Owen, Sara &
Andrew Hoelter

…and sometimes our neighborhood looks downright magical.

Happy Easter!

We had sunshine this year for our egg hunts, first at Miss (beloved preschool teacher) Ann’s house, then, with Jackson and Carson at Grandma and Grampa’s house in Portland after our ham and cheesy potatoes. Owen took charge of the hiding, and the littles did the finding.

Here are these cool kids dressed up for church, prior to being covered in chocolate. I love Owen’s hip guy stance, this may hint at things to come, and a combed Drew is a rare sight!

The kids ended the day with a game of catch mediated by Grampa–pretty cute all in a row here…

Before too much time passes, here are just a few photos from Drew’s 3rd birthday…

And just to prove he’s still our little boy, here he is, enjoying a little, um, freedom (click on the image for a view of the full moon)…

Happy Birthday, Drew!

The big kids and Dad went “autobahn” tubing up at Hoodoo this past weekend – our first play day in the snow of the season. All had a great time – the kids especially liked lunch in the RV our friends drove up. Owen has now decided we need one … maybe next year.

Mostly sunny day in central Oregon, with Three Finger Jack in the distance.

Sara enjoyed the rope tow to the top, though she walked the first three runs.

Time to head home!

Well, it happened again — I got way behind in sorting and posting photos. So the time has come for another catch-up post. Presented for your enjoyment are three galleries from the Fall of 2011.

Christmas photos are next on my list — perhaps before Valentine’s Day?

	School Daze Fall brings with it the familiarity of back-to-school events: Photos on the front porch, a trip to the beach with Dad, visits to the pumpkin patch, soccer games, fun runs, and more.
	Disneyland Thanks to a purchase at a wine-fueled charity auction earlier in the year, in late October we headed down to California for two days of magic at Disneyland, with a bonus day at Legoland. Grandpa Mark and Grandma Miriam joined in on the fun. Needless to say, it was an amazing trip!
	Things That Happen Around This Time of Year Trick-or-Treating, fall leaves, birthdays, outdoor adventures, and Thanksgiving with family – it was an active Fall for us. This gallery begins with three little Angry Birds, and ends with a sunny hike along the Santiam River.

Here are some odds and ends, including the long awaited matching Christmas T-shirt picture…

And here are a few from our trip to the beach with the Wings!

And, we have a 9 year old!

Peter, a brave man, took these 5 characters bowling to celebrate the occasion. He won. By a lot. Just in case anyone wondered. His score was like 190 or something.

All is well for now, but let’s not do this again for a very long time…

The morning after…

Yes, we had to drive up to the tallest point in the city to play in it, but we were able to build a snowman within the city limits — a rare thing for our mild Oregon city. It was a nice way to spend a Monday holiday…

Christmas vacation!

We had a real one this year, with several days all together at home and then a trip to the beach with the Wings. I think this will take 2 posts, but I want to show all  of you some of the highlights:

1. A cold, but not quite freezing, picnic (okay, Christmas cookies and clementines probably don’t equal a picnic) at Bald Peak, where we found some sun above the freezing fog of the valley on 12/22.

2. Waiting patiently (and not-so patiently) to open gifts with the Hoelters on 12/23:

However, the gifts could wait for a story…

Thanks again, Mark and Miriam and all of you crazy Hoelters for your kindness to our kids and to Peter and I! We love you.

3. Christmas Eve service. This church was much darker and full of people when Owen played (with hands that shook much less than his mother’s) his Christmas repertoire of “Angles We Have Heard On High” and “Deck the Halls” on that giant baby grand in the front left corner. I think it’s fair that I gush just a little bit over how calm and confident he was, and how the sound filled up that big church. I might have sniffled a tiny bit.

Stay tuned for pictures of Grandma Judy and Uppa in matching Christmas shirts!

For the past few years we’ve walked to the nearby Mission Mill, which puts on Magic at the Mill every year at this time.

There are aways an impressive number of Christmas lights, which the kids love:

And a model railroad that they all want to reach out and touch:

The lighted bridge is a great location for a failed Christmas card photo:

However, we did find a location that made all three kids happy (yes, Drew is smiling-he’s not grumpy):

Fun times where had by all — Merry Christmas, kiddos…