A Winter Day at the Beach

We were a little over ambitious this year and attempted to make 1 to many Christmas gifts. One of our first ideas was to make magnets out of wood pieces that we collected from a nearby beach. The pieces we chose seemed like they would be nice once they dried, but instead ended up looking pretty dull...so we had to change our plans.

Regardless, we had a blast running around the beach in the freezing cold! Nolan was so excited chasing the seagulls around I thought he might end up passing out!!!

Christmas Card Attempts

I was pretty adamant about buying the kids Christmas outfits this year...thinking we would for sure get some great family photos for Holiday cards. Unfortunately, after about 3 separate photo shoots, I realized I was never going to get that "perfect shot." Charlotte was teething (and kept making goofy faces) and Nolan...was just being Nolan.

Oh well, at least they show everyone's true character!

The photo shoot below started out with me bribing Nolan with candy and promising him he could continue playing in the sandbox when we were all done...

Accomplishments

We have had some pretty BIG accomplishments are around this house lately!

First off, we finished painting our upstairs! it only took us about 5 weeks (I was hoping it would take 1 or 2)! Now we can finally take some time off and relax in the evening...I wish!...I have some big plans for the kids bedrooms that I need to get started on so maybe I can relax in a few months.

Secondly, Charlotte starting crawling just a few days ago! She's not super fast yet and she is only interested in crawling if she really wants something, but that's ok with me, I am in no hurry to have a 2nd child getting into everything around the house!

Lastly (and most importantly), Nolan is finally potty trained! I had a goal to train him before his 3rd birthday and he has done so much better then I thought (poor guy I totally underestimated him). I started giving him a piece of his Halloween candy every time he went potty, and then I realized that he was getting WAY TO MUCH CANDY! So, we went to the store and bought a cheep little gumball machine, which I replaced with skittles. Now he gets 2 or 3 skittles instead of a whole piece of candy which still seems like a lot because I swear that kid can 'go' on command (and by that I mean his own command)!

I know what your thinking...
"Why don't you just give him a non-candy prize when he goes potty?"
Well, I tried that, but he immediately threw my gift to the floor and shouted "Treat Treat!" - I'm afraid he is going to be like 12yrs old and still asking for treats every time he goes potty!

Halloween!

Peter Pan and Tinkerbell had a blast 'Trick-or-Treating' around our new neighborhood last week! Nolan was literally shaking with excitement as we walked from house to house!...although for some reason almost every house we went to had little yapping dogs that would scare Nolan every time he rang the doorbell. But he didn't let that stop him, he just started making us hold him when we got to each doorstep!

I made both kids little felt slippers to match their outfits but I unfortunately lost one of Charlotte's after Grandma's Robin's Halloween Bash last Saturday... and of course I should have known it would be wet and rainy here in WA, so Nolan had to wear his regular shoes instead.

Do The Puallup!

A couple of weeks ago we took our first trip back to the Puallup fair in 9 YEARS! Our last trip was just before Abe left on his mission! I don't know about any one else, but I am 'all in favor' of the fair adding some new food options! Regardless, we had a blast and Nolan was completely content just watching the rides and flashing lights (although we did end up letting him ride a few before we left). 

Summer 2012

This summer has been just a little on the crazy side with a lot of big changes! We left our quaint little rental in Farmington, NM and move back to the Great Northwest into a VERY quaint and little bedroom in my parents basement. I'm pretty sure we will never complain about being in a small house again...seeing as we are currently surviving with 4 people in 1 bedroom! It's not awful, just a little tricky putting the little ones to bed at different times (thank goodness our Charlotte is such a great sleeper!).

We have had a great memorable time living in our tight quarters but are excited to move into the home we purchased in just a couple short weeks!... (photos to come soon).

One of the great pluses to living at my parents is Nolan gets to attend my Mom's preschool 3 days a week! He literally wakes up, get dressed, and comes straight into a room full of toys and friends (he is going to be so bored when we leave!)

Charlotte, now 6 months old, is getting so big! She sits up all by herself and has started eating baby-food. Although I still feel like I have her attached to my hip, she is really a very happy baby and now sleeps 12 hrs through the night!!!

Abe has been liking his new job (just not the commute). He is pretty much doing the same as he was with his other company only now he is working on a "mixed-use" building in Mercer Island.

Our summer has been quite eventful (hence the lack of blogging), here's a re-cap of our favorite parts...

A late 4th of July celebration at home in Farmington, about 2 weeks before the big move...

The Move - After a long day of packing, we found that Nolan had slid an empty box in front of the TV and hopped inside so he could watch "Alvin & the Chipmunks." Abe packed almost the entire moving truck by himself. We were both up every night until the wee hours of the morning cleaning and packing for just about 2 straight weeks. 

A quick stop in Utah on the way to WA, we had so much fun hanging with the Garza's and Grandma & Grandpa Flatebo...

My Morning Jacket, SLC!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A trip to McCall, Idaho without the husbands (no Abe or Jake) ...defiantly not as easy with 2 kids, but we still had a blast!

A visit from Ben and Chelsea, we miss you already!...