Thursday, November 29, 2007

Bathtime fun continues...

Madeline is reallly close to pulling herself up, which she tried to do in the tub, and nearly fell in the water! (don't worry, I caught her) :)

Bathtime fun...

Hobbes was making Madeline giggle really hard-I caught the end of it...

Our gorgeous girl...

This was another photo taken by Jeremiah Grauke on the tree hunt...I think it's my all-time favorite Madeline picture so far, and is definitely going in our Christmas card, and on our wall! Enjoy!

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Dyslexic blog. :<

I spent all this time putting these posts in the right order, and then the blog reversed them. Sooo just go down the page, start at Into the woods, and go up from there. It should make sense that way. Sorry!

Ready to go home!



We found the tree!!!






The trek for the tree...





The group.


In this photo, L to R:
back row: Jeremiah Grauke, John Grauke, Donna Grauke, Marc Shaw, Laura Shaw, Luke Shaw, Eric, Kristi, Maggie Church, Kathryn Church, Mike Church, Bill Church
front row:Kajsa Wilkins, Madeline Lucy Wilkins, Bray Wilkins, Hobbes Wilkins, Marty Shaw, Jana Shaw, Carolyn Garfield, Julie Garfield, Tom Garfield, Trish Miller, Stan Miller, Alice Miller, Mackenzie Miller with Miles Miller, Jared Miller, Clive Miller.

Fun on the car ride...

Kathryn getting into the Mike-mobile.
Packed into the Shaw's car.My parent's van, a.k.a. our ride:
Hobbes starting to zone...
Madeline already zonked..

Carolyn, doing a profile pose while dancing to the Charlie Brown Christmas song...
Pose #1: Excited!!!
Pose #2: Suspicious...
Pose # 3: Shocked. (possibly at how weird and crazy we can be)

Into the Woods....

Hi, everyone!
Well, as promised, we went Christmas tree-cutting in the forest on Saturday! It was a gorgeous day, and we had a really fun group. Although I myself have never had a Christmas tree straight from the forest, I am enjoying it immensely, and learning to love a new 'kind' of tree. So, without further ado, here are the pics from the day!

Friday, November 23, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving! (or day after)

Hi, everyone!
I hope you all had lots of goood food and fellowship yesterday-I know we did! This year we went to my parents' house, along with Jordan, Carolyn, Kathryn and Mike, and the Churches. The table was gorgeous, as Kathryn did the floral arrangements, and the food was delicious! I didn't want that overly full feeling, so I didn't eat till I was stuffed, but let me tell you-I could have!
We all just sat around the table and talked afterwards (actually, Mike, Bray, Hobbes and Jordan all fell asleep for awhile.... after the hard job of eating too much) and then later that evening Mike and Kathryn came over to our apartment to watch Hairspray. (which I loved, by the way)
I am sad that break is almost over, as Bray has been sick and had to write a huge paper during it, but we are actually going out to the forest to cut our Christmas tree on Saturday, with a big group of church people, so that should be fun! It's supposed to snow again, and Hobbes absolutely adores the snow! So I shall be sure to put up pics from that, but for now, miss you all!



Daddy with his gorgeous, smiley little girl.Eatin' crackers, and ever so happy about it, with Aunt Carolyn!

Quick story here-Mike and Kathryn went to our apartment to get some stuff a few weeks ago, and Mike noticed that I (unfortunately) did not have any pics on my fridge of him. He then proceeded to write me a note about it on my white board, telling me how offended he was, so I made sure to take a pic yesterday to put on my fridge. (he was joking, by the way):)

Sisters doing crazy faces while cooking.
Kathryn and the real, famous Maggie Church.

Playing in the snow outside our apartment!
He quickly figured out how fun it was to throw at people-although I think Bray and Jordan helped him along with that a bit.

Sorry about the runny nose-it is never ending when babies have colds. I wanted to show that she is currently more interested about Hobbes' bucket of cars than her own toys. I have decided to go and get her a pink car.:)

THE AFTERMATH OF THANKSGIVING DINNER:

#1: Jordan falls asleep.#2: Mike is out.

#3: Bray goes to put Hobbes down for a nap, I come looking for him 30 minutes later, and find this result.
The conclusion? Good food=good sleep.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

'Maggie' and 'Church...'

My sister Carolyn has a dog named Maggie(see dark, bigger dog below). Hobbes and Maggie are quite good friends, and often play together when Carolyn comes down. Kathryn has a sister-in-law named Maggie Church. We often have dinner with the Churches, and to keep Hobbes from getting confused, as he thinks the dog Maggie is there whenever we go over, we try to say, no, this is Miss Maggie Church.
Hobbes has not quite grasped this yet, as we found out this weekend when we stayed at Carolyn's. Her roommate has a little dog named Jack. Hobbes was enthralled with the 2 dogs, and we did not have to entertain him at all the entire weekend. They really babysat him for us. He followed them up and down the stairs, took them their water bowl, with the water all over the floor, tossed them balls, told them to 'GET DOWN!' and 'COME 'ERE!' He loved to call them, only he kept saying, "Maggie, come 'ere! Church, come 'ere!" I didn't know why he kept calling Jack 'Church', until I realized he was saying 'Maggie-Church.' He put the name together, but thought it meant the other dog. It was quite funny, and my Dad enjoyed telling the real Maggie Church all about it on Monday.

Carolyn with Maggie and Jack, a.k.a. Church.

They loved Madeline-and vice-versa!
They even tried to give her kisses-which, although kinda cute, was still kinda gross.:)
Playing at the park near Carolyn's apartment.




Making sure Maggie stays nearby.

Busy Days!

Hello everyone!
Can you believe Thanksgiving is almost upon us? It seems like this fall has literally flown by! We have, of course,been continually busy. This past weekend, Bray flew to Santa Barbara to reaudition for the summer program for 2008. I had to drive him to Spokane on Saturday, and so we left early to spend some time 'playing' in Spokane with the kids. We went to Riverpark Square, which is right downtown in Spokane. It is quite a pretty area, near a little river, with fun shops a huge red wagon slide, and a carousel. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain, so Hobbes couldn't go down the slide, but he did walk right up to a flock of geese. He also rode the carousel with Daddy, while Mommy and Madeline watched, cheering from the sidelines.
After we dropped Bray off, I realized how silly it would be for me to drive the kids down and back twice in 2 days, and so I called my sister Carolyn to see if she wanted us to come spend the weekend with her. She thought it would be a grand idea, and so, with no clothes, equipment,etc, we went to Carolyn's. We got the necessities at Super Walmart, and had a wonderful time shopping, playing at the park near her house, and especially playing with the 2 dogs, (1 is Carolyn's, and her roommate has 1).
Bray did veryy well in Santa Barbara, and they have invited him back, as well as offered him the lead role in the opera, so as long as they can provide our whole family with somewhere to stay this time, we shall be in Cali again next summer! Please pray that all the work and concerts,etc leading up to Christmas go well, and we shall keep you all updated! Enjoy this wonderful season!Madeline,while watching Hobbes ride the carousel, and showing her 2-teeth smile!
I couldn't help myself-this just defines her personality. Always has a big smile ready!

Waiting in line in front of the carousel-my boys!
Hobbes was sooo excited-which, for him, means just staring silently at everything.
Going around and around!
I love this picture-the colors are very artistic...as is the setting!
Hobbes and Bray, watching the geese by the river.