lucy turns five!!

lucy is now a big five years old!!

on her actual birthday (january 2nd) todd took the kids sledding (i had to work) and then had some friends over for pizza and a movie.

her party was at her momo's house with 'just family' with the exception of her two friends (who are really more like siblings so fit the family criteria)

this year she wanted a fairy house cake...

they played games..

had cake and ice cream....

opened presents...

a lovely little party....happy birthday lucy!!!

wrapping up the holidays

as has been my trend this post is a little late....it's actually a resolution of mine to be a bit more timely with my posts....we'll see.

we did our annual zoo lights adventure. this year my brother and his kids joined too.

a highlight for the kids this year was a trip on the 'Polar Express'. the mt. hood railroad does this annually and we were waiting until both kids were of an age to enjoy it.

they wore their pajamas on the train, and the conductor punched letters in their tickets....

the got hot chocolate and cookies served by clapping chefs...

and then santa boarded, each kid sat on his lap and got good santa hugs...

.......and they got a special bell from santa's sleigh.

........we all enjoyed the adventure.

on the big day (christmas morning) we opened our gifts from santa.

riley got a new scooter (his old one had gotten too small)...

lucy wanted a fairy outfit (she is all about fairies right now) and she also got a new pink princess doll...

the family (please read 'todd' when i say family) got a pool table for the basement. the boys love it....

...some sibling christmas love....

a shot of the overall post- opening mayhem...

truth be told, the above pictures were the best we had of christmas. i was sick leading up to christmas , then the kids started illin on christmas, and todd got it by new years. lucy spent about 4 hrs crying on christmas (not from anything specific, just tired and a little sick and a little overwhelmed i think) which eventually made her mother cry. so not our best holiday ...i figure this blog has got to be a little honest, right?

lucy's birthday was on monday.... i had to work so we haven't actually celebrated yet. we are having cake and such with family this weekend so more to come on that!

baby mouse

lucy had her debut performance in the hood river production of the nutcracker this past weekend.

she and her ballet class of 4 year olds were the little mice and they were so so so adorable!!

.....lucy and her little buddy sahale

showing off their tails.....

isn't she the cutest baby mouse ever!

...they didn't allow pictures during the performance so i don't have any of the 'big girl dancers' as lucy calls then but they are very well trained and it was a very well done show.

o christmas tree

we have officially kicked off the christmas season in this household. the pandora station is tuned to various 'holiday' channels. the lights are up on the house.

the first weekend of december is always our annual breakfast with santa at the westside fire station. santa followed by pancakes....a highlight every year!....

.....the following day we went to our favorite christmas tree farm. it was a crisp clear beautiful day. we chose a lovely big bushy tree (the best one ever) and cut it down....

....the kids helped with the cutting of our tree

...while dad finished up cutting the tree we amused ourselves with some silliness at the tree farm...riley wanted to take a picture...

.....then lucy wanted to take a picture

....we got the tree up and the kids decorated themselves with the lights

then put the lights on the cat....

.... oh and we also decorated the tree..... it is beautius!

.....its beginning to look a lot like christmas!

all hallows eve and fall fun

we had a great halloween again this year.

....we made our yearly trip up to the punkin patch. we found some lovely punkins, rode the tractor, went thru the corn maze....



....then we carved them....oh and todd's aunt nancy and his cousin lucas were out for a visit from denver, so they helped carve too. really strong punkin work this year. fun to have a little variety with the new carving talent in the house.


....todd and the kids went to a halloween party...isn't he beautiful? the little girls at the party thought he was a princess....


...then the big day came and we got our costumes on.
lucy was rapunzel, and she loved her long hair ('tangled' the movie inspired many a little girls costume this year)


....and riley was a grim reaper, minus the scathe.


....nancy and lucas went trick or treating with us too....

....they all got a good candy haul but more importantly had a lot of fun.

AND this should probably be a separate post but here are a few pictures from nancy and lucas's visit. it was super great to have them out for a visit, and share our world with them.

...lucas is an avid skateboarder and he achieved semi-celebrity status in our house (and actually in our small town) by the time he left.


...he can also jump freakishly high

....todd got him out on some mountain biking trails which he enjoyed...

.....and he got to help with the chickens, plus swing on a tire swing to complete the 'city kid visits the country' experience.

it was a great visit and the kids were especially sad to see lucas go!!!
.....hope you are all enjoying your fall adventures as well!