New Haircut

Kelsey got her haircut yesterday and was almost in tears when the lady finished cutting her hair. Kelsey walked over to me with the saddest look on her face and told me quietly that she really didn't like it as her eyes filled with tears. She had told the stylist that she wanted her hair to be at her shoulders, but I guess the lady wasn't too familiar with cutting curly hair. After overcoming the initial shock, she is starting to like it. She told me, "Well, hair grows every day!" I guess that's a good way to look at it!

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving day today. The morning started out with McKenzie, Kelsey, and I reading my gratitude journal that I've written in once in awhile for the past 12 years. The girls had fun reading about when they were little kids and hearing about the cute things they did. Mary and Amy gave me the second part of my birthday present - beautiful shelves and picture frames. Sam and Peter hung the shelves which was a great help! We had a wonderful dinner at my parents' house. Sam got the award for the most food on one plate! Unfortunately, McKenzie and Peter couldn't join us, as McKenzie has the flu. Peter was also starting to feel sick this afternoon, so he stayed home too. Mary and I delivered their dinner to them, so they didn't miss out on the all the good food! McKenzie is hopefully going to have hers tomorrow. We also missed having Fawn and Mike, Katie and Tyee, and their kids with us this year. Everyone brought delicious food for dinner, and my mom had the house and tables decorated so beautifully. Mom fixed the most delicious turkey along with many other things. Dad did a great job serving up the drinks and carving the turkey - Max kept waiting for any pieces of turkey to fall on the floor and tried to find any uneaten food in the dishwasher :) We wrote down many things that we were thankful for on the Thanksgiving table runner. It was great meeting Matt's new girlfriend and her mom and spending time with everyone. Yesterday Conner and Grandma made pumpkin pies together, and they turned out delicious. We finished the night with a round of Trivial Pursuit - the guys won, but it was a close game. We feel blessed in so many ways to have such an amazing family.

Extra Day off This Week!

We were all excited to wake up to news that there was no school or work yesterday! It is very rare that Portland does not get above freezing all day, but that was the forecast. With a little snow and plenty of ice on the streets, it was great to wake up and then go back to sleep. My goal was to stay in my pajamas all day, but Kelsey was too embarrassed to have me in my pajamas when friends were coming over :) The kids enjoyed their day off - McKenzie walked to Starbucks with a friend and then had a couple of friends over. Conner walked to his friend's house to play video games, and Peter and I walked Kelsey over to her friend Sami's house. Peter and I walked to a Mexican restaurant for lunch - it was nice having an unexpected lunch date! I have today off from work (a planned day off), and am hoping to do a little Christmas shopping. McKenzie isn't feeling very well, though, so I'm not yet sure if she'll be going to school. Conner is looking forward to going to Grandma's after school so that they can continue their tradition of baking pumpkin pies :)

New Computer

After saving up for about 6 months, we were able to purchase our new iMac. The kids earned money by babysitting, mowing lawns, and putting in some of their birthday money. Peter and I put in some extra money that we had earned over the past several months, too. It was pretty exciting to be able to save up for something and then be able to purchase it as a family. It was nice for the kids to see that hard work pays off!

AMAZING 40th Birthday!

Thanks to my awesome family and friends, I had the most amazing 40th birthday. I cannot tell you how loved I felt by so many people, including my wonderful family in Wisconsin who sent me a great gift a couple weeks before my birthday. I definitely teared up several times over the past couple of days. My weekend started out by picking up my sister at her house for an overnight trip to Dundee. They told me to sit down on the couch and then proceeded to show me a beautiful video that my brother-in-law, Jim, my mom and sister made for me. They spent so much time on it - it made me cry!! Then we went shopping, and my parents bought me lots of great new clothes. We checked into a nice hotel in Dundee and had wine and cheese in a very cute restaurant. We had a pretty bad dinner at a brewery, but my dad and sister drove all the way out to McMinnville for dinner which made me feel extra special. We did our share of laughing over some very interesting topics :) My parents gave me a beautiful bracelet and a card that listed 40 reasons they love me. Of course, I cried again. The next morning we had a wonderful brunch which made up for the bad dinner :) The kids each wrote me a beautiful card and gave me gifts that they bought with their own money. Peter blew me away with his gift and very nice card. He put aside money and saved for over a year so that he could give me a very generous gift that I could spend any way I want, so I cried again! I am still completely in shock. We ended the evening with spending time with some of our friends at Rock Creek Tavern. I came home to more thoughtful gifts from the Rossons and my great friend Anita that were delivered to the door while I was gone. I am so grateful for everyone's generosity and love (including my other friends who delivered Starbucks cards and sent texts). I don't know what I would do without ALL of you!

The End of a Chapter

Well, today is officially Peter's last day of work at Halton. On Wednesday night we went to Mr. Halton's home for a wonderful goodbye dinner. Before we ate, Mr. Halton gave a toast to Peter and three of his coworkers in appreciation of all the hard work they have done to close down the company. I was emotional listening to an 80-year old man say goodbye to a business that had been in his family for many, many years. In addition to Ted's toast, Peter's boss also shared about each of the employees that stuck it out to the very end. Throughout the evening, it was so neat to see and hear how appreciative everyone was of Peter's hard work. Yesterday the new company (Peterson Caterpillar) had a big potluck to send off the last few remaining Halton employees. A few of Peter's former coworkers, including his friend Beth, also came back for the party.

So now our family begins a new journey. I started my day off with this scripture: "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts...and lead me in the way everlasting." I know that this will be a time for me to grow in my trust and faith that God always provides. I'm praying that Peter will find a job that pays at least as much as he was making at Halton and that he finds a job that he really enjoys. If you feel like saying a little prayer for us, too, we'd appreciate it :)

We Love Sundays

We really do love Sundays! Sundays are for sleeping in, only doing a couple of chores, and spending time together. Today Peter and I left the house early to go hang out at one of our favorite coffee shops to have our quiet time, read the paper, and visit. Then we grocery shopped together - I always like going shopping with Peter. He used to be a bagger at a grocery store, and he is a master at it. When I bag groceries, everything is just thrown in the bag. Peter separates the food into categories, and is careful to organize the bags so the food isn't squished by the time we get home. We also went on a walk together and made it half way through the walk before it started pouring! The unfortunate part of the day was I had to take Conner to the urgent care because his eczema had gotten infected. He has a staff infection and is now on antibiotics and a strong steroid cream. After the doctor visit, our good friend came over to drop off his daughter. He ended up staying, and we had a great time talking with him and having a cold Drop Top. We then had our Sunday dinner - which we have been enjoying since the beginning of the school year. I really look forward to cooking a big meal and sometimes baking a special dessert. It is the one day of the week that we can count on all being together. Tonight I made a dessert that did not look at all like the picture in the newspaper but actually tasted really delicious (but VERY rich). It is a peanut butter and chocolate cobbler with milk chocolate chips, bittersweet chocolate, peanut butter, and lots more. It tastes like a big, huge, warm Reeses Peanut Butter Cup. After dinner Conner and Peter studied for his world history test, and the girls did their hair and were very silly with each other! Now it's time to go on a walk to walk off 1/10th of dessert we ate! We're looking forward to a short week of school and work since we have Thursday and Friday off!

Strange Week

I have to say that I'm glad this week is over. It's been challenging in a few different ways: We officially found out that Peter's last day of work will be Nov. 15th, Conner had a fever and had to miss a day of school, I had to have a CT scan for some very sharp pains I've been having in my head for many months, and Kelsey got sick and had to miss a field trip to Junior Achievement "Biz Town" that she had been looking forward to for 1 1/2 months. The good news is, though, that the CT scan came back normal (as the doctor had said that the CT scan would be done to rule out a small tumor that may have been starting to grow or a bleed in my brain)! I didn't realize how much I had been thinking about it and how much energy was sapped out of me this week, until I got the results yesterday afternoon. Thank God, it's nothing serious. The other good news is Conner is feeling better, Kelsey is also on the mend, and McKenzie had a normal, uneventful week :) Please pray for us that Peter will find another job quickly, as it seems very difficult to be finding jobs these days.