Day 361 of Project 365

Day 360 of Project 365

Day 357 - 359 of Project 365

Jenica really has been the star of the show these last few days. Christmas is certainly more fun with her around, especially now that she's old enough to understand and be excited about it. I cooked a Christmas dinner for our family on Thursday night, Friday night was spent with the Bachelders, and tonight was spent with the Gatchel's (Rob's mom and family). Unfortunately, Rob came down with the nasty flu bug that's been going around at about 1:00 this morning so he has been in bed most of the day and missed out on the delicious dinner at Nana's house. Feel better soon honey :)

Day 356 of Project 365

 

It's not loaded, don't worry! I had been wanting to take some creative shooting pictures for a while now though so we drove up in the woods today and had a little fun, plus we got to see some snow, so it was just a fun day all around. We'll still need to do it again sometime, as I had planned to not have Jenica with us but due to her and her babysitter both throwing up that morning, we ended up having to take her with us. She seemed to enjoy herself though, especially getting to wear Daddy's "ear muffs."

Day 355 of Project 365

I just love the tree Rob picked out for us this year. Due to busy schedules and the fact that he was volunteering at the church tree lot one Saturday, he picked it out all by himself. Hopefully next year we will get to make it a family outing, but fortunately for Jenica, she was able to go with Judah and his family to pick out their tree so she didn't miss out on the experience, and even got to ride on a tractor - which she is still talking about almost two weeks later.

Day 354 of Project 365

So my best friend (who has lived in Vegas for the last 5 years) totally surprised me with a visit to Portland last weekend. She couldn't have done it with out the help of the lovely (and sneaky) Emelye Cunningham, who had arranged to meet me for lunch at my favorite little pizza place in Oregon City on Saturday. Looking back now, the whole thing was a little fishy but I didn't have a clue as to why until Joi walked through the door. It was such a great Christmas present to have her here and although we only got to hang out briefly on Saturday, we were able to spend the whole day together on Monday. Our day included brunch at Biscuits Cafe, letting Jenica open her Christmas present from Auntie Joi early, some last minute Christmas shopping, watching the season finale of Survivor that we had both missed the night before, and then dinner with some City Bible friends before dropping her off at the airport for the trip home. During our Christmas shopping, I needed to pick up my wedding rings at Jared so we did some browsing and I am now fully versed on the type of ring Joi likes. So... bring on the boyfriend and when the time comes I will be the perfect helper when it's time for him to pop the big question.

Day 346 - 353 of Project 365

Day 339 - 345 of Project 365

Busy week! Almost half of my pictures are from birthday parties! We had lots of fun though! First it was Addison's 1st birthday at Round Table Pizza, then KK's Birthday celebration at Red Robin, and finally Keeley's 3rd birthday party today at the little gym. Here are this weeks pictures:

Day 338 of Project 365

Every year my work does free pictures with Santa - all you have to do is bring in a donation of 2 cans of food for the Oregon Food bank. Jenica still wasn't quite sure what to think of the big guy in red but she warmed up to him enough (with Mommy near by) to tell him that she wants princess stuff for Christmas. Here is last years picture:

And her very first time on Santas lap in 2008:

Day 337 of Project 365

Jenica got to come to work with us in McMinnville today to help share the news that she is going to be a big sister and to share in the pre Civil War festivities that were going on at the office. For lunch we took a walk to a near by park and played for a little while, which is where I took this cool picture of Jenica gazing into a fountain.

Day 336 of Project 365

Game night and we got to teach our favorite game to someone new! Thanks for coming over to play with us Nate! We will have to do it again soon (better luck next time!)

Day 335 of Project 365

 

Is it really December already? Christmas is right around the corner and I only have one more month left of my Project 365 (insert sigh of relief here.) Jenica posed for some cute pictures in her Christmas dress today and I'll have the studio set up for one more month so if you'd like to schedule something, let me know!

Day 334 of Project 365

Having Kylo put down was probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I just never wanted to have to decide when his life would end, I wanted him to just go peacefully in his sleep. But now that it's done and I know he is no longer suffering or in pain, I can see that it was truly what was best for him. It will still be sad for a while to come home to an empty house, or not have him come in after Jenica eats dinner and clean up her mess on the floor, but he lived a long, full life and I certainly have lots of memories and pictures to remember him by. Thank you to everyone who prayed for us and offered their condolences. We certainly have a wonderful group of friends and family.

Day 333 of Project 365

Tomorrow we say good bye to Kylo. I don't think the reality of that statement has fully sunk in yet, even though we've known for a while now that it is what is best for him. We took him home with us to Idaho for Thanksgiving, to have one last family outing and see my parents and sister one more time. I think he had fun despite the long truck ride and freezing cold temperatures. Since we've been back he's gotten lots of special love and attention. Rob even lets him on the living room carpet! (Unheard of since we got new carpet installed almost 2 years ago.) I've had Kylo since he was just a puppy, and I was only 18 years old. He's been with me through quite a bit over the years, and although this will give away my age as well, he is now 13 years old (almost 95 in dog years!) I think he's lived a good life. I always wanted him to live long enough to meet my first child and now he's had over two years with Jenica. He will be greatly missed and it is with great sadness today that I write this post. Tomorrow will be a rough day so please keep me in your prayers. Thanks!

On a happier note, and I only mention this because of Jenica's attire shown in this picture, she's been in big girl underwear all afternoon and has used the potty twice and had no accidents! Go Jenica!

Day 332 of Project 365

Alright, we didn't take this picture today but we did hand out our Christmas cards at church today with this photo on it to announce the newest addition to our family, due in early June.

It was a day filled with both joy and sadness at the same time, as I realized it was 3 years ago today that our first pregnancy ended in miscarriage and our little baby went to be with the Lord. Because of that, the first trimester is always a challenging time for me, but I am happy to be through the first 13 weeks and well on our way to the birth of a happy healthy newborn in only 6 short months from now!

Thanks for sharing in our excitement and keeping us in your prayers!

Day 331 of Project 365

Day 330 of Project 365

Thanks to Rob we finally got a group shot of everyone before we all headed out for the drive home!

Day 329 of Project 365

I loved this picture for some reason and since I never did get a picture of the whole family on Thanksgiving Day, I thought this would be a good picture of the day. Not only does it show off our table, you get Rob in the background, shopping the Black Friday deals on his iPhone, and a good view of the infamous "bathroom door" (that's mostly for you B). Dinner was delicious despite some minor modifications due to some of our ingredients freezing on the trip over. Good times... and definitely full of good stories to tell our kids later!

Day 328 of Project 365

The view as we arrived at my Dad's cabin outside of Clark Fork on Wednesday. It was so pretty with all the fresh snow and he even had a sledding hill all prepped and ready for us! My parents built this house over 30 years ago and I lived in it until I was 6 or 7 while they built "the big house" on the same 27 acres of property. That house has since been sold along with part of the acreage during my parents divorce and then ended up burning down a few years ago. It's kind of sad to walk down and see that piece of land now, looking nothing like how I remember it. But it's really fun that my dad still has this piece of our childhood and he did such a good job of making it feel like home for us while we were there. Here's a picture of the old log bed he made for me when I was probably about Jenica's age.

Thanks for hosting a fun Thanksgiving for us all Dad! Jenica still keeps saying she wants to go to Grandpa's house, even after 9+ hours of traveling, so you must have made an impression!

Day 327 of Project 365

A stop to stretch in the gorge on our way to Idaho. Unfortunately, we didn't make it to our friends' Dave and Genies as planned due to an accident on I84 that had us stopped in traffic for close to 3 hours. Instead we spent the night in a cheap (but surprisingly clean) motel in Boardman, Oregon and made the rest of the drive to my Dad's house in Clark Fork the next day. We'll have to catch you next time Kirklands!

Day 323 - 326 of Project 365

Day 322 of Project 365

Jenica and Marcy showing off her great Christmas decorations at the new business she just opened, Skin Zen on Main Street in Portland. She has great rates on waxing and other body treatments and is super nice and did a fabulous job on my eyebrows. You can check out her facebook page for more information: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Skin-Zen

Day 321 of Project 365

My friend Shelly invited us to story time at Barnes and Noble today and it was lots of fun! Not only did they read books to the kids, they also had a fun arts and crafts project and snacks for everyone. I think it's every Wednesday at 10am. If you have time, you should check it out... plus you can always get some of your Christmas shopping done while you are at the mall. That was my plan, but then I ended up buying stuff for myself instead. Drat!

Day 320 of Project 365

Photo by Rob. Way to go babe! Think Jenica needs her own iPhone for Christmas this year?

Day 319 of Project 365

A great afternoon spent at our friend Jessica's house, complete with a pancake dinner, requested by Jenica herself. Oh, and I had to include the beautiful flowers Rob brought home for me yesterday in the background. Thanks honey!

Day 318 of Project 365

Thanks for lunch, ice cream and a great visit Grandma and Grandpa Bachelder (and Aunt Amy!) Let's do it again soon!

Day 317 of Project 365

Today has been a great Saturday. Besides getting caught up on almost 2 weeks worth of Project 365 photos and blog posts, we had our Christmas card photo taken today. I know, it's early, but I had a Costco coupon I really wanted to use and after taking all these fun fall family photos for people, I really wanted some fall leaves in our family picture this year as well. My friend Emelye was kind enough to brave the elements (ie, come out in the rain with us) to take our picture and it turned out soooo cute! If you think you are going to get to see it here, well, you're wrong. You'll have to wait to get it in the mail like everyone else. Well, maybe I'll post it here eventually after I mail it out because I do want it to be part of my Project 365 photo book, but until then, you will just have to wait in suspense. I will tell you that Kylo made the Christmas card this year, after being absent last year, but since this will probably be his last Christmas with us we thought it was only fitting that he get in on the Christmas card action one last time. Here is a picture of our super cute photographer. Thanks Emelye!

Day 312 - 316 of Project 365