Family PIctures

Kimberly took our family pictures recently and we just got them back, I love them so much! We had a lot of fun, Pito wasn't fully cooperating but she still captured his good qualities and showed off some of his spunk too! Getting all of us ready for the pictures was quite the production, some feelings got hurt, there was some yelling but in the end fun was had by all.
They've been working on remodeling their garage into her studio and it looked great! Her back-drops are homemade and awesome! Check her website out, kmwphotographyonline.com

Funny Things by Pito Sledge

I have to write about some funny things that Pito has said during the last week...

Marcus took vacation days most of this week and last night around 3 am, Pito woke up and instead of just coming into our bed...he layed there for a while and kept saying, "Mommy, Daddy, can I come into your bed?" and finally I got up and went in his room to help him into our bed and as soon as he laid down, he kept saying he wanted a waffle. I told him he had to wait until morning and right now it was time to sleep. (Which did not work because he kept it up every 5 minutes.) Marcus finally took him out to the couch so I could get some rest since I had to get up for work this morning. When they got out there, Marcus made him a waffle and let him know that after he finished his waffle, he didn't want to talk to him again until morning light. So, Pito went back to sleep and when he woke up...he started talking to Marcus and said, "Daddy, talk to me now - it's light outside!" It's painful to go without much sleep sometimes but man I love that kid!

Then today, he said "Daddy Macneto" because I always call him, Pito Macneto and Marcus said you can't call me Daddy Macneto, it doesn't rhyme so he started saying, "Daddy McFatty." (At least he knows how to rhyme.) :)

The other day, Marcus came home for lunch and he was getting ready to leave and Pito didn't want him to go...Marcus said I have to go make money so I can buy you more waffles and Pito said, "I'll eat toast everyday." He has said this to me before too. :( That just about broke our hearts, now I understand why Marcus' mom gave her notice at work when Marcus was little and asked when he was going home and he was talking about the babysitter's house!

Pito enjoying the day with his wonderful daddy

I like this...

From the devotional, My utmost from His highest

The Lord was never worried or anxious, because he was not "out" to realize his own ideas; he was "out" to realize God's ideas. "All our fret and worry is caused by calculating without God."

Fun Night with Sloan

Last night, Sloan and I enjoyed an evening together and went to the Champions of Dance show, compliments of my work. Anchor Bank sponsors theatre events at the Grays Harbor College so they get tickets to all of the shows they put on. I wasn't too thrilled about driving to Aberdeen on a work night but it was well worth it! We talked the whole way there and back and the drive went by much faster than when I have to drive there for work occasionally. Marcus is such a great husband and dad, he made us an on the go picnic dinner, it was great and very thoughtful! He even wrote nice things for each of us on our sandwich bags.

The dancers were great and their group has even been featured on the show Dancing with the Stars for ballroom dancing, they did the Cha Cha, Tango, Ramba and lots of other dances! We were impressed with the costumes and the dancers bodies and both of us looked at each other after one performance and said that we really need to work out more! But then again, we stopped for cheesecake on the way home and talked about how incredible they looked at the same time! There was a cheesy announcer guy that said funny things before some of the routines and one thing he said that cracked us up was, "Dance is our perpendicular expressions for our horizontal desires"! Once we both started laughing, we had a hard time stopping. We weren't laughing outloud but it's that laugh when you're both laughing and you feel so close to bursting out and we could both feel people looking at us like, what the heck is their problem? The audience was mostly older people and I swear some of those men were probably close to heart failure watching the dancers bodies move around like that!

Thanks for a fun night Sloan, fun was had by all!

St. Denis Family

Last weekend, we had a great time with my brother Soren, his wife Jaime and my nieces Sarena & Moya! They got here from Wenatchee on Thursday night and Friday we stayed at the Littlecreek Casino Resort for Sarena's 6th Birthday! The kids all enjoyed the huge pool there and the rooms were pretty nice too! Soren wanted to play in the Texas hold em tourney so Marcus, Soren and I played in the tournament while Jaime hung out with all the kiddos and my dad for a while. I ended up getting 7th in the tournament out of 89 people and wouldn't you know it, the top 6 people got paid, I was pretty upset especially because the person who took me out got the card to beat me on the stupid river! We all had a lot of fun together, I love hanging out with them and seeing our kids spend time together. Pretty soon, it will be even more fun as Jaime is preggos with TWINS! I'm so excited for them, just wished we lived closer so I could help out more!!

Saturday, all of the kids went trick or treating together after we had a great dinner at gammy Jackie's and Pop's house. Uncle Matt came home for the night so he got to see Jr all dressed up in his adorable magician costume. The kids looked great, we also checked out the annual Halloween party at the YMCA and went through the haunted house they do there. Sloan pulled me down with her when she got scared and fell down right in the middle of the haunted house (even though it's just the same haunted house we go through every year and it is just the Y Sloan, come on!)

Sunday, we had a great time watching the Vikes vs. Packers game! The only non-Viking fan in our 2 families (Marcus) had to work and made it home with 3 minutes left to see his poor Pack lose. Sorry, I can't feel your pain babe! Sucker!!!

Sarena's 6th Birthday, 10/30/09

Sarena modeling her cake :)

Cousins, Sloanie & Moya

Jaime, Soph and sweet Moya "Money" as Jr calls her

Almost ready to hit the streets...

Pito getting ready to work his magic for uncle Matt

Kiddos with uncle Matty

Gameday featuring Soren & Soph

Vikes Fans can we say,  "What's wrong with Sloan's hair?"

What's the score, oh nevermind...just look at who's crying!

And after all that, I still get this wonderful dinner compliments of Chef Marcus! Good sport babe!

Linni's 10th Birthday - October 11th, 2009!

Linni turned 10 on October 11th and it was the 4th Birhday she's been living with us in WA! We went bowling and she had a sleep over! When we were bowling, she came over to me and said, "if this was Wii bowling you and me would be kicking everyone's butt". She is such a joy to have in our lives and such a little competitor! She reminds me a lot of myself when I was little. But more than anyone, she acts so much like Soren and my Dad!! Her adoption was official last December and she added me and Olivia's middle name and wanted to change her last name to be the same as papa's so it's now Chandalyn Marie-Care St. Denis. I left it up to her but did not want her to change her first or take out her middle name, Marie as she was named that for a reason and thought it would be important to her when she is older! Her name is a mouthful but still a very beautiful name! She still goes by "Linni" and said she forgets sometimes that her name is actually Chandalyn. She cracks me up! She started the cello this yr and carries that thing around to and from school...she's doing a good job, she said she's the best in the class. A cute little story, the other day she had gotten school pictures taken and when I got home from work, I was asking her how she thinks the pictures turned out and at first she said "I don't know" in a kind of annoyed voice like how should I know, I didn't get to see the picture and she waited a few seconds and said, "it's probably the best picture I've ever taken"! I thought this was so hilarious!!! So, we've been going around the house saying it all the time lately! Anyway, here are some pics of her party.

Linni's Yummy DQ Cake!

Linni Concentrating on getting a strike

Come on, knock em down!

The Birthday girl with Sloanie

My ball seemed to go to the gutter every time & I used to be good??

Marcus showed Pito how to dry his hands so he made sure to do it every time :)

Pito cheering for Papa's ball

Linni and O don't like this picture but mom does so I win

Pito's 3rd Birthday September 20th, 2009

My little guy is growing up so fast, he told me the other day that he didn't want to be a big boy yet and I said that's fine with mama! We had two parties for him, one with his friends or the people we tell him are his friends like Seinfeld says...who knows he might not even like these kids. :) That party was at Chuck E Cheese and he had the greatest time. He loved Air Hockey, which he totally dominated! He literally ran around that place non-stop from the time we got there until we left. It was difficult to get him to sit down and eat pizza, cupcakes and open presents. He was trying to climb on the table to blow the candles out so he could move on to the next event! It was very hard for me to get him to pose for pictures with his friends so that's why you'll notice all of the pictures are me chasing him down with threats to pose for mommy. We also had a party at "Gammy's" house. He got so much good stuff and had so much fun both days! Thanks to everyone in Marcus' family, Marcus & the girls, John & Kim and my Dad for making this a special Birthday for him!

Bring it, I'll block it every time!

Are you guys paying attention, nevermind!

Hmm, what should I do next?

This cake is cool, it has dig digs, mixers and bull dozer's AND fire too!

I got this part down, I practice anytime there are candles lit at home!

Ok, mom enough! I'm ready for more presents!!

Picture I replaced of Marcus Jr's 1st Birthday!

I replaced this with the 4th of July kids picture but I couldn't leave it off all together, it's just too sweet!

Whew, It's been a while...

Kimberly took this picture of Sloan earlier this year

Marcus & I at Eric and Sara's Wedding

I love this little guy! Always such a happy boy!

Linni and O, 4th of July (They are still best buddies!)

Marcus and the girls, 4th of July

I'm back...I was just reading a friend's blog and decided it was time to bring mine out of retirement. I'm kind of like my Minnesota Vikings qb, Favre.

Ok, so where do I start, my family life is busy with our 4 kids back in school and running around for practices and games, birthday parties and all that other fun stuff! Sloan is now a freshman in high school (Yikes, this is still so crazy to me!) Olivia is in middle school and Linni is now a 4th grader! Our little guy, who we still call Pito is now 3 years old and as sweet and smart as any 3 yr old little boy we come across! :) Sloan just finished playing fall league basketball (Marcus was able to coach them, which he loves and misses so much!) and getting ready to start her season really soon. O is starting a winter league basketball and Linni does not want to play this year so we aren't going to make her. And the little guy stays with my dad during the day and is smarter than a whipper snapper!!

Marcus and I are blessed, both of us have jobs that we like...most of the time (I should say, we're blessed just to both have a job with WA having one of the highest unemployment rates in the country!) and my dad rents our one bedroom apartment in exchange for babysitting Pito so it keeps him from working outside and gives them the opportunity to be best friends, which they are! Pito wants to be with my dad sometimes even when we're home from work. I'll say to him, "hey what about mama you've been with papa all day?" and he'll tell me, "it's ok mama, don't worry about it!" He's hilarious and super sweet, must have gotten that from his daddy! :) I work in commercial lending now at Anchor Bank in Lacey and I'm still learning, it's much more complicated than residential. I let my real estate license expire and I kind of wish that I would've kept it active just in case I could sell a home or two a year on the side! I guess, I can start over but that seems like so much work now especially that I already work a full time job. Maybe someday!!

Sloan went to Europe in July with the NBC International Tour. She had so much fun and was able to visit, Ireland and England. I will let her blog about it so she can explain her favorite parts in her own words. Both Sloan and Olivia are getting straight A's and Linni is doing good too. (they don't do the A's and B's yet for her grade.)

There is so much I feel like I've missed, I'll just start small today and try to get this going again. I'll add some pictures that I found saved in my computer and add more later.