Basketball

The basketball season is just about over so I thought I better get at least one blog in. Basketball is definitely not Ellie's strong sport. Her first game was great and then she seemed to lose a little focus in there until this second to last game. She played great today. When she concentrates she is an average player, she will never have the speed you need to really compete. She has a great time though and is getting good exercise! We are very proud of her.

Jack and Doug got to keep the books for one game. Jack loved that!

Every Saturday after games we would go to lunch with my mom. This was the Olive Garden week.

President's Day weekend

We had a great long weekend of fun. For President's day weekend we rented a cabin at Camp Sherman. It was the cutest place. They had a lodge that had tv(no tv's in the cabins)pool table, foosball, and ping pong. They also had a basketball court, tetherball and playground. We were about 15 minutes from HooDoo and 10 minutes from Sisters. We had a blast. Each night we had dinner in Sisters. On Sunday, Ellie and I did the Autobahn sled trails. The weather was awful, it was raining but we still had fun. Jack and Doug played in the snow a little and then stayed dry while we were sledding. On Monday we took Ellie to HooDoo for ski school. She did great. She loves skiing. After ski school we sledded and played in the snow. Monday was a beautiful day. We also went to the fish hatchery and saw the head of the Metolious River. We had a great trip. The kids are so much fun to travel with!

They even had a low hoop so Jack could make lots of baskets.

Relaxing and looking so much alike!

Jack loved ping pong, the kids had never played before.

Getting soaked but having quality time together

It is a really fun sledding park, now I want to go when it is NOT raining!

While we were in line Ellie would go play with Doug and Jack.

Jack likes the snow until he gets too cold and then he is done.

The rope tow takes you up the hill. You could choose to walk, but chose riding to the top.

We realized she had a rip in her snowsuit so she was soaked all the way through, but she still loved it.

Self portrait at the top

The next day was very different weather, perfect for skiing. Ellie was able to ride the big chairlift and do two runs on real beginner runs. It was really fun to watch her improve.

Now this is the kind of day to play in the snow!

Even after a day of skiing she was ready for more fun!

Walking to the head of the Metolious River

We played lots of games: Monopoly, Uno and Yahtzee


That's our cabin in the background

Julie's 40th Birthday

Pancho pulled off a great surprise for Julie's 40th birthday. She is a planner so it is very hard to get her. It was such a fun night. We were racing to get to her parent's house in time. But we made it and the look on Julie's face was awesome!

Amy, Tish, Julie, Liz, Dina, Christy

It was so great to see our friend from college Dina!

Lucy with the small Julie cut out! Don't they look alike??

Linfield friends!

Pancho, Donnie, Doug

Reenacting the picture from her 24th birthday! That's alot of years of friendship!!!

Pancho, you did good!

A long day but well worth it!

Crazy Hair Day

Crazy Hair Day! It's so fun to get to watch my kids enjoy all these crazy days. Crazy Hair day is a definite favorite! This year we used purple, blue and pink hair spray! Funny thing is we took the kids to my in-laws when school was over but didn't warn them it was Crazy hair day.

Skiing

Skiing! We went up to Willamette pass again this year with the Hakalas and Fultons. Ellie was really excited and Jack decided we wanted to try skiing. The big kids started skiing with Donnie, Christy, and Julie. The little kids went to ski school. I watched a whole lot of stuff and read my book(maybe not knowing how to ski isn't such a bad thing:) When the little kids came in for lunch the report was, Sam moved up which upset Ellie. And Jack was ready to be done. After a little more skiing Ellie moved up with Sam to the chair lift. When we came to spy she was flying down the hill(needs a little work on turning and being able to stop). Jack and Ethan seemed to be having a great time building a snow man. Hmmm that's an expensive snow man. After lessons Julie skiied the bunny hill LOTS of times with Ellie and Sam. I sure am glad I have a very patient best friend! Ellie and Sam were very excited because they moved two levels during the day. So we will definitely take Ellie back to the mountain for at least one more lesson this winter. And Jack, well he says he might take a half day lesson next year.

Sam, Ellie, Ethan, Jack

He's not quite sure what to think

Julie, Christy, and I

Lunch time! Jack(6) and Ethan(5)

Sam and Ellie (both 9)

Look at her go! But uh oh she's going kinda fast

So this is how she stopped. She thought this whole thing was great. Julie and I were laughing so hard and so were the people around us. Poor teacher was a little worried!

Jack was actually on skis and we were proud of him for trying.

Let's see if we each paid 80$ for ski school then this is a $160 mound of snow:)

Julie, Ellie, Sam on Sleepy Hollow(aka Duck Soup 2)

Jack had more fun playing in the snow

All the kids!