary:

Skeeting = Skiing

Seetings = Skis

Broomsticks = Poles

So, there you go.

Updates! Updates! Updates!

An open letter to All Seven Of You Who Actually Read This Blog,

Sorry for being so delinquent in my postings. Below is my Christmas-themed catch-up of most everything that's been happening.

And let's face it: you've come to expect my delinquency. You've gotten a bit used to it. Just think... you could be one of the 70+ friends and family who received my Christmas letter, whose parting thought prompted them to check this blog. They logged on... and

got

pretty

much

nothing.

For weeks.


I'll bet you can guess what one of my new year's resolutions is!

(seven faithful readers collectively roll their eyes because yep, we've heard this before...)

Christmas 2006

Christmas 2006, brought to you in part by

(say it with me...) "That was easy!"

And by the makers of

Look, Lyndie Vaccaro: EATBALLS. Oh my word, that will never stop being funny.

Christmas Eve at Inn of the Seventh Mountain

We went ice skating, then the nine of us (Don, Linda, Jeromy, Angela, Cameron, Gail, Jean, Sarah and Carey) had an amazing dinner at Seasons.

The Greate Decorate Wait

It has never, ever taken me 11 days to decrorate my Christmas tree. But this year it did.

The culprit: a broken tree stand, discovered on day 9 of the barren Christmas tree display, after 8 consecutive days of re-positioning it with Jeromy on the floor near the stand, me holding it in place and Cameron running circles around us and generally being of no help whatsoever.

He did, however, try to be of help.

Please let me introduce you to the Warren Christmas Tree Topper, purchased in Winnipeg, Manitoba in December of 1974. It had graced the top of our trees for 31 Christmases without fail, never burning out a bulb, never blowing a fuse... until it traveled to Bend this past summer, got its picture taken with Cameron, and then promptly decided to be difficult. See the green bulb close to Cam's thumb? Burnt out exactly 52 minutes after this picture was taken.

The much-anticipated christmas tree story. ? .

So a few weeks ago I was drumming up a great post in my head about this year's Famous Christmas Tree hunt. As it turns out, I think Jeromy would have rather preferred to go into the Cascade Mountains and search for trees in waist-deep snow (as has happened in previous years) than to venture into Unknown Towns In Oregon to cut one down out of someone's field.

I don't remember much of the brilliant post I was thinking up, but I do remember that I wanted to point out that one should not cut down Christmas trees:

Armed with only your car keys, a wine bottle opener and diet coke. It seems extremely important to remind you all of that right now.

Also, you shouldn't wear shoes that look like this:

And you should definately wash your car first, because you will lean against it for an hour trying to wrangle a 10-foot noble fir onto luggage racks that are beginning to look perilously futile when you realize that you are travelling with said tree on top of your car over a mountain pass in the growing darkness.

I'm just saying.

Hey look! A picture of the hardware store, where Jeromy went to "cool off" and also buy me, to put in my car for all eternity... a looooong piece of rope, a lighter, a leatherman tool and a year's supply of Excedrin.

The King of Christmas Gifts

Truly.

Our family has been blessed again...

Please let me introduce you to Isaac Allen Eugene Dod. He was born Christmas Day at 7-ish eastern standard time, weighing 8 pounds 4 ounces. Mom and baby are doing well!

Adoptive Mom and Dad (Sarah and Carey) are on a plane as I write this, on their way to meet their baby for the first time.

So on this day we celebrate two birthdays.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

A Mom's Christmas Letter to Santa*

Dear Santa,

I've been a good mom all year. I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited the doctor's office more than my doctor, sold 62 cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground. I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son's red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when I'll find anymore free time in the next 18 years.

Here are my Christmas wishes:

I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache (in any color, except purple, which I already have) and arms that don't hurt or flap in the breeze but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the candy aisle in the grocery store.

I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my last pregnancy.

If you're hauling big ticket items this year, I'd like fingerprint-resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music, a television that doesn't broadcast any programs containing talking animals and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide when talking on the phone.

On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says "YES MOMMY" to boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don't fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools.

I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chaning "Don't eat in the living room" and "Take your hands off your brother" because my voice seems to be just out of my childrens' hearing range and can only be heard by the dog.

If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature whithout it being served in a styrofoam container.

If you don't mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely. Also, it would be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family.

Well, Santa... the buzzer on the dryer is ringing and my son saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back.

Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the door and come in and dry off so you don't catch a cold. Help yourself to cookies on the table but don't eat too many or leave any crumbs on the carpet.

Yours Always,

This mom.



** Sent to me courtesy of Annette Towery, who invited me to spread the laughter with you.

Last Post: December 5

These are supposed to be semi-weekly rantings, not weekly rantings. So I'll get right to it.

I do not, however, have pictures. The other day (while I was all hopped up on Tylenol Cold & Sinus, I might add) I was busily removing inactive programs from our laptop and seem to have disconnected all of our wireless network capabilities from it. Since that's the computer from which I upload and post pictures, I suppose I'll have to try and fix it myself or pay a visit to the Geek Squad to figure it out for me.

And I was all ready to post (with pictures!) a cynical and mildly comedic story about the three of us being stuck in Cash Only, Oregon a couple of weekends ago. Did you know there was a town called McCleary, Oregon? Neither did we. Let's just say Jeromy had to make a pit stop at a hardware store to, in his very own words, "cool off."

We're all sick. A household full o' sick people. Some of us have had it for nearly three weeks now. Some of us are getting random fevers two weeks into this whatever-it-is. But we have to lay low and get better. Because it's the holidays.

Aaron (that's Blakley and Jarod's baby's name) continues to thrive in the NICU at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland. I don't have much of an update, but we've heard that they removed his breathing tube on Friday (after having only been there for three full days) and so that's a great sign. They say he'll be there until at least the middle of January. They're in for a long haul, but with the Ronald McDonald house close by, that will help to make a difficult situation a little more bearable.

We haven't heard any recent news regarding Sarah and Carey's adoption. (See what I mean, internet, by laying low? Not only do we seem to ignore the cyber-world, but we tend to lose touch with other human family members too) Sarah and I did go shopping for newborn items on Sunday, however. It was fun picking through all those tiny outfits and re-visiting the world of bottles and size-one diapers.

Some of you may have heard that Mrs. Love has included me in her latest book, "Lessons with Love." Or, as Angie Rebella put it: "HOLY CRAP. Do you have an entire chapter in Mrs. Love's book?"

The answer is, um, I believe so butsheaskedmebeforehandandmadesureitwasokayand
I'mnotsureCameroniseverallowedtoreaditever.

So, all y'all please visit Sandpoint Online's general store (www.sandpointonline.com) and pre-order yourselves a book or three. I've read the prologue, and if that's any sign, it's her best book yet.

Signing Off. I have a date with Tylenol Cold & Sinus.

Baby Boys, Oh My!

It's been a roller-coaster of emotions today.

Blakely's baby was delivered at 29 weeks, one day gestation today. Her cervical cancer, discovered during her pregnancy and sudden pre-eclampsia necessitated an emergency c-section early this morning, performed by the amazing Dr. Murphy. Baby Aaron was flown to OHSU in Portland, where he is being treated by their amazing team up there. No bad news has been reported, so our thoughts and prayers are with them all tonight.

Less than twelve hours later, Sarah and Carey received word that they are the final choice for a mother in Ohio to receive her infant son due December 23. This baby's Grandma spoke with Sarah and Carey over the phone at length tonight, and ended the conversation with very encouraging statements. Of course, we're cautiously optimistic, but we're very hopeful that Sarah and Carey's greatest wish will be fulfilled before the end of the year.

Our Champion

Congratulations to Courtney, Jeromy's niece, who is our Oregon State champion for 11-year old level six gymnasts in:

Vault
Floor Excercise
Bars

and


All-Around.

We had so much fun traveling to Portland and watching her compete this past weekend! We are also very, very proud of her and all of her accomplishments. Way to go, Courtney!