Christmas 2011

Christmas! Jake got this cool computerized globe from family friends. It can be played in either English or Spanish, very cool. Right now he is learning the names of the states and also the names of the continents. 

 Then we went to Black Butte for Christmas, arriving the afternoon of the 24th.

 Christmas Eve dinner.

 Decorations.

 Holiday spirit.

 Beautiful, cute, sweet, awesome boys of mine. New pajamas and Santa socks.

 Stockings.

 Laughter.

 Reading Christmas stories.

 Presents under the tree.

Christmas morning! A happy Jake.

 And Ryan!

 Merry Christmas from the 4 of us!

 Papa holding up his ornament from Jake. This year Jake decided he wanted to give a present to everyone. So sweet.

 New helmet. Cool.

Christmas Day nap. Sweet baby.

 Then to the Lodge for Christmas day buffet dinner!

 Ryan discovered he loves cranberry sauce. He just can't keep his eyes open for the camera flash.

 Looking good!

Winter Solstice 2011

We decided to have a party to celebrate the winter solstice. Corky, Sara Beth, and Guthrie all joined us. 

The boys had a fabulous time playing balls with Corky. Some people never grow old ;)

Ryan's shirt says "Oh come let us adore me." Cute.

For our solstice dinner, we did individual, homemade pizzas. Available toppings included goat mozzarella, goat feta, parmesan, black olives, red peppers, artichokes, mushrooms, spinach, real pepperoni, and zucchini. A feast! We ended up with 9 individual pizzas and ate them all.

I wanted a picture of us pretty girls.

They boys insisted on another picture to show off my shirt.

After the 2 little boys went to bed, the 5 of us took a moment to appreciate the celebration and significance of solstice. First each one of us received a fire wash (smudging with sage stick). After everyone had done that, we each wrote down on paper things that we wanted to let go of for the previous year, things that were negative, fears, or bad habits. When everyone had finished their papers, we went outside and lit a fire and threw our papers into the fire and reflected for a moment (or rather, until we were too cold to stand outside barefoot any longer).

Then it was time to get happy and giddy again with this amazing cake! It was chocolate with peppermint and soooooooooo good.

Guthrie, the expert cake-cutter.

Then we got playful (I'm sure it wasn't the wine).

I took this picture to show off the pretty new earrings my aunt gave me.

Just in case you weren't already drooling...

Jake -- 5 and a half!

Dear Jake, 

You turned 5 and a half years old. It is so funny to hear you tell people "I'm five AND A HALF," stressing the importance of those additional 6 months. But I don't blame you, you've grown very much in the last 6 months, including adding more than an inch to your height since your birthday in June! 

You started kindergarten in September at a new school. This wasn't easy as not only was it a new school with MANY kids but you entered a Spanish Immersion classroom where you hear nothing but Spanish 90% of the day. Despite that, you've done amazingly well with picking up a new language, and I can see you thinking in 3 different languages as you work to select words from one language to another. You love your teacher and you've made some great new friends while still continuing to have playdates with old ones. 

The biggest thing over the last few months, other than starting kindergarten, has been your increased love for Legos. You are so amazing with Legos -- you can build an entire fire station, like in this picture, in one day by following the instructions exactly, or you can make up the coolest race cars or robots by building from your imagination. Either way, it's worth it though it means living in a house where I constantly find Legos in every corner. 

Self-picture with one of the 3 iPhones/iTouches in the house. One of which is now yours. You use it to play games and watch episodes of Arthur. Otherwise you like to be on the computer, either on the Lego.com website or PBSkids.org. You are growing up in a world filled with computers and handheld devices and in a few years you'll be as tech-savvy as your mom and dad. (Eek!)

Daddy took you to the library and you got your own library card. It was pretty cool. We haven't been to the library much lately, though, since you've been busy with school, gymnastics, and playdates. I know you'll start using it more this summer and after since you're becoming an amazing reader. I love watching you take a book and read it. Despite your growing reading abilities, we still spend lots of time reading to you. This fall you and Daddy read Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory which you thought was awesome. What was even more fabulous was having Gramma take you to see the play at the Children's Northwest Theatre. You were enthralled and asked to see more plays. 

 When not reading, playing Legos, or in school, you love to be outside. Not only can you still run very fast (faster now) but you climb trees, play hopscotch, and became very good at riding your bike (I did a 3.5 mile run while you rode alongside me. That was cool but you haven't wanted to do it again. I hope you will join me after you get your training wheels off).

 I love you my 5.5 year old son. You are so sweet to me and often stop what you're doing to give me or Daddy or Ryan a hug and some kisses.

Santa Land

Finally catching up on blog posts! Life is just so busy with 2 children and 2 jobs. I took most of the week off from work in order to catch up with household stuff! This is one of them. I will try to keep up if I get completely caught up. And yes, I'm back-dating :)

December... we went to SantaLand at Alpenrose Dairy (yes... ironic) but this is where I went when I was a little girl and it was really, really fun to go back. And of course my boys loved it.

Jake could have stayed and watched the trains for hours. We all enjoyed seeing them, including Ryan, who would point at the trains coming and going.

Jingle bells...

Ryan inside Storybook Lane, where there were little houses for little people. And also lots of sparkly lights, white trees, and many animals.

We'd gone to SantaLand on a Sunday, and had no idea that the wait for Santa's picture would take so long (an hour and a half estimated wait). So we did the fun stuff on Sunday, then went back the next day, when there was nobody there, and they got to meet Santa. Jake spent a good 5-10 minutes just sitting on his lap and chatting with him, which they both really enjoyed! Ryan stayed just long enough to get his picture taken before he was away from the strange man and exploring the toys. 

Jake's Kindergarten Class Holiday Party

I went to Jake's classroom for their holiday party. There was popcorn, grapes, carrots, and cookies. There were kids running around with bells on a string. A game was attempted but with 24 kids hyped up on sugar cookies and glitter it was happy chaos.

Ryan and his friend Silas were both there. Ryan and Silas will be entering Kindergarten the same year, at Jake's school.

 Jake with friend Luna and Ryan.

Haircut

While the rest of us in the family have long-ish hair, the 5 year old prefers his out of his eyes and short. It was beyond time.

Hello, shaggy.

 Little brother waiting in an adjacent chair during the cut.

 Hello, handsome!

He loves it.