Saturday, June 28, 2008

Making Memories...The Australian Way/ March 2008

My grandparents (mom's parents) met in Australia. He was in the service and she an authentic Aussie. They married and had my mother. She was raised in Australia until she was 3 and then they relocated back to the states. My great-grandparents owned a bakery and my grandmother helped with the family business for many years. As a result, she developed an incredible ability to bake pretty much anything you could imagine. I have very fond memories from the time I was maybe 6 or so of helping my grandmother with the baking and then enjoying licking the beaters and the bowl--most of which would end up all over my face. My favorites were pies and pasties--which my great-grandparents made and sold in their bakery. I'm not exactly sure why we've never made them before this year. I think we've always said, "Nobody can make them like Nana did!" So..nobody tried. Well, the girls and I and their Nana finally attempted them and they were excellent--just as I remembered. Amazing how food can bring back so many fond memories of my growing-up years.


Making the dough..I think one reason we never made these was because my Nana and her family used lard. That sort of scared us away...Yuk! That's what made the pastry so good--we use shortening instead.


Hamburger, chopped potaoes, carrots, onions and salt and pepper-very simple but after they are baked so yummy smothered with ketchup!

Putting them together...



This was the first time so we were rather ambitious. We made 165 of them and it took us the better part of 2 days.


Great memories with more to come...

Happy 16th Birthday, Caley! April 12, 2008

Grandma & Grandpa, Kurt & Laurie Faville, Kyle & Elle Rossi
Grandpa probably telling one of his many childhood stories...
Entertainment by Elle...transforming a towel into a chicken!
Gifts...


Happy Birthday, to you!


Elle put together a 16th year survival kit as a gift for Caley, complete with encouraging scripture verses. Kyle told Caley that they bought her a car because of his new "high-paying" job. He even handed her a set of keys and we covered her eyes only to reveal this tiny car to her out in the driveway. We actually had her believing there was a car of her very own sitting in the driveway. Oh, to be 16 again!


Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Moving on to April 2008: Caley Turns "16"

First steps and chicken pox..be thankful there are now immunizations for this. I feel soooo old!
Always laughing!
They change so fast...
Turning "3"...when "The Lion King" was just becoming popular.
With Nana and Papa's dog Buffy--the all-time favorite dog.

Caley's first bath...she's gonna' love me for this one!

Yes...this really is Caley!
Holding hands with Daddy...
Very cute...if I recall she spit up green peas on this beautiful white carpet--no worries Abbey Carpet Care to the rescue!
This was about the only piece of "furniture" we had when we moved into our home almost 15 years ago.
Wow!! Have we ever changed! I think people really do look better with age...Caley turning "1"

I thought I would post these pictures. This obviously was before the digital camera era. I'm thankful for my scanner though...I intended to make Caley a slideshow for her 16th birthday but ran out of time--plus with homeschooling she is always here and someone is always using MY computer. HAPPY 16th BIRTHDAY, CALEY! Much love to you!






Saturday, June 7, 2008

YMCA Regional Meet...March 2008

Regionals was held at Mt.Hood Community College.

Heather swimming one of her races--I can't remember how she placed. It was a very competitive meet.
Nana paid for a motel so the girls could stay overnight closer to the pool--it was the weekend of the time change--that made it even earlier that we had to be there.
Huge pool!! Covered in the winter but open in the summer. Not very much seating...nothing like breathing everyone else's air...Yuk!!
Very early hours...one thing I don't necessarily like about swimming in the winter!



Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Caley and Hannah's ear piercing with Russ...2004 & 2006




Wow! They change so much! It's fun to compare what each of the girls looked like at a certain (same) age.

March 2008:Traditional Ear Piercing...

Before...
During...
After...
When the girls turn 12, Russ takes them to get their ears pierced. I don't know why we picked that age--maybe because they seem fairly responsible and can take care of their ears by themselves. Fun for Russ to have that time with each of the girls. I'll try to find pics of Hannah and Caley, too.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

March 2008: Happy 12th Birthday, Heather...


This was the birthday party--very quick! It was Easter week and amazingly busy with Russ gone every night because of play practice. Heather didn't even open any presents--we just took her to Target and told her to pick out a few things...don't recall having done that before.
What an adventure it has been with these 3 girls! All I can say to those of you with small children right now is, "Hold on!" "Buckle-up!" Whatever you need to do...I don't think I was quite prepared for how incredibly quick children grow up. God is gracious to us as parents as we raise, train, discipline, make mistakes, re-train, etc., our children. What a gift and blessing they are. As I think about Heather's 12th birthday, it is not without thankfulness for what He has done in her life physically. Some of you may remember, she was born with a hole in her heart (atrial septal defect). I was always told by her first cardiologist that if a person had to choose a hole in their heart that would be it. Not life threatening, no physical symptoms--just a hole. No need to really do anything, we'll just watch it. God, in His sovereignty, had been at work all this time changing circumstances little by little. We just remained faithful having her checked every 3 years. We received word that her cardiologist retired and she was being assigned a new one. Our first appointment was June of 2007-the end of another 3 years. As we met, Dr. Kyser continued to ask us questions. No, we didn't know her heart was enlarging and no we definitely didn't know she had 2 holes. He recommended a procedure called Cardiac Catheterization as soon as we could. He just so happened to specialize (See!! Isn't it incredible how God just knew we would need this particular doctor??) in that area. This was completed in July 2007 and by August 2007 both holes had completely closed and her heart, if I remember correctly, was back to its normal size by the day after the procedure. We are so thankful for God's hand in all of this--amazing how He works and exciting for us to reflect on His wonderful sovereign grace!

February 2008: What Happens When Goofballs Get the Camera...



The girls just had gotten haircuts and were being goofy--they should be careful, they never know what's going to show up on here!

Monday, June 2, 2008

High School Swim...February 2007-08

This is from 2007. Caley lettered her freshman year.

Athlete of the Month January 2008
Caley has been swimming for Sprague High school for 2 years now. Her freshman year she placed 5th at districts in the 500 Free and this year she placed 6th in the 500 Free. I can't believe she chooses to swim this, I get so tired just watching her!

Sunday, June 1, 2008

February 2008 YMCA State Championships

Loving sisters...
Fierce competitors...
Coming home with some medals...

Haley Ferry for a visit...February 2008

Early (really early!!) morning getting ready to leave for a swimmeet in Tillamook and she's still smiling...
Wearing Hannah's boots...
The girls didn't want her to leave...she was so fun and easy!
This was so sweet! All the girls fell asleep and Haley held onto Heather's finger the whole time!
This is where our girls used to sit next to Russ while he did his school work.