Feastival of Lights and Miracles.....

Tonight our family celebrated the second night of Hanukkah. We lit the candles, thanked God for our freedom of religion and our everyday miracles, played the dreidel game, and then made homemade donuts. Many of you are saying to yourselves "the Hills are Jewish?", yes by heritage we are Jewish. My Oma was a Holocaust survivor. Living with her family in Germany they survived the war. We celebrate Hanukkah as a family for a few reasons. I also would challenge those of you who are Christians to think about taking up this wonderful tradition. First we are celebrating the freedom of religion. The Jews were forced by the Greek-Syrians to worship idols that they put in the Jewish temple. The first thing the Jews did when the got their freedom back was to clean out the temple, rededicate it, and light the menorah. Second we celebrate everyday miracles. The story goes on that the menorah only had one day of oil, but God kept it burning for eight days until the Jews could retrieve more oil. It is a celebration of freedom, re dedication, and miracles. We light candles each night to represent each day of miracles. We serve fried foods (homemade donuts or potato pancakes) to represent the oil, and we thank God for our freedom to worship and for everyday miracles. I hope that this helps you understand why the Hills celebrate.

Updating...

Alright so my past post have not been that uplifting. Manyh things have happened in our family and we have slowly emerged together, stronger, and closer.
I have been proud of myself. My Christmas cards all went out, my tree is decorated and I am halfway through wrapping all my presents.
We have been surviving the snow and the girls have done well considering they have had to play with each other the past few days. They did have a surprise and saw their cousins yesterday for a few hours.
I will attempt to put some pictures of the kids in the snow and our festivities tonight and tomorrow.
Tonight we will start our family tradition of Hanukkah.

In Memory of My Precious Niece.......

My precious niece, Maci Elizabeth, was born at 25 weeks last week. I never got to meet you but you were truley loved.

These beautiful pictures were done by Patti, my sisters birthing coach. Here web site is
https://www.doulapattiramos.blogspot.com/ .

In Memory of My Maternal Birthgrandfather....Papa Warren

Willard Donald "Don" Warren
1937 - 2008
Willard Donald Warren- Don- Born 1-23-1937 in Tanyeville, Missouri, Died 11-16-2008 in Puyallup, Washington. Don is proceded in death by his parents, a sister, Leona and two brothers, Kenneth & Roy. Don is survived by his wife Maralyn (Lynch) of 51 years, his brothers Jim & Gary and sister Lois along with 5 children, 16 grandchildren and 7 greatgrand children. He graduated from Ellensburg in 1956. He moved to the Seattle area, settling in Bonney Lake; working at Boeing's, retiring in 1993. Next to his family his love was racing stock cars # 37, 33 & 05. He frequently participated at the Spanaway race track. Services will be held in Ellensburg, Spring 2009.

I was glad to be able to know Papa and that he was able to spend time with my kids. He had a soft spirit. He teared up when he hugged you or his great-grand-child drew him a picture. He loved Nascar and dinking around in his garage. He produced some great stuff for everyone outta that garage. He will be missed.

In Memory of My Birthfather

"We'll miss you most of all scarecrow" -Dorothy
On November 27th, 2008, a day to be thankful, we are thankful that our cherished husband, father, papa, brother and friend is finally at peace in Heaven. In his final days, Tony was surrounded by family who loved and cared for him as he did so many in his life. As he battled cancer, he continued to keep his good humor and his ability to make everyone laugh and smile around him.
Tony was born Anthony Bruce Rees on July 3rd 1958 in Ketchikan,Ak. to Charles E. Rees and Gertrud E. Rees. He then moved to San Francisco and Concord, Ca., Eugene, Or., and Kent, WA., where his first daughter was born in 1974. He then enlisted in the service in 1976 when he was 17 until he was honorably discharged after the death of his youngest brother. Tony then moved to King County and was married in 1979 and had two more daughters. In 1982 he moved to Skagit county. In 1991 he re-married to Leona Ann Millett and enjoyed a life filled with camping, hunting, fishing and family vacations.
Tony worked for Skagit County Parks and Recreation for 17 years. He was the facilities coordinator for the fairgrounds and was involved in many community programs. He was instrumental in the success of the Skagit County Fair, the annual Haunted cave and food drive. He was a roll model for many PIC kids and college students over the years.
Tony will be remembered for his clever stories, his laughter, his kind words of inspiration and his silent strength that so many admired. He believed that it really did take a village to raise a child and full heartedly participated in not only his grandchildren's upbringing but numerous nieces and nephews and members of our community.
Tony is survived by his wife Leona, his children Allison(Gregg), Danielle(Josh), and Crystal. His 5 granddaughters, Izabell, Olivia, Madison, Patience and Emma with his first grandson due to arrive in April 09. His 8 siblings, Joyce Cole(Bob),Chuck, Tim(Katie),Raymond(John),Thomas(Shirley),William(Kelly)Celeste Orthund(Jay),Marci Watson(Bob), and many nieces and nephews. He is proceeded in death by his mother Gertrud (Trudy) Rees, his brother Patrick (Pepper) John, and his nephew Christopher Micheal.
Tony left a major impact on so many lives. He believed in taking chances and living life to the fullest, and instilled that in his children, grandchildren and everyone he met. We are all better people having loved and been loved by this amazing man. He will be deeply missed. As Tony would say, Drizzle drazzle drizzle drone, its time for this one, to go home.
A special thanks to Skagit Hospice and Skagit cancer care alliance. Services for Tony will be held at Hillcrest Lodge in Mount Vernon, Tuesday December 30th at 3pm. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to The march of Dimes foundation and The Mule Deer foundation.

Visit to Children's Hospital

Today I had to honor of going to Children's Hospital in Seattle with my niece Patience (and my sister). 1 1/2 years ago she was diagnosed with Nephrotic Syndrome. She has the kind that she will hopefully grow out of but today was the first time we got to see "professionals" who know how to treat. Patience did a great job it was a long appointment with lots of components. It was fun to hang out with just Patience. Children's is so colorful and we were in the Whale section so we had lots to explore while mom checked us in.

Friday Night Pizza Night!

The Hills love being in their Pj's (we have pajama day frequently). We love pizza and the opportunity to make our own creations.

Throw in a few games on the Wii and a movie and you have yourself one fun night.

Madison's School Carnival

Friday night we went to Madison's school carnival. There were many people there. The prizes were McDonald's toys. Imagine my joy as I discovered that I was going to bring home all those little toys. Those toys that I have worked so hard at ridding my world of, that I hope never get into my home, that I step on. Ok so now you know I don't like McDonald'ss toys, but the kids were thrilled.

Madison is Dorothy and Emma is Sleeping Beauty (pink). Here are some fun pics from the night.

Grandma Debi for a Visit (10/11-12)

So I am back blogging here. My birth mom, Debi, came to visit the girls and I for a weekend. We went out to Chinese food and watched movies. We also had fun making cookies.

It made an impact on Madison because she wrote her first full Journal entry at school. Her teacher was so excited.

Company.....

For some reason I tend to entertain family members at out house a lot. I love grandparents and aunts, uncles, and cousins. The funny thing is that we really don't have a good set up for when people spend the night. Grandma Debi spent this last weekend with us (we had a wonderful time see future blog). She is just one person so she slept in Madison's room and Madison slept with Gregg and I (Madison tried to kick him out to the couch - lol). Last night Gregg's mom and her husband spent the night. They were leaving today to Arizona for the Winter. Gregg and I gave up our bed and did not really plan further ahead. When it came to going to bed Gregg decided to sleep on the couch and I was gonna sleep with Emma (She has a full bed). I started out my night with Madison (in a twin bed). Side story - when Gregg and I were getting married we had to buy a queen bed. Gregg was sad because he wanted us to have a single bed so we could snuggle for the rest of our married life-----we are trying to financially figure out how we can get a california king bed eight years later---guess the snuggle dream is long lost. Ok so back to my sleepless night.....Madison LOVES to snuggle and will latch on to any warm breathing thing.....by 1:30am I was hanging on to the bed trying to sleep....I decided to climb into bed with Emma. Emma promptly kicked me outta bed yelling at me she needed the whole thing and it was not time for a "mommy snuggle". I collected my blanket and pillow and tried to go sleep downstairs on our short couch...... nope ...... Emma was calling me. Finally I found "sleep" on the floor of Emma's bedroom. As I was feeling sorry for myself I was suddenly reminded of the Blog I had read of a friend who is adopting again from Ghana and she was talking about the Orphanages. So being totally convicted I began thanking God that I was warm, had a blanket, was safe, had a full tummy, was not sick, have a job, have money, well it just went on. So even though I am sore and really tired......I really can't complain can I.

Pet Peeves

I feel I need to blog about some of my Pet Peeves.
1) At my job we all log into windows live messanger. Many of us work from different sites and from home and this makes it nice to be able to know where everyone is and communicate. The problem is the advertisements on the bottom of messanger. It is some phone/internet advertisement with this girl laying on the couch laughing and shaking her hair at the camera. This has been there for WEEKS! It annoys me. I do not want to see this lady pretending to meet someone and flirting. Please make it stop!
2) Love and Logic. Its a theory for child rearing. It is actually very good and has some great logic (sorry). However, it is all around me. "Bummer I guess your gonna miss recess"(is the bigger punishment for the child to miss recess or for you to be stuck with them because they missed recess), "It your choice"(if the kid was smart enough they would realize it wasn't really a choice-ah the beauty of love and logic). Madison even said to me...."mom quite giving me choices and just tell me what to do, I'm tired", I don't blame her. Madison has to wear uniforms to school (by the way I am a total advocate for this it has been wonderful!) however, she has misplaced coats (which we have found later-on) I can't say "bummer guess your gonna freeze" or buy her a less desirable coat......Its a uniform (and they are not cheap and special order). How do you make a 1st grader responsible for their things? Are they old enough? Grandparents would say "yes". Their parents did not have money to buy them extra coats you got one....you knew where it was.....loosing it was not an option. My kid.....just has no idea.....no fear.....no clue....so what do we do Gregg and I scour the school, lost and found, sitter's car, ect till we find it. Were our parents as children that responsible? I don't remember loosing important things as a kid.
3) POOP....When will this potty training thing end????
4) Phone. Sometimes I just don't wanna be reached, or I'm putting my kids to bed and if I answer I got to start the process all over again. Its not cause I don't love you, or am depressed. I wanna watch my show or read or take a bath and not answer the phone. People are offended when they find out you just didn't answer. Its ok I love you, sometimes I just need some peace.
Well for now this blog has made me feel a little better so I will attempt to go to bed. Happy dreams blogging world.

FYI Three yr olds are independent!

Three year olds do not really need their moms anymore. Three year olds are "medium kids" as Emma says. Emma can put her seat belt on "all by herself" - this may take 15 minutes to do but if mommy does it then we endure a 20 minute fit; Emma can take her seat belt off "all by herself" - and we have learned that the car just doesn't drive when that happens; Emma knows all about "red light", "green light", "yellow light"- which she announces while I'm driving (guess the preschool is doing a great job); Emma can push a cart better, drive better, get dressed better....well you get the picture. She wants to be so independent. This is cute but can at times be trying to a mommy's heart. It appears that I have quite a year ahead of me with my "medium sized" three year old.

Quotes...

So some of you may know that I have been working in a Kindergarten classroom two hours a day. I am an aid for a friends daughter. In the little time that I have been in the classroom I have acquired a few funny quotes. And by popular demand I have now put up a Kinder Quote box which I will update. I however will not be using names or stories that could be figured out so as to keep everyone's identity safe.

Go Mariners!!

My husband and his dad have gone to the Mariner's Fan Appreciation night since he was a small child. When I became Gregg's "Special Friend" (what Dennis Gregg's dad use to call me before we were married) I got to go to the games as well. As the girls have gotten older they have also been able to be part of the tradition. Last Friday we went with Dennis and Sayra to fan appreciation night. Here are a few pictures of that experience.

We did have a few balls come our way that night. Good thing Daddy brought his glove.

Going to Rehab

For those of you who are close to me you know that my brother, Eric, has struggled since he was 15 with drugs. This past January I received the dreaded call that he was in intensive care from a drug overdose. The next few days my dad, Christine, and I took turns sitting at his bed side. We prayed, we read, we waited. He became well enough to be transferred to a detox unit across town. After two weeks he CHOSE to go to a thirty day program in Wenatchee, after thirty days he then CHOSE to go to the Salvation Army Adult rehab in Seattle for a six month program. After all these years it is the first time he has really stated that he could not do this on his own. Well last Wed the girls and I took a bus (with my dad and his friends) down to Seattle to see him graduate. He has been eight months clean. He was the only one who completed his entire program and did it well. He became the head guy there. We are so proud of him. Please pray that he will continue on his journey and find the support and help he needs to stay clean. Here are a few pictures of the events of the night.

Emma's First Day of Preschool

Emma has been waiting for this day for two years! She has circle time by herself, reads to her "friends", and tries to sneak into class with Madison. Emma loves her teacher "Teacher Kodi". Emma had to wear her new "preschool kitty" shirt on her first day. (Although it was suppose to be 84 degrees she had to wear that long sleeved shirt.) Daddy took Emma to get a chocolate donut BEFORE school. Only a dad could get away with this. This is the picture I get on my phone...I was a really worried but she made it without chocolate on her kitty shirt. This was the sign we met when we got to school. It was too cute.

Saturday at the market.....

We started out our Saturday morning at Mc Donalds. A rare occasions since Gregg and I are not fans. The girls love the pancakes and playing on the (germ infested) play equipment. So away we went. We then stopped off at Barnes Nobles bookstore to look at books and listen to Story Time. We discovered a Bernstein Bears book we did not have and were so excited to get it. The girls love these books especially since Daddy read them when he was little, and most of the books we have are his. We then headed to the Saturday Farmers Market for some fruits and veggies. Emma discovered the blueberries and was in heaven. She also was excited about the gourds and their different shapes. One of the vendors gave Emma a duck shaped potato. (By the way Emma loves rubber ducks, so she was even more excited). We bought some corn and apples. The girls tried out some hullahoops. We then headed out to Fairhaven. They were having a big outdoor concert so we were able to eat our lunch to live Jazz.

2nd Day of School.

So cute. Love her.

Gertrude Emily Rees (Obituary)

Today our beautiful Mother, Grandmother, and Great- Grandmother passed away. Her courageous fight against the evil cancer finally ended. On August, 24th 2008 Gertrud "Trudy" Emily Rees passed peacefully, her traditions honored, with her children and grandchildren holding her hands. Reading to her from the Kabbalah, the Tanakah, and her favorite chapters from the Bible, her loving family witnessed her passing as Trudy met with God and was reunited with her son Patrick "Pepper" John. Trudy was born Gertrud Emily Horlacher on January 14, 1935 in Heilbronn, Germany. Raised in the culture of a traditional Jewish farming family, she survived the persecution and trials of the holocaust when her village was bombed and occupied by the Nazi government during WW II. Trudy completed her formal education in Heilbronn representing her school as medallist high diver and attended post secondary school as an apprentice bookbinder. As the occupation of the Americans progressed and the ravages of the war ended, she met and married Charles Eugene Rees and immigrated to the territory of Alaska to live with his family. Trudy adapted to the remote and harsh culture of Ketchikan with the same tenacity and self-accountability that the territory required from its natives. She began raising her growing family on the Tongass Narrows, learning to speak English by reading food labels, and soon became an active and loved member of the small community. Trudy then moved with her family to San Francisco and Concord, California, Eugene, Oregon and Kent, Washington before settling in the Skagit Valley in 1978. Trudy raised 9 children and 1 foster daughter, with discipline and integrity. Trudy worked for many years as a propagator for Skagit Gardens, and delighted in promoting the growth and appreciation of beauty. Trudy was an active volunteer in her community, serving the Women's Prison in Curlew through the Jaycee organization, children with cancer through the Linus blanket program, and providing meals for members of the Moose Lodge. She loved her family and her faith above everything else. Trudy was mentor and friend to every one of her children, 25 grandchildren and their spouses, and proud to have been an influence in the lives of her 23 great-grandchildren. Trudy will be remembered for her endearing German accent, her great German cooking, her love and knowledge of the Bible and the Torah and love of history, her ability to knit or crochet anything you could imagine, and most especially the way she touched each and every person who was fortunate enough to have known her. We are all better for having loved and been loved by her. She will never be gone from our lives. Trudy is survived by her sister, Rose Longwell and family; brothers, Karl and Peter; her loving children, Joyce (Bob), Chuck, Tim (Katie), Tony (Leona), Raymond (John), Thomas (Shirley), Willy (Kelly), Celeste (Jay), foster daughter, Marci (Bob); numerous relatives and "children" that have been, and continue to be, a part of her family. She also leaves behind a well-loved and cherished group of friends. Trudy was preceded in death by her parents, Karl and Emily Horlacher; her son, Patrick John; and her grandson, Christopher Michael. Trudy was a woman who did not compromise the values and principles that guided her life. She expected her family to live lives that represented and honored their heritage and did not accept anything less. She gave to us a traditional and lasting influence that will guide us all for the rest of our lives. Special appreciation to the staff and physicians of the Cancer Care Center, Skagit Hospice and Rabbi Levi Backman. In lieu of flowers remembrances may be sent to the American Cancer Society or Children's Orthopedic Hospital. A memorial service will be planned for a later date. Arrangements have been entrusted to the care and direction of Affordable Burial & Cremation Services, LLC of Mount Vernon, Washington. Cards of condolence may be sent to the family in c/o the funeral home.

My Baby is in FIRST GRADE!!

So Gregg and I dropped our little Madison off at school. First Grade to be exact. She is attending St. Paul's Academy. Uniforms are required dress. She was very excited to make friends and get on with school. When I picked her up she told me she had three play times outside, made a friend, and sang songs. She was also excited to eat her banana for a snack and kept telling me how healthy it is for you. I just have to thank God at this point because we fought that G-Tube for four years and to hear that child excited about food is a miracle. What more could you ask! I did however open up her backpack and found that I have some homework to do tonight :(. They are learning the 7 Habits in the 1st grade!

The last days with Oma.....

The past two weeks have been busy and eventfull. I spent last weekend with my cousins, aunts, and uncles surrounding Grandmother Gerturde (Oma) with love and care as she passed on. She was a Holicost survivor and a strong German/Jewish women. We met with a Rabbi and attempted to ensure that the Jewish traditions were upheld. We took part in the hand washing ceremony, clothed her properly and read to her from the Torah. She also love the book of Ruth, James, and Hebrews. We all took turns reading to her through four days. We camped out on the floor and bonded telling stories, laughing, crying, and caring for her. We had a family BBQ and a Family Celebration of Life.