This Little Pig...

We had a really yummy lunch today. I made Mac N Cheese first, then reheated some leftover hamburger/potato hash called "just stuff" in the saladmaster cookbook. Becca REALLY liked the hash. But she didn't like me feeding it to her. She had to do it on her own and she didn't want a spoon involved. Or even her hands.

Becca's First Birthday - The CAKE

Back at home that evening we opened Becca's presents and had some yummy cake.


She wasn't quite sure what to think about the open flame on top.


But she had no trouble getting into the destruction of her own slice.

Becca's First Birthday - Museum

Monday the 26th of January was Becca's first birthday. Since Beaverton kindly canceled school that day (it was a teacher workday or something), we decided to celebrate. The Istooks joined us and we all went to the Children's Museum. It was great. Most of the school districts were still in session, so the Museum was not at all crowded. The kids loved the Bob the Builder exhibit and the water room. They enjoyed the supermarket, hospital and baby dolls. But they had the best time on the stage. They stayed there so long dressing up in costumes, controlling the lights and playing the instruments that Butch was even able to get a little nap.


The water area, Anna, Becca and Rachel.


Anna, Alyssa and William. Anna liked to gather all the flowers she found and carry them with her.


I think we surprised Anna when we caught her and Alyssa playing with the dolls.

Christmas Legos!

As soon as we were back in Oregon, William begged to have Daddy help him build his Lego cargo plane. It took some work, but they got it done.

Funny things the kids have said this month (January 2009):

Sunday afternoon Kip and the kids were in the family room while I finished feeding Becca in the kitchen. William asked Kip, "What do you want to do, Dad?" He replied tiredly, "I want to run away." William's face lit up and he said, "OK, Dad, I'll chase you!" and proceeded to run toward him and tag him. We all burst out laughing and he looked at us wondering why.

After a visit to the dentist last Monday, Anna went through her take-home baggie in the family room. She pulled out a tube of Kid's Crest and, in her sweetest soft, high-pitched princess voice, said, "I got toothpaste, too! Isn't that just AWESOME!"

Kaysville Cousins

All the Parker-parents' grandkids got together on the first of January. Here's a pic of all the kids - Quinn Barnett holding Enoch Parker, William and Anna Killpack, Zach Barnett holding Sarah Parker, Elizabeth Barnett holding Rebecca Killpack.

Christmas in Utah - Children's Museums

We visited the Gateway Children's Museum with Kip's family on the 29th and the Treehouse in Ogden on the 2nd. The kids really liked both places.

Becca in the ball area.


We built an arch-just like at OMSI but smaller and easier to do.


We found this little Leopard crawling around.


Princess Anna found a knight loyal and true.

Christmas in Utah - Temple Square

We all went to see the lights at Temple Square on the 28th. It was insanely cold. I've been softened by these mild Portland winters, I guess. The kids dealt with it better than I did. As long as they had Aunts, Uncles, and cousins to play with, they could have stayed out forever. I got cold and wanted to head home. But the temple grounds really were beautiful. I am glad we went.

Christmas in Utah - Sledding

Our kids got their first taste of sledding on the 27th of December. We packed them into warm clothes and hiked up the hill behind Jenny and Tyler's house. I had forgotten how much work it is to get up the hill you want to sled down. I tried to pull Anna up on the sled, but that was too scary for her, so we both had to walk it and reached the top a little winded. From there, Anna consented once to go down the hill with me and then refused to have anything to do with sleds. William, on the other hand, had a blast with his cousins. He loved racing down the slope with them. Becca was a good sport and dealt with our attempts to have her slide down the slopes with us. She was a little upset, though, that I deserted her a few times to go down myself. I had forgotten how much fun it is!

Christmas in Utah - Getting There

Christmas day we flew to Utah. After all the snow here, we feared we wouldn't get out of Portland, but flights were heading out by Christmas morning and our hopes were high. We got to the airport, checked our bags, and went to the play area near our gate to wait for our flight. Everything went fine. We boarded the plane and headed to Utah. We even made better-than-expected time and neared Utah early. Then, things turned sour. The storms that had caused so much trouble in Portland had reached Salt Lake and the airport was having trouble. We had to circle for 45 minutes before a runway could be cleared for us to land. At least they didn't head us somewhere else! I was scared for a while. Instead, all of us except William ended up napping during the 45 minute circle-time. In the end, Grandma and Uncle Cory were there to pick us up and drive us home through the snow.

Christmas Cutie

Becca got up a little later than everyone else Christmas morning but she was really excited about her presents. I couldn't pass up posting this picture of her toothy grin.

Once there was a Snowman

I figured that, with almost a foot of snow in Portland, we just HAD to build a snowman. I sent Kip out with the kids. This is what he accomplished. Anna didn't even make it to the creation of the second ball before coming in to warm up. William didn't last past the positioning of the middle ball. He got too cold and came in after that. I had to take his place and roll the ball up the plywood ramp Kip made (the snowboard was too bendy). Then we built the head ball and hefted it together onto the top. The ears are made of ice chunks that built up in the middle of the two layers of snow. She's either a bunny or a cat. We're not sure. But she sticks her chest out, so we're sure she's a she-creature.

Lots of Snow

The snowiness continues here in the Portland area. The newscasters say this is the most snow to hit the area in 40 years. I took the kids out to play today and these are some shots of what we found.


Icicles dripped from the side of the house.


The snow was deep enough to practically swallow Anna whole. There was a layer of ice about 4 inches down. Anna almost didn't break through. When she did, she would fall forward. She didn't like that.


The ruler on the picnic table shows the snow to be about 11 inches deep.


My plastic bell decorations are coated with ice.

Tomorrow is supposed to be good but Christmas Eve should shower us with another 3-4 inches of snow followed by more freezing rain. Kip and I are fairly certain our flight Christmas day will be canceled. Southwest has been canceling everything since this storm first started and things weren't even this bad. We're not sure what this means for our Christmas plans in Utah. We're hoping we can get out a few days late if nothing else.

More Snow

We got about 6 inches of snow on Saturday, followed by a night of freezing rain. Everything looks beautiful covered in snow and ice. Church was canceled yet again. I've never had this happen before. No church two Sundays in a row and no school for a whole week. It's been insane. The kids have enjoyed it, although we don't have enough warm clothing to get them out in it for long. We've never needed it before.

Snow Day(s)

It SNOWED on Sunday, the 14th. Church was canceled. I had set a goal to be on time and there we were all ready to go when the phone rang. No church. We had a mini church meeting in the living room. William and Daddy gave talks (William had been scheduled to deliver one in Primary). I played a musical number. It was fun.


School was canceled the next day due to the ice on the roads. And the next day. So far it's Thursday and they still haven't had school yet. It snowed again Wednesday, but today was sunny and warm. I'm hoping there is school tomorrow so I can throw the Kindergarten class party I've prepared.

Ward Christmas Party

Our Ward Christmas party was on the 13th of December. It was "Back to Bethlehem" themed. I made us all costumes and played my flute for several of the numbers in the pageant. It was neat.

Tree Farm Trip

We went to Loch Lolly tree farm on the 29th of November to get a Christmas tree. We had a nice time in the drizzle.


Becca was our little pink puffball.


The kids are still scared of Santa when they meet him in person. Anna refused to even look in his direction. I always feel bad for him.

Kitchen Table

We invited two couples to join us for Thanksgiving dinner. The prospect of seating them on our stained white chairs at our table built for 4 didn't appeal to us. So we hopped on Craigslist and found something better. We got an oval table with 2 leaves and 8 chairs. It's really nice and works a lot better than our old one for large groups.

Autumntime

There's one thing I don't like all that much about Oregon. I mean, it's a beautiful place and the people are friendly and I love being by the coast and I don't mind the rain. But there's one time when the rain kind of gets me down. Autumn. When I'm raking and raking and raking the leaves all over the yard (we have a LOT of trees), my kids ask if they can jump into the leaf piles and I have to say no. Maybe I'm too protective, but I don't want them covered in wet rotting leaf slime and slugs. And when we walk along the sidewalks to get William from school every day, the way is covered with leaves. But there's no crunch underfoot. It's more like a slosh-slosh. And you have to be careful that you don't slip. So, yeah, I miss dry crisp fall weather that leads to crunchy leaves on the ground that you can pile and jump into. One neat thing, though, about the wet leaves on the sidewalk is that they leave leaf-profiles where they were allowed to sit for a long time and moulder. It kind of looks cool after they have been removed to have their profiles on the ground.

Halloween

We spent the afternoon trick-or-treating at the Tanasbourne strip mall with a group from the ward. The kids got some good candy. William got tired quickly but the promise of more candy was too much for Anna to pass up, so we dragged William to the bitter end.


Kip took them out to the neighborhood that night and didn't force them to go as far as Anna would have liked.



Becca slept through the trick-or-treating after the busy day at the museum and strip mall, so I had her pose for some photos later on. I thought she was too cute to pass up on the photo op.

Children's Museum

The kids were all out of school on Halloween day, so Jo and I decided to take them to the Children's Museum. It was really crowded when we got there, although things thinned out considerably by the time we headed home. The museum has a Bob the Builder exhibit right now that the kids really enjoyed, especially the digging pit with toy dump trucks, backhoes and front loaders. They stayed in that for almost an hour.


Killpacks and Istooks posing with Bob and Pilchard. (Alyssa, William, Anna, Jared, Spencer)


Scoop and the gang.


Becca and Rachel. Becca kept trying to pull on Rachel's stroller.