More Holiday Pictures

Here are more pictures -- from my Dad's camera.

Sisters.





Amy, Tyler, and Jake being silly.




This year my parents put the Christmas tree outside, on the porch. We had a Christmas party where there were about 10 children under the age of 6 who came, and the idea of lots of young kids and a tree full of ornaments did not sound good.

Happy Holidays!

The holidays have been busy for me this year. We've had fun, here are some pictures. My dad took most of the pictures with his awesome camera, so maybe he'll send me some that I can post on here (hint, hint). We had a white Christmas here in Portland, a rarity. The last white Christmas was at least 12 years ago! It was really nice and Jake was thrilled at seeing the snow come down (Mike was, too!!).
Jake with Grandma.
Playing with a new wooden puzzle.

Playing during the Christmas Eve dinner party.
With Aunt Amy.
Jake playing with a hat on it that says "Jake"! From Grandma Vee.

Totally cute!
Today at my favorite restaurant, Blossoming Lotus. We went there with our good friends who are visiting from NYC this week...
Guthrie and Carmen.
A cute Jake who has been having so much fun getting attention from so many people this week!!

Home for the Holidays

Jake's Aunt Amy came home for the holidays. At first he wasn't sure he remembered her, but he warmed up again really quickly and they played. And read.

Then Aunt Amy took this nice photo of Jake and his mama.

18 Months

Today Jake is 18 months old. He moves so fast now, as you can see from these pictures. He loves to walk around really fast, be swung upside down, and spun around. He can now climb onto things (eek!) and reach the top of the countertop. His communication amazes us every day, and he loves to tell us and friends the things that he knows and can do.
He's a sweetie, giving us hugs and blowing us kisses. He waves and says "bye" in the cutest way. Lately Mike has taken to drinking tea, and Jake has discovered he likes tea, too (when it's lukewarm!) He is now an expert at eating artichokes along with his mom and dad, and it's time to start buying him his own instead of having him eat almost all of ours.
Pictures of people are among his favorite things, so we have to keep a rotation going on the refrigerator for him to point at. He listens to music, dances, builds with blocks, and plays "crash" with his cars. Anytime he sees balls he wants to play with them, and he has just started learning how to throw them. He sits at the sink while we wash dishes, and wishes that there was an endless supply of dirty dishes at one sitting (thank goodness there is not).
We love him so much, we're learning so much from him, and take delight in all that he is learning about this beautiful world.
Happy year and a half old, Jake! xox

Self Photo

Jake loves to play with the camera. This results in a lot of close-up pictures of the keyboard or his hands or pants, sort of in an abstract modern art style. However, he took this photo of himself and I thought it was pretty cool.


Jake is getting into everything now. He wants to do what we do, understandably, but setting limits is not the easiest part of being a parent! He loves to play computer games, and even knows how to open up a game and get it started. D-oh!

Lately Mike and I have really been enjoying the Netflix movies that we've been getting. 30 Days by Morgan Spurlock (of Supersize Me) has been especially enjoyable, and we are now watching Season 1, Disc 2 of that. The scenarios that people go through for 30 days are amazing, thought-provoking, and sometimes downright funny. The only thing that would make these documentaries more enjoyable would be not having to press "pause" 15 times during...

But I can't complain, Jake is WONDERFUL! :)

Mukluks and Lights

Jake's Christmas present from his Alaskan great-grandmother came early, just in time for a walk on a cold day! Now his feet can stay warm. Check out his beautiful new mukluks!
Jake lifting his foot to show them off...
When we are downstairs, this is where we find Theo most days. Funny cat.
This is Jake's newest favorite thing to do... climb on the chair to reach the light switch for the dining room chandelier. It's especially fun because not only does the chandelier light turn on and off, but it dims as well!
Happily signing "light!"

Farmer's Market and Snow!

We went to the farmer's market today, and it was cold! It started snowing right when we arrived which made it so lovely. We walked around the market and brought a beautiful wreath for our front door, a butternut squash, and some yummy hot cider.
You can see the snowflakes on Jake's hat. He had fun walking around the market, greeting dogs, seeing the small fire that had been set up under one of the tents for warmth, and then playing on the grass.

Playdate with Max

We had a playdate at friend Max's house today. Max's mom needed some time to sew and catch up on her orders for her Panjo website, so I kept an eye on Max and Jake while they played. They had a great time!






Eating raisins (just to clarify, because they don't look very... appetizing from this picture).
Max pushes Jake.
Now Jake pushes Max!

Toes and Rain

My best friend, Eva, and I went and had a pedicure together to celebrate our birthdays (October 1 for me and October 2 for her). We had so much fun! Here are my pretty toes in silver for the holidays. Eva had hers painted bronze. Jake wanted his feet in the picture, too.
The Pacific Northwest has been battered by a major rain/wind storm these past few days. I love it (as long as I'm indoors). Jake stayed here by the window for a good 10 minutes just listening to music and watching the storm.
If you look closely you can see the big puddle of water under the outside table and chairs.
Just getting cute and cozy.

Happy December!

Jake hasn't been a big fan of ice cream, but recently he grabbed my not-empty carton of coconut coffee ice cream and had some bites! Yum.

Every year for Christmas I enjoy getting out my santas and decorating. We decided not to get a tree this year because of limited space and a toddler who would most likely want to pull the ornaments off. So our little fake tree that I've had for about 15 years will have to do for this year. Jake loves it, and signs "tree" when we turn on the lights. We also put some lights around the front door.
I made this centerpiece for the dining room table. I really like how it turned out. Very wintery so we will keep it through January.
More santas in the dining room. Every year my sister and I get a new santa from my mom. It's a nice tradition.