Christmas 2011

"WHAT?! That was Christmas? What's the big deal?"


"Well, Cole, we had a pretty low-key Christmas this year because you were plenty of excitement for our little family. You and Sonya did have fun visitors: A couple of Grandmas and Grandpa's, some aunts and uncles and cousins, a doggie....and even Santa came to visit!


Can you guess what this is a picture of? It is my MOST FAVORITE Sonya creation yet...very Picasso-esk...


Yep! That's right, it is the Christmas Nativity! Sonya was simply in love with the nativity story this year...insisting that we read Luke 2 to her several times, and reinacting the story with little figurines. She was more excited about the baby Jesus than Santa, and rightfully so.


Merry Christmas!

Turkey Day

(aren't these little turkeys cute?! It has become a tradition (at Sonya's request). We make them out of chocolates and cardstock.) I cannot take credit for this FANTASTIC apron that fit my prego physique so beautifully; it belongs to cousin Jessica.


Awwww...my cute little family! I'm lovin' the accesorizing! Cam can TOTALLY pull off the nerdy professor look with his bowtie!


YUM! (kudos to the yam-maker...I'm still dreaming about the crunchy gingerstap topping!)


This is Sonya at her preschool Thanksgiving party. She was asked to make a list of all the things she is grateful for.....


...and this is Cam's reaction when he see's only one word on the list: MOMMY!
YAY! this is one of those rare payout moments when super-fun-candy-giving-wrestling daddy gives way to the less-fun-but-steady and loving mommy!

Verboort 2011- A Wilde Family tradition

This year, we were joined by Ned's family (Cam's brother who just moved to Oregon) and our new neighbors: Regan and Krista. The annual sausage festival is a fundraiser for a small private school in Verboort. Although there are exciting attractions like the 'Pot Holder Raffle' (Sonya won a giant stuffed lion this year!) and the 'Pork and Bean Loaf' bake sale, the real draw is the food! Here's Ned and Seth gleefully and energetically beginning to feast.



Little Natalie was VERY proud of her feasting prowess!



This was the damage done by our little group: I'm guessing a quarter pig, 4 heads of cabbage, 10# each potatoes and apples, and two whole pies met their demise at our hand.



The consequences were desastrous, especially for these two very, very pregnant women! Who brought the TUMS?!?!?!?!?

Verbort 2010

As per tradition, we attending a sausage festival near Forest Grove, Oregon. It is a delectable feast of Saurkraut, homemade sausage, pie, and milk...all served in an elementary school cafeteria. Cam went a little overboard and spent 1/3 of my month's grocery budget on sausage for the freezer. Yikes!

Halloween 2010

Aren't you glad these characters are a part of your world?

I love the following sequence of photos!  Les poissons, les poissons .... Wilde style ...

Cakes in the patch

Kruger's Farm

We have been receiving email's about deals in Portland from various sources including LivingSocial, Groupon, and Tippr.  Living Social had this deal: Voucher for Two Corn Maze Tickets, Two Pumpkins, Two Plain Caramel Apples, and Two Ears of Roasted Corn from Kruger's Farm and we took it.  We used it last Saturday and had a blast in the rain.  The following photos tell the story.

Grandpa and Grandma Wilde's 60th Wedding Anniversary

Grandpa and Grandma (Ken and Elaine Wilde) have been married 60 years! To celebrate the occasion, we threw a party for them on August 7th in Aunt Ilene's backyard. To this point, they have themselves, 7 kids, 24 grand kids, 8 great grand kids and 3 more on the way.  This doesn't even count the wonderful people that married into the family.

39 people showed up to celebrate with them!

The younger grandkids and great grandkids played together.

Distant (in miles) cousins and nieces/nephews/uncles/aunts were reacquainted.

Excellent food (prepared by my gorgeous and very talented wife and Aunt Ilene) was consumed.

In all, it was an excellent time together, one that all will cherish.

Inma

It's been a while since our last post.  We've been busy.  Inma has been staying with us from Spain.  This is the second time we have hosted a student through Andeo and we really enjoy it.  Inma has been great!  She is very helpful and Sonya absolutely loves her.  Activities are provided during the day through Andeo, but we have done some fun things in the evenings and on the weekends with her.

Activities have included:
Making tutus with the Young Women

Hanging out with Sonya

Jumping on the trampoline with you children

Holding new Morgan babies

Hanging out with Sonya even more

Watching 4th of July Fireworks in Tigard

Camping at Cape Disappointment

Christmas 2009

Christmas at the Wilde family is really simple and restful. It consists of opening presents, playing, and my personal favorite: eating waffles with strawberries and whipped cream.

We were able to catch Sonya's reaction to her presents here:


Also, the Barker family gave us a rather interesting and creative gift. Do you recognize it?

Christmas Eve

Karren grew up throwing a big dinner for Christmas Eve, but with our small family, it just wasn't the same. SOLUTION: Get together with Alisha Garrity and throw an elegant dinner.

Alisha took care of the decorating:


Karren took care of the cooking:


Of course the food was delicious:



That evening Bryan and I set up Sonya's present and Karren prepared the room for Christmas so it was nice, clean and beautiful. We got to bed at 2:30 AM. It was a lot of fun helping Santa.

Getting ready for Christmas!

The Wilde family has been preparing for the holidays this past week. We got our first EVER Christmas tree (normally we decorate a rosemary bush) and even cut it down ourselves.

The farm was a cute little family owned operation with a barn and tractor to boot! They even served us peppermint hot cocoa. mmmmm....

We decorated our tree with clear bulbs which Daddy and Sonya filled with the dried peddles from Miah's funeral. It made for a beautiful golden glowy tree to honor Sweet Miah this year. (of course, we filled a couple bulbs with chocolate chips to represent our other 'candy-o-holic' daughter, Sonya).

We crafted an extra ornament of 'Miah flowers' to hang on the tree at the cemetary. We attended a nice little service there, and sang Christmas Carols with others who have recently said goodbye to loved ones.

We made sure to visit Miah's little grave before leaving. She would have been 7 weeks old; her memory is a part of our family always, and we love her!