Thursday, December 30, 2010

Christmas Dinner

After a full day of preparations, our family arrived and we had a wonderful time together singing, talking and eating!


Kent, Ben (on his new ukulele) and Caitlin played some Christmas carols.



Brooke played tea party with her Great Grandmother.


This is what happens when you leave the great grandparents in charge! :)



My parents and grandparents drove 20+ hours to be in Washington for Christmas.  We were so happy to have my family from Seattle join us and even Pastor Dave came to the Norwegian lutefisk dinner!


Here's one of the most talked about items in our Christmas feast, the lutefisk.  Most of our family members love it.  It's an acquired taste!

Christmas Morning


There is so much excitement surrounding Christmas.  Along with all the people visiting, special meals, and lots of new happenings, Brooke and Oliver got to open some new presents!


A tambourine from Grandma Carol!



New Curious George books came all the way from Alaska from Annie's sister Jennifer.


Kettle Falls Grandparents brought these fashionable reindeer antlers!


One of the highlights was a small Thomas Train set for Brooke.  Oliver and Brooke both wanted to get in and play with it!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Oliver: 8 Months Old


Oliver!  It was fascinating to read back on my post for Brooke's 8 month of life.  So many differences and so many similarities.  Oliver is definitely bigger (probably 21 pounds) and further along with the crawling and climbing.  She was walking better than him and had less (and lighter colored) hair.  Oliver has a big bright smile and she had the sweetest little twinkle.


These two kids love each other.  When they are alone for very long they get so lonely!  Two peas in a pod!

 


Let's see.  A little look into Oliver at eight months... He's loud.  He is Mr. Personality.  A ladies man.  Very physical.  He climbed his first step, stands holding onto vertical flat surfaces (and screams to get help down), and crawls army style and normal).  He knows what he wants and how to get it.  He often crawls over to Kent, holds Kent's hands and stands up, turns around and walks wherever he wants to go.  In the morning he hears me in the shower so he crawls over and bangs on the door.

He's a bundle of joy (usually) and such a hunk!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Danish Christmas Eve


We have so many important traditions in our families!  We enjoyed a wonderful Danish meal for Christmas Eve.


Yummmm!

Dad tried on the reindeer antlers... very festive!

Monday, December 27, 2010

Living Nativity


We were asked to be in the Living Nativity in Leavenworth this year.  We both had never seen one, but we heard we didn't have to say anything so we signed up! We thankfully watched the Mary and Joseph very closely during the show before us and then got in our costumes!  There was a large audience on the street for the first show and I think we did just fine.  The only bad part was when the donkey stepped on my toe!  At least it didn't really hurt!


Grandma Carol, Brooke and Caitlin sipped on hot chocolate and watched the show!


There were lots of people and animals involved.  Oliver was thankfully in a peaceful mood and so entranced by the spotlight and snow that he didn't make a peep.  Well, maybe only one big peep!


Caitlin and Brooke watching the show!

Monday, December 20, 2010

Christmas Program

We got the opportunity to be in the children's Christmas Program at our church.  Here we are as Joseph, Mary, baby Jesus and an Angel!  Oliver thankfully behaved himself the whole time and Brooke acted very angelic!

Quick Trip


We took a quick trip over to Mountlake Terrace to visit some college friends.  Brooke loved baby Niko!


Kent spent five hours at a recording studio playing trumpet parts for a CD!  He had a great time doing that and made a little money too!  While he was busy doing that we went to the Everett Children's Museum.


Brooke was a pretty cute fireman!


The toddler's favorite spot was playing with the water.  They could be there all day (if the water wasn't so cold).


Oliver did a little crawling around, chasing some ducks.

There was a playground on top of the building that was fun to see.  It was pretty cold and windy so we didn't stay that long.  We had a great trip!

Catching Up


It has been hard updating my blog lately with two kids who don't often nap at the same time.  I'm so busy all the time!  There is something kid friendly to do almost every day in this valley.  Anything from visiting the library, to free playgroups and indoor playgrounds.  I love being a stay at home mom!  Oliver even has a few friends his age now. Shane is his buddy who is only one month older than him.  Shane is so adorable and equally as loud as Oliver.  They both like boy things like trucks and balls so it's lots of fun!


 Now that Oliver is crawling really well he is sometimes hard to find!


He is climbing up everything too.  He doesn't really know how to get back down so he either yells or falls.  He has bumps and bruises to prove it!


Brooke turns everything into skiis.  Even stuff in the kitchen!


She is getting more physical and can jump on trampolines and hang from bars.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Kitchen Help



Nutcracker

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Look at Me!


I can blow bubbles and climb!  Talk about multitasking!

Videos from Thanksgiving




Monday, December 6, 2010

Inside Fun!


We finished making our Christmas cards.  Here was one of the photos taken, can you tell Brooke had enough!


Today we checked out a gymnastics playtime.  It was a little more expensive than I would like, but I had a gift certificate that helped!  Brooke absolutely loved it.  She's been asking to go back all day.


Brooke was heading into the "Mouse House".


Trampolines, swings, slides, bouncy castle, and lots of stuff to climb on... perfect for a winter morning!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Christmas Decorations


Who knew Christmas decorations could make the most entertaining toys?  Yes, maybe not the safest toys, but I keep a close eye on them.  These two kids love to play with each other!

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Oliver: 7 Months Old

Oliver is seven months old and keeping us very busy!  He crawls everywhere, dragging his belly along the floor.  Every few seconds he pulls himself onto all fours and then returns to the army crawl.  His latest trick is to go from crawling to sitting and crawling to balancing on his hands and feet.  Man, he is so physical!  He wants to be where his sister is and do what she is doing. 

Brooke and Oliver are best friends and playmates.  It melts my heart when I see them play and I know this was the very best gift we could have given our children.  In the mornings if he hears his sister's voice he starts crawling down the hallway to her door.  I put him in her crib and they roll around wresting and playing.  They also love to play hide and seek.  Oliver crawls after Brooke and she screams and hides behind my legs.  "Aber's coming!  Aber's coming to get me!" 
 

Oliver is LOUD.  "AUGGHHH!" is one of his favorite things to say, well yell.  He babbles, grunts, and makes the funniest noises.  He knows how to get what he wants.  If he wants to be picked up, he crawls over and yells at you!  He is very ticklish, even the back of his neck makes him laugh.  He kicks and bats his arms wildly at anything hanging overhead.

He is super sweet and full of boundless energy.  What a fun, challenging, and entertaining guy he is!  And as my Mom says, his smile just draws you in.  The camera loves him and so do we!  Oh, did I mention that he is twenty pounds?  That's larger than Brooke was at one year old!

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Thanksgiving Weekend


Thanksgiving weekend was spent in in Northeastern Washington.  It was very cold and snowed quite a bit!



Brooke wanted to sleep in "Mommy's bed" so we let her.  When we peeked into the room we saw her in the perfect relaxing pose.  I think she loved that warm bed!


The two kids kept everyone on their toes.  Oliver was crawling around and Brooke was running and singing.  Each found lots of new "toys" to play with.  The toys I brought were quickly traded for the more enjoyable toys like brooms and dusters.  Many cups of "tea" were poured too!


Brooke fit right in with Grandpa and Grandma with their newspaper reading.  She also enjoyed sitting at the "big girls table".


There are always lots of birds and turkeys to watch.


Brooke and Oliver warmed up with a nice bath!