Nana's Neighborhood: November and a few days of December in a Nut Shell

I don't know why it's so hard for me to make the time to keep the blog updated!! I'm pretty sure I need to 'schedule' it in my planner so time doesn't get away from me.

I didn't mention in my previous post that Darvin and I returned to Texas for baby Bryn's baby blessing. It was a very short trip (only a long weekend) but we were very glad to have the opportunity to be there. Isn't she the most adorable little thing you've ever seen?

Here's a picture of the Chatwin family on Bryn's baby blessing day (sans Karlee who was already in her Sunday School class).

Have I mentioned recently what a wonderful husband I have? My dryer recently gave up the ghost and my sweet honey not only bought me a replacement dryer, but also a matching front loading high efficiency washer. Thanks Darvin, I LOVE you!!!

Whirlpool Duet Front Load Washer WFW9150W

Thanksgiving was awesome as Lindsey and Thomas were able to join us, so we had half the kids home.

And FINALLY I didn't have to keep the secret any more. They announced that they're expecting a baby the end of May!! Ashley is also expecting in mid-June!! Wow, the Clement clan is now starting to multiply like rabbits (that's for you Grandpa Larkin-lol!)! Darvin and I will be blessed with 7 count that SEVEN grandchildren, with 6 of them coming within 3 years. Way to multiply and replenish the earth my awesome daughters!!! Your gift of making us grandparents is the BEST gift in the whole wide world!!!

So, about the secret! One day a while back I called Lindsey who didn't sound like herself. When I asked what was wrong she said she wasn't feeling well. I talked to her a couple more times that day. Well...it turns out that she was in the hospital on an i.v. because she had morning sickness so bad that she was severely dehydrated. She and Thomas hadn't announced that she was pregnant because she wanted to see everyone's reaction in person at Thanksgiving. After I'd called a couple of times, she told Thomas she was tired of keeping the secret, so he told her to tell me. I think it was a relief for HER to be able to finally share the secret, but boy was it a hard secret for ME to have to keep! A couple of times I was SURE Briana had figured it out (once walking in on a phone conversation), but apparently NOT, because you'll see her reaction on the second video URL. I thought it was HILARIOUS that she didn't 'trust' Lindsey's cupcakes (did she think they'd been spiked with Exlax or something?)! Not only do I love Briana's reaction, but Alex's in the background is priceless!

So another funny about the baby announcement secret. Lindsey had made me swear to secrecy, so I didn't tell a soul not even DAD. Well....Ashley called Lindsey to make her own baby announcement and somehow Lindsey got confused and thought I'd told Ashley and that Ashley was trying to trick her into spilling the beans. Ashley didn't know a thing UNTIL Lindsey DID spill the beans because she was sure I'd told Ashley. It's a little insulting to think that Lindsey didn't think I could be trusted with her secret (just kidding ;^)!) Good times!!!

There's nothing better than having little folks around during the holidays. Last year Alex liked our reindeer, so this year Nana decided we needed to add Santa. Walmart had a great sale on black friday that helped encourage the purchase! Here's Alex and Pops checking out the newest addition. In the beginning every day when Alex got up he had to look out the dining room window and talk about Santa!

Whenever Briana is home for Thanksgiving we HAVE to get the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving! And every year we have a discussion about how we get the tree from a fruit stand down in Union Gap that sells Christmas trees, and she says I don't know what I'm talking about because we ALWAYS get our tree from Home Depot. The mystery was solved this year when I realized that when she's not here we DO get our tree from the fruit stand. They don't always open the day after Thanksgiving so THAT's why we get the tree from Home Depot! And here are some photos of our tree 'shopping' trip to...Home Depot! lol

Alex enjoyed the experience!

So did Lindsey and Thomas!!!

Sisters...

We've got a bunch of...............................

GOOF-BALLS in the family!!!

Feliz Navidad from Alex!

Emmett giving us his adorable one tooth grin!

Alex scored on the way out when he got to play with his friend Elmo!

This year Pops decided he was getting too old to shovel snow off the driveway, so we 'bit the

bullet' and purchased the 'stuff' to outfit his 4 wheeler with a snow plow blade. He had a bit of 'retro-fitting' to do, but I'm proud to say that he got it all figure out and put together. Here's a picture of the end result and two of my boys showing off the new blade! (Oh and now that we're all ready for the snow storms, you can thank Darvin if we have a record breaking dry winter here in Yakima!)

And this is what 'the boys' do to relax once they're done with the tough outside work!

Today, Pops, Alex and I went on a little 'excursion' to grocery shop for Grandma and Grandpa Clement. We delivered the groceries and visited for a while, then on the way home stopped at the Granite Construction Company food drive and dropped off some food for the under-privileged. Alex thoroughly enjoyed checking out the dump truck while we were there.

"Look at the size of those tires."

After admiring the dump truck it was time to visit TSS Yogurt where Alex enjoyed sharing frozen yogurt with Nana and Pops. He also enjoyed socializing with the little girls, but apparently the feeling WASN'T mutual! lol

Then to put the finishing touch on a wonderful day we headed down to Sunnyside for the 22nd (I think) annual Sunnyside Lighted Farm Implement Parade. Here's a sample of the 50+ lighted entries: