Roller Kids

My poor deprived children had never been roller skating...until last Thursday, that is! It was the Jackson Elementary Skate Night and I decided to be brave and go with all three kids by myself for their first time skating. I know, I deserve a medal! ;)

I didn't get skates myself simply for the fact that I am not good enough on them to be able to stay up and help both of the boys skate without severely injuring one or all of us. Sadie picked it up pretty well and her girlfriends were there to go around the rink with her. The boys spent most of the time in the practice rink, which suited them just fine. Everyone kept their skates on the whole time and by the end they were only falling every few minutes instead of multiple times per minute! This is definitely an activity we need to do more of.

Ian (neighbor), Drew, Zack and Delaney (friend from Zack's class)

Getting braver...

And braver....

And braver!!

Watching the big kids whiz by.

Sadie and her pal, Sophie

Delaney, Zack and another friend from school, Tyler, trying not to fall!

Such fun times were had by all!

Fireman Drew

Drew loves to dress-up and role play. He got this super cute firefighter outfit from his Auntie Alyssa and (almost) Uncle Casey for Christmas and I brought his firetruck in from the garage. Pair that with his ninja head cover and his police helmet and he is like a full blown fireman. We have lots of fires in our house daily and he does such a great job at putting them out! :)

Firefighter Drew coming through!!

The Tooth Fairy is A'Comin Tonight!!

Ring in the New Year!

New Year's Eve was upon us two days after the snow visited. Tony had to work, so the kids and I headed to the home of our friends the Butterfields, who we know from Sadie and Zack's school. Several other families joined us there as well. We ate a delicious dinner, the kids played upstairs, the guys watched tv and the women played a mean game of Apples to Apples. It was a great way to ring in the New Year 2010!

Maddie, Taylor and Sadie

I went upstairs to check on Drew and found him in Dana's room with Dana and Megan, as well as Melissa and Bronte, all playing Barbies. Sadie isn't too keen on letting him play with hers, so he found some friends who would share! They were running to get things he requested and letting him call the shots. He was in heaven!

4 Boys + 4 Wii Remotes = Perfect!

The Countdown (East Coast, West Coast, same diff, right?)

Drew gave up on the Barbies and decided to hang with the men!

Not sure why I didn't get any pics of the adults, I guess that just goes to show how much fun we were really having! ;)

A Snowy Surprise

The night after our 3rd and successful trip to Zoolights, we had tickets to go see Polar Express at OMSI's IMAX in Portland. We really wanted to go last year but didn't end up going, so this year I had the tickets, we were all good to go. UNTIL... it started snowing Tuesday at about 1pm. No forewarning, no idea it was going to snow. We figured it would snow for a few minutes then stop. WRONG. Around 3pm, Tony and I decided we probably should start driving into Portland since the snow was definitely sticking and definitely still coming down. At about 6pm, we finally got OFF the freeway, less than 5 miles from home. Yup, it was THAT bad. We made it to Red Robin, had a yummy dinner, then headed for home where the kids and Tony (and Kahz too) played in the snow! Even though our plans were ruined, it turned out to be a fun evening. and who can be mad at snow? ;)

Little did we know we would be sitting on the freeway for 3 hours...

The end result

Our backyard slopes, so the kids had a mini sled hill!

Kahz had a blast. Not sure about his weird eyes, though...

Zoolights, a novella

Zoolights did not treat us well this year. Let me explain.

Attempt #1 - Sadie's school choir was singing at Zoolights the Saturday before Christmas. Silly me, I should have known that every single family in the entire Portland area would be there. But alas, I did not think ahead and take the MAX or even leave with lots of extra time. When we got to the vicinity of the zoo off Hwy 26, the backup went down the hill from the zoo, across the freeway and down the entire off-ramp. I knew it wasn't going to be pretty. After driving around and around and around watching the time slip away until it was 15 minutes into the choir performance time, I called it quits. Sadie cried quietly in the back seat and I tried VERY hard not to cry right along with her. She was devastated, but she took it like a champ. After some expensive cookies and hot chocolate from Starbucks, we headed home, determined to try another day.

Attempt #2 - The day we got home from Christmas with my parents in WA, we decided to try again since Tony was off work. ONCE again, every family in the Portland area was there. They must have all gone twice, I swear. No parking, another turnaround trip back home. It was getting old.

Attempt #3 - We left Eugene Monday, came home to drop Kahz off, and headed back to the zoo for one more try at Zoolights. We got there nice and early and though there were a lot of people there, we found parking fairly easily. Yessss. We got our tickets and went straight to the Zoo Train line, and only ended up waiting about 20 minutes. Yessss. By the time we got off the train, the wait was probably close to 1 1/2 hours or more. It was bitterly cold, but the lights were beautiful and we were finally there. Mission accomplished!

A Bastinelli Christmas

Wow, Christmas sure was busy for us, lots of family, lots of traveling! But that's okay, everyone had a great time and it was all worth it. The Sunday after Christmas we headed down to Eugene to celebrate with Papa Paul, Grandma Jacque, Auntie Alyssa and Uncle Nik (Uncle Derek had gone snow camping.) We opened lots of presents once again and then went out to a yummy Chinese dinner.

Bella and Maya want to know what Sadie is opening too!

But Zack doesn't LIKE Legos! Oh wait....
Looks like he does :)

Auntie Alyssa and Casey got Drew police officer and firefighter dress-up outfits. He was so excited!

Gifts from us.

I think Nik liked his sweet blender with the spout

Derek got Tony a Snuggie. Sadie had to help him try it out.

Good times as always!

Christmas with the Gilberts/Changs

After unsuccessfully attempting to get Drew to nap, we headed over to the home of Tony's mom, Marie, and step-dad, David. Tony's sister, Chrissie, and her hubby, Aaron, were there as well. We opened gifts and then had a delicious meal of prime rib, mashed potatoes, veggies, fruit salad and rolls. Dessert was Marie's famous apple pie. YUM.

Zack and Uncle Aaron

Grandma and Sadie

Grandma got Sadie this darling hat at REI. She wore it in our backyard several days later when it snowed and left it on a table on the back porch since it was wet. Well, during the night some animal (I assume a raccoon) got it and tore it to shreds. The beast. Now, we are not of the belief that everything in life that breaks or gets ruined has to be replaced, but this was a brand new, very nice hat! Fortunately, REI still had the same hat, so for now, all is well.

Grandma Marie also found these super cool Lego guy headlamps!

Uncle Aaron and Drewby

Chrissie took this amazing picture of Kahz when we first got him and had it printed and framed for Tony

Chrissie and Marie coordinating their gift opening since they both got the same thing from us.

Who's the goofball of the family? Why, the youngest, of course!

Sadie was thrilled to get the pet llama of her American Girl doll

Drew the Dog Whisperer. I am serious. Ask Zoomer and Gracie.

All in all, we have a wonderful time and a really great Christmas Day. I can't wait for next year!