a new year

I know it's been a long time since I've posted anything, but it's been hard since losing Uncle Greggy. But, it's a new year and we should probably at least record some things. 

We went to Seattle for New Year's - Sonia stayed up 'til 1:30 a.m. Isaac fell asleep at 10. Here is Sonia wishing Isaac happy New Year!

 and a new year's kiss

 Sonia and I partied pretty hard, but we were still with it enough that we dropped the boys back off at our friend's house, then went to Mass first thing (well, 9 am, but that's first thing for New Year's day) and afterwards we went to Krispy Kreme to get ourselves some doughnuts. Look at that little cute, funny face.

 That evening we went over to Fantastic Aunt Kathy's and had an awesome dinner with cousins. We got to see cousin Katie too, which is a rare occurrence, so that was fun! Pat and Mike were both there too, and Mike's kids too. Sonia, however, unfortunately slept most of the party, so she didn't get to play with anyone. Isaac and Louisa had fun playing together though.

 Then of course we went back home. Isaac got Rascal the rabbit for two days (stuffed rabbit they send home from his class) so we took some pictures of him with it.

Of course when Sonia and I got  home, Sonia claimed the rabbit as her own and wouldn't give it back.

That actually pretty much sums it up. Sonia is 2. Isaac is in kindergarten. There really isn't much else you need to know. That tells you a lot!

Reunion!

Today we went up to Portland for a get-together at a park with Spencer, my old RA from freshman year. (Not that he is particularly old, but, you know what I mean.) I was somewhat contemplating going, then saw that my old friend Billy was going too, and finally yesterday I decided that yes, I would go. I'm so glad we did!

I hadn't seen Spencer since probably around the time he graduated (so, the end of my freshman year... 9 years... unreal stuff. I wanna say I saw him once since then, but I couldn't tell you actually when), but he was such an awesome RA and really helped make our wing of Wilson Hall cohesive and just awesome in general. A good first year college experience. 

Brian lived right across the hall from me and we were good buds. He came to our wedding. Embarrassingly it seems that the last time we actually talked face-to-face was when he came with Steve to visit Isaac when Isaac was just a few weeks old. So, dear friends, I'm sorry I have been neglecting our friendship over the last 5 years. That is pretty lame. I am determined to get together more often now. I mean, at least once a year is not ridiculous. We live less than an hour away from each other now. 

I don't know if I had seen Billy since our wedding! So sad, because Billy also is one of my good buds. Anyway, it was so nice to catch up and see what they are up to now. 

If my tummy looks a little pudgy in the picture, it might be partially because maybe it is, but also because we did quite a bit of snacking. I think I snacked pretty constantly for 3 hours. That'll do it to a person. It was definitely worth it. The whole day was definitely worth it! 

London is 3!

Last weekend we went down to Newport to celebrate London's third birthday! I can't believe my precious niece is three already! As always, Auntie Anna had a really cute theme: ladybug. Very nice. In fact, if you see some of these decorations resurface at Sonia's 2nd birthday party, don't be surprised. Probably not the "Happy Birthday London" sign though. 

 London had a good little group of friends over!

 The kids made personal pizzas, which was a big hit. Isaac actually ate his. Actually, he is pretty good about eating pepperoni pizza. It took a few steps but he is eating it now. Maybe some day we'll try for Candian bacon and pineapple!

 Look at this cute display! I think I can claim to have helped with about 5% of it. Not bad, huh?

 The birthday girl decided she did not need a shirt. I suppose when you have a party at home with close friends, shirts can be optional. 

 In addition to really enjoying riding the rocking horse that has been passed on, Sonia likes to get on this pink dog thing. She can get on it all by herself and is starting to be able to get off of it. The tail in the back poses a problem sometimes.

 Sonia had a cute little baby friend to play with!

 I love how London and Isaac get along so well. They were so happy just to sit by each other to eat their pizzas. Best buds for life. (Although you guys can't get married - we will be reminding you of this periodically.)

 Ladybug cake! Cute, just like everything else Auntie Anna makes.

 Make a wish, London!

 Mmmmm, cake and ice cream. No complaints about that...

 I did take pictures of some of the other kids, but they didn't all turn out great.... The flash kept coming on and I don't really like how the pictures look with a flash. Only in select circumstances. 

Anyway, it was also very stormy that day, so we went down to Jump Off Joe to check out the huge gusts of wind and what were supposed to be 35 foot seas. 

 We didn't stay too long. Auntie Anna wanted to walk out on some ledge for a "cool picture" but I opposed that idea. Mostly because I only have one sister, so I can't really afford to lose any. I guess if she had fallen, she probably would have made it... but better not to take chances. Plus we were getting sandblasted, which isn't very fun.

 "Hooray," said Sonia, "Fresh air! My face is getting pulled back by the wind but I don't mind."

 We stayed overnight - actually Sonia and I stayed over at Grandma and Grandpa's house, which was peaceful and quiet. The next day we went to Mass and Nana got more time with her little loves. 

I don't think Nana ages. I saw a picture of her from high school and she still looks almost exactly the same. I want to have that problem. 

Thanks for such a fun party, Auntie Anna and Nana! We will see you again soon!

Isaac's 4th birthday party

We had Isaac's birthday party the weekend before his actual birthday. It was fun and luckily the weather was nice so we were able to make our park plans happen. Now that I think about it, a consistent theme in Papa and my relationship has been that for social events, we prefer to spend more money on food than the "venue". I would say maybe it was just me, but Papa is actually that way too. He actually fine-tuned the bissap recipe too and it turned out really good. Without further ado, here are the pictures!

Ah, yes, I forgot to mention that Isaac wanted a "rainbow superhero" party. So here is the rainbow spiderman cake before assembly...plus some cupcakes. I made it from scratch to avoid food allergies to soy for one kid, and the Taste of Home cookbook came through for me! It was edible. Hooray!

 Then we had the party and I took about three pictures of Isaac then forgot about the camera. Isaac had a lovely flower crown made for him by one of the moms. We live in Eugene, folks, and we are all flower children here.

 No, but I actually thought it was cute!

 One of the few pictures where you can see the rainbow spiderman cake pre-consumption. Note my total cop-out by just making a spider web with a spider on top instead of a Spiderman picture. Isaac didn't care though.

 In fact, it was kind of windy, and I couldn't light  the candles, so we had Isaac pretend he was blowing them out, and he was a good sport about that too.

 This is not the best picture of me, but I liked it because it has a lot of people in the picture and one day it will help me remember some of the people who came.

 Isaac had fun playing with the kids. I noticed he played a lot with his classmates. It is interesting, because he already spends a lot of time with them. I guess maybe it is like adults - the more you get to know people, the more likely you are to either want to spend more time with them or not spend time with them. Maybe?

I'm so glad Papa took some pictures! It really was a nice day at the park. I am looking forward to a year in the future when Isaac's actual birthday will fall on a weekend again. Those first two years were so convenient! We enjoyed the party very much. If you brought a gift, thank you for not making it too big, and if you didn't bring a gift, thank you for reading the invitation carefully. We really have a lot of stuff in our house and now I will need to go through the toys again and give some of them away - well, the ones we don't use anymore or are not in the best shape...