Sweet Katie's Birthday

On January 10, Katie turned one year old. It's amazing how fast this first year has flown! We got to help celebrate the day by attending her party along with the other grandparents and some of Katie's aunts and uncles.
Beth made a butterfly cake since that seems to be one of Katie's interests at this point in her young life.

Hmm! Pretty!

Should I touch it?

So dainty! This was about as far as she got with the frosting. She didn't like the feel of it. Beth had changed her to this outfit for the cake just in case she really got sticky, but the most she did was to get frosting on her finger and then wipe it off onto her leg! And she lost interest fairly quickly.

The rest of us enjoyed the cake! It was another of Beth's yummy recipes. Mmmmmm!

Under the Tree

A fun thing I did as a kid and taught my own kids and now my grandkids. Here I am with Donny under his Christmas tree. "See all the pretty lights?"

Christmas with the Whittakers

We didn't have our family Christmas celebration until New Year's Eve -- not an uncommon thing for us. We like to spread our Christmas out and make it last!!
On the 29th, Tim and Heather came to spend some time in our apartment with us. We loved having them and little Beniah here. We babysat Kim's Donny on the 30th. He wasn't sure what to think of his little cousin. When Beniah cried, Donny would run to the kitchen to get away.

Here we thought he was showing a bit of interest, but just when I was ready to take the picture, he exclaimed, "Elmo!" and started playing with the toy on the front of Beniah's chair. Beniah seemed more interested in Donny than Donny was in him.

The youngest family member.

"Santa Baby"

We had a few extended family and friends join us this year. This is our dear sis-in-law, Kathy and friend, Dave.

Jack really likes his little cousin.

Our little darling, Katie melts our hearts. She's so precious!

This was a fun photo shoot!! The ages of our little ones and the varied personalities made it difficult to get everyone looking in the same direction at the same time. There were at least 5 cameras flashing pics and all the adults (except Grandma who was holding Beniah in place) grouped in front of the little ones trying to capture their attention. Then Katie was done and climbing down, and it was all over -- in a flash!

Katie, Donny, Jack and Beniah. Aren't they cute?!!

We always have fondue. Yummy!

Kim and Heather

Jack and Uncle Timmy

Jim with his brother, Jeff

White Christmas!!

Some snow scenes from our apartment. The scenery may not be as pretty as other places, but there's something about snow that makes even the most ordinary things seem magical.

And some things are.... fun!

Today Jim took the ice and snow off the van, put chains on the tires, and we finally got out for a drive. We were feeling closed in at our little apartment. So it was nice to go to Kim's for awhile.






Kim and Andy's cars were buried in snow.

Here's a house that I think is pretty. Maybe next year I'll have pictures of our own house to put here, but in the meantime, I'll enjoy seeing others.

Everyone have a wonderful Christmas, and if you have snow, enjoy the beauty. If you don't have snow where you are, I hope you enjoyed these pictures.

We don't have to dream of a white Christmas this year. 'Looks like we'll have one! (Of course this means that some of our Christmas plans have had to be cancelled, which is sad, but I still love the snow!)

Apartmentalized Christmas

I really thought I'd be okay with no Christmas decor this year. But I was wrong!! No. I do need at least a little Christmas here. So today I went and bought not one, but THREE Christmas trees. Now, doesn't this look nice?

Oh, and since I didn't have any of my Christmas clothes here, when we were down in Eugene yesterday, we went to our house in JC and dug through some things and got some of them. I knew where they were. We just had to move some things to get to them.

I feel better. Christmas can come now!!

Beniah!!

Meet the newest member of the Whittaker family! Beniah Mark was born at 5:20 AM on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008.
He was 9 lb, 6 oz, and very cute!!


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As you can see, his daddy, Timmy is very proud! We can tell already that he's going to be a good dad.















Their first family picture! Tim, Heather and Beniah Whittaker

See? I TOLD you he was cute!!

Heather and Beniah getting to know each other.

Their initial response to each other....


...soon became a good thing. They both looked amazed in this pic!

Smiling at Grandma....

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checking Grandpa out....

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Grandma and Grandpa are both very happy with the new little bundle! What a precious gift a baby is!

Fort Vancouver

A couple of weeks ago the weather was good (probably the last really good day for doing anything outside for awhile), and we went to visit Fort Vancouver. Since we live here now, we thought it would be a good thing to see. I thought it was fascinating, and hope to go back when they're giving tours and all the buildings are open to go inside. The original fort was burned down, so what is there now is reconstructed. But it sits on the same site and the buildings that have been built are accurate as to what was there before. a lot of the articles in the buildings were actually recovered by archeologists who excavated the original site.

After touring as much as we could inside the fort, we went to "Old Apple Tree Park" (nearby) and saw what is reported to be the oldest apple tree in the territory. I expected something bigger than this.

We walked under the railroad tracks to get to the tree. I thought it was quite picturesque....

... as was the river just before sunset.