December 2010

Hello December. Good-bye glasses. After much discussion, Maggie finally decided she wanted contacts. We knew playing soccer with her glasses was really a game of Russian roulette. It was only going to be a matter of time before they got broken. So we made the upgrade and I absolutely love seeing her gorgeous eyes again. Of course, this means Gary now has to brush up on his gun skills so we can keep the boys at bay but we knew that day was coming soon anyway!

I was really good this year and got all my Christmas shopping done early (thank you internet). Which meant December was now open for fun and relaxation. I got an added bonus this year (sort of) when the pipes in our office broke, forcing us to work from home for two weeks. I love working from home. I'd do it every day if I could.  During the last six weeks of 2010, I only worked four days in the office. It was wonderful. I love my job so it was nice to still be doing it but I also love being with the girls and having a clean and organized home. I have to find a way to close our building more often!

The whole family starred in the church Christmas program this year.  It was a story of Queen Anne of Bohemia (me) and her husband King Richard (Gary). Although we played main characters, Molly and her partners in cuteness Jackson (the smoochee - see September 2010) and Morgan stole the show. Don't the cute kids always steal the show!?! Molly wore a hoop skirt that went straight up when she sat down so even when she wasn't on the stage, all eyes were on her!

The holidays were great. We stayed home in our jammies all day on Christmas which has become our tradition. We get together with family before the big day so we can enjoy every minute without racing from house to house. It also gives us the opportunity to enjoy all the other traditions we have started. (I love traditions!) The girls got exactly what they wanted and so did I.

We headed up to our friends family home on Blewett Pass where there was 28" of snow, no power and no phones...just the way we like it. See, the house never has power or phones so we are well versed in how to deal with that and it requires us to relax and enjoy one another. The snow gave us lots to play with and made the tubing hill awesome! It was the perfect way to end the year.

November 2010

It's been a long time coming but Maggie finally scored her first goal of the season.  And it had her parents literally jumping for joy.  Seriously.  Her father was jumping up and down with his fists in the air.  He was so proud!  We had a great angle from the sideline.  We watched her beat the defender, shoot, get the rebound and put the ball in the far corner just as if we were running right behind her.  It was totally awesome. 

Gary celebrated his birthday this month. I'll give you three guesses what we did. Did you say soccer?  Do we do anything else?  Gary's boys had a game on his birthday so we celebrated in pieces spread over three days.  First there were ribs.  Then video games.  And finally family time.

We got 14 inches of snow just before Thanksgiving and the kids couldn't get enough of it. It closed down school and work and cancelled everything so we got a nice, peaceful break before the holiday chaos kicked in. We played in the snow, watched movies, drank hot chocolate, delivered a calf and perfected Gary's sweet potatoe casserole recipe. By the way, you didn't misread anything. Gary helped deliver a calf on our break. Tug, aptly named for the method of his birth. It was quite an experience!

Molly has been a dancing fool this month.  Her sister borrowed Just Dance for the Wii from her friend and Molly wants to play it every waking minute.  I'm pretty sure she has danced to every song at least once and her favorite is "Who let the dogs out."  Some of the moves are a little tough for her but she is a hoot to watch. She is supposed to shake her shoulders in one song but it seems like everything but her shoulders shake... especially the tush.  On another, she has to do this "gallop" move and watching her try makes me laugh every time.  But she is confident she knows what she's doing.  At the end of one song, the "crowd" on the game started cheering and Molly squealed "they love me!" Of course they do. And so do I!

Happy Birthday Molly!

Ms. Molly turned 4 in October and is now a big girl. She's as sassy as they come and equally as stubborn. But she's been that way since before she was born. At 4, she is talkative and very social. She makes friends where ever we go. She loves to dance and imitates her big sister's every move. She is wicked smart which is both a blessing and a curse! She loves to cuddle and read stories before bedtime. She also loves Sunday school and her baby. She could watch Phineas and Ferb or Scooby Doo all day and loves movies. She is a lot of fun and sassy or not, we wouldn't change her for anything.

October 2010

October was Awesome! Soccer was great. We went camping for the first time this year. The weather was gorgeous. Molly turned 4 and had a fabulous Jessie party. It rocked.

Maggie is really getting the hang of playing forward. I'm not sure what happened but a switch flipped in her one game and this soccer animal came out. She is tenacious, fighting for the ball until she gets it. She is using her speed, blazing past defenders and forcing opponents to switch thier lineups and double team her (her father's proudest moment). She has amazing endurance and is very talkative during the game. She's shooting more than she's shot in the last two seasons. It is a blast to watch! Her team also took in a Sounders game this month and just she and I went. It was our first trip, but it most definitely won't be our last! Gary's girls have had an up and down season but they pulled out a come from behind victory over district rivals. That win earned them ribs a la Gary and bragging rights. What could be better?

We headed to Mayfield Lake for our first camping trip of the season. I know, it's a little late but better late than never! We had the best site in the park, right on the water and were surrounded by good friends. It rained on us some but the last day the clouds parted and we had the best day of the whole weekend. We ate smores made with carmel vanilla marshmallows (Oh. My. Gosh.), fished and hiked along the water. We are all ready to go back!

Molly turned 4 this month and she was counting down the days all the way to her birthday. She had a Jessie (Toy Story 3) party with all her friends and claims that now that she is 4, she is grown up. Well, not quite but you can keep thinking that.

She was also Jessie for Halloween so you can probably guess...she really likes Jessie.  Her sister couldn't resist the opportunity to wear a dozen peace signs and chose to be a hippie! It was a busy but fun month!

September 2010

We kicked off September with another soccer tournament and then headed full on into the season. The girls are still figuring each other out and they improve every week. Maggie is learning so much and improving in her own right as well. It is very fun to watch.

It was also back to school for Gary and Mags. Maggie started her last year of elementary school, 6th grade. She got the teacher she had hoped for (again) and was really excited to be "top dog." I'll wait until later in the year to remind her that she'll be at the bottom of the totem pole next year.

Molly kicked off the soccer season with a smooch. I'm not kidding. She was off playing with her friend Jackson and the two shared a first kiss. Molly was giddy over it all. You see, Jackson was "dead" so just like in Sleeping Beauty, Molly awoke him with a kiss. Thanks Disney. We had a long talk about waiting to kiss boys but one thing was painfully obvious. We are in trouble with this one!!

August 2010 - Catch Up

We realized that with July behind us we only had a little bit of summer left. And the mourning began...but it didn't last long. We didn't have time to mourn!

Maggie headed off to camp for the second year. She absolutely loves it and even though it kills me that she leaves me so willingly (and happily), I'm glad she enjoys it. This year, we had to cut things short because she had a soccer tournament but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Gary headed up to pick her up and had to go to Lake Chelan to do it. It was A LOT out of the way but exposed us to a new place we want to visit! The next day, the first day of her soccer tournament, Maggie came down with a stomach bug that was making it's way through camp but somehow it managed to be pretty mild. She recovered just in time to play and started at forward. I was confused to say the least. She tried out at defender. She was chosen as a defender. She is naturally a defender. What in the world was she doing at forward? Speed. You see, my girl is faaaaasssst! So her coach is using her speed (and her other skills) to convert her into a forward. Stay tuned to see how that goes!! Gary also started his girls season and his boys select season. Soccer was in full swing.

In our spare time (I can't say that with a straight face, it's so ridiculous!), we decided to do some interior work on the house. Re-doing the exterior/windows/doors/etc. last year, created a lot of work on the inside. We started with the girls' rooms. We repaired drywall, re-did texturing, re-painted, added molding and shelving and baseboards. Gary worked his tail off. But in the end, it was worth every minute. It looked fabulous!! Now Gary can go back to work and get some rest!

Happy Birthday Maggie!!

Visiting Colorado in July means Maggie got to celebrate her birthday twice. We had all the cousins over for cake and ice cream and to spend the night in CO then we did it all again back home. But you can never have too much cake...am I right?

Maggie turned 11 this year and she is already so grown up. She loves music and drawing. She's very fashion concious and loves to draw her own designs. She also writes her own lyrics and sings non-stop. She is very athletic and outgoing. She makes friends easily and frequently spends her vacation nights away from home!! She loves sweets (comes by that honestly) she is a Disney Channel junkie. Good thing she doesn't have much free time to waste on those things!!

July 2010 - Catch Up

Finally...it's vacation time! We have been looking forward to our 3-week vacation all year. We headed to Colorado via Coeur d'Alene ID and Cody WY. We visited our favorite CDA site - the CDA Brewery and spent some time with family. We traveled on to Cody where we took in a dinner show and the Buffalo Bill Museum. We wondered through town trying on cowboy hats and paused only to catch our favorite World Cup teams playing (yes, more soccer). Molly spotted a red hat like Jessie from Toy Story and yodeled her way through Cody...Yoda Lay Heeee Hooooo!


We made it to Colorado just in time for the Vansandt family reunion. It was great to see so much family and to see how everyone had grown! We followed that reunion up with my 20-year high school reunion. That event was interesting. In high school, I was very shy. I'm not that shy any more. But being around those same people again, I found myself retreating into my shell. It probably would have helped if my partners in crime had been able to attend. We never really needed anyone but us to have a good time then so we would have likely done the same now!! It was nice to see some old friends though, including a few I didn't expect to see. I'm glad I went.


We spent the bulk of our vacation doing...nothing. It was great. We visited family, played with the neices and nephew, went swimming, watched Food Network, made truffles (thanks Food Network) and just chilled. We laid on the hammock in my parent's backyard and watched the hummingbirds. Some days we watched the storm clouds roll across the sky. Other days we just enjoyed the breeze flowing through the aspen trees. Those memories have become my happy place...you know that place where you go when stress hits, the hammock is mine. We ate Dew Drop Inn pizza and long johns. I even found caffeine-free Dr. Pepper - could it be any more perfect?


When it was time to go home, we headed up through the Grand Tetons (A-mazing) and Yellowstone. I have never seen so much beautiful landscape in one small area in my life. Every time I thought I'd seen the most beautiful thing there, something else amazed me. The wildlife, the geysers, the waterfalls, the river...it was incredible. If you haven't gone there, you should.

We returned home and found that the month was mostly gone. So we celebrated Maggie's birthday and returned to our busy lives!

May and June 2010 - Catch Up

These two months were kind of a blur so rather than bore you as I try helplessly to remember what the heck we did, please enjoy these cute kids...

April 2010 - Catch Up

Molly finally got out of the shadows this month and started her own sport - gymnastics. And she loved it. She was a little scared at first but soon she was prancing across the balance beam like it was nothing. She wore one of Maggie's old suits and looks quite different from her sister!

The really exciting part of April was Maggie's tryouts for the select soccer team. I was really nervous for her. I knew she had the skills but I was worried she wouldn't come to play. Sometimes she plays down so that the other girls won't think she's making them look bad. She trades her skill for their friendship...not a bad trade but momma can't accept that! Fortunately, she came to play and she made the team! Her Dad was very proud!

So with the addition of Maggie to a select team, we have officially swapped life as we knew it for one completely ruled by soccer. We've been living on the edge of that for years, so it was about time for us to take the plunge!! Let the madness begin!

March 2010 - Catch Up

Things are starting to pick up. Gary volunteered to help coach the Special Ed basketball team at his school this month. What a rewarding job that was. The kids were larger than life and they were so fun to watch. One girl giggled the entire time she ran the court...another boy, whose sight was impaired, thrilled us with his perfect free-throws...and players would just hug Gary for no reason. We watched them win the regional tournament and then go on to state. They won the silver at state and only five points, over two games separated them from the gold medal winners.

Maggie made up for slow months in January and February. She had an orchestra concert and they are finally starting to sound really good. She has really taken to the violin. She also had Choral Festival, the Variety Show and the Science Fair. For the Science Fair, she chose a project on the affect of storage temperature on popcorn and was the only fifth grader to receive a 4, the highest score possible. We were very proud. She and her friend Mackenzie sang a Miley Cyrus song (Dream from the Hannah Montana movie) for the Variety Show and while they were very nervous, they did amazing! I know I couldn't have done it.

January and February - Catch Up

JANUARY - The year started out crazy...actually, crazy hit before 2010 even arrived. I headed back to work after our holiday break with no boss (she left June 2009) and now no graphic designer/partner (she delivered her baby 6 weeks early!). To say I had a lot on my plate was an understatement!

I was blessed with an incredible honor at our church - I was named a Deaconess. But with that honor came much work and responsibility. To be honest with you, sometimes I still don't think I'm really worthy of such an honor but I'm determined to do my very best to live up to it.

My father also started a series of hospital stays in January. It led him down a path that has, in the end, been a great blessing but the ride was a little bumpy. After this first stay, he made two life-changing decisions, kicking two very detrimental habits.

Meanwhile, the family was rather quiet.

FEBRUARY - Dad made his second trip to the ER this month and we nearly lost him to sepsis following a routine exam that led to an infection. God was at work there the whole time. There was no physical reason for him to be healed. He had other conditions which usually complicate sepsis to the point of death. But God is obviously not done with my dad yet. And I'm very thankful for that.

We headed south to Vancouver for the Bomber's (the boys select team Gary helps coach) State Cup game and fought hard. But unfortunatley, they lost. And with that our very brief soccer intermission began...


I turned 38 this year. What, you say, no thirty-something? Well, let's just say my husband made it a little difficult to deny my age this year. He bought me a Broncos jersey with my name and my age as my number. Well, at least going forward I can say I'm 38!!

September 28, 2010

No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. I really haven't updated in 10 months. It is very indicative of our life right now. Our life is always busy, always full, always chaotic but this year has been exceptional. Everything has been busier, fuller, more chaotic than ever before. And it really started to take it's toll. But we're putting on the brakes now and hopefully things will be different as we finish out the year. So I guess I should get you caught up. Here goes...

Molly's Room Makeover

Molly's room had slightly less work as a result of the exterior project but we added a layer of work to it by putting some trim and shelving on an existing ledge that goes around her room. We went with purple princess for this room.  Here is our inspiration...

The fabric we used for Molly's comforter.  So cute!

And the paint colors...

All from Glidden - Purple Foxglove for the walls, Spring Fest for the doors and Carnation Pink for the furniture and frames.

Then we added the royal touches to the decor.

*We've since added some other accents from our Disney trip to perk it up even more!

**And we traded her play kitchen for a Barbie condo (a.k.a. 6-grid shelf). What can I say...she's growing up!

Maggie's Room Makeover

The new windows and siding had major affect on the interior in Maggie's room. There was an exterior door that was removed and walled over and her windows were moved and made larger. At the end of the project she had three holes to cover, mud and texture and two new windows to wrap. Once the hubby got that done, he re-textured the entire room and painted. It looks really good.

Here is our inspiration for the room. (Really!)

It was actually a Hannah Montana cup I bought at the party store for $2 but this has the same look. We used it to determine our paint colors...

All Glidden - Disney's Blue Balloon and Thoughtful Spot for the walls.  We had put molding a quarter of the way down her walls to make a "sky" when she was younger. We left them in place and used them to seperate the two shades of aqua.  Then we added Very Berry to the doors. Talk about a splash of color. I was actually the one who hesitated on this one...but I'm glad we did it!

Then we bought this fabric for her duvet.

With our palette in place, we went to work "accessorizing" her long narrow room.

(We added swirls next to the window...see below)

My favorite decor item - my secret popstar (Maggie!).

Swirls added...

Ta-da!