A Couple Milestones

Pickle and I have been doing preschool at home 2 days a week, but really everyday since he LOVES to practice his letters. This picture is of letters that he wrote! We have only been doing this letters for 2 weeks.

Today, 12-20-08, Pookie started standing unsupported. I do not have a picture of it yet so this will have to do. Besides this picture shows his cute stiff legged walking.

Just thought I'd throw this one in because it's so darn adorable. We were getting ready to go out in the snow. I guess it was another milestone, Pookie went in the snow for the 1st time this week. It was a good week!

Let it Snow, Snow, Snow

I am surprised that I am loving this week of snow as much as I am. I do not enjoy getting all bundled up in layers of clothes but once I am out there, it is so much fun to play in....and so beautiful. Last I measured, tonight we had about 6 inches of snow. I heard 10 inches in Sherwood. Anyway, tonight Pickle and I played in the snow with our good friends/neighbor. We had so much fun and hopefully we will get to do it some more tomorrow!!

Look at all this snow mom

Who needs a sled?

He was irritated with his runny nose

"Open your eyes, honey". "I can't, I am Asian"
Here is Dave trying hard to open wide. hee hee

Happy 5 years!!! Love you!

Doing donuts in the snow. I toppled Pickle and his friend, Lauren flat on their faces. But they loved it and were troopers.

Snow angels

Dave the husky, pulling the pups

W.C and Pickle's 3rd Birthday Party

December 7th we had Pickle's 3rd birthday party even though his birthday is not until after Christmas. Pickle's friend W.C also had his birthday this month so we decided to do a party for them together. They had such a blast!! Pickle was really into the party...in September we went to a party and since then he has been telling me what he wants for his party: green balloons, green cake and green party hats with a turtle on top. Pickle was excited to see the green balloons and party hats. I mean, he was really into the party hats. It's so precious to see the sparkle in his eyes and the most simple things make him so happy. I love that about children. I pray that the kind of joy & pleasure in the simple things in life is something the boys never lose.

I am so thankful for Pickle's little friends, they sure made the party for W.C. and Pickle!!!!

Santa Claus is coming to the MOM's Club Social

Santa came to visit our MOM's club early December. This was the first year that Pickle was not completely freaked out by Santa (maybe because he could tell who Santa really was??). Pookie was so cute, he just stared at him, inquisitive.

I think that the friendliness we showed may have given away Santa's true identity.

Pickle was telling Santa he wants GeoTrax. So fun, this is the first year that he understands and is able to tell Santa and us what he wants for Christmas and it's always the same answer.

Tree Decorating

This was the first year that Pickle was able to participate in decorating the tree. He had a ton of fun. Pookie tried helping with the lights. Dan asked Noah to put the bells low enough for Peanut (our cat) to play with. As you can see, he listened well to direction. He put so many bells on the same branch that the branch was drooped.

"Not right now mommy, I am busy' This is exactly what he said to me at this moment.

I KNEW THERE WAS A REASON FOR BEING HAIRY

Dan is a hairy beast and I am proud that to say he is MY hairy beast. He does not like to be hairy but God makes us the way we are for a reason and we are all special. Today I believe that we learned one good reason for why God made Dan a hairy man...

After a quick bath this morning, Pickle sat in front of the heater to warm up. He was rubbing his legs and looking at them. I sat next to him and he said, "I want to be hairy like daddy". I told him he would be one day and he indeed already has little hairs all over his arms and legs. He said, "but I want to be hairy like daddy!". I had to call Dan at work and share the news, it made his day.

Thanksgiving 2008

Our original plans were to go to a friends house for dinner but they fell through the Tues. before Thanksgiving. So for the first time our little family was on our own. My first thought was, "oh well, we already had an fabulous celebration with a big dinner at my family's house, so there is no need to cook". I do not enjoy cooking so I did not want to cook. I was thinking we would just have a regular day like any other but Dan wanted to make a full Thanksgiving dinner. So Wed night off we went to the store and bought a ham and what we needed for our favorite holiday side dish, cornbread casserole.

So anyway, it turned out to be a really enjoyable day. Pookie stuffed himself to sleep (seriously, he ended up eating Pickle's dinner and a 1/3 of mine), as did Dan. The best part about the day was enjoying the family, chilling out without any hectic, craziness. I am thankful that Dan still wanted to have a Thanksgiving dinner.

Chilling out after dinner and late nap

The photo does not show just how big his belly was.

So full

Getting full

Our sweet boys

Boys Will Be Boys...

What am I going to do? I mean, I understand it just hangs there waiting to be played with and boy does it feel good...but there is a time and a place to play with it. And no, it not when talking to your MOM! Now that Pickle is potty trained I cannot get him to stop playing with his beloved wee wee. I tell him over and over again to go to his room if he wants to play with it. But he just cannot stop, he is addicted.

The other day he came up to me talking about something and playing with his member. I asked him to go to his room if he wants to do that but he could not stop. He smiled and continued on. I said, "son, stop then". Finally he pulled away as if a major force yanked his hands off. He continued to smile and then he looked like he was pondering something. Then it look like a light bulb went on in that brain of his. Then he said, "Mommy, do you want to play with my wee wee?"

Personality

Mr. Pookie is now 8-1/2 months old! This past month Pookie's personality has just flourished. He went from being a quiet, mellow, observant little baby to a vocal, busy baby on the move. He loves to climb and is a happy baby. He loves his cartoons (I know, bad mommy!) and to feed himself. He is cruising the furniture and his favorite place to play is at the train table. Recently I noticed that he is uncomfortable being around a lot of kids. For example, yesterday when we had a playgroup at our house, he sat there looking around at all the people, fussing. As soon as they started to leave, he looked at Pickle and squealed with a huge grin on his face. When they were all gone, he was back to his playful self. He loves his big brother, Pickle can do anything and make Pookie laugh (and because of this Mr. Noah has gotten even louder...can you believe that??).Interesting, Pookie and Pickle have/had the same crawl, a military crawl. You can see in the video the military crawl. What happened to my baby, he seems more like a little boy now.

I love this verse

5. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6. who gave himself as a ransom for all men--the testimony given in its proper time.

1 Timothy 2:5-6

Astoria, OR

Dan has been working like crazy, so this weekend we took a much need break away and drove up to Astoria. We loved it. I felt like I was in another country. We went to see the ships, Sea Lions (which we could hear loudly from our hotel room), wine tasting, Fort Stevens, Firefighters Museum and Astoria column. We went over the big bridge that took us into WA. We had a lot of fun and adventure...and some vomit on the way home.

Big Chair

Handsome Hubby & Sweet Boy

Self-portrait

Firefighter on the way

Potty break