Little Man Baby Shower

Erin will be welcoming her new little man into the world here in a couple weeks! So what better way to help her prepare then hostessing a "Little Man" baby shower? We had mustaches, neck ties, and little bow ties all over the place!

Mary was out of town so she headed up the last minute stuff like food prep/planning and Kim and I took care of the rest! With Kim living so close now and there being so many snow days this month we found ourselves doing lots of baby shower prep!

If only I had a cricut or a silhouette we wouldn't have had to hand cut all those toothpick toppers.. next Christmas?? (Thats a big hint for you my hubby)

All the guests "wet their whiskers" since each cup had a mustache glued on too!

What's a manly party without a couple cigars?


The pregnant guest of honor herself. She looks so cute and ready to pop, huh?

The spread- Can't have a bow tie theme without bow tie pasta salad!

So many mustaches..even on each of the dum dums!

None of the decorations went to waste. Diaper cake, diaper bow ties on the piano and strung elsewhere, and of course the little onesies with tiny bow ties and ties will be used eventually!


This was a fun sewing project and this more than anything made me wish I had a little boy!

No one was let into the party until they were wearing a bow tie and had made a stop at the "photo booth".

Erin's sister totally surprised her and flew in for the event. From Alaska!! Her little baby sure looks cute with a mustache!

Her sister headed up the games and the main game was pretty hilarious. It was a game involving candy bars, jokes, and matching pregnancy related phrases.

I love those dum dums. The suckers... not my friends..hehe. I'm not saying I don't love my friends. Confused yet? Me too.

All the framed photos got lil staches too. I can't bring myself to update that photo of Julie- its too precious.

We had a good turn out considering all the last minute cancellations- 17 people total. Although, looking at all the presents Erin got you would have thought there were 100+ people in attendance. She got some good stuff!

My Sunbeam

Lizzie is in Primary now! She has graduated from the little kid nursery and been moved up to the big kid Primary where her Mom spends her Sundays teaching the children! Its been very exciting to see her in there sitting in her chair and participating so well.

She must have gotten my lucky raffle genes because on her first day in Primary, the singing leader was playing a game where she draws names from a jar and whoever's name is pulled gets to throw a bean bag into a bowl to choose some fun way to sing the next song like "while marching" or "humming". So her first day in and the first name pulled was none other than Lizzie. She was beyond ecstatic and has been loving Primary since. I may be in the Primary Pres. but I promise it wasn't rigged! :)

She has an excellent teacher and gets very excited to see Mrs. P every week! She's soaking it all up and tells me about how she learns about Jesus each week. Very precious!

18 months old

Julie is 18 months old now and these pictures were taken on her very first day in nursery! It is official now- she is old enough to join the little kids Sunday school class which means she doesn't have to tag along with us to our Sunday meetings- which she so loves to disrupt! Surprisingly, she did great on her first day and didn't miss us at all. Thats credit to how good the teachers are to her there.

Julie is a little chatter box when you get her going. She can be shy around people at times and you may think the only word she says is "Mama" but when she is at home and comfortable she talks up a storm and can repeat just about any word back at you.




In the picture she's starting to pat her tummy. She loves this little song that goes, "pat your tummy, pat, pat your tummy!" and she will often lift up her shirt, pat her tummy and do a little dance while chanting, "tummy!"

Julie is such a little sweetie these days. She is always smiley and happy and loves to be held and cuddled. If I even just start to sing her the "Julie" song she will melt in my arms and rub her eyes. I guess she's been conditioned since I sing it to her before bed every night.
Although she's not quite as innocent as she would have you believe. One moment she's smiling and clinging to my leg and the next she's dancing on top of the table and sneaking into the cupboards!
She is very motor oriented and a huge climber! She loves to climb on anything and everything. We have started with some potty training because she kept insisting! How can you deny a kid who says "potty?" Then sits on the potty with her diaper on, and does her business? I dont foresee her trained within the week but we are off to a good start and she understands what's going on.

Record Snow!

This picture was taken BEFORE the giant snow storm. This was our first snow day so we rushed out and built a snowman- our fam favorite snow activity! I was planning on making banana bread that day but sacrificed the idea for the snowman's mouth! We had a carrot for a good classic nose and made some eyes with Ritz crackers, blueberries, and frosting. Lizzie was thrilled.

Last night we had record snow within such a short time period. The Chicagoan in me always laughs at how everyone here gets so worked up about a couple snowflakes, but the Seattlite I've become totally gets excited too! There is much truth to the tale about there being NO snow plows and no salt on the roads. When it snows at all you are pretty much stuck at home.

So Dave's office closed for the day and we have been enjoying a true snow day. We drove a couple blocks to take the kids sledding (where we almost got stuck for good...like I said, NO plows or salt). Then we came home and enjoyed some hot cocoa!



The kitty hat is Lizzie's but Julie has fallen in love and screams to wear it whenever she sees it so Lizzie gave the ok for Julie to wear it!

Our front yard has been a great place to play and even the road is relatively safe considering we live on a court within a court.
It amused me that even when we walked to the main(ish) roads they were full of people sledding instead of cars. lol!

New Years with the fam in Chicago

Happy New Year! Its always a great start to the new year when you get to spend it with family! We had such a great time with everyone this year. It was great to have Trevor back and two new members of the family- Thomas and Landon!



6 grandkids? When did that happen? ;0)


Since we had everyone together we had to do some family pictures!

With so many kids around we made it a goal to get them out of the house for a fun activity at least once a day...or more! They got a lot of train experiences: Lunch at the train cafe,
and a visit to a family friend's house who has a whole train city!

Everyone had such thoughtful gifts this year, too. My dad made this clock for us-just stunning! He's getting so talented with his woodworking hobby!

He shared his talents with all the guys and they each made a chess board. I love that is a totally unique one of a kind, complete with our family letter- S!

We had so many good times: treasure hunt to the troll's bridge, running from the troll (who sounded alot like Trevor I might add) after stealing all his chocolate coins!, playing at the park, reading stories, laughing, playing games,

celebrating birthdays, and more birthdays, oh and one more birthday, kids New Year party, Adult New Year party, reading last years predictions, writing new ones, bunco, fondue, white elephant, the kids begging to watch pinocchio over and over again, and lots of sewing and woodworking creations in Santas Little Workshop, AKA my parents basement.

Merry Christmas

We had a great Christmas Eve and day with family this year. It started out with fun activities, pizza, and a Christmas Eve program. Lizzie and Katie sang "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer". Although, Lizzie got a case stage fright and would barely mouth the words. (Too bad considering she does a great job of it at home!) Noah played the piano. We played Christmas gift games. We listened to Christmas stories and the kids acted out the nativity scene. Julie made for a sweet angel and Lizzie a generous Wise Man. Grammy and Papa handed out their always exciting stocking gifts.

We left out some milk and cookies before putting the girls to bed. They were excited but not experienced enough to know to wake up before 8am Christmas morning (no complaints here).

Lizzie got a bike and Julie a princess castle. I loved watching the sparkle in their eyes all that day. Christmas morning is truly at its best when kids are around!

Office Christmas Party

This year's office Christmas party. A formal lunch at the country club. An ornament exchange game complete with stealing, stealing back, and hoping you pick a good one!

Its generally an office staff party but I attended this year to document the occasion. I probably could have taken nicer pictures had I any indoor lighting equipment, proper backdrop, more than 12 hours notice, and time to think about how to properly arrange 30 people. I learned a lot about taking a group photo- people get anxious to be done so you better know exactly where you're going to put them before that moment.

Dave informs me that these were alot better than the random snapshots taken by one of the Docs last year so at least there is that!