Sub pictures

Here are some pictures of Matt's sub aka The USS Nebraska

My Battle Wounds

Here is a picture of my battle wounds. As you can see there isn't much there, but man it sure wiped me out for a good week. I have more energy now and am sleeping through the night! I'm still pretty stiff and sore in the morning, but even that is less than before. Matt took me out for our first outing last night. We went to Target and Quizno's. It tuckerd me out, but I made it!

Christmas Rave

Everyone know that dance parties are way more fun when you add smoke!

You know you married an engineer when....

you send him to the grocery store and he forgets to get carrots, but remembers to buy a chunk of dry ice :)

High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor

Huh? What does that mean? Well if you remember 3 years ago when Matt was busily working on his Master's thesis you may have heard that term. We get updates from OSU via a Nuclear Engineering newsletter. On the front cover of the latest newletter is Matt's old thesis advisor announcing that his dept has been awarded a $6 million grant to build a scaled down model used for testing. The note worthy part is that this is what Matt did his thesis on. He did the beginning research for this. Matt's research basically said that they could scale down a reactor to a certain size and it would still act in the same manner a full-scale reactor will. So OSU will be designing and building this new reactor for testing purposes. Nuclear power is the way of the future. Way to be on the cutting edge Matt and helping us create more earth-friendly energy souces!

Matt Quote of the Day

"Saul, no dude, bookcases aren't made for climbing."

Christmas Science Project

What happens when you mix vinegar and baking soda?

Snow video

A little success uploading a video

Fun with Daddy

Daddy has been in charge for the past few days while I recover from my laproscopic cholestectomy (that's the fancy way to say they took out my gallbladder). The kids seem to be enjoying their time with Daddy. We've had lots of support from our friends out here. We've had many offers for babysitting, food delivered, and people calling to make sure we are okay. We appreciate all the support we've received.

Here are some pictures from while I was locked up in my room. The kids got gift bags with fun stuff from my friend, Karen.

Marshal Law vs. The Heart Attack Snow

We got about a foot of snow over the last 48 hours. This is the closest we will be to snowed in here in WA. Today is supposed to be nice and sunny so if we can get most of the snow cleared off maybe during the day it will melt completely off the sidewalks and driveway. Matt declares that it is "heart attack snow" because it's wet and heavy. I, of course, have to tease him that if it's heavier than a pencil he will complain cause that's all he lifts these days. He doesn't think those types of jokes are as funny as I do. :)

As for the marshal law. I kid you not, I was looking out at the kids and a camouflage Humvee with "Police" printed on the side was patrolling our neighborhood. So I'm not sure if someone has declared marshal law that I'm unaware of or if 12 inches of snow is enough to make everyone overreact. Either way, I guess I feel safe knowing they are still able to be out and patrolling.

Now all we need is Santa Claus riding through the neighborhood on a fire truck, (oh wait that was last week)

Sydney Quote of the Day

"Saul, your the Daddy so you have furry armpits"

Let it Snow

We had snow this weekend. Just enough to cover the ground and make a couple of snowmen.

Christmas Cookies

Last Saturday me and a couple of friends tackled Christmas cookies. The guys played Wii and were in charge of quality control.



Can you guess which artsy friend took this picture?

Christmas Concert

Sydney had her Christmas concert last Thursday. She sang Silverbells and Rocking around the Christmas tree. She had a great time up on stage. She didn't see me and Saul in the audience until we came down to get her, but that didn't slow her down! She did great!




According to Syd that boy in the red sweater in front of her went in front of her in the line. I guess he told her that she didn't walk very fast. She thought that was rude :)

Swimming

Saul is finally getting the hang of swimming lessons. He's hesitant at times and we've only had one day where he's cried. We are doing much better than this summer.

The 12 Days of Solitaire

No it's not a misprint. Solitaire celebrates her birthday for the first 12 days of December. Today is the last day and is her birthday. Happy Birthday, Solitaire! Don't worry your still not as old as me, so your good. We celebrated with her on 6th day of Solitaire, because she is in LA visiting family. Her Dad has already made her a good breakfast. What a great way to start the day to spoil Solitaire! We hope you have a great day and can't wait see you when you get back.



This is the best I could do for an embarrassing birthday picture. Here she is playing Wii with Matt. They were boxing. Pictures don't do it justice.

Sydney Quote of the Day

This one stands on it's own.


"Mom, Saul is eating my lip gloss!"

Family picture

Here is the token, "family by the Christmas tree" picture for this year!

The Star

It took 3 attempts to get the star on top. Mom ended up saving the day. Unfortunetly there isn't a picture of Mom on Dad's shoulders getting it up there! :)

O Christmas Tree!

We had a great time decorating!

Finding the perfect Tree~

We visited a tree farm in hopes of cutting down a tree for our living room. They had such nice trees already cut, we just decided to pick one they already had! It's been a great tree. Saul checked on it the first morning after putting it up and announced, "Dad the tree is still there!"



Got to have that "fresh cut"!



We ended up with a Fraser fir. It's known for the silver color on the undersides of the branches.

It's been awhile...

since I've added pictures to our blog. So I figure I'll start with the oil pan. A little crack and a check engine light on the dash and this is where we end up.





While Matt was worried if our car would ever run the same again. I think he liked actually "turning the wrench" to get the job done.

It runs like a champ. Good Job, Matt. I knew you didn't lose your touch! :)

Sydney Quote of the Day

Matt was standing on the back of the couch hanging Christmas lights and Syd says,

"Don't worry, Dad's a pro.........What's a pro?"

Saul Quote of the Day

"I not need a kleenex, I just wipe it with my tongue. "

I, unfortunately don't have a picture for this one!

Happy Thanksgiving

Tis the season to give Thanks for all of our blessings! And boy are we blessed!