the dennis hamons

lots and lots of pictures...

2009-06-10T07:48:00.000-07:00

We spent the weekend at the cabin...
Amy, Mike, Franki & Izzy stayed with us. It was Amy's birthday Friday.

Nephew Alec, nieces Franki & Izzy

nephew Austin, Emilie & Tyson

Dennis to Rebekah: Honey, I told you we didn't need that expensive baby carrier!

Baby Bjorn doesn't have anything on him!

Kind auntie seeing how he's doing.

Mike helped Dennis install our new kitchen. My dad tipped us off to a house that was being demolished. Dennis and Aaron went and found these cabinets and salvaged them the day before the house was destroyed. One kitchen - ZERO money!!! Yay!!! Something we can afford!!

Cutest puppy I've ever seen.

Dennis, Alec, Taylor & Kimberly rode their bikes all the way around the lake for the first time. I believe it is 8+ miles. I was so proud of them. This picture was taken at the end of their ride.

Dennis & I got up early and went for a walk with Tyson. The lake was so clear you could see everything. Check out the log - you could see to the end of it.

view on our walk

the kids love to dig clay out of the ground and play with it

Austin, Kimberly & Emilie had fun walking Suki, Amy's dog.

Papa & Tyson

Dennis generously, out of the kindess of his heart, offered to give me a sponge bath after he was finished washing up. With the dirty rag I used on the kids before they went to bed.

Ummm, no thanks...

No, REALLY, I'm fine.

The breakfast area in our new kitchen, and one cute kid.

stove area

Kitchen "sink" area, except the sink isn't installed. We need to get formica on the countertop bases.

Probably only a grandparent would want to see as many pictures as I'm posting today, so please forgive, friends. :)

Miscellaneous Pictures

2009-05-22T23:03:00.000-07:00

He's doing his best to keep his cheeks chubby.

The girls doing karate poses for the camera before their promotion to orange belt. They passed! My sister, Kimberly, was also going up for her purple belt and my nephew, Alec, for his blue belt. Everyone did a great job!

My dad took Taylor, Kimberly & Alec shooting and then to Snoqualmie Falls on the way home.

Taylor had a class trip to Padilla Bay last week.

Our niece, Franki. Her necklace is from the "bag of cool", a bag my girls thought of to get rid of their old toys. Their little friends and cousins get to choose from the bag of cool when they leave our house. A great idea because it gets rid of trinkets and reduces tears when little ones are leaving. The name gives me a chuckle every time they drag it out and have someone go through it.

I've been doing a lot of cuddling...baby's favorite pasttime.

Going home from a bike ride at the school tonight . . . gorgeous weather.

Dennis teaching Kimi how to do a wheelie. Then she had to chase him down to get her bike back. He kept showing her "one more thing".

it was a beautiful evening...

Tyson's 1st Haircut

2009-04-04T13:58:00.000-07:00

Tyson was born with an abundance of hair. Over the past three weeks it has grown to touch his ears and down his little neck. It's also started to stick straight up on top, which we are enjoying immensely.

While we were at Beach Comber Kid's Cuts getting the girls a trim, the owner, Kelly, kindly agreed to clean up Tyson's hair around his ears and neck. She didn't even charge us for it.

It really looks cute - especially with the long hair sticking straight up on top.

Tyson meets his grandparents!

2009-04-02T18:45:00.001-07:00

Tyson and Grandma

Grandma and her grandkids

And for your viewing enjoyment, here is a picture of one of our plumbing trucks.

Tyson's first two weeks . . .

2009-03-26T09:45:00.000-07:00

Austin holding and meeting Tyson for the first time. He had to wait longer than the other cousins because he had a virus. While we were waiting for baby to wake up, he kept telling me very sweetly and seriously, "I love this baby." and reassuring me, "You know, I know how to hold this baby." And he did.

Austin checking out Tyson while Tyson checks out Austin.

Emilie blowing Ty a kiss while Austin looks him over.

2 days old - Sunday morning

pants changing supervised and photographed by Dennis

see the red in his hair??? It would make me pretty happy if one of my kids turned out to have somewhat red hair.

Kimi's birth day! Nana made a nummy cake.

First Bath

Tyson is enduring it.

Trying to eat his fist for comfort.

Trying to eat my fist for comfort.

Pretty hard to hold on to him when he's trying to make a meal of his hand.

All done, to Ty's relief. Although he didn't cry, he didn't enjoy it much, either.

What a cutie.

Look at that beefy little arm

see the red in his hair again???

babysitter #1

getting ready for his first Sunday morning meeting

all dressed

Our little guy . . .

2009-03-14T20:50:00.000-07:00

Tyson Julius Hamon

born Friday, March 13, 2009

10 pounds 12 oz - 20 inchesWe named him Tyson because we liked the name Ty, and while looking up different variations on this, we found that Tyson means "son of Dennis", if you can believe it. We got a little chuckle out of that. Julius is in honor of our friend and worker, Julie.

Dad and he look quite alike - note the furrowed brow on Tyson - Dad has an identical wrinkle, although he has nothing to frown about in this picture, so you don't see it...
The girls meet their brother...
Taylor holds Tyson for the first time...
Emilie....

Kimberly....

Daddy took good care of him...Tyson meets Isabella, Paul & Amy's oldest daughter...

Best entertainment around...

We had this little insert for the car seat to keep him snug, but he was so big he didn't fit. I had a good laugh at this...the car seat itself is snug.

Coming in the house for the first time...

Several someones to watch over him...

Happy Birthday Kimberly & Emilie!!!

2009-03-09T04:08:00.000-07:00

Kimberly & Emilie blow out their candles. 9 for Kimi & 7 for Emi.

Happy Birthday, girls!

growling girls

2009-03-02T20:45:00.000-08:00

As Dennis walked by the girls room, he heard them growling at each other and started loudly singing "love is the kingdom's banner...." and then made up some other words as to how they should treat each other. Then it was back to the garage for him to help another stubborn child with her science homework. Fun night for him....not. But I am sitting here enjoying two things. One, my husband is good at making up funny songs and sayings to snap kids out of the funks they can get in, and two, he is a good dad for caring enough to pay attention to fighting kids and help a tired, uncooperative kid with her homework.
A fun night for me as I sit here listening to him make up funny things to say to the kids. I'm laughing as silently as I can.

a post at last.....

2009-02-15T20:39:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in a while, so here are a few things we've done in the past several months . . . .

We spent New Year's with some of our favorite people in Wenatchee. Dennis bought these cool lanterns for the kids to light and send into the sky. Really it was quite a flame, so the parents ended up lighting all of them, with minimal help from the kids. They were pretty fragile, but fun and magical for them.

Another picture from our time in Wenatchee - Taylor's practicing up - lucky for me, she is good with babies and likes them. I think I will assign them each two days a week when they get to be the "helper", otherwise I am going to have to listen to quite a bit of bickering over who gets to choose the outfit, who gets to sit next to the baby in the car, etc. At least until the novelty wears off.....

They all entered a touch Kumite tournament - this is where they fight, but not with fist - to score a point, you have to touch your opponent with your hand or foot. At their level, the first person to score three points wins the match. Taylor and Emilie both won 3rd place in their age group, and Kimberly, who is actually pretty talented at Kumite (fighting), went up against a red belt (3 levels above her) and a very good fighter, so lost her match, 2 to 3, but she did a good job and tried her best!

Tuckered out on the way home from New Year's - although I think the one smiling is faking sleep. Really, fine with me, as long as it's quiet!!!!

Taking our sweet nieces and daughters to the Science Center in January.

Some other things of note from the last couple of months:

Our brother-in-law, Paul, died in November. His girls are pictured above at the Science Center. It's been very difficult to see them go through the loss of their dad, and hard for all of us as we loved Paul very much. He was a caring father, and a good brother and friend to Dennis & I. His last words to me the day he died were "I REALLY love you!!!" accompanied by a big hug, which was very characteristic of him. We miss him very much.

The girls and I spent 4 of the last 5 weeks at my parent's house while Dennis painted like a mad-man at our house, getting the baby's room done, some bathroom remodeling done, and lots of trim painted. It was an interesting experience not living at home, to say the least, but I am fortunate to have such gracious parents who obviously love me and the kids. My dad made breakfast for all of us most mornings, and lots of great dinners for us. I was pretty spoiled for 4 weeks. Some things I learned during this experience:

1. Living two blocks from my kid's school is a God-send. Driving 15 minutes to school feels like a huge waste of time, not to mention 15 minutes back the other way to karate, then back 15 minutes to pick up child #1, then back 15 minutes to drive her home, then 30 minutes to drive child #3 to swim lessons, etc, etc, etc, all without the help of Dennis. I spent half my day in the car. I didn't realize how "green" my car activites were until I stayed with my parents. Not to mention the ridiculous amount spent on gas, and how many times per week I had to fill up.

2. I really like my husband and have Dennis-withdrawal when he's not around. This might seem obvious but sometimes you don't understand how much you like something or someone until they aren't available to you.

3. My parents are even nicer people than I thought, and I thought they were pretty nice to start with.

4. Having my house finished feels really nice - and I do feel more inspired to keep it clean. I'm hoping this is a result of the "house-finishing" and not just a nesting instinct that will pass when the baby is born. :)

A great February to everyone!!!!

3/4 done

2009-01-03T23:26:00.000-08:00

In one week, I'll be 30 weeks along, and 3/4 of the way through my pregnancy! Only 2+ months to go!!!

Snow!!!

2008-12-19T05:29:00.000-08:00

Two + feet of snow at the cabin means snow for Christmas, which was what we were hoping for!!! Yaaaay!

the Nap Shack

2008-11-15T22:16:00.000-08:00

I've never seen the water this high before. There were several boathouses on the road in that were partially submerged. Same with several docks. That has to do some damage.

This area where the trees are is usually nowhere near the water. We keeps buckets down here with life jackets, etc, in them during summer. Last weekend when we were up, everything started to float away and Dennis had to go out in the canoe and haul everything back. I think he got everything, including the logs to our firepit, which you can see is now underwater.

Taylor doing some crafty thing to occupy herself.

We've been spending Friday nights at the cabin lately - it's been fun getting it stocked for living. We've bought most everything second hand, which has made it super cheap, and fun for me, as I like treasure hunting at thrift stores.

The outside still needs quite a bit of work, but we've done the structural stuff before the pretty stuff, so it will be next summer before we paint or update the outside.

This picture was taken in the kitchen. To the right are the windows and the lake. This door in the living room is the closest door to the outdoor bathroom.

Our dining "room".

Kimberly reading as she monitors nacho-making in the kitchen. The room beyond will be the kids' bunkroom. Someday we hope to have a real kitchen, but for now we make do quite nicely with our "new" used stove and our single countertop/cabinet.

You can see some of the structural work that's been done in this picture. The beams that support the cabin have all been replaced and the cabin levelled, although that has made some places in the inside look a little off-kilter. Luckily, this was done before the sheetrock, so we just sheetrocked over the quirkiness and you can't notice it unless you are sitting on the couch gazing at the walls for long periods of time. It gives it character. The guys also dug a trench and laid a pipe last weekend to channel some of the water that gives our cabin the ability to be called "a river runs through it". There is a little stream somewhere up the hill that makes a mud hole of our driveway come winter, spring, fall and anytime it rains in summer. It did help the drainage issue - laying gravel in the driveway is our next step. We also plan to build a deck around the cabin sides and back so we don't have to walk on water. It would make our shady area much more livable. We can also watch after the kids playing in the treehouse and woods behind our cabin better from a deck. Things to look forward to!

Firestarters

2008-11-15T08:31:00.001-08:00

"Helping" dad start a fire on Friday night.

First Allowance

2008-11-15T08:19:00.000-08:00

Explaining the facts of life: no worky means no money. She did get a few dollars, but much less than she could have earned. This week she is doing better.

Happy Girl

Look how big she is. This picture astounds me. She looks almost as tall as me. It brings me to the reality that in not-so-many years, she will probably be as tall or taller than me.

Thanks for voting in my "baby boy name poll".

2008-11-03T21:52:00.000-08:00

Please keep voting and feel free to leave a name you like if you aren't going to use it for your family. I'm having a hard time with a boy name. I like Cooper the best, but haven't been able to get over all the things he could be called - "pooper Cooper", "poopy coopy", etc. Dennis said he thinks they'll just call him "Super Cooper". Yeaaaahh . . that sounds likely.

Bedtime

2008-10-27T22:34:00.000-07:00

We've been having a super difficult time getting the kids to go to bed lately. We put them in bed at 8 p.m., and they are still awake at 9:30, 10 o'clock. Last night I got so fed up with it I came up with an artful parenting plan. (my old plan consisted of me yelling up in increasingly irritated tones "Kids, go to bed!!!!!")

Last night, after two hours of listening to them yuk it up in their bedroom when they were supposed to be asleep, I got up, went to the laundry room, grabbed a two-foot high pile of their laundry, and took it upstairs. I switched on the light, and said "I can tell you guys really aren't sleepy. There is so much to do around here, you might as well spend your time usefully, so put away this laundry. And clean the room when you are done. Then you can try going to sleep again. If you still aren't sleepy after the laundry and cleaning the room, I'll find you something else to do. I think we'll do this every night until you get tired, because it's obvious I am putting you to bed too early."

This evening at dinner as I reminded them that they had 30 more minutes until their old bedtime aka their new cleaning time, they looked at each other in trepidation. After several minutes of silence, Kimi finally asked, "Will you give us another try to go to sleep instead of working?" I replied, "Well, I'm not sure. You would have to be really quiet. I wouldn't want to hear any talking whatsoever, and no moving around that tells me you are playing quietly. If you think you can lie still and be absolutely quiet, I would be willing to let you try it." She assured me she thought she could do it. And so my lead instigator became my number one collaborator. She spent the last 20 minutes before bed reminding her sisters that they had to lay completely still and not talk!

The end result is that I spent two very quiet hours before my bedtime enjoying the peace. Amazing what a little artful thinking can do. It's so easy to continue to do the same things and continue to get results you don't like. And so easy to change your behaviour and get an amazing result. Yaaaayyy for me! One of my better parenting moments. :)

Cabin Update

2008-10-26T18:53:00.000-07:00

We spent Friday night and Saturday up at the cabin this weekend. The guys finished getting the outside weatherproofed - the whole back of the cabin didn't have any siding on it as it all had to be replaced due to rot. The siding also had to be repaired where we added windows for the two lofts on either side of the cabin. This weekend they finished the trim on the inside of the cabin, and it looks fantastic. Dennis did an excellent job trimming out the windows and putting up baseboards. With the beautiful paint job and white trim, the place is really coming together.

Our next project is building bunk beds for the kids' room. Right now they sleep with us in the loft. We figured out a plan to put in 8 or 9 bunks in the room off the kitchen.

It is becoming easier to spend time up there as we stock the cabin with kitchen supplies, bedding, etc. I've had fun this past week looking through thrift stores for our pots, pans and other kitchen gear. There is such good stuff out there, and so cheap. Also fun because it is vintage, I'm recycling, etc, etc. Good all around. Everything up at the cabin, with the exception of a rug and the construction supplies, is second-hand.

Hopefully, soon we'll just have to pack an outfit, pajamas & toothbrush (come to think of it we should get toothbrushes for up there so we don't have to bring them) and leave the house. Not having to cart up bedding & supplies makes things much simpler.

It's a boy!

2008-10-23T05:32:00.000-07:00

We are having a boy! I'd post a picture, but the only one I have since the little guy wasn't cooperating is a frontal shot of his face, which looks like a very cute little skull. I think it may scare people. At least I can tell his bone structure is very symmetrical. I already had a name picked out for a girl, as I had convinced myself that's what I was having, so am trying to think of boy names.
If you have a suggestion for a boy's name, leave a comment below.

fire pit

2008-07-13T15:23:00.000-07:00

Dennis, Aaron and Dad made this fire pit down by the lake.

There is a sail boat race every year - these sail boats are having fun, or perhaps practicing for that. There were 3 on the lake yesterday, but in this picture you only see two. We also saw/heard 3 military jets fly over. They flew the length of the lake and then banked between two hills at the end of the lake.

Taylor found clay at the beach. She mad several cute things - a heart, fish, turtle and an imprint of her hand. It dries firmly, but is fairly brittle.

Cabin Remodel taken yesterday

2008-07-13T14:56:00.000-07:00

Dennis is working to get the sheetrock mudding and taping done. He is in the entrance to the two lofts here. On either side of him is a loft for the adults to sleep in. The kids will sleep in the bedroom downstairs - we are going to build bunks on the wall for them.

Aaron is in our loft changing some electrical stuff.

Kimi is in the kitchen scraping old linoleum off the wood sub-floor. We plan to sand and paint the wood floor with floor paint until we can put something else on. Joe really did the work, but he let Kimi have a go at it.
This view is from the living room looking at the bar, kitchen and entrance to the loft above. To the right of the kitchen is the kids bedroom.
This is looking from the cabin kitchen door to the living room.

Current pictures from the cabin

2008-07-09T18:14:00.001-07:00

from the water
sunset - Dennis' favorite time of day - he likes to sit in this spot and watch the sun go down.
taking a break from all his hard work
The girls on the path going down to the beach. A month ago this looked very bare.
The kids have found many animals up there. This is a bird's nest in the bank behind the cabin. The baby birds hatched and they were able to see that as well. They've also found several little snakes, too many bugs for their liking, some kind of small water animal (I hope it isn't a musk rat, but I kind of think it is), and they accidently found a shrew as they were digging somewhere. It was killed by the shovel on accident and then was cremated. We have also seen an eagle up there, and of course, you can see fish jumping in the lake all the time.

Pictures of the lake

2008-07-09T17:52:00.000-07:00

This is the front of the cabin during the winter. The construction debri is gone now. I'll get a current picture this coming weekend.
Kimberly and I making hot chocolate for the first time at the cabin when we still had a kitchen. The inside of the cabin, and some of the structure has been gutted and replaced due to rot and the need to replace the electrical system.
Child in distress contemplating the near-future use of an out-house with a slanting/partly missing floor. We've replaced this with a Honeybucket, which the kids are much happier using.
Inside of cabin after we took off the inner walls.
We had to replace the back wall of the entire cabin because it was rotten.

Swimming at the cabin

2008-06-25T21:47:00.000-07:00

I had to take some windows up to the lake for our remodel, so the girls brought their suits. The sun was shining, and the lake was gorgeous and calm.

The view from our beach across the lake.

Kimi on the surfboard - this is one of their favorite toys there.

Taylor

Reportedly, this surf board has been around since before Aaron was a kid on the lake. He and his brother used to tow it behind a boat and try to surf on it.

Taylor's Girl Scout Awards Ceremony, June 16th

2008-06-17T00:14:00.000-07:00

This is Taylor's 5th year of Girl Scouting.
Taylor performing the flag ceremony.
Performing "Baby Shark", a lovely girl scouting song, like all the other lovely girl scouting songs, where there is a baby shark, a momma shark, a daddy shark, a grandma shark, a shark sighting, a shark attack, a person losing an arm, same person swimming in a circle (because of being one armed), calling 911, going to heaven, and finally, coming back as a baby shark. It can go on and on.
Taylor's part of the ceremony was to write about one of the badges they earned during the year - Prints and Graphics - and then speak about it at the ceremony.
Getting her 5 year pin.

Igloo - New Year's 2008

2008-06-17T00:06:00.001-07:00

Dennis and the girls made this igloo at his parent's house in Wenatchee over New Year's 2008. They piled all the snow from the side yard, so much so that it looks as though the ground was bare all around the igloo. The girls really wanted to sleep in it.
Emilie actually got sick on this trip - she spent the rest of the night visiting the bathroom every 10 minutes, poor thing.

Wacky Hair Day at school, March 28th, 2008

2008-06-16T23:51:00.000-07:00

Taylor waited a year to do this hairstyle. She wanted to do a Pippy Longstocking thing last year and we didn't get it together in time. I was suprised at how well it worked. It certainly looked "wacky". :)

Kimi paid some of her own money to get this wig, as it was more expensive than the budget I gave her. When she would put it on and look in the mirror, she would open her mouth wide in disbelief and give a little astonished/over-excited shriek while clenching her fists and hopping up and down. Excited, anyone?
Emi kept bobbing her head from side to side because the hair was so big and frizzy. It probably felt like waving your hair back and forth underwater - it took a little while for it to get to where she wanted it to go.
And besides the wacky hair, we had wacky weather. It snowed at the end of March.

Emilie's Birthday

2008-06-16T23:44:00.000-07:00

Emilie's birthday, March 2008. For dinner we each made our own pizzas. It was a fun night - she was pretty happy. It was a hard night to top when Kimi's birthday came later in March . I think next year we'll just stick with personal pizzas on all birthday nights. They love to roll them out and pick the toppings.

2008-06-13T19:39:00.000-07:00

Here is our little darling doing her best job at convention.