All dressed up

Natalie was so cute dressed up for Christmas eve. I think we were given about 4 Christmas outfits for her. Good thing we had enough occasions to wear all of them. She's like a celebrity, doesn't wear the same thing twice.

Natalie and Nathan in their Christmas PJ's. Since we were mostly house bound they got to wear these a lot.

Snow, snow and more snow!!!

Nathan and Gagi enjoyed a day of decorating cookies. Nathan had so much fun looking at all the cookies and picking out which one each of us would eat. He was very serious while putting the sprinkles on.

Sledding was so much fun! We went down the road for almost a 1/4 mile and then the tractor would pull us back up. In this case the kids all wanted to ride both ways in the bucket of the tractor.

Lily LOVES the snow!

This was one of our only days as a family playing in the snow. We had a blast. The snow was so dry and so beautiful we felt like we were on the east side... with the addition of beautiful trees. Everyone enjoyed the sledding, even Natalie. This picture is taken in front of our new driveway!! The snow was so wonderful we didn't even mind the 3 week delay it caused for starting to build.

Santa pictures

Nathan was so excited to see Santa again ... Natalie was not thrilled. We distracted her by having her stand next to him (we were a little nervous she might fall over but she made it).

Natalie is so proud of learning to stand up. She has "ME TOO" written all over her when she watches her brother playing.

Making Mud

I asked Nathan to help me bake today. I let him crack the egg, and then he helped poor the water into the mix... with great excitement he said "Ooo, makin' mud!"... then he poored the oil in "Ooo, More Mud!!". So much fun. He then put the cookies into the mud and we baked the mud. He's getting really excited to eat the mud tonight. My mom reminded me to teach him that we eat the mud inside, but we don't eat the mud that we make outside. :) Good clarification.

Santa Breakfast

Natalie in her cute "My First Christmas" outfit... enjoying her first Santa Breakfast.


Nathan with his present from Santa. He's been waiting all week for this present, luckily he had forgotten that he was there when I bought it... I'm mean when Santa picked it out :)

LOVING SANTA!!!

This year was so fun! Nathan was so excited to hear that Santa was coming and he ran over to be near him. Natalie on the other hand cried when she was near Santa.

We started this tradition with my girlfriends last year. It's been so fun. This year we had 11 kids, the parents and some grandparents as well. It's such a special way to start the Christmas season, surrounded by love and lots of fun!!

Boogie Rag

Nathan is sick right now. His nose is running like a faucet. After being grossed out by his wet sleeves we decided to give him an alternative. We started with a bandanna and told him to use it to whip his nose. Very quickly the bandanna was named a "boogie rag". He keeps running up and saying "more boogie rag"... and even now as he is supposed to be going to sleep we are hearing the request for more boogie rag. He definitely adapts well to routines. We've gone through about 3 boogie rags today... but his sleeves are staying much drier.

Our "Krinmen Kree"

Our first family outing to get a tree! (I think Trever and I went without Nathan last year) We had such a fun family day getting our Krinmen Kree (Trever and I spend more time talking like Nathan than we ever expected). I was much less focused on the "perfect" tree this year, a bit more focused on Natalie staying dry and Nathan keeping with us rather than searching out the tractors. In the end we found a great tree, no one stayed dry (or clean for that matter) and we got out of there just after the daylight ended.

When we decided on a tree I said "Okay Nae Nae, do you want Daddy to cut that one down?" I definitely wasn't prepared for his answer "No, Mommy dolit" Are you kidding! Well, anything for my boy. I cut the tree while they went back to get Lily out of the car. In the end Trever convinced me that we were partners and it was okay if he finished the job. A bit hard on my ego but my shoulders were thankful.

It was comedy watching us carry the tree back to the car. Who forgot a bjorn, a stroller, or the idea of finding a tree close to the car? Trever took the trunk and I got the saw, the baby and the top of the tree. Luckily we convinced Nathan he could walk back by himself. :)

We're thankful for...

We are so blessed to have loving families. We had a wonderful visit with Nana and Papa. They were able to come over the night before our Thanksgiving celebration. We stayed up playing cards and telling stories. The next day Trever and his dad enjoyed some bonding time while working on our temporary power pole. Shiela was my right hand woman getting food prepped and entertaining Natalie.

We had a great time and some fabulous food at Gagi and Papo's house. We were thankful that both kids were able to enjoy the festivities. During this time of year it is so nice to have a day to slow down and enjoy family.

The Boys Weekend

Trever and Nathan recently enjoyed a wonderful boys weekend in Washington DC.


Although they saw lots of monuments and museums...

Nathan thought the planes, trains and escalators were the best part!! We agreed that next time it might be easier to take him down to Portland. :)

The weekend was a priceless bonding experience for them. Nathan is all about time with Daddy, I know he felt like such a big boy on the trip. They went with our good friends Matt, Sheri, Shanon and Caden. Good memories for everyone.

Natalie and I stayed home. I'd like to say we painted our nails and told stories about boys... but she really prefers napping at this point. She started crawling while watching the Apple Cup! And we worked really hard to get DaDa down, we're almost there!

Don't all little boys get to drive firetrucks?

Nathan's Papo brought over a firetruck one afternoon. Of course Nathan got the chance to jump behind the wheel and show his skills. He quickly learned how to work the lights and the air horn. Soon enough that was childs-play and he was on to actually driving it around on our yard. :)

As much as we like to think we are great parents, there is just no way to compete with a man who has real firetrucks at his house!

Pictures

Buzz and his little pumpkin sister.

Little Natalie


Nathan loves kittens... I'm truly surprised we don't have one! (and somewhat thankful to Trever for that!)

Joys of motherhood...

So, today is one of those days where I have too many things on my to-do list... and one really wonderful helper. I need to print a very important document and take it to our engineer. Nathan loves when we print... so he is right by my side. Unfortunately he keeps wanting to open the printer and watch it work (he loves to learn how things operate). He's also helping to "feed" the printer with a stack of credit cards. It took me the longest time to figure out what paper jam the printer was referring to, I had removed all of the paper already. Finally I started taking the printer apart, only to find two credit cards cozy in the back of it. We got to have a little talk about not touching the printer, now he stands there waiting for the page to be done and then grabs it to hand to me. In the same moment of our day Nathan saw the edge of my memory card sticking out of the computer... that looks like fun. With the quickest gesture it went down into the front of the computer... at some point I'll figure out how to dismantle the case and get it out. Nathan so rarely causes trouble... is the moon in a funny spot today?
To balance out the morning he is also showing his sweet side. I sneezed and he quickly said "bless your heart"... something he learned from his Daddy. And then he came up out of the blue, gave me a hug and said "you're mommy's darling". I love this kid!

Getting started...

I'm finally starting a blog. Our life as a family is so wonderful, hopefully I can catch some of the special moments and get them on "paper".
Nathan is growing and learning every day. Trever and I are constantly amazed at the thoughts that come out of his mouth. He is "Mommy's darling, Daddy's little man or Daddy's little buddy, Papo's buckaroo, and Gagi's love bug". Sometimes I make the mistake of saying that he is my love bug and he quickly corrects me "No, Gagi's love bug, Mommy's darling". This boy loves to follow the rules.
Natalie is almost 8 months old. I can't believe it! She has such a fun personality. Very social and very expressive. She doesn't leave much question about how she's feeling. And she "talks" a lot, definitely a girl! She wants to stand up all the time, we have to trick her to sit her on the floor. We are so blessed with her snuggles and laughter.
The last couple of years have brought more joy than I ever imagined. It's been so fun getting to know each of our kids. And my heart explodes with love watching Trever as a dad. He's amazing... he excells at husband, father, and friend! I am so in love with my husband and our growing family!