Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Happy New Year!

My Girl!
Hi Jake!

Lucy started ballet lessons!

Lucy likes to help feed Jake.

Cold air, clear skies!

Bubba!

Mason, Lucy and Jake. That was the closest to a smile that I could get from Mason!

Lucy, GrandPappy and Cousin Mason

Handsome boys!

Lucy asked me to paint her face like a puppy. :) Then we made applesauce, and she cut up all of the apples!

Just playing!

Jake and Sean, 7 months old!

Baby Sean, so cute!

Evan smiled for me!!!

Lucy loves to help with home repair!

Cousin Joey brought Lucy Tinkerbell wings, wand, purse and gloves!

Joey and Jake
We had a wonderful start to the year 2013. To ring in the New Year, we had a party! Of course, I forgot to take any photos. I love New Years Eve, joining together with friends and family to celebrate the joys of the previous year and the anticipation of the coming year. I also just love to run outside at midnight and shout "Happy New Year!!!"  2012 brought us many special changes, the best being Baby Jake! We also moved into a wonderful new home, Lucy continued to grow and thrive, Marc has been successful in his career, Bob and Katie moved here...we are so very blessed.

Our nephew Mason came down to visit for a week, staying with Bob. It was fun getting to know him better, and for the kids to play and form memories together. My cousin Joey came later in the month and it was so much fun to have him here. I really miss him! Katie, Joey, Polly and I went to see Lady Gaga and we were in the right place at the right time and got passes to be really close to the stage. What a fabulous memory! We had a great time dancing, and Gaga is all about positive thinking and believing in yourself...it was good to get a dose of her energy.

Jake has met many milestones since I was last able to sit down and write. He started to crawl at 7 months old, and perfected his sitting skills at just about the same time. Now he is almost 8 months and crawls everywhere!!! He is beginning to pull up to standing, and subsequently has the bumps and bruises to prove it.   He loves to eat solid foods, especially finger foods. He is practically eating what we are eating. The other night he enjoyed the enchilada casserole. Eating can be a messy affair, but that is how he learns to feed himself. No teeth yet, but he sure has been teething! He loves to talk...rarararara, ahhhh, and lots of grunting. If he starts grunting, he is either enjoying what he is eating, or ready to take a nap. He loves to snuggle with his blanket, and he likes to snuggle with me for a bit after waking up. He has been playing peek-a-boo, and he loves to play with balls, a big difference from Lucy. He is very easy going and a happy baby.

Lucy has been growing and maturing so much! We spent some time watching videos of when she was Jake's age and younger, and wow! As all parents know, it seems to go so fast. Lucy has started to figure out how to write her name, and lately has been talking about having "lots and lots of homework." When I asked about this, she said that her homework is making thank you cards. I am sure there are people out there wondering about where their thank you cards are...and all I can say is we are getting there! :) For a while she was saying "yep, yep" and she still says "actually..." and "from" (instead of because) all of the time. She has learned about rhyming, and is pretty good at finding words that rhyme. She gets very excited when she thinks of one..."Mom, bear and share RHYME!!!" She has been really testing our limits lately and it has resulted in some hard consequences. She has lost some toys to the Goodwill, and fortunately it has been working. Today she was frustrated with Jake and she walked away, then told me she could take a deep breath. Yea!!! She is a happy, confident girl who now says she wants to be a doctor when she grows up. Whatever she chooses, I know that her spirit is strong and loving!

Monday, January 21, 2013

Christmastime!!!

It snowed!

Having fun! 

Elizabeth and the kids.

Hanging with Daddy!

Jake and Auntie

Lucy loves Grampy Dave!

Walking out on Christmas morning

Jake likes the ball Santa brought him!

Gracie Girl

My Mom and Dad. What a nice looking couple!

Marc went along with my Dad's joke gift to him.

Grammie Pam and Jakey Boy!

Pappy Bobby and Baby Bubba

Stella and Lucy

I love my Jake

Merry Christmas!

This year was a great Christmas. A few days before Christmas our friend Elizabeth came to stay with us and it was so nice. It snowed the night she got here and it was fun to see how much she enjoyed it. She lives in the Philippines where it never snows. Lucy loved playing in the snow, and Jake calmly checked it all out. We went on a walk and admired the beauty of a winter wonderland. 

Christmas was great!!! My parents came up from Southern California and got to spend Jake's first Christmas with him. Lucy was so excited this year. On Christmas Eve we all went to Rose's brother Jordan's house which is always fun. It is great seeing the kids get older and older, and so nice to spend time with our Portland "family away from family." Christmas morning, Lucy came into our bed to snuggle around 8am. Not too early!!! Marc had to bring up Santa. I loved watching her walk out and see the gifts. Of course, Jake liked the ribbons best! My parents and sister came over for brunch, and we had such a nice day hanging out and relaxing. We played some board games and made a nice dinner. Casey and Stella came over as well, and we loved having them there. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful people as family and friends.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

December 2012

The butterfly exhibit at the Pacific Science Center was awesome!

Butterfly

Seattle's Space Needle

Jakey Boy!

Santa Baby
Santa Jake was the toast of the town!

We had a great day!

He had fun!

Cousin Dayna and Jake 

Aiden and Jake meet for the first time.

 Aunt Dianne and Dayna

Cynthia and Dave

Auntie Katie is great at getting Jakey Boy to sleep!

Jake and Lucy "driving" the grocery cart together for the first time!

Pretty sunset out of our window.

Jake paints for the first time!

Bubba

Lucy in her first school recital. It was so sweet to see her up there, she is so precious.

Up on his knees and rocking back and forth for the first time!

Marc was going running and Lucy said she wanted to go to. She went to her room and got out her running shorts, and they ran around the block together! She is a runner, that is for certain.

My sister, Jake and I were lucky enough to get to travel up to Seattle to visit family and enjoy the city for a bit. We met up with our cousin Dave and his wife Cynthia and went to the King Tut exhibit at the Pacific Science Center.  It was so nice being with Dave and Cyndi, and seeing 3000 year old statues and artifacts from Egypt was pretty cool. The next day Katie and I spent the day in Downtown Seattle, and Jake was dressed up in his Santa outfit. As soon as we stepped off of the hotel elevator, we heard the squeals of a little girl, saying, "Look, Mom, it's a Santa Baby!!!" So began a really fun day of having people admire our little Santa Baby. Multiple times he was surrounded by people smiling and loving him. It was so cute! We had dinner that night at our Cousin Dayna's house and enjoyed the time with her, her son Aiden, and my Aunt Dianne and Uncle Mike. It was a nice visit!

Lucy had her first preschool performance, and it was so sweet watching her up there. She spent a lot of the time looking out at the audience, but did sing along with Rudolph the Red nose Reindeer. We have heard that song often this winter! She is growing so quickly!