Introspection

KR was reading the comics and laughed out loud. I asked her what was so funny and she showed me this. Was she referring to the way we communicate?

Reinventing the Christmas Tree

We had lost connection to about 50% of the light strands attached to our Christmas tree and, because we loved the tree in our living room and the tree was still perfectly good, decided to take off all of the attached lights and just string lights every year. Weeeeellllll.....the job proved to be a little more involved than we planned. There sure were a lot of lights on that tree.

Snow Finally Hits

It has been a winter of little snow, well, until the last few days. On January 22nd and 23rd, we got blasted. And then it cleared, with the most beautiful sunrises for several days. It was so cold, however, that the powder snow literally glistened in the sun. And Henry was ready to party.

Ella, Future Star

On January 6th, KR attended Ella's play in Seattle. She played the role of  Viola in "Adventures of a Comic Book Artist". We just want all of you to know that she is a talented actress and does a great job in these school plays. And she won a Duckie Award for her performance! We are not quite sure what that is, but we are sure it was something positive and we chose to represent it on the blog with a Rubber Duckie. Go girl!

For Matt

Pirated Picture

It looks like I have been the victim of identity theft. I was looking on Amazon for a book and saw this in the recently-released section of the romance novels. It looks like they stole the picture from our blog and wrote a quickie novel - obviously the story is a complete fabrication. What has society come to? I guess I will have to consider putting a password on our blog. I looked up the author's name and could find no other books written by her. Weird.

New Year's Eve

We tried something new this year and had a little celebration of the turning of the calendar. We pretended it was midnight for the kids and dropped a ball on a string from the upper level of the living room, complete with a countdown. Not sure the little ones knew exactly what was going on, but they sure enjoyed making lots of clatter with the noisemakers! Of such ideas are great memories created.

A Wenatchee Christmas

Our Christmas holidays were full and go-go-go as usual, with fun in the snow, precious family all around us, Gustav's, thoughtful presents, a new baby, bingo, non-stop dress up, and just an all-around good time. However, as we sat on the couch on Christmas morning and looked at one another, we realized this was the first Christmas morning in 39 years we did not have at least one of our kids there with us to open presents. The end of an era. They have their own families now and need to start traditions of their own. We understood that. But it was still a sad moment. And it kind of caught us by surprise - until we realized it was SO QUIET. But at least we have the memory of Grandma KR selling out to block that goal in indoor soccer. 

Another Sweet Grandchild - Jones

We had another addition to the growing Anderton circle (December 16th) with the birth of Jones Marshall Anderton to Mark & Laurel - yes, another boy and another blondie. The gang is getting hand-sanitizing instructions from Mark after a long wait in the hospital entry for the big moment when they get to see their new brother. All of the excitement wore them out - but Grandpa and Grandma were able to hold down the fort and get them sufficiently wound up again just before bedtime.



 

 

 

 

Washington State Football Championships

Jon, Will & I did our annual pilgrimage to Tacoma for the all-day marathon of games to decide each of the championships for the various levels of high school football in the State of Washington. It is fun getting together each year for this activity and to spend some quality time together. It is held in the Tacoma Dome.

                            

Thanksgiving in Houston

KR went to Houston (November 14th-30th) to help out with Matt & Megan's new little one, Oliver, and I followed on the 21st to spend Thanksgiving. Brady, Natalie & kids also came down from Austin and we enjoyed a few days over the holiday weekend together. Good times. A highlight was being able to participate in Oliver's blessing on the Saturday after Thanksgiving with Matt & Brady. We were able to fit in a few home projects and eat some ribs. And the weather was actually quite nice - not too hot or humid.

Of course, we had to continue chopping away at the bucket list and spent a few days up in Oklahoma checking out the back roads. Oklahoma City has a couple of major must-see places in the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, and the Oklahoma City National Memorial (about the bombing of the federal building there - a very emotional place). 

Loss of a Father

As the days pass, I often contemplate the temporal death of my father and how complex and wonderful is the relationship of a father and son. The months preceding his passing, and the experiences I had with him then, and the events of that week in October will stay with me forever. It is sad for everyone to be temporarily apart, yet I feel happy for him. He can again do a lot of things he really enjoys (like read a book or do a crossword puzzle) that had been taken away from him as his health failed. The parting is something we can endure. Why? Because I know his spirit lives and he is still with us. I know it. And we will be with him again. It was, for me, a wonderful experience to enjoy a perfect weekend with my extended family. Everyone did so well expressing themselves in word and song, the weather was perfect, and I personally thought the entire weekend was perfectly matched to the man. I am sure there were many that came away from the experience with a renewed vigor to increase their stride. "And I heard a voice from heaven saying, 'Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.' 'Blessed indeed,' says the Spirit, 'that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!" Revelation 14:13