Merry Christmas!

Christmas 2009 Album

As we get older, there are a few Christmas traditions that we are really enjoying. We head to Swanson's Nursery to visit the reindeer and koi. This year, they also had a camel! We help Daddy trim the Christmas tree and love to read Christmas stories with him. We spent Christmas Eve with Uncle David, Aunt Cassie, and Cousin Panda. Christmas morning, we woke with excitement to find out with Santa had left in our stockings. Mimi & Grandpa even made it for a belated Christmas celebration. Merry Christmas everyone!

'Tis the Season

Diane's Cookie Party

Diane invited us over to decorate Christmas cookies. We had such a blast sqeezing out the icing, sprinkling sprinkles, and taste testing along the way. Diane and Camille were fantastic assistants. Did we mention that we had a blast?!

Vegas & Thanksgiving

November 2009 Album

Not much for a kid's post in November, but I threw in a couple of kid pictures anyway. Mama & Daddy went to Las Vegas for a weekend getaway. Mimi & Grandpa stayed with us and we made a mess of the kitchen. And we joined the Burk(e)-Ellises for Thanksgiving. December is coming so we'll make up for the lack of kid pictures.

Halloween

Halloween 2009 Album

Happy Halloween! We had perfect weather at the pumpkin patch. We especially loved playing in the corn and picking out our pumpkins. Audrey got to go back with her class and had a party at school. Our new block was hopping on Halloween night, complete with haunted house. Mama ran out of candy so we had to "donate" some of ours. Don't worry, we got to keep some. Next year we'll make sure she buys more candy!

Audrey's Half Birthday

Happy 4.5!

Uggie's New Clothes

Weekend Project for Mama...
clothes for Uggie, made out of A&P's hand-me-downs, the cat was an appliqué on the jeans.

Summer Fun

Summer Fun 2009 Album

Here are some random shots of our summer. We had a blast hanging out at our new house, and growing a vegetable garden. We went on our annual strawberry picking trip and did some camping. We even took in a couple street festivals. If you didn't make it to visit this summer, we hope you will come visit soon.

Black Butte 2009

The highlight of Black Butte this year was spending an extra week with the Chongs to celebrate Papa's 70th birthday. The girls had a great time hanging out with their cousins, swimming, hiking to Sahalee Falls and hanging out with their cousins. Happy 70th birthday, Papa!

Black Butte 2009 Album

It Was 20 Years Ago

Mama went back East to attend her 20th high school reunion. She had a great time catching up with some great friends.

CRHS Reunion 2009 Album

Shaw Island Camping

We had a great time camping on Shaw Island. Frolicking naked on the beach (the kids, that is), cooking marshmallows over the fire, sleeping in tents, riding the ferry!

Shaw Island Camping Album

Heading South

We packed our bags and headed south for two worthy causes...Great Grandpa & Grandma Simes' 60th wedding anniversary celebration and introducing ourselves to our new cousin Caden. What a great trip! Why don't we go to Portland more often?

Portland 2009

Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day 2009 Album

We had a great mother's day at the Sounders game!

Palm Springs

We had a relaxing vacation in Palm Springs with Mimi & Grandpa. We hung out by the pool, rode the Aerial Tramway to the top of Mt. San Jacinto, watched the golfers. Great Uncle Mike and Great Aunt Stacy drove over from Palos Verdes to have lunch with us, what a treat! Fun was had by all.

Palm Springs 2009 Album

Audrey's 4

Audrey celebrated her birthday with friends and cupcates in the park. Later that evening, we had friends and family over for fish and chips. Then, on the weekend she took her first ride up to the top of the Space Needle. Happy 4th, Baby Girl!

Audrey's 4th Birthday Album

Spring Has Sprung

Spring & Easter Album

We've been trying to get out and enjoy the dry weather. We took an outing to the Olympic Sculpture Park and had a great time running around the big art (or, should that be Art with a big "A"). Piper made friends with a sweet dog but she was quickly de-friended when she licked Piper on the face. The DeVadder's graciously had us over for Easter since we didn't have grass in the yard, yet. It didn't matter anyway, since it rained. We're looking forward to some more dry weather.

Daddy's 40

Daddy turned 40 and we celebrated with cobbler, steaks, friends & family.

Teddy's 40th Birthday Album

Business Lunch

Audrey's been working on some milestones and chose to have lunch with Daddy at work to celebrate.

Off to the Mountains

Leavenworth 2009 Album

Last weekend we moved into our new house. So, we thought it would be a good excuse to head up to the mountains. We figured we'd be sick of unpacking and looking for things that we didn't remember putting away.

We had a great time hanging out with friends, relaxing and playing in the snow. There was just enough for some sledding and feeble attempts at skiing. Piper's continuing her injury-while-on-vacation streak. This time - some road rash from a sledding crash. We took walks through the pear orchards, ate tons of food, stayed up late, and tried to sleep in. But, alas, we returned home and the boxes are calling to be unpacked.

Piper's 2nd Birthday

Baby Girl is two. Birthdays around here seem to be epic. We had birthday brunch with Aunt Cassie, Uncle David, Cousin Panda, Grandpa & Mimi. Mimi made cupcakes and let us help with the decorating. Then we had birthday dinner at Tutta Bella and finished off our pizza with some gelato (PINK for the birthday girl). Then, the next morning we had all of our pals over to the Ravenna Eckstein gym for some running around and fun. Oh yeah, and purple, purple everything! Finally, Piper got her birthday crown from Teacher Karen. Happy birthday, Piper P!

Piper's 2nd Birthday Album