Riley's Christmas recital

Christmas Spirit

I watch this and remember that this is what it's all about

Playing School

Winter Fun!

This year I took Riley downtown Gig Harbor to see the Christmas tree lighting and watch Santa come in on a firetruck. It's fun to do these things with Riley now and watch her as her eyes light up. We also went down to our usual Christmas tree farm down the street and quickly picked a tree. As you can see it was cold and poor Ella just sat there with tears in her eyes from the wind. We never picked a tree so fast!

Birthdays Galore!

Could it be? My b-day was yesterday and the official end of birthdays for us. Jarom arranged for a sitter and sent me to get a pedi/mani and then he came with me to lunch. When he got home from work he brought a slice of oreo cheesecake and he and Riley sang to me. It was a perfect day and I teared up when Riley came up to me unexpectedly, hugged me, and said "Happy B-day Mama." The end to a perfect day. My friends also threw a little brunch for me this morning with egg casserole, german pancakes, fruit, and chocolate cake, mmmm... I have the best friends!!

Ella turns 1!

Monday our little munchkin turned one! I can't believe how fast this year went, she still looks so tiny running around the house. She's in the 75th% for her height, but only the 10th% for her weight, she's such a tiny thing. She loved her first taste of frosting and stuffed it all down in about 2 minutes. Happy Birthday baby!

Riley's 4th Birthday

The happy gymnasts

Riley's super cute cake, courtesy of Sarah!

trying to do a handstand

From here she does a back flip

This year Riley had a little party with her friend Allie, who is about 4 days younger than Riley. We celebrated at a gym where they normally have gymnastic classes. I think it was a big hit, all of her friends had so much fun running, jumping, flipping, and eating cake. It was even nicer to see Riley so tired that she slept in an extra hour the next morning ;) Happy Birthday big girl.

Halloween

This year my mom, Erin, and my niece Lydia joined us for trick-or-treating! We decided to head down to the harbor since we had never done it before, it was packed with people. Riley was a bit overwhelmed and I think would've rather enjoyed going door to door with her friends like we've done in the past few years. But it was sunny and beautiful and we still succeeded in acquiring lots of candy.

Beautiful Hawaii

We're back, no Gig Harbor is definitely not 80 degrees, but it's nice to see my babies again. Jarom and I took a trip to Hawaii, we went there for our honeymoon and have always wanted to go back. We went to the Big Island and stayed at the Hilton Waikoloa Village which was a huge resort, very beautiful but it would literally take us 20 minutes to get from the car to our room, they even had boats or tram back and forth. We met up with our friends Regina and Matt and laid out at the pools, ventured out in the dark to the lava flow, golfed with the most breathtaking views, and had lots of yummy food. The last 4 days we flew to Kauai and stayed in a condo with oceanfront views. My favorite part was falling asleep to the waves crashing on the shore. Kauai was incredible, so lush and green, waterfalls everywhere. We even took our first helicopter ride over the valleys and Napali coast, it was just amazing. I'll post some pics here but there are so many I'll have to make an album. Now I'll just have to look at my wilting leis sitting here on the table and be reminded of the sunny days we had.

Jarom's Directorial Debut

Story behind this... Jarom's nursing home won an award from his company for their nurse camp for kids interested in the field. Since they won this award they had to make a presentation about the program to corporate at their annual meeting. This is what Jarom came up with, he worked really hard, but I think he enjoyed doing this more than anything else. It's a spoof on "The Office" so those of you who watch that show will definitely enjoy this!

(if you want to stop at about 8:30, the rest is just a slideshow of the actual nurse camp).

Learning to Walk

Yup, that's right, Miss tiny girl has decided that walking will be her new trick. She started taking steps about three weeks ago and is getting a lot more stable. Even through the distraction of the dog's tail wagging in her face she was able to take some steps on camera. She's also holding a baby doll that she just loves, she drags it all over the house. She's so dang cute ;) The other pictures are the girls trying on part of Jarom's Halloween costume, can you guess what he'll be?

The Things Mia Puts Up With

Sportin a new do

Just thought I'd get some video of our cover girl. Her hair is getting so long I had to put it up somehow. Turned out pretty cute!

Visitors

This past weekend my Aunt Carolyn and my grandpa came to visit. They were just getting back from their cruise in Alaska and stopped to see us for the weekend. We had a good time taking the ferry to Seattle, riding the Duck Tour, and having brunch in the harbor. Can you believe my grandpa is 93! Still traveling the world, I hope I can do that when I'm his age.

First day of school

Yesterday Riley headed off to her 2nd year of Montessori preschool. She's so much more excited and acts like a completely different girl. She walks right in with backpack in hand and runs off to see her friends without even a goodbye. Guess it's harder for me than it is for her ;)

Baby of the Week?

I'm sure you all have already gotten my email, but you never know. Go to www.warm1069.com and vote for Ella in the Baby of the Week contest! She was picked as one of the 10 finalists!

Future Alum?

I got the girls dressed up in their Miami University cheerleader outfits that Grandma Schenk bought them. It's the first time my girls didn't have BYU gear on ;) The things I do to pass the time around here.

Riley's dance recital

Riley's dancing debut

Ballerina cupcake

Our future dancer

Flowers Daddy got Riley

Teddy Bear dance

Henry the Octopus dance

Warm-ups

Riley had her first ballet recital tonight. Our friend, Jo Dee has been teaching her class and she has really looked forward to it every week. It was a really cute performance and a lot of people turned out to watch. I'll post the video as soon as I figure out how to do it!

Pickles and Lemons

While we were in Rockport, we went to New Hampshire to visit a children's museum. We stopped to get a bite to eat and while we waited for our food Ella entertained us!

Rockport

Uncle Sean showing Ella a new trick

C'mon Megan where's your kid? ;)

Ella & Lydia at the beach

This looks like something Jarom would do

Me and Erin in Rockport

Riley's wheels

BIG cousin Ella towering over Lydia

We just got back home from visiting my sister, Erin in Rockport, MA. We got to meet the girls new cousin, Lydia. I think Riley adored her and Ella, well, she wanted to eat her head. We had lots of fun hanging out at the beach, shopping, cooking out in the backyard, and boating (well, that was mostly Jarom and Riley). Lydia is a little grumpy most days (thanks to her father's genes), but we did see a couple smiles ;) Riley had a lot of fun riding around the backyard in her Escalade, although she made it a point that the next time she visits she would like a silver one. Thank you Erin and Sean, I promise to book a non-stop flight directly to Boston next time.