Christmas 2008

The Grandkids

Marie and her Barbie

Russ and his new cars

Nana and Luke

Jordan with the video game my dad gave him (he taped toilet paper rolls to the outside so that Jordan couldn't figure out what it was)

Luke in the middle of the present chaos

Luke and I spent Christmas in Forks at Nana's (the grandma-like name my mom has dubbed herself) house. Justin and Naomi made it in Christmas eve at 3:30am! Due to the snow they were delayed several times. All of the kids were up and ready to tear apart the presents before 7am... we made them wait until coffee was made.

Then everyone bundled up and went outside to play in the snow. I think we may have invented a new sport... car sledding. We are such good examples for the kids! These types of things always start simple enough, attach a rope to a car and a sled and let the car pull you. Fun right? Well, at least with the guys, then they have to step it up: go faster, take a corner, stand-up on the board, "let's build a ramp," screw traffic! I'm sure you can see were this is going but luckily no was seriously injured.

Naomi and Marie making snow angels

Naomi covered in snow

Our snow-woman

Car Sledding... lots of fun but not very bright

Justin taking a corner

Naomi screaming

Me on the sled

Craig wiping out!

Christmas came early!

Alan opening a gift for Luke.

He's loving anything that lights up and is noisy.

Northwest attire

Bright Paper!

Crunching it in his hands

In the mouth!

Crockpot! Luke is impressed as well.

Alan had to work on Christmas this year :( and all of my brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews were going to be at my moms this year, leaving Alan by himself. So we had a mini early Christmas. We decided to give eachother something small this year and then also opted to make eachother "coupon" books for future use. Alan has made the mistake of giving me one "good for any chore" coupon. I'm thinking... clean out the basement or up root all of the blackberry bushes in our backyard! Luke got a few little toys, clothes, and a Tickle Me Elmo (which he's a little unsure of). He was, of course, way more into the brightly colored wrapping paper than anything else. In other news, Luke cut his first tooth this week! Yeah!

More holiday pictures to come...

Meanwhile, the snow hasn't really let-up. This is Alan on our back porch. As you can see the snow is up to his knees, and he's a tall guy!

Alan playing with Lucy in the snow.

Snow!

Lucy in the snow

The tree in our backyard

Luke all bundled up in his cute hat that looks like a dragon tail.

Lucy was barking at us to throw snow balls

Every year I look forward to the first snow. It's beautiful and blankets everything. It even blocks out the city noise and everything is quiet. I have never seen so much snow as we have had this year. It has been below freezing for over a week and has been snowing off and on for just as long. Normally it snows and sticks for a day, tops. We've had over a foot, with no sign that it's going away. It makes driving interesting to say the least. The novelty has worn off! But it has been fun with snow ball fights, attempting to make snowmen, snow angels, and sledding. Luke is more entertained by Lucy's barking than anything else.

School is finally out for me. Yay! I will never think of Chemistry again if I can help it. I only had one class but was very tricky for me to juggle Luke, work, and school. I am thankful for a little break. I'm just keeping my eye on the prize: nursing school. By this summer I can apply, and if all goes well, I'll be entering next winter. Alan has been very supportive and Luke is getting easier in some respects. So I'm able to better plan my time.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Holiday Season

Luke and Santa

Luke wasn't particularly impressed with Santa. He was more entertained by the pretty lights on the Christmas trees. Santa was a little senile, we kept trying to get him to move Luke's arm away from his mouth but he just kept smiling and giving a vacant stare. We eventually got the picture. By the way, that is Luke's first mohawk. The first of what will probably be many more to come. His hair is pretty thin still, so it took some doing.

You can't see it, but his short says "Baby's first Christmas". I love this picture, he looks like he's pouting. So serious!

He's getting so big. It wasn't that long ago that his feet didn't touch the ground in this walker. Now they move him around, not in any particular direction, just around.

Alan with our tree. Motors (our cat) is checking it out.

Picture in front of the decorated tree.

I love family traditions. From as far back as I can remember, every year we got a Christmas tree and spent the evening decorating it with Bing Crosby songs playing in the background. This year is so exciting with Luke here. Everything is new and fascinating.

We got a little silly with this years Christmas card picture. We were going for "cheesy" with our ugly x-mas sweaters. Luke is thrilled as you can tell. Poor child is going to be sooo embarrassed by us when he's older.

Thanksgiving

Alan and Luke

Aliya in Pilgrim hat

Tuxedo onesie from auntie Tracy

Luke meeting Grandma Shirley

Luke in his Turkey hat

I'm so behind on these blog-thingy's! Thanksgiving was great. Shirley, Alan's mom, was able to come visit and meet her first grand baby. We had the whole WA crowd at our home. I love cooking, and Thanksgiving is the Superbowl of cooking. Alan made his grandmas cheesecake. It was delicous. Luke had some sweet potatoes and a taste of whipped cream. Yum!
We even hit a few store that were open to get an early start on our shopping. Black friday shopping like a sport, I go every year and finish all of my holiday shopping in one day. I almost had to wrestle a lady for a $5 tickle me Cookie Monster. Alan opted out this year... he had some lame excuse (he had to work).

Luke's First Solid Food

We started Luke on his first foods; cereal, and purred fruits and veggies. So far his favorite seams to be peas. He loves it and makes lots of noise while eating. So far so good, except now his diapers are much stinker!

AAHHHH....

Yummy, rice cereal


Messy Boy

Sitting in the High Chair


Full Tummy

Halloween!

My turn to write a blog! It's Alan, Luke can't quite type yet but he tries, as seen here:

"cg6ddddddddddddddddddfvvvvvvvvvvvv bu b 21rttttttttttttttty6"

Anyway, guess what October 31st was? That's right, it was Luke's first Halloween! You guys cast the votes for his costume and it was:

The Skunk!

We took him trick or treating around the block and everyone fell in love and wanted to keep him. Or maybe I just thought they did, whatever. We had fun. It rained buckets all day, but Halloween night turned out clear and unseasonably warm. If you think of 48 degrees as warm.

Obviously thrilled with the outfit.

Erika dressed as Sarah Palin at work earlier in the day, but she said it was "too cold" to wear the outfit trick or treating. So here's a picture of her costume from earlier that day:

Sarah Palin and Trig.

Here's how she looked when we went out later that night. Obviously a completely different look:

Luke with Sarah Palin Erika.

I did not dress up at work because there's a slight chance I will have to be taken seriously at some point during the day. And let's be honest, it would be tough to take anyone seriously if they were dressed in a gigantic chicken costume.

I also did not dress up Halloween night because, by the time I made it over to Target the day before, all the gigantic chicken outfits were gone. Who would have thought that would be the costume to have for 6'-4", 275-pound adults with a desire to look ridiculous to entertain an infant. That will teach me not to shop at the last minute.

So instead of hilarious pictures of a skunk being held by a large man-chicken, you get this:

Luke and me not dressed as a chicken.

All in all it was a fun night. Erika and I made the executive decision, since Luke is not yet ready for candy, that we should consume it ourselves. It was a tough choice, but those are the kinds of difficult decisions we have to make in the interest of our beloved skunk-child.

Resting on the couch after a long night.