December.... Christmas...

The Foundation was dug for the Maaco Build, the rebar was installed, ready for cement.

We picked out a great tree at a farm in Damascus. The Shad and Aidan found a busted soccer ball they kicked, dodging between all the trees. Camten ran fast to keep up. We decided a close-to-the-car tree would be perfect this year, and handy for not losing anybody, too.

Kristi came up for Christmas vacation!!! (She brought Dwight, too, wasn't that nice?) We visited and visited and snacked on Hickory Farms and visited. It's so fun emailing back and forth, but what a refreshing time it was to see each other!!!! Not to mention, she got to experience the Armstrong Household at full volume! Talk about a Treat!The Great Tradition of making Gingerbread Houses was not forgotten or overlooked in 2007. Shad wanted a Dog House again. I guess making what I could out of leftover dough last year was a hit! Dad helped Camten again, or visa versa. Aidan took on his very own creation and Trinity and I kept everyone supplied with decorating treats in a snacky sort of way. We made them so close to Christmas this year that they were actually delicious to eat, too!!! Bonus!

This was such a busy day... Dwight and Kristi came out to play (my way of putting it, not Dwight's, who spent the day under the van in the shop!) Jeremy got this homemade headboard from a client of a friend who couldn't use it... and it fit Trinity's bed perfectly! She loves displaying all her stuffed animal friends and blankey collection. Judy Gillock also came out with her brand new baby boy!!! What a GREAT day!!!! What a little cutie!!


Our very own A-Bear turned 7 years old on the 20th and the whole family came out to celebrate! Aidan designed a few individual cupcakes and was really wishing Mom would let him light them all.... I can't believe he was holding matches, let alone for a picture! I don't know, maybe in some places 7 is old enough to start fires, but not at our house! Maybe that's 'cause of all the firefighters in the family... Anyway.... there's our tree decorated. I kept adding lights to fill in holes and one string was just red - I didn't think anyone would notice. I guess it looked, well... who has to have a professional Christmas Tree?! I mean, seriously!

The Highlight of Christmas 2007 is going to be seeing Grandpa and Grandma at their house on Christmas Day. They are such wonderful, strong people with such a great legacy. On this occasion, their legacy filled their house so much, there was no more elbow room and walking accross the room was a mixture of tightrope walking and acrobatic hopping. The kids all opened their gifts, too, and then opened the toy boxes and tested out their new stuff. Then it was more like Human Tetris. I hope they felt the Love!!! :-)

On your marks, get set.... Here's our early morning fun right before we dived in! (There IS a baby Jesus in there somewhere!) Highlights? Wife bought stuff from Classic Industries. Didn't matter WHAT! Those are scateboards in front. Trinity got a kitchen! Camten got more cars than he could carry. :-) And a cool truck to carry them in! We got an Xbox!!!! Honey got JUST what wife "needed" and hid it in a BIG box - that's a craft organizer, of course. Everyone got a remote controlled vehicle! phew! And the kids got each other treasures which they really enjoyed watching each other open - oh, not to mention Dad's multiple tape measures, etc.

This year, some how (Jeremy), we got a family picture! There's a lot I can say, but most importantly...

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE ARMSTRONG FAMILY!

Bonus...

On Christmas day it SNOWED! Here's a peak at our life on a snowy day...

Tiger Awards!

WE'RE PROUD OF OUR BOYS!!!

Aidan - awarded for "Responsibility"

Shad awarded for "Perseverence"

(That's Aidan, Camten and Trinity running in the background!)

4-day Birthday Weekend!

This year Mom's birthday started with a NEW CAMERA! We had a family party with cake and ice cream - notice Camten is still nervous that a bunch more people will appear out of nowhere and sing loudly! ha! Then we all went out to eat at Outback Steakhouse... that was NOT relaxing, obviously, but very entertaining, and maybe an outing to get a babysitter for in the future! The grand finale was going to the Blazer game (just the two of us!) Thank you everyone for such a GREAT birthday!!!! :-)

Thanksgiving in Pictures

Somehow I didn't get a picture of the huge Bounce House outside that kept all the kids entertained between warm-ups and all their boundless energy contained!

I saw Grandpa and Grandma, too. They had a quiet day together at home... a specialty in this season of their life right now! What a blessing they are to all - and how wonderful to pause a moment and be Thankful for SO MUCH FAMILY!!!! Thank You, God!

Fun and Games

Yes... this is a picture of our FOUR kids playing happily together!





This is Hungry Hippo - it has four hippos! After this game, they moved on to Hullabaloo! ALL FOUR OF THEM!!!





:-) It was a really exciting moment for me... I always love it when my kids play together nicely, but so far it's been in twos with a rare all-boy event or two.



It was getting so close to Christmas that some "Nuts and Bolts" needed to be made! Trinity is already a great cook and taste-tester. She loves helping Mom in the kitchen. She picked the orange-ringed bowl as her charge and carefully ate nearly all the pretzels out before we baked it for our mix. ha! We called this the "Thanksgiving Batch" although it didn't make it to that date.

November 17th

Our "little guy", Camten, turned 4!

He's really shy and excited about growing bigger just so he can be faster - "fast" is a very valuable skill amoungst the Armstrong boys. He still asks me if he can be my "little guy" even though he's gettin so big. How can I refuse a request like that?! Maybe when he's in high school he'll be sorry I took him so seriously... but for now, we're good buds.

Camten got so picture-shy I didn't get a good shot of him for two weeks. Even cuter, he hid around the corner when it came time to sing him "happy birthday"! So, we whispered the song quietly so he'd step out enough to blow out his candles.

ACTION! at our new Maaco location!

It's TRUE! There's an Excavator scraping for the foundation on our future Maaco site!!! They got the Permits from Clackamas County this week, and now the BUILD can start!!!!

Wow! We got to put up our "Coming Soon" sign!

Woooohooooo! Progress!

It's so exciting to share every detail with everyone!! Thank you ALL for your enthusiasm and support! What a LONG journey!

Birthday Party!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Daddy....

We had lotsa winners for the "decorate the cupcake" event, of course.

Happy Halloween! (Armstrong flavored)

Aidan and Shad got into carving their own pumpkins this year, scooping out goopy seeds and everything! Aidan had hoped to save ALL the seeds, but he was happy with a handfull after I assured him we could plant them and grow a whole pumpkin field all by ourselves with them. (In theory, I mean. I realize pumpkins are durable choice for veggie gardens and all that, but follow-thru should never be assumed.)

Our Four Costumed partyers!

Shad has decided he's Spiderman forever - I think this is the 3rd year, and quite frankly, it fits him! Camten decided Aidan's cool cape was so awesome - we had two batmans! :) And they can run really fast with those capes, too! Those two have been wearing their costumes almost daily for two weeks!! Trinity had to dress in her Princess outfit every time she saw it, so we either hid it from her, or didn't give her any chocolate, caramel, yogurt, juice, bananas, crackers, rice, lollipops, cereal, or pudding while she was in it.

Trick-or-Treating has always been memorable for us... and not just because of the sugar-rush! Shad, Aidan, friend Cody and Trinity went door to door as enthusiastically has they could until the neighborhood ran out of candy, and the kids couldn't fit one more in their buckets. Camten reserved his energy, discovering he had to talk to people, which he's not sure he's ready to do, yet. He had his Daddy, though, so he was happy to walk along.

Hard at Work!

Progress on the Milwaukie Property... we got the front porch started and the fence along the far side and some initial landscaping. Doesn't it look great? The outside is nearly ready for paint! And, actually, the inside, too! It's almost a REAL HOUSE! (very exciting)

The motor got installed in the Orange Shortbox... yea, it's our buddy's truck, but with all the steel braided lines and new headers... this motor is a Completed Work of Art! :-) (That's girl-talk for whatever it is the guys were talking about that I didn't 'get'.)

Shad has tons of homework... that counts as "work" around here! Good job, Shad!!