Today

Andy is having fun coloring and now he has moved on to building tracks! Whoo Hoo!!!
When Alan came to the door, I didn't seem him pull up. Andy did! He said "hey, here comes Unlce Alan!" He ran to the door very excited! Made Alan happy too! it was nice!

Our Car

Well it has been a long few days dealing with the insurance company and our car. Our car was in an accident. The lady tells me. Like I didn't know!! And since it was in an accident you have to deal with the fact that the cost of repairs are more than the car is worth (to them) so they have declared that our car is totaled. They feel our car is a complete loss.
After much research and discussion, Alan is currently heading over to pull a part to get the parts to fix my car for under $50 bucks. Hello! Okay so I know that if we took it to a shop that we could pay and arm and a leg to get it fixed, but this entire thing is crazy.
So, after Alan fixes my car, I have to take it to the State Patrol and have it re-titled so that I can continue to have insurance coverage for my car. The entire thing is stupid and tedious. It feels like the insurance company just took our car and decided it is a POS and we just have to deal with it.
There was no account for the fact that the transmission is the most valued part on my car! Hello!!!! For a Ford Taurus a new transmission is like gold! And the one we have is only about 4 years old.
We had to really think about what we wanted to do. The insurance company was ready to tow her away, and give us a crappie check that wouldn’t pay for anything that we would want to drive.
Our neighbor just bought a new to her car. And then in this weather, the first thing that happens to her is the starter goes out. I think that would be worse right now, feeling like I should have a car that runs and then have it break down on me all the time. YUCK!!

Christmas Day

We had a lot of fun Christmas Day too!
Andy woke up and was very excited about the gifts under the tree!!!
He love to unwrap presents! He thinks that is the best part until he gets playing with his new toys. He even enjoyed me rewrapping some of his trains so he could open them again!
Hans' Mom and Sister came down and spent the day! We had fun. Andy got a Lego Grocery Store! and a Circus Train! He played with them for hours. Stocking the selves then loading the train and taking the goods away. Bringing them back and restocking the selves. He had a blast!!
We enjoyed such movies as KungFu Panda!

Christmas Eve

We had a lot of fun Christmas Eve. Grandma Jensen (My mom), River (my sister), Aunt Shelece (my other sister) and Uncle Alan (yes my borther) Came to visit us!
The gifts got wet in the back of the truck. So there was a gift opening frenzy that took place as soon as they came in the door. We of corse needed to know that even though the gifts were wet that they were also safe.
Andy got a couple of train sets. One is a mountain that the trains can race down the other is an airport! He loves them both! He got some more trains! He loves his trains. They have already been to the bath with him twice!!
Shelece was very happy with her gifts and so was Chantel! Yeah!!!
We had a great time hanging out and playing with Andy all day!!! It was a great Christmas Eve!!!

Pathway

Strange things are under foot.
In Everett if the path was shoveled it is clear. If not it is soild ice
to walk on. The roads are doing great. Side streets are still icy but
main roads are just wet.
In Marysville
The pathway is strange. The snow plows have created a three feet height
differance between the road and the sidewalk. There is a packed walkway.
It feels like you are towering above the clear and wet road. It is very
strange to walk around in our current weather!
--
Sent from my T-Mobile Sidekick®

Bus

So I took the bus to work today! It worked out great!!! I managed to get
on the one bus that goes right to down town Everett! Tomorrow I will get
off at the closer bus stop now that I know where it stops at. I got home
okay too!
At work we watched cars get stuck most of the morning. Some cars had a
hard time just getting in or out of a parking spots. There are huge
monds of snow on the edge of the roadways. It was worse in marysville
when I got off the bus I was up to my knee in the first step. The
pictures are from downtown Everett.
--
Sent from my T-Mobile Sidekick®

Crunch - Did you do this?

My car got hit. I didn't even drive it in the snow! Hello! So, some where there is someone who did this to my car and didn't even have the guts to tell me.
I had to call the police and report that my car was hit, they were not happy to be bothered with such a stupid thing. My insurance company is coming out on Monday to take a look at it. So we can get her fixed soon I hope!

I have to say a big Thank You to Tracy for giving me a ride to work and making sure that I had a ride home. Thanks Nancy and Bill for the ride home! I guess I will have to decide before Monday if I am getting a ride or taking the bus. Wow!

Shopping

Everyone got a ride at the same time!!! We are all standing in line..
There are 2 or 3 people behindme with full carts just like me!! Wow!!!
--
Sent from my T-Mobile Sidekick®

Few more Pics

Snow Day Again WOW

So why is the weather man right again! This must be some record!!! I remember growing up and thinking the weather man always always lied to us! Saying we were going to get snow, and the we didn't. So, this getting it right thing is really strange.

Andy LOVES the snow! He woke up really happy that it was still snowing. To my surpise it continues to snow! Wow! Where we live is known for getting snow and then it melting right away. We usually get maybe one snow day a year. Well, this is so not the case this year. The snow seems to be sticking around. So, we had to walk carefully to the store this morning. Andy enjoyed a snow ball fight with hans! His little snow handfuls just make it look like it snowed on you! It was a lot of fun! He also made a few snow angles!

The parking lot at the store must have had de-icer on it, it was a slushy wet mess. Andy thought it was strage. He did like the huge semi tow truck that is parked over there!!! We were worried that the alarm might go off because he wanted to take the snow off the truck!

Snow Day

Yeah we played in the snow! Andy and I built a Snow Man (very hard to get a good picture of) He enjoyed learning how to make snow Angels! He liked that he could throw a snow ball and not get in trouble.
We enjoyed a walk to the store! There were some other kids out playing! Andy was tickled. He was worried they were getting hurt because the boys were trying to slide in the snow. It looked fun!

Markers

Andy loves to draw! He is always drawing.
We have this big tin we he keeps his crayons and markers in. Well, he is 3 1/2. He doesn't put the lids on his markers all the time. So, they tend to dry up.
I went to the store on Friday night after completing two of my classes for the quarter. One of the things I picked up was washable markers.
When I came home and gave them to him, he said "oh thank you mama"
I love getting oh thank you mama! It is my favorite!
The first think he did was take them out of the box and put them in his tin. Then he colored his yellow train caboose red of course.

Bath Time

Andy loves his bath time! He takes all his trains into the bath with him. He probably has the cleanest toy trains ever.
Yesterday when he got out of the bath, he was running around the house looking for Georgia.
Georgia is my friend’s dog. I don't know why he thought she would be here, but he did. It was really cute. He came up to me, "Mama where Georgia?"
He didn't like that I said is she was at her home.

Christmas Parade

Andy Loved the Parade!





We had a great time! He wasn't sure why we were standing in the road, but was okay with it because there were other people out there too. He was very excited when the police came down for the start of the parade. He had two favorite parts. First was the Marysville Pilchuck Marching Band! They decorated their interments. Andy Dances the entire time! It was great. Second, he really liked the Fire Truck!
It was a lot of fun; Andy got a handful of candy canes and was wound up for a while. He finally fell asleep and slept all night!

Having fun

--
Sent from my T-Mobile Sidekick®

Perfect end

We had a great day today!
--
Sent from my T-Mobile Sidekick®

More pics

--
Sent from my T-Mobile Sidekick®

Turkey is cooking

We are waiting on some yummy turkey! Andy is playing with his trains and
having a great time. We went for a walk earlier before the clouds rolled
in. Andy's favorate song today is from YoGabba Gabba. He keeps singing..
Eyes on my face eyes on my face nose on my face nose on my face mouth on
my face mouth on my face. He is having a great time!
--
Sent from my T-Mobile Sidekick®

The night

Andy is doing good in his new bed. He fell a sleep next to us and I put
him in his bed. He even stayed in it. Meaning he didn't fall out of bed
last night. This morning he was dry so off to the potty we went. He is
very pleased that he is learning to go potty!
--
Sent from my T-Mobile Sidekick®

Pictures

Devil doll

--
Sent from my T-Mobile Sidekick®

Stopping for gas

--
Sent from my T-Mobile Sidekick®

New Bed

Andy loves his new bed! I guess we will see tonight if he sleeps in it!
After this picture was taken we but up a picture of Thomas on the wall and he has a little night stand with his Thomas Lanturn and some of his Thomas books.

Traditional Thanksgiving

Growing up, Thanksgiving was a huge event at my grandparents' house. All estranged family members we never see would converge on my grandparents' house in a remote corner of the world. We would have turkey, stuffing (with the giblets), mashed potatoes, Grammy's homemade yeast rolls, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, both types of cranberries (the ones with sticks and the ones without), fruit salad and of course, different pies (pumpkin, lemon meringue, homemade venison mincemeat). I almost forgot the holy black finger food, olives! I was trying to remember the veggies we had. I think we would have salad, I don't remember eating much of it, but I am sure we had some. I had an aunt that was famous for creating the oddest, yet yummy salads.
We had so many family members we would have two different tables full of people. The kids would congregate in the "music" room around a table, the adults in the dining room overflowing into the rearranged living room. Us kids would play board games and try to stay out of the way. When the Atari was invented, we would hide in the back bedroom and play games like bowling and pong for hours until our enormous meal was ready.
As I grew older, I got the privilege of being the one to make the fruit salad. I would start early in the day with the cutting of grapes in half. Then slicing the canned pineapple and the maraschino cherries. I would squeeze them into the fridge so they could hang out together. The maraschino cherry juice dyes the pineapple pink. Then later in the day I would slice apples, bananas and open a can of mandarin oranges. I would add as many mini marshmallows as I could get in the bowl and mix it all together with whipped cream. I was and still am very proud of my fruit salad! It is yummy and a must for a Thanksgiving feast.