Thanksgiving, Double Digits and Julie Andrews

Thanksgiving kicked my butt this year. 

These are pictures from last year (I didn't have time to take many this year) to give you an idea of what the Thanksgiving Outreach at our church looks like.

This is our gym, we call it The Commons, ready for our guests

 The first seating. 
When they're done we clean and re-set the tables and do it again. And then again.

In years past I've lead the Buser and Server teams, overseeing the Commons. Or the Condiment team, putting the rolls, black olives and pickles on all the tables then bringing out the pumpkin pie after dinner. But now that I'm the Custodial Supervisor at church, I lead the Custodial team this year.

I went into it thinking, "So we empty trash for a few hours. How hard can this be?" Oh my word, I had no idea just how MUCH trash we'd need to empty. And if we didn't get to it soon enough how heavy it would be to lift out of the can. And how much heavier it would get as we carried it out of the building and out to the parking lot. And how it would be even heavier as we tried to toss it up and into the dumpster! (I eventually got smart and went downstairs to grab our big rolling trash bin so we could fill it and didn't have to carry them out of the building.)

And the trash in the Commons would fill up within seconds. Not exaggerating!! Plus there were trash cans in the Reception area at the other end of the building. And in the childcare area downstairs. Plus cleaning and restocking the bathrooms. I'd clean one sink, move to another and someone would come in and immediately use the sink I just cleaned. I can't tell you how many times I'd be in the middle of cleaning and 15 people would walk in.

I had a few volunteers help in the morning but for the most part it was just me and Beth. She would go into our Women's Cry Room whenever there would be a break and it didn't take her long to fall asleep! It was a very long and exhausting day!

  

 

And when we got home... no wonder my feet hurt!

Last month I ended up buying Julie Andrews new book and I'm loving it! It's funny and surprising... I'm only about a third of the way through it but I highly recommend it!

Today we celebrated Allie's 10th birthday! Sharaya always does a phenomenal job on decorating and themes... she's really gifted in this area! It was a Winter Wonderland theme and there were so many fun elements to it. All the kids got to make gingerbread houses, there were snowflakes and snow and nutcrackers, it was amazing!

And look at this cake! Her friend Jen from Tasty Spoons Bakery made it and all of her cakes are stunning!

Happy Birthday Allie!

Snoqualmie Falls

We all had President's Day off (Sharaya worked a couple hours) so we drove up to Snoqualmie Falls. It had been such a long time since we'd been there! I think Sharaya was about 8. It's changed so much! We remember it being way out in the middle of the mountains, but we were there pretty quick on Monday. It's not far from the heart of the city of Snoqualmie now, mainly because it's been built up so much. Chuck dropped us off, then went to park the car, it was so crowded! Course, it was a holiday and sunny out, so I guess we weren't the only ones with this idea. :)

The falls are fairly close to the highway so the walk is easy. Down a few steps and you have this gorgeous view! Usually during February there's snow on the ground up here, but we've had such a mild winter (here on the west coast, anyway) this year, our mountains have very little snow at all. The ski resorts opened for about 2 weeks but then had to close again. People who did go up ended up ruining their skis and boards from hitting too many rocks.

It was a gorgeous day and I hope we don't wait another 10 years before going again!

 

 

It's Here!!

 

It's time to celebrate the birth of our Lord!

We hope you all have a very blessed Christmas!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Biscuits!

I just re-read some of my posts and they've been a little sad lately. Sorry about that.

We've had a really good weekend. For the first time in months, Chuck didn't have to work. We had 4 days together and it was awesome! We didn't really do much, but even while we just watched TV, we'd hold hands and talk. It was exactly what I needed. On Sunday we drove down to Federal Way (about 30 minutes from here) to the Black Bear Diner for lunch. We love that place! We usually only go there when we're on vacation but when we found out they opened one near us we knew we were in trouble! Our favorite thing on the menu? Their biscuits! Diana took this picture, these biscuits are huge. At least 5" tall by 4" across. I'm not kidding! SO yummy!

 

Diana went to a friends cabin over the weekend. When she got home she told us about how they went out on the row boat but no one knew how to row so they kind of got stranded. She talked about how gorgeous the cabin was, how the owner just kept feeding them. Sounds like she really had a good time!

 

Sharaya, Ryan and Allie went camping with their small group. I think this might have been the first time Allie slept in a tent! They borrowed our blow up mattress but I haven't heard how it went. (I stole these pictures from their facebook pages.) :)

 

 

 

Except for when we went out to lunch on Sunday, Chuck, Beth and I stayed close to home this weekend. Just the way we like it.

If It's On the Menu Board...

Today was a holiday for Beth, Diana and me. Chuck had to work but the rest of us slept in and relaxed most of the day.

Beth spent a lot of time downstairs watching movies and writing. She writes names with her pens and then goes over them with markers. This was taken about a year ago, but now she's writing only proper names.

Each section begins with the same letter but each page has numerous sections. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it but she does this for hours. I've asked her where she gets the ideas for the names and she shrugs her shoulders, "I dunno." I think she does know, I've just never pressed the issue. :)

Diana was in the mood to watch movies today so she put in Sound of Music and we curled up on the couch for a while. Love that movie.

We had soup and sandwiches for dinner tonight. Well, Beth doesn't like grilled cheese sandwiches (crazy, I know!) so she had soup and a salad. Often on Tuesdays we eat at church before going to the prayer meeting but I talked to her today about eating at home tomorrow night. When Chuck got home, Beth asked him if we can eat at church and he said he thought we could. Beth hollered into the kitchen, "Hah mothera!!" (Yes, she calls me mothera. Accent on the 'uh'.) I told her we were still talking about it and we might not eat at church.

So she went out to the kitchen and wrote 'church' on the menu board! If it's on the menu board, it must be happening! :)

It Only Comes But Once a Year

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all my blogging friends! 

We hope you have a very happy New Year!

Tis The Season

Allie is down for a nap so I thought I'd give you a little update. I expect at this time of year, any of our blogs read about the same -

Wrapping.....

Christmas parties.....

(This was our office staff party)

Christmas lights.....

(Not our house)

I didn't wait for Chuck to stop.....

A concert or show somewhere.....

(This was at our church)

(Both Adult and Youth Choirs)

Beth is between the orchestra director and worship leader

I hope you're all doing well! Only 4 more days till we celebrate the birth of our Lord!!