Here's Neil (on the left) and the rest of the Tiger Cub Scouts in my den, performing a skit with the scoutmasters at a Pack Meeting. Saturday was the Pinewood Derby races (I didn't get any pictures because I was selling concessions). Neil's car didn't do so well, but at the end of the night, 3 of the top 4 winners were from our den :) Not bad for 1st graders!
Just as we recovered from the windstorm and power outage, we had another big snowfall (which translates to "a few inches") and then the temperature went down into the teens overnight. Throw that down in a region where you can't go a half block without encountering a HILL, and we're pretty much housebound. This has been the strangest winter. I guess the locusts are next... 
Whee! The older boys spent all day, every day, sledding with friends on the school grounds. Neil made do in the backyard.
So did Dad.
Neil warms up with the guinea pig, "Joe Mama." He just lost his front tooth last night! The Tooth Fairy sure hates it when kids lose teeth right at bedtime and the only thing she has in her fairy purse is a $10 bill.
Aunt Derb, she is so INTO IT! Zzzz!
Big D and Jackie are into it too... we had excellent weather for digging, the storming didn't start up until the next day.
Uncle Greg. This clamming thing runs in the family.
The clam hunting bounty. Euw! I mean, "yummy!" 
Look at that Spam Car Go! Neil did great on the Go-Kart course, but got carsick on the way home while using the laptop computer. Oh well...as the boys put it, "that's the first puke of the year!" Yeck.
Alan wiped out a lot. I'm worried about his driving test in 5 short years?
Larry, looking a little too comfortable behind the wheel.
We finally got our power back today after it went out last Thursday night. November was a record-breaking month for rain. This left the tree roots unstable, and last week's windstorm pushed a LOT of them down. Being without power for 5 days was an experience I don't care to repeat; however I did learn many valuable lessons.
First lesson: Sleeping "puppy basket" style by the fireplace is a great way to stay warm. Also, when sleeping with 3 sons and a husband, don't serve chili for lunch.
Second lesson: If you will need to wake up at 4:00am and go to the bathroom in pitch black with nothing but a little candle to light the way, do not read Stephen King books at bedtime.
Third lesson: If you can see your breath inside the house, wear a hat, gloves and scarf to bed. Your family will laugh at you...ignore them!
One of our neighbors had a close call ~ this huge tree missed their house by a few feet. The roots on the left popped their driveway up like a piece of cardboard. All over our hill there are huge trees down, many of them crushing houses, cars and fences. The scariest were the trees that fell on power lines and were left dangling over the street....
Fourth lesson: It takes 2 days of putting on makeup by candlelight until you decide that it really doesn't matter if anyone sees you without makeup.
Fifth lesson: $5 candles from Safeway will light a room just as well as $30 Partylite candles.
Sixth lesson: Monopoly games almost always turn into a game of "Let's rip off Neil."Seventh lesson: Eating beanie weenie (cooked on a campstove), cookies and apple juice for dinner will make you queasy. Through the hill's grapevine, we heard that the neighborhood a couple streets up got together to make a cooperative bonfire and worked together to cook and share all of the food in their refrigerators before it went bad. After hearing that I felt really queasy. I bet none of their perfect kids were even fighting.
Eighth lesson: My kids will fight about anything if they're bored enough. Some examples that come to mind are: Who Gets to Lay by the Dog, Who Gets to Hold the Cheetos Bag, and His Leg is Touching Me.
Ninth lesson: As soon as you freak out, break down and spend $100 on Game Boy items to keep your kids occupied and not fighting, the power will go back on. In about 2 hours and 33 minutes, to be exact.
Tenth lesson: I am so lucky to have such a resilient and good-natured family. They hardly even complained at all. Of course, I complained enough to cover for them. Above all, we are lucky that this is not our house....
Alan in a school social studies presentation ~ his class voted on which explorer actually discovered America. Columbus was there too, but had a wardrobe malfunction (his shirt was on backwards) during this photo shoot. It was determined that Alan and the other Native Americans were, in fact, the first people to discover America.
As usual, a couple inches of snow pretty much shuts us down around here. The kids are on their second snow day, and there are still abandoned cars scattered over the hill we live on. It has been so cold (in the teens at night) that ice is the main problem...great for sledding though, the kids are having a ball.
The view from Larry's window into the cul-de-sac. Neil's little friend Elias is heading over to our house to play. Not much snow left today....It's supposed to snow more tonight but warm up tomorrow, so that should be the end of our early snow adventure :)
Kids who used to be little and now are big ~ Kelli & Eric, home from college.
Wade & Roger, Gravy-masters ~ doing their part during the Gravy Drought of 06... 
Hangin' at the Armstrongs! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, hope you did too. Thanks for everything and Gooble Gooble, Auntie Net-Net! (Yes that's GOOBLE, not GOBBLE....)
Boy Soup ~ Larry, Alan & Neil in Bill, Jan, Nelson & Elliott's hot tub on Thanksgiving Day.
Neil at his First Grade Thanksgiving Feast. They were served corn bread, corn chowder, pumpkin pie, and apple juice. Neil filled up on apple juice; the rest was DENIED.
That's it for now ~ Happy Thanksgiving! I took some pictures of our Three Amigos ~ the 3 raccoons that visit our porch each night and clean up the rest of Scratchie's cat food ~ but the camera isn't cooperating. Hope to have some pictures soon because they are so cute, and everyone is going to think I'm imagining them. Happy Turkey Day!
My little rat pets fighting over their maggot pasta dinner... they don't photo well, much more disturbing in person :)
Audrey the fairy, Meg (Nancy Drew), and Eleanor the fairy. It is tough to be a fairy in 30-something degree weather without freezing. Ella made it for about an hour till her little lip was blue & quivering...
This year's Jack-O-Lantern display ~ note the adolescent touch of knives sticking out from them. How precious.
Wade wanted to make sure I followed up to let everyone know that he did actually finish painting the house! And a fine job he did... Just in time for a good dose of Halloween-izing. Here are a few scenes around the house; we also do lighting & sound effects, plus a fog machine :)
The entry is covered in a brick-pattern wall covering to look like a dungeon. Ruby the Hellhound fits right in...
Ack, vultures in the birdbath!
Wade's in the process of painting the house ~ a convenient Indian Summer heat wave was nice enough to cooperate! The new color is close to the old, but a little more blue than grey. He got about half the house done in one day, then took the boys bowling. Any bets on how sore he might be tomorrow??
Darling little Ella! We had a Labor Day BBQ today with Tyler & the girls (Anna wasn't feeling well). Here's Eleanor, a bit soggy from the sprinkler. Behind her is Uncle Wade.
Audrey playing on the deck ~ what a doll!
Here's Megan swinging on the Zip Line in our back yard. Note the green stripe that resulted from the pool leaking...otherwise it's as brown as can be! This was a very hot, dry summer for the Seattle area. Meg is now in 3rd grade ~ so beautiful & very grown up!
Here are 2 of my boys ~ their friend Alex is on Larry's computer. Alan's (10) on the left, Larry's (11) on the right. They are very excited for school to start tomorrow! I will post photos of the first day of school. Until then....
