Third one of the day and it is only 11am. Lord help me...

Projects, Birthdays and stuff.

Just some pictures for now.....

Does NOT want to be bothered or even reminded that he exists....

Mac and Ben had some time on Saturday to work on a project out of one of my magazines.  This was Mac's first attempt at sewing. Ben is an old hat (forgive the pun)...

No, it's not a green tongue, it's "slobber"....

Someone was pretty proud of himself.

Later that day was a birthday party for their sister, Samantha. She turned 3 and decided her party needed to be on a BOAT! Thank goodness for the WSF!! It was a beautiful day and the party was a hit, with both the party goers and the regulars on the ferry! 

The dollhouse was pretty cool!

So was brother's goodie bag....

HA! So totally busted! Yes, I am pretty sure there is sugar in those cupcakes.... 

The dollhouse is even COOLER when Brother plays with it too!

I took over the job of keeping Gabe happy, not a difficult one to have that is for sure. He is pretty easily entertained, especially with Auntie Keke is willing to sacrifice her fingers to the seagulls and feed them for him. He wandered around the boat the rest of the time trying to offer his little finger to the birds! Thankfully, none of them took him up on his offer.

Ben is beginning to really refine his "style". I was finally able to find him a belt at Goodwill. Note he tucked his shirt in all on his own, gelled his hair and wore all his bling (necklace and skull ring) for the party....



He doesn't look older here, does he?

Jeff spent the weekend at his dad's. Supposedly he was monitoring the installation of the septic lines at his dad's house, but apparently he spent a lot of time "held captive" at Malia's by her force of belligerent strong-arms (aka Luke and Sara).  Floki got a lot of playtime too. He LOVES going to grandpa's house because it always means long, exploratory walks in the woods and plenty of ball throwers!

Yes, Sara, I know you made "Kunkle Jeff" retake this picture because of the tongue, but I kinda like this one.

No, that's not a worm, it's Jeff's finger.



Calendar Dog!

 And now for some random ones....


Even without the tip toes, I think he gaining on you, Mom.

These are some pictures I took of the Bremerton Ship Yards in the face of an oncoming storm.  I was pleased they actually turned out somewhat!

Okay, consider yourselves caught up with the Thomassen-Washburns. At least photographically. As far as catching up with us physically/mentally...when I get there, I'll let you know and maybe you can join us!

Baptism (for Jim)

So I am a little out of order, and there will more than likely be more pictures of this event to come but for now....here we go.

This little adventure in family life started back in September or October, which at the time seemed like a long ways away from Epiphany.  GG (great grandma Dorthy) was still in the hospital and not doing all that well, when Father Mike approached me one Sunday and offered the idea of a little carrot for her. If she was well enough by Epiphany, would she like to help perform Lydia's baptism. We had known for awhile at this point that she had not actually been baptised as we initially thought and I guess Fr Mike was in a bigger hurry to have it done than we were, seeing as that she was already partaking of the communion and participating as an acolyte in church services.  GG's response was that she would BE there and no, dammit, she wouldn't need a wheelchair.

And she was.

She did a beautiful job of not only baptising Noah and Lydia both (yes, turns out Noah wasn't baptised yet either, whoops!) but she also read the Gospel, forgoing the actual processional to just "step out" from her place in the congregation. She was NOT going to use that wheelchair!! And she didn't need it, nor the microphone, nor the stool that was provided just in case.  GG is, after all, 88 and still recovering from a 5-vessel coronary bypass. But she was cool as a cucumber and did a wonderful job. I don't really know what I was more proud of, my kids for being so grown up and excited for this moment, or my grandma, for just being there and being able to be such a big part of this momentous occasion. How many people can say they were not only married by their grandmother, but that all four of their children were baptised by her? 

The service itself was wonderful. Fr. Mike called all three children who were to be baptised up to the front of the church and in lieu of a sermon he explained to them just what it meant to be baptised. Of course, when he explained that they were being baptised into the family of their church and that he was now not only their "Father" but also their "brother", Lydia started to back of a bit with the rather startled remark, "I already have too many brothers!".

The rest of the service went along quite smoothly. The kids were, of course, greatly excited to be handed a lit candle at the end of the baptism and were equally bummed that it had to be blown out before they could go anywhere with it.

Jeff and I were very pleased, excited, and just darn super happy that Jim and Nancy were willing to be godparents to both children, because honestly, who would be better? Okay, so they didn't know they were going to be godparents for Noah until they showed up at the church, but they handled the news with great aplomb and everything went off without a hitch!

After the service, we all met back up at the Family Pancake House (loving known by locals as the FPH) for bottomless hot cocoa, pancakes, fried shimp, omelettes, bacon and the works. I think we literally rolled back out a few hours later.

All in all, a wonderful day and one that I will remember with fondness for Grandma and pride for my children.

Finishing up the paperwork, a Deacon's job is never done.

Slush Day

(NOTE: I have not forgotten to load the baptism, Jim. I am simply waiting on a few more pictures....hint, hint)

My kids have been in front of the Wii now for about three hours and I have strangely mixed feelings about this.  On the one hand, since we got two more controllers for Christmas (Thank you Aunt Katherine and Uncle Kevin), they are playing together rather nicely, even after such a long period of time.  On the other hand, they have been playing video games for THREE HOURS.  Granted, they are not allowed to sit while playing, but I don't see a whole lot of cardio going on while playing MarioKart. 

We actually got some snow last night. Very pretty stuff, light and sparkly in the porch light. It kept snowing until about midnight (I know this because I was up), and then started to rain around 2ish (again, I know this because I was up).  Around 3:30 a.m. the electricity went out! I know this because when it went out the air cleaner we have in our bedroom to mask the cat noises in the rest of the house, went eerily silent, just in time for the cats to get into full gear, clawing at the door and calling sweetly "Yoooo Hoooooo!!!". The only good part about this was that I figured I wouldn't have to get up to go to work since no electricity means no computer. However, at about 4:30 the snow started falling out of the limbs of the trees above our bedroom, hitting the roof like bombs!  I was determined enough to stay in bed until 5:59 and then got up. Sigh.

Within an hour, all four kids were up and ready to go, rain or not, this is probably the best snow fort snow they are going to see this year....

Though it looks like she is making snow angels, she is honestly just laying there seeing how long it takes for snow to soak through her  new "snoveralls".  Genius.

Yes, it was that early.

Note the pinnacles on the edge of the fort walls....

Lydia probably has the most strategically located snow "house".

No idea what this is, but it's cute!

So now we have done laundry, vacuumed rooms, done a puppet show, had lunch, played too much Wii and I am about ready for a nap before we move on to the movie of the day (Princess Bride! WOOOHOOO!!!)  Not bad for a snow day, but I fully expect to have had my two allotted adult beverages before I even begin to consider dinner....