first nutcracker

on saturday, z & i went to see the nutcracker. one of my students was performing, so her mother gave us tickets. it was a smaller version of the nutcracker. my student was a soldier and a gingerbread cookie. she did a great job, and z did a fairly good job of sitting still throughout the performance. he was better in the first half, and really started to get ancy in the second half. i'm thinking of having him take ballet at a local ballet school. i think it would be good for his rhythm.

pasitos navidad 2012

pasitos navidad 2012

on thursday, we had friends over from dinner. the two moms i knew from my symphony job.

s checks out baby n. big sister s loves holding her little sister!!!

i'm getting my baby fix. i looove her cheeks!

s & baby n have a little meeting. both were interested in each other.

we tried to get all kids on the couch, looking at the camera & smiling, but mine were not cooperating.

4 out of 5 were this time...

 this was the third event in a row this past week. pasitos on tuesday, a latke party in ne portland (that took us 45 minutes to reach at 6pm on a weeknight, & pouring rain didn't help anything) on wednesday, and this dinner right after teaching on thursday. the kids slept well that night! j couldn't make the wednesday event - he was getting slammed again with work, so it was just the 3 of us. there was a baby sitter at that party, so i got to have some good conversations with adults by myself - a nice little break.

silly kiddo

z loves filling up his laundry basket & playing with it, pretending it's a boat, or a truck, or whatever. and he loves playing with the dish drainer towel thingy.

xmas pageant 2012

we all went to the christmas pageant at church the evening these pictures were taken. z wanted me to take a picture of him with s. they are so cute!

s was trying to put the hat on, or perhaps i was trying to get her to wear the hat, but she kept taking it off.

s has this very cute way of walking backward toward me, before slowly & gently sitting down.

santa pics 2012

we went to visit santa at bridgeport village. s isn't quite smiling, but it was the closest we got, with everyone looking at the camera at the same time.

it snowed there!

s did not like the snow.

i have to mention that the snow was not real. they "make" it snow regularly there at noon throughout the holiday season. z loved it!

gingerbread house 2012

project in a box

taking a break from decorating to try on a dress... still barely fits!

getting close to being finished...

finished product! great job everyone!

i found a gingerbread house at michaels & was organized enough to use a 50% off coupon for it. it was a nice sunday afternoon project.

neighborhood party 2012

our white elephant gift from the neighborhood christmas party. i kind of like it!

zane is having fun in the box it came in.

the neighborhood christmas party always happens in two parts - someone hosts the appetizers portion, and someone else hosts the dessert portion. kids are not invited. because our kids needed to go to bed, we skipped out on the dessert portion, but still sent a gift along, so we received the candle holder in the 1st picture. it'll be decorative come next halloween!

brownies

we hosted a neighborhood christmas party at our house, and one of our neighbors gave us "brownies in a jar," which is just as it sounds - a brownie mix in a jar that just needed water, an egg, & some oil. we made the brownies soon after the party, and here is z, excited to try the brownies as soon as they were baked. very excited young man!

christmas crafts

z received these crafts in his advent calendar bags, and wanted to make them right away.

two door hangers!

i am so tired. so tired. so tired. so tired. so tired. so tired.

firsts

s can pull herself up onto her knees now, at least using the toy chest. she can also crawl up stairs, although we have to be very careful. she likes to get up one, and then stand up. she could very easily just topple backward. she can't be at the top of the stairs yet & sit down, turn around, & go down on her belly - she still needs help getting turned around. she's getting there, though. still can't crawl forward on the ground - just backward.

disappointment.

tuesday morning, on the way home after taking z to pasitos, s threw up in the car all over her car seat & everything. i figured this did not bode well for our upcoming trip. since july, we've been planning on going to las vegas with friends for our friend's 30th birthday. the kids were going to stay with grandma & grandpa, and i worked it into my teaching schedule. it definitely wasn't my morning, because i had forgotten it was pajama day, so i had to go home & get z's pj's and bring them back to him. poor little s! i cleaned her up as well as i could, and quickly wiped down the car seat, before buckling her all up again. after dropping off the clothes, s threw up again on the way home. thankfully my mom was at home, and she was able to come over to help out, while i started a load of laundry on the sanitize cycle & took the car seat out. i also got a quick nap in, as all the raccoon excitement took up a lot of our sleeping time. car seats are NOT easy to take apart! i eventually managed to clean it as well as possible, and j put it back in the car.
so, after dotting all our i's and crossing all our t's for the trip, i came down with s's illness early thursday morning. wickedly painful fever & sour stomach. grandma came over in the morning to pick up the kids, but then j had to pick them up in the afternoon because grandma got sick, too.
it's so disappointing. i have been looking forward to this trip for a long time. it was motivating me through the hard days, through busy schedules. and now it is non existent. we got some of the money back, but of course there were fees. my teaching schedule is set for the rest of the year. i can't just change it to a different week. sure, life could be worse, we are very blessed, but it's still very disappointing.
today, my fever has been gone, so i haven't needed any tylenol, but my stomach isn't back to normal. i've only been drinking ginger ale, aside from eating one banana. i managed to watch the kids after they woke up from napping while j went to the gym & grocery shopped, and we baked banana bread, but i'm back in bed now. tomorrow is just back to life as normal. z has swimming, j is going to a wine tasting in the evening. church on sunday. yay.

busy weekend

violin group class

neighbor l's contribution

raccoon #2?

last weekend was a busy one. friday brought a parents' night out at pasitos. j gave me two choices to do while the kids were at pasitos - deschutes brewery, or the new james bond film. at first we had planned on the brewery, but driving to pasitos, i changed my mind. we dropped the kids off at 6:30 (took longer than usual - sloane pooped in the car on the drive over). we arrived at mcmenamins at 6:45 & pounded a kris kringle beer, then went to the movie theater just as the previews were starting at 7:05. we ate a large container of kettle corn for dinner. the movie finished at 9:42, and we raced back to pasitos in pouring rain to pick up the kids. z came down with croup, and we started steroids right away.
saturday, we picked up the house, z had swimming, & i did a lot of grocery shopping. j prepared three different appetizers for the neighborhood christmas party, while i taught two group classes.
sunday, we had church in the morning. a baby sitter arrived right before nap time, and j & i went downtown to hear the first half of an oregon symphony concert. we left at intermission & went home to continue preparations for the neighborhood christmas party. one more baby sitter arrived at 5, and the kids went to our neighbor's house, and neighbors arrived at 5:30. desserts were held at a different neighbor's house, but we stayed home to put the kids to bed & clean up the house. a raccoon wandered into our trap around 9pm, so j left to go release it far far away (20 or so miles). j called at 10 saying he had gotten the car stuck in mud, and was waiting for his friend c to come help pull him out. thankfully he got home around 11pm. at 5:30 the next morning, another raccoon got caught in the trap, so j left early to deposit it far away before continuing on to work. we caught another one the next day, and the following day it trapped a rat!

random pics

z being sweet - kiss for s

s & xylophone

masked soccer bandit & xylophone

mommy's birthday

g'ma, enjoying an Oregon croissant from Ken's Artisan Bakery

the family at benihana

so, i had a birthday. my parents brought us croissants in the morning from ken's artisan bakery. i found out my mother LOVES them (as well as my father), so i guess i know what to bring them as treats sometime. they arrived just after i had gotten home from getting some coffee with the kids from strbx. after teaching, i thought it was just the four of us going for dinner to benihana, but i was surprised to find his parents & my parents there, too! aunt m joined us later. i loved it! they sing to you if it's your birthday, and the kids loved the show. it was a great birthday.

xmas decorating '12

z, enjoying a cup of hot chocolate for the first time. he's had other cups of hot chocolate, but never really liked it until this time. quite a milestone! now he wants some all the time.

s finds the red christmas decorations

decorated s

decorated z

late nov/early dec brought a busy schedule, so we had to really map everything out ahead of time & keep up with things. thanksgiving day was a beautiful one, actually rain free, so j took the time to put up the xmas lights & decorations. i got a bunch this year, and all on sale, thanks to planning ahead! the morning after thanksgiving, we put up the christmas treeth & decorated the inside of the house.

saturday night, we spent in wine country. the kids spent the night with grandma & grandpa. we visited archery summit, white rose, durant, and boedecker cellars. it was very relaxing.

thanksgiving 2012

j helps with the place cards

more decorations for turkey day

family...

s's second thanksgiving

we went to canby for thanksgiving this year. j's parents hosted. uncle j was in england, so aunt m was by herself. food & drink was wonderful!