The Websters

Ya Better Watch Out...

Santa Claus is coming to town!

Here is Mac talking to Santa trying to convince him to take him off the naughty list.

You can Never Get Enough Fireworks!

Since we forgot to take out own stash of fireworks to the block party on the 4th, we decided to have our own little display the following two nights.

First off, you've gotta love the names of these fireworks.

 

 Who makes these things?!

The kids certainly get excited about them!

 
 

While the kids were enjoying them,

 

the dogs were NOT!

  

Fred also got a kick out of them!  I mean, what boy, I mean man, doesn't?!  Fire!  Fire!

 

 

 
The neighborhood kids came over the next night for another short show.

 
We saw some pretty cool fireworks at the block party we were at, so maybe we'll have a bigger show next year!

Sun, Neighborhood Fun & Fireworks!

That just about sums up our day on the 4th!

We started the day off at Hillcrest.  Lindsay and her new beau, Adam, met us for lunch by the pool, and the kids and Fred swam.  Swimming has "clicked" with Mac these past few weeks and now he is holding his own in the pool and off the diving board.

Then it was onto field games.  They were so much fun!  If my ankle was messed up I would have had more fun, but Fred and the kids participated, and I was able to do the water balloon toss.

  
Nice feet, Fred, coming out of the bottom of the sack!

  
 
 
 
The last field game was tug-o-war, this round was boys vs. girls, and in defense of my gender, I am happy to report that the girls won!! :-)

After our fun afternoon at Hillcrest, we headed over to our friend's neighborhood for a 4th of July Block Party.  There was tons of good food, great friends, and way to many young kids running a muck with lighters and fireworks! :-)  There even was a good old fashion patriotic bike parade!

 
 

  

Just look at the carnage!

    

 Here are some other fun photos from the block party!

 
Mac having fun with chalk.

We decided to head back over to Hillcrest to get a good view of the City of Boise fireworks display.  Here are a few shots I took of the fireworks.  Of course, the kids slept through the whole show!  Just too long of a day, and it gets dark here in Boise just too late.  The show didn't start until 10:15pm!  Love being in the Mountain Time Zone, when we really should be in the Pacific!

 

All in all, a really fun day with family and friends, and we enjoyed being home, in Boise, for the first time!  

Little Green Monsters

Today was St. Patrick's Day.

We all wore green.  

The kids got green shamrock lollipops and festive cupcakes.  Way too much sugar, to be sure.

Gwyneth was sick and I got a call at 10:30am to come and pick her up.  She had no fever, but a tummy ache.

She seemed pretty fine all day.  Guess maybe she just needed a break.  Of course, as of tomorrow they are on Spring Break and have two weeks off.  She couldn't wait one day?

Mac finished up his latest session of swim lesson and conquered Level 3!  He swam the entire length of the pool with no assistance!  Way to go Mac!  Just in time for lots of swimming in Florida.

Tomorrow Fred and I will attend the school's first student-lead parent/teacher conferences.  Should be interesting.  I wonder if they'd mind if I video taped them? :-)

I am avoiding packing.  I don't know why.  I have a pile of clothes in each of the kids' rooms, and nothing set aside for me yet. We leave for Florida on Friday for two weeks. When I say "we" I mean the kids and me.  Poor Fred has to stay home and hold down the fort.  New job = not much accrued vacation time.

I am sure I will be packing late into the night on Thursday night, even though I have to be up around 4:30am to get showered, etc. to be ready for a 7am departure.

In addition to trying to get packed for Florida, we are having our hardwood floors refinished starting Monday, so for the past several days we have been moving all of our furniture in to my garage bay.  

When I return from our trip we should have:

• a completed remodel
• refinished hardwood floors
• carpet installed in our family room and a new carpet runner on the stairs
• all our vents and ducts thoroughly cleaned
• the entire house scoured top to bottom by a very OCD cleaning gal that I have

Any other random thoughts?  Nope-I think that's it.

Enjoy our little green monsters!

You SAW a leprechaun?! 

Like Mac's hat?  He made it at school today.

She is really growing up!   

Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas Everyone!  We are off!  Santa brought us a trip to Cancun, Mexico, so we're out the door bright and early tomorrow morning!  Here are some fun photos from the past two days.  Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Merry Christmas!

Weekend in Seattle

Wow!  Where has the time gone??!! The last date I posted was Dec. 8th and now today is the 21st?!  Last weekend (meaning not this past weekend, but the one before) and last week are almost a blur!  I will be trying to play catch up for the next couple of days as more fun activities of Christmas Break wait in line to be posted.

Let's start with our weekend in Seattle, Fri., Dec. 11 - Sun., Dec. 13th.

The kids and I flew out late Thursday night and arrived at Auntie Bob and Uncle Gary's house around 10:30pm.  Of course the kids were so wound up and excited to see them that we didn't get to bed until almost midnight!  Mac wanted to open gifts, and to appease him, we let them open one special gift.

 

MR. BUNNY!!!!!

 

He now sits, or lays as the case may be (all he needs is the chalk outline!) behind glass.  Since this photo was taken a plaque has been added that says, "Mr. Bunny. May 5, 2004 - August 31, 2009."  Mac's birthday - Mac's first day of kindergarten.  Mac was so excited, and then asked Auntie Bob if she could take off the glass.  Poor guy.  In retrospect, I think it would have been hilarious if we had hung a small hammer off the side of the frame and had a sign that said, "In emergency, break glass!" 

Gwyneth also got something special.

 

A memorial to her dear Oscar.  So heartwarming.  That is his actual tag below his picture.

After finally getting everyone to bed we had a great night's sleep and got to sleep in and lounge all Friday morning-wonderful!  Then it was off to Bellevue Square to visit with Santa and enjoy some holiday fun!  It was great being there on Friday because the place was so quiet!

Bellevue Square does such a great job decorating for the holidays!

 

Then it was off to see Santa!!!!!  I LOVE the Santa set up they have at Bellevue Square.  It is so magical!

 

 

After a successful visit with Santa, it was off to Build-a-Bear!

Gwyneth made "Sparkles" the Snow Leopard and Mac made "Max" the wolf.

To round out the day we had dinner with family and visited Snowflake Lane!

We joined our cousins, Lee and Dick, as well as their grandson, Nick, and his wife, Kate, and daughter, Olivia, for a yummy dinner at Palamino.  They live at the top of Lincoln Square.  Check out their amazing view!

 

Are they too cute?!

After dinner it was onto Snowflake Lane!  Ever night at 7pm on either side of Bellevue Way, between Bellevue Square and Lincoln Square, snowflakes fall, Christmas music plays, and drummers drum!  Magical!

With their Great Uncle Dick and a drummer girl.

With Rudolf.

I didn't want to miss a photo opportunity with Rudolf!

It's snowing!!!  Gwyneth pointed out to me, "Mommy.  It's only bubbles!"

Whew!  What a fun day!  And that was just Friday!

Saturday was a bit more mellow.  Again, another lazy morning-lovely, then the kids headed to the movies to see" The Princess and the Frog" with Gary and Robin, and the Gwyneth and Robin had a night together, while Gary too Mac to a basketball game.  I headed over to the mall BY MYSELF and spent an enjoyable afternoon shopping, sipping a latte and then met up with my girlfriends at Wild Ginger for dinner.  What a great day!!!

Sunday was another fun, but busy day.  Gary started us off with his famous French toast breakfast-YUM!!!!  The kids and I then headed over to my girlfriends' house for an afternoon of playing and visiting.  Gwyneth and Mac were able to hang out with some of their best buddies from Seattle.  Gwyneth and one of her best friends, Peyton, got to hang out.  They are so cute together and miss each other!

The whole gang (that was there that day)!  Gosh-they have gotten big!

After the party with our friends we headed back to Gary and Robin's house for an evening of opening presents, pizza, and the Botanical Gardens.

Mac couldn't wait to open PRESENTS!!!!!!!

Now that the gifts were opened Mac was able to move onto the next activity-the Bellevue Botanical Garden light display.  It is amazing!  I highly recommend it if you are ever in the area around the holidays.

Fun, fun, fun!

Then it was up early Monday morning (4am early!!!) to catch a flight back home and get the kids to school!  Fabulous weekend in Seattle!!!  We love you Auntie Bob and Uncle Gary!  See you this summer!!

Gingerbread House Party

On Saturday Gwyneth and I enjoyed our new Christmas tradition of making Gingerbread Houses with my friend Kristin, and her very generous family.  Last year was our first year, and I had to admit that at the age of 35 I was making my very first gingerbread house!  So needless to say I was very excited to be invited again this year.  In fact, I was emailing my girlfriend quite some time ago asking her if her mother-in-law was having her gingerbread house making party again!

Here are some fun pictures from our afternoon!

Thanks Kristin and Leslie!!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Thanksgiving Review

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving visit with Fred's parents and his brother.  We enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner with our cousins, the Bennetts, and good friends, the Thiedes.

Check out my scrapbook of our wonderful long weekend together!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Happy Easter

HAPPY EASTER FROM ALL OF US TO YOU!  We hope the Easter Bunny was kind to you and you weren't heathens like us and not make it to church.  Hopefully we will be forgiven...isn't that what Easter is all about? :-)

Oh...Nigel wanted to say Happy Easter too!