Family Pictures

Let’s rewind a few months and go back to getting our family pictures taken.  I bought a discounted mini session during the summer from a photographer we’ve used several times in the past.  She lives almost an hour away so I figured we’d meet her down south for a quick session.  When she asked me if I had any locations in mind I told her I knew some spots near us, but we’d be happy to meet her anywhere.  I didn’t expect her to drive all the way up here when we paid so little for our session, but to my surprise and delight she was happy to come to us! 

We went to Snoqualmie Point Park, which has gorgeous views of our beautiful Mt. Si and lots of greenery that the northwest is known for.  My family is not easy to take pictures of.  Drew is at such a hard age – he is busy and wants to be down running around.  Katie was giving us fake, ugly smiles 90% of the time.  Add to that 5 other people that blink, give phony smiles, stick out their tongues, etc… I was surprised that she spent an hour taking pictures of all of us.  I was so happy for all the time she spent with us and for traveling to our neck of the woods that I sent her a fun cookie bouquet and a note of thanks. I couldn’t wait to get the CD in the mail.

I waited. And waited. And waited.  Finally after six weeks of waiting, I emailed her another note of thanks and added that I was so excited to see the pictures.  Turns out she either sent them to our old address or they got lost in the mail, but she mailed out a new CD that very day.

I was really happy with the pictures.  She took some shots with Mt Si in the background but the sun was too high to make them flattering.  This was a fun one though.

Like I said to get all seven of us looking great in the same shot is nearly impossible without photoshop, but I think we managed to get some good pictures.

Thanksgiving Visitors

The day after we got home from Disneyland my Mom and Val arrived.  We were so excited for their visit.  The kids had half-days on Monday-Wednesday and with Drew needing to nap during the afternoons (and lots and lots of rain) we didn’t get out and do a whole lot while they were here, but we loved having them around.

Drew knew right where to go for some yummy mint brownies 

They read countless books to Jason and Katie, we played games, had a movie night… My Mom helped Katie decorate her turkey homework for preschool.  Oh my!  Their turkey easily earned the “prettiest turkey award” – well deserved!

For FHE on Monday night we did our annual Thankful Turkey poster.  It’s always fun to hear the kids share what they are grateful for.  I took out the posters from the previous two years and we enjoyed seeing what has changed (2012 & 2013 being grateful Justin’s car was still running vs. 2014 having two reliable cars) and what has remained the same each year (health, family, and built-in babysitters!)

We got a sitter for the three youngest on Tuesday afternoon so my Mom could take the girls shopping for Christmas presents.  My girls love to shop so they had a blast.  We capped off the evening with dinner at BJ’s (including delicious pizookies for dessert – yum, yum)   

Since my Mom and Val were heading back to Utah on Friday morning we decided to utilize their help and set up the Christmas tree on Wednesday afternoon.  I bought some orange ornaments during the after-Christmas sales last year in Utah.  So for the first time in 15 years we had enough decorations to make our tree look decent – well, from the middle up at least.  

This was the first Thanksgiving that I’ve spent with any member of my family in 15 years!  It was wonderful to have my Mom here.  I felt bad that they didn’t just get to show up at dinner time to a delicious meal – instead they had to witness all the preparations and mess.  My Mom is a huge help though so it was nice to have the extra hands.  Dinner turned out great.  While we filled our bellies we went around the table sharing what we appreciated about each one of us.  It was unplanned and ended up being a bit emotional.  I have so much to be grateful for with my family being at the top of that list.

It was a wonderful five days and we look forward to having them back this next summer for Jason’s baptism!

18 Months Old

When you’re Mormon – having a child reach their 18 month milestone is a BIG deal.  That’s when your busy little toddler, that hasn’t let you sit through an entire church meeting in months, is able to go to nursery for 2 hours each Sunday.  We were allowed a couple trial runs before Drew was officially nursery age (so long as a parent stayed with him).  Drew seemed to enjoy being in a class where he could finally run around and play with toys.  We weren’t quite sure what to expect though that first Sunday we dropped him off and didn’t stay.  Thankfully, he was 100% okay with it and has done really well.  When we pick him up after church he’s always happy and usually wet (cause the kid has no clue how to drink from a cup without a lid – we don’t practice that at home.)

Being 18 months old also meant Drew was due for another well-child visit to our pediatrician.  His stats came in just as they always have.  It’s funny cause I think his chubby checks have everyone fooled into thinking he’s this HUGE kid, but he’s actually one of our smallest – just a bit above average.

Height:  33” (67.16%)

Weight:  26 lbs, 9 oz (79.16%)

I don’t have many Drew-specific-pictures to share from this past month.  He had a little fever at the beginning of November.  A little fever usually just means my babies want to sleep a little more than usual and are much more snuggly so I didn’t mind.

Drew continues to get himself into trouble throughout the day.  He likes to climb up on the kitchen table and my desk.  Thankfully, my computer has a password on it, but if he can get on it right after me, before it goes into sleep mode, he can sure make a mess of things.

A few weeks ago I was scrambling to get a book read before a book group meeting so I let myself get absorbed into reading upstairs.  I realized after a while that I hadn’t heard much from Drew so I sent Katie on a mission to find out what sort of mischief he had gotten into.  She returned upstairs saying he was eating Oreos.  I did have a small bag with a couple Oreos on the counter so I figured that was it.  When I got downstairs I was shocked to find Drew in the pantry with an entire package of Oreos opened and mostly devoured.  He looked so proud of himself.  I would have loved to have seen how he managed to get the box off the shelf and open a sealed package.  Looks like he was trying to get himself a Caprisun to wash it down too.  How could I punish this adorable kid?

Disney Day 5

We were the only ones who opted for a five day pass to Disneyland.  We only had a half day on our fifth day before we needed to head to the airport, but we were determined to make the most of it.   One of the best memories I have of previous Disney trips was getting to the park before it opened and waiting along Main Street for the ropes to be pulled away.  The anticipation is magical and they create such excitement with the music, etc… We’d had some pretty rotten luck getting inside the park before it official opened earlier in the week, but I knew that we could pull it off on our last day.  We timed everything perfectly and were walking down Main Street before 10am – unfortunately, we hadn’t realized that being a Friday the park actually opened at 9am so not only did we miss the magical buildup, but we were an hour late!  Oh well, right?

Today was the day Katie would finally get to meet some Princesses! While Justin took the rest of the kids on rides, Katie and I tried to find as many Princesses that we could!

A sad, sad attempt to get a picture of the kids in front of Cinderella’s castle.  Darn that California sunshine!

We let the three big kids each pick out $10 souvenir provided that they pay for half of it.  Katie and Drew didn’t ask, so we didn’t offer :)  Abigail picked out some Disney earrings, Carly got a Disney necklace, and Jason opted for Legos. 

Grandma and Grandpa picked us up shortly after one and we headed to the airport after a quick stop at Chick-fil-a to pick up lunch.

Phew!  That concludes Fletcher’s go to Disney 2014!  Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for a great vacation!  Until next time… 

Disney Day 4

We saved our Magic Morning to use on Thursday, November 20^th (the Baumgartners last day with us). Unfortunately, Tami realized she lost our tickets to the park that morning and it took nearly an hour for us to get new tickets issued.  Once we finally got everything sorted out, we started with the only ride my kids have NEVER been on in any of our previous three Disneyland trips.  It’s a Small World!  We’ve previously always visited near Halloween and it’s always been closed to get transformed and decorated for Christmas.  Finally we were able to see why it took weeks of preparation.

A picture before we floated off.  I’m pretty sure Jason is mad because his cousin Haden was sitting up with me, Katie and Drew.  Jason didn’t like having to share his cousin with his little sister.

Drew loved all the music and ‘danced’ as we looked at all the fun decorations and displays.

Since we were right by Toontown, Justin and I popped over with Drew to visit Mickey Mouse’s house.  Drew had fun checking out the place.

But meeting Mickey (again) was his favorite part… 

After a great Mickey experience we were ready to enjoy the rest of our day…

J and I riding Thunder Mt. Railroad

My yummy snack

After finding Indiana Jones broken down again (I think it happened at least 4 times during the week) we left Disneyland and met up with Grandpa at California Adventures

Drew snoozing like a champ! 

One final picture of all of us before the Baumgartners headed to the airport.

And of course we needed a picture of Grandma and Grandpa with all their grandkids.  Isn’t it cute?

It wasn’t til I got home and was preparing a CD for Tami that I realized Jason is missing!  Apparently that little stinker decided to step aside and let us take the picture without him.  Major bummer!

My family spent the rest of the evening between the two parks.  By this time we were all so comfortable on Space Mountain that it was all about getting the craziest pictures.

It’s a Small World was so pretty at night

We had fast passes for the new Radiator Springs Racers in Cars Land just before closing and couldn’t let them go to waste so we headed back to California Adventures.  This our reaction to beating out the car full of teenage boys next to us!  So humble, right?

Once the kids were in bed Justin and I snuck out for a little late night treat at Joe’s Italian Ice – being our last night we couldn’t leave without going one last time.  So yum!