christmas eve

we are having a very low key christmas this year. just the 4 of us. and even though we will miss being with family, we are very glad that we won't be spending any time in an airport this holiday season (the first time since we've been married). we are also experiencing record amounts of snow, which makes staying home all the more appealing. so today was spent wrapping the last few gifts, cleaning, snow shoveling, listening to christmas music, checking the depth of the snow every now and then, and making christmas cookies. making the cookies was a little more trying on my patience then i was hoping. lauren did pretty good, but had a little trouble listening and was making bigger messes than was necessary (involving water). so after tears and time spent in her room, we finally got them done, phew! as she and i were standing in the kitchen washing our cookies down with some milk, she took her glass, gently tapped it against mine, looked up at me and said, "cheers." such a good reminder that life's too short to sweat the small stuff. wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

watching a show

lauren always insists on holding ryan, but it never ends well. thankfully he is a good sport!

oops!

thanksgiving

we had a really nice and relaxing thanksgiving this year. the food was all SO good (my absolute favorite meal). my parents had a fire in their fireplace which makes for a very warm and cozy atmosphere. we pretty much just lounged around all day, watched football and played games. we attempted to teach my parents how to play 'the settlers of catan'. it's kind of a complicated game and considering the fact that my mom still refers to facebook as "spacebook" (even though we've tried to correct her many times), i don't think we were too successful. but they tried. all in all it was a perfect day!

he is the happiest little guy!

daddy's turn.

gramps has the magic touch when it comes to putting ryan to bed! :)

thomas and friends

lauren has recently become potty-trained, which joel and i are thrilled about! she is very into trains and really loves thomas the tank engine. so as a reward for no longer wearing diapers (yay!), her grandparents (joel's mom and dad) sent her a thomas track. she was SO excited! and it has been a huge hit. i think the pictures say it all......

another first

we decided that ryan is ready to start eating cereal. he is a pretty good sized baby and has acted very interested in food for quite a while now. he gives us longing stares whenever we are eating, so it's time to let him in on what he is missing. it is always fun to watch a baby's reaction as they try something new. he did pretty good, and seemed to kind of like it. lauren wanted to get in on the action as well and had a little taste. she didn't like it too much. i guess that's a good thing and says a little something for her mom's cooking!

bath bud

ryan loves his baths! he enjoys kicking and splashing and does lots of wiggling. it can be a little tricky at times to keep him on his towel that i fold up and use as a support/pillow for his head. there is nothing more slippery than a wet, naked baby!

4 months old!

our little ryan is 4 months old already! he has been such a wonderful baby. he is the happiest little guy! he'll give anyone a smile. he loves to chew on his fists, but no signs of any teeth yet. he loves watching lauren play and dance. and he's very forgiving (he's been bitten a few times on the hand). when i asked the biter why she did that she replied, "i'm a dinosaur." but she assured me she's not going to do it again. he has added SO much to our little family and is a constant reminder that every good and perfect gift is from the Lord! :)

trick or treat

this halloween we did our trick-or-treating at a local mall again. it's so nice and easy when you have little ones, especially since it's usually pretty chilly outside. halloween was never a big holiday for either joel or myself growing up, and we don't intend for it to be a very significant part of our kids lives either. thank goodness halloween was on a saturday this year, so i was able to sneak out for a bit and try and find a cheap, on sale costume for lauren. old navy had one costume left. a dragon and it was a 4t/5t but for only $2 i couldn't pass it up. and lauren was thrilled...phew! ryan went as a cute, adorable baby this year and pulled it of quite nicely. :) so here are a few photos of our halloween......

our washington vacation

last month joel, lauren, ryan and i flew out to washington to spend time with joel's family. they had never met ryan before so we were really looking forward to this trip. the kids did really well on both flights, always a relief! once in washington we stayed pretty busy with day trips to the beach, ferry rides to port townsend, family bar-b-ques, a trip to longview, hayrides, visiting a few friends and just trying to squeeze in as much family time as possible. our vacation flew by! of course we racked up a ton of pictures, which makes finding the time to sort through them and blog a little difficult to do. so i'm just going to post a few of the pictures without many captions for now. we all had a great time, the weather was gorgeous, joel's parents are wonderful hosts (his mom is an amazing cook), and i hope we can find a way to get out there again soon. but i do have to agree with dorothy and say, "there's no place like home!"

Port Townsend

joe, andrea (joel's sister) and their daughter, gracie.

chris and megan (joel's other sister).

lauren and grandpa

ryan and grandma

greyland beach

tractor rides