We're Thankful For...

We have so much to be thankful for our Thanksgiving Season extended from October 12th until November 27th.


We kicked off our festivities on October 12th by celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving with our small group. Because most of our group travels through the holidays they started a tradition three years ago in order to celebrate together.

So every year we celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner. We are thankful for friends who have become family.


We are thankful for family! On November 21st we spent the evening with Grandma and Grandpa Munson at our home in Poulsbo.



It was such an honor to serve them dinner on the dining table we inherited from them and we shared an evening full of food and laughter - we watched UP, how can Russel not make you laugh!

Then on Tuesday November 23rd we headed to the home of Brad and Monica Duchemin. We rocked the house with their kids Bri and Hunter as we played a rousing game of Guitar Hero.



Bri and Hunter kicked our tails and we're practicing for next time!



On Wednesday the First Grade Friends sported their homemade Pilgrim hats and ate an incredible feast. They were thankful for things like: water, legos, family, pets, and God's love.



Alex is so grateful for the First Graders and the joy they bring to her life each and every day. She truly feels like she is doing what God created her to do!




Then off to the Rich Jacobson home for Thanksgiving dinner and the tradition of gingerbread house decorating.





We worked extremely hard on our gingerbread house entry this year and were very proud.

Especially of Ben's extreme self-control since this is the first year he was unable to eat the frosting or decorating goodies. Not so diabetic friendly. BUT he has had great practice and shows great restraint with his cake creating so this was not so much of a challenge as you might suppose.



At dinner Ben expressed his gratitude for the Virginia Mason study at the Benaroya Reasearch Institute and Alex said she was very grateful for brothers - She's never had brothers before and Elliot and Luke have become very dear to her.



Our Thanksgiving Season concluded with a trip to the Duchemin's for Thanksgiving with family, old friend Dougie from Ireland, and new friends Aaron and David.







Thankful for the simple things - laughter, food and being able to eat, family, friendship, time together, and gaining a better understanding of ourselves an others are what the Duchemins are thankful for. What a blessing they are to us.




So very much to be thankful for: friends who are like family; work; time with those we love; and life's simplest gifts like health.

A year of thankfulness!

Meet Dosey-Doe!

We added to our clan a new little kitten named Dosey-Doe. Ipa-Mae and Marley-Moe are enamored by her! We have fallen in love with this precious little girl. She won our hearts from the first time we met her.



She is so sweet and playful. She has us in stitches with her antics and all the funny places we find her perched.




Marley-Moe will drench her in slobber; wear her out; and truly has a new buddy.






Ipa-Mae was a little more uncertain when it came to Dosey but they too have found their nitch and have become quite the snuggle buddies.




Our little family feels complete now that we have Dosey. Ben and his girls!

Who's Chopped? Ben - The Birthday Boy

Chopped Jacobson Style

For Ben's 21st birthday we hosted a "Chopped" competition. A cook off where someone teamed with Ben against another couple of chefs. Five courses, ten amazing dishes, with MANY secret ingredients it was a night full of food and fun.



Ben has a new found love for the food channel. Especially the shows "Chopped" and "Top Chef." He had dreamed of coming home to a bag of secret ingredients and a time limit. :)




First Ben teamed with his Dad, Rich, against his sister Emily and friend Brandon. Spam was the most challenging of their 3 secret ingredients.



Course 2 was Benjamin and brother Luke against Tonie, Alex's sister and her friend Brandon. The most challenging of ingredients - a root called Mongala.



In Round 3 Benjamin and James Gunter took on the Bradfords. Secrent ingredients included frest crab, zuccini, and pineapple juice. Two truly incredible dishes were created.




Next to challenge Ben, this time paired with Brent, were Dave and Heather Raley.
Secret ingredients included - bacon, canned crab, chicken, cucumber and coconut milk.




These were truly masterpieces.





The fifth and final round was a head to head between Nate and Courtney Werner and Benjamin and Eric "Trudy" Trudeau. Their feat was to cook with Buddah's hand (a sort of citrus fruit), pomogranate and pie crust.




Happy 21st BenJamin!

This birthday was also a celebration of Ben's many talents. His culinary expertise is developing as are his muscial talents. God has placed a dream in Ben's heart and a call on his life to serve him through music ministry. Ben received from family and friends a new garage door to have installed on his ongoing studio project. The door will keep his instruments and equipment safe and the room warm enough. Thank you to all who contributed. A photo will be coming when it is installed in December!

Breaking and entering... a pumpkin patch tale.

Unbeknownst to us the Pumpkin Patch we headed to on this gorgeous fall day was actually closed.

That didn't stop us.




To be perfectly frank we really didn't know they were closed until we went to pay and an employee who had popped by to pick up his paycheck told us. He let us pay him so we still got to take our family of four pumpkins and a gorgeous bouquet home with us!

First we me up with a scarecrow...




Then Ben selected our pumpkins.



He chose a family of four.


Then off I went with clippers and basket in hand to select our fall time bouquet.
As many flowers as you can fit in a rubber band for $8.00. What a deal!



We had a ball and rolled down the windows for Ipa and Marley on the way home.