Jeep Ride in the Desert

We drove an hour east of here to meet up with my sister who was motor home camping in the high desert. Yes, it does get cold in the desert. We spent about four hours with them. My sister and I stayed in the warm motor home making soup while the girls rode off with their Uncle Skip in the Desert. Skip will send me picture later, which I will add to this sight. In the meanwhile, I will post what I have; one of my sister with her dog Sasha and the other of the girls and their uncle ready to take on the hills. Don't let the short sleeves my sister is wearing deceive you because an hour later, we were bundled up in warm clothes.

Candy Cane Lane

I can't believe I forgot to post this. This should be posted before Christmas and after decorating the house. Oh well. We went with our friends to a street otherwise known as Candy Cane Lane. It is fun to walk through because most of the houses are decorated with light like the one in the picture. It took us about an hour and then we went to Starbucks to warm up with hot cocoa.

Cat examining the tree!

Alley is curious to see what is under the tree. She was fascinated by the tree the day we got it!

Christmas Day at the Carroll's House

Christmas day at Craig's aunts house was a lot of fun. We ate breakfast and opened gifts. Then we played with Emily's singing game for playstation. It was a blast because we could compete against each other and all take turns making fools out of ourselves. Abby enjoyed playing on her waveboard. We even ran into to friends froom Palm Desert, the Cordova's, whose family only lived a couple doors down. Afterwards, we went to Craig's mothers house for Christmas dinner. We enjoyed the intamacy and unfortunately had to leave to return back to the desert so Craig could go back to work. It was a very nice Christmas.

Christmas Eve Stockings

We did something new this year. The girls got to open their stockings. They are old enough to know who really brings them anyhow. Besides, it was Christmas Eve and we needed to watch a movie, which was in one of the stockings.

Christmas Eve

Christmas was fun! We traveled to Orange County, where Craig's family lives. We drove to "Grammie's" house where we had a nice Christmas Eve dinner. Because Craig was not able to get off work until noon, we weren't able to leave in time to make it to the Christmas Eve service. When the girls arrived, they started decorating cookies with frosting. Grammie worked on making dinner. We decided that the cookie made was the favorite. I'm not sure who was the lucky person who got to eat it, but it wasn't me. I think Craig called dibs on this beautiful master piece.

Dad and Santa's Helper

My dad sent this picture that is just too cute. Sasha, my sister's dog is cuddled up with my dad, who "dog sits" for my sister during the day and when they leave for vacation times.

Decorating for Christmas

The Ostendorf family went out and found a blue spruce from Eastern Oregon at a vacant lot on Washington Blvd that was turned into a Christmas tree lot. THe man we bought it from reminded me of the loggers who used to come into the Forest Service when I worked for them in my younger years. The tree was much better than the dried out one from Home Depot the year before. We brought it home and set up it. Then the girls decorated it. It's nice to be at the stage in our life where the girls can do most of the work. My job was to get the lights on and the girls did all of the decorating. It was fun for them to find ornaments that they made from earlier years. They would squeal with glee as they remember when...

QOTSA

Well, I finally got the opportunity to see my cousin, Josh, in concert, at the McCallum. I felt like a Queens of the Stone Age groupie as I was surrounded by fans, only 5 rows from the stage. Although, compared to some of the fans, I was definitely out of my element. Craig accompanied me to the event. Even though I had not previously heard of the band who opened for QOTSA, Eagle's of Death Metal, I recognized some of the band members whom I met at Josh's wedding. I appreciated the band more than if I had not met them before. The high of the night for me was having the opportunity to take my uncle's back stage pass and go back to say Hi. I felt really important as I knocked on the special door leading back stage. I showed the guard my badge and I was in. It was cool. I said hi to Josh, wished him luck and got the opportunity to meet his keyboard player, which was cool being a keyboard player myself. I did take Josh's advice and wore earplugs. It was an event to remember.

Volleyball at Christian School of the Desert

Abby is serving for her team at Christian School of the Desert. This is her third year at playing volleyball. In the off season, Abby played Club and has started her second year at playing club where she made the "Elite" team. Her first tournament is January 12. Emily has also started playing club volleyball, but is not on a team that travels. Emily is busy learning how to play the piano, which is plenty for her.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving at the Ostendorf's house was small, but cozy this year. My mom came down from Oregon to be with us. My aunt and uncle also joined the scene. My mom, the girls and I enjoyed preparing the dinner, while Craig was at work. When he came home, we had a nice spread of Turkey, mashed potatoes, yams, salad, green beans and pumpkin pie. In the above pictures, Emily was snapping peas, mom was making stuffing and Abby was trying on Nana's apron.

Trick or Treat

The girls had a great time with their friends. They started out trunker-treating at Southwest Community Church and then finished off the night roaming around in their friends neighborhood. Abby hung out with 15 other 8th graders from Christian School of the Desert while Emily hung out with the little sisters and the mom's, who were keeping an eye on their adventure. It was a lot of fun.

Revolve Tour

Abby and I spent the weekend of October 13th in Anaheim for what is called the Revolve Tour. We stayed the night at "Grammie's" house, aka, Chris Ostendorf. We drove over with Kym and her daughter Chelcie. Check out their website, called The White's Blog, which is in the links to the right to see more details of the Revolve Tour. Yes, I "borrowed" the picture she took of Abby and I, but she has more details written in her blog. As a side note, she is one of the reasons I started my blog. So check out her bog to find out more information on what Abby and I experienced. It was very bonding between the two of us. Next year, we will take Emily and their Grammie.

Summer Trip to Brookings, Oregon

Ok, so I'm going back in time, but I just got started and going back in time is a good thing. We had a family trip to Oregon to visit my parents and sister's family. I saw my best friend from High School and we had fun feeding the Seagulls. Yes, I said it, "Feeding the Seagulls". It's one of my favorite things to do when we go home. I wouldn't recommend it in Southern California, but on the beaches of Oregon, it's exciting. I love how the seagulls attack you. They all come swarming at you and if you throw the bread up in the air, they will dive and catch it. I made about 6 tosses in a row and the seagulls were lined up waiting their turn to catch them. It's fun, but a little scary because sometimes the seagulls hover over you.


Even my friend Becky, who experienced this for the FIRST time in her life, enjoyed feeding the seagulls. Perhaps it was because Isaac, her son, was so excited. It was funny because we gave him bread to throw to the seagulls and he ate two pieces of the bread before he was willing to feed the seagulls. It was very cute to watch. Becky came to visit because her mom and dad who were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. It was nice to catch up and spend time with her husband, Greg and their son Isaac.


Craig, Abby, Emily and I also had fun making a bon fire and roasting marshmallows on the beach. We had a good time. I used my experience from Firefighter school to show the girls how to really put out a fire and how to know the fire is completely out. It was fun. We went down to Lone Ranch Beach and was greeted by the sound of a bag pipe playing Amazing Grace. Unfortunately, the bag piper was leaving just as we got there. At least we heard him play. Then we made a bon fire using the driftwood on the beach.



The other exciting thing we did was going on an adventure. We found the trails along the coast and hiked them. Yes, I have proof that my mother went along. She trucked through the woods with the rest of us. We found the natural bridge, which is a beautiful site. When I was in my 20's, I actually went with some friends and we hiked down to the natural bridge and cross it. I remember it being very scary, but amazing. However on this trip, we stuck to the main trail.


Then, there was Sasha and my dad. My dad "dog sat" Sasha, the Chihuahua while my sister was on her trip. They were quite the pair. She likes to snuggle up with my dad. In fact, Sasha enjoyed sleeping in my dad's shirt. Yes, picture a 6'6" man with a tiny dog. It's quite the sight.


After my sister came back from her trip, she joined us as we hiked down to the secret beach. That was fun, but a rigorous hike to the beach. The kids enjoyed exploring the nooks and crannies. Of course, they wanted to play on the rock and the tide was high, making it a little dangerous. The hike back up the hill was invigorating as it literally took away our breath.

Cats

We adopted two full grown cats recently. We love them. Although they are not pure bred, one is part Siamese and other is part Tabby. They are beautiful cats and both have their unique personalities. We call the Siamese Cheyanne and the Tabby Alley.

Alley is not affectionate, but enjoys being with people and often will follow me around the house and sleep next to where ever I happen to be working. Alley could care less about what she eats and will eat whatever is given to her.

Cheyanne, on the other hand is very particular to what she eats and prefers "wet" food to dry food. Normally, when I raise my cats from the kitten stage, they start on dry food and I am very careful to feeding them wet food. Unfortunately, she was already trained to enjoy wet food and is very vocal when she is hungry. She likes to eat many small meals throughout the day. The problem occurs when Craig gets up and leaves by 4:30 in he morning to go to work. Cheyanne wakes up when Craig does and decides she is ready for breakfast and then wakes me up at 4:30 when I still have another hour to sleep. I have fed her late at night in hopes she will not be hungry so early in the morning, but it doesn't seem to help. Sometimes she will want to eat at 3:00 in the morning. I don't know what to do to keep her from meowing in the middle of the night.

Between the two of them, Cheyanne is the most affectionate and has proven herself to be the dominate cat between the two of them. It's funny because physically, Alley is stronger. However, Alley is a scardy cat and is afraid of her own shadow. So there you have have it. Any thoughts on how to deal with Cheyanne's desire to be fed in the middle of the night would be helpful. We have dry food out for her, but she wants her wet food.

Have a nice day.
Michelle

Welcome to Our Blog

Hello friends and family. The picture of myself and my husband is taken in Brookings, Oregon, where I grew up. We enjoyed the beach and spending time with my girls roasting marshmellows.

You may wonder why I choose smalleeasternvillage as the name of our blogsite. I not the most creative person in the world, so I went to the meaning of our last name, which is Ostendorf. The name is German and used to be written with the two dots above the O, making the name ooostendorf. Now, it is pronounced Austindorf. However, it is spelled Ostendorf. Ostendorf means small eastern village in German. So, there you have it.