Sledding in Snowy Spokane

Hello and happy holidays to everyone! We're visiting Grandma and Grandpa T. for Christmas (also Uncle Kevin, who arrives tomorrow.) There's snow on the ground and more headed our way for tonight. Earlier today, Nate and Ella went sledding for the first time. Here's a video and some pics!

Nate & Ella & the Blustery Day

Skipping ahead on the blog a bit, we're now days away from Thanksgiving. Home from work today with a cold but we did manage to get some pics of the kids enjoying Seattle's first snowfall of the season!

First, here's Ella gearing up a few days ago:

Ella of the North:


















Polar explorer Nate:


















In the snowy backyard:


















She especially loves the pink gloves:


















Our wintry street:













Watching from back inside and sipping hot chocolate may be the best part:













Right Roo?













Here's a video of Nate (sorry it is sideways) singing along to a CD sent by Aunt Mary:

step away from the scissors

So......I (Karin) trimmed Ella's bangs again. It didn't go so good (which is why there is no real picture). Poor girl, her hair has been in an in-between phase for while now. I have promised I won't do it again! I was so that kid who chopped off Barbie's hair.

Coming soon...pictures from Ella and Nate's first pumpkin patch harvest in the backyard!

Some pictures from late summer ...

It has been a while but we're back with another post. There's lots going on as summer winds down. Nate and Ella are enjoying being 2 years old. They are back in preschool (once a week) and just started swimming lessons yesterday. Nate took to it right away; Ella was scared at first but hung in there and had a great time. Church today was also interesting. Nate let out a big "Yay!" during the quiet moment after the responsorial psalm, and also loudly recited the alphabet in the communion line. Before Mass, Ella said "God is so cute."

Here are a few more birthday shots and a picture from our recent family visit in Oregon:

Ella plays peek-a-boo at her birthday party:














Nate loves his cake, again ...



















Opening presents ...















Storytime with Aunt Karen and Uncle Ron:














The Hermans at Multnomah Falls:

We're 2 Years Old!

Happy birthday to Nate and Ella. Actually it has been about a week of festivities already with more to come. We've had multiple birthday song singings, cake, visits with Grandma and Grandpa T. and Aunt Jayne and cousin Katie.


The birthday boy and girl are doing great. Here's a recent shot, with more to come soon!

Chair & Chair Alike, & a Friend's Birthday

Amazingly, Ella and Nate are weeks away from their second birthday. Today they got an early present from Grandma and Grandpa T. -- kid chairs with their names on them! Nate and Ella really love them and already spent a lot of time in them today. Here are some shots:

The unveiling:

















Pretty comfortable!













Happy Nate:













Happy Ella:














Yesterday our big activity was a birthday party for good buddy Kian at the Children's Museum:

Birthday feast:













Ella with birthday boy Kian:













Trying out the Children's Museum's fire truck:































Settling in for story time:

















Nate on the move:

Note from the editor

Below Nate is pictured with a jaguar, not a leopard. My deeper investigation concludes that the jaguar is bigger and is native to the western hemisphere.* I guess I should stop telling Nate and Ella that he is a leopard. I was wrong after all (takes a lot to say that). Here is the conversation I had with another mom at the zoo last week.

Me, "Look Nate, a leopard!"
Other mom, "I think it is a jaguar"
Me, "I think they are the same thing. Look at the pretty leopard Ella!"

*Thank you Wikipedia for the clarification.

The Zoo

Last weekend Grandma and Papa T were in town and we all went to the zoo (Uncle Kevin joined us).


Nate and the penquins.


Nate and the leopard (jaguar? is there a difference?)


Nate with Grandma and Papa T.

As I am uploading these I realize we didn't get many shots of Ella. Rest assured, she was there. Ella loves the zoo but sometimes "gets scary" at the animals and ends up spending a lot of time in the wagon. Here is a cute pic of both kids.

Summer PJs

Tonight is one of the first really warm nights of the year. Nate and Ella are ready in their new lighter PJs, provided by Grandma T.!

Fathers Day Weekend 2010

Hello and happy Fathers Day to everyone! I've been blessed with a very nice day, which included getting to chat on the phone with my own dad and spending lots of time with Karin and the kids.

Here's a shot of Nate and Ella from today -- almost 22 months old now. Below is a shot from yesterday, of them checking out the penguins at the zoo.

Lindsay gets her nurse's pin

Congrats to Lindsay, our super-nanny, who graduated this past weekend with her nursing degree! Nate and Ella were in attendance at the pinning ceremony. We love Lindsay. She has been with us since the twins were six weeks old and she is definitely part of the family. Nate and Ella are crazy about her. Not sure how much longer we'll have her as a nanny as she heads out into the post-college world. But we plan to always have her as a close friend!

Here's the whole gang:













Lindsay with Ella














Lindsay with Nate:














And in these shots, Nate and Ella chow down on pizza at the after-party:

Visit from cousin Dan, food challenges, updates & more

We had an unexpected but great visit from my nephew Dan last night. It was great to see him and I think he liked seeing Nate and Ella. They had changed quite a bit since the last time he saw them. Here's a shot of Dan with Nate:














Ella is as goofy as ever. She flirts with older neighborhood boys, uses phrases like "Are you a top banana"? and "To the mall!" Sometimes she shouts out random things like "Chickens!" or "Aunt Jayne!" Tonight was a particularly rough night on the dinner front:















Nate seems to be fighting off his latest cold. He has made up a ton of ground on Ella in terms of identifying and saying letters. He loves wearing jeans and does a little shimmy of joy whenever a treat is on its way. He also isn't exactly Emily Post yet when it comes to table manners:















Here's is a picture from cleaner times:

Peek-a-boo with Grandpa T. & more

Hello and hope everyone had a nice Memorial Day. We headed for Spokane and had a nice visit with Grandma and Grandpa T.

Here the twins play peek-a-boo with "Papa T."




























A couple more shots from the weekend:

































... and a recent sticker session with Ella and Daddy: