Tradition or Torture?

Not so excited about Santa this year. Is it bad that we left her on his lap so that we could get this photo as a future memory of her childhood Christmas experiences?

Quinn's Baptism

We were able to have Quinn baptized during our Thanksgiving visit. It was held in a very special place for us, The Cathedral Basilica. This beautiful church is where Walt and I were married and Lucy was also baptized. It was a lovely day shared with our families.
Quinn performed wonderfully and thought the "bath" was pretty nice.

Big sister looking on.

The Godparents, Walt's sister Kate, and my brother, Micheal. Thank you both for sharing in Quinn's special day.One of 1,000 takes to get a family picture. Still couldn't get all four faces looking in the same direction.


Exhausted after a big day!

Up!

Lucy's new favorite movie is 'UP.' Have you seen it? It is really cute, entertaining enough for parents and children. The movie involves balloons. A whole bunch of balloons. Now Lucy thinks she can go "up" with balloons. Walt attached a balloon to her paci and it made her day! Now she asks for balloon paci when she wakes up....so funny.

Not sure why the glasses, she found them and put them on to go with her silly new look.

Girls Christmas Party...plus a few more

Every year since I was in the eighth grade my high school girlfriends and I have held a Christmas Party. We have not missed a year since. The parties were once held at our parents' homes and now that we have our own homes we rotate hosts. I've made it to each one even though I now live really far away. The girls are always nice enough to try and coordinate with my schedule. Thank you!

This year we decided to include the next generation and boy was it crazy! There were 9 kids under the age of three, (plus one in utero).

I don't think any of us finished a conversation all the way through as we were chasing the little ones all night.

That's why we are having a follow-up dinner this week so we can really catch up. Without the kids.

I hope the tradition continues. And maybe you'll all come to Seattle so I can host sometime :)

Thanksgiving Visit

We are having a ball in KY and OH visiting friends and family.

Here are few photos to highlight our fun!

Hanging with the Rooney cousins. L to R: Caymus, Henry, Declan, Quinn, and Lucy.

We met baby Henry for the first time. He is such a HAPPY, SMILEY boy. Quinn wasn't sure what to do with all the excitement so he gave us a serious face.


Making cookies at Grandma Jitty's and Papa Mike's
Yay! We did it!

Tasting the yummy treats. Being silly with Grandma's glasses. Giving us a lesson in something.....Telling an exciting story about black sheep or something?

More to come. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Mommy and Daddy Have Fun Too!

Not much going on around our household. Getting ready to make a visit to see family and friends over Thanksgiving break.

Walt and I got out, sans kids, to partake in a little adult fun. Wine tasting in Woodinville, with a driver, followed by a yummy dinner with some of our dear friends. We had a blast and the kids survived, thanks to our wonderful babysitters.

Just a quick photo so that you don't have to keep looking at the Halloween post. I will update soon with photos from our trip.

Hope everyone that is still reading the blog, (anyone out there?), is doing well.

A

A Halloween Story

In a blink of an eye we went from a mad spicy hot pepper to a...........

Newly walking ladybug.

Then came an opinionated Elmo.
and a baby brother..... And now we are four.


With a whole lot of friends


to learn how to trick-or-treat.

Until a moving scary monster came out the door, scared all the new trick-or-treaters, and we all went home.

The end.

Dragon on the loose

We spotted a 24lb dragon in the dining room today........

How do I get this hat off?

Wait, now how did she get it on her head? I need it back!

Squeaky Clean

Kairos

Lucy, you are growing so fast.

Q is now 41 weeks too. It's just so fast.

We want these moments to last forever.

Oh yeah, Kairos: look it up and tell us what it means to you in our comments section; we would love to hear from you.

Pumpkin Patch

A fun-filled fall day at South 47 Farm in Redmond. Riding in the wheel barrel to find the pumpkins.

Quinn loved playing in dirt.

Getting in the Halloween spirit! Excited for costumes!

Lucy's Birthday

I am just now getting a chance to post some photos from Lucy's second birthday (September 17). We celebrated with pizza, cake and ice cream and a few special friends. Lucy had a great time and a definitely embraced the start of her second year. Seems as if a little switch was flipped the day she turned two. Her vocabulary has really expanded and she is growing into a sweet, loving little girl. No longer a baby, but a full fledged toddler......with the tantrums and independent personality to prove it!

Playing with her favorite Sesame Street friends. Walking to see the birthday surprise!

A new dollhouse! Opening a funny singing card from Grandma and Grandpa.

Enjoying every bit of icing. Even on the bottom of Big Bird's car.

Ferry to Bainbridge Island

This is great mommy, but let's go outside. And I need some new friends on the boat. So, I am going to walk down the ferry and see if someone will take this monkey off of my back.

Wake Up! Wake Up! I don't care if you worked all day, get up and take this thing off of my back. 'Tired from a commute', come on mister, let's go outside. Even these other people are laughing. That usually means mommy or daddy is about to come running after me. Maybe I can hide.

Daddy and Q, help me count my pull-ups. I think that was 11.

Hi Everyone, I just tried to jump in the Pacific.

Daddy here I come! ready for popcorn.

Bye Bye Seattle.

The two boys, soaking in the Sun.

Don't drop me daddy.

Now why would I give a bag of blacksheep wool to the dame? and who the hell is the master? Is that me? And worse yet, I haven't seen any little boy down the lane. It's tough using this new brain.

Nelmo and Eemo. What great names. Q, why don't you talk? I love your new sweater, you should give one to daddy.

Great daddy, spend all of your time fixing my hat and forget the nose. Don't worry, I'll just wipe it on your shirt. How long have you had that thing on anyway? Mommy says too long and is going to take all of your clothes to some army for salvation. What does that mean?

So, another day, another island. Thanks mommy and daddy for the popcorn. Now let's get ready for some snow!