Let's Rewind...

Upon organizing my photos tonight I came across these great clips of Zach and Kate.  I believe it was two years ago, give or a take a month or so.  Too Funny!

The Tale of One Tooth...

So this is not so much a tale but this girl cracks me up!  This tooth dangled smack dab in the middle of her smile, for what seemed months, before finally coming out!    As you can see Kate was quite fond of this tooth of hers.  It tickles me to see her smile at herself in the mirror.  The selfies take the cake!  Thank goodness it finally fell out.  Now we get to enjoy her toothless grin for a while.  I had forgetten how fun this stage of life is.  

She is really loving learning how to read. And I love watching her read without her two front teeth!

It Finally Snowed!

February delivered the best winter storm.  The timing of it was a little off, ruining our plans to take my mom to San Francisco for her 70th birthday.  But if you know my mom, you know that her favorite thing is being snowed in and not being able to go anywhere.  Sounds bizarre but knowing how little snow we get here in Portland, and knowing that it doesn't stick around long, we LOVE whatever we can get!

The kids got excused from school 2 hours early, and the excitement continued for the next 4 days.  In some spots we received a trace of snow, and in other spots we received over a foot of snow from all the wind and snow drifting that went on.  After the first night of snow it cleared up just enough for little Ryan to experience his first snow.  He loved it!  Justin took him on the sled and he lasted for about 2 hours until he started to get hungry and his hands and feet started to get cold.  By the aftenoon it started to snow again and didn't quit until the next morning, so chances for Ryan to get back outside quickly diminished.  Zach and Kate were outside that entire first day sledding like crazy, building jumps, and playing with friends.  By the second day they were in and out.  The wind and snow combined made sledding a bit colder.

By Staurday night the freezing rain set in and the snow was covered in a sheet of ice.  Kate went out for some last minute sledding and ended up sledding down the hill with her face instead of the sled.  Ouch!!!  She and Justin thought it would be fun to create a dog pile with her and all the boys from the neighborhood on one tube.  The higher the weight the faster you go, well until somebody gets hurt.  It didn't stop her from getting out and sledding the next day though.  She is fearless!  What a fun weekend spent with the whole family snowed in! Oh and Zach discovered his new favorite sport, snowboarding.

For the record there is such a thing as cabin fever.  By about the third night we all were itching to get out.  The old saying that family are like fish, they stink after three days, is true. Hahaha!  We take for granted how convenient life is until snow slows us down.

Happy First Birthday Ryan!

Exactly one month ago this sweet boy turned one!  The first week we brought you home from the hospital I remember thinking how far away this day seemed, and now we're here.   You bring such joy to our family.  You make us all laugh with your determination to communicate about the things you love and want, and melt our hearts with your sweet kisses and snuggles.   

We celebrated by spoiling you with your very own cake!  You were quite delicate with it at first, but after you decided it tasted good, you dug right in.  You loved it so much you decided that if it was good enough for your tummy it was good enough for your hair!  Again, one of the many ways you make us all laugh.  Grandma and Grandpa T. gave you a Jeep, Grandma and Grandpa M. gave you some Eagles Gear and we gave you a Ballapalooza!  Happy First Birthday Ryan!

Now for some fun facts:

You sleep through the night.

You eat from the table, meaning anything we eat, you want it too!

You love your bottle, 3x per day at that.

You take one nap a day.

You get excited when Zach, Kate and Dad come home from school and work.

You love to empty every cupboard and drawer you can reach.

You have mastered the stairs.

You have a little small case of "stranger danger".

You brush your teeth, making daddy proud.

You love Zach's basketball and his hoop, if I had the energy to lift you up over and over again, you would shoot hoops all day!

And you started to dance, bouncing your knees up and down.  It is the cutest thing ever!  You have rhythm already!

Turkey Bowl...

Out of order, but not to be forgotten, was our Family Turkey Bowl!  Thanksgiving day was gorgeous!  It was the most perfect weather for a great game of football.  What a fun day to remember.  And what a great picture of the boys and Halle! 

Christmas Eve...

We had another low key Christmas Eve this year.  Uncle Andy and Aunt Mari hosted those of us who were in town.  With the holiday season always being one of Justin's busiest times of the year, its just easier to stay home. I actually have grown to prefer to not travel during the holidays.  It's interesting how things change as we get older.  I use to look forward to getting away for the holidays and now staying home just feels good.  

Mari made a delicious pasta meal and the kids continued the tradition of re-enacting the Nativity.  Ryan surprised us all by walking!  Okay so he has been taking 2-3 steps for awhile, but he finally decided to walk exclusively on Christmas Eve.  Merry Christmas to me!  I love this stage.  The germ freak in me loves when they finally decide to walk instead of crawl and chew on everything in sight.  We ended the night with the kids opening their Christmas jammies and off to bed we went.  Oh and I can't forget to mentions how Kate was so close to asking for her two front teeth for Christmas!  Her smile is going to look interesting for the next year or two...hee hee!

2013 Family Pictures...

Now that the holidays are over and the family photo gifts and Christmas cards have been received, I can finally post our recent family pics.  Thanks goes out to my sweet and talented SIL Mari. Family photos can be quite a stress but she manages to pull it off every time.  We met up at Mill Pond Park in late August to try and get a few good pics and ended up with several.  These are some of my favorites.