Police Blotter

Aside from the occasional useful tidbit about local news or current events, there isn't much worth reading in our hometown newspaper.  Except for the daily police blotter. I should feel grateful--and I do--for living in a community where the most action our law enforcement sees are from things like cows blocking the road or breaking up a loud college party. I've been clipping some of my personal favorites this year.

10. A person reported finding a $10 bill on E. 18th Ave.  (really? so you had to call 911 about this?!)
9. A woman reported that her neighbor's dog was digging into her dog's pen in her yard. The woman said she wants to shoot the dog.
8. People described as "backpacking hippies" were reportedly hanging out by the library at CWU.  (Um, did you forget that you live in Washington?? Newsflash. They're everywhere!)
7. Two men with what appeared to be a mattress on their heads and wearing women's clothing were reportedly walking in front of a building at CWU on D Street.
6. A woman reportedly accused a man of cheating, then followed him on her bicycle and tried to run him off the road. (Yes, that's right. Run him off the road. With her BIKE. And then was dumb enough to call the cops about it?!)
5. Candy was reportedly found piled up and leading in trails away from a bus stop on Alder Street. (Help! Police!! Hansel & Gretel are on the loose!)
4. An Easton resident reported that unknown subjects were attempting to steal from him in "forensic" ways.
3. A suspicious-looking short, balding man in a green jacket was reportedly using the computer next to the iguana cage in the Science Building on CWU campus.
2. A man reportedly rang a doorbell in Kittitas and told the people who answered that he was being chased by alligators. (remember kids. Crack is wack. Just say no to drugs!!)

I couldn't decide which report was the most outrageous, so the following three are tied for 1st place:

--An aggressive pack of Chihuahuas was reported on Canyon Rd.

--A man reportedly wanted to know how he could go about campaigning for a local office in Ellensburg without violating his restraining orders. (This is funny on so many levels!!)

--A woman on Dean Nicholson Blvd. reported that a classmate pulled her hair and kept the locks and said that they were going to use it for voodoo.

all hallow's eve

This year we recycled costumes. See?

Halloween 2010

Halloween 2011

 Hurray for not needing to make or buy anything this year!



Halloween 2012 

The following pics were taken at 'Boo Central', the university's annual Halloween carnival. Student groups from around campus participate by running booths with games, exhibits, and activities of all kinds. For example, the chemistry club makes stuff that oozes or explodes. As you can see below, the biology majors like to bring in deadly snakes for the youngins to handle. Jaclyn wouldn't even touch the python.

We carved our pumpkins a few nights ago. I'd show you what they look like all lit up but the crap tealight candles I bought at Freddy's won't stay lit for more than 5 sec. Boo!! 

 

They're never too young to learn to carve a pumpkin.



"the zombie phase"

I don't know about you, but when I'm in the throes of the newborn phase, I feel like the walking dead. You wake up in the morning You've been up since 3 am with the baby and it's now 6 am and you figure, hey. The older ones will be up in 30 minutes, I guess I'm up for the day. Your head is in a cloud and you sort of feel like this kid....as you're driving the kids to school. Or chopping onions with a sharp knife. Is this real life?!?
To put it another way, when you have a newborn, your life is like a moving train whizzing past you and you are the hobo running alongside trying desperately to board it. Life doesn't slow down just because you are a wee bit tired and need a nap. You just get up, put one groggy foot in front of the other, and try not to put the milk in the cupboard and the cereal in the fridge. (I just did that a few days ago.)
Anyway, here's a snippet of what's been going on around here, whether or not I've been conscious for all of it.

we found a praying mantis in the back yard.

 we played cowgirl for rodeo weekend.

 we watched the rodeo parade...all 2.5 hours of it.

 

we had a birthday!!

 

we hiked Manastash Ridge for the 1st time. let's just say that my kids would have made AWFUL pioneer children. {Ramsey children complained as they walked, and walked, walked...} Don't be deceived by those pretty smiles!

we made plenty of time for snuggles. thanks for the photo bomb, Jayden.

we napped in closets...

 

...and in toy bins...

...and on shoulders.

 

(btw, this was the time when I went the entire day before realizing that I had my shirt on backwards!! Can you tell?)

we started school!!

 

we snuggled with great grandma Ault

 

we remembered great grandpa Wallace V. Ault, who passed away June 1. we held a small family memorial in my parent's back yard.

my mom, Jayden, my bro Dylan

my dad, my bro Derek holding Jenna

This was taken right as Jenna was filling her pants. Nothing like a healthy blowout to add some lighthearted humor to a memorial service. ;-)

we celebrated all the September birthdays! Jayden turned 4. My grandma turned 90! Joanna turned 7.

 

 

we went to Percival Landing

we celebrated a birthday!

 

we held a car show on mommy's bed!

She is blessed

Sent to this earth;
You were saved through the ages for this day
and time;
Child of great worth,
Child of promise, daughter of the Divine.
Pure and holy in a little, white dress.
You were held in a circle and you were blessed.
And the Father looked down,
And the angels surrounded that place;
They knew the truth, all that you could do;
And you will, too, if you have eyes to see,
What heaven sees in you...

~ by Doug Walker from "What Heaven Sees In You"

Jenna is such a joy! She is content almost always and full of smiles to remind me how blessed I truly am. Speaking of being blessed, she was blessed.  By her father. Held in a circle and blessed to be a peacemaker and a beacon of light to those around her. To be a rock of unwavering faith and to possess a countenance that can calm hostile situations.  Oh what these little children will have to endure in their lifetimes.  As a mother it makes me shudder to think. 
But for now I can and will hold them close to me and love on them as much as I can!

My mother made the dress, which all 3 girls wore for their blessings.  My mother-in-law crocheted the afghan that all 4 kids were wrapped in on their blessing day.  And a loving and giving God made those adorable little feet and toes for me to admire for hours on end every day. 


(can you tell I'm feeling really sentimental today!)

Male Ingenuity

See this? This is the essence of male ingenuity.

 

As new homeowners we recently encountered our very first problem that needed fixing. See that open air vent on the wall? That's our outtake vent. The filter needed to be changed so I asked Josh to take care of it. We don't own a ladder yet, so Josh stared at the vent and shrugged his shoulders. How was he going to reach it? Well lucky for Josh, his 4 yr old sidekick Jayden was nearby, carefully observing the dilemma. Jayden disappears into the girls' bedroom for a minute and comes out with their bunkbed ladder! "Here dad, use this ladder!" Initially Josh smiled and said, "Thank you, son, but this ladder isn't quite long enough to reach that high." 

But the gears were a 'turnin' in their heads...I could see them turning from across the room! Josh got the purple bin to stand the ladder on, and Jayden thought to get a dining room chair to put it on. And before I knew it, these boys had a ladder that could reach the air vent!

Oh, and I don't know if you can tell, but those are Josh's slippers hung on each side of the ladder so the wall wouldn't get scuffed up. ;-)

I was so impressed at their collaboration; especially on Jayden's part. He's a little problem solver! I'm also pretty amazed that Josh didn't fall and break his face on that ladder.

I'm livin'the dream

 

'nuf said.

She is loved

In the short two-week span of Jenna's life, I think this baby girl has been put down a total of 16.25 minutes.  No joke, someone is holding her virtually every minute of the day!  And personally, I see nothing wrong with that at all.  You can't hold and snuggle a baby too much! Maybe knowing that Jenna is our last child makes we want to hold her and cherish her babyhood all the more.  The older 3 are wonderful with her! They ask to hold her all the time.  I've let them hold her to their heart's delight.  I have especially been touched by Jayden's adoration for his baby sister. He is so gentle with her and whispers to her that he loves her. Ok, his rocking of her bouncy chair can be a tad bit on the forceful side, but I can tell that his intentions are pure! :-)

Jayden fell asleep while holding Jenna. And Jenna's hungry and trying to eat her fingers!

Even Josh is taking part in all the snuggling action. 

Hey, it takes a real man to wear a moby wrap. And a purple wrap at that! He doesn't know I'm sharing this picture with all of internetdom. The perfect blackmail picture.  Oh. Wait. I can post it on facebook too! haha

She's Here!

Jenna Ramsey

born Friday, July 20 at 3:09 a.m.

6 lbs, 5 oz; 18 in.

Joanna's ballet camp

Joanna floated on a cloud all last week. Why? Because she got to take a week-long ballet camp. You should have seen how excited she was each day; even just putting on her new leotard and tutu made her giddy!! Joanna learned dances from various countries, like Japan, Germany, and Spain as well as standard ballet steps and positions.

On Friday they gave a short performance to show off their killer new moves.
The performance also included a 3 min. choreographed dance.

June

June has been one of the busiest months on record for our family. I've just been trying to keep my exhausted, 3rd trimester mush brain on top of it all.  ;-)

Joanna graduated from kindergarten.  (So do they 'graduate' from every single grade nowadays? Remember when the only time we graduated from anything in public school was the 12th grade?!)  It was fun to see how out of control excited she was to sing the songs they practiced and receive her diploma....from kindergarten.  I enjoyed her showing me a stack of projects they'd worked on over the year and seeing how much her writing and drawing have improved since last September. 

Jaclyn 'graduated' from preschool.  Yay! Big kid school here we come. Her teacher told me that Jaclyn has blossomed as a student this past year.  She gradually participated more and more in classroom activities and has become more outgoing and willing to try new things.  (We still have yet to see her get up in the front of the chapel at church and sing with the other primary kids whenever they perform, but hey. Baby steps.)

Jaclyn's preschool took a field trip to the Surf n Slide water park in Moses Lake.  Josh took the day off so we could go as a family...and also so we wouldn't lose any kids that day.  Heaven knows I needed an extra set of eyes to keep track of 3 kids. And if Jayden ran off (which he did many times) I wasn't about to waddle my fat butt all over the park to get him.  ;-)
I had a blast!! Kids did too.  I came back a lobster because guess who thought to put sunscreen on the kids but forgot to put it on herself. It's been nearly 2 weeks and I'm still peeling. We couldn't have asked for more beautifuler weather that day.

 

Joanna tried the surf simulator. 

She attempted to get up on her knees but she wasn't quite strong enough to pull herself up. Maybe next time! 

A few of us tried to convince Josh to try surfing but our peer pressure wasn't strong enough to get him on a board.

And the cherry on top of the month is...drum roll please...we bought our 1st house!!!!!!  Josh and I signed a 3" stack of paperwork last Thursday to make the deal official, a dozen saintly men from church helped us move Saturday, and now we are settling into our new digs one unpacked box at a time.  Packing up for a move has never been fun until this time. Honestly, as chaotic and stressful as this past month has been, it's been so awesome knowing that we were packing up to move to our very own house!  I feel incredibly blessed right now.  This house is wonderful in every way.