Jill wasn't able to make it :(

Thanksgiving was awesome except for the fact that everyone was there except for my little sister Jillian. But we still tried to include her.




We went to see the movie "New Moon" -just us sisters.










The movie was good, but the ten minutes before were hilarious. It was the most fun we had with Jillian, without her being there. Love ya, girl!

Something to make you laugh!

I actually stole it from my hilarious friend, Jeanne. Here it is:

Black November


When I was a young turkey, new to the coop,
My big brother Mike took me out on the stoop.


Then he sat me down, and he spoke real slow,
And he told me there was something that I had to know.


His look and his tone I will always remember,
When he told me of the horrors of . . . Black November.

"Come about August, now listen to me,
Each day you'll get six meals instead of just three.


And soon you'll be thick, where once you were thin,
And you'll grow a big rubbery thing under your chin.


And then one morning when you're warm in your bed,
In'll burst the farmer's wife, and hack off your head.


Then she'll pluck out all your feathers so you're bald'n pink,
And scoop out all your insides and leave ya lyin' in the sink.


"And then comes the worst part" he said not bluffing,
"She'll spread your cheeks and pack your rear with stuffing".

Well, the rest of his words were too grim to repeat,
I sat on the stoop like a winged piece of meat,


And decided on the spot that to avoid being cooked,
I'd have to lay low and remain overlooked.


I began a new diet of nuts and granola,
High-roughage salads, juice and diet cola.


And as they ate pastries, chocolates and crepes,
I stayed in my room doing Richard Simmonds tapes.

I maintained my weight of two pounds and a half,
And tried not to notice when the bigger birds laughed,


But 'twas I who was laughing, when under my breath,
As they chomped and they chewed, ever closer to death.


And sure enough when Black November rolled around,
I was the last turkey left in the entire compound.

So now I'm a pet in the farmer's wife's lap,
I haven't a worry, so I eat and I nap.


She held me today, while sewing and humming,
And smiled at me and said, "Christmas is coming . . ."


Happy Thanksgiving!!

Valin took his first step!!!!!

We were in the kitchen making dinner and Valin was standing next to fridge, playing with the magnets. Patxi offered Valin his pointer finger and pinkie (something he does so he can pull him up when Valin grabs them) which he did farther away to see if he would walk to them. And he did! Well, just one step -and a very wobbly one at that. But it's still his first step! His is doing well while holding onto our fingers and walking. He gets less and less wobbly with every passing day. Man, his is growing up so fast. I wish I had gotten a picture, but it totally hit us by surprise. So, I'll bet, he'll be taking more steps, and I'll be sure to take a video of that. I don't know what to say, but: Yeah! Hooray! Crazy!

Help! we need some ideas!

Now that Valin is getting older, we need to do activities together as a family. There are tons of things to do with older childern, but what can I do with a 9 month old who won't walk for a few more months? He also goes to bed at 7:00 am and usually naps form 10:00-12:00 and 2:30-4:30 so we have to be home at those times. Plus it's getting colder. I guess, I really, really want to get out of the house and do something fun with my family.

And, while you are giving suggestions, what are some fun things Patxi and I can do together at home, after Valin's 7:00 pm bedtime? We are bored with Skipbo, phrase-10, Cribage, Settlers, hand and foot, and uno because we've played the life out of them. All we do now is watch TV. TV is okay, especially when watching a gripping episode of NCIS, but it's all we do now. What else could we do for the two hours between Valin going to bed and when we do? The catch is that we have to stay home. Please help, I've ran out of ideas!

Happy Halloween!

And also Happy Birthday to my beautiful older sister Jen.

I just took these of Valin in his Halloween costume. Since we are all so sick (Patxi just has a cough, Valin has a sore thoat and a cough, and I got a fever this morning) we decided not to go to the trunk-or-treat. So I just put Valin in his costume and took pictures and we hope that tons of people will come to our house to use up the tons of candy we bought.

Here is our cute tiger:
















Happy Halloween!

Starting good habits

I think that it's a good thing to have fun with a vacuum, so that later, when I ask him to vacuum as a chore, there will be even greater motivation to obey. Plus, for some reason, Valin can't get enough of them.



On the other hand, this really isn't what I want him to do with them. All well, it's good for a laugh.

Valin's experiment with walkers

This is his first experience with a walker. He's 6 months, and the one screaming at the top of his lungs is Valin.



Now his is eight months and will only go backwards. huh. But without it, he is showing an interest in walking, so it might not be long until he is.

Raking Leaves

It's that time of year! We have three trees that are sheding their dead leaves and Valin came out to help us.

Bath time fun!

I usually let him play with the mirror while we wait for the bath water to fill. And then he just plays in the water with his toys while I scrub him. He is so cute!





He just loves he's rubber ducky!


Then, after all that time in the water, he becomes wet green frog -the cutiest one I've ever seen.

I hate the flu!

Patxi came home Tuesday afternoon with a high fever and all of the sympthoms that came with it. I kind of knew it was coming so I started taking Vitaim C and Echinacia. (Of course Patxi wouldn't take them) But all I could do for Valin, beside making sure to wash our hands and things, was to make sure he got tons of sleep. But like I said Patxi got it tuesday and the fever broke that night. Then Valin woke up thruday morning (1:00am) with a fever and it broke late Thurday night. Now I feel like my head is going to expload and my nose has become a fuaccet, but so far I haven't had a fever. But the worst part is watching Valin be sick. All I can do for him is hold him and give tynol or mortrin evey 4-6 hours. If his throat hurt, he will cough until he gages and then throws up. I can't tell him to calm down and drink water instead of coughing. I can't even put a tissue to his nose and ask him to blow. I have to wait until it's running down his face. But you know what makes it worst, he is also teething on the top -from what I hear, it's that worst. My poor, sweet, sick little Valin. The good thing about it is that as Patxi was starting to get over it, I was coming down with it, so Valin has had the attention he's needed. Please keep Valin in your payers.

Valin with Grandpa Waite

We were at a football game and Valin could get enough of Grandpa's bread.

Cutiest thing on the planet

I just uploaded two month's worth of pictures, so it's posting time.
Here are just a few of Valin's cutiness which didn't fit into a particular post.







He has three more since I took that picture. One to the right of them, one of his two top-front teeth, and one to the far left on top.

My little climber!

Valin can't even walk yet but that doens't stop him from climbing anything he can. It first started with the two steps we have. Then when we went to Grandma and Grandpa's, he mastered a whole stair case. And just now I caught him trying to climb that shelves in the refridgerator. I guess I'll have a lot on my hands once he does learn to crawl, huh!

Valin's crazy cow-licks

There are a lot of things about Valin that make me laugh, like his giggle, for instance. But just looking at his hair makes smile. Ever since he was born, he had two twin cow-licks on the top of his head. We've kept his hair short so that they would be less noticable, but lately I'm letting it grow out to see if we could do something with its craziness. I took a few pictures just to make sure that you can see it from every possible angle.









Whether or not moe-hawks are in, it seems like Valin will always have one. Hum... If anyone has any hints as to how I can make it look presentable, please share. But crazy cow-licks or not, he is still the cutiest thing on this planet.

Oregon Coast Videos

I tried to stop him form eating it at least.



He wasn't quiet into the water thing after he actually felt how cold it was. But he loved "discovering" everything about the coast by putting it in his mouth.