The Holiday Express

Last weekend we took the boys on the Holiday Express.  It's an old steam engine that's been restored and decorated for Christmas.  We took a 40 minute ride along the Willamette River during which Santa made an appearance.   Nolan made sure to sit on Santa's lap and fill him in on his Christmas wishes!

Quinn's 6 months

Time does fly by!  You hear that expression all the time but I never cease to be amazed how quickly moments pass.  On Nov. 22nd, Quinn turned 6 months old.  How did half of a year go by already?  We are having so much fun with him now.  He really has become a much happier baby in the past 3 months.  He now tips the scales at 20 lbs. 8 oz. and is 28 in. long.  No lightweight! He seems bound and determined to catch up with big brother.  He is extremely active and reaching milestones pretty rapidly.  He is nearly ready to sit up unassisted and is starting to scoot around while on his hands and knees.  In the meantime he rolls everywhere.  Nolan says, "Momma, Quinny's gonna roll all the way to Costco!" The pediatrician's words of advice at his checkup were "baby proof like crazy!"  The only thing he hasn't done yet that we would really like him to do is sleep through the night on a regular basis. He has done it, but very sporadically.  We will be working on this while I'm off for Christmas break in a few weeks.  As you can imagine, it's very tiring when I'm up with him in the middle of the night and have to work with twenty seven 9/10 year olds the next day.  Other than that, life is good! Here are some updated photos of our little whirlwind!

Turkey Day

We had a nice Thanksgiving,  We went to my parents for the day.  Nolan really got into the variety of food this year!  He ate some of just about everything and was particularly into the turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and of course the pie.  He ate a whole piece of pumpkin pie by himself and later we caught him licking the pie server from the marion berry pie.  Mmmm! Luckily, everyone else had already served theirs.  Quinn got a few sweet potatoes and some applesauce (the Gerber variety) so he was happy!    Nolan and his twin cousins, Carter and Jacob also had fun chasing each other around Grandma's house.  Here are a few photos from the day.

Boring!

My apologies for this boring blog that hasn't been updated in a month!  I do have a passable excuse.  I returned to work!  Overall it has been a pretty smooth transition.  The boys have adjusted well to daycare and preschool.  It helps that Daddy is home with them every Friday.  I  have also had quite a bit of time off this month and in three weeks I'll be off for Christmas so I'll be able to spend two weeks at home with the boys.  Maybe I'll be better about blogging then.  We hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving with their families!

Happy Halloween

We had a very full and fun Halloween!  Nolan had a fun little party at his preschool Wee Works followed by a parade around the neighborhood in costumes.  The parade ended at Fleur d' Lys Bakery where the kids all received their own cookie decorated like a pumpkin.  I think this was Nolan's favorite part.  

Later that afternoon we went to the Halloween party at my classroom.  Since I am returning to work on Monday I told my 4th graders I would bring the boys down and attend their party.  Nolan was a little overwhelmed by the big kids at first but got into watching them the longer we were there.  Quinn enjoyed being fought over by all the moms in the room.  Everyone wanted to hold him!

We finished our Halloween with a round of trick-or-treating with the neighborhood kids.  Quinn rode in the stroller while Nolan tromped around with the other kids saying "I've got to get some more candy!" and "Mommy, are we going to another house?"  I think it's safe to say that he likes Halloween.

One Potato, Two Potato, Sweet Potatoes!

Here are some pictures of Quinn enjoying the newest delicacy to be introduced to his diet, sweet potatoes. Yum!

Smashing Pumpkins!

Last Friday we took the boys to the zoo for the annual "Squishing of the Squash."  Basically they bring out  these enormous pumpkins and give them to the elephants who then smash them to bits and eat them.  Who knew that elephants liked pumpkins?  Nolan thought this was pretty cool!  There's also a photo here of the new baby elephant at the zoo.

Bob the Builder

Our local children's museum has a great exhibit on Bob the Builder right now.  Since Nolan is into everything construction I took him a few weeks ago.  We had a great time!

Quinn's Baptism

Yesterday was a special day for our family as we had Quinn baptized.  The baptism took place at our parish, Holy Family.  We chose my sister Sarah and my good friend Brenda to be co-godmothers to Quinn.  We know that they will both play an important role in Quinn's life.  Quinn did very well with the whole thing, sitting through the 1 1/2 hour service and having water poured over his head without making a peep.  The most special part of the day was that Nolan got to help baptize his baby brother.  I know that Nolan felt important as he helped get Quinn all wet!

The Pumpkin Patch

We decided to take full advantage of the beautiful fall weather this past weekend and take our family trip to the pumpkin patch.  We went to Lakeview Farms for the third year in a row.  This is such a great place for kids.  Quinn loved being outside and Nolan enjoyed picking out pumpkins for the whole family.  He couldn't quite figure out why all the pumpkins were dirty though.  Every time we would pick one up from the ground he would say, "Oh no! It's all dirty guys!" Here are some photos of our time at "the patch!"

Our Beach Trip

Having a new baby in the house doesn't lend itself well to traveling.  That along with airline price hikes kept us from taking our usual trip east to visit Joel's family.  So this summer we vacationed on a much smaller scale and spent 4 days in Manzanita on the Oregon coast.  We rented a great little cabin about 2 blocks from the beach and lucked out with amazing weather.  Nolan had a blast.  His favorite thing was "catching waves" as he puts it.  He loved to run up, wait for a wave to come in, and then run away from it screaming the whole way.    After doing this for awhile he would get brave and just go splashing in.  Of course Joel or I were right there with him so it made for cold feet for us!  Quinn seemed to like the beach too.  He loves to be outside and I think he liked watching the waves with us.  Manzanita also had a great park, so we took Nolan to that a few times.  That combined with a few dinners out and ice cream too made for a fun and full few days!  Here are some pictures of our favorite guys on the beach!