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Merry Christmas

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 from the Prices!

2006 photo boothWell, we tried to get our annual newsletter out before the year was over...which is a feat for us, considering our "new" arrival is six months old and we still haven’t mailed off her birth announcements. So we’ve evened the score now with two boys and two girls. That makes us a family of six, which, as you can see, is too many to fit into the Pike Place photo booth all at once. Here’s the annual rundown on the kids:

Berkeley. The June 7 arrival of Berkeley, our newest little girl, marks, of course, our biggest milestone of the year. A few weeks early, she weighed in at a semi-petite 6 lbs or so. She’s the pride and joy of her siblings (who, for some odd reason, are particularly interested in her burps, spit ups, and the rest of the ins and outs of the feeding process). She’s laughing a lot and is pretty much adored all day long, though sometimes she does get more attention than she wants. Before she came, we were a bit apprehensive about starting over with a baby, but she’s been an absolute joy for us (partially because we lucked out with another easy baby who sleeps through the night). Amazing how a brand new little soul comes into your life, but then right from the start it just feels like she’s been part of the family forever.

Addisen. Addie started pre-school this year and absolutely loves it. She was sick one day and Lindy told her she should stay home from school. “That’s a bad idea, mommy,” she countered, “my kids need me too much!” She’s kissed the proverbial Blarney Stone and then some (in other words, she’ll talk your ear off). She’s also obsessed with princesses, poodles, faux jewelry and basically anything pink. In September she had her 4th birthday party with a Hawaiian luau theme. It was the highlight of her year, with a pretend flight to Hawaii, lots of decorations, hula dancing, coconut bowling, limbo music, and more fun stuff. She’s working to overthrow Lindy as queen of the house, so we have to work hard to keep her happy just being a four-year old.

Flight AttendantsCambren. Our first-grade comedian is six years old and loves making people laugh with his witty humor. Cam is also a video game junkie - give him two minutes on any video game, and he won’t think about anything else for the next month or so. He’s keeping us on our toes with his school work as he learns to read time and count money. Cam took a karate class last summer along with Jaedin, and both boys played on the same soccer team again this year. Cam and Jaedin are finding they have more and more things in common. Cam wants to be an actor when he grows up. He decided he wants to star in America’s Funniest Home Videos, his favorite TV show. He keeps coming up with ideas of how we can catch him on video doing something goofy. We told him it has to be spontaneous to be funny, so he’s been diligently practicing his spontaneity. 

Clackamas River FishingJaedin. In second grade, Jaedin just turned eight years old. He loves reading about his favorite subject, and he’ll manage to find every book in the library about whatever he’s into that particular week, which this year has included dinosaurs, robots, volcanoes, farm animals, the Titanic, sharks, lightsabers, and giant squids. He loves drawing, making models and doing crafts, and he comes up with a new project pretty much every day. Turn him loose with paper, crayons, scissors, and glue…wait a few hours, and next thing you know he’s made a brand new game, popup book, movie set, or some other creative project. He also loves writing stories, making his own comic book series, and writing screenplays for videos he wants to direct. Jaedin has decided he wants to be an author/baker when he grows up, simultaneously writing comic strips and cooking scrumptious meals for his readers. His health has been amazingly good, and once again, we’re very blessed in having nothing new to report on his heart condition - wow!

2006 Christmas PortraitsLindy. The beginning of the year revolved around the pregnancy, which started out a bit rough but got better by the end. Lindy actually lost weight during the pregnancy overall. By eight months pregnant, she was feeling good enough to come along for a week of hotel pampering and a stopover in Vegas while I went to a conference in Omaha. Since then, she’s been keeping busy juggling the foursome through their daily routine. With Addie in pre-school she gets two hours off each day, a welcome break from the pick-ups, drop-offs, and coordination with the school bus schedules. Even so, by the time I come home, she’s usually ready to head off for some quiet time after a quick kid handoff. She loves being a mom despite the chaos. She’s the proud owner of the “best family costume” trophy from this year’s Halloween party, where she had the kids in homemade jailbird outfits (and me in a Village Peoplesque cop uniform). Looks like she’s following in my late Grandma Price’s footsteps (who won that same award last year for dressing up herself and her “heir” (oxygen tank) that she dragged along with her everywhere she went.

Krey. I got a plaque in the mail the other day commemorating my ten year anniversary with Tetra Tech. Ten years!? Ten years ago I was single and fresh out of school. And now…well, it caught me off guard as it’s hard to believe how fast ten years can go by. Things have been challenging at work as we start up a statewide culvert inventory program (I know, I know…how exciting!). I ended up taking a couple of trips on my own this year - one to Michigan this summer for a friend’s wedding, and then another impromptu trip to Utah last month for my Grandma Price’s funeral. It was a short trip, and despite the circumstances it was great to get the whole family together to celebrate my grandma’s life. Other than that, I’ve been keeping busy teaching and clerking at church as well as venturing into new realms with music lessons. My latest challenge is to find a place in the house for my new drum set - for now it’s in the garage, but negotiations with Lindy are pending for the prime space formerly known as our living room.

Dumb and Dumber and Dumbest. The annual tradition is to cite an embarrassing moment, but there were so many this year it’s hard to choose. My almost missing Berkeley’s delivery would have been the sure winner, but that’s already covered in the birth announcement (thanks to Lindy), so here are the standings: The bronze medal goes for the time when I went around opening all the windows one chilly night after working in the garage. ”What’s with the windows?” Lindy asked. “Well it’s so smoky in here” was my answer. Lindy: “Uh…why don’t you clean the sawdust off your glasses…” Silver medal: I was following my brother-in-law across a swing span bridge over the Mississippi last spring. As I approached the bridge, the light turned red and the gates came down; he was halfway across the bridge already, but I figured if I hurried I could go around the gates and catch up to him before he got all the way across. I was met at the midpoint by a very angry operator flagging me down. “Stop right there! That barge is a comin’ and ain’t waitin’ for no fool. Once I get this bridge turnin’ we gonna have us a talk!” We started riding it out on the bridge, and I thought she was calling the County Sheriff to haul me away, but when she came back, she just told us the history of barge traffic on the Mississippi and sent us on our way after it swung back into place (much to my relief). Now on to the Gold Medal Winner: I took Jaedin for a ride on a bike trail along a duck pond last summer. We had just ditched the training wheels, and he was still pretty swervy, so I was riding right next to him with one hand, trying to stabilize him with the other. I kept telling him to be careful or he’ll fall. Next thing you know I wipe out (right into the pond of all places) and end up in the ER getting my knee sewn up…whenever anyone asks what happened to my knee, Jaedin tells them, “Daddy fell into a duck pond.” So who the one who needs the training wheels?

Addie's HorseVentura BeachWild Wild West. As for trips, we took a mad excursion around the West last August. First a family reunion in the High Uintahs with the Prices that included horseback riding, fishing, swimming, campfires, motorcycles, and more. Then we met up with Lindy’s mom and headed on to Vegas where we probably logged a good ten miles on foot. The kids did amazingly well in “Lost Vegas” as they called it. We met up with some relatives for a tour of their hometown in Santa Paula. Then we went on to Ventura for some fun in the surf, Fresno to show off our new addition to the kids’ great grandparents, San Jose for a stop at Great America, and Berkeley to hit our old stomping grounds. Favorite stop was the water park at Great America (this time we checked ahead of time to make sure it was open.) It was good to be home after a couple of long weeks on the road.

Rock On. On the home front, the kids have all started music lessons and sometimes have impromptu jam sessions now. Jaedin was playing the guitar the other day, improvising lyrics: “Addie thinks she’s drawing but she just scribbles, scribbles, scribbles.” Next came Addie’s very loudly sung song on the keyboard: “my boys say I scribble but I don’t. I draw pretty pictures like princesses and rainbows and flowers and hearts and piiiiiiiink!” All in all it’s been a great year, though we haven’t been that great at staying in touch. Case in point is Berkeley’s birth announcement, which we’ve posted at the link below. This year we’re thankful for burp rags, luaus, General Grievous, monorails, headphones, costume parties, and pink poodles, but most of all, friends, family, and the message of Christmas.

The Prices

Click for more 2006 photos

Click for Berkeley's birth announcement

Click for pdf newsletter

Favorite Quotes of the Year, 2006

Addisen

Cambren

Jaedin

Addie: “I know what Berkeley should be for Halloween - a burp rag!” 

Krey: “OK Addie, just hold on …” Addie: “I know, I know…5 minutes…but is it a long 5 minutes or a short 5 minutes?”

 Lindy: “There’s no more ham - daddy must have taken it for is lunch” Addie: “What? Oooh That makes me soooo mad!” 

Addie (walking around the house talking on toy cell phone): “Daddy, I’m feeling too tired today. Come home early and bring me Burger King. My boys are being too bad today and I need a nap” 

Addie (with a mouth stuffed full of stale graham crackers): “Oh doh daddy! By grab cracker had doh bore crunch!” 

Addie: “Ok, ok…I’ll be there in a second…well…maybe actually really like twenty seconds…one…two…three..”

Krey: “Hi Cam, how was school today?” Cam: “School was so boring today I felt like I was you at work…” 

Cam (turning over his pancake to find the burnt side I was trying to hide): “You’re fired Dad.” 

Krey (while running errands together with Cam): “I love having special time with you, Cam.” Cam: “Well it doesn’t feel so special. How about you buy me some pizza? That would be special!” 

Cam (after getting Berkeley to stop crying by holding her): “I’ve got the power!” 

Cam (after picking up Berkeley, this time with no pause in the crying): “Oh no! My power’s not working anymore!” 

Krey: (after sending Cam to bed for the fourth time one night): “Now glue your head to the pillow!” Cam (coming back downstairs a few minutes later, this time with his pillow held up to the side of his head) “Dad, are you going to dream about Mario Brothers too?”

Jaedin: “What does the button do?” (little red birthmark on Berkeley’s head)

Krey (while doing math homework with the boys during a visit to Lindy's parents in Eugene): "OK, last problem before it's time for bed. What's 10 times 2?......How about we make a bet. Whoever answers the question right gets to sleep in Grandma's bed tonight." Cam: "5?" Jaedin: "100?" Krey: "Nope, you both missed it, it's 20!" Jaedin: "All right Dad! You get to sleep with Grandma in her bed!"

Jaedin: "Hey, they spelled 'Wall' wrong!" (looking at the Wal-mart sign). "Maybe they couldn't afford the extra L."

Jaedin: "Daddy, Berkeley chewed up a screwdriver. But it's OK, she didn't swallow it!" 

Jaedin (after getting Berkeley to stop crying): "I stole Cam's magic!"

 

 

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