The kids had there first baton meet and did quite well.  Jamari had a bit of a brain-freeze anxiety during his solo.  Which was a bummer.  But he did so well in his other events that he managed to walk away with second place in the all-around for his age division.

Zeria did extremely well, and managed to catch 2 or her 3 one-spins.  She also forgot a bit of her solo, but she kept going and did her own twirling while she thought it out.  So it wasn't nearly as obvious of a mistake as Jamari's.  She too managed to place second in the all-around for her age level. 

I wasn't expecting Kaylin to place super-well, but she did have fun, and walked away with ribbons--even if they were technically last place. The deal is due to her birthday she's competing in a older age group.  Which is unfortunate, but just one of those things that happen. 

All in all a good day though.  Even if we did end up driving in very thick snow the last hour home.  And woke up to more of it today.   Its not a pretty snow either.  Just very cold and icky.

Samuel refused to pose with his ribbons.  LOL  He didn't do well.  I'm not entirely sure what happened.   He totally bombed military march--somethings he's quite good at.  Instead of marching an L he marched part of it and then just quit. 

And in his solo he just got very creative and didn't do anything either I or his coach suggested as stop-gaps while you were remembering your routine.  All in all not a good day for him.

But the first competition is over, and they all had fun, so that's what counts. 

And we made it home in our rust-bucket.

The irony of buying a SUV for snow, and having it in the shop for the first snow of the year is NOT missed on us.

One of those rare and exceedingly magical nights.

I did a full day grocery shopping and got home and couldn't find my thread.  Since I had *just* bought fabric that I had full intentions of working on tonight I was IRRITATED.

Rob offered to load us all up and go get some from the mom & pop store which amazingly enough has two different colors of thread.  We had to go immediately as they close at 6 in the winter.

As we headed the whole mile there I noticed the beautiful moon, and requested that we sneak down to the Bay before heading back.  (A whole mile if that out of the way.)

It was soooooo worth it!

Doesn't God provide amazing gifts?!

On the car front.  The new mechanic is quoting us approximately $400.  On top of the $400 we just paid for our other vehicle.  *sigh*

Rob doesn't want us to go to Idaho.  If we were smart we wouldn't.  We'll be talking about it tomorrow morning when he gets home...

Yeah so the excursion hasn't been looked at yet, cause he keeps mucking around with our red van.  Which we need before we can get the excursion looked at.  He's had it for over a week and a half.  *growl*

Every day he promises it will be done "today".  So Rob trusted him today.  hahaha.  He had another lovely excuse.

And he's the ONLY mechanic within 35 miles, so we get to suffer in semi-silence.

*snort*

And continue to worry as to wether its a big issue with the excursion, or not. 

Its so much joy.

I was going to go to town and grocery shop today, but alas no vehicle. 

And wether we go to Awana or not remains to be seen.

Gotta love it.

It was a dog, kid, cat pile last night in our bedroom.

Rob got home early last night, we finished watching Missing without a Trace, and were headed to bed when we heard Zeria whimpering.  We told her to come out of her bedroom.  She prefers to lay and whimper rather then come ask for help.  She came, she had a headache, and a stomache ache.  I assumed it was a migraine (she gets them once and a blue moon).  We got her some medicine, and headed to bed. 

A few minutes later Rob heard her whimpering again.  He went and got her, and she was just rocking in pain.  I massaged her and distracted her until the pain killer kicked in and let her sleep on the rug on my floor in our bedroom.  She much prefers sleeping there anyhow LOL, but we have her weaned down to about once a month which is a vast improvement from when she was little. 

So we settled down to sleep,  only by this time I was WIDE awake and couldn't turn the light on and read due to the Zeria on the floor.  Eventually I got to sleep to be woken by a knock on the door and a hysterical Rainee.  Rainee *NEVER* comes into the bedroom unless something is seriously wrong.  Maybe once every 6 months.  She's hysterical cause Zeria's missing.  I pulled her into my arms and gave her a hug, and told her Zeria was on the floor.  But she'd worked herself into such a fret she cried herself to sleep. 

Rob never moved.

When Rainee came in Cookie came in as well.  I could hear her sniffing around, and was growling about it (me not the dog growling).  But she soon settled down with Zeria and we all went back to sleep.

Except then Jeremiah knocked on the bedroom door.  I called him in.  He's become a regular night visitor.  He gets a cuddle sleeps with me for about 20 minutes, and then gets carried back to his bed (if Rob wakes).  He snuggled in next to Rainee and I, and its a good thing we have a King size bed.

All was ready to go to sleep, except Zeria's kitten apparently snuck in...and decided I would make a great place to sleep.  Purr, Purr, dig claws in.  Okay enough already.

I woke Rob up and asked him to remove the cat and dog.

He blinks sits up and says.  "When did they come in?"   Pointing at the kids.

Yeah...he'd sleep through a tornado.  I found myself laughing, and relieved to see the cat the dog and Jeremiah go back to bed.

So if you see the toothpicks in my eyes you now know why. 

Wee our first busy weekend of Christmas is over.

The kids had there first baton performance as a Clallam Bay squad.  I have basically NO pictures cause I was too busy coaching.  I must remember to pass my camera off next time.  I do have this taken right at the end of the senior squad doing Its a Hard Knock Life.

It was a very dark picture, but I edited it and its so-so.   They looked so cute in there flannel and red hats.   

All of the parents were 15 minutes early which was nice.  Its nice to know they aren't going to drive me batty with late-itess.  Faith will testify as to how much I hate that.  *snicker*

Our Excursion is making a horrible sound, and is headed to the shop tomorrow.  We are praying so hard that it will be a cheap fix.  If its not I think Idaho is out.  *sigh*

As it is...we are supposed to compete at Olympia this weekend and I'm not sure we're going to pull that off unless it gets fixed very quickly.  *sigh*

We were so excited because it looked we'd found the light of our little financial hole...and now we're looking at another one.  I know its much less of a hole, and the sacrifice is no Christmas trip--not no food.  But it still is exasperating.  Prayers are always appreciated.

I bought an Awana tree...before the realization of the sick car.  And its up and beautiful.  Rob and I also walked down to the end of our property and cut a spruce tree out of the ditch to do one for the sunroom.  The kids decorated it this morning.  (mostly KK and Rainee). 

In the process we found a very very very nasty grose "suprise."  I had one box of older Christmas ornaments.  A combination of ornaments Rob came with from making as a child, and that I collected as a child/teenager. It had never been unpacked since we moved.  Where we lived before had a HORRIBLE mouse problem.

So imagine my shock as I got deeper then I normally did and found a petrified set of mouse bones...and I touched it with my hands before realizing what I'd grabbed.

And then I *knew* I had to empty the box, and sort it.  It was not fun.  Nasty, nasty, nasty.  I ended up dry-heaving over the toilet.

We rescued any glass ornaments, but all of the cloth ornaments were ditched.  And lets just say.  Nasty.  Rob had to finish the cleaning for me--and then we all washed and washed and washed our hands.  LOL 

I blogged this once, but it disappeared into cyberspace.  It won't be as creative the second time.  It was a lazy day yesterday.  Jeremiah decided to get a jump-start on his Sunday afternoon nap and laid down on the carpet at church and took it during the sermon.

After my Sunday afternoon nap we ended up down at the river.  It was such a warm November.  And not one single power outage.  Amazing.  That is definitely a first for out here.

And today we have officially lived FOUR years in Clallam Bay.  It was a good move to make. 

Yup that's me.  In my $4 Goodwill dress I got two weeks ago.  And a red scarf I bought 3 months into my marriage.  But I love it.  LOL   Even if I look way too granny in that picture. 

My ever wiggling boy.  This picture isn't totally clear due to his never standing still for a picture.  I took it as he was mooooovin.

And Christmas came early for me.  I'm sporting a very nice 10.1 mega pixel.  12x optical zoom camera.  It was on sale this weekend.  And is what I've been telling "Santa"  I want since umm October when I realized it had come out.  hehehe.

It takes much better quality indoor pictures.  But I'm still learning its outdoor settings.  Both of the two above were taken with the zoom, but on the wrong lighting setting.  Which is why they aren't as clear as I'd hoped.  But for the most part I'm thrilled with it.  And have to share one of the first pictures I took with it to show what I mean.

In the past using the zoom inside was just death on a picture.  The flash did NOT compensate.  I took this with the flash, and significantly zoomed up.  On a candlelight setting.  And I was just delighted with the romantic look of it.  Even if it is just a lamp.  LOL

And amazingly enough we still have money in our account.  Its amazing how God works.