Life as it is now:

Okay....all done catching up on 3 months worth of blogging. Thanks for all your patience everyone. I am finding a place for blogging again and with some good intentions I will keep it up.

I snapped this picture on Saturday. Pat was "elephanty" for Syd and Sara. The picture hardly does this goofy situation any justice. Pat is a wonderful pachyderm!

I snapped this picture while goofing around with my old new camera. My digital camera has vanished. I have asked the girls,s repeatedly if they have taken it and they swear innocence. See...these girls have a habit of every now and then picking up things that don't belong to them and sticking them in "secret" places. Luckily I know where these hideouts are and every couple weeks I check them over. I usually find one of my earrings, something I told the girls to put in the garbage or a piece of pretty junk mail. So, I have reason to think that little hands have done away with my camera. Still they seem pretty sincere when they say they didn't take it. Anyway I am back to learning how to use my old one. I liked this picture of Sara.

The girls LOVE playing with each other. Honestly they play prentend for hours. I am so glad they like being around each other and really have fun together. This is what I hoped for when I had them less than two years apart. I find myself knocking on the playroom door and asking if I can play. Syd is usually willing but Sara is often brutally honest and says "not right now Mom...maybe later". Funny. Here they are just playing away:

Ruby is sleeping by my side right now as I type this. She is such a wonderful dog when she is sleeping....so peaceful. Is it bad that I hope she doesn't wake up till after dinner? This is her and my first self portrait. She is really cute!

ALONG CAME RUBY:

On Christmas Day we welcomed Ruby Jewel Hardwick into our family. I thought she looked like a Ruby and Sara wanted to call her Jewel from Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy. Luckily She was willing to settle for the middle name.

Ruby has been a sweet puppy. We love her but make no mistake she is just that.....a puppy. There has been lots of fun and tears as the girls adjust to their new nipping friend. The house is VERY picked up these days as she will eat anything in sight.

Here is a video for Andrea and Jana taken on Jan 12th to show how much she has grown.

We finished up Xmas with my folks a week later because their neighborhood was still buried in slush. We wanted to wait until we could bring both Grandmas over safely.

Here are some shots of our relaxing time.

Pat was the most relaxed of all I believe.

The girls were tickled with their new fancy dolls.

Oh....my darling Sara.

A WHITE CHRISTMAS

Christmas was wonderfully snowy this year. Happily there was nowhere we needed to be so we could just play and enjoy the snow. Syd started winter break a whole week early (We will pay for that this summer.) As expected Sara spent her time in the snow eating and eating and eating....

Syd takes a ride down our front yard hill.

She really likes the now. I think she may be my new snowboarding partner. Not that Pat has been fired or anything.

Pat built snowzilla in our yard.

It was very impressive!

We spent our inside time doing Gingerbread houses. They were lots of fun.

The same amount of candy that ended up on the houses ended up in two small tummies.

We didn't have dinner that night. Hmmmm? Maybe that is my answer to my dinner problems....just serve bowls of candy in the afternoon. Vola! No arguments about dinner.

XMAS EVE:

This was the scene outside our window Christmas eve. It snowed nonstop through Christmas Day.

Gram, Grandpa Jim, Chris, Kriszta and Sam came over to celebrate with us.

Syd decided Grandpa would make a good bed.

Pat bought Chris a nerf gun for Christmas.

What he didn't mention is that he also bought himself one and hid it in the Christmas tree for a suprise attack.

Sam chose this smashing ensemble playing dress up. Chris wasn't too sure about it.

CHRISTMAS MORNING:
Santa came and left all his goodies for the girls. This year I decided to stay in bed and let them discover his presents all on their own. It was so precious listening to Sydney talk to herself in disbelief and then go and wake up Sara. The pure belief and excitement was awesome.

I loved that back of Sara's head looking at her stocking loot.

Here are the sleepy parents. We decided we looked younger if we stuck our chins out. Not sure we fooled anyone.

Syd with her WallE action figure.

The big winners this year were our old digital camera for Syd. She loved it and has snapped about 1000 pictures already. Another winner was the Cinderella laptop for Sara. Both kids share the toys back and forth.

Also, Santa took a big gulp and gave the girls the princess dolls they asked for.

A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS:

Once again it has been a long time since my last blog and it is tough to sum up all that has happened over the last couple of months. I figure a good place to start is just my favorite things.

All the way back to the end of September we had a wonderful time at our property. Definitely one of my favorite things is BURNING!! Syd took this picture of me fully enjoying burning all the brush I can get my hands on.

Andrea joined us that weekend and decided rustic Vine Maple furniture was her calling....well, until she got bored. The table lasted a couple of weeks and sadly was crushed under a load of lumber it was so bravely trying to hold.

I love how the girls are so happy at the property.

Sara sips on a milkshake from the 59er Diner on our way back to Bellevue.

Sydney is so contentedly tired on the drive back home.

I asked Pat to grow a beard for me. He will usually do this for me once a year. Yeah!

Cookie making is a popular activity around the house. I am so grateful that I can be home with my girls and that are lives are so blessed that we have time to feel such joy at the little things, like cookie dough on beater.

Halloween was fun packed this year. I got to help out at Sydney's class party. I came as a witch but had to take off the nose as it scared a couple of her classmates.

Sara got to come too. She is Queen Amadala with a different head piece. The once that came with the costume made her cry so I had to improvise. Thank God for the Party Store by Sydney's school. Sara still wears and loves that mask. One of the best $5 dollars I spent in 2008.

Sydney poses with Arely.

We got to spend Halloween night with our friends. Here is the whole motley crew.

Syd and Sara took their new identities very seriously.

Sara is enjoying the spoils of all her trick or treating work.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Sydney. She is such a big grown up girl now. I love watching her change and grow. She is such a beautiful person, inside and out.

Pat worked really hard on the cabin, with lots of help from Bruce. This was our last visit before the snow came. It was so fun to stand on the porch of our new vacation home.

We had a little picnic lunch before we retired to the comfort of our hotel room in Leavenworth. Hopefully that will be the last time we will need to stay at a hotel. The Bavarian Lodge is by far the best stay in Leavenworth but I can't wait till Hotel Hardwick is open for business.

Pat and I celebrated our 6th anniversary. Usually I snap a head shot during our celebration but this year I was in bed after my thyroid surgery. (I don't have any pics of that.) But this was taken shortly before. I love being married to Patrick!!!

Christmas drew near and the first week in December we put of the tree.

Then came the snow: Next post.....