Tree Lighting in Portland

On Friday eve we went to Pioneer Courthouse Square in the heart of down town Portland to watch the 24th annual tree lighting ceremony. The tree is 75 feet tall and has 15,000 lights! It was amazing. (my picture is not very good)
It was fun to do the countdown and watch it light up. It was very crowded, about 25,000 people were there...
We do not go down town very often, so it's always a treat when we go! The kids had a good time and of course got to see some unusual things/people.

After the hustle & bustle of the tree lighting, we decided to head towards Macy's to visit Santa Land. They do an amazing job every year of creating a Santa Village complete with Elves, Gingerbread houses and reindeer, including Rudolf! We did not see Santa this time because the line was horrendously long! I assured the kids we would see him sometime soon!

This guy was a bit unusual, but very entertaining. He was on the corner across from Macy's.
He had clear glass balls that he magically moved around in his hands. His movements were so smooth, the balls appeared to be "floating".
He must have made a fortune that evening because his change bucket was stuffed with money. When Mac walked up and put a few bucks in his bucket, he bent down and shook Mac's hand. It shocked Mac a bit, but after we walked on he could not stop talking about how "cool" it was.

Pondering...

We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!
We did, in fact...we are still stuffed! We ate way TOO MUCH-
We had a good turn out and enjoyed visiting with those that could make it. I was so busy that I did not get any pictures of the kids...
However, I did get these pics of Henry and his friend Hunter. We were dog sitting for our friends over the holiday. I had to put them outside while I was baking/cooking. When I looked out the window, I could not resist...they were so cute!
(I think they were plotting/pondering on how to get some turkey & ham!)

Civil War Game

Well, our beloved BEAVS got their "BUMS" kicked last night by their rival team, the Ducks...
We are bummed because we were all looking forward to them making it to the Rose Bowl.
Oh well, there's always next year!
We are BEAVER FANS through the good and the bad!
GO BEAVS!

Thanksgiving Blessings

Thanksgiving is the bounty of the harvest, the beauty of the season, the blessings of God's many gifts.

I have many things that I could write at the moment to express how grateful I am for all of the blessings in my life. However, we would all be here reading this for a very, very long time. There is not one person in my life, whether past or present, that I am not grateful for. I believe with all my being that we cross paths with others because God wants us to. It is our choice to recognize it and make the best of each adventure and relationship. If you have your heart open, you learn from these special individuals (I call them angels) and you make many memories with them. They are timeless, sacred and tangible blessings from the heart. I count my blessings each and every day. If you are reading this, you know how special you are to me. Thank you for all of your love, guidance, friendship and support in my life journey. Thank you for loving me and for loving my precious family-

I have posted a picture of Big John and Mema and of Grandma Kay (Pat's grandmother)
They are on our minds and in our hearts this holiday season. We miss them terribly, but know that we will see them again someday. I know that they are watching over all of us and encouraging us to always do what's right and to love without end.

This Thanksgiving, may it be a source of inspiration and wonder to know that there's a loving God watching over you, and that he's always close by your side.

~ Mac's Picasso Masterpiece ~

Mac's Picasso portrait was chosen this month for Starbucks! He was very excited and he did a great job on it. The kids have been studying Picasso and his art work this month. ( it's part of the classes I teach) They were asked to do their own version of his famous painting "The Three Faces" They all did an awesome job. The two paintings from my class are Mac's and Charlie Sue's. They are the only second graders that were selected. The other paintings/drawings are third graders. So, great job Mac & Charlie Sue! We got to go to Starbucks this evening and see their work and they received a complimentary hot chocolate- YUM! The art work will be on display for a few weeks.


This is Mac's masterpiece!

Lilly's Rainbow

Lilly was playing with Play-Doh this eve and she made a lovely rainbow! I know I may be biased and all, but I am impressed that she rolled these all by herself! Mac told her they looked like snakes...and well, it did not make her very happy.
She screamed "NO MAC! IT'S MY RAINBOW!"

Meet Clyde-

This is Clyde, our new bunny. Isn't he cute? We have been having a lot of fun with him. Tonight he peed on Mac! (see pix below) We were all laughing so hard, that we almost peed our pants! Maybe we should have named him Whiz or Whiz-er??

Football Party

We celebrated and honored our Blue Thunder Champions lat night at a pizza party bash. The kids received their hard earned trophies and the Coach recognized Assistant Coaches and others that helped out throughout the season. I even got an award for being Team Mom! It was embarrassing...but very sweet of them. Pat also got an award for being an Assistant Coach. We all had a great time and Mac cannot wait until Thursday for Show-n-Tell at school.
Blue Thunder placed 3rd in overall championship games!

GO MAC ATTACK!

Proud Papa & Momma!
Now, isn't my hubby most handsome? He is turning 40 tomorrow and I tell him every day how handsome he is and what a hunk he is!

If he sees this, he is gonna kill me!
LOL...

Wild Wood Park

Yesterday went to a Nature/Recreational Park that is in the foothills of Mt. Hood. It's called Wild Wood Park and is BEAUTIFUL! We had just awesome weather to boot. We went with our friends Destiny and Jason and their three boys, Little Jason, Peyton and Wayland. It was great to get out and hike and get some fresh air!

Lilly, Pat & Peyton standing in front of a fallen tree. It was huge, they are standing in front of the roots only!

Even Henry had a great time!

On the river bank.

Peyton, Lil' Jason, Mac & the back of Wayland

November Birthdays...

We celebrated November birthdays on friday evening. It is Dave, Kelly, Pat and Jimmy's birthday. (Jimmy's is in October, but we didn't get to celebrate it) I incuded some pictures of the kids too. Catie Lynn has amazing blue eyes, just like her brother. We all have very cute kiddo's and that's a fact!


Lilly and Tarver

Catie Lynn and her beautiful blues!

Catie Lynn

Playing under the table

Goofing Off-

Just a few pictures of The Potter's goofing around. Lilly was having fun with one of our plastic totes the other day....of course, all the toys that were suppose to be in it were scattered over the entire house but she was having a grand time-
We still have Halloween stuff laying around, (I am sad to admit this) so we were goofing off with them as well.
We have had a busy weekend so far and it's not over yet. We have a new member of the family too. His name is Clyde. He's cute, soft and "hoppy". Yep, we have a new bunny. I will get some pictures posted a bit later.

OOOH, Oprah Freebie!

I have Oprah on at the moment and she has an offer on her web-site that is good for the next 48 hrs only. It is an awesome deal. You can get your kids artwork/pictures published in a nice, professional bound book done by snapfish.com
I love snapfish.com and their products. I have ordered several of their products in the past. These books make awesome mementos and gifts! They are priced at $29.99, but if you log onto Oprah.com and follow instructions on her site, you can get ONE for FREE!
AWESOME!!
Just wanted to pass it on-

The Princess Sleeps...

Bless her heart...we had a busy day and she crashed as soon as we got home, but not before changing into her princess dress. Gotta have your priorities ya know! She had preschool this morning. I picked her up from there and we ran a few errands, crammed down some lunch and headed to Mac's school. She helped get my class ready for a Picasso art lesson. It turned out to be a bigger project than I expected and it took all afternoon. We were still cleaning up after the last bell rang for the day. She was a trooper. When we left school with Mac in tow, still had errands to finish. She kept saying "Momma I'm tired". When we came in the door, she jetted off to find her dress and a few minutes later I found her on the couch. Even Snickers (our kitty) is snoozing...all in a day's work. Mac is wide awake. I told him he must not have worked hard enough on his Picasso painting!

Go Blue Thunder!

Our team took 3rd place overall in the Championship yesterday. We are VERY proud of them. It was a good season, a season to remember! They had to play 3 teams yesterday, all games were back to back and as you can see from the photos, it was a very cold, dreary and WET day. They did awesome and played through it showing great stamina and strength.

Congratulations Blue Thunder!
Love,
Laura Potter- Your Team Mom
(Mac is 5th in line of top photo)

Yeah! Pictures!!

So, for some reason I got these pictures to upload. Don't know what I did differently, but I will take what I can at the moment. Pat and I are the last couple pictured. Pat waited on the front porch for most of our guests and spooked them with his big scary face! It was pretty funny- we had a good time and some fun costumes!