I have a good friend who makes all these lovely things: Scandinavian mittens, hats for babies, stockings for Christmas, finger-less gloves for friends, booties for newborns, socks for family and much much more.  She has graciously volunteered to teach knitting to Lona and started a club to make it fun.  As the mother, I take her to knitting club and before I knew it, I had a pair of needles and a ball of yarn in my hand making the same hat as Lona.  I knitted, I purled, I slipped, and yarn overed and knitted together.  I even cabled.  I went to the yarn store and gasp, bought more yarn.  I casted on, and casted off.  I even put these little circles between stitches and made finger-less gloves.  I made a cowl and a scarf and leg warmers.  I even signed up for a free online site so that I can peruse patterns and knit the free ones.  I left my knitting projects somewhere between the elementary school, dentist, doctor, and ice rink and I had dreams about not finding it. Yet I decided I was not a knitter.  I have a project on the needles, and carry a zip-lock bag around with said project. I even have a label on my blog dedicated to knitting. I may have to recant that statement but the verdict is still out.  I may indeed be a knitter. 

John and I had the rare opportunity to have the house to ourselves.  We get that when my Mom takes the kids for a couple of weeks during the summer but this was different.  Isaac had State Chess Tournament in Seattle so he left Friday around 1:30.  Then a gal from Lona's soccer team called up and wanted to invite Lona for a sleepover.  She left around 4 and we saw her again at 3:30.  Wouldn't you know it if a kid in Job's class didn't call about a slumber party at his house that same night.  When I realized that it all came together on the same weekend, I was literally jumping up and down with joy.  Usually we have to plan for this to happen and it just fell into place.  The only catch was that we needed to pick Job up at 10:30. That really wasn't a problem it just meant that our date ended at 10:30 in the morning. 




Upon picking Job up we learned that they had stayed up until 5 am!  They wanted to pull an all nighter and by 5 am it was deemed all night so they slept until 9.  I guess they had fun playing mine craft, hide and seek in the dark, and Nerf wars.  Job hid in a pillow case for hide and seek.  That boy.  Upon walking into the house he grabbed the iPad and cuddled up with the dog for about a half an hour.  It was just so sweet to see them together.  They had a nice quiet morning sleeping, viewing games and sharing tips and secrets.

 So every once and a while we decide to invite a whole slew of kids over to hangout, eat dinner, play in the fire and spend the night.  It was time once again for a crazy Parks party.  There was Guitar Hero with drums, s'mores, flash light tag outside in the dark, some sleeping, and ice skating the next day.  It just happened to be one night that it wasn't raining or too cold.  We sent the older boys to move the trampoline and start the fire.  They did a fairly good job.  Someone has been teaching Mike - thanks Marie. He in turn taught Isaac who can only start a fire in the summer with a magnifying glass or chicken on the grill.
Ever since Job started school he's been invited to do more things with other kids.  We wanted him to branch out and not rely so heavily upon his siblings and that is exactly what has happened. Oh, we want a tight sibling/family relationship, however we also want him  to develop life long friends as well.  He is more of an introvert which is fine, but learning to be a friend with someone outside of our home is important too.  School has accomplished everything we wanted it to in the friend area.

There are some activities that the idea sounds fun until the work begins and then I question whether it is really fun or not. Skiing is one of those activities. I like the idea of it, I hate the getting ready and putting away of it. The actual activity of skiing is fun. I don't like to drive up there but love being a passenger.  It's a three day activity at our house. One day to get ready, find the gear, check out the gear, organize the gear, clean out the car, pack the car, and grocery shop. The day of skiing, getting dressed, make the lunch and possibly dinner, loading the car full of kids, driving, skiing, and unloading is the next day. Finally day three or four, is unpacking, drying out the gear, organizing the gear, putting it away, and cleaning out the car and cooler. It sounds like a lot of work and it is. The trick is to get the kids to do most of it. If they want to ski, then they need to be doing the work. That said, John and I are still overseeing to make sure that it is all done properly.  We can't be going up to Mount Baker and realize that Isaac's diabetes set doesn't work and we need to come home or that the bindings on the snowboard don't fit the child's boots or even that there isn't a pair of extra gloves because the first ones are wet. However, when the days on the volcano are beautiful and you can almost ski without a coat because it's 45+ degrees up there and everyone is happy and come home exhausted, it makes all that work worth it.

Job is overcoming his fear of heights to stand at the railing here.

closing his eyes as I tease him about a girl - the Tolov dance is coming up.

Trying hard to have an attitude about being outside so early in the day.

with my best friend - photo taken by Lona

You know how a day can go either totally lazy or with a little adventure. Well upon waking this morning that was the kind of day I faced.  Saturday morning with nothing to do.  Really absolutely nothing on the calendar.  Of course that was because we were supposed to be in Canada on a small get away but plans have a way of changing.  I rolled over and asked John if it was foggy outside.  Yep, my first thought was about photography and the fog.  John's question was a little different.  "What is on your list for me to do today?"  Actually nothing.  His plans included video games, football games and a soccer game.  Hmmm.  We are a little different.  I convinced him to go out to breakfast with me.  It's not hard when Woods makes these incredibly yummy white chocolate raspberry scones. We dressed, told the kids we were leaving and went off to breakfast.  It doesn't happen often.  About an hour later it was still foggy so I called the kids and told them to get ready, we're taking photos at Tenant Lake.  Isaac being the teenager that he is was still in bed at 10am!  He moaned about getting up and then pouted and flat out refused to leave the house.  Nothing like a good unrelenting tickle session can motive a teen to get out of the house.  Love you Isaac.  Tenant Lake is only 5 minutes away so it isn't a huge deal or hardship to get to.  A few photos, some throwing the tennis ball for the dog, and a climb up to the observation deck and we were done.  Unfortunately we couldn't walk out to the lake due to waterfowl hunting season.  So not much of an adventure but still out of the house enjoying the beautiful weather.  So needed since the rest of the day is taken up with the NHL - not football.

Hi. My name is Norbert. I am a Lego mini figure and I am going to tell you about my owner, Job Parks. He was manufactured in Montana with two other Lego ginormafigures. He was made with one eyebrow higher than the other and is also a smaller-style ginormafigure standing at only 179 studs tall.  Job was programmed to roller blade, ice skate, play soccer and be a fan of the New Jersey Devil hockey team. His programming also included puzzles and video game skills. The funniest event that has happened to Job was the time that he was locked out of his own house after a week long vacation to Cannon Beach, Oregon. Luckily, a few weeks before the incident, Job and his sister were goofing off by climbing through the back window for no reason. Job was able to climb through the same window and unlock the doors. As Job is a comical ginormafigure, he likes to look back at that moment and say it's funny. Of course, it wasn't that far back, as it was only one year ago when he was still on his last year of being home-schooled  So as of right now, Job wants to be an engineer when he gets older and is helping his manufacturer fix the lawn mower. Job also has many traditions; opening 1 present on Christmas Eve, visiting his grandparents for Thanksgiving, and taking an annual vacation to Cannon Beach, Oregon for a week.

 As a family we like sports.  We aren't crazy nuts about any team but when we can we do like to watch a football game or a soccer game.  Well at least four of us do.  Lona likes to play soccer but doesn't like to watch any kind of sports.  The Seahawks have done amazingly well this season especially with having a brand new rookie quarterback so we've been watching the games.  It makes a great excuse to invite friends over as well.  At the beginning of the season a little boy that we knew who had moved to Colorado would call and watch the game with us.  Job would put him on speaker phone and we'd sit there, all yelling at the TV.  He would interject at times and make comments and it was funny.  Another family has started to come over as well.  I think that I'm going to miss it now that football is almost over - our team is out of the playoffs and the next thing I want to watch is the Superbowl but I don't have strong feelings about it.  What I am going to miss is getting together and talking.  Eating fun foods on game day. The boys, Dads included, running over to the neighborhood church for tag or ultimate football.  I am going to miss the girls that hangout with Lona and including her even though she's two to three years younger.  I'm going to miss the Nerf guns that are shot at me and the tackling that occurs because I was shot.  I'm going to miss solving the world's problem with my friend. And sharing in her family's project of building her dream house. So my heart ache isn't over the fact that our team lost, which was sad especially since we lost in the last 10 seconds of the game.  My heart aches for the end of a natural coming together as a family each week.  Oh I know that it doesn't have to end but it's just a good reason to purposely get together.