My favorite so far....

Ollie watched "Elf" last night.  He got all set up with Sprite, popcorn and a comfy chair.

Package Peeking

Ollie got into a bit of trouble tonight.  Ethan fell asleep and hasn't seen it yet, but in the morning, I guess he gets to open our family gift because Ollie already did.  :)  Silly Ollie.  He's one silly Elf.

Christmas Break!!

We have finally hit Christmas break and we are SO excited about it!  We have big plans for crafting, baking, looking at Christmas lights and otherwise establishing traditions and a sense of "holiday cheer" in our tiny man.  :)  Ollie has been busy the last couple of nights.

 On the night of the 16th of December, he held a race with other toys in our living room.  They built their own finish line and raced towards it.  :)

 On the next night, he got into our cupboard and found the cookies Ethan had bought at the store.  He had eaten them all when we woke up to find him upside down in the cookie box. 

This morning we woke up to find that Ollie had spent the night making paper snowflakes.  he wrote us a note saying that maybe his paper snowflakes would help to bring a few real ones and then the skiing would be better.  He said he hoped that Ethan had a great day skiing with his dad yesterday and wished us a great day.  He sure made a big mess, but Ethan and I spent the morning adding to the mess and learning to make paper snowflakes.  It was a wonderful time!  :)  Thanks, Ollie for the idea!

I'm off to see what adventures we can find today.....

JC Woodworks: as local as it gets

So, Sam and I have been having this conversation lately about buying local.  In thinking on this topic and talking through it with Sam, I am really quite proud of JC Woodworks in it's choice to be as local as possible.  Not only do they do business with other local businesses, but they donate to local causes and serve on committees for La Grande Main Street with intentions to eventually join the Chamber and sponsor soccer teams.  :)

La Grande has a LOT of locally owned businesses that are vital to our community and the economy within it.  Bugs and Butterflies, Grande Ronde Med Spa, Fitzgerald's Flowers, The Potter's House, Rosewood Cottage, Serendipity, The Mountain Works, Hobby Habit, Cold Coffee Media, and many, many more. Owned and operated by people who live and shop here in our valley!

It came up the other day because I was telling Sam that I was quite proud of JC Woodworks in their efforts to always buy local whenever possible.  All the construction, repair and remodel on the showroom and shop came from local contractors, plumbers, and electricians.  All the parts, paints, electrical and plumbing supplies, heck, even the light bulbs were purchased locally from locally owned business like La Grande Paint and Glass and G and V Supply.  The vinyl lettering for our windows were ordered and installed by La Grande Quick Print and our large sign up front was done by Grande Ronde Sign Company.  JC Woodworks orders their wood, lacquer, hardware, and other supplies specific to what they build from outside of the valley as that is where they need it to come from.  However, anything they can purchase locally, they do.  Right down to their printer ink coming from Swartz Ink and their office supplies coming from The Copy Club.  It costs minimally more to purchase locally, but the benefits far outweigh those costs.

The other part of JC Woodworks is that their lumber comes in as planks directly from the tree.  All of the work that goes into making them into beautiful items for people's homes (cabinets, beds, chairs, dressers, etc) is done right on site at 1415 Jefferson by our skilled, hard-working guys!  That means they start by making the plank of rough wood into a piece of wood that can be used for such items.  Then they cut, sand, assemble, and spray finish according to the design put together by their customer with help and the eye of our very own Mr. Sam.  :)


JC Woodworks is about as local a company as any can be and I am very proud of that fact! 

14 balloons

This is what we found when we woke up this morning!  Ollie had decided to try a little hot air ballooning!  Apparently, it took 14 balloons to get him in the air.  Ethan recognized the balloons as the ones available from the Dollar Tree and for a while we contemplated that.....

We are still having a lot of fun with our Ollie the Elf project and my friend suggested that I might need an elf for every month and that maybe I will miss Ollie more than Ethan will when Christmas comes and it's time for him to go.  That might actually be true.  :)

In other news: Ross and Katie are visiting to get their engagement photos taken here in La Grande.  They got in yesterday and we had a great time playing games and sharing wine last night.  They also got to come to Ethan's school program, which made Ethan feel like a million bucks.

Today is the last day of school for Grande Ronde Academy before the Christmas break.  Ethan's excited for his class party.  I volunteered to help and am looking forward to it as well.  We have a fun weekend planned and Sunday will be Sam's first day of ski patrol at Anthony Lakes for the year.  There's not a lot of snow up there.  He's taking Ethan with him and they are both looking forward to going.  I have a board gathering that morning, so I will have to miss this one.  But we plan to be on the ski hill every Sunday this season.

Now I'm off to have another cup of coffee and enjoy the quiet and hopefully visit with Ross and Katie (if they ever wake up......).

Ollie's latest shenanigans...

Ollie made Ethan two angry birds.  The yellow one was first and then the next night, he made him the "bomb" bird.  Ethan was so very excited to get them and was hoping that Ollie would do all of the birds from one of his favorite games!  :)

Last night, Ollie decided to have a little fun with our family photo from a few years ago.  He did some funny stuff and Ethan thought it was pretty funny!  Luckily, it was erasable!

 

This is what Ethan will find when he wakes up in the morning.  Ollie saw the little bathtub that holds our lotions and toothpaste and thought it might make a perfect bathtub for a bubble bath for himself this evening.  He even found himself a mini-wash cloth and a couple rubber duckies.  :)

My good friend SBW

I wanted to take a minute this morning and write about my friend Sarahbeth.  We went out for lunch yesterday and talked, laughed until we cried, and enjoyed some wonderful conversation (and the food was TO DIE for!) and catching up.  I told her that I had been bragging about her a couple days previous and was actually a little bit shocked to find that she was really quite surprised by the idea.  She couldn't understand why I would brag about her.  Sarahbeth was in an accident and burned over 50% of her body about 3 1/2 years ago.  After 36? surgeries, Sarahbeth has good days and bad days, but she's more than just a survivor, she's a fighter.  I thought it interesting that SB would find it strange that I would brag about her.  The more I thought about it, the more I thought that a lot of people probably only see the strong, awesome, rockstar SB and don't know all the reasons she really is incredible....other than surviving her trauma.  I thought I would share some.

1) Funny as hell.  She WILL make you laugh until you cry!  and sometimes it's ever so subtle...you don't even know it's coming!
2) Open.  She doesn't hide much.  She's open about her scars, her healing process, her feelings, her emotions, how she feels about the friendship you share with her, all her dreams and passions.  That is a rare find in a friend these days.  We are all so filtered.
3) Honest.  SB doesn't sugar-coat things.  She tells how it is.  Don't get me wrong, she's super nice, but she also has an honesty about her that is refreshing.  It's one of the things I love most of all.  She'll tell you her honest opinions and feelings.  She is also honest about her feelings and that is also rare.
4) Talented.  Before the accident, SB did many things.  She was a musician, a swimmer, an actress...her dream is to be back in that life someday and she's doing the dedicated hard work it will take her to get there.  Those talents were not burned in the fire.  She spends her time these days crafting, playing piano and singing, and doing what she can from the comfort of her home in the body she has right now and every month, that body gets more and more cooperative.
5) Dedicated.  She is dedicated!  Dedicated to her healing, dedicated to her friends, dedicated to her recovery.  I have rarely seen such focus in anyone else I know.
6) The best fan EVER!  If you ever have a fan club, you want my friend SBW to head it up!  She has never missed an episode of Criminal Minds (not even re-runs) and I have seen her get up before the sun to watch Rafa play tennis.  I doubt she has missed a match.  However, there is no comparison to her love and support for Jack White.  :)  The man of her dreams!  :)
7) Brave.  This is where I will put all the awesome rock-star SB things that the fire has brought out in her.  She is just about the bravest person I know.  She experiences fear and lots of it, but she doesn't let fear stand in her way.  She goes in for surgery after surgery knowing that her body doesn't heal the way it should.  Knowing that she is a "hard stick" for nurses and difficult to intubate. Yet, she goes in and lets Dr. Garrett work his magic in spite of her fears.  I think that is the definition of brave.


I really could go on and on, but mostly I wanted to record some of the feelings I have for my friend Sarahbeth and let the world know that I think she's incredible and I consider myself very lucky to be her friend!  If anyone reading this blog wants to get to know Sarahbeth, CLICK HERE to read her blog.  You can also find her on facebook.  She's a great friend...everyone should have one like her.  :)