Christmas 09

My parents flew in last Saturday, to surprise the kids! It has been great having them here to celebrate with us, they haven't been with us on Christmas or us with them since Jakob was just over a year old. We've been busy doing lots of fun things, like going to the park, hiking, swimming, visited Santa, done some baking, ice skating, went to the Pittock Mansion (gorgeous but a nightmare with Sarah - will have to go back without her!), opened lots of presents on Xmas eve, more from Santa on Xmas day and then off to Mt. Hood for a day of sledding. Now here are a ton of photos per usual!

Nana and Papa surprising the kids as Santa and Rudolph! Sarah was freaked and Jakob was SO excited, he couldn't believe they were here and that Santa brought them on his sleigh - Santa had a lot of grandparents to drop off on surprise visits! Jakob didn't even go to look out the window to see the sleigh, he knew that Santa wouldn't want that!
The kids and the grandparents at Santa land - this is after Sarah had a major meltdown when I tried to set her on Santa's lap, I ended up sitting in Santa's chair with her and Jakob! Too funny! "NO SANTA NO SANTA" then when we left she sweetly waved and said "Bye bye Santa".


Nana and Jakob ice skating!
Baking cookies for Santa! Notice Sarah's face, she just snuck a chocolate chip!
Opening presents on Xmas eve - Jakob in his new Knight's outfit!
Sarah and the baby gang, she seriously scored on the babies!!
Sarah and her new tutu, showing off her ballet moves.

Jakob's letter to Santa: " Santa This is your presesnt for your hard work. I have been very good!"
Christmas morning, notice the foot prints, b/c Jakob did not until I pointed them out. Then he decided that he better taste what was on the floor "Hmm, doesn't taste like anything" (baking soda) "Santa doesn't clean up after himself very good".
Jakob's "real tools"
Sledding at Mt. Hood, Sarah did not enjoy sledding like Jakob did at this age, but really liked watching everyone else make a fool of themselves going down the hill - including Nana and Papa - what sports! We didn't make it more than an hour in the snow with her

Sarah, stuck in the snow!
Jakob, the dare devil!
Sled ride with Daddy
Inside Timberline Lodge
The view from Timberline Lodge

Mt. Hood

Sweet boy

We just had a nice week with Gramma Kathy visiting, did lots of fun things - rode a horse and carriage thru our old neighborhood, went swimming, played, made sugar cookies, paper snowflakes, took walks, and basically ran her ragged - while in 30 degree or colder weather!! Hopefully she is recovering and defrosting in SoCal!!
Anyhow, Jakob had his trundle bed out and didn't want to put it back, "Just in case someone else visits, like GG Willy or Nana and Papa or maybe Gramma wants to come back." He loves visitors - especially ones that spoil him!
I told him that maybe he could ask Santa to bring Nana and Papa b/c I sure do miss them too, and he was up for that idea, except that he thought that "They won't fit in Santa's bag and it's too cold to ride on the sleigh". When I told him that maybe Santa could pay for an airplane ticket for them, his logical response was, "Santa doesn't have money, you're funny Mommy".
Well, he is in for a surprise b/c Nana and Papa will arrive on Saturday night, with bells on!! I can't wait, he is going to just freak out, Santa can do some amazing things!!

The preschool Christmas program!

Some singing, dancing, ballet (Sarah is a pro at the twirls and Jakob remembered his whole routine) and some meltdowns - that says it all!

Thanksgiving 09

We had a nice Thanksgiving holiday. Spent Thanksgiving afternoon with the Brink family. The Brinks do their turkey dinner the next day when their whole family can come together, so we joined in with them on Thanksgiving for their nontraditional family tradition of fajitas and bowling! We had our turkey on Friday, which I cooked in the crock pot (turkey breast) and it actually was edible - a big accomplishment for me! I even made all the sides - except the stuffing - we got that from New Seasons - b/c we liked it so much last year! I made fresh cranberry sauce which was a hit with the kids as well as the yams with marshmallows I think those were their favorites! Anyhow, the meal was enjoyed by all, even Jakob said "I like the meal you made Mommy." Unbelievable! Before we ate on Friday, we spent the morning at the urgent care with Sarah, thought she might have had an ear infection b/c she was inconsolably crying but it ends up she might just be getting molars!
Besides that, it was a nice holiday weekend!
On Friday evening we put up our Christmas decorations, Jakob was SO excited to do this, he's been asking for days to put them up. He even hung some lights on our bushes in front for us, he was quite proud of himself. So I found the elf we had hanging up in our house last year, the "magic elf that watches over children and reports to Santa", well Jakob remembered just who he was. I hung him on our lamp and told Jakob "I wonder if he can move from room to room when we aren't watching him, to check on us." Jakob wasn't so sure about that. Well I moved him to Jakob's door knob and the next morning Jakob was beside himself, "He moved, he can really move by himself, he really does check on us!" I told Jakob I didn't believe this, I would have to see for myself, if he moved to our bedroom than I would believe he was real. Well what do you know he moved last night to our bedroom, Jakob was SO excited, "See he is real!!" I love 5 year olds, their imagination is amazing and they are so gullible!

Bowling on Thanksgiving,

Sarah having a hard time sitting while someone was bowling, she is no doubtingly telling Mark "KNEW" which means "NO" with an attitude!

Sarah and Dillon waiting for the bowling ball to appear thru that magic ball return machine!
Jakob bowling!
Decorating the tree! Jakob is showing off an ornament that was Mark's as a child! Sarah is quite excited about an ornament that she found - she was excited about all of them, even the tissue paper some were wrapped in, she would say "OOOOH pretty" to even the paper!
Sarah, attempting to hang an ornament.
Jakob showing off a Star Wars ornament!
Cutie pie, after her bath, checking up on the tree!
Checking in on the prized "Leia" ornament. Jakob put her next to Han, "Just like me and Kaedyn". (Kaedyn is his little girl friend from school that dressed up as Leia!)

On Saturday, we took the kids down to the waterfront for a walk/ride in the almost sunshine! Had some hot chocolate at a coffee shop, that makes the cold weather worth it!
Sarah and her blankie, apparently telling us which way to go!

Sad

One of my students has Neuroblastoma, a type of cancer, she is in her 4th relapse with it (she's in 3rd grade, was adopted by a great family at age 3 from Guatamala and is a fighter) anyhow, on her Caring Bridge page, her Mom had shared the story of Noah, who was also dying of Neuroblastoma and his family was giving him Christmas early (basically b/c he wanted to "hang on" until Christmas but the family knew he wouldn't). So, Noah's Mom had asked for Christmas cards to be sent to him, well the news got out and he ended up receiving truck loads of cards. A few weeks ago, Jakob made him a card, drew what he thought Noah would like - Noah is also 5 years old - so Jakob drew Santa, presents, reindeer, stars and Noah's name. Jakob told me what he wanted to write in the card, I wrote it on another piece of paper and he wrote it inside the card "I'm sorry you are sick, I hope you get better, Love Jakob". I told Jakob that Noah probably wouldn't get better and would go to heaven, Jakob started to get teary eyed, and asked why he wouldn't get better, I explained not everything can be fixed by doctors, and sometimes God wants you in heaven sooner than later. We talked a lot about why kids might go to heaven (because Jakob thinks only old people go there), I told him I think it's because God needs more angels to look out for us, he thought that was pretty cool. He liked the idea that kids could grow wings and fly and take care of people. He was concerned about taking toys to heaven, because he knows that the body stays in the "ground" but didn't know how the toys would get there. Of course, I told him that there would be toys waiting for him in heaven, he was pleased with that. We said a little prayer for Noah and Roxy and GG Dode, all the people/dogs that we knew were in heaven, and then he realized that Roxy could play with Noah and liked that too! We sent the card off the next morning.

Today Noah passed away at 8 am, at home with his family. I didn't have the heart to tell Jakob, instead I told him what his parents said, they received over 1 million cards! Jakob's reaction - huge smile - "Wow, he must have been so happy." I hope so!
I had some nice snuggle time with my little angel tonight. He is the best, he even rubbed my back and my head, and made sure I felt good too! I'm not sure what I would do without my best boy.
My heart goes out to all the families battling illness in their children.

You can read more about Noah here:

www.carepages.com/carepages/NoahScottBiorkman

You can read more about my student here:

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/leslyfoster

Sarah funnies

Walking out from daycare at 5pm, Sarah says "Night"

Me: "Yes it's dark out, it's night. Where did the sun go?"

Sarah: "In bed"

Sarah has started to tell her baby dolls, "Don't cry baby, hush". So cute!!

But, most of the time we hear "Baby pooped, change". She is obsessed with this!

Today we went to the swimming pool and Sarah was so excited, she loves swimming, even thought she doesn't know how, but she just loves being in the water and splashing around. She was yelling "Wimmy Poo, Wimmy Poo" (swimming pool) and "Kini on, Kini on" (bikini on). When she was in the water she fell under a couple times, (she doesn't want to be held, she walks around in the shallow end with the fountains and other kids and will walk into the deeper part and will stumble over), so when she comes up from underneath the water, she announces "Unner" (Under) with a smile, if you tell her how brave she was!

"Jump on Bed"

This is what I heard Sarah say to Jakob, before I found them doing this!!
Mind you this ended badly - you know the song about the monkeys jumping and bonking their heads - yeah a certain little girl fell off and bonked hers, left a nice mark - the night before our pictures!!


Sarah sound asleep with her baby after "jumping on bed".

Why do I bother....

So, I have been planning on taking family pictures for 3 weeks now, fretting over outfits, hair, the best time for the kids to take the picture and for what? So that we could have 30 minutes full of stress and let downs! Seriously is it that hard to get everyone to look at the camera or the big fuzzy tickler that the annoying lady is waving in your face? Apparently when you are almost 2 years old and 5 years old, it is.

It's even harder to not put on a fake smile when someone is trying to get your kids to look and smile at the camera!

Mark hates taking posed photos, but I really wanted a family picture to give our family at Xmas, we don't have one, now I know why! I feel like I set myself up for failure, the more I fretted over outfits for the kids the more I was to fail! I finally found an outfit for Sarah that was plain, no design on it, I really wanted a blue outfit for her, but do you think they make anything in blue for girls, that is plain not all bedazzled - NO! So, I went with an off white top and a denim skirt w/off white socks (ruffled) and super cute mary janes - well none of that cuteness is in the picture that turned out! Just her plain, off white top. I also wore off white, hoping that she would sit with Mark and Jakob with me (in blue/plaid), Mark in blue, OH NO she wanted nothing to do with Daddy! She didn't want to stand still so that we could actually see her outfit, she needed to sit on my lap, so she blends right into me! AAAHHHH!!!

Long story short, between Jakob's worried/anxious smile (because he was worried about his smile, as we were bribing him with a toy if he would smile appropriately) and Sarah not looking at the camera, my hair dropping into my face, and Mark closing his eyes - I was let down - honestly why did I do this to myself! I have learned now, not to take photos until Sarah is at least 3 years now. Jakob was so easy when he was 2, he took the cutest photos, posed and modeled basically - no not Sarah, she was not going to do it!

I just wanted something to look at years from now and think, weren't we so cute and happy, now I have something that will make me think about how cute but, how crazy our kids were!! Guess that's reality!

Baby Crazy

How is it possible that at 22 months old a child can be so baby crazy! Sarah is obsessed with babies, in books, on TV, in real life (you have to pick her up around babies as she will go over and touch the baby, all the while saying "BEEEBEEE, OHHHH, BEEEBEE"). If she hears a baby crying she has to announce that the baby is "Cawhying!" We were in a children's resale shop yesterday and she literally carried and pulled 3 baby dolls behind her thru the store - we weren't going to buy them so I had to tell her that the "Babies had to take a nap," so she put them back, patted their backs and we left.
She of course feeds, baths, rocks and even takes her babies potty and encourages her babies when they do go potty "Yay poop!" This is all consuming for Sarah, well besides watching "The Wiggles", carrying her "nuggie" (soft snuggy blanket) around everywhere she goes, and her all day focus on pooping in the potty!! She is one amazing and silly, little lady!


Here she is doing a careful balancing maneuver to keep the baby on her lap!

So, if ever anyone is in doubt of what to ever get this child, say for Christmas, Birthday or just something to obsess over, please remember what we hear all day, "BEEBEES PEEEASE"

Halloween 09

Our little Bumble Bee and Han Solo (Jakob was insistent on being Han this year, not a Jedi, not Vader - Han - thanks to Grandma Kathy for the awesome costume - he LOVES it and has asked to sleep in it!) Sarah loves her little bee costume, I brought it home from the store and she said "Peeeetttyyyyy Beeeeeeee BZZZZZ"

We painted our pumpkins this year for the first time, it was super fun and a lot less messy - except for Sarah!
Oh, Jakob lost his 2nd bottom tooth on t0/30/09 - very exciting!!


We went down to our little downtown in our neighborhood - called Multnomah village (shops, restaurants etc) - where they blocked the streets for kids to trick or treat in the shops, it was quite busy and Jakob had a hard time waiting in line while looking at his candy!

Sarah, sugar high. Jakob, sugar low!
Mommy and Sarah taking a rest!
The village full of families out trick or treating!

We drove a few blocks over to visit our friends Amber and Josh, and went trick or treating on their street. This was one of the spooky houses on the block, too spooky for Sarah (music and all), but Jakob or should I say "Han" was quite brave!

Here we are at the first spooky house, right next door to Amber's house. Sarah is on the porch a bit freaked by a skeleton that you can't see - she was just standing there pointing at it - no words coming out. It was really funny!

Sarah, enjoying her "Wolleeeeeee POP"

Mouth full of candy, working on his next choice!!