It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness.

We are doing some home improvement while Ron is home & started with tearing down a nasty wall in the basement. We found two windows which appeared to be the cause of the black mold we found on the dry wall which the previous owners installed directly in front of these windows (some people should not be allowed to do home improvement). And then we found this...


...a big, scary hole where I'm certain there are dead bodies buried. When Ron first showed me I couldn't handle it. I had to put Maddy in front of my face to shield me from the scary, monster-filled darkness. She was very brave & protected me well! But, on a happy note, we found out this was the reason for some of our cold drafts in the house. This is open to the outside allowing wonderfully freezing air to blow into our basement (not to mention the creatures that find their way in to warm up)!!! Ron has put up insulation & closed off the entrance so we are nice & secure now...I hope!

Christmas is the season when you buy this year's gifts with next year's money.

We had a wonderful Christmas & Maddy got a kick out of tearing paper & having access to the Christmas tree. I thought I did pretty good staying under control with buying presents but Ron mentioned how spoiled Maddy is several times (all in good fun) so I guess I wasn't as controlled as I thought!

Maddy helped Daddy with some of his presents too!

Maddy has been wearing her beads everywhere she goes. Sometimes they are a necklace, sometimes a belt. Just depends on what looks best with which outfit!

Whatever the struggle, continue the climb. It may be only one step to the summit.

My little climber! Maddy likes to stand on the couch & look out the window. I was worried about her falling off & hitting her head on the wood floor so I piled the pillows around the couch. Well, of course, she decided that looked too good to pass up so she started climbing. She thinks it's great fun. The best part is that I only had to tell her once to go down on her tummy & now she does it all the time!

Santa Claus had the right idea. Visit everyone once a year.

Maddy had her first visit with Santa Claus. She did really well & didn't cry at all. She did look at him like he was crazy, but she looks at me like that all the time too! The Corvallis Parks & Rec had a program where you can make an appointment with Santa for 10 minutes to take as many pictures as you want. It only cost $6 and I think it is MUCH better than standing in line at the mall or outside in the cold for hours just waiting to take one picture with Santa. It was the first of year they did it and I hope they keep it up. Great idea!!

An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day.

Grandpa Jewell came all the way up from Arizona to spend Thanksgiving week with us. He & Maddy had a great time playing & getting to know each other.

Grandpa even taught her how to play Suduko!

Maddy got an early Christmas present from Grandpa...a big pink puppy! I have since named him "Pedro the Pink Puppy". Maddy sure does love her Pedro!

So, now she thinks she's a dog. She loves crawling around with various treasures in her mouth!

I tried to be a little creative & made some caramel roses with chocolate leaves for the pumkin cheesecake. OK, so only one chocolate leaf made it but I tried. Better luck next time!!

If life doesn't offer a game worth playing, then invent a new one.

Everyone got some play time in. Ron & Ben played a few rounds of ping pong while Emmie showed me all the treasures she has in the basement.

I'm not sure if Maddy & Eiley knew what to think of each other but they played together a few times & no one got beat up!

OK, well Eiley may have gotten beat up a little :-)

In the end they were good friends!

Families are like fudge...mostly sweet with a few nuts!

We were excited to be able to have the Jewell family come down to visit us at Debbie's. It was great to see everyone & introduce Maddy to her extended family.

Eat, Drink, and Be Scary!

We had a wonderful time spending Halloween at Debbie's house. We had our traditional pumpkin carving contest which Ron won with his "Puking Pumpkin"!

Then the guys were off with the kids for trick-or-treating while us ladies hung back by the fire & served up candy & hot chocolate.

You May Have to Fight a Battle More Than Once to Win It

Ethan was a Jedi Knight for Halloween so he practiced his moves with Emmie before going out Trick-or-Treating.

Of course Debbie had to get in the action too. She lost an arm & both legs before finally defeating the tired Jedi Knight.

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.

I love fall!!! These are just a couple of pictures of the trees around our house.

I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.

This weekend we went with our friends to a big pumpkin patch. We got to have a hayride to where all the pumpkins were & pick a pumpkin (for the low, low price of $0.26 lb.)!

Picking out the perfect pumpkin with Daddy & Mommy.

Having fun with Reagan. Autumn & Reagan, Marsha & Maddy.

Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.

Maddy has been enjoying being able to explore things on her own. She's been a great help in the kitchen!




Relaxing with Daddy in the evening. It's tough work to destroy an entire kitchen!

My eyes are an ocean in which my dreams are reflected.

We visited the Oregon Aquarium this weekend & had a great time looking at all the strange underwater creatures.

One part of the aquarium is a giant tunnel you can walk through & have fish all around. We didn't get a good picture because there were more people than fish but here's the picture from their website.

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.

Maddy has had a very busy week. Besides learning to crawl (see video in previous post) she has grown two new teeth (Hey! You try taking a picture of barely visible teeth while a baby is crawling towards you trying to steal your camera!)...


and learned to pull herself up to standing (along with destroying my neatly folded clothes)!

The great thing in this world is not so much where you stand, as in what direction you are moving.

Time to put up the baby gates & secure the cabinets! Maddy started crawling yesterday! As I sit here trying to post this, she is crawling around the office attempting to eat every wire she sees!

Courage, determination, pride...that's what little girls are made of.

Maddy has been very busy lately learning lots of new skills. She is very close to crawling, can sit up without support, & dumps out her toy basket all by herself! The best thing is the big grin she gets on her face when we clap for her.