snow!

We woke up on Thursday morning to a couple inches of snow. Certainly not the winter "storm" they were predicting, but enough to close schools and transform our street into a winter fun park! Everyone was out bright and early and the kids enjoyed playing in the snow for a few hours. I loved watching their joy and experiencing the fun through their eyes. I can remember how excited I was to have snow and still love how it makes everything look clean, white, beautiful and even a little magical.

Not happy about posing for a picture before running out to play.

Joy!

A little mischievous perhaps?

So much fun, Mom!

Starting to tucker out...playing in the snow is hard work!

fun day

It doesn't happen all the time, but there are days when the kids behave, we have special plans and I go to bed thinking that our time together just couldn't have been better. This was one of those days...

We started our morning in West Linn where we were lucky enough to spend a little time with Ali and Emi. They were in town for a whirl wind weekend but squeezed us into their busy schedule. We were so happy they did - the kids had such a fun time together. Emi is just the sweetest little girl and we wish so much that they lived closer or that we got to see them more often. Carter is very sweet with her and they get along great. Kennedy warmed right up to her, as well, and loved the fact that she left with a large bag of new clothes courtesy of Emi's closet. Ali and I had to laugh, though, that soon Kennedy will be handing down stuff to Emilia. She is already outweighing her by a pound and has nearly caught up with her in shoe size, too. Anyways, it was a special time and we're so thankful for the chance to catch up a little.

Kennedy 2 1/2, Emilia 4 1/2 and Carter 4 3/4 (age is a big thing to Carter at the moment and he will be the first to tell you he's 4 and 3/4!)

Silly faces!

After coffee and snacks at Starbucks, the kids and I headed back into Portland and met Carrie & Ethan and Cheri, Adrian & Eliana for a fun lunch. Care was gearing up to go back to work the following week and wanted to get together one last time. It has been such a wonderful treat to have her home while on maternity leave. I managed to see her and the baby at least once a week and I will forever treasure that time. It's been so fun to watch Ethan grow and to have seen Carrie's transition to motherhood. She's fantastic at it!

Two of my favorite boys, Carter and Ethan. Carter does such a good job with him and held him for a quite awhile.

Doesn't get much cuter than this!

We continued our fun day with afternoon swim lessons. Carter has improved so much over this session and really loves being in the water.

Cousins

I am playing catch up...behind in blogging and behind in everything else! I have an afternoon to try to fix all that and get on top of things. First order on my to-do list is to post a few happenings, because we have so many fun things planned during the next few months that if I don't get caught up now, it may just never happen! With that being said, here I go.

I am so thankful that Carter and Kennedy will have cousins close in age. I grew up with only two cousins, one 9 years and one 12 years older than me. So, pretty much it was just me and I have always desired a big family. Luckily Kyle's family is huge and it's a lot of fun. Both of his sisters have little ones, so our family is growing and it's wonderful!

Our attempt at a group shot...I will have to admit that trying to finagle the cooperation of two toddlers for a photo shoot is something I hope to never have to do again. Carter and Brady were troopers - sat nicely and waited for the chaos around them to get in position. Now, the photographer we had was not the best and if it were me I would have been snapping madly, just hoping and praying that I caught them looking in the same general direction. Kennedy didn't want to have her picture taken and Bennett didn't want to sit still. It was pure comedy. At least we got one decent picture, it was worth it.

A few funnies from Carter during the process, "This must be Kennedy's (referring to his new polo), boys can't wear pink" and "Can someone take the baby, I'm sweating through my shirt." That kid kills me.

We celebrated Kyle's birthday before Stacy, Justin and Bennett had to fly back home. These two are too cute together.

Happy Valentine's Day!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Now this is what love is all about...

unconditional

sweet baby

Sweet, precious Brady Kellen was born on January 27th and Kyle and I were blessed with a second nephew and the kids another cousin. We were so thankful to be able to meet this beautiful baby just a few hours after he made his way into the world. It's been so fun holding and loving a little baby again...you forget how tiny toes can be and how instantly you can fall in love. Our family is growing and we couldn't be more thrilled.

Look at that beautiful face.

Perfect.

Just four days old, first day home

My baby holding his new baby cousin. It's so hard to imagine that Carter was once this small, and it's even harder to wrap my mind around the fact that he's now nearly five.

Proud Auntie

Kisses

How fabulous does my sister-in-law look? Just 5 hours post birth and she's glowing. Val has been such an amazing auntie to our kids and I know she is going to be a magnificent mommy, too!

Doesn't Brady look so tiny in Kyle's arms.

Bright eyed

Sorry sis, you're really outnumbered now :)