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