Part 2

1/1—For the second part of the break, Aunt Natalie and Uncle Cory came into town for a visit!

1/2—We discovered our oven was broken on New Year’s Day.  It would think that it was heated, but then would be stone cold.  We had someone come out and look at it, but they needed to order a fuse, so it wasn’t fixed in time to bake Darrin’s b-day cake.  I had to take them down to Laurie’s to cook them.  Grateful for awesome neighbors!

Due to the oven being out, we ordered pizza for dinner.  Natalie and Cory got a taste of a Portland staple: Pizza Schmizza.

They spent the day in Portland exploring and brought us VooDoo doughnuts for a treat.  Yum.  The Oreo one was my fav.

After Darrin spent his birthday night in church meetings, we had cake and ice cream.  Happy birthday honey :)

1/3—We took Cory and Natalie to the coast.  A stop at the cheese factory is a must.

Then we went to Cape Meares to see the lighthouse.  The weather was chilly and it sprinkled here and there, but overall it wasn’t too bad.

Then we walked up to the octopus tree.  Such a cool lookin’ tree!

 

Then we went down to the beach.  The sun was setting and the sky was beautiful. 

 

We walked through a tunnel to the other side to another beach. 

We had a super fun day at the coast.  I never thought the coast could be so fun in the winter!

Saturday we hung around the house, Darrin played in a charity soccer game, and then that night we got a baby sitter and went out.  We went to BJ’s for dinner and then to the arcade to play games. 

And just for the record, we all played in a little basketball tournament, and I won.  I beat every single person!!!  I didn’t know I was such a great basketball player lol. 

And to make the night even more exciting…Natalie played Deal or No Deal and won 1000 tickets.  It was so exciting.  We even drew a crowd of people around us lol. 

Natalie and Cory left, and life has continued.  We sure had a great time with them and can’t wait for their cute little baby to be born.  Thanks for coming you guys :)

1/6--This sleeping beauty has not been a good sleeper for about the last 2 months.  This particular night she ended up in our bed which I’m trying really hard not to make a habit of.  Even though I didn’t have much room to sleep, she sure was cute sleeping there. 

Ella decided Luke needed help on his homework.  She’s dangerous with pens, pencils and markers these days. 

  

1/9 We had one last girl’s night to say see you later to Jayme.  We’ve been through a lot together:  preschool, visiting teaching, girl’s nights, board games, Ella’s delivery (she was my nurse), and her experience and expertise got me through my miscarriage years.  We miss you guys tons already!

And Grace made this note for Luke.  Very sweet.

1/10—This little girl has become a terror at any store.  She think she’s needs to get out and walk like the big kids.  She did look pretty cute walking around with her baby, but then she started to have her own agenda and wouldn’t follow us and that’s when things got ugly.  Needless to say, I had to carry her out of Costco kicking and screaming.  Boy have I forgotten what that’s like.

 

1/11—Saturday we spent most of the day in the garage trying to tackle dump Hancock.  We made a lot of progress and Darrin can almost park his car in there. 

1/12—Talking to Grandma on the phone. 

Ella came down the stairs with my hat on looking very stylish and serious. 

1/13—Luke had Ethan over to play.  The weather been in the 50’s so lots of kids were outside playing.  Crazy how that can seem warm at times.

1/14—Josh has started basketball and so our nights are busy again or still…I’m not sure which.  He loves it and thinks this is going to be a great season.  

And this little miss gets drug all over the place going from one practice to another.  Poor thing.

And with this semi-quick non-detailed catch up, we’ll call it good.  That’s what we’ve been up to the last couple weeks :)

Peace out.

The Rest of the Story Part 1

I knew it would be hard to maintain the daily blog throughout all of Christmas break.  I felt good about getting to Christmas day!  So for all those who care, especially for my mother-in-law who is laid up in bed after enduring her 2nd knee replacement surgery, this one is for you!

12/26—I’m the type that can’t handle having Christmas decorations up past the day after Christmas.  Our house is just too small for all that clutter.  So while all the boys were gone to Chad and Julie’s playing serious man board games, Ella and I put away all the Christmas stuff.   Love her little head at the bottom of the picture.

Then she ate a hot dog (her favorite lunch food) in front of her little toy dog.  Something about that was just funny to me at the time.  Then it was off to bed for her.

 

12/28—Saturday was filled with intense games of Mouse Trap,

going to the see the movie Frozen,

and building Legos.

12/29—First day of nursery!!!  It wasn’t perfect, but she managed.  And she’s still managing.  She’ll get used to it over time.  Luckily Danielle is usually in there with Hudson, and she kinda watches out for Ella. 

Ella has learned how to get water out of the fridge and drink from a big girl cup as she walks around in her princess robes.  She cracks me up :)

    

12/30—Monday was Brittany’s baby shower.  Ella got to come, and the boys went to play with Ryan. 

She was a pretty good girl and took care of her babies while we partied. 

Later that night we had our last game night with our good friends, the Phillips, before they moved.  It’s always a party playing games with them.  We will definitely miss them.

12/31—New Year’s Eve.  We made tons of food and then headed over to Chad and Julie’s to ring in the new year.  All 3 boys stayed up until midnight.

After eating tons of junk food, we all played several rounds of this game which our kids love.  Then they went upstairs to do their own thing (play the Wii and watch DMe2) and the adults played more games. 

The kids had a blast celebrating the new year!

Happy New Year!!!

And that’s a wrap on 2013.  Stay tuned for part 2 of Christmas break!

XOXOXOXO