Dinner Conversation:

Kelly: Jacob what is your favorite animal?

Jacob: Andrew (his brother)

Kelly: Is Andrew an animal?

Jacob: Yes, Andrew James Bear (that is Jacob's nickname for Andrew)

--emily

Immunizations

Andrew had a round of immunizations today, and boy is he a trooper. He is so kind hearted and sensitive that as the doctor came in to look at his brother's ears, Andrew began to cry! --emily

Painting

Jacob and I painted together today. This is something that is hardly ever done at our house. Jacob has never liked the feeling of finger painting, so I never pushed it! It sounds like such a huge disaster and I am not up for the extra clean-up project either. So after an amazing conversation with a friend, I have learned a couple of techniques that made this simple act of painting a Mommy no brain er. * I used masking tape and old magazines to cover the table. * I used washable paint. * For a kid like Jacob that doesn't like the feeling of paint on his hands we used brushes. * Jacob painted and had fun. * I then moved this projects to dry clean piece of scrap paper. * I simply role up the wet taped-down paper and like that we were all done and all cleaned up. This was so much fun for both of us today. We will try this again next week. --emily

Play-Doh

Jacob and I played with his new Play-Doh set for a long time today. He had a great time. Jacob was playing with the sandwitch and hotdog making kit. He handed me the hot dog and said, "Here you go mom." emily- "Thanks Jacob. That was yummy." Jacob- "No it wasn't. We don't eat Play-Doh, remember?" If you have ever played Play-Doh with Jacob, you will know that was a big mile stone. He used to love eating Play-Doh. --emily

Christmas

Jacob has realy enjoyed playing with Play Doh so we got him some molds and fun presses. 

Jacob had snuck off to play with one of his new toys, and cute little Andrew was right there with him!

This gift is from the boys to me. It was the only gift that was wrapped in pink. Jacob picked out pink because it is one of mom's favorite color.

After we had opened all our presents at home Jacob said, "that was nice but I also wanted the Sodor Suspension bridge" (it's a Thomas thing). Nice--the kid is only three. So here is a picture of Jacob opening that gift from grandma Mark. 

It was a beautiful white Christmas. The boys where happy to see that santa had made it even in the crazy snow. That Santa he is amazing! --emily

Christmas Eve

Here are a couple of pictures from our fun Christmas eve party! Jacob and I made cookies for Santa. We placed the cookies at the fireplace for Santa and put out asparagus for the reindeer (we didn't have any carrots). We capped off the evening with Kelly accompanying us in carols and reading the Christmas story. --emily

Hit and Run

With all of this crazy snow we have been having. The city has hired a few construction companies to fill in and help out with the plowing of our streets. Kelly had his car parked on the street along with many other neighbors. The construction companies plow munched Kelly's car. In the end the company fixed his car and all is well. But look at that gash, it makes me wince! --emily

The perfect storm

Last night we had an amazing wind storm. The weather people said that the wind was 50 to 70 miles an hour with gusts of 90 mile an hour winds. It was amazing! Our power went out about 10:00 pm sometime. So Kelly and I went to bed. The power came back on a few hours later to only go out again. I am so grateful that the power was on when we woke up. I had wrapped up the boys nice and warm before going to bed, but that was my big worry that the boys wouldn't be warm enough. We had stocked up on cookable power-out food and we have a gas fireplace so during the day we would be warm playing downstairs. A couple of years ago we had a big wind storm and the power was out for eight days. And after that experience we are better prepared! 

Here are a couple pictures of the aftermath!

In this picture the snow is wedged between our storm door and the main front door. The wind was blowing through the door into the house and I had to put down a towel to keep the snow off the floor. This isn't normally a drafty--door the wind was just so amazingly powerful. 

This is the view out our sliding back door. This morning Jacob said "it looks like the beach". He is absolutely right. It looks just like sand dunes at the beach. Not our whole yard looks this way. The wind piled the snow in the coves of our houses and yards. Currently it is still snowing and is still freezing outside. I guess there is no last minute Christmas shopping for me. The roads are a sheet of ice. Washington Never Gets Weather Like This. . . --emily

2008 Christmas Card

Sledding

This morning we took the kids to the perfect sledding hill behind our house. We had a great time! It was perfect weather for playing in the snow. The sun was shining and the snow has been perfect. Here in the northwest our snow is usually wet and sloshy, and it only lasts for a day or two. But this is not Washington weather--it is amazing outside. It is freezing cold, but a good jacket takes care of that. The kids are loving the snow. We will see how long this great weather lasts. --emily

We have Snow!

It has been freezing cold around here and the weather people have been predicting snow all week. Last night the big storm finally hit and we are covered in the white powdery stuff. Tonight we went for a walk at about 4:00 to go and get some dinner. I love walking in the snow at night--the lights that glisten off the snow and how quite everything is. Jacob loved running in the snow. He had a great time. Thanks to our friend who lent us snow gear, the boys were toasty warm and dry. Thanks, Mrs. G! More to come. . . we are planning a sledding outing for tomorrow! Check back for that write up. --emily

Sewing with Mom

Here is a darling picture of Jacob helping me sew. Last Sunday we had a little down time and I pulled out the quilt I have been working on. Jacob sat with me and was very helpful! --emily

Hair cut

Today Andrew had his 1st haircut! --emily

Friday with Dad

This was the only picture I got from the day.  My camera battery died before I could take any more!  This was at the Seattle Symphony (fuzzy I know).

Today was a great day! Kelly took the day off work and we went to Tiny Tots at the Seattle Symphony with our play group. The boys had a great time. They had fun music and stories for the kids. Very energetic people hosted the program. Andrew seems to have a love of music. He clapped his hands and danced the whole time. It was a fun way to start the morning. 

Since Kelly was free from the cares of work, we decided to make it a day in Seattle and we took the boys to the Pacific Science Center. We spent a couple of hours wandering around. Jacob loved the butterfly house. He thought that it was amazing that there were so many butterflies everywhere. He ran around pointing them all out.  His favorites were the ones eating bananas; he thought it was neat that they eat bananas like he does. There was also a centrifugal force funnel that you tossed marble-size balls into. Jacob loved tossing balls into it, watching them spin around the funnel, then running to the bottom to get the balls after they dropped through the hole at the bottom. He did that for a good ten minutes. 

From the Science Center we decided to take the Monorail to Westlake Center Mall. We had a great ride. Since Jacob is so into trains, he loved riding the Monorail. We sat in the front so we could see the city around us. HE LOVED THIS! At the mall we walked around and had a bite to eat. The whole time in the mall Jacob kept asking when we where going to get back on the train. . . Both Jacob and Andrew did great all day. It was a perfect day filled with family and great Christmas activities. --emily

Quest for the Perfect Tree

Today we went to pick out our Christmas tree. It is tradition for us to cut our own tree at a local tree farm called "Crown Trees". We always go the weekend after Thanksgiving. It was pouring rain outside when we woke up this morning, but we didn't let that stop us. We all got soaked, but we had a great time. The hot cider and cookies made up for all the wet and cold. We do almost everything rain or shine around here. Being born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, our boys have become immune to the rain. --emily

Santa Picture

2008

Jacob is 3 years & 3 months, Andrew is 1 year & 2 months.

We went and had our annual Santa picture taken today. It is tradition for us to go the Friday after Thanksgiving because Kelly isn't at work that day. I love this tradition. I enjoy looking back on the previous photos to see the changes the kids have made. This is my favorite picture yet. Andrew is the classic 1 year old sitting on Santa's lap. He was happy seconds before I placed him there. He was completely composed seconds after I picked him up.  But while he sat on Santa's lap, he cried big crocodile tears. --emily

I will post our past Santa Pictures so you can compare for yourself.

Past Santa Pictures

2005 

Jacob 3 months old

2006 

Jacob 15 Months

2007 

Jacob is 2 years 3 months, Andrew is 2 months

Twilight

Kelly and I have read the Twilight series. Yes, that is right, Kelly read it with me. Several of my friends were planning a girls' night to see the movie together. Kelly wanted to come with me. I think it is cute that Kelly wanted to experience opening night with me. We had a great time and I am glad that Kelly joined us!

My opinion of the movie vs. the book: I loved the book. It was well written and hard to put down--an easy read. It had good conversation flow, and is a true love story. The movie, on the other hand, was good but it left me cold. I thought that Edward was cute, but not the drop-dead gorgeous person he was described as in the book. A lot of the characters seemed this way, but I still enjoyed it. If you haven't read the books, you should. They are a fun read! --emily

Addendum: I went and saw the move for a second time and fell in love with the characters. They just need a new make up artist. Can't wait for "New Moon".

YW night

Tonight my YW group went to feed the homeless with Mama's Hands, a local community service organization . The evening could have been uncomfortable, but you girls did a great job talking with people in need of a good conversation, feeding the hungry and clothing people in need of warmth. I am so proud of you girls. Keep up the good work. --emily

Madagascar

Today Jacob, Kelly and I went to the movie theater to see Madagascar 2. It was the first movie that we have taken Jacob to in the theater. What a fun afternoon. We dropped Andrew off at my parents house, then we all headed to the movie. We got popcorn and snacks so Jacob could enjoy the complete movie-going experience. I had been talking to Jacob all week about this so he would know what to expect. He had a great time and asked when we could come back to see a "Thomas" movie. What a cute kid! -- emily

Snoqualmie Falls

We have had some amazing rain fall in our area this past week. This has caused our rivers to flood and our falls are absolutely beautiful because of it. I wanted to take the boys to show them how amazing the falls are. Here are a few of pictures from today. --emily

Guido the fish!

This is gross, I know, but I am sharing it because we have finally figured out what is going on with our fish tank. We have spent too much time and money trying to figure out why our filtered fish tank is not filtering. This picture was taken a couple days after the filter was changed. So here is the deal: we moved into a house with amazing sunlight and that is what caused our tank to become greener and greener.  We have an algae problem. Gross but fixable.  --emily

I hope you all remembered to vote today!

I dragged my two sad boys with me as I voted today. It was beyond Andrew's nap time and Jacob was hungry. I was quite the little one man show. But I did it I voted even with all the crazies! I hope that you also took the time to vote. --emily

Halloween

Andrew eating birthday cake!

Superman opens his birthday gifts . . . 

This outfit is homemade by his mom. 

The birthday crew that was in costume.

I have on a Witch's hat and that is not Kelly's real hair!

What a fun night!

Have you ever seen the movie "ET'? There is a scene in the movie where the streets are full of kids trick-or-treating. This was our neighborhood tonight. Kids and parents, friends and neighbors. The streets where filled with so much fun and delight.

The best Halloween ever! 

Today we had our family over for Andrew's birthday celebration and some outstanding trick-or-treating. It was a fun and perfect evening. The kids were all in costume. We had some dinner, cake and presents. Andrew ate his birthday cake like a pro--double fisting it. He had a blast. I gave him a quick bath and then we opened gifts. We all headed outside to some perfect trick-or-treating. My parents stayed back to answer our busy door and hand out candy. It had been raining all day and at about four in the afternoon it stopped. We had clear skies the rest of the evening. The crew that was left over after candy hunting came back to our house for some hot cider and train playing. Jacob Loves trains! --emily

Firehouse

What an awesome morning! We went to the firehouse here in Snoqualmie with our play group. The kids had a great time. The firemen showed us all through the house and the station. We saw where they slept and where they played. One cool fact that we learned while we were at the Snoqualmie fire station is there is no fire pole because it is a split level building. The upstairs is still at ground level. What a great day! --emily