Monday, January 23, 2017

Heidi at Four!

 We are so thankful for our little January girl!  The Heidi-bug certainly brings a lot of joy and laughter to our family.  She is generally happy-go-lucky.  Except when she is not.  And then there is no way to reason with her.  She keeps us on our toes with her questions and all of the little things she notices.  At school they tell us she is the biggest helper and sets a great example for the other kids (she's pretty much the oldest in the pre-school class).  She loves her ballet class and taking swim lessons with her little friend, Clara.  She also loves her cousin, Lauren, and friend, Emma.  Heidi still loves her grey bunny and wants to sleep with it (although we did finally get rid of the binky this year!).  She's looking forward to getting to play basketball (Biddy Ball Clinic) and take skiing lessons this spring!  She is quite the confident little thing who is very affectionate with her family and others she knows - winning just about everyone over!  We can't wait to see what the next year brings for her!




Snowy Portland

 We headed to Portland to watch 'The Fly Guy' at the Newmark Theater.  Portland was hit with about a foot of snow - and was quite the winter wonderland.  It was fun to get to see it (and thankful we weren't stuck in it - or have school cancelled for a week!).  The girls loved the play and we stopped in at Petunia's afterwards for treats, of course!


Happy Birthday Heidi!

 Our Heidi-bug is a big 4-year-old!  We celebrated by going to a basketball game, of course!  She loved having some friends at the game with her and since it was a mid-day game we had time afterwards to go and meet the players.  The girls love getting autographs and pictures with any player they can find!

We ended the day out at dinner with friends - Heidi was very proud of her 'Elsa Cake' complete with an Elsa Lego set she assembled mostly by herself!

Friday, January 13, 2017

January Snow Day

 Well, this winter is one for the books.  We had yet another snow day...this time on a Saturday so we were all able to enjoy it.  And I feel like the only pictures I take these days are snow pictures...it was fun to get some with great big flakes!





 Heidi liked laying face-down in the snow and getting it to stick to her goggles!




 Our friends from the next street over came to play with us, too.  The girls enjoyed having friends to ride on sleds with, the wore Mark out spinning them on the street!



Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Game Time

 We decided since we only missed 1 or 2 OSU women's basketball games last year it was time for season tickets.  We still do general admission tix so the girls can have more room for wiggles but we're finding they are getting quite good at watching the games.  We've enjoyed having something to look forward to thru the winter....even if we're watching the away games on t.v.

Mark went ahead and pulled Allison out of school for the field trip day (the 3rd-5th grades from her school were there, too, so next year she won't actually be skipping).  Our favorite player, Sydney, put on quite the show for the kids...unfortunately many of them weren't able to make it due to an incoming ice/snow storm.
 Allison wanted a picture with Marie (the 6-5 forward) since her middle name is Marie.
 On the first day of 2017 I found some of my first college friends from 1997....at the basketball game all watching our coach do some pretty amazing things.
Allison always wants to go down and see Sydney after games....and the Washington game was in the middle of the day...and Sydney won the battle of the Sr. point guards that day with an amazing performance and smile to go with it...so we had to!  I was a little surprised to have Heidi following behind and Sydney motioned to her to join them in the pic - and she walked right in.  Gotta love it....she's an amazing player and the kids LOVE her even as basically a complete stranger!  Looking forward to a few more games this season - thankfully some of there toughest contests are already behind them and they have weather them well!  Go Beavs!

Gingerbread Houses 2016

 We have a tradition of making gingerbread houses with our friends the DeRoss' - this year we had a few other families join us and the girls had so much fun.  Allison was dressed for the Beavers game we went to afterwards....with the t-shirt she caught at one of the games.  We've since had her start layering it!


(Okay so this wasn't a part of party but I didn't know where else to put it! :))

Around Alaska

 We always love the view from Mom & Dad's house...especially on a cold and frosty day.
 These four cousins enjoyed watching movies and reading books together pretty much all week.

 We were able to spend an evening with our friends, the Frey's.  

 Heidi had tucked in all her little Christmas treasures into her bed.  And she loved having matching PJs with her new Willa doll.

Mark and I enjoyed a ride on the Iditarod trail with Dad, Keet & Hannah.
 Allison had a fun afternoon skiing with Uncle Keeton - world's best ski instructor!
 'Quiet Time' - we tried to get that to happen most days....
The whole family survived an epic photo session complete with snow (and a rescheduling due to cold) so it was decided Grammy needed to treat the family to lunch....including special treats for the kiddos (and truth be told she wasn't feeling well so we were just trying to get some calories in her!)
 A trip to the Experimental Farm to find animals....we did find a baby moose that is definitely used to being fed by humans!


 Heidi didn't have any planned naps all trip - so by the end we found her like this at some point on most days!
 She loves Grr.  And her new pet Giraffe - Topper.
A send-off breakfast with the Freys.
 Allison always loves playing with Uncle Keeton's old stuffed huskies on her visits so she decided to buy one this trip with her own money.
 We found three bears at the airport!
They love seeing the moose in the airport every time!