Santa Pics & Cougar Christmas Party

So the Marecle family, for the first time, is ahead of schedule for the holidays! Picture with Santa (check), Christmas tree (check) and a Christmas party (check). Its only the first weekend in December! Unexpectantly we got pictures with Santa - the plan was to take the kids to the near-by Fire Station to meet Santa, tour the fire engines and ambulance, but I read the flyer incorrectly and it was just a photo op with Santa! Needless to say the kids got an inside look at the neighborhood fire station and got to see the firefighters in action as they got called out. Then we had some friends from college over for a Cougar Christmas party, which of course was a ton of fun! Thanks to all who attended - we missed all who were not able to attend. Happy Holidays:-)

Can you believe it - no one is crying? My scaredy-cat kids - and no one is crying? Our first ALL SMILES picture with Santa! Check out the hilarious Santa:-)

Bryce made himself a new best-friend at the Cougar Christmas Party - who would have guessed - Topher!

The kids also got their picture with 2 real firefighters!

The adorable threesome after we put our tree up!What you talkin' about Willis? Bryce can be so serious.

I just loved watching Jace in action - he was so into decorating the tree. He even tried helping by putting up the lights. The picture is very blurry, but I wanted to get the lights and with flash that didn't work.

First Hockey Game

I hate to admit it - but I have never attended a hockey game before - so when the opportunity was presented I jumped at the chance. My friend Saundra had a surprise b-day celebration at the T-birds game last night (organized by her mom), so when her mom called a month or so ago I bought the tickets - even though I knew there was good chance Jamin would be hunting that weekend. Sure enough Jamin was gone, but I ventured out with the kids and had a blast! Kara and Jace LOVE to watch sports and just sat there and watched EVERYTHING - they love the action! Bryce was surprising great, too! There was a TON of people who attended for Saundra's b-day, so I had a lot of back-up help if needed. Luckily we survived with no injuries. The older kids even took a picture with Cool Bird - this is a HUGE milestone for my scaredy-cat kids! We will definitely be back. I must mention that Kara pretty much asked questions the entire game - plus the car ride home. It was a little tough since hockey is a sport I don't know much about. All in all I just love to see my kids' minds just turning with questions and eager to learn. Its awesome!
Kara & Jace eating their hot dogs - I got nachos and shared with Bryce:-)Saundra and her baby Brooklynn
All of us at the end of the game - still in good spirits!
Kara, Jace & Cool Bird - I didn't catch it when I took the picture, but now I see that Jace is looking up inside the head...I had to let them know that Cool Bird is just a costume and that there is a person inside. That seems to make them not so scared?

Cousins Night!

We had a blast this past Friday - all the Marecle cousins that live in the area had a sleepover at our house. We ate cupcakes, played hide-n-seek, made blueberry pancakes (even a few Micky Mouse pancakes thanks to Kiersten), and slept out in the living room like a big campout. Now that Kiersten and Aubrey are 12 & 10 I was a little worried that they would be bored, but they are SUCH awesome big cousins - they organize the younger kids and kept them busy all night (into the next morning). We are so blessed to have our family so close by...we all missed our 4 cousins that live in Idaho (Briella, Kaitlyn, Alexis & Avery). We spoke of you often and can't wait to see you off and on in the next month or so.

The cousins all eating cupcakes (Jace, Cooper, Kara, Kiersten, Carly, Aubrey, Cobe, Bryce)

Carly frosting her cupcake!

Look at these perfect Mickey Mouse pancakes - great job Kierstsen!Kiersten also was busy "doing" Jace's hair - nice spike!
Aubrey wanted to take a picture of Bryce & I - thanks, Aubrey.

Thanks for all the laughs, cousins!

First Haircut!

BEFORE.....

DURING....he did not enjoy the experience at first

AFTER...what a gorgeous little boy.

Halloween Party

Cooper and Jace - a "bumblebee" transformer & pirate

WATCH OUT FOR THIS SCARY BUNCH!

Cobe - a "soldier." Nice infrared googles:-)

donut eating contest - Cobe totally rocked

Halloween Party

We hosted our 1st annual Halloween Party this past weekend (Natalie has been hosting it for some time now). All I can say is THANK YOU to everyone who contributed, assisted and had a good time.

I think it is safe to say the kids all had a blast - pumpkin bowling, donut eating contest, guessing body parts in the "spooky" garage, etc. Everyone enjoyed homemade chili from Jessica and Natalie along with homemade donuts courtesy of Grammie!

All in all, the party was a great time for everyone...I think one guest left saying "I can't believe he is sweating"(comment about her son). I replied "well, that's good right." That is usually a good measure that the kids had a blast. Hope to do it again next year!

Kara decided to be a "Tooth Fairy" this year - can't really tell much in this picture, but hopefully I will have time to put some "make-up" on her for Halloween.

Cute Kennedy (I mean Sleeping Beauty). The kids LOVED decorating the donuts and then eating them (of, course.)

This was not easy - trying to eat a floating donut with NO HANDS! This is my niece Aubrey's attempt.

Here we have Darrin(my neighbor, you can barely see his head in the left corner), adorable Kennedy, sweet Alayna and Cooper trying!

The one who got it the quickest was our very own Cobe Marecle - the "soldier." Great Job!

Watch out for the HoneyBees! Absolutely adorable (this is Brooklyn & Camden - they are sisters)

Emersen - you look so ferocious - but you are such an adorable Snow White.

Our Cow - here is Bryce being the mischevious little 18 month old that he is. Causing chaos at the pumpkin bowling game. Who me? I am too cute as a silly cow:-)

A bunch of firsts...(at last a new post)

Where does the time go? Here are some pictures to illustrate the answer:First Day of 1st Grade for Kara Elizabeth! She did so good.

She just jumped right in like it was just another day at school

Jace Benjamin's first day of Preschool! He actually had a first "orientation-type day" and then the next day was the official first "full" day with all the other kids at Preschool. He loved it (bitter/sweet - he didn't cry and just let us drop him off no problem). picking out his "sticker" for his cubby - he picked a horse, of course.
The official first "full" day of Preschool. He is so big:-)

First time Bryce helped Jamin mow the lawn...he's a natural.

WILD KIDS! Not a great picture, but they were cracking us up.

What a cutie - once again, not a great picture - but he is wearing a cowboy hat and he just looked adorable.First Soccer Game - Kara's first "outdoor" soccer game. She is loving it! She got to be captain with her teammate Leah for this first game and the two girls got to meet in the middle at the beginning of the game to "flip" the coin and learn about their responsibilities:-) She was very excited.Here she is hustling after the ball. She sure can run. She got tired and by the 2nd half wasn't running quite as hard:-)Here is her team after the game getting ready to give their cheer. The girls are all awesome and they play really good together (she is #17).

We love this stuff:-)

Summer has begun!

So much has happened since my last post:

1) Natalie had her baby - our newest addition to the Marecle grandbaby pool - Megan Katherine. Born June 17, 2009. She is adorable.

2) Kara finished up Kindergarten! What the heck...she is a first grader now! She had such a wonderful experience in Kindergarten. Thank you Mr. D!

3) Jace finished up his first season of soccer. I have to say the Bonney Lake/Sumner Rec Pee Wee Soccer program is so wonderful. Thank you Coach Carrie. Jace just loved his coach and the entire experience.

4) Kara celebrated her 6th Birthday! What the heck...she is such an amazing child. I could go on and on and on about how wonderful she is. We are so very proud of all she has accomplished and become in the past year! Here's to another great year. Thank you to all our family and friends who celebrated with us. She loved her b-day party! This was the first year she was just jumping off the walls and so excited about the b-day party

(sweet Jocelyn with her baby boy, Miles)

(new baby Lily Ann Kowalchuk born June 7, 2009 - 2 weeks early - isn't she adorable)

5) We actually took off to Friday Harbor for the 4th of July weekend. What an adventure! We left our house around 11:15a on Thursday, July 2 and didn't arrive to our destination till 11:15p. It sounds horrible, but we really made the most out of the CRAZY travel situation. We literally flew up to Anacortes to catch the ferry, but that's when we sat in line for 1 hour and 40 minutes before we even got to the ferry terminal. Then we thought we might get on the 5:10p ferry only to find out we would have to wait for the 8:25p ferry, which of course ended up being late and we didn't set sail for Friday Harbor till 9:00p. Once there we had a good night sleep and the kids were absolutely awesome! Bryce was a bit of an exception, but we all survived.

(I just love this picture of my boys)

6)Kara got 6 stitches on her 6th birthday! What a crazy weekend at Friday Harbor. She was innocently playing soccer with our friends son and she slipped on the gravel only to bust open her knee. It was the most awful wound I have ever seen. I wasn't able to grab the camera and I still haven't taken a picture of the stitched up wound, but I will.

(here is a picture the day after with the bandage on her left knee)

7)Whales, whales and more whales - of course, I couldn't get a good picture, but we saw quite a few whales on our trip to Friday Harbor. Kara also got lessons in shooting a bow and arrow. She got really good. Jace just liked to watch.
8) Fishing, prawns, clams - YUM...if you love seafood Friday harbor is the place to go! The kids got clams and fished a lot - although I think Jamin has a gypsy hex on him as they were skunked all weekend catching any salmon. They went ahead and caught some Cod so the kids had something to reel in.

(Jack, Jace, Ty and Kara after their only successful fishing trip)

(Bryce just loved driving the boat - that's Kelby in the background, he and his family live on the island. They were so nice to host us this past weekend. Thank you very much Anderson Family)