Well, it seems as though the holidays went too fast again this year. We had a Christmas tree hunt after we returned from Thanksgiving to get it started. The kids were great on our hunt and Santa was there as well. Cooper mostly just wanted to point and smile at him though, he didn't actually get close to him! 


We took lots of walks to the park and Cooper went on his first boat trip down the river on a field trip with preschool (Dada got to go with him and take pictures)! We also took advantage of a twofer at Zoolights (2 for 1 tickets). It was so much fun to take the kids out and have them see all the lights. We even got to see the big elephant!


We spent Christmas Eve with some family, Billy and Brynne and their daughter Claude. We had a delicious turkey and all the good stuff that goes with it. The kids got to play and it was a good way to spend our time waiting for Santa to get here! After getting the kids to sleep, Ryan and I drank hot chocolate and watched Elf which I'm thinking is the beginning of a new and incredible Christmas tradition! I love that movie, it always makes me laugh. I was so excited for Christmas morning I could barely stand it. The kids got all kinds of fun books and new clothes and building blocks. Cooper got TONS of hotwheels from Santa which is pretty much all he wanted (those and a plane but luckily Santa was able to sneak in some matchbox planes!). Olivia got this awesome little walker/pusher thing. She doesn't need help walking but she ABSOLUTELY loves to sit in something and have her brother push her around. She also likes pushing it around while there are things in it. She sometimes likes falling out of it too, just depends on her mood! Santa brought Ryan a bunch of fun stuff for brewing beer as well as some other goodies and I got an awesome new camera!! I'd been wanting a point and shoot for awhile so we have a smaller camera to take with us on quick trips to the park and it is such a cool one! I've been using it almost everyday! 


We hung out all day mostly in our pajamas (cause why would we need to get dressed on Christmas?). We had a great dinner that night, which almost made up for my epic failure of a pull apart (note to self... frozen bread rolls that have been in the freezer for over a year are definitely not still good). 


The next day, Nonna and Papa came to visit and we had another Christmas! The kids always enjoy having Nonna and Papa around and Ryan and I take advantage by going out on dates. We went to an early dinner on New Years Eve and ended up ringing in the actual new year with my parents! I don't remember when I've last made it until midnight... so pathetic. 


The weather here has been gorgeous and we have been taking advantage of it as much as possible with trips to the park and just spending time outside. In Olivia news... she is oddly fantastic at blowing her nose, something that I think is a definite skill to have. I remember being in the third grade and having my teacher try to explain to all of us the 'proper way' to blow our noses (she was a bit off though, right Colette?? :) ). She is also really excited to test out the strength of her head and she does so by falling on her face as often as possible. As soon as we get one scratch or bruise all healed up, she makes sure to put a mark on some other part of her face! 


Happy New Year everybody!! Here's to a wonderful and healthy 2012!


~ Ahna and Ryan

This is what it's doing in Phoenix right now. Coincidentally, it rained almost 3 inches in two days in Portland while we were gone. It's gorgeous in both places right now (although people who have lived here for many years would say we are crazy and more than one person from work emailed while I was gone to tell me they were jealous, weird).

We started out our Thanksgiving week in Tucson with a lovely family get together on Sunday, but not before Cooper gave himself a bath in my Mom and Dad's pond. He was feeding the fish and thought maybe he could test out his new swim skills?? Luckily, my Dad seems to have brushed up on his cat like reflexes and he grabbed Cooper by the foot before he was in the cold water for too long. He was perfectly fine and wanted to go back out to the pond later in the week when we got there.

We had great food and good times down in Tucson. We love being able to see as many people as possible when we visit but it is so hard to get it all in. When we can get the family together in one place, it gives us a chance to see everybody. I was in awe of Ryan's younger cousins who have grown into beautiful teenagers (or preteens) and I was just staring at them for many moments thinking about how they were about two, three and five when I first met them. I used to swing them around by the arms and give them piggy backs and now they are doing those very same things to our kids. The next night was our annual Brothers Extravaganza where just the brothers and their wives get together for some quality time. We had the kiddos with us so Cooper and Olivia got some good time in with their little cousins, Jalyn and Emree. This dinner is so special to me because I get time with some amazing women and with the boys that Ryan grew up with. He has wonderful brothers and I am so happy to be a part of the family. We missed out on some loved ones but hope to see everyone again soon.

We made our way back to Phoenix for the rest of the week where Coop and O spent countless hours out in the backyard running around. Just when I thought they would collapse from exhaustion... Brody showed up and they did it all over again! Phoenix is beautiful in November and we enjoyed every minute of it. We had Thanksgiving up at Auntie and Unc's place this year. We were there all day and made sure to pack it in. We had some Christmas cookies to eat decorate, some Wii Boxing to play, some water to swim in, and oh yeah, some turkey to eat.

The boys LOVED getting in the spool but I was most surprised by Olivia. She has always loved the water, she usually tries to get in her baths fully clothed because she is so excited. She'll throw one leg up on the tub and just look at us like, 'let's do this, I've been waiting forever for a bath.' I digress... We put her in their spool (spa and a pool), and she was actually KICKING her legs around and using her arms! She kept trying to just fall into the water. Hopefully I can get her started on swim lessons soon as well, I can tell she wants it.

It was another wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. I am so lucky to have the husband and children I have and we are lucky that we have wonderful family and friends to celebrate our holidays with. We couldn't have asked for a better week.  I can't BELIEVE the holidays are here again!!

~Ahna

Our Halloween weekend started out with some cookie baking and some craft making. Cooper thought it was necessary to do all our Halloween fun in his costume and Baby Sister needed to do the same. So they dressed up while they made cookies and glued ghost eyes on paper plates and ate cookies. It was great. Mama did most of the craft making and the cookie baking... but the kids were really good at cookie eating!

Our weekend continued Saturday night with this... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p1Ty-8xNxo. Apparently every year there is something called Thrill Portland in which a bunch of people dress up like zombies, show up at the same time, in the same spot, and dance to Thriller. Could there be a better way to start out Halloween? I think not. It was epic. I think I'm going to try and do it next year!

We had some friends over Sunday for dinner and fun and then Halloween was here! Cooper had a halloween carnival at preschool and then both the kids came to my office for some office trick or treating. A bunch of people I work with have little kids (or grandkids) and I thought it would be so cute to have them come in and trick or treat at people's desks. It was adorable. We took pictures of all the kids and a lot of people really had a great time getting to meet families and give out candy. We had lots of smiles that day.

Ryan and the kids (and by that I mean Ryan) carved pumpkins later that day and they turned out awesome. Then it was time to trick or treat and I was stuck at work. Ryan ended up taking the kids out to a bunch of houses in our neighborhood and I didn't make it home until it was too late for Olivia. I did get to take Cooper out to a few houses so that was fun but I couldn't believe I missed trick or treating with them. That is not something that will happen again next year. We didn't have very many trick or treaters and when we were walking in the neighborhood we could see lots of houses with the lights off. It's not like it used to be. A lady I work with said she took her daughter to the mall and there were people STANDING IN LINE at the stores that were handing out candy! Why don't people trick-or-treat at houses anymore?

Hope everybody had a Happy Halloween!

~Ahna