Pugmire's

Guess what day it is???

2011-12-17T00:06:00.000-08:00

So today is a certain (now) 11 year old's birthday. He is sleeping under a few balloons in a picture above. Can you guess who it is?

If you guessed Mr. Noah Pugmire...you'd be correct. He is our super-responsible, way-too-smart-for-our-own-good, uber-talented biggest brother. We kind of love him a bunch and want to keep him around for awhile. Thanks for being such a good kid and a great example to your brother and sister, Noah!

And just a tail note...she looked too cute not to snap a picture while Hal was putting her to bed. Love these kids of mine!

2011-10-09T23:18:00.000-07:00

So check this...I downloaded all my picstures from Saturday and this is what I got from the 5K we (Jay, Beth and I) ran together. The photographer is J&B's daughter and, with last minute plans changing, she couldn't stay to take finish line pictures for us. But who knew J&B took over with a small photo shoot of them-goofy-selves! It made me laugh!! At least I was in one of them for photographic proof I was there at the beginning of the race. I have determined I need to run more trail runs, cause it kicked my heiny!!!

Rock n Roll baby

2011-09-01T22:56:00.000-07:00

June 25th marked the completion of a NewYears Resolution for me...to run a half marathon in 2011. To the Seattle Rock n Roll 1/2 it was and about 27,000 of my closest friends ran with me!! The first picture is of the start of the actual race. We started with the 19,000 group...about 30 minutes after the first runners started. Holy moly! So here is my race in pictures...

Here are a few of my closest friends starting the race (ok, not so close...I don't think I know any of them ;-) )

I am on the right in a black vest, black sleeves and a white hat...do you see me?? At the 5K mark

Here we are finishing...hands in the air (aren't we awesome?!)

Another view of us finishing...amazing feeling btw!!

Seriously, the best running buddy evah! Angie Howells, thanks for the fun times!!!

pretty cool hardware eh?

Ragnar...

2011-08-06T22:49:00.000-07:00

187 Miles, 12 friends, 2 Suburbans, 1 day

So I did this little crazy race called the Ragnar. I filled in for my girlfriend who ruptured a disk while training (and has 2 additional bulging disks!). So following is a photo montage of our 24+ hours together in a Suburban:

The window says "The Hostess with the Mostest" That was Travis, our driver.

I think this guy may have run with this getup on...wondering if there is any support???

Van 1 (Pete) handing off to Van 2 (Steve)

I don't know if Pete even saw this on his run in (he decided to run an extra 1.8 miles more than he was supposed to...show-off :-)

Steve, after his monster first run...holy hill!!!!!

Holly handing off to Stephanie

Holly looking ever graceful coming down a hill

Steph, also after coming down a hill

Our sleeping arrangements for an hour or two at a time

From 8:30 pm-5:30 am, we couldn't get out of the car without these lovely vests on!

Where's Erin?

Oh....she's out running

And running....

Chip, Steve and Holly...enjoying not running at the moment

Holly and Zeke

Funniest guy ever on the bullhorn

Chip handing off to Zeke

Van 1...Stefanie and Pete Erickson, Jay and Beth Decker, Ron and Macy Sorensen

Van 2...Steve Thompson, Erin Pugmire, Zeke and Stephanie Evans, Chip Roberts, Holly Beaird and, our driver, Travis Beaird

The whole team just after the finish line...I am having a difficult time standing up since I just ran more hills just prior to this picture than I have my entire life. And they weren't much compared to others in my van!

The girls

The boys

The whole crew again

Big Brother

2011-06-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

It's not very often that I write about just one of my children...just for the heck of it. Normally, they had to do something off-the-wall, silly, or just plain naughty to get on the blog (unless of course it is your birthday, which I regularly forget to post about anyway)

So I thought I would post about my oldest...just because.

I think the oldest get a bum wrap. I say this from a parent's perspective now...not just from the view of the oldest daughter in my own family. I expect so much more from this kid than his siblings. Not just because he is the oldest, but rather because he always steps up to the challenge. I don't think he know any different. He has always been such a good helper, that it shocks me when he doesn't want to be. I have to fully admit getting upset with him for not always being my go-to guy for anything and everything. He is just good that way and I have learned to rely on him.

So, Noah, in a nutshell...you are a pretty cool kid who we were blessed to stumble through this thing called parenting with. You are a guinea pig of sorts and you have handled it famously! I still expect great things out of you, so don't think I will let up on you. I am so glad Heavenly Father sent you to us to be our first born!!

Love, Mom

Showin' the love

2011-05-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

Who love her doggies??

silly girlie

2011-05-29T22:40:00.000-07:00

How can anyone be comfortable sleeping like that???

Her hand-me-down Spiderman rolling suitcase.

We packed her up in this small suitcase at home, then unpacked at the hotel. She then took her clothes out of the drawer and put them back in the suitcase, and toted it with her wherever she went. A girl's gotta have her options all the time eh??

Playin' hookie with the cuzins

2011-05-29T22:20:00.000-07:00

There once was a mom named Heather,

Who wanted a change of weather.

She packed up her 4 kids,

and a bunch of vids

And drove out to visit the Pugmire's.

I know, I know...it doesn't rhyme. But it is getting late and my brain has stopped working trying to find those words...4 out of 5 lines work...right?!

So Ms. Heather brought her brood out to visit us lowly Seattle-ites and brought Grandma Pug with her as well for the visit. I took the kids out of school for a day to take in the Aquarium. Her is the photographic proof!

Heather, Bryson (hiding), Connor and Brooklyn

Little Miss Kaia

Noah and Jonah using the time left from another tourist on the telescope

L-R: Noah, Jonah, Bryson, Kaia, Brooklyn, Connor

Noah with the diver in the background...love the way this picture turned out. Pure luck!

Watching the jellyfish float around themselves

Kaia as a jellyfish

Jonah as a jellyfish...ever photogenic!

And finally Noah as a jellyfish!

Photo op for Connor, Brooklyn and Kaia

Could not leave Noah and Heather out of the photo op

Connor and Jonah...what was I saying about photogenic??

I love the colors of salt water fish and their surroundings

You stand under this school of fish as you walk under the Sound...always so cool to look up and see this!

2011-03-26T21:25:00.000-07:00

Would you look at Ms. Hollywood here?? Such a funny girl, I think we will keep her around a little while longer :-)

2011-03-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

Apparently, I missed my mother-of-the-year award and forgot to post about my youngest's 4th birthday so here is the photo documentation that i did not forget about the event completely!

my favorite picture of the day. Our good friend, Dan taking a moment with the birthday girl...lovin' it!

everyone played dress-ups (even boys!) with all princess dresses and past costumes of the boys'

homemade cupcake cake...so fun to eat!

blowing out the candles (and making sure the hair doesn't contaminate the cake!!)

One of Kaia's favorite boys, Jeremiah. Her other favorites are his 3 older brothers!

2011-03-20T16:34:00.000-07:00

Amazing place I live in, the great Pacific Northwest (PNW). Awhile back, I took these photos of the sunset behind our house/in our field. It really looked like the sky was on fire!! (Thank goodness it wasn't really on fire, here or anywhere else at the time!

So thought I would share a little bit of my amazing small bit of the world!

2011-01-24T16:25:00.000-08:00

It was her choice!!

So Kaia wanted a haircut. It didn't help that the ladies at preschool said they were having to hold her hair up when she used the restroom, so I guess down to you bum almost is time for a haircut! I told Kaia that her hair, if she wanted, could go to help another little girl who did not have hair like she did. I explained that some little kids have serious problems that cause hair to fall out or just not grow. She decided right then and there that her hair was going to help another little girl who didn't have her own hair. Gosh I love this little girl!!!

So here is the process in photo form...

The first snip...totally have to admit I fought tears (even though I thought I was COMPLETELY ok with it!)

Giving you an idea of how short it is in back...

the silly girl face with the final product :-)

and how cute is she???

And the best part about any haircut? It grows. Although, I have to admit, I think it is pretty darn cute. Thanks for Kacie for trying to talk her out of it (like any good hairstylist should if going drastic) and for doing SUCH an amazing job on a 3 year olds new hairstyle. We both truly do love it! Now...what hairstyles can I do on shorter hair???

2011-01-11T12:00:00.000-08:00

Look at this place!!!

I live in an amazing area of the US. We don't get snow very often usually but this year is a different story. I love waking to the sounds of snow. That might be an oxymoron because the sound of snow is quiet, muted, softened. We are getting this frequently this year. So here is to the sound of snow and our crazy, mixed up ecosystem we are living in!!

Who doesn't love ice-cicles????

the view out my driveway looking into the hills

Another view of those hills

The joys of being a landscaper and having exotic landscape...snow on palm trees--really??

And our gorgeous Moglie, who loves the snow!

2011-01-10T05:30:00.000-08:00

11/10/10

Happy 8th Birthday to Jonah Logan Pugmire

We love you tons and lots!!!

(and sorry I am a little late on this post!)

2011-01-06T12:00:00.000-08:00

Apple Cider Making 11/13/10

Every year we try to press apples in the fall for cider to drink through the winter and beyond. This year, we had an amazing cider press that 5 families went in on to buy (spendy sucker!) But so worth the cost. The masher with electric power made quick work of breaking down the apples into smaller pieces for the press to smoosh. Plus, isn't the press just pretty to look at? It truly is a great piece of craftsmanship. We are lucky to have it to use for many generations to come, hopefully!!

The apple press..duh-duh-duhn. And Ms. Alyssa helping her daddio, Jay!

All that Samurai training is coming in handy cutting these apples, eh?

The all-important mini-kegger of DC (Diet Coke for those not in-the-know). It sustained us through hours of pressing apples and processing the juice! Thanks for the sustenance Beth!!

Pouring the heated juice into jars.

Jay is really thinking "I wish Jonathon would give me a hand with these apples". The wood thing Jay pours the apples into is the masher...crushes the apples into bits that are easier to extract juice from.

The pots a-boiling processing jars and jars of juice.

I think the final count for gallons of juice we pressed was 22 gallons...correct me if I am wrong someone! It was freezing but SO worth putting away the goodness that is apple cider for another year...YUM!!

2011-01-05T12:00:00.000-08:00

Great Wolf Lodge!!

For Jonah's 8th birthday, we took him to the Great Wolf Lodge as a surprise. I was impressed by how much fun we ALL had there! So a few of the highlights are:

In the water park...way fun for all of us, just not necessarily together at the same time! Kaia was too little for a couple of the slides, but we had fun trading off between the boys and her. We were prunes after coming out for dinner!

Typical Kaia face for the camera...silly girl!!

We opened Jonah's gifts at dinner time in one of the restaurants on-site. The Castle lego "book" from Grandma Decker was a definite hit!

And the PowerMiner lego set/silly bands/gum gift came from his brother and sister. We have a rule in our house that you may not chew gum until you are the golden age of 8. I know we are the meanest parents, but it saves on being the bad guy over and over or cutting gum out of someone's hair!

A little sibling L-O-V-E!

The required pose in front of the Great Wolf sign...note the 10 year old look of "Mom, this is lame, why do we need to pose here, I am too cool for this". I love it!

We didn't actually sit in on the bedtime story reading but this is where it happened. Instead we were running around all over the lobby and the first 5 floors, trying to beat the blasted Wizard game. So much fun and so close to beating it--

So that is all for Jonah's birthday. If I were reviewing the Great Wolf:
*Super expensive
*bring in dinner from Pizza Hut (they have an Express there)
*bring extra $$ for the Wizard game
*Wear good shoes because you probably do an equivalent of 1000 sets of stairs (not complaining, not complaining!)
*Do it!!! So much fun!

And happy 8th birthday to my sweet Jonah-berry! We love you, you crazy nut!!

2011-01-04T22:30:00.000-08:00

Halloween 2010!!

We were invited to a Halloween bash this year. The Meneghini/Svedberg/Hansen family really knows how to throw-down a great shindig! So the following are some photos of the evening, followed by the annual Trunk-or-Treat at the church..fun times!!

Jonah really wanted the donut...I had many action shots of him chasing that donut in circles. But let me tell you, he got his man...I mean, donut! (By the way, he is a Storm Trooper-minus the helmet at the time)

Of course, the little girl wanted to be some sort of fairy...any fairy would do! So she got to wear make-up for the first time (I thought angels were going to break out in chorus after listening to her gush when I said we could put some on!!) And she got her first up-do...I am already looking forward to Prom and the like. I betcha she won't even let me come within 10 feet of her gorgeous locks then. Very sad to think so I am brushing away the thought now :-)

And here is our eldest, the soccer player. His costume was really original, but I will be partly to blame on this one. I kept putting off going to the costume shop to rent anything and he has outgrown every costume/dress-up we own. Bad Mommy!

And finally, just a fun picture of a good friend and her a-dor-a-ble baby girl. Kari, we don't see enough of each other (and our a-dor-a-ble baby girls!) Good to see you there that night!

So in a nutshell, I stink at updating my blog. I figure I could catch everything up over the next few days so be prepared to be "updated" by the Pug's!!

Our annual family Halloween photo:

Hal: himself

Erin: cheerleader

Noah: soccer player

Jonah: storm trooper

Kaia: fairy princess

2010-06-23T21:00:00.000-07:00

What gorgeous girls!!

Those gorgeous girls can make some really silly faces!

Taylor and Kaia, 5/21/10

does this Momma look 5 months prego??? whatev--!

Adorable Tay-Tay

Yum...I wanna gobble her up!

how fun is it to wash a big car in your swimsuits? doing big girl things!!

2010-06-22T23:07:00.000-07:00

So I promised...and failed to produce. Here are a few of my favorite pictures I have had a chance to edit. Not nearly as many as I would like but I am slowly pushing them out any free moment I have...did I say I have a free moment? Whatever!

2010-05-27T21:46:00.000-07:00

Are You Out There??

So I am busy editing my pictures from the last couple of days but I really don't think anyone is reading me anymore...I know, I know..."Erin, if you'd only be more consistent!!!" I can hear all of you in chorus saying to me. SO, if you are reading, comment or send me a text or email or something. I need a little love I guess.

Uncle Erin reading to the masses before bedtime.

We are back home and everyone is in bed already. The bathroom called my name quite loudly so I had to attend to it's quartly cleaning before I sacked out for the evening. I will update, with photos, sometime tomorrow...after payroll, soccer uniform fitting, Kindermusik and a general house cleaning! Ta-ta--

Washington DC days 5-7

2010-05-21T21:24:00.000-07:00

So after our crazy day on Tuesday, I woke up lazy. Have you ever done that...had such high expectations for a day, woke up in a mood and trashed the day based on that mood. I stayed in my PJs for 2/3 of the day. It was lovely! The weather was not cooperative either so I had my excuse! The kids had a blast jumping on the trampoline and playing imagination games (think 3 year old girls!). We took baths to ready ourselves for the next day and Kaia wanted a crown of braids...this is what we came up with:

Then Wednesday was our Library of Congress tour...at 8:30 am!! So I was up at 6 am ready to leave by 7:00 am to take the Metro into town (see yesterdays post on why I wasn't going to drive!). Kaia came down about 6:50 am saying her throat hurt...and then she threw up. Fantastic! So we skipped our tour as well as the rest of the day. The funny thing is, I got to take a morning nap with her (I LOVED it!) and then she popped up at 11:45 like nothing ever happened. "Mom, I want lunch!" were her exact words. I felt a little more guilty about not getting out as the weather was stellar!! Oh, about 80 degrees and gorgeous sunny. Back home, apparently is was raining torrentially...oh well. So lame two days in DC but nice to lay low.

Friday was a scorcher...90 degrees was the high I think. We went to the National Zoo. No pictures were taken because we were too busy looking for the animals. Apparently when it is that hot, the animals retreat for shade and don't like to be out in the open where they can be seen by toursits, like us. We did get to see the Pandas indoors which was very cool.

The boys think they want to put on a lemonade stand tomorrow and guess who is supposed to make the lemonade for them...oh and limeade too! Yes indeed everyone, that would be me. I think I am going to win the Mother-Of-The-Year Award by telling them we are not going to actually have the lemonade stand but rather do more touristy things but I think they will be OK with it by the time they have their own children...

So tomorrow's plan is sing "I'm so glad when Daddy comes home" to Hal when he comes in, go to Landon's soccer game, crash an elementary Spring Fair and try to go to Brookside Gardens. I don't know if Hal has other plans yet but I will keep you posted!

Washington, DC- day 4

2010-05-20T21:28:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was nerve-wrecking for me before it even started. I was going into the city without Megan, driving her car and had 2 appointments to walk to with 3 kids. I forgot the GPS at home (love my brain cells!!) so I had to try my hand at maps...it didn't fair so well. I can laugh about it now because I am writing this on day 5 but my teeth hurt from clenching all of yesterday. So please laugh at me with me as I type this!!

So honestly whenever I needed to go west, I went east. Supposed to go north? I was heading south. BUT I eventually found a parking garage near The White House. Our first appointment was to tour the White House at 11:00 am. The tour was great, short and I liked the portraits of the First Ladies the best. The kids didn't care so much for it so much but that was ok.

So I was supposed to walk up Pennsylvania Avenue to the other end of it to reach the Capitol for a 2:20 pm appointment by 1:20 pm for security checks. Did I go the wrong way (I know you are wondering...) and YES I did and didn't realize it until I was all the way at the other end of the road. 15 minutes the wrong way+no snacks on me+wrong shoes for Noah=grumpy kids all the way around. Points were scored for Mom when we stopped at Starbucks for water (Mom), 3 warm cocoas and pound cake to snack on (cancelled out all the walking!). We pushed onto the Capitol where Mom's new water bottle was thrown away by security before entering the building (sad Mom). The movie they show prior to the tour is really good. I learned some new things and remembered things that I had forgotten about Congress and history revolving around Congress. I REALLY liked that when we broke into smaller groups for the main tour, they give you headphones tuned to the microphone your guide is wearing. I liked it for 2 reasons:

this is the National Plaza, a shopping center, but Noah thought it cool that it had his intials on the building!!

1. I could actually hear what he was saying over the external noise everywhere else.

2. People with headphones on could tune out my screaming 3 year old, including myself.

Kaia was at her end of the rope and fought sleeping with everything she had. The tour guide gave me props at the end for keeping things under control as well as I did (thanks for noticing!!!). We then walked back to the car, parked at the opposite end of The White House.

And yes, I got lost trying to get back out of the city.

Noah and Jonah in front of the FBI building...they wanted to go in and buy FBI gear...classic!

(The building is the Mexican Embassy...thinking maybe one building existed but was added onto. Not the best in architecture, eh?)

In front of the Capitol Building...they LOVED the fountain and almost jumped in!!

...and from the other view...Washington Memorial in the background.

My favorite "art" part about the Capitol tour was the painting around the center that depicts 400 years of American history starting with Christopher Columbus. When I first looked at it, it looked like it was engraved or carved...but no, it is an illusion! Amazing what artists can do with a little bit of paint and a whole lot of talent!!! And then there is the crown of the center of the building. My first thought was "holy moly, my hand totally would've fallen alseep trying to paint that upside-down!!"

Washington, DC and other places we go--day 1-3

2010-05-19T11:10:00.001-07:00

So because my little sister Megs is moving from Washington, DC in a few short months, we decided it was time to go for a visit to see the place we call our nation's capitol. So, while I have been absolutely terrible about keeping thie blog updated, I iwll try to keep our trip updated (if not for you my one reader--thanks Mom--then for myself and my posterity). So I will start with the trip there:

Flight out of SEA leaving at 9:40 PM---wow that's late for my kids but let's do it anyway!!

Lights out! Oh wait, except for the lady sitting behind Kaia, who kept her light on the WHOLE flight to NYC. Fantastic is what I have to say to that.

Arrive NYC at 5:53 am East Coast time.

Besides the light behind Kaia, another highlight was figuring out Noah gets airsick...again, fantastic! I have made mental notes to get dramamine for our flight home and never make a red-eye flight when flying with children again.

Flight out of NYC left at 8:46 am and arrived at Dulles at 11:00 am. That is after boarding one plane, deplaning, then reboarding another plane.

**So what I have learned about myself thus far is I am braver than I should be about travelling with 3 kids in tow and no other adult supervision. I also learned that my kids are really very good when there lives depend on it.

Saturday was spent actually sleeping since I got none for 24+ hours. Thanks to Megan and Erin for watching the kiddos who wanted to play instead with their cousins. And then the planning began. Goodness, there are SO many things to do in this area!! Noah had thoughts, Jonah had thoughts...Kaia's only thoughts are about jumping on the trampoline out back :-) I got made fun of (really it's ok, Megs!) for being OCD and putting plans into an Excel worksheet...I laughed a little at myself too.

Sunday was church and then just chillin' at Team Palmer's place. The weather was beautiful! Thus more planning was taking place for the rest of the week.

Monday: National Zoo was on track, until we saw rain in the forcast. So we switched it up to The Air and Space Museum after taking back the rental car at Dulles. We then realized that there was an extension of the Air and Space Museum just past Dulles, so we made a split decision to head there...YEAH!

Below are pictures of our trip there. I must apologize about the clarity as both Megan and I forgot our cameras so I had to deal with the cell phone camera.

Little known fact about the Air & Space Museum we went to (the Smithsonian extension)...this is where a scene in Transformers 2 was filmed. Where the main characters go to wake up The Fallen to help them out...this was the place. So the plane that is "The Fallen" apparently can fly from LA to NY in 1 hour, 4 minutes. The boys really related to that after just flying about 5-6 hours from Seattle to DC. So the museum also had an exhibit dedicated to Transformers of the past and present. Megand I really thought the old school Transformers were pretty cool since we used to play with them.

Well Hi There!!

2010-03-04T20:13:00.000-08:00

I have feeling oh-so-guilty about not posting things on my little blog here so probably no one is reading it anymore. BUT I wanted to post a link to this to welcome me back to the blogging world. Take a peek at #17. Twist Weave and Cross Hairdo. The little one on the left looks a wee bit familiar!!!

(just a hint at some pictures coming up soon...)

happy Christmas eve!

2009-12-24T23:52:00.000-08:00

So traditions in the Pug home for Christmas Eve are this:

dinner (duh!)
Christmas story read
1 present opened picked by Mom and Dad
picture taken in newly opened Christmas jammies
prayer
immediate bedtime

So dinner was great with my parents this year. Dad read the story as Mom made no-bake cookies with Grandpa D. (btw, Grandpa D. has never helped actually make the cookies before. He is usually the "sampler".)

Mom forgot to wrap the jammies this year BUT they were in the boxes so a quick wrap job with the help of Grandma D. and the kids were good to go!

YaYa is very excited hers got to be pink...her fav color

I couldn't decide which of these I liked the best so I included both! Don't you love the personalities??

So now, ham is brining, Monkey Bread is raising in the oven, the floors have been swept, miscellaneous stuff picked up so Santa doesn't trip on it as he is moving quite stealthily thorough the house (is 'stealthily' a word in the dictionary??) Oh, and Hal fell asleep about 2 hours ago-lovely :-) MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

And guess who's 7!?!

2009-11-10T05:00:00.000-08:00

Jonah Logan Pugmire was brought into this world right now, 7 years ago. In fact, he was born on the cush leather sofa taking residence in my living room as we speak (or as I type anyway). Who knew this chubby little 8 pound, 14 ounce child would be my no-body-fat-to-speak-of kid at 7?? We love your spunk and attitude Jonah! Have another amazing year!

Guest Photographer

2009-11-09T08:00:00.000-08:00

Well, I normally am the ONLY photographer on this blog but I recently downloaded pictures from my camera to the computer and I had a guest photographer take some pictures on my camera...Jonah! So the following are his creations (not touched or edited by me!)

not a bad shot eh?

gotta love the self portrait in the mirror!

A lovely sign of the time of year...one my fav decorations!

and a side view of my newest BD/anniversary and probably Christmas present from my family...the piano!

I love that he took a picture of the picture of Christ above the piano; I hope it means he likes it as much as I do.

another self portrait...again, not to shabby eh?

oops, I don't know what happened here

got tired of seeing his face apparently.

Here i taught him how to use the self timer after I caught him taking pictures of everything!
self timer again.

2009-11-08T21:01:00.000-08:00

We had a little fun tonight with the camera hanging out on our bed. The boys were giggling and YaYa was just happy to be in front of the camera. So enjoy!

Day of girls!

2009-10-20T18:23:00.000-07:00

I wish I was posting about about a spa day with my sister-in-law, Carol BUT the next best thing is just hanging out with her at her place. Which is exactly what Kaia and I did together all day. So the following pictures are of my day with my girls: Carol, Chloe, Safiya and Kaia.

no sleep til...

2009-10-09T21:53:00.001-07:00

So the last 1-2 weeks, YaYa has decidedthat going to bed is overrated. So this is what I came out of my room to at 10:00 pm...how can I be mad??

(this is her "smile at the camera look". I don't know where it came from!)

Soccer time

2009-09-25T21:54:00.000-07:00

Hal is coaching Noah's team this year (U9) and Jonah gets to practice with them too so I play photographer sometimes during practice...here is one practice this previous week where the boys were learning how to strike the ball with their laces instead of their toes. I thought it humorous they were all sitting on their bums trying to kick the ball straight up in the air. Plus the lighting was GREAT! (ulterior motives for pictures are the best!!)

I really wanted to get their faces but coach was in front of them...I guess it IS better to listen to and watch coach instead of the crazy lady with the camera.

Not the greates facial expressions from Jonah, but he was determined to kick it straight up and hard!

A good action shot of Noah's funny face when he dribbles the ball.

Now let's pray for continued sunshine every Saturday until the middle of October for soccer season :-)

Another 1st day of "school"

2009-09-08T21:44:00.000-07:00

Kaia started Montessori this year the Wednesday after the boys started. She is SOOOOOO happy to be there! There was no "one last hug" or "just stay with me a little bit longer Mommy" (which bummed me out a little bit) but there were no tears either!! So here she is, Ms. 3-day-a-week-preschooler:

First Day of School 2009

2009-09-05T23:29:00.001-07:00

So here are the pictures of The First Day of School 2009. Nothing funny anyone said...pretty boring, run of the mill day of school. Breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast and OJ was requested, and delivered. Enjoy the pictures!

Two of my favorite pictures I have taken

2009-09-01T16:42:00.000-07:00

So I have a new lens and have been having a lot of fun with it. I AM NOT a photographer that is crafty, creative or good but once in awhile, after shooting a bagillion pictures, a couple do come out good. One of these was just the subject being so darn cute and another was being somewhere at the right time and capturing God's artwork so here they are:

Isn't he the most adorable????

I took about 5 pictures this day one right after the other and the sun was down in a matter of seconds it seemed. I didn't notice when I was taking this picture that an airplane was traveling through the air at the same time...how funny!! So enjoy my artwork as the rest of my pictures may leave you wanting after this :-)

Soccer Time

2009-08-31T14:46:00.000-07:00

Jonah had the opportunity to play in a 3v3 tournament in Tukwila on August 15th with a few friends and the day couldn't have been more perfect! Here are a few of the fun pictures that I took during the day.

Apparently i am WAY behind on all my other pictures, so I will be updating through the week as the kids are back in school!!!

Why me?

2009-06-27T14:35:00.000-07:00

You know those times when you honestly ask yourself "what were those kids thinking?" Well I had to voice that question to Jonah and Noah last night a they were supposed to be getting ready for bed. I was putting Kaia in her bed and came down to dry erase marker ALL over my semi-recently painted closet doors. Initial reaction: send them to bed so I don't beat them sensless (great idea BTW). Then second reaction was to have them clean it up themselves. You'd have thought I had followed through with my initial reaction!! So here is the photos of the night (yes at 9:30 pm!)

Quite the artists...aren't they? ;-)

Lullaby

2009-06-22T22:38:00.000-07:00

I went in to check on my babies before heading to bed and had to run to get my camera...I checked on Kaia first...here is what I saw:

That is Kaia sleeping on a piece of board that we keep the mattress on. The mattress is being used in the office for Hal's parents so she thought "I'll just sleep on a board, that's FAR more comfy than my mattress." Of course, she has her bear/pillow for comfort...who needs the mattress???

So then onto the boys' room to check on them. This was what I found there:

So the interesting part of this picture is Jonah's glasses. A little history-Hal's sister, Heather, flew into town Wednesday for Lasix surgery with our Uncle John at Evergreen Eye Center (shameless advertising). The goggle were given as a way to protect her eyes from dust and her own fingers while they heal. Our Jonah rubs his eyes incessently and I thought "this would be great for him!" Luckily Heather asked for a 2nd pair at her followup for us and bestowed them upon Jonah today. He wore them up on his forehead too much for them to be useful but who knew he'd sleep with them on his head. (Side note: anyone else notice how fogged up the lenses are from his sweaty head?!?).

So Noah was the only normal one sleeping but isn't it a sight when all your kids are peacefully sound asleep, whether on a board or with safety goggles around his forehead? Gotta love parenthood at this point!

2009-05-27T10:46:00.001-07:00

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A little catch up...

2009-05-24T21:44:00.001-07:00

While I wait for Megan to post pictures of our trip to Boston on Picasa so that I can download them...I will post some of previous events that I have failed to blog about :-)
This was Kaia's addition to the morning mayhem that is my life on a fine Monday morning, trying to get two boys off to school. She wanted the Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal so badly and couldn't open the box so she threw it down in frustration (so two years old!) and the top just popped off and cereal ended up all over the floor. I know many of you reading this are laughing your heads off (including my Mom) but it was far from funny at the moment. BUT I held it together long enough to grab the camera to share with all my Mommy-friends :-)

And then, she is so cute!...In preparation for flying on a red-eye flight from Seattle to Boston last Wednesday, we did a fun braid in her hair. I totally stole this from http://www.hair4myprincess.blogspot.com/ but if I couldn't use it, she wouldn't give step-by-step instructions how to do such cute things for my darling little princess! Here is the princess modeling for all to see:

So that is all for now. I will post more when I get pictures on my computer from Boston...way fun I tell 'ya!

Watch out Arnold!

2009-05-12T00:23:00.000-07:00

I don't know where my 2nd child got this trait...maybe it is a recessive gene somewhere buried deep in our chromosomes. Hal and I don't display it currently in our physical appearance. But it amazes me everytime we see his abs. Without any formal exercise training, Jonah has this little 4-6 pack going on. He hasn't yet figured out how to flex it purposely so getting a picture of it was quite hard...we resorted to making him laugh. Maybe that is where the muscle was developed...this kid laughs HARD!

Kaia went boom

2009-05-10T01:19:00.000-07:00

I know i probably shouldn't laugh (or blog about) when my children fall down but she was so funny about it! She didn't care about her getting dirty, wet or hurt...all she cared about was the CareBear being dirty and wet. I love this girl!

Happy Birthday Ethan Decker

2009-04-15T22:55:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Easter on Saturday with some of our favorite families and one of them included birthday boy Ethan. Ethan's mom Beth made her world famous chocolate Texas sheet cake (which was divine, mind you!) and we got to sing Happy Birthday to a very special 8 year old. Thanks, Ethan, for sharing your special day with us. We are eagerly waiting for your baptism date!!!

Rain+Indoor HotTubbing=Raisins

2009-04-15T22:48:00.000-07:00

Jonah REALLY wanted to sit in the hottub a day or so ago BUT it was raining (and it isn't covered) so I kept telling him no. Being the persistent 6 year old that he is, I finally gave in on one condition...he stayed indoors. So we filled up the bathtub with really warm (bordering on really hot) water and deeper than normal. Of course, I cannot keep Kaia out of water even if I tied her up so she was right there with him. The following chronicle the fun the the two of them can really have together...

Happy Birthday Gramma Hug!

2009-04-04T21:17:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Grandma Pugmire (aka Gramma Hug). Thanks for soming up and visiting us for your birthday. We love you and are happy you make so much time for us!!

Hair It Is

2009-03-28T20:48:00.001-07:00

View Album

Get your own

I have been having so much fun with Kaia's hair since my sister in law, Heather, sent me somebody's blog that does her daughters hair in so many funky ways! So Kaia's hair isn't long enough to do as many things as this other lady does but it gives me good inspiration beyond the side-swiped pony tail with a bow. So I didn't know how to move the slides around to put them in order, so you get two hairstyles, mixed up with each other. And I am most impressed that Kaia holds still enough to let me do this!! BTW, Noah helped with the "twisted" hairdo...what a great big brother!!!

Some Phun Photos

2009-03-28T19:05:00.001-07:00

View Album

Get your own

2009-03-08T23:29:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday Mom...I hope your day was a great one! We love you bunches!!!!

2009-03-08T22:52:00.000-07:00

So here is the second blog in one night...I feel an all nighter coming on!! Just kidding, for a minute there, I thought I was a college student again (haha!) So the best weather day landed on Monday, when we went to SeaWorld. The boys totally wanted to get SOAKED but Dad had other plans. As soon as we got there, the dolphin show was just about to start. Sorry boys, no soaking from the dolphins today apparently. They soaked all around us but skipped over us.

Kaia had a great time in the Sesame Street part of Sea World. We all got to ride some rides together instead of Kaia not begin able to join us. She did not want to leave but we really needed to see the rest of the park!! So onto Journey to Atlantis...the best ride of the WHOLE weekend! Noah and Jonah sat in the front of the ride...the wettest part of the whole ride. It was a wet rollercoaster on a very warm day...way cool! So I rode with them first and then Hal took them the 2nd time and they sat in the third row (less scary apparently). We tried to go back after Shamu's show for another go-round but they had shut it down for maintenance...whatever! The pictures that the park took were great but I don't have them scanned in to load them here. So here are the photos from Monday!

This is the teacup ride Mom opted out of to keep lunch down :-(

Family picture in the shark house...we walked through a tube that ran under the tank. 180 degrees of sharks (the boys were in heaven!)

overdue...San Diego

2009-03-08T21:24:00.000-07:00

OK, so I am really having a hard time keeping up with updating the blog. So...onto Sand Diego Zoo! Here are the pictures with the stories :-)

We get there and meet up with Hal's old friend from Boston, Steve. While Steve and Hal were catching up, Crystal and I took the boys adn Kaia around the reptile house (did you not figure we'd start there with 4 boys???) We made it all around the house and back to Hal. The boys were sitting on a bench and Jaedyn jumps over the fence into the landscape...stepping onto a house bib, turning it on. Imagine water shooting horizontally over the entire walkway in the reptile house...no one can get by! Needless to say, we hurried the boys out of the house. So Crystal jumps over to turn the water off but the handle came off in her hand. So instead of water shooting horizontal, it hit Crys upside the head as it flew straight vertically in the air. Quite humorous in the moment I guess...the photos should help tell the story a bit better.

So the zoo was lovely, the weather was lovely. The giraffes were quite frisky that day...didn't get a glipse of it ourselves (I didn't want to have to explain that one to Noah or Jonah!). We got to see the panda baby (18 months old) and her mommy, starting through the "separation phase" of their lives. Sounded sad to me but I am sure it is a natural part of their lives.

The cotton candy was a nice hit too (so not my thing but I gave it a go for the experience). So next entry...SeaWorld!!!

1st full day in Cali-

2009-02-21T20:16:00.000-08:00

Our first stop after finally making it to the great state of California was Legoland. I have to admit I was just as excited to be there as the boys (maybe more but don't let them know that). We had recommendations to start towards the right once inside, so that's what we did. We rode a little tour boat around a lake and the kids loved it. Good way to start seeing the park, a little bit of this, a little bit of that and relaxing. Next we headed into Bionicle headquarters and got to make a kit that had a battery pack attached to it...gots to get me one of those! Here are the boys with their finished product:

After that, the boys and I rode a "wet" ride. We sat in a ship-like pod and went around in cirles while people watching us pushed buttons that made water squirt into the air very close to our pods. Jonah and I didn't get so wet (thank goodness) and I was really worried the motion sickness their Mom possesses would rear it's ugly head...but I remained in control and had fun!

So then immediately onto the roller coaster. Again back to the motion sickness thing, I am so good with kids roller coasters. It was scary enough but not too many loop-de-loops. Dad took them on another roller coaster in the Pharoahs tomb that was dark and they got to shoot laser lights at things as they went. Both boys voted the roller coaster with Mom was most fun. I'd like to think it because of the company but I just think it was more fun in general. Kaia and I went into a ball shooting climbing house. Without a picture to tell the story, that's the best I can do. She had fun hiding from Mom whenever possible. Dad took the boys onto a castle ride (not quite sure what it was) then we found a play structure for the kids to run around, climb up and slide down. It had the castle theme again. I found a $20 bill in chasing after Kaia...great reward on top of building memories with the kids! So then we took a break for ice cream, always a winner!

Kaia started to tucker out so the boys and I went into a 4-D movie. We got handed the most ridiculous looking glasses (think Men In Black but lighter lenses). The movie was AWESOME! It was the first 3-D movie I have seen where it really looked like the image was coming at you. The 4th D was smoke and "snow" in the theater itself that matched the story line. But the technology was way cool to this momma. When we got out, Kaia had fallen asleep (and so cute!)The last thing the boys did was "Build and Race"...you build a lego car then get to race it against anyone else who is in the room also building. I helped Noah build one and he didn't like it, so he tore it apart and rebuilt another one. Jonah wanted his turn with Mom helping and he didn't like what I was doing but he put up with me. I wish I had gotten a picture of our creation because we took 1st place! Jonah know thinks his Mom rocks! (which I do of course :-) ). So that is our Friday in SoCal. You know it was a good day when it is very quiet on the drive home.

Oh I almost forgot, on Thurday, we went to the beach and Noah, Jonah, Tobyn and Jaedyn were playing in the surf. I thought it was odd that up and down the beach, no one else was in the water but, whatever, right? Until a teenager boy came up to me and said "I don't think that you saw the sign but the water is polluted" So I pull out the boys from the water and walk up to the road to read the sign we missed when walking down. It didn't say polluted...it said contaminated! I am such a great Mom, don't you think? The scrubbed with a vengence in the shower for sure! The contamination comes from Mexico when it rains super hard and their sewage moves up shore (lovely I know...I needed to scrub just knowing that fact).

Next post: San Diego Zoo on Saturday.

the update!

2009-02-18T15:59:00.000-08:00

So for those who were as excited as me that we were getting to go on a vacation, plans change sometimes. So here was my Wednesday in a nutshell...

5:00 am Wake up...is this even an hour??!! Wake kids up after throwing bags into truck.

5:45 am finally leave Enumclaw

6:30 am Check into jetBlue and make the 12 mile hike to gate A10 at SeaTac airport.

7:45 am Load onto my first jetBlue flight (with 3 kids, car seat, electronics backpack, book backpack, purse, diaper bag and jackets...we left the stroller outside the plane door) and my kids first airplane ride to their memory.

8:00 am Take Off!!!

8:10 am "This is you Captain speaking. we have a small problem in the cockpit. The Co-Pilot's windshield has a small crack in it and we cannot make the altitude necessary to make it to San Diego, so we are turning around and landing back at SeaTac airport. We are sorry for the inconvenience." What the!!!?

8:30 am Finally walk off the plane with all 3 kids, car seat, electronics backpack, book backpack, purse, diaper bag and jackets (picked up the stroller outside airplane). Whew!

9:45 am Finally pick up checked baggage at carosel 6 and met our ride outside for the 45 minutes ride back home. This, of course, after figuring out a plane to take on Thursday...with a whole lot of other people that were on the plane too.

I peeked in the cockpit to "show Kaia the cockpit" and the window was so full of cracks that were HUGE! So needless to say, I am bummed that we are not already enjoying the sunshine Cali-style but it is nice here AND we are safe and sound instead of spiraling through the air with loss of cabin pressure and needing to make an emergency landing in someone's field or, worse yet, a mountain top somewhere remote! So on the bright side, today was a trial run. We won't take nearly as many electronics tomorrow and we will repack the suitcase that was 50 pounds on the nose to be a little bit lighter...Good Times!!

Noah and Jonah assumed the position (in front of the Nintendo DS) for the forever wait between getting off the plane and finally going to baggage.The culprit, although the broken windshield is on the other side!

The Final Countdown...

2009-02-17T00:11:00.000-08:00

I normally like to post pictures with my blog but tonight will be different seeing as it is after midnight and should be tucked snugly into bed by now. I am SOOOOO excited that in less than 48 hours, we be boarding a plane for he sunny state of California. We've never been to San Diego and the whole family is going for sun and relaxation...and to visit family of course. So I will be posting pictures of this trip shortly (we're there for 6 DAYS!!!). On the agenda is the San Diego Zoo, Sea World and I heard that Legoland is there...we might head over there once or twice. And then there is the beach a mere 10 blocks from Crystal's house. We might make it there too. So look for pictures coming soon!!!! (I might not be able to sleep tomorrow night)

Catch-Up time!

2009-01-24T22:56:00.000-08:00

OK, so I have been on a small vacation from my blog...I apologize but have been called to repentance by a few close to me. So here we go with picture chronicles.

Christmas Pics
I took pictures of a few family members for their "Christmas cards".

This is my personal favorite of my parents...true Kent & Joanne form eh? Dad always has his mouth open in pictures, Mom thought she'd join in the fun.

This is a great picture of my brother and his good looking clan.

Noah's baptism
Noah turned 8 on December 17th, so he chose to be baptised on the 27th so his grandparents (living in Utah) could be there. It was a wonderful experience for Hal and I and Noah said it was great as well!

New Year's Eve...
For New Years, our good friend's, the Roberts', opened their brand new home (moved in the 26th!) to a few of us and we had a little party! I had to take this picture to chronicle Deb's growing belly. The little ones for to watch a movie or two on the projection screen, the adults played a card game or three and had good conversation. Thanks Deb for having us and letting us stay until after midnight. And the food was great!
Our friend Casey with Kaia.

Casey and Dan's baby being mawled by Kaia...she was mostly nice to him and always was soft after hitting :-(

Fun with Food Storage

2009-01-05T22:16:00.000-08:00

Ok, I hate thinking about using my food storage that I am slowly acquiring but I did find this website (see the link on the left!) for Everyday Food Storage. I am learning how to use it in my everyday cooking...since I already spent the money on it...may as well us it right? I have talked to a couple of you about this site so if you haven't gone there...go there and see that it is not an old fuddy duddy (did I spell that right!?!) doing this stuff...she looks my age! But then she jut got together with three other gals to do more of a big picture food storage thing. So the new website to visit is www.funwithfoodstorage.net. I will put a link on the let soon...busy busy lives we have I know :-) So the forthcoming blogs will be more about the family but I am kind of excited about this...let me know what you think!

Grandma Hug tree

2008-12-10T21:58:00.000-08:00

Each year, we decorate for Christmas. And each year we have 2 trees. The "real" tree that used to be in the ground that we cut down and then this cute little white tipped crafty tree that I got one year when I was single because I didn't want the real thing...too grown up for me at the time I guess. So we've kept this little tree because it is so darn cute to throw away and, honestly, because it has grown to have a very special purpose.
To give you insight, I have a mother-in-law who is the most talented tole-painter I know. She could paint ANYTHING she looks at, probably better than the original I think. So each year since, I don't know, forever, she has made Christmas ornaments for the family. Maybe since we got married...who knows for sure because I married into it. Anywho, she signs each ornament like an artist would and then gives them as gifts each year. As we've had children, each child gets their own ornament each year, with their name also written on it. I think the idea is by the time they move out of the house, they will have their own stash of Christmas ornaments for their own little tree all handmade by wonderful Grandma Hug.
So back to MY little tree. The ornaments Grandma Hug makes don't fall into the "theme" of my big tree (sorry, Barb) but they need to be displayed if nothing else, for the kids to remember the year each one was made (which, BTW, makes me smile and cry a little of joy in the memories of it all). So this little tree is dedicated to Grandma Hug's ornaments lovingly made each year by an amazing Grandma who is adored by her grandchildren.
I am going to have to get matching littler trees in a year or so as we will be getting three+ ornaments each year now. I have run out of room!! We love you Grandma Hug and can't wait to see you after Christmas.
PS. The "Hug" came from Noah, who, upon learning to talk, could not master the 'P' in "Pugmire" so he just said "Hug"...it has stuck and she loves it!!

Jonah is 6!!

2008-11-17T22:42:00.000-08:00

So Jonah has been telling everyone who asks for about a month or so that he is already 6 years old, but he did only turn 6 last week. We had our 3rd annual jump house birthday party for him (per his request) but this time at The Bouncy Place in Kent. It is HUGE, may I just say? And we had loads of fun too so a big Happy Birthday to my middle child. And thanks to everyone who helped him celebrate that whole week!!

2008-11-17T21:54:00.000-08:00

Noah's hair has gotten quite long and it is quite thick and luxurious BUT he thought he needed a little change.

We started with the sides first and truly thought about sending him to school for 1 day with a true mohawk...after seeing the fruits of our labors, we decided it looked WAY too goofy, even for Noah. (Notice how long the already cut strands of hair are on his shoulders!!)

He did think he looked pretty cool in the mean-time though.

The end result is a lot like his hair-do when he was a really little boy so it takes me back. I just wonder what the kids and teachers at school will say!!

**as a side note...would you look at all that hair?!?!?

Trunk or Treat

2008-11-07T23:46:00.000-08:00

I couldn't decide which of these photos turned out the best, so I collaged them! What fun is using Picasa?? So for Trunk or Treat, we had a karate dude (Noah), Spidey (Jonah), a quite cute lion (Kaia) and a SNL Spartan cheerleader (me!). Boston Red Sox fan isn't pictured (he's the photographer for once :-)). Kaia understood this year for the first time that you get candy...that you actually get to eat...and just by holding out your hand. She loved ti for sure but didn't love it when the night was done and Mom said "no" to more candy. Gosh i am a bummer eh? I have other characters for the actual day of Hallows...probably post that tomorrow or something. Happy Halloween 2008!

Pumpkin Season

2008-10-29T21:35:00.001-07:00

I can't believe how Halloween has just snuck up on us again this year. We finally sat down for a late FHE to carve a single pumpkin. I even worked the whole carving each piece into a teaching moment (thanks to advice from another blog Inspirational Organization) So here are the boys doing the duties:

The final product!!!! The eyes started out as hearts so we can see ways to serve others but the hearts got voted out by all as being "pansy". Into triangle they went!!!!

So scary eh? I loved these pictures!

The rest of the family...

2008-10-29T21:27:00.001-07:00

So Farmer Erin here again...here is photos of some of the rest of the barnyard family...no names I think as of yet but darn cute anywho...too bad they will be dinner some day eh?
These two little guys thought I was there to feed them...sorry fellas!
These two are younger but bigger than the first two...artificial insemination can do that for you I guess.I just thought it way cute when they are curled up to stay warm...couldn't pass this one up.
And to round out this barn, four little piggies. Check back with us in 4-5 months to see how much pork is in our freezer...selling some too if anyone is interested!! :-)
So the only members of the barnyard not included are the 12 chickens that are laying for us now. We'll see if they grace the pages one day...

It's Twins!!

2008-10-25T23:42:00.000-07:00

OK, so it's not what you think. But someone was producing twins...it just ended up being breakfast this morning. We started raising chickens in the spring and we finally got our 1st dozen eggs. The first two eggs were both twins. And they tasted wonderful. So maybe we will see some pictures of the chickens soon. And maybe the cows and pigs too! Farmer Erin, signing off!! :-)

The harvest+

2008-10-14T22:03:00.000-07:00

OK, this is uncharacteristic of me to post more than once, say, a month...but I am feeling saucy tonight I guess. I just got finished with a run of storing what we harvested from our garden this year. A good friend of mine blogged her own experience with such great photos that I had to give it a try too. So these are our green beans from the harvest this year. What sweetness it is to know in February, that my beans were grown in my very own garden!!

Then I want to throw in something that didn't come from my garden but will store much longer because of my handiwork:

Flour for baking!!!

Thomasson Family Farm Kindergarten Pumpkin Patch Day 2008

2008-10-14T21:52:00.000-07:00

Thomasson Family Farm

Jonah got to expreience his first field trip today with Ms. Merla's kindergarten class (along with all the other kindergarteners at Sunrise Elementary). He was SO pumped to be there and share his experience with his buddies he has made this year already.
We started in the hay maze and tricycle track. Then came the hay ride around the pumpkin patch to the play area. We got to pet a miniature horse, kittens, bunnies, goats and the two piggies in the picture (pink curly tail and all!). We ended the day in a corn pit (think big ball pit but filled with kernels of feed corn.) The kids LOVED the pit...although Ms. Merla said that the janitor will be vacuuming each kid as they walked into school. What great memories of public school for Jonah. I am so glad I was able to be a bystander/documenter of this for him. I so love to see the unrestrained happiness of my own child.

The faces of a 20 month old

2008-10-14T21:19:00.000-07:00

Kaia and I were just sitting at home during school one day and she was just cracking me up...great time to grab the camera!! What a hoot she is to have around. What would life have been like without her in our lives? She is our sunshine for every gray day. We love you Kaia!!!!

Get it any way you can I guess :-)

2008-10-01T22:57:00.000-07:00

We had corn on the cob for dinner tonight (amongst other things too) and Kaia wanted her own ear of corn...she goes to TOWN on the corn! I caught her in action ;-)

It was too big for her to pick up and eat at the same time...what a funny girl.

Update on the knee

2008-10-01T22:48:00.000-07:00

So after meeting with a orthopaedic surgeon earlier in the week to determine diagnosis and treatment, it is his opinion that the meniscus is intact (yippee!). The pain is probably a deeply bruised bone that should heal in 3-4 months on average (incident in July 2008). If it doesn't heal, however, we will blame the cartilage in the knee area for causing the pain. Not much can be done, apparently to treat the cartilage so he is hoping that is not what it causing me grief. So in the meantime, enjoy the MRI I pulled off the interent of what my knee picture probably looked like. I didn't get to see my own knee (and I was so looking forward to that picture!) so this one will have to do. So back to PT and getting the joint adjusted by my friendly chiropractor. Oh and the clincher of the whole thing is that impact sports are out until it heals so in the heat of volleyball season, this playa gets to ride the pine. Oh well, I would rather walk in my old age than have Hal push me around.

meni-What?

2008-09-25T22:13:00.000-07:00

**Those that get grossed out by anatomy need not read this post...I just think it WAY interesting.**

So I have been researching human anatomy and it has been years since I was in college it seems. Due to my desire to get back into the once great shape I was in prior to children, I may have overdone it (think lots of activity + a few too many extra pounds=injury). So the injury came while being too fancy in my early morning kickboxing class. Close your eyes and envision this...wait you will need your eyes to read this too so just think about it with your eyes open enough to read. Anywho, left leg comes up to kick the bag in front of my body. While still in the air my left leg does a side kick (kicking the bag with the laces of my shoe) to the side of the bag. Two kicks, one jump. I was successful two times before the injury happened. Third time, the first kick pushed the bag away from me too far and I missed the bag with the 2nd kick, hyperextending my left knee with a little pop. No biggie, right? I can push through it. So I finish class, go upstairs and do 30 minutes of cardio. In fact, I keep working out for a few weeks after the injury. The only reason I sought treatment was the incessant up and down of my stairs with Kaia in tow. After PT made it hurt worse, a referral to an orthopaedic doctor was in order. Consult (with Kaia), xray and now MRI under my belt. Follow-up with diagnosis will happen Monday. So i am benched...sidelined if you will...from further athletic activities until I can get this old knee of mine back in working order. AND because I didn't know either, I have included an anatomically correct picture of the aforementioned medial meniscus.

the weekend in review

2008-09-21T22:28:00.000-07:00

So this weekend was full of fun for all in the Pugmire home. Saturday morning, we had pictures bright and early for soccer at 8 am! That was for Jonah and Noah had his at 8:45 am!! Then J's game at 9-9:45 am, then home for a short time, then N's game 11-12pm. Back home to clean up from the soaking rain to head over to Carol's fundraiser at the Enumclaw Expo Center (aka King County Fairgrounds).

I just have to say a little sumthin' about this fundraiser that was put together a month or two ago. I did not know anyone named Denice Baxter prior to her putting together this shin-dig for Carol, nor did anyone in our family (including Scott & Carol!). She said she had felt "inspired" to put this together for Carol, just because she is a Mom too! She and her friend, Tina Rosenthal, did such an amazing job pulling everything and everyone together so smoothly, we were asked if she is an event planner by many. So I wanted to publicly thank Denice and Tina for all their hard work and, more importantly, being in tune with that little voice that inspired you to do this for a complete stranger. You have made quite an impression on us all.

Next, for everyone that donated anything, including just your time to come out and support Carol's family...no words can express how many happy tears have been shed from this outpouring of love. I stood quite a few times just looking around at everyone there...about 1/2 I knew and 1/2 I had never seen before. Tears just came many times thinking of how much one small community can do for one member when the need arises.

Carol was able to come for a bit. Her strength continues to amaze me...I think I would want to hermit at this point. Komo 4 News was there and this is the link to their interview with her:

http://www.komonews.com/home/video/28703094.html?video=pop&t=a

I am sorry that I have no pictures from the event...I forgot the camera and honestly, I probably would've just left it in my stroller because there were too many people to hug and talk to.

I didn't get home until way too late to go to my friend's wedding reception here in town. Congratulations Melyssa...have a wonderful honeymoon and a wonderful new life together!! I thought of you often throughout the night as well.

Sunday...church with friends :-) I love Primary for two reasons. The kids are really hilarious, without even trying to be. Plus I get to keep a tight reign on my two boys. The second reason is the women that I get to associate with in that organization. Deb, Kari, Charlyn and now Carol R. All great women with fun personalities. They make going to 3 hours of church enjoyable :-)

Well that is all for now. Enjoy some random pictures I wanted to share...

Finally first day of school stuff

2008-09-17T22:03:00.000-07:00

We dragged out first day of school pictures this year. It worked into the first week of school pictures. Between the actual first day of school, to the pictures Hal took when I went to work on the 2nd day of school to the first pictures of Jonah getting on the bus (for actually the 2nd day in a row). So enjoy the pictures as much as we had taking them because the days were so beautiful!!

Travis Baxter holding Kaia, Tom Baxter, Jadyn Decker, Jonah and Noah Pugmire...we had a bunch of kids for the 1st day of school!!

Jonah and his new teacher Ms. Merla. Not new to us though. Last year, she was Noah's 1st grade teacher and as Jonah puts it "She moved to Kindegarten to be my teacher this year!"

The 2nd day of school, I went to work and Hal wasn't sure if I had taken 1st day of school pictures so he thought he would help...what a great hubby! Jonah sporting the fauz-hawk and we still have Jadyn over. Josh and Adriana decided to go to Vegas for the week...roughin' it!

And the 3rd day of school, I finally get around to photo-ing them getting on the bus...Jonah's second time EVER! And boy he was still as excited as the day before, when it was his first time EVER! So there it is...2008-2009 school year off to a great start in the Pugmire home!

"Procross-tination"

2008-08-29T22:47:00.000-07:00

The new rage in our house in Family Home Evening. I know, the Pugmire's are supposed to be a good Mormon family that always has FHE but we slack here before anywhere else! (So please don't tell the Bishop and get us ex'd!) Anywho, this weeks lesson was "Do Not Procrastinate". So after a Webster's lesson on what it means, we proceed to give examples, tell a story, play a fun game called "poison", and then have a little snacky-snack.

I loved the following day remining the boys (both little and big) about our lesson.

"Noah, please do your garbage"

"Mom, I will later!"

"Noah, do you remember last night's lesson..the one on procrastination? What are you doing right now?"

"Yeah, Mom, but I will do it later."

And so forth for a variety of different situations.

Fast forward to this fine Friday evening. Movie night (Spiderwick Chronicles...very intense kids movie, but 2 thumbs up), popcorn, staying up WAY too late. On the way upstairs, Noah is just too tired to walk by himself and Jonah is out in front. I hear...

"C'mon Noah, no pro-cross-ti-na-tion going to bed!"

So next FHE, we may have to work phonetically on the BIG words we teach our children. Until then, I can giggle at Jonah's interpretation :-)

Just a fun little picture of us last year in Usk, WA. Gotta love that I am sportin' the motorcycle goggles but not riding one. Note the eternal Kool-Aid mustache Jonah had all weekend! Good times-good times.

A few events to update you on...

2008-08-24T21:18:00.000-07:00

The first isn't really an event but rather something that happens almost every morning. My boys take their showers usually at bedtime so we don't need to rush around in the morning because we slept in (we like to sleep in quite a bit). So Noah went to bed this particular night with some really wet head and had a great time while sleeping giving himself quite the hair-do--so I share this hair-do with you. Noah is going to LOVE it when he checks this blog out in a few years with a picture of this on here...maybe I will save it and show to his dates...oh the blackmail I could come up with :-)

We had a birthday on the 21st of August in our house. Our "adopted" now 21 year old Benito shared his special day after a long work day with us. I made him frosted brownies (YUM!) that he so kindly shared with all of us.

Please notice the candles...we apparently don't have any regular candles in our home so we have the numbers 3, 5 & 7, which the boys decided they all needed to be on the cake. Noah decided it needed to read "753"...which he thought was pretty funny. Jonah was in no way supposed to help Benito blow out candles...you decide if he helped or not.

And finally we will wrap up this update with our BBQ weekend. With not so great weather heading into the weekend, we were sure glad to have some HEAT on Saturday. We shared our property with great friends and family, playing volleyball, soccer, "whack-a-stick", jumping on the trampoline and sliding down the water slide. I have to say, the water slide was THE hit of the day for all children alike. Thanks Whiting's for letting us borrow it!!! So the following are ust some pictures I was able to snap while not eating, playing volleyball or socializing myself.

My personal favorite...Jonah with tanning goggles on, just sunning himself!

Phil Griffin ended up doing our grilling of hot dogs and hamburgers for us...thanks Phil!

Gary Champ introduced us to the game of Khums...aka "whack-a-stick" Turns out the game is addicting and many of our guests enjoyed playing it into the night!

The only shade area was under the eaves of the milk hosue when most people got there so that is where most of us sat and socialized.

The best part for most kids was this great water slide lent to us by our friend, the Whitings. Here, Garrett Griffin heaads down it.

We had so much fun this year with the BBQ at our place, we may end up doing it as a yearly occasion...look for it next year. I will try to give far more notice next time :-)

First "campout" + memories

2008-08-08T22:07:00.000-07:00

And no pictures of this first...I tried to get Hal's attention before leaving for work in the morning...but too busy. I got home last night and it was SO warm that I decided to wake up my boys (10:30 pm!) and go sleep out on the trampoline. So Noah was first...that kid will not wake up for anything! He kept saying "leave me alone Mom! I want to sleep. No I don't want to go outside, are you crazy?!" So I gave up on him and moved onto Jonah. Plus Jonah is in the bottom bunk and I can lift the little guy a lot easier. So I got J in pajamas and grabbed his sleeping bag and started outside...with a side trip to the potty of course! I had a couple of thick blankets laid under us to catch the dew from the grass below and Jonah thought it was pretty cool he got to lay ANYWHERE he wanted on them because he was the first one. Then Hal went up to get Noah (aka the Tank). Hal had a much easier go of getting him up. We got his PJs on, same side trip and out we went. Hal lent me his sleeping bag and we were all set! Can I just say, laying out in the dark with stars twinkling up above you takes you back to my boys' ages regardless of what age you really are. I found myself searching for a shooting star (I found a slow moving one...it grew up in the 60's I think) and looking for the big dipper. I wanted to sleep too so I didn't do much talking with the boys about it but the three of us laid there and made a wonderful memory last night. It wasn't even that cold when we woke up in the morning. Kaia thought it was pretty cool to be jumping on the tramp first thing in the morning in her jammies too.

More PP pictures

2008-08-02T12:55:00.000-07:00

I promised more pictures, this time they are of my neices. Safiya is about 7 1/2 weeks old now and weighs in at around 8 1/2 pounds already! She's a great eater :-)

Chloe is 19 months now. She did not want pictures of her this time so I think this one turned out great!
My Mom calls this Chloe's diva look...All I know is she was sad.

The Picture People

2008-08-01T23:08:00.000-07:00

So my friends and family know I love to have my kids pictures taken. So we went to The Picture People at Southcenter Mall, partly to do pictures and partly to see the huge addition they did on the mall. I would recommend to all, wait until the "hype" of the new stores settles down because it was crazy, even during the day in the middle of the week. With 3 adults and 4 kids, it was a tad bit crazy!!!!! So here are 1/2 of the fruits of our labor. I know I am not supposed to scan in professional photos but I do it purely for preservations sake :-)

So I had some fun with digiscrapping while I was at it...digital paper is SO cool! Anywho...look forward to more coming with baby Safiya as well.

His name is Stinker

2008-07-18T20:52:00.000-07:00

Just thought, for those of you who may not know my 2nd child, his nickname is Stinker and it fits. Whenever I ask him to smile this is the face I get. I love his gorgeous brown eyes and dimples when he smiles. He really does love to cuddle and is totally sensitive. But stinker, he is! Here is your chronicle, Jonah, of your stinker-dom. p.s. i love you!

Newest Family Blogger!!!

2008-07-04T12:35:00.000-07:00

FYI, Josh has joined the ranks of Decker Family Blogging. Please add his address to your frequented blogs!!!!

www.jadyndecker.blogspot.com

two in one sitting????

2008-06-29T23:00:00.000-07:00

Now don't get so excited...this is two blogs in one day!!! But I had to get that last one down before it escaped me :-)

Tonight we had dinner with our cousin Caprice and her family, who were in town from Kansas City. So I thought I would share some of the photos from tonight:

Jonah & Noah Pugmire, Abby Stapley

Chris Stapley and Hal Pugmire

Chloe Jean Decker

Kaia Pugmire, Katelyn Thorley, Abby Stapely

Ethan Thorley & Jonah Pugmire

Aunt Mif and Caprise Stapely

Analyse Stapley (spelling??)

Caprise Stapely, Kirsten Stapley, Joanne Decker

So there you have it...more pictures were taken but these were the highlights. We were promised that visits from the Stapley's would come more frequently than once every 6 years from now on!! Hooray :-)!!!

Out of the mouth of babes!

2008-06-29T22:49:00.000-07:00

Jonah: "Mom, I bet when you are as old as Dad, your name will be Hal."

Mom: "Really!?"

Noah: "Duh, Jonah. Your name would be Hal too if you ever get to be that old."

And this is why you have dinner together every night...priceless quotes from the boys!

We're teaching her young

2008-06-21T22:25:00.000-07:00

We kept our recycle box on the ground in the mud room under where we hang our coats. So after a particularly rowdy family gathering, we loaded our Henry Weinhard root beer glass bottles into the recycle box to be taken out. Next thing I knew, Kaia had found the bottles and apparently, was mimicking us drinking it. She thought she was so cute holding the bottle in her mouth liek the big people. I don't know if it is funny or we should start worrying about future habits. I guess just time will tell, eh?

A little gross...

2008-06-16T22:28:00.001-07:00

We are getting ready this morning to go to the zoo. I put Kaia down to nap first and was straightening the house, the boys were outside playing as they had already gotten their morning chores out of the way (who knew the zoo could be so motivating?!). After a few moments of peace inside the house, Noah burst through the back door and stammered "j-j-jonah fell and bloodied up his hands!" I am thinking "what's new with Jonah...another bandaid and he'll be just fine!"

So I hear Jonah, then he comes walking up the stairs with hands out in front of him, bloodied just like Noah said. I noticed blood on his shoulders and ask "why did you wipe your bloody hands on your shoulders?" Jonah replies "I didn't!". So I start walking him to the bathroom to get cleaned up and look at the back of his shirt and it is drenched with blood down to his waist. I have to admit, I started to feak out a little bit. You see, this is the first major bleeding in our family! I was always the one bleeding in my family so the tables were totally turned!

So I heard Jonah into the bathroom with Noah on my heels saying "see mom, I told you he was bloody, I told you!" Yes, you did, Noah, yes you did.

So I grab the closest rag and try to clean where I think the blood is coming from I apply pressure, just like they taught at Girls' Camp. Then I removed the washcloth and really saw how fast he was bleeding and so did Noah...he lost it and started bawling, which I started to as well. "Noah, you are NOT allowed to cry right now, not now!" "Bur Mom, did you see how much..." "Yes, Noah I did but you are NOT allowed to cry right now."

Two drenched washclothes later, we are heading out the door, Beth on her way over to sit with sleeping Kaia, with 4X4" gauze against the woulnd and a self-sticking ace bandage wrapped around that. He looked like the war injured in movies, but it was VERY effective!

Driving to the hospital like a mad woman, Mom called and calmly said, "you should try Dr. Merril's office...probably less wait". (Imagine tires screeching as I spin around the corner because I just passed his office!)

Luckily, they could see us after about 15 minutes. Jonah laid very quietly on the table while the nurse dripped a liquid topical anesthetic into the wound, then Dr. M gave a small shot (J only squeezed hard one time), and proceeded to give my baby boy 4 tiny stitches. Follow-up to remove is in one week.

1st pic: prior to stitches but after topical
2nd pic: just after stitches and a little bit of pressure
3rd pic: final product at home from Dr.'s office

I have learned a couple of things from this experience...1)Noah loves his little brother to pieces even though he likes to pound on him most of the time. 2)Jonah is incredibly brave when he needs to be. 3)My heart walks around in the bodies of three little children that I carried to 9 months and I thought my heart was bleeding all over today...I am tired. 4)The head is very vascular and can bleed quite profusely from a very small wound!

What month is this????

2008-03-27T07:57:00.000-07:00

So about 6:00 pm on 3/26/08, the snows started. It didn't let up until after we went to bed after 11:00pm!!at 8:30, there was about 3 inches (2 1/2 hours!!!!!!) and by 10:00, there was 4 1/2 inches on our fence. absolutely crazy for the NW. So school is two hours late and we are headed out to start up the three wheeler and drag the sled behind in the yard...fun times, fun times.

I knew it was too quiet!

2008-03-18T23:01:00.000-07:00

I was getting ready the other morning and thought to myslef...I don't hear Kaia...so I turned around the corner and this is what I saw. I might've been frustrated with Noah at this age but instead, I grabbed my camera.

Boy, I must be getting older!

It is an empty box of 500 qtips, maybe 6 used before this.

This is TOO easy...

2008-03-18T22:41:00.000-07:00

So Jonah is our little stinker you know. No consequences or punishments seem to phase him. As a last resort, Hal's sister in law suggested physical exercise as a consequence (not punishment of course). So we've started to do "wall sits" for Jonah as a consequence for sassy attitude or mouth. So he sits on the wall while we count out the time for his punishment. BUT, he still laughs through it and pushes the limits as much as he can. We stop counting if he straightens his legs, moves his back off of the wall or goes back to being sassy while sitting. So we can count to 30 (very slow mind you) and he bounces up and off to whatever he was doing before we so rudely interrupted him, most often saying "That was too easy!" So Hal decided he would try to do the same because it was so easy for Jonah. Hal lasted to 20 counting the same speed. His thighs were shaking and feet not holding position. Then Noah decided to try and maybe lasted to 5...Mom is choosing not to try at this point in my unfit life!!! So we may have to rethink the consequence thing again with Jonah and try to find something that he doesn't say "This is TOO easy!!!" Any suggestions??

Kaia's 1st birthday!

2008-02-24T21:03:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Kaia's 1st birthday on February 2nd and I was supposed to post this blog much closer to that date but you know how things get, right? So anyway, it was a bunch of fun with lots of friends and family there. Our small little abode was VERY full but we love it that way!! So we all ate yummy Frankie's pizza delivery and had cupcakes.

Kaia loved her cupcake and got it all over herself as she should. The wierdest thing with the presents...she didn't want to open anything! I tried to show her but she wanted nothing to do with it!!

Oh, you may notice her high chair is decked out. A shout goes out to Hal's mom, Barb, for the decorations done by hand. She made a netted skirt with rose petals to go around the front of her tray and a soft, fuzzy chair cover to go behind her in princess pink!!!! What a Gramma won't do for her little girl eh?

Weekly Update

2008-02-07T12:14:00.000-08:00

Weekly Update: 1st week of February

So here is our update!!

Hal is busy trying to finish/continue projects both around the house and for work. This probably will not change for many more updates to come. I say i will tyr to help with some of them during the day but, alas, they are still many projects to do!! I am hoping to help him with the grouting of the kitchen backsplash. Maybe if I put it in type, it will get closer to being done :-) Hal is presently at Scott's dental office having some work done on his mouth...poor guy! But it is for the better we think! We are so happy to have Scott in town as a dentist and as family to be close to!!!! Hal got to be Mr. Mom yesterday while I went to work for Scott. Kaia isn't feeling well and Grandma D. wanted her to stay home instead of going to their house. More on Kaia later though!

I am playing nurse this week, with the exception of yesterday when I was working. Someday, I promised Scott I would run on time at his office but I think for now, my mouth runneth over. I really love my profession and I love to educate people about their situation and how it can be made better. I can't help but spending extra time helping them out. Back to the Playing nurse thing...two sick children today and one yesterday and the day before. I am hoping it skips over the rest of us but we are preparing for the worst this week.

Noah is preparing at school for a concert...his first. Kindergarten and 1st graders are having a concert for their parents on the 12th and he is VERY excited about it. I will post pictures and a recap of the event next week.

Jonah apparently is a reading fool at school. He likes to keep things there under wraps from us so we grill his teachers for info. His favorite hairdo is called the fauxhawk, but "spikey all over" will do in a pinch as well. He is our healthy one now. He started Tae Kwon Do as a white belt this week and is very excited to be part of the big kid class.

Kaia has been our sickest this week. Her cough just kills me. So I nebulize and hold her tight so her body doesn't flail whith each cough. But her personality is so happy that in between fits, you'd think she's the healthiest of all of us!

This video is from 1/28/08 after a good NW snow...so much fun!!

That is all this week. Movie night for reading scriptures nightly during the month of January is coming this weekend. We are seeing "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" as a reward for our monthly goal! This month's goal is 3 days of 30 minutes of exercise as a family. Have a great week!

First Blog!!

2008-01-27T21:11:00.000-08:00

So here is our first attempt at keeping in contact with friends and family around the world!! You will notice that most of the photos are of every BUT Erin as I am the family photographer. So if anyone has pictures of me...PLEASE FORWARD THEM!! We are so slow to do this so if anyone has suggestions for improvements, let me know!!

To introduce The Hal Pugmire's:

Hal Pugmire is now 36 years old and owns Olympic Landscape Maintenance located at our house in Enumclaw, WA. He's been landscaping for 4+ years now and still enjoys it. He's got 4 FT employees, 2 of which have been with us for at least 3 years. Hal does mostly office work these days (and his middle is showing it a little :-)) but he will get his hands dirty a bit, mostly around the yard fixing equipment and the like. For being a city kid when we got married, he sure does fit into the mold of country folk pretty well. Large 4 wheel drive trucks, country music on the radio almost exclusively, jeans and Romeo shoes with Carhartt jackets to keep warm...true Enumclaw people. Hal is very excited about Preparedness these days. From food storage to living off of our land, he is trying to cover everything. I have not see him red as often as he has been these last few months about every topic on preparedness. It is great to see him so excited about a topic that benefits us all!!!

Erin (who is typing this!) is now 33 years old. After working as a dental hygienist for 11 years, I retired January 2007. (Those of you reading this who know me in day to day life are probably laughing by now.) We had our third baby, Kaia, in February 2007. So I am a stay-at-home mommy of 3!! Well, come August I started freaking out about our 10 year anniversary because I had no way to buy my DH anything! So luckily, my younger brother Scott had just bought a dental practice here n Enumclaw and I asked as sweetly as I could if he could hire me for 5 hours per week so I could surprise my DH with a gift for our anniversary. He agreed and i secretly started to work for Scott. Well, after our anniversary, I told Hal I was working 5 hours/week and it has kept going since then. As long as Scott needs me for 5 hours/week, I will be there. I love what I do but I am used to doing my Mommy errands throughout the week and working a tradtional job really puts a kink in that. I am playing volleyball once per week again with a group of girls that I graduated high school with (mostly). Otherwise I am a bus driver/bookkeeper/tutor/personal shopper/chef/maid/nurse/etc. and loving it!

Noah is now in the 1st grade at Sunrise Elementary school across the street from our house. He is so excited to be in Ms. Merla's classroom and absolutely loves learning and playing with all of his new friends. We love that Noah doesn't care where you come from or who you know, he jsut knows if he likes you or now. There are not many people he doesn't like though. He is great judge of character though. He is still my cuddle-bug and endeavors to do what is right and fair most of the time. He loves to play Star Wars the Complete Saga for our Wii. He is doing Tae Kwon Do twice per week and just barely tested for his orange belt (already passed for his white and yellow belts). He's tried wrestling and just liked it ok. Same thing with motorbike riding but he loves puttering around our yard at a grandma pace. He is growing fast (too fast for Mom) and loves to be the big brother.

Jonah is in preschool at the Montessori here in town. He loves being the big kid at school and he goes 4 days 9-3. He is reading around kindergarten or higher level and thinks he's pretty darn cool. He particularly like it when Mom is late picking him up and he gets to do "daycare time" where they get to play with toys not allowed during school time. Jonah is quite different from Noah. Jonah is very rambunctious when is around those he knows well but a switch goes on when he is around someone new. He gets painfully shy, even hiding his face in his hands to hide from that person. It is the craziest thing since we know Noah is so outgoing and talks to complete strangers with ease. But those that really know Jonah know he is crazy fellow prone to make the funniest faces known to man (he gets it from Aunt Megan!)

Kaia is our newest edition. Born 2/4/07 (Super Bowl Sunday) in our home in a birthing pool, she has been a different joy to have! It is so much fun to dress a little girl!!!!! Pink is a wonderful color. if there are more girls ever to come to our family, I may be sick of the color by then. But for now, it is the color of choice for our little girl. So now, she is 11.5 months old, she walks, tries to run if she wants something bad enough. She'll still crawl somewhere if walking is too slow. She laughs so easily and often. Her blue eyes are wide and curious! She laughs the most at Jonah's crazy faces though. She is a great sleeper and loves on both Mom and Dad. We had a scare with her at 3 months old with bronchiolitis and dehydration so we are glad she is with us and such a joy.

So that is ur family in a nutshell. I hopw to keep this blog up regularly (is that once a week or once a year?) Please check back often and drop us a line sometime!

The Pugmire's