Owen, Sara &
Andrew Hoelter

Miriam Hoelter
+ January 28, 1947 – December 28, 2013 +
MiriamHoelter.com »

Bellies full of pancakes and bacon, a new Lego kit and Dad on the living room floor=happiness at our house!

A look back to where it began–

And some other favorites–

A quick update on the life and times of our three dear children…

Owen continues to lead the pack with a number of firsts for our family, including track and field events (he runs a great 1500m time) and a massive, multi-school orchestra concert.

Sara just this week lost her first tooth! Well, lost is not quite the right word—willed it out is better. That girl worked that tooth until it had no choice but to come out.

And not to be left off of the firsts, Drew ran his first Awesome 3000 this year—we now have all three kids running in this great community event. He did awesome.

Mom and Dad are doing their best to just keep up with these three rascals. We do have one cool event to add—we attended a “house concert” put on by a neighbor featuring Brazilian and Irish mandolin players. Grandpa and Grandma Hoelter went as well in celebration of their 42nd wedding anniversary. It was a beautiful, intimate event!

I am: Sara
In my family I have: my mom, dad, brothers and me and my Grandma and Grampa
I live: in Salem OR
My favorite food is: Pizza and ice cream
My favorite toys: Ponies and Lego Friends
My favorite things to do are: watch TV, do the iPad and read books look at flowers grow
Places I have been: San Diego, Hawaii, Union, Portland, Roseburg, beach, Seattle, Shawano Wisconsin.
Other things you should know about me are: Are my mom is a doctor. My dad teaches at Chemeketa.
When I grow up I’d like to: be a doctor, a teacher, a friend.

Ten years.

It’s hard to believe Owen has been running/crawling/hugging his way around this world for that long. I suppose when you look back on it quite a lot has happened in the last decade. But to have this kid turn double-digits, that’s pretty darn cool.

We needed to celebrate, big time. First on the list—take four of his closest friends (and little siblings) to Wings and Waves, the only water park with 747 on top of it.

We all had a great time, with very short lines, NFL games on the giant screen, and four hours of swimming, interrupted only by five orders of french frys and an order of cheesy nachos. Awesome.

Next up was pizza at a local joint in McMinnville, where arcade and pinball games were played, pizza devoured, and gifts opened.

In the end, I’m not sure what was more fun: the water park or the 40 minute car ride home with the buddies in dense fog. The laughter from the back of car (not to mention the pre-teen but clearly getting older jokes) brought a smile to my face the entire drive back.

That ended Day One. Whew.

Day Two (the actual birthday) was much more calm, with just the family hanging out at home, opening gifts and playing games.

The day ended with a nice birthday dinner with dear friends and a candle in an apple turnover.

Happy birthday, Owen. We’re proud of you…

For six years now we have trekked out to the same Christmas tree farm just outside of Dallas. Each trip includes a bumpy ride on one of the farm’s tractors (a red wagon this year).

Once out on the farm, Dad must dismiss at least eight perfectly good trees before becoming serious about the selection process. With surprisingly little debate and only one lost Lego man (don’t ask), we were able to find the perfect tree. One of the farm workers offered to be our photographer, making this (I believe) the first family Christmas tree photo.

While Dad ties the tree to the top of the Subaru, the rest of the family gets to sip hot cider around a fire.

Back home, the decorating fun begins. This was the first year that we can say that all of the kids were truly into the decorating process. While there may be too many ornaments on the lower-front of the tree, it was a joy to watch them not only help with hanging ornaments, but also get excited about the “tradition” part of the experience. So fun!

One final tradition: the hanging of the star on the tree. This year may be Sara’s last year as the official hanger (Drew protested much this year). She did great.

All in all, a nice family day. Let the Christmas season officially begin!