Christmas 2009

Christmas went off without a hitch this year. Everyone was healthy, the kids were on their best behavior, and we spent lots of time with lots of family! Christmas Eve we did a brunch with my parents & Nana at our house. That night we did the usual dinner/party at my aunt & uncles house. We had a full house with 30 adults & 5 kids. Our kids didn't get to bed that night until 10:00pm. About 10 minutes later, Avery comes out and says, "Daddy, can you & Mommy please hurry & go to bed so Santa doesn't skip our house?" So cute! Needless to say, they slept in until 8:15 on Christmas morning! (perfect way to start the day!). After opening gifts from Santa (a new princess bike for Avery and a police motorcycle for Blake) we opened our gifts to each other and got ready to go to Nana & Grandpa's for brunch. We had brunch & opened gifts with Brian's parents & sister & her family. Everyone got really nice things and brunch was delicious! After that we headed over to Brian's aunt & uncle's house for Christmas dinner with more family. We had 17 adults & 6 kids and more food than I've seen in a long time! What a wonderful day it was!

Christmas activities

We have been having a lot of fun this month at our house. The first week of December we decorated a ginger bread house and brought home our Christmas tree.

Avery invited the neighbor girls over to help and they did a fantastic job. They loved eating the candy & frosting as much as decorating with it! Sugar highs were soon to follow. Even Blake got in on the action for a few minutes, but you can't keep that boy still for long.

This year we decided to go on the Chelatchie Prairie Railroad Christmas train. You depart the train station in Yacolt and it takes you on a 30 minute ride south, past the depot where Santa is waiving to everyone, through a tunnel and then back to the depot. There you get to warm by the bonfire (which was essential as it was only 25 degrees that morning!), drink hot cocoa or coffee, eat cookies, pick out your tree and sit on Santa's lap. Blake was COLD and cutting new molars and just wanted his blankie. We had a great time with our friends the Andersons and, although REALLY cold, we loved the dry, sunny weather.
Avery loved helping decorate the tree, as usual, but was actually a help this year! She put on a good portion of the ornaments herself. And they were evenly spaced and all!
The second week of December was the annual VPD Kids Club Christmas Party. We look forward to this each year. VPD gets the place all to ourselves and the kids have a BLAST! Pizza, cupcakes, tons of room to play & run, and a visit from Santa! Blake will not have anything to do with anybody in a costume, so he opted out of telling Santa what he wants for Christmas, but he did give him a high five.
Avery & I have been baking too. We made sugar cookies for our family & friends, and made some extras for the preschool party too. Tonight we made peppermint bark and this weekend we are planning on making spritz & fudge. Oh how I love the Christmas season!

Avery's 5th Birthday

Avery decided that she wanted to have a "friend" birthday party at Chuck E. Cheeses this year. However, she wanted a princess castle birthday cake. Since I LOVE to make my kids cakes myself, I did a lot of Googling, and came up with this...


And she LOVED it! However, I didn't think about how I was going to get it to Chuck E. Cheese! A ride on my lap in the car was all it took, and it made it in one piece.

The Birthday Girl in all her Chuck-E glory!

Her new "American Girl" doll (aka: Costco knockoff)

Avery & her favorite GG! Thanks for coming all the way up from Medford to celebrate with us!

Halloween 2009

Better late than never I suppose!

We had a fun Halloween this year. We went really simple with the costumes and they turned out great.

Brian & I even got a chance to dress up for a Halloween party of our own. Fun times at the Quintano's!

Avery actually wore a dress that my Nana got for me, in Switzerland, when I was a little girl. We called her outfit "Heidi" and she loved it!

Blake wore his everyday rain coat, added boots & hat and he was a fireman!

I actually think they had more fun handing out candy at our house, then trick-or-treating themselves!

Maui

Brian & I had our 10 year anniversary this summer. To celebrate, we planned a trip to Maui, where we went on our honeymoon in 1999. Thanks to our wonderful parents, who took very good care of our kids, we were able to thoroughly enjoy ourselves for 8 days! We can't thank them enough!

The weather was perfect. About 86 degrees every day with a breeze in the afternoons and down to about 72 at night.

Activities:

1. Warren & Annabell's Magic Show. I was skeptical about going to a "Vegas" type show while in Maui, but it came highly recommended by some friends, so we decided to check it out. The show itself, was amazing. There were 70 people in the intimate theater and this magician was crazy good! Slight of hand tricks making things disappear and reappear like nothing. If you go, we recommend skipping the 2 hour dinner before the show. It's a little hokey and drawn out. But the show itself, don't miss it!

2. Molokini snorkel boat. We did this on our honeymoon and it was the only thing we decided to repeat this time. Seeing all those fish in the clear, clear water is amazing. I can't believe you can see 100 feet down to the bottom! It's amazing. This is also where Brian went scuba diving for the first time ever. He absolutely loved it and his instructor said he was a natural! He actually dove at 2 different locations that day and we saw turtles up close at one of them.
3. Zip Lines. When in Kauai about 3 years ago, we went zip lining and had a blast. We decided to try it in Maui and although the zipping itself was fun, the scenery left a little to be desired. We were in a very dry desolate part of the island and although we could see the beautiful shoreline, we were walking in nothing but dirt with no trees.

Other than our scheduled activities, we just laid on the beach, snorkeled off shore, went for walks/hikes, laid by the pool and ate great food. I didn't think we could possibly have more fun or enjoy each other more than we did on our honeymoon, but this trip ended up being more than we could have asked for!

I love you Brian. Thank you for a wonderful first 10 years of marriage!

Click here to see our photos!

No training wheels!

Saturday, September 26th, 2009:

Avery, Mom, will you take off my training wheels?

Me: Sure hunny.

Avery: I just want to try one time, then you can put them right back on.

Me: OK

20 minutes later...

Pints to Pasta 10K

So last weekend Brian & I did our first 10K together. Well, sort of together, he finished 6 1/2 minutes before me, but, who's counting?!?! There were 7 of us there that day. Our friends, that live in eastern Washington, came down just for the race and spent the night with their two kids the night before. Our good friends that love to run too. And, my co-worker, who I run with at least once a week. We all did great and had a blast!

The race started at 8am at the Adidas Headquarters in Portland, went across the Broadway Bridge, along the Willamette river and ended at the Old Spaghetti Factory. At the finish line they had beer & pasta for everyone!

First day of Pre-Kindergarten

Avery had her first day of Pre-Kindergarten last week. She was so excited to go back to school to see her friends & teachers and to wear her new school clothes. She has been really into the clothes this year, which is fun for me, but not fun when we do not agree! She is going 3 days per week this year, in the afternoons, which means that on those days, she doesn't take naps. I think her napping days are coming to a close anyway. She informed Brian the other day that "Pre-kindergartners don't take naps". Lucky for us, she still does on the off days, for now...

Blake is 2 Years Old!

Blake celebrated his second birthday last weekend. I can't believe my baby boy is two years old! Every time my kids have a birthday, it reminds me of just how short this precious time is with them. Now, if I can just remember that when they are throwing tantrums, we'll be in business!

Sunday was the big family party with a few close friends thrown in. We did a race car theme this year complete with a race car cake and black & white checkered flags. Notice that there are NO balloons? Blake HATES balloons, they make him cry. He says, "no oboons, no oboons!"

We had pretty nice weather after a slow cloudy start and the BBQ was great. Blake was totally excited that everyone was there and liked opening his presents out in the yard. Thank you to everyone who came & thank you for all of his gifts!

Happy Birthday my sweet boy! We love you more than words can say!