White Christmas

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Like most people out her in Oregon/ Washington, we had a beautiful white christmas this year. It did make things a little interesting though... A normal 2 hour trip to my moms house took 3 1/2 hours, and we saw lots of cars in the ditch... snow plows were trying to clear the freeways, though, so that helped a little. My mom's driveway was so bad that you had to have chains or 4 wheel drive. We used the suburban to shuttle people up and down. Luckily, the power came back on to her house a couple hours after we got there on Christmas Eve! And to top everything off, my grandpa ended up being taken by ambulance to the hospital on Christmas Eve, and had to spend Christmas there. So, things were a little chaotic, and we were worried about him, but we still had a wonderful Christmas...
Here are a couple pictures from our little family Christmas here in Battle Ground, luckily even with all the snow, we were able to find the kids what they wanted for Christmas!

Ben opening his new drum set...

Emma with her presents

Christmas in Dallas

Christmas Dinner

opening presents

Emma, Me and Richmund (I think this is the only picture of me, so i thought i better post it- i was really there! :))

Just hanging out

The grandkids patiently waiting to open presents...

Richmund teaching Emma to play the drums

Dave and Benjamin

My mom and Emma getting ready to head down the hill

Jackson

Target Shooting

One of the suprises from my mom this year was that each family got to pick out one of my dads guns. It was very special and we're honored to have it. Dave was very excited, and picked out a rifle (it will be great for Elk Hunting). Alicia's friend Richmund had never shot a gun, so we went out back to do some target shooting.. Very fun...
Dave showing Richmund how to load, aim and fire...

Alicia taking aim...we all backed up quite a ways :) (just kidding alicia!)

Dave and Richmund

The result? hmmmm...looks like pumpkin pie...

Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas with friends and family... The snow just keeps falling here, so it will definately be a white Christmas :) Lots of Love and let's all remember the wonderful reason we celebrate- The baby in Bethlehem!

Snow....and MORE SNOW.......

Well, the snow just KEEPS COMING :) We have about 9 inches in our yard now, and some places have more than a foot! I guess Portland/Vancouver has not seen this much snow in 40 years... pretty wild.. we're still trying to have fun, but its hard with Christmas coming and not being able to do much fun stuff or shopping. We got out enough yesterday to take a few pictures, so enjoy!

Here's our cozy little house getting buried by snow

Emma and I out for a walk with Roscoe...so cold!

Here's a snow drift near our house...you can see just how deep it is in some places...

Snow- rounds 2 and 3 :)

The kids have been so happy because it has been snowing a LOT here lately. Wednesday we got snow, and today we woke up to about 3 inches again! Another storm is coming through tommorrow and Sunday, and we may get 6-8 inches...crazy.. we've had lots of fun, though, and here's some pictures of the kids

Taking a break from the snow to decorate cookies with the neighbor girls

Snow angels...

Nothing stops this kid from riding his bike :)

So Sweet

Emma's first real letter to Santa Claus- we mailed it today!

Christmas Program and COLD weather!

Ok, so it looks kinds silly that the kids are in their snow suits with no snow on the ground :) But it is COLD here right now, and we did get some snow, but it was so cold that the snow fell and then blew around. We've been mostly in the late teens-early 20's here, so the kids have to bundle up to go out... Portland got hit harder than us, with more snow and ice... doesn't stop us from having fun, though!


Emma did great in her first Christmas program! The morning performance she seemed really shy and serious, but the program at night she had lots of fun. She got to stand next to her best friend, which made it a little better. Halfway through the program we saw her taking off her sweater on stage...I gave her a funny look wondering what she was doing. She looked right at us and yelled, "I got hot, mom!" There were a few chuckles, the kids are funny at this age.....a fun night, she sure is growing up!

Here she is before the big night..

Nana with the kids before the program

Emma with her best friend Presley after the program

Christmas Tree

We finally got a free day to go find our tree, and we had a great time...here's a few pictures from the day..


Heading out to find the perfect tree

Wow, we really take this tree cutting seriously....:)

Benjamin supervising Dave :)

Pullin it up to the barn

The finished product- now it feels like Christmas!

Beau Classic and dinner out!

On Saturday we went down to Dallas to spend the day with my mom. We all usually try and get together the weekend of my dad's birthday, and this year, all the adults got to go out to eat without kids! Jd's sister, bless her, watched all four of them so we could go out and have some adult conversation (whats that like??).. Later we went out to my high school to watch the boys varsity play in the Beau Classic tournament. The school renamed this tournament after my dad, and this is the first year I've gotten to go. Its so awesome how they honor his memory in that way. And, it was a great game! It went to triple overtime and Western finally won...very cool..so, here's a rare picture of us adults eating some good food...

And here is a great family picture that my sister took of us. We may use it for our Christmas card, but not sure yet...anyway, we never get pictures of the four of us, so I'm glad to have it! And we all look happy- amazing!

Just hangin....

Well, I forgot to take the camera with us to Thanksgiving, so I have no pictures of our fun time. But, we did have a blast, 4 days with family, the kids got to play with their cousins, and we got to enjoy the beautiful sunshine of Central Oregon. I didn't take these pictures, but these are the mountains we got to see every day in Redmond, and they're just gorgeous!
The Three Sisters

Mt. Bachelor


Here's a couple pictures of us just hanging out... hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season and getting their Christmas shopping done :) !! (I'm sure not)...

this is usually what you see at the Hughes house in the morning. Emma and Ben emerge from their rooms and head straight for this chair. Sometimes they fight over it and end up on different chairs, but once in awhile they both climb up and snuggle together- i love it!

Me and my buddy enjoying some time together while Emma's at school

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone... we hope you have fun and eat a lot of good food :)
We'll be heading to Dave's brother's house in Redmond, maybe we'll even see some snow going over the pass! I'll post some pictures when we get back (We're borrowing my moms camera-thank you!). Here's a couple pictures from Emma's Thanksgiving feast at school. Dave helped Emma make her Indian vest, her name was Moon Star, and they made shakers, necklaces and headbands. Lots of fun!

Pure childhood joy

There are just some moments that catch me by surprise.... i think every kid can remember the pure joy of flying high on the swings without a care in the world...

They've been tagged!!

Emma and Ben's friends Grace and Charlie tagged them for this survey! So, here we go:



Name: Emma Nicole
Meaning: All containing, universal; Victory of the people
Age: 4 years and 8 months
Nicknames: Em, Sis, Em-n-em and Princess (my sisters), chiklet
Favorite Activities: playing with her cousins or next door neighbors, fishing, swimming, riding her bike, doing rubber stamps, writing her letters, reading books with mommy, baking with daddy and sometimes playing with little brother (they like to play chef together and make me yummy "pretend" food :)
Favorite Music: Princess Songs CD, Jesus Lifted High, I see the moon.., Her Silly Songs CD (which drives Dave and I crazy, but she loves it), and lately she has really started to learn some country music songs (I guess I'm wearing off on her...)
Favorite Toys: Hi Ho cherry and Candyland, Princess girls, Barbies, Polly pockets, dress-up stuff, baby dolls and horses
What makes her happy: playing with friends, going to school, staying up late!, building fires with daddy, cooking, having one-on-one attention, reading Barbie Diamond Castle for the 50th time!! :), and going to McDonalds on daddys day off to get Cinnamon rolls.
What makes her sad: rest time, when Ben takes her toys, going on time-out, thunder, saying goodbye, when people don't understand what she says, when kids are mean



Name: Benjamin David
Meaning: Son of my right hand; Beloved
Age: 1 year and 10 months
Nicknames: Ben, Benny, Bubba, Big Ben, brother, Bennis (my sister Crystal :)
Favorite Activities: jumping in puddles, picking berries, watching cartoons, taking baths,playing duck duck goose and hide and seek with Big Sis, wrestling with daddy
Favorite Music: Sprout cartoon songs (especially Caillou, Thomas and Dora) and his favorite song is If you're happy and you know it...
Favorite Toys: Thomas trains, Blocks, Family Circus Books (he LOVES to organize them), pretty much whatever Emma's playing with he wants :)
What makes him happy: Ice cream, snuggling with mommy or daddy and watching TV, going to see people he loves, baths, picking Sis up from school, carrying his blanket and Pacifier around EVERYWHERE! :)
What makes him sad: saying goodbye, when Big Sister is mean to him, when we make him come inside, when he gets in trouble, hieghts (he's a little afraid of being up high)

Now, we tag: Zach and Gabrielle (Lisa), Austin and Jack (Crystal)

Broken camera...

We had an unfortunate accident the other night with our camera...Emma was taking a picture of Dave's birthday cake and accidentally broke it... So, just wanted to let you all know I probably won't be posting any pictures for awhile. But, I will try and keep posting some other stuff, maybe I will have to go back to "regular" cameras where you have to take the film in to the store! :) Hope everyones doing good!

Happy Birthday Dave!

Dave spent most of the day in Tacoma working on his birthday, but the kids and I had a little party for him when he got home. We love you, Happy Birthday!!!


Future game warden?? Who knows...