Family time at the Lake

Fun cousin video from Christmas:

We headed up to the lake after Christmas and we were there until today. It was nice to be "grounded" for a few days. The weather hasn't improved much up there, snow everyday and a bit of wind. We were a little nervous when it started to rain and the snow got really heavy...the roof was creaking when there were big gusts of wind. I guess it is a good reminder to shovel off the roof before it becomes 3 feet deep. We measured it at 33 inches, but our good friend measured the snowfall everyday and it was over 50 inches total.

Liha, Wade and Maggie came up on Sat. and stayed through Monday and the kids had so much fun! The adults had fun too playing board games and visiting. It has been awhile sinced I laughed so much :o). Monday we took a trip to Jungle Playland and let the kids run around a bit. We met my friend, Megan and her kiddos. Reggie and Ainsley had fun with them and enjoyed some cupcakes because it was Lachlan's 7th birthday.....crazy how fast it goes. Weren't we in high school just a few years ago???

This morning we met Grandma Peggy at Andrew's Playroom in Arlington. They had a really good time. They were the only one's there, so they didn't have to worry about sharing! Later today, Ryan and I took all 3 kids to the gym. That wasn't quite as fun. Maggie and Ainsley were holding hands, Ainsley crying for mom and Maggie crying for Tina. They paged me, but I couldn't understand what they were saying (time to get a new sound system) :o(. It didn't help that it was close to dinner time and Ainsley had a big poop in her diaper. Which reminds me, we had a major breakthrough 2 days ago when she went poop on the potty!!! Way to go Ainsley!

Ainsley isn't quite sure about the snow. She goes out, but not for very long (probably doesn't help that she has a nasty cold). Reggie has been sledding every day! He absolutely loves it. We are very surprised by this because he is so cautious and careful. He flies down the hills and looks for higher ones and we've actually had to say, "that probably isn't a good idea." Maybe he is going to be a little more daring than we initally thought??? Time will tell....here's some video of the bobsled run we made (don't have any video of him flying down the huge mounds of snow grandpa has created with the backhoe-he is quite the snow climber too!).

Winter wonderland!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!

We made it....barely! Travels were very smooth and thankfully uneventful. We got in late Friday night and missed the Thursday storm and Sat. storm that cancelled many flights. As we got off the freeway in Arlington, Ryan turned to me and said, "guess the temperature". It was 5 degrees and then dropped to 1. We were both wondering if the car thermometer would go negative, and sure enough, about 3 mintues later it was -1! We arrived at the lake and there was almost 2 feet of snow. Since then, it has snowed at least 2 more feet. It has compacted, but the snow next to the path to the top of the driveway is waist high. I can't ever remember having so much snow for so long. Reggie, Ainsley and Ryan went sledding Sat. morning and that evening we all went out and jumped around in the snow, but then the snow got too high and impossible to walk through.

We've powered through the hazardous driving conditions to visit Kellen, Cathy & Michael and Jane, Mark, Lilli and Amelia in Kirkland.

While we were there, Ryan made his way over to our house in Kirkland to remove the A/C unit. (There was a piece of plexy glass seperating the 10 degree weather from the inside of the house!!).

We stayed with Liha and Wade for a couple nights in Everett and enjoyed playing in the snow and with Maggie. While we were in town, we visited Santa-he was kinda grumpy, but other than that the kids did great.

Not able to run outside, so thank goodness for boxing on the WII:

Last night, we spent Christmas Eve with Ryan's family in Sedro-Woolley. It seems like we've been here for a few weeks, instead of only 6 days!

The snow is starting to melt, making driving very slippery and slow. Today we are back at Liha and Wade's for the extended family function. It will be great to see everyone :o). We should get a little rest after today! The kids have been enjoying all of the presents from Santa and family. It's been a Wall-E Christmas to say the least (Not sure how we're going to get all of these things in our luggage).

I didn't have time to post pictures from Reggie's birthday party at Pump It Up or his school Christmas program before we left, so here they are:

Playing at home-learning about static:

Singing Jingle Bells at his school program:

Conversations with baby dolls

Ainsley has had many conversations with her babies, putting them in time-out, feeding them, taking them in the car. I have to share a funny conversation she had the other day, it went something like this, "Oh, baby you have a tummy ache, so sorry." Then she bounced her up and down, patted her on the back and said, "Good baby, you farted, you feel better now." Too funny! You'd never know we have had a few gas issues in our house and a mild stomach bug. Sometimes I feel like I'm talking to a wall, especially with Reggie. I like to think he is really focused, rather than just ignoring me over and over. I guess when you hear them talk to each other and their toys, you get a better idea of how much they really hear. Kinda scary actually. Today we were listening to our Christian radio station and as the song was playing, Reggie said, "that guy is not singing very nice things." The song was saying, "Give me your eyes to see," and he thought he was literally asking for someone's eyes, when he was really talking about seeing others through Jesus' eyes. We had a nice conversation about Jesus and people, but it was a good reminder that they hear so much more than we think they do.

Last weekend, we decided to check out the Livermore Christmas parade. We went there a few hours before it started because they brought in some snow for the kids to play in. We ran into a couple of Reggie's school friends and they had a great time playing in the "snow". Ainsley had no interest, but they had dancers from local schools performing and she watched them for about 45 minutes. We decided to go to teriyaki for dinner, which I normally wouldn't mention, but no one knows what teriyaki is here. There are only 2 teriyaki places in all of Livermore and we had already tried one, so Ryan wanted to go to the other one. It was absolutely terrible and I guess that is why no one knows what it is. Can't wait to eat at Nasai when we go home :o). After our horrible meal, we went to the parade. Lots of people lined the streets and it was pretty chilly. We had our big jackets on and huddled together under blankets (are we wimpy or what!). I was so excited when I found hand warmers in my pocket....probably a safe bet that we were the only ones who had those. The parade was lots of fun, very small town. Lot's of motorcycles, cars, firetrucks, high school bands, christmas floats, etc.

Fun with our new camera-we love it!:

Happy 5th Birthday Reggie!!!

Wow!!! Big day for the big man :o). Reggie woke up and did a small scavenger hunt that Ryan put together. It was a big hit...amazing what a paper airplane, pictures of Optimus Prime, and a brownie can do. I wish we had known he would play with pictures of toys, we could have saved so much money and spared our house so much clutter!

Reggie had a wonderful day visiting with Grandma's, Aunt Liha and getting some e-mail pictures from his buddy Kellen. Of course he enjoyed opening his presents too! We were able to use the webcam, so he could open his presents live. Technology is great!!! Aunt Liha and Uncle Wade got Reggie a super zoom Eye Clops and it wasn't working very well, so I asked Ryan to test it....I just looked up and he was magnifying his butt. Why???

We had a nice dinner at Red Robin and Reggie enjoyed his free meal. He wasn't so sure about the singing, but enjoyed the ice cream sundae that came after. When we got home, he watched his new movie, Wall-E and I think that was a hit. He was making robot noises as he was laying in his bed, trying to fall asleep. He is too funny!

Look how tall he is getting!

Things that make Reggie who he is:

His gentle soul

His love and protectiveness for his sister

His LOUD voice when he gets excited

His giggle

His love of imaginative play-he has an amazing ability to talk like characters (recently it has been Tigger) and even talk with foreign accents

His obsession with super hero's

His cautiousness and smart instinct

His crash when he is hungry and his huge appetite-watch out!

His love of take-out, chase, hide and seek

He must have hugs and kisses before we leave

We hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving. Ours was very mellow and we enjoyed having 4 days of family time! Ryan and I slept in almost everyday-Reggie and Ainsley have been playing every morning :o). They went to the beach the other day and got on their swimsuits and goggles and were swimming in the living room:

I had my first and last adventure doing the early morning shopping at Walmart-what a nightmare. Not something I would recommend unless you get up early to wait in line; I ended up getting nothing and was up at 4:30 :o(. It worked out because I was getting caught up in the commercialism of Christmas and I had a little time to rethink and realized my children don't really need anything, so we are scaling back. Tomorrow, Ryan and Reggie are presenting at his school and showing his classmates his shoe box full of toys for a little boy in a foreign country. Both kids are participating in Operation Christmas Child which gives sends presents all over the world. Hopefully, they will learn what a blessing it is to give :o).

Fall is here!

We went to the park last week and there were so many leaves to play and jump in. The wonderful thing about the leaves here is that they are dry and you can actually toss them in the air and jump in them without getting gooey yuck all over your hands and clothes. Reggie and Ainsley have been having a blast. Most days hover around 70 degrees, so it is still nice and warm.

Aunt Pam came for a visit! She was here, staying with some friends in Dublin (about 15 minutes away), and came over to hang out with the kids and have some lunch. It was great to see her and Reggie and Ainsley were very excited to see Grandma Pam. They were sad to see her go and wanted more hugs and kisses :o(. But, 2 days later we had another visitor from the lake, Jim and Ruth (long time family friends)! I think we're seeing people more often now that we're gone :o). We had a wonderful visit with them and it is so nice to see people from home....makes us feel not so far away.

Last weekend, we had Sarah, Eric, Michael and Sam over for dinner and made homeade wheat pasta. It was sooo good, but kinda messy. The kids seemed to enjoy it, but I think they liked sitting at their own table even more. Reggie was battling some stomach issues for over a week (cramping and night time wake ups to go to the bathroom), so I decided to cut gluten out of his diet after our nice pasta meal and within 12 hours, he was a different kid. Not sure what this means for him. We gave him a little today and he has been fine, so it might have been a combo of some bug and maybe he has a mild gluten intolerance. Ainsley seems to have it now. She has been learning to go on the potty! She is doing great and loves her candy. Unfortunately, we've had to put diapers on her the last couple days because she thought she "farted" and it was a bit more than that. She will take her diaper off to go, so I think we're still on track. Today was the first day she griped about having a diaper. I'm not sure she's ready to leave the house in underwear yet, but I guess there's only one way to find out!

We went and saw Madagascar 2 last night and poor Reggie just has such a hard time with dark scenes and scary characters. If you see the movie, you probably wouldn't even understand why he would be scared...it was one of the mildest movies we've seen. Ainsley liked it and stayed until the end. Ryan went out into the lobby with Reggie (headphones and all). It was one of the worst sleep nights in, well, I wish I could say a long time, but probably only a few weeks. They both were up several times. So, we won't be going to the movie theatre for a really long time!

We had a busy day today, so we recorded Apple Cup (yes, we actually got the game on local t.v.!!!!!!) and are watching it now. GO HUSKIES!!! It is the 4th quarter and looking like we're going to win our first game of the season. No, we're going into overtime....is this game ever going to end? Yes, it just did and we stink! Still not sure why the coug fans are rushing the field-do they know that they've only won 2 games???

Enough of that, our church is doing a Serve The City project for the next couple weeks, so Ryan and I volunteered today to help out at a BBQ fun day for families in need. It was such a great event. Each family left with bags of clothes, food in their tummies, and a whole lot of fun-they had bounce houses, pony rides, games and face painting. My job was face painting....I felt a little bad for the kids who ended up in my chair. Let's just say all the coloring with the kids came in real handy. I even turned one little boy into Spiderman and I never would have been able to do that if Reggie wasn't so into all his costumes! Anyway, while I was gone, Ryan decided it was time to get the Christmas tree out! We usually get a real tree, but we've heard the prices here are astronomical (upwards of $100), so we bought one on Craigslist for $20.
I have to say, it was so much fun to sit back and watch the kids get into the Christmas stuff. As you'll see from the pictures, we let them put all the ornaments on the tree and they are all clustered at the bottom. Ainsley kept saying, "I love this tree." Reggie just wanted his Santa hat, so he could put some of his toys under the tree. It was a precious evening and I love our kids so much!!!

Wow....has it really been a month???

Gosh, we need to get better about updating this! Now, it is a little overwhelming. We were very busy with Halloween activities and having my parents here for a visit. I'll try to give a quick recap:

We went to the pumpkin patch and Reggie and Ainsley picked out their pumpkins, ran through the hay bail maze and played in a huge box of corn. They had pony rides and Ainsley watched for several minutes, but couldn't get up enough nerve to try it. Later that day, Ryan and Reggie (well, really Ryan) carved the pumpkins. Reggie wanted a pirate ship, so Ainsley got the typical pumpkin face-there's only so much time for carving. I was very excited because we got a bunch of seeds to bake. We all enjoyed them, but I'm not sure they sat well with Ainsley as she chucked all over in her crib that night. Thankfully, she quickly recovered and no one else had any issues. Ainsley had her school party on Wed. and my parents arrived that night!!! Of course, the kids were too excited to go to bed, so they stayed up a little late and were up bright and early to visit grandma and grandpa in their room :o). Ah, how nice it is to get a little break in the morning! My mom and dad don't do very well with sitting around, so they went exploring around Livermore and fixed up the yard! The yard waste (which is huge) was overflowing on day 2. We finally put the last of the bagged yard waste out today for pick-up. We have lots more to do, but it looks really great. Dad even got up on the roof and blew the leaves off....thankfully he didn't pull his usual and have a fall (I'm not sure how many more lives that cat has!). Thanks for all your hard work!

Reggie and my mom share the same birthday, so we thought it would be fun to do a birthday activity....they built a gingerbread house. It was quite the production and took almost 2 hours. We had a few messes, but lots of fun. Here's some pictures. Ainsley is under the table because she found some candy that fell and was "cleaning" it up for us! Halloween week was chuck full of activities. The Oakland zoo was having a Halloween treasure hunt, so we went there with his friend Michael and his family. It was fun looking at all the Halloween costumes. Reggie was Optimus Prime and Michael was Batman. His school had a field trip at the pumpkin patch and a class party, which I got to volunteer for. It was great timing that my parents were here because I had a little more flexibility. It was a lot of fun and neat to see Reggie at school with his friends. He is such a sweet little boy :o). We also trick-or-treated in downtown Livermore 2 days before Halloween. Ainsley was supposed to be a lady bug, but her costume was too hot (it was almost 80 degrees), so she was a princess instead and is still asking for lipstick. She learned all about make-up when Grandma was here and even got some eye shadow to match her princess costume on Halloween. She was very curious and I'm a little worried about when she gets older. Finally, on Halloween, we went to the church. They had some great crafts and bounce houses, but it was a lot for 2 kids that weren't sleeping so much. It didn't help that our doorbell was ringing non-stop, we had over 100 trick-or-treaters! Maybe next year we'll try to pick just a couple activities.
Other than that, we didn't do a whole lot while my parents were here. Ainsley and Reggie had a lot of play time with Grandma and Grandpa and that is just the way they like it :o). Ryan and I played golf one day and went to the Stanford/WAZZU game, which was a joke. What is up with Washington sports teams??? It was also the worst rain I've ever been in at a sporting event. There wasn't a dry spot on us!!! Ah, the memories :o). They were here for 10 days and it went so fast. We miss them and can't wait to see everyone at Christmas!

Ryan's first blog entry

Well, Halloween is right around the corner and Reggie is getting very excited. He has more than enough costumes to choose from as mommy has gotten him every super hero to speak of along with the evil Darth Vader (thank you Value Village)! Believe it or not this is Reggie and not Vader.

Sleep was challenging this last week as we had nightmares and some sniffles to deal with. We're on the mend now with both but as you can see it sure has taken it tole on Trina.

The weather has been wonderful, actually better than normal. This week was in the high 80's with Thursday hitting 90. This has been great for our lemon tree as we have tons to pick. Here's one that the kids got today!!

Grandpa and Grandma will be here next week and through Halloween. Reggie is very excited to hang out with his Grandma and yes he plans on wearing her out. We plan on celebrating both Grandma and Reggie's birthday a little early (any reason to have cake and ice cream!).

Ainsley took her first real shower after she sat in the chair to get her hair trimmed. Ryan started to take a shower with her but she kicked him out and took over. She has a mind of her own, that one. Reggie hopped in after that and was not happy when mommy washed his hair.