Yikes! Ben Is Officially Mobile!

Happy Birthday Dudes!

We celebrated Seth and Jake's birthday. It's hard to believe that they are already four! They made out like bandits this year with lots of tractor cake, presents,and cousins and friends to help them celebrate!

Very Merry Holidays for Us!

We had a great December! Scott had to be on call from home during the week of Christmas so we did our holiday traveling the week before. Despite snowy roads and loooong hours in the car both going and returning, we enjoyed a wonderful visit with Scott’s family in Pasco. It was very cold for the area the whole time we were there (temps in the single digits and teens), but the Dudes still insisted on going out to explore the farm equipment every day. Grandpa Tractor made up for the fact that the combines and tractors wouldn’t start by taking Seth and Jake on four wheeler rides in the snow until their smiles froze on their faces and their bodies started shivering. As soon as they’d thawed out with hot chocolate in front of the fire, they’d be ready to go out again. Grandma Tractor kept Anna busy with lots of coloring and crafts and Ben kept Mom busy by crawling to every outlet, fireplace and baseboard heater he could get to. We were also able to visit with Scott’s brothers and grandmothers. It was a great trip, but we will probably avoid making that drive in the winter from now on!

Our Christmas was relatively quiet and simple. We enjoyed having our own traditions at home this year. Santa paid a surprise visit on Christmas Eve after FHE and we feasted with friends and cousins on Christmas Day. Sethy didn’t get the tunnel digger he asked Santa for, but he and Jake are perfectly happy with their new Tonka helicopters. Anna got some new dress-ups and a bunch of crafts that were supposed to keep her busy for awhile, but she’s already completed most of them. Ben got some loot of his own, but has had more fun tormenting his siblings by exploring theirs.
Scott had the week of New Year's off so we've had a very relaxing 2009 so far!

Wonderful Thanksgiving!

We just enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving vacation in Utah with Ange's family. Matt and Kim put up with our crazy family for a whole week. They didn't even complain when our kids created a couple of sleepless nights for their family. We also enjoyed seeing Sam and Deborah and Dan and Charone and more importantly, their new little ones. Both Bennett and Abby are adorable! We had lots of fun snuggling them.

Thanksgiving Day was of course scrumptious thanks to Kim's talented cooking. There was at least one pie per person. Kim made sure that everyone got to have a piece of their favorite kind of pie anyway!

We also got to visit for a too short afternoon with Grandma Kenison. She fed us lunch and let the kids make a huge mess with her toys.

We even fit in a very active morning of bouncing with Ann and John and their kids at the Kangaroo Zoo--a huge building filled with lots of those inflated bouncy slides. Everyone came away from the experience worn out and happy. Wish we'd been organized enough that day to bring our camera!

Fall Fun!

Our October ended with a pumpkin carving chowder night, Halloween fun and a wonderful visit with our Beaverton pals the Lovelands! On Halloween night the dads took kids trick or treating while the mom's snuck chocolate and answered the door at our house.
Saturday we visited San Fran in the pouring rain--still a fun time! We also made the traditional Jelly Belly factory stop. A nice ending to a great month.

Silly "Twirly" Swings

A day doesn't go by without two little boys begging Mom to swing them in the backyard. On this day the Dudes decided that helmets were necessary to the experience--though Mom was a bit worried that the weight of their noggins would have a precarious bobble head effect.

Bounce! Bounce!

Ben loves to play with Anna.