Latest & Greatest

New Year’s 2008!

Teige Family — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 11:28:57 +0000

New Years 2008!

Holly and Nef on New Years

Michael and Holly on New Years

Nef and Marc on New Years

The Crew on New Years!

2008 Holiday Update

Teige Family — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 04:06:46 +0000

So we had a great holiday all the way around – even with all the snow! The kids enjoyed making cookies, snow angels, playing computer games, sleeping in, sleeping over, eating candy from their stockings, and having fun wherever they could squeeze it in.

The adults were no different! However, we all had quite a bit more work to do in order to make the holiday experience come together as smoothly as possible. Marc went on a business trip and then got stuck on the way back due to weather, Michael ended up working from home more than he’d planned, and Nef and I worked to try and follow through on as many Freecycle and Craigslist pick ups as possible. With the kids having an unexpectedly extended winter break (almost a whole extra week!) we ended up having to do a lot of schedule management and learning to go with the flow, but it all worked out just fine, for the better even sometimes!

Michael and I celebrated our birthdays pretty low-key but I really enjoyed waking up at my other house with Connor, Emily, Lukas and Lauryn all bringing me in some great colored cards and then getting a second welcome upon returning to my main house with Riley, Michael, and Ethan waiting for me with smiles and even more cards. Who could ask for a better birthday? Michael’s ended up being even more low-key because it was one of the first day the weather actually allowed Nef and I to head out to the stores and get the last bit of work done for the holiday, so he ended up being parent on duty (POD) for the majority of the day. He totally gets a make-up birthday before January is out!

Michael and I took the kids down to Grandma Barb’s for Christmas this year since she just wasn’t up to the effort of coming North so the kids got to have TWO celebrations this year which was really nice for them. We all had a lovely dinner of pizza, then sang some Christmas carols, unwrapped the presents from Grandma Karen (who was heading up to Alaska at 9pm) and then played board games for hours before saying goodbye to Grandma Karen and then heading to bed. We woke up in the morning to a pile of gifts and stuffed stockings! After a day of unwrapping presents and enjoying each other’s company we headed back North, unwrapped some more gifts and got unpacked here at the main house, and then headed over to the other house to enjoy even more celebration with Marc, Nef, and the kids. We enjoyed a delicious dinner, good company, and due to the weather ended up sleeping over. We woke up to smiles and happy kids, which is always nice. It was hard to leave for some of us, while others (read – a certain 16-year-old antsy for his girlfriend) couldn’t wait to get back to the main house. Ultimately we made it back down the hill and all was well.

New Years was a great time also! Marc, Nef and the kids came over to enjoy the celebration and everyone enjoyed the snacks that the adults had worked hard to put together. All the kids played Cadoo and Battleship for hours while waiting for midnight to roll around. Once it did we all cheered and shot off fireworks before wrapping up the evening. Although last year we had a sleepover with a New Year’s Day brunch this year it was not to be, unfortunately, but we managed to get through it and instead just slept in for hours…almost as good!

Best wishes to all for a happy and prosperous New Year!

Made it through Christmas!

Teige Family — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 06:39:11 +0000

All is well, everyone got exactly what they wanted from Santa and the adults are just finally starting to get out from under the 18″ of snowfall…what a week!

Our Gingerbread House 2008

School lunch explosion!

Teige Family — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 05:23:01 +0000

I would like to know who thought up the idea that children have to eat while they are at school? This concept of packing a lunch for EACH child just so that they will be “properly nourished” is ridiculous.

Of course, not really, but the experience of getting lunches ready for three children, a teenager, a working guy…well, it’s damned exhausting! Because you know, they don’t all like peanut butter and jelly, and some only eat a half sandwich, and then of course I have to actually make an effort to make the damn things balanced in food groups…yeesh! Eventually I’ll just send them all off with protein shakes

It’s actually kind of cute to watch them all pick up their lunches as they head out the door in the morning and they all do really seem to appreciate it, but it is really a production and I now have more insight as to why mothers were so darned tired all those years ago…my hat is off to them

All in School!

Teige Family — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 04:51:58 +0000

All the kiddos are finally in school!

Em is in afternoon kindergarten with Ms. Pope, the same teacher Ethan had last year
Ethan is in first grade with Mrs. Stimac and is enjoying full-day school for the first time
Connor is in fourth grade with Mrs. Thornton and is excited about everything except his book reports
Riley is in his junior year of high school and beginning his freshman year in college on 9/23

Mom is exhausted, ecstatic and excited…WOW!!!

Kindergarten Graduate!

Teige Family — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:42:15 +0000

Ethan graduated from kindergarten earlier this month and it was a lovely little ceremony, where he stood up and said…”R is for the Rules” as part of the ‘ABC’s of Kindergarten’. He was so handsome and did a great job accepting his little certificate, stood up and proudly said his entire name in the microphone…what a cutie! I can hardly believe this little bugger is going to make it into all-day first grade in the fall. Who would have thought the time would go by so quickly?

KinderNinja!

So handsome

Summer Has Arrived!

Teige Family — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 03:54:23 +0000

Summer is finally here in the great northwest! We are of course, sweltering, hot, sweating, muggy, exhausted, drained, tired, and…oh yeah, HOT!

After all of our griping and complaining about the rain we finally get some hot weather (99 according to my car – which of course I listen to all the time) and mostly all we’re doing is more complaining. It is soooo freakin’ hot today, that we’re primarily sitting around in front of fans trying to stay cool, and hoping that tomorrow will actually be cooler – who’d have thought?

Ethan and Emily got out the sprinklers (yay for summer when you’re little) and enjoyed running around getting soaked for at least two hours before my water conservation urges kicked in and I just had to make them turn it off. It was really hard cause I know the poor babies were just hotter than all get out but with the volume they were going through it was the right choice and who knows? Maybe saved a bit on the huge water bill I’m expecting in July…ah well, summer only comes once a year and in Seattle we’re lucky if it comes at all.

Poor Riley had to work a shift at McDonald’s today and said it was absolutely swealtering in the kitchens, I can imagine it but it was pretty cute to listen to him talk about having a “rough day at work”. Must be a mom thing but I do enjoy watching him learn all these new things about how the world operates, including how sometimes we have to put in long shifts at jobs with less-than-ideal working conditions. Ah well, he likes his job so that’s a plus, at least he’s got that going for him.

Connor got to go to a birthday party this weekend and watch the movie Wall-E which was very exciting, he says he could see it “again and again and again” which I think means he had a good time and liked it. On our way to drop him off Ethan started in about his shoes and turns out they’re fading fast we stopped in and picked up a nice pair of summer sandals, and managed to find some for Michael too, so now we’re all set for the heat.

Bring on the heatwave!