Happy New Year!!!

I have not been blogging since Christmas because we are all sick here!! Three of us have strep throat, one has an ear infection and one is recovering from the head cold thing that the rest of us had earlier in the week and one is just starting the head cold thing. Only Sam has come through so far with out a sickness and is trying not to breathe our air!! So we are all home for New Year's Eve and trying to find things to eat that don't hurt going down!! But on the bright side this is the first NYE we have all spent together since the kids started going to dances!! Yay!! Millie

We had a bit of a wind storm last weekend. And things got thrown around a bit. Especially on my porch.

Even the nativity did not go unscathed. Only a sheep and the camel were left standing.

So this is a before picture.

And this is before.

And this is after.

Before.
After.
It even moved the trampoline up next to the house!! Fortunately it has settled down some what. I still have to leave my santas and sleds laying down because they keep getting blown down! Millie

Ginger bread houses!

So last night we gathered for the annual Henrikson gingerbread house making. Stu joined us!

Luke with his creation. Not sure what it is but it fits Luke!

Isaac and his apartment house.

David and his.....house.

Hannah goes for simple and sweet.

Sam's is always the house we look at for ideas and wonder why I didn't think of that.

Stu with his original design....

Yes it is an outhouse complete with a hole in the seat, a roll of toilet paper and well....ya that too.
Millie

Happy 50th!!

Today,(well earlier) is my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. We had a dinner and all seven of us kids were here!! (More pictures to follow I promise!) Happy 50th Mom and Dad!! Millie

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Today is my mom's birthday. And I could not find a picture of just her! She is a great lady and such a good example to her family. Just wanted to let you know I love you mom and thanks for all you have done for me and my family!! Happy Birthday!!! Millie

How fun is a fort?

This fort appeared in our living room. Do you remember these? The funniest thing about this one is it was made my the eight year old and .....

the eighteen year old! They had a password to get in and two entrances. Way fun!! Millie

It's a good thing we are not in the witness protection program...

This is the picture that appeared yesterday on the front page of the Columbian newspaper. We went to the candle lighting we have gone to for the past 7 years on the 2nd Sunday in December. It is something Lorna is involved in and we go to support her. Little did we know we would end up on the front page of the paper. And its a good thing (as my mom informed me) that we are not in hiding!! Doesn't Luke look like an angel here! One of his better moments. Millie

Rob's Birthday Party

I gotta say thanks to the all the family that came over for Rob's birthday (ya, I know it was over a week ago, I am a little slow on my posts, holidays and all !) We had a great time.

We all gathered in the living room for the present opening.

Hmmmm, what could it be?

A beautiful Christmas tie!

Rob loves poetry. I am always looking for poetry books at garage sales and good will. Here he is reading to us from one.

Yes, I did knit him a scarf and yes being the great husband he is he wears it!!

The boys rigged the cake so it looked like it was about to torch the house!

Making a wish! We love you Rob. Millie

The Tree

This is how it begins. You go to the tree farm and walk and look and find the perfect tree.

Then you bring it home and have to cut off some because it did not look that big amongst all the other trees. And you get it into the house and into the stand.

Then on Monday you start to put the lights on. You get about a third of the way up and realize 3 of your light strands don't work. And for some reason you just can't seem to get excited about it any more! Finally on Saturday you buy the strands you need and yes about 1000 lights later and a star you have this. (And yes I was questioning why I did not take off that branch that hangs down, but as soon as we put presents under you will not notice it!)

Then I add the red beads. Had a bit of a time draping them. But Rob loved it and wanted to know why we had to put anything else on it.

Then for family night we put on the decorations. Can you tell we don't have any real short people any more, the bottom is a little empty. But it looks beautiful and is still drinking water. You got to love a Christmas tree. Millie

Meet Isaac. He is our 4th child and our third boy. He has adorable dimples and everyone has always said so!! He is a great soccer player, loves to read and write stories. He plays a mean trombone. He is really a super guy. And he had big tonsils. Big you say. Actually they were huge!! When we first went to the ear nose and throat doctor he said I have seen a lot of tonsils, lets look at yours. Wow, those are huge!! And here is proof.....

Huge!! His adenoids were also huge!! Because of these big daddies it was hard to swallow, he snored, he had constant ear infections. When he stood by you it was like standing Darth Vader. So the decision was made to take them out.

Here he is after getting his IV put in. It took the nurse a while to find a vein but she did and here he is waiting to go into surgery.

And here he is after the surgery in the recovery room. First thing he said to me...."I have my shoes on in the bed". Isaac was the perfect patient. He was in quite a bit of pain but never complained. He was easy going and just a good boy.


And here he is with the tonsils gone. He is on week two and back in school but still hurting. Having your tonsils out is one of those things that get worse before it gets better and I think we are on the getting better end of it. He can actually stand by you and you can't hear him breathing. Now we just have to get over the bad breath part!! I mean baaaad breath!! Love ya Isaac! Millie

Banana Crazy

So our neighbors down the street, the Freemans, have an organic farm and belong to an organic co-op. A couple of Sundays ago they called to say they had some bananas and could not use them all, could we use them? I said sure, who could not use some extra bananas. What I did not realize was that this was a little more than a bunch of bananas.

It was a banana box full of bananas!! This is after we have eaten the first layer off!! Yes I made banana cream pie for Thanksgiving and we put many a banana on cereal and ate them right and left and still had these!! Of course my family will not eat a banana that has brown on it, so when they get to a certain point they are done with them. This weekend I finally got them all peeled and frozen for future use. We also made 5 batches of banana muffins with chocolate chips!! If you have any good banana bread recipes I am in the market! Millie

Happy Birthday Rob!!

Today is Rob's birthday!! Yeah!! So to celebrate here are some random pictures taken this last year with Rob! They are not in any particular order because that would just be too difficult for me to figure out!! Here goes!

Watching David open birthday presents.

Waiting for the soccer game to start.

Luke's baptism.
With the guys on the super activity.

Getting his father's pin at Sam's eagle court of honor.

Sitting with Frank after MCing together in Weiser.

Chillin with Hannah in Weiser.

Sam's graduation.

What?

Halloween party.

Tillamook cheese factory.

Weinie roast.

Another weinie roast. We had a few this year.

Fun with the kids at the beach.

Waiting for the sunset!.

I love you Rob and hope your day is a great one and that this next year is just as fun! Millie