Happy Birthday Eric

Last night, I took Eric on a date, the first one that is just us since Isabelle was 3 weeks old, for his birthday. We went to a place in Issaquah, Bake's Place, a dinner and jazz / blues music concert place that is only open 2 days a week. You have to make your dinner order at the same time you make your reservations.


The great part about the night, besides that we were getting out for a night of just us (our super wonderful neighbor came over and watched the kids, was that the concert for the night was Geoff Castle, the same violinist that played at our wedding. :) He played with a guy, Eric on the keys (who also played a Grand Piano - WOW) and Darrin on the drums. So after a delicious dinner, where we sat in the front and center of the dinning room (not planned) , up close to the stage, the concert began! WOW!! The sounds, the music, gave chills... it was like a dream that I want to keep replaying. They were amazing!

So YAY, surprise for Eric! He liked it. Crazy though... the surprises did not end there. At intermission of the concert, the staff at Bake's brought out dessert with a candle in it and Geoff serenaded the birthday boy. I had NOT planned that. After intermission, Geoff came back out with Darrin and Eric (his band) and they had tweeked the playlist.... They played our wedding song!!! OMG, how aweosme was that. So had NOT planned that either!

So after a long day at the IDPA pistol match I sent him to, we had a perfect romantic night!

Happy Birthday, My Love!

Oh' Christmas Tree

We bought our tree at a friend's tree stand! Great family shot, where Isabelle made sure that she and William wore their Santa suits! She is such a wonderful nutball!

Christmas Portraits

Hanging up sticking for Santa

My Two Sweetie Pies!

Isabelle and Daddy made a GingerBread Train this year!

Isabelle and William 'cut' down a tree at my parents house and then decorated it.

She loves having her own tree in her room!

Pictures!!

Family Portrait Session - Taken by Yours Truely, with the help of Isabelle!

These were taken in Novemeber but couldn't be posted till now, since they were Christmas card possibilities and were to be a surprise. :)

We had fun!

2011

Happy New Year!

We had a wonerful and very busy last couple of weeks, but I am so glad that routines and schedules will be coming back in to play.

Starting 3 weeks ago ( a week before x.mas), our Aunt and cousins came up from Oregon and we all spent the weekend at my in-laws for an early Christmas. We learned this night that Isabelle is a great sleeper and a super trooper traveler. Though she wants to stay up and party with all the adults, she will sleep anywhere and sleep through her crying brother. William on the other hand, not such a flexible sleeper. He was up every 1.5 hours through the night. (We saw a sneak peak of this over Thanksgiving weekend too... hoped that that was a fluke, but apparently it is a trait instead). Our early Christmas was super wonderful and special, got to meet the cousins new GF's and they were super sweet and met with Isabelle's approval! :)

At this point, Eric now began his 3 weeks of vacation, while I went to work for 3 more days... LAME! Either way, he got (and is still getting) some great bonding time!

Christmas Eve, Friday, my parents and grandmother came to our house (YAY!!! I became the happiest person when they agreed to this, for I so want to be home christmas morning to watch my kids open their gifts - but that is another post) and we had a marvelous traditional Christmas Eve dinner with cheese fondu and beef dinner with super yummy sauces. By the end of the evening, sadly Isabelle's nasty fever, from the night before, came back and to bed she went. Of course, we quickly left fudge and milk for Santa before she went to bed.

Christmas morning was super wonderful, though Isabelle was not quite feeling herself, she was delighted that Santa had brought her just what she asked for... Tinkerbell and a Princess in a purple dress, along with some other fun surprises. ;)

Around 11am we heard a siren, and when we went to the window to chekc it out, there was Santa in our driveway, brought to us by our local fire fighters! This is no doubt MY favorite part of Christmas now! It is now our tradition that WE ARE HOME Chritsmas mornings from now on!

After we finished opening our presents (sadly no time to enjoy our gifts), we got ready to leave for Eric's parents for more presents. Once we arrived about 1, we got to opening presents and enjoying some good food. At the end of the night (another late night), we got out the new family game, Guessatures, and played for a while.

We got home, fell asleep, got up and left again, this time to my parents house for more Christmas. The good thing here was that we stayed the night, so no late night driving. The rough part was William and his wkaing up every 1.5 hours again, till he was so tired and passed out about 3am only to want up at 8 ready to go. Again, YAY for Isabelle, sleeping like a pro in a different bed.

Finally home and able to look through, and actually enjoy, take in the gifts we received! We are extremely lucky and very grateful for all our family. Finally a chance to relax, clean up, play and make some great new memories. Finally the kids back on a schedule of naps and night, bed time happiness.

And now here we are, 1-1-11. We are on our way to a fabulous Prime Year!

2011 -- What do you have in store for us?

Late Mid-December...

...and I am still in school, early morning get ups with students that are crazy and want to be on break. Me too! I remind them. Haha though, I made this 3 day week easy on me ... I am giving a test! :)

Oh the joys of Microsoft! Eric and his team rocked, so they all get a good vacation too! He gets 3 weeks, compared to my 9 days! I am glad though, while I am at work, he is home sleeping in and bonding with the kiddos. :)

My goal, after today, in the one day before we have guests come over, so tomorrow, my goal is to clean, decorate tree #2, put up ALL the rest of the decoartions and plan a dinner (for Eric to cook) for Christmas Eve with my parents and grandmother.

(Randome side note: our meat counter at the store now has prepared & marinated and all kinds of meats that you can buy, with directions on how to cook... makes life easier)

Anyways, Santa is coming in 3 more get ups! Tell me, are you naughty or nice?

Thanksgiving!

... with a snowy backdrop!

All About William

First Taste of Apples

Not sure about those apples, they are a bit TART!

The One Man Band!

Two to a Tent

A Little Bit with the Carharts On!
Dedicated to all his future mentors.

"This is how you do a push-up!!"

Just a little bit Batty!

Eningeers Hat - Dedicated to Grandpa.
Soon the whole outfit will appear... we can almost fit in it!

Messy Face! But I love my food!

In a pumpkin!

How could I forget this!!! Eric had this fabulous idea to put William in a pumpkin and take some pics!

On to November

Well, I guess it is more like on to December, since there are only 2 days left of November.

This month has been awesome so far!!! William is crawling, has 3 teeth and working on the forth, and is non-stop chatter. Yes, we have video of it all. He is also a little pig who loves to laugh and is super ticklish!

To top it off, William got to experieince his first snow! He didn't like it that much and I missed that photo opp... but that is okay, since I am sure there will be a ton of snow this winter. No need to wish for a white Christmas, since we had a VERY white, 14 inches to be exact, white Thanksgiving!

YAY! for the SUPER long Thanksgiving weekend - 9 days!! - (3 days of school being canceled due to unsfafe transportation and we would not of made it out anyways...)

Monday, Eric went to work and it took a little longer then the usual hour, BUT the way home sadly took way too long... he left at 5 and didnt get home till after 11. This left me and my most gracious neighbor to build a temporary goat pen next to the garage, as it snowed and blew a cold a wind. Our first couple attepmpts to get out were failures over the next few days, till our neighbor came over and offered us a trip out to the stores. Eric got the goats their own special red heat light lamp and a heated water bucket, so their water wouldn't freeze anymore. So their 'hotel de la goat' as Eric calls it, may be small, but they are warm and out of the wind and snow. It is now rainy out there, so back in their big pen till the next snow storm.

So for this Thanksgiving I was very thankful for my family; their health and safety, and for friends/neighbors that are like family!! And mostly for wonderful memories that are made daily!

Practice Make Perfect

Preschool has been such a great experience so far for Isabelle. She is learning so much... well duh! You learn at school... but it has been awesome seeing this growth! She has brought home so many great little art projects, that will take pics of soon and post too, but what is almost better then those, is that you ask her to write letters down, she can. Her first letter that she learned to write was the letter 'I' for Isabelle. :)

See the 'I' on the paper?

Also, a few nights ago daddy asked her to draw him and her on the chalk board and she drew two faces!!! So cute!

Golf

October was a beautiful month, weather wise!!! Grandpa wanted to practice some putt-putt with Isabelle, so off we went to a golf course. Of course, after Grandpa taught her the 'right'ways of putting, Isabelle had her own ideas! :)

Just pick it up with the flag and carry it ot the next hole :)

A Monkey and a Fairy!

Off to Truck or Treating, where we met up with a
super cute Candy Corn Witch and a Lady Bug!

First you get the candy and then you get to climb in the trucks!

We meet up with our friend Angelena

All the cousins

What a GREAT Halloween and fantastic Truck or Treating!!!