Snow days

Snow in November?  We got some, like many of you, over the last few days.  I did go to work yesterday (Monday) and thought to myself as I got there in 35 minutes (no traffic or delays takes me 25 minutes), "what's the big deal?!".  Well I found out trying to get home at 9 PM sitting on the I-5 "parking lot", finally getting smart and heading over to another route home but still taking almost 3 hours.  My story was nothing compared to some that were stuck for 10 hours due to jack knifed semi-trucks...so we all decided to stay home today and enjoy the snow and sun!  Here's some of our fun :)

made this pic extra large to make sure you can see where the snow is measuring...yes, 7"

Halloween weekend trip to Long Beach....

......Washington that is, not California unfortunately :)  The last weekend in October Matt, Pam, Bethany and I, along with the 2 munchkins got together for a little down time together at a hotel/resort in Long Beach that was in fact on the beach.  We took advantage of the boardwalk that was right outside our room that went part way down the beach and went on many walks.  There was an outdoor swimming pool that we took the munchkins in one day.  The temperature outside was cold but the pool was very heated so we could enjoy some water time (although short).  On Halloween we didn't get dressed up and go trick or treating but we did try and carve some pumpkins.....I say try since it really amounted to us cutting a hole in the top and letting the kids play with the slime and seeds.  The last day we were there the sun came out and it even got hot!....well maybe warm is more accurate, but we were able to walk along the beach in t-shirts and munchie even got to play on the beach.

Fiona opening her present from Tad :)

hungry munchkins

our accommodations

walking on the boardwalk

bundled up babes

a new friend we met...and Pam's new man? :) (sorry George)

swimming in the 90 degree pool...it had to be that warm for anyone to be crazy enough to swim 

first taste of sand

"carving" pumpkins...in the bathroom :)

pumpkin weight lifter

mr. blue eyes

yummm....whipped cream!!

storm watching

monkey on the beach...she had so much fun crawling as fast as she could down the seemingly never ending expanse of sand

sitting in a hole eating sand....how much better can it get?!

1 Year old Fiona

Well, I can't say it feels like a year ago that Fiona came into our lives.  In some ways it seems just a few months ago we had a little newborn and in another it is getting harder to remember life without her.  She keeps us laughing and very busy as my fast little crawler loves to explore EVERYTHING!  So yes, she isn't walking yet but standing with out help and has even taken a "step" forward without realizing it before squatting down to crawling position to get to where she wants to go.  Our little miss definitely knows what she wants and she will let you know how displeased she is when she doesn't get it :)  I took her into the doctors on her birthday for her 1 year check up (i'm so nice, shots on her b-day!)...her doc just laughed when he saw her length (32.75 inches) which is way above the 99th % for her age, all he could say was "looks like you have a future volleyball player there".  Munchkin has stayed steady at the 50% for weight at 21.5 lbs and I hope I have her head circumference written down somewhere because I can't remember it at all!  Fiona eats like a champ, loves just about anything put in front of her but when she is done....onto the floor to feed Tasha it goes (did I mention she knows what she wants, or doesn't!)  She loves to "dance" to music (bouncing up and down), play in any water (bathtub, dog water), put things into containers (and take them out), and her naked time after her evening bath.  We love our little munchkin and hope that you have enjoyed watching her grow....there will much more to come!

My little monkey

 of course I'm not doing anything I shouldn't...

 Birthday morning pancakes

 Get ready for a bunch more photos.......Halloween weekend at Long Beach, 1st birthday party with cousin Tad and our week trip down to Corvallis and Roseburg to visit.  So I will get them all out as soon as I can :)