february

hey hey hey....sorry for the long blogging absence!!  i figure i gotta get one post in before its march right?  so this is a bit of a catch up of our happy but busy lives!

riley has tried his hand at a little basketball this year...he's actually not very good, but is having fun with it so that's all that matters.

....we had our little family valentine's day celebration.  our tradition is to have fondue...first cheese, followed (of course) by chocolate.  the kids love love love valentine's day!

lucy had her 100th day of school party....what a big girl!!

...a fun day golfing with grandpa george....so sweet

another milestone in our house occurred in february....i turned 40.  i think that deserves its own post, so stay tuned!

sixth birthday

lucy had one of those birthday's this year which seemed to keep going and going and going.  we celebrated with todd's dad at casa bonita and todd's mom at his brother's house (see previous post) while we were still in denver.  then when we got home we celebrated her actual birthday, with a party to follow several days later. lucy of course loved every minute of it.

here she is on her birthday enjoying her chocolate chip pancakes, and opening her presents from us.

this year she wanted monkey cupcakes (cause monkeys swing through the air and she is having a gymnastics birthday party) but she also wanted to make her own cupcakes.

todd and i decorated them, and they turned out super cute!

here are some shots from her party at the gym....lots of kids tumbling, jumping on the airtrack, and the rings (lucy loves them...and riley, who actually take gymnastics, is getting pretty good!).

and finally blowing out the candles!....

happy 6th birthday sweet girl

denver holidays

christmas for us this year was in denver.  thank goodness santa found us. riley left him a note at home just in case he went to the wrong house. it was cute and even more endearing as this may be his last year 'believing' (he asked some very pointed questions about santa this year). in addition to us several of todd's family members came in from out of town so the gathering was especially fun.

we stayed at todd's mom's house.  riley asked for a video camera and lucy wanted barbie's and clothes (please notice that santa did bring her the 'i can be president barbie')

the present opening aftermath....

....this is pretty much what riley looked like the rest of the trip

....all dressed up for christmas dinner at todd's brother's house

 the place looked so nice...

...judy (todd's mom) supervising jim (todd's dad) making the bourbon sauce

...jim, me and todd's brother danny after having a little of said bourbon sauce

we also got to meet dan's new partner rachael....

we had lots of adventures in denver but apparantly didn't have the camera for most.

update...i did remember todd's aunt nancy emailed me some pictures from casa bonita. we went to celebrate lucy's upcoming birthday....and boy is that place a trip. apparently there is a south park episode dedicated to it and i can see why....there are no words.  the food is awful, but there is cliff diving, gorillas, puppet shows and more. i highly suggest a drink (the margs are bad too but a drink is a drink!). here are a few shots from the evening...

the last day there we gathered to watch the bronco game (and celebrate lucy's birthday)....and got these great pictures of judy and her four grandkids.

a very lovely holiday and visit.

next post is lucy's birthday!!!.......

pre-holiday holidays

whoa i am a bit behind. the holidays were a whirlwind!  celebrating with my family early, then traveling to denver for the holidays, then lucy's birthday. mix in a two jobs for me and one for todd and life was very busy! so now that i've had a chance to breathe i am ready to update the blog. sorry for the delay and there is alot so i will update in stages.

today's post is the pre-holiday holiday celebration with zoo lights and my family here in portland, followed by our own tree here in hood river.

zoo lights was pouring down rain this year....we didn't last too long, but gotta keep traditions!

....then a little gift exchange with my brother and his kids at my mom's house.

a few days before we left for denver we celebrated together at home.  the kids both wanted bean bags for their respective reading corners.  i got 'the clapper'!

we also celebrated with my dad but i didn't have my camera. if i get any pictures i'll post those later.

next post denver holidays!.....

holiday happenings

so we have been busy enjoying the holiday season and a few of our favorite seasonal traditions....

....we had breakfast with santa at the local fire department.  i think i look forward to it more than the kids. they get to tell santa what they want and mama gets a picture to put on the mantel. i asked riley if he'd still sit on santa's lap for my picture when he's in college and he innocently promised he would....we'll see.  as a bonus we got to see sparky too.

....we put up our outside lights and our tree.  we opted for a small tree since we will be in denver for the holidays this year.  the kids really enjoy pulling out the ornaments and decorating the tree.  i sneak in some snuggles in between the decorating.

...lucy was in the hood river dance performance of the nutcracker again this year.  this time she was a bon bon....super super cute.  she has decided to hang up her ballet slippers and won't be participating anymore...we'll see if she quits forever, but for now this may be our last nutcracker.  this is lucy with her little buddy lani.

that's it for now...hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season as well.
cheers!