Sleepy

Now this is what I call sleepy! Josiah sat in his miniature recliner this morning and fell fast asleep. I only let him stay in this position long enough to snap the photo then I put him on the sofa for his nap.

When all else fails...

...resort to using the "redneck" way of making the kitchen faucet work! The floral patterned screwdriver does have a certain stylish appeal to it, doesn't it?

(With all due respect to him, Steve plans to replace this faucet very soon!)

Isn't this beautiful?!?

The amazing view from my front deck!

Mt. Adams, in all its glory this afternoon, as the sun was beginning to set ~~

We've lived in this home for 3.5yrs and I still never tire of this view! We live in Oregon and feel so fortunate to be able to see Mt. Adams (located in the Cascade Mountain Range in Washington state) from our home!!

~Today's Twitter~

Tracey's Tweets for Today

• 7:19pm (Wednesday, January 7th) We all had fun watching the girls' HS boys basketball team play on the Portland, OR Trail Blazers home court!!! #
• 7:22pm (Wednesday, January 7th) Watching the Trail Blazers play at the Rose Garden now.....after a bit of shopping at the mall. :) #
• 7:44pm (Wednesday, January 7th) The "nose-bleed" section isn't too bad when we can see the game on the BIG monitor from our seats! Hey, the seats were only $20, so we can't complain too much, can we? ... #
• 7:49pm (Wednesday, January 7th) Josiah's spending the evening @ my mom's house (Gma B's) so we don't have to chase him all over the stadium! If he's sleeping soundly when we get back to HR, he might actually spend the night @ his Gma B's for the 1st time. Yikes!! Not sure if momma is ready for that ... #
• 10:35pm (Wednesday, January 7th) ~ The Portland Trail Blazers WON!! The game was exciting and fun!!

Update @ 10:00am, Thursday - Josiah did spend the night w/ Gma B. Gma said he woke for about one hour in the night - possibly from being too warm and being confused about his surroundings. I'll go pick the little guy up in a while...I'm missing him this morning!

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~*~My Guys~*~

Below are my two favorite guys.....~~Josiah........................Steve~~

Visiting Santa

As you can see, Josiah is pouting because I sat him on Santa's lap to begin with and he got mad. To keep Josiah from crying, Mariah had to hold him behind the Jolly old guy. Josiah did enjoy the candy cane Santa gave him after the photo was snapped. Now that Mariah is 17, this might be my last year of all four kids getting their picture made with Santa...it seems just a short time ago Mariah was meeting Santa for the first time. Time passes too quickly!

Josiah

Josiah, enjoying his Cra.ftsman workbench from Grandma & Grandpa Roberts! He's learning to solve problems on his own...by climbing up on his bench to reach the areas he couldn't when he was standing!

My girls...

...visiting Great Grandma on Christmas Eve. We were blessed to be able to spend time with Steve's parents, my parents and Steve's grandma on Christmas Eve. Steve's mom prepared a delicious meal for all of us at Grandma Walker's house. After spending several precious hours with Steve's side of the family, we ventured back out in the snow and spent several hours with my mom, siblings and their families.
Being blessed to spend time with both sides of our families is something we treasure. The snow continued to fall quite heavily on Christmas Eve and while driving was tricky, it was so beautiful outside!

Merry Christmas from The Roberts Family

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! May you have a blessed Christmas and a peaceful New Year!

With Love,

The Roberts Family

Steve, Tracey, Mariah, McKenna, Miranda & Josiah

The beginning of the snow storm....

Some of our Christmas lights are below this slight snowfall...before the BIG snow hit (@ 3 feet of snow!)

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!

And this is what I woke to before dawn (close to 3:30am)! This beautiful, fluffy, white stuff is STILL falling from the sky as I type this! I LOVE the snow!

Whatcha mean, mom?

.....I'm supposed to stay clean during our Christmas tree expedition?

....nice theory, if only it lasted!!!

You get what you pay for!

I was at the “Dollar Tree” store yesterday afternoon with my mom, Josiah, a niece and a nephew. I decided to get the girls some cute Christmas socks to wear before the holiday is over. I found a cute pair of red socks with rhinestone lettering. As I browsed through all the pairs of socks to find a pair for each of the girls, I found a rather unique pair of socks.....rather than thetraditional wording of

“HO, HO, HO”
they said “OH, OH, OH”

-- all the other pairs of this particular style said "HO, HO, HO"!!!! The pair I had in my hands happened to be the only ones exclaiming "OH, OH, OH"! My warped sense of humor found it so funny I HAD to buy them! ~ I gave the mis-printed pair to Mariah since she loves goofy socks so much so that she will unmatch a pair of socks to intentionally wear two different socks.

Lesson learned: I guess you get what you pay for, right?

Arm-wrestling...over a book!

McKenna didn't put away a book she borrowed from Mariah so Steve suggested they "arm-wrestle" for it....the results were exactly what you are looking at! Mariah could "hold" McKenna but not "take her down" so we declared McKenna of that match since Mariah is 4yrs older and unable to complete the arm-wrestling task of taking her younger sister....

~2008 School Photos~

Below are our daughters' 2008/2009 school photos ~ Autumn 2008

Mariah - 17yrs old (less than 2wks after her surgery)

McKenna - age 13yrs old
Miranda - age 9yrs old

Safety first, right?!?!?

My parents gifted Josiah this battery-operated riding toy for his birthday days before my dad passed away. In May 2008, my oldest brother gave Mr. Josiah the handy-dandy safety helmet you see him wearing. The goofy boy wears his helmet every day...whether it's on straight or not!! Gotta love that little guy....

Our Family on Thanksgiving

The photo below was taken shortly before we left our home to enjoy a very yummy Thanksgiving dinner at Steve's parent's home....

We are so very blessed by our family. From left to right: Steve, Josiah (2), Tracey, McKenna (13), Mariah (17) and Miranda (9) ~~ Yes, the kids are all destined to be taller than Mom!!!

Thanksgiving

We were so blessed to have a very nice Thanksgiving holiday with our families. We enjoyed an incredibly delicious dinner at Steve's parents' house in the early afternoon with his parents, grandmother, brother and his brother's friend. Steve's sister and her family weren't able to join us this year, but we will see them in December for Christmas. In the early evening, we then to my Aunt Stella's home for more great food and visiting with my family.

While we have so very much to be thankful for this year, there is definitely a huge, wonderful presence missing from our celebrations. My Dad. Simply put: I miss him. I miss his smile, I miss his hugs, I miss his laugh, I miss his love, I miss his support, I miss his kindness, I miss his strength, I miss hearing his voice, I miss watching him be a grandpa to my children....I miss him. Countless things remind me of Dad all throughout the day and while the sadness of missing him is very strong, I am thankful he was such an important part of my life that he is so easily remembered.

Pumpkin Festival @ Rock Creek

Each year, we all go to a very fun, local pumpkin patch. Unfortunately, with my dad's passing, we didn't have a chance to go to that one this year. Instead, my mom, sister and I took the kiddos to a pumpkin festival at Rock Creek in Stevenson. It was different than the tradition we've become accustomed to since @ 1992, but we all had a fun time!
~~~~~~~~~~
In the photo below, in front of the tractor are all four of Lisa's kiddos, Tyler's son, my four kiddos and Mariah's boyfriend, Bobby. From left to right: Miranda (my youngest daughter), Dade (son of my youngest brother, Tyler), Josiah (my son), McKenna (my second born), Sydney (one of Lisa's twins), Sophia (Lisa's youngest daughter), Mariah (my oldest daughter), Savannah (one of Lisa's twins), Antonio (son of my sister, Lisa) and Bobby (Mariah's friend).

Below, from left to right: McKenna (13yrs old), Josiah (2yrs old), Mariah (17yrs old) & Miranda (9yrs old) ~ my sweet blessings!
~Mariah & Bobby~McKenna, peeking out from the hay bales!

My sweet McKenna is growing up into such a young lady!

And below is Miss Miranda (disguised as a kitty) peeking out from the hay bale tunnel.

I just love the look of wonder and amazement on Josiah's face!

(These were taken on October 29th, the day before his first haircut).

"Hey!! C'mon, Momma, why are you making me sit in this wheelbarrow?!?!?!"
A future cowboy, perhaps?

I know I've said it many times before, BUT, I am such an incredibly blessed momma. I am SO very thankful for each one of my children.

~ Josiah's First Haircut ~

My sister, Lisa, gave our girls their first haircuts when they each were around 2yrs old. Josiah turned 2yrs old on October 16th and had finally had enough hair to need a haircut. His big sisters decided his "baby mullet" needed to go! I kept teasing the girls that we were keeping the "mullet" style so I could surprise them when I finally had it cut.

Josiah was a bit apprehensive about the whole process so we distracted him with Red Vine candy while he received his first hair cut by Aunt Lisa at Grandma B's house.

Patiently (?!?!?) waiting....
And the final results...
(The flash on my camera was too bright, though)


It's amazing how the first hair cut can make the little ones go from having that "baby look" to looking like a little boy, instantly!