Father's Day

Rob's Father's Day was certainly extra special this year. I mean, I did make sure one of the best gifts of all was delivered on time:). All kidding aside, I can't imagine having children or sharing a life with anyone else. He's an amazing father and I've loved watching him as we've both grown as parents with Macadam. Now we have this beautiful little girl and she'll be so lucky to have a dad who will love and support her as only Rob can. 

We had a great time celebrating Rob with early morning presents and family cuddle time followed by breakfast with friends and fun at the farmer's market. 

Scenes from the weekend

Last weekend was practically picture perfect - warm, sunny, plenty of family time, walks, time with friends. Hard to believe it could be one of our last as a family of three!!!

You're hilarious! No, you are!

While there are a ton of fun pictures from our outings over the weekend, I had to post this series of Macadam and Henry. Henry's parents and I went to U of O together and live in Redmond but we definitely do not see each other enough. Henry and Mac are just two weeks apart in age and Henry recently welcomed a baby sister, Reese, in March. Needless to say, they have a lot in common. We met over at the Microsoft campus since they have a pretty sweet venue for rainy weekends and kids. The boys warmed up to each other and then spent the next two hours playing soccer, biking, scooting, running, jumping, crashing, you name it, while we adults chatted and admired the sweet cuddle bug that is Reese.

One of my favorite moments was the below - Macadam and Henry went back and forth pretend laughing and then laughing for real. Hilarity really did ensue. I think there was even some knee slapping for effect. Thank goodness for the free bevs on campus since these kids worked up a sweat with all the playing! And of course, one at the end of Reese - she's so cute and it was great to see into a window of life with a boy and baby girl!

Guys' weekend

While I was in Denver this last weekend for our annual U of O girls' weekend, Rob and Macadam had a special visitor. Grandpa Terry was in town and on Saturday, he and Macadam were busy having fun while Rob had a work event. It's always hard to be gone from my boys and it made me smile when I saw the pictures Grandpa Terry sent us from their adventures. Macadam and his dad had a great time bonding too. I swear Mac is even more talkative and more a mini man than when I left. He told me all about the aquarium, playing soccer and basketball, and going to the park.

I had a fantastic time with the ladies, both friends and two of the newest members of the crew, Anna (9 months)and Charlotte (3 months). We had beautiful weather, lovely times out and about in Denver and Boulder as well as plenty of time to catch up and laugh. They also threw me a surprise shower, which was such a treat and much fun to show Rob the goodies when I returned. While we all live far apart it's nice that we each live in pretty great cities and towns to visit.

Here's the shots from Grandpa Terry (thanks for sending)!!

Happy New Year!

We had a lovely evening ringing in the new year with our good friends and it continued this morning with a walk on one of the most beautiful of cold, winter mornings. Macadam loved having the Mastans sleep over. His first words this morning (after he pretended to be sleeping by fake snores) was, "Where Ali go?" He was delighted when I said they were downstairs.
We think 2011 is going to be a good one, and wish the same to all of our wonderful friends and family.

O, Christmas Tree

A best laid plan. We'd originally been scheduled to head out into the wintery wonderland of wilderness with some good friends and chop down a tree with a permit, followed by sledding and roasting things over a fire. The weather and our immune systems had other plans. Instead, we made the most of a record rainfall and had our friends over for a delicious brunch and then headed to Swanson's for reindeer, a camel, miniature donkey and koi. Those are the four animals you think of for Christmas, right:)? Macadam and Natalia loved it. Afterwards we made a game of looking for pinecones in a local park and then headed to support our local boy scout troop by buying our tree from them.

It turned out to be such a fun day and we stayed relatively dry and were close to home. By the evening the tree was dry and we started the trimming. Mac helped this year with hanging ornaments and so far does more to keep them on there than take them off.

Here are some fun shots from the day!

Ho ho ho!

The holidays are the best yet as Macadam understands the whole magic of Santa and our little friend, The Elf on the Shelf. We discovered the elf a few years ago thanks to our friends, the Boyers, and while last year Mac was excited to find him every morning, this year he's ecstatic. The book itself, we think, did a ton to make it so Macadam was okay with hanging out with Santa. We were invited to go on the Santa Train this year, and what a fun trip! It's on a train from the early 20th century that they've restored and runs from North Bend to Snoqualmie, just a 20 minute train ride and then the kids get to meet Santa and listen to carolers. We were shocked that Macadam not only sat on Santa's lap but he kind of even jumped into it. While shy, he was super happy and excited when with him. It was adorable and so fun to see. In fact, out of the six kids in our group, no one lost it. After Santa, we had some warm cookies and hot chocolate before getting back on the chilly train. We even had VIP treatment from a sweet conductor who is friends with one of ours. He gave the kids train whistles - which to some other adults was not the gift of music:).

Mac doesn't say Santa. He says, "Ho, ho, ho" and "lap." Maybe by next year, he'll have his name down:).

Thanksgiving part I

Before we headed down to Oregon for our family tour, we had a lovely little Thanksgiving celebration at home. It started with a snowy visit to the coffee shop, chatting with friends, then a day of cooking, movies and eating. Macadam, at first, looked to be revolting against Thanksgiving fare and then he went crazy for cranberry and the turkey leg, it was hilarious and surprising. While I always think we should do more throughout the year to remember how lucky we are in life, there are few holidays that match for tradition, coziness, love, and delicious food as Thanksgiving does. It's more and more fun as Mac gets older too, which makes me even more thankful for a happy, healthy and whole family.
More photos from family time in Oregon to follow!

Let it snow

We had three days of wicked weather here in Seattle. Luckily, we were able to stay close to home once it got really bad. The good? Snow on the ground and a little guy who loves it. Early Monday morning Macadam insisted it was tickling him and by Tuesday afternoon it was his snow, or rather, "my snow." What's the point of anything if it can't be yours alone. At least to a two-year old, everything is his:).

Here are some shots from yesterday afternoon and bit of the snow had melted, as well as a walk on Sunday which had him getting prepared with his cold weather gear.

Happy Halloween!

Macadam patiently handled his costume and won many a heart around Ballard today. Actually, more laughs. He was asked many times if people could take photos of him and with him, very cute. He and his friends had a blast together and I have to say, it was so much fun to watch him enjoy all the tradition and frenzy of it all. Once he figured out that people gave you candy if there was a bucket in your hand, watch out. He was loving it!

Here was the inspiration (in case you haven't seen Nacho Libre):

He wanted nothing to do with a mask so it became his candy bucket cozy.

Squash, rain, fun

A couple of weekends ago we made our annual trip to Bainbridge to a sweet little pumpkin patch. We went there even before Macadam came along and it's quickly become a tradition. Before venturing into mud, we ate some yummy food and enjoyed spending time with good friends. It's so cute to see Mac react to our plans. I told him we were going to the pumpkin patch, "Yay!" I told him and we were going to see Aunt Marissa and Uncle Ali and that got a, "Yay!" plus two arms in the air. So cute!

More festivities

After celebrating Mac's birthday with his friends, we entered a weekend of non-stop family and friends. In addition to getting to see all his grandparents, Macadam also got to see his cousins, Aunt, Uncle, Olivia and Ryan as well as have an extra play date with his buddy Jack. He had so much fun, and was spoiled to the nines. It was so nice to have so many of those close to us celebrate him!

It's still slideshows galore as we get caught up, but there's some very cute moments caught on film.

Really, he's two?

 We are almost in a constant state of disbelief around here that Macadam is two now. Every age and stage has been a favorite for me but this new age of super chatty, super active and super opinionated is easily vying for one of the best yet. Macadam constantly has us in stitches with his humor, conversational skills and undying desire to do things "by me" which is Macadamese for let me do it on my own. The independence days have arrived as you can get him to do practically anything if the alternative is you carrying him:).
September 3rd marked his second birthday and it wasn't but within a week where it seemed he was saying new things, more things, and just all around blossoming. He loved getting to celebrate with a few of his small friends and then individual time with grandparents (will post those photos soon).

Some of Mac's favorite things at the ripe old age of two:
Trucks - mainly garbage (garbee) but not terribly discrimantory
Horses - everything can be turned into a stick horse
Music - guitars, his new keyboard, castanets, you name it, such as a parent's head, is a musical instrument
Feed the Frog - his favorite band, which plays at the Ballard Farmers Market
Sports - football, soccer, basketball, all sports. He dragged me six blocks the other week just to go to his favorite sports bar (slightly frightening) aka our favorite family friendly happy hour spot which plays sports
Hugs and kisses
1,2,3 - Go! - A fun game which consists of him running back and forth between the kitchen and living room or any space really
Tuck tuck - being tucked in
Please and thank you - seriously crowning achievement on the parental list for us right now
Little Bear - recently edged out Elmo for favorite weekly tv time
Shoes - I think it's hazard of Rob's job but this kid knows shoes and loves wearing them:)
Stalling tactics - he knows what's coming and works out ways to delay such things as bedtime, diaper changes and leaving fun places
I'll post more pics from the weekend soon!

Well, it's been awhile

Before jumping into the new year - here's a collection of highlights from last month and the end of a pretty busy, fun and wonderful year. Let's hope 2010 brings plenty more adventures, good health and time to share with family and friends.

As for our holiday season - it was rather fantastic. While we missed not getting to see family and friends as we typically do during the holidays in Oregon, it was so nice to stay close to home and just enjoy our little family of three. In between walks, good food and other celebrations, Macadam loved it. He wasn't sure what to do when the tree was gone but loves his new little play area as he loves, loves, loves to sit at tables.

The obligatory pumpkin patch post

After seeing that basically everyone we know went to the pumpkin patch in the last two or three weeks, it comes with little surprise that we, too, went to the pumpkin patch. We took advantage of our only weekend we were all three in town together at the beginning of the month and tagged along with Lila and her parents to go to a pumpkin patch on Bainbridge Island. We went here a couple of years ago with John and Jen and loved it then. While we didn't follow the visit with a tasting at the nearby winery, we enjoyed a delicious brunch and watching the little ones get their first real slice of fall.