More January Adventures

We've had so many adventures this month - here are a few more to share!

Watching videos of Cars toys on the iPad

Playdates with Isla!

Not sure how this was comfortable, but this is how I found them watching Dora :)

She's been SO into doing puzzles lately - I love it!

LOTS of car races!

Playing with the Barbies big cousin, Emma, gave her!

Hugging/wrestling moves?

Teaching sissy how to play Grandpa Danner's guitar

And then this happened.  Pretty sure Talia's the one who showed Tristan how to do it.  Big talk after I found out they could this.  Not sure if it's sunk in with Talia yet.

What's the big deal, Mom?

More playdates with Isla!

They seriously love to hold hands in the car :)

Something only Talia could do...

And then Brian and I got to go out one night when some high school friends of mine were vacationing in Bend.  In fact, Jennie and I have been friends since kindergarten!

Soccer - Round 3!

Tristan is doing his third session of Soccer Tots and is loving it!  This is his first time he's done it in an indoor field, since he usually does it in the summer.  This is also the first time that his big cousin, Eli, is doing it with him!  It's been so fun watching him progress in his running, kicking and listening skills.  I can't wait to go to future soccer games and see if these early lessons have paid off! :)

He's the one in the blue shirt and shorts :)

SO much fun!

Springtime in January??!

So, after our quick winter fix, it was back to feeling like springtime again!  In fact, it's been warm enough during the day, that sometimes a coat is not needed at the park!  This has been one fickle winter...

First family fishing trip which turned into more of a hike around the river.  Couldn't find the right spot, but it was a fun adventure!

We were pretty intrigued by this tree

And park playdates!

Loving the pigtails these days!

Bike rides in January! (Don't be fooled by the face, she really had a good time :)

Even though it's been pretty mild during the day, the nights are still pretty cold.  We woke up to this beautiful scene one morning.  It looked like snow, but it was a heavy coating of frost and ice.  There's a name for it that I've never heard of, but I forget the term.  Whatever it is, it's pretty spectacular.

I still can't get over the fact that there can be spots of snow that will last for months here.  Even if the temps are in the 50s, the snow in the shade will not melt, as evidenced by this picture.  Snow in Portland lasts only until the next rainfall.  Maybe the snow lasts so long because it hardly rains here - I'll take it!

Of course Tristan found an opportunity for a race!

Paw-ee

I can hardly believe it, but Talia is trying to potty train herself right now!!  This is the third time in three days of her ripping off her diaper, running into the bathroom and going all on her own successfully!! She has been saying "paw-ee" and pointing to her diaper or running to her little potty chair (and sometimes sitting on it) for months now, but nothing ever came of it.  We just thought she was trying to be like her big brother (in fact, sometimes she would stand next to the toilet as she sees Tristan do :).  But in the past three days, she's gone to sit on it about 6 times, three of which has worked!  And each of those times, she's loved having Tristan across from her for encouragement.  They shut the door and tell me they want their privacy and then I hear excited voices yelling for me five minutes later! She is so proud of herself when she's done, that so far all she's needed from us is a high five afterward.  Hopefully this trend continues!!

 

Talia's cheerleader :)

Alberts in Bend!

Since it was a 3-day weekend, the Alberts came over for a mini-vacay.  In fact, Brian has been best friends with Micky since kindergarten!  Good times were had by all 12 of us!

Best buds for 20 years

Hard to believe Emma & Payton were in our wedding when they were just five.  And Willow was only a baby then. They are all so grown up now!

Our big crew heading out on a hike!

Somehow he ended up with both kids for a short period of time

Beautiful

Who are these big kids?? 

This seems to happen every time she's strapped into this pack - it just lulls her to sleep :)

Another fun time with the Alberts!

More Home Improvements - 1 year later

Entryway before - pretty bland.  We took this old bench we had and chopped off the top of it, adding knobs to the top to finish it.

After - Michelle made these pillows for us, Brian made the coat rack and then we added the shoe and hat/glove baskets.  Gotta love a cheap DIY project!

Playroom before

And pretty messy...

Gives me the shakes just looking at it - we need some organization in here!!

Turned the bookshelf into a Marketplace - part of the kids' Christmas present!

Added a bookshelf and organizers under the map - SO much better!  The kids also got a table and chairs for Christmas, which comes in handy for movie nights!!  We're just going to add a stage in the corner for the music area, some curtains, organizers in the closet and then we're pretty much done - yea!

Organized rooms are SO much better!

Such a fun space, even I end up spending hours of play time in here :)

The Guest Room - almost complete!  Just need to add the curtains, paint the walls and hang up a few more items.  Getting closer!

And the list continues... Hoping to paint the rest of the walls, finish the loft, add a few more items to Talia & Tristan's rooms, finishing touches on the laundry room & office and do a few more things to our master, etc., etc... Wishful thinking :)