Birthday trip to the Oregon Coast

We went to Newport Oregon this weekend to get away for a few days and to celebrate my 37th birthday. After a quick stop at Voodoo Doughnuts in Portland, we headed for the beach. Despite the cold weather, the boys were really excited to get out and dig in the sand. The weekend was full of little boy excitement. From the hotel pool (5 swims in 3 days) to the Aquarium, it was a great weekend for everyone. They took me out for my bday dinner at a really cool place with live music. Mike got the band to sing happy birthday to me :-)  Oliver ate all his dinner without saying a word and just stared at the band. Liam was a bit more feisty...a few people sitting below our loft seating were surprised with some noodles falling from above...but he settled down and danced and sang happy birthday too. It was a great night and a great weekend with my wonderful little family.

Two little characters

Oliver has been his quirky self for quite a while now, but Liam is just starting to let his uniqueness show. Luckily they both love elaborate make believe play and they eagerly go along with each other's ideas.. Liam is a bit more of a goof ball than Oliver, though. Its a nice complement to Oliver's seriousness.

Work trip

I had to go to Atlanta this week for work. I have to be honest, it was nice to travel without kids and stay in a hotel room alone. I even had time for an hour long run and a 30+ minute shower. But it wasn't all fun...the time change was brutal and the meeting I was there for was really long and mostly boring. It went until 9:45 pm the first night! The hardest part is always missing my boys. They were so sweet when they picked me up from the airport. Big smiles and big hugs. 

Christmas in Quincy

After celebrating Christmas with my mom in Leavenworth, we packed everyone up and drove to Quincy to spend time with Mike's family. Both of mike's sisters and there families were also there. 5 cousins this year :-) They have so much fun together. It snowed all day while we opened presents and played inside, so the next morning (boxing day),we bundled all the kids up and went sledding around the neighborhood. Oliver had so much fun pulling all the little kids around. Little Lily even got in on the fun!

Christmas in Leavenworth

We spent the two days before Christmas is Leavenworth with my mom and Lulu. There was over a foot of fresh snow and everything was decorated for the holidays. We went for a horse drawn sleigh ride on Christmas eve. It was a glorious sunny day and it couldn't have been more picturesque. Oliver loved it. He sat completely still on my lap (keeping me warm) and took it all in. Liam would have loved it if he hadn't slept through the whole thing! Fortunately there were two dogs running around after he woke up, so he was pretty happy. We had so much fun sledding, wandering around the shops, eating sausage and drinking beer, and watching Christmas movies. My mom even brought a little tree to decorate so Santa would still find us. She also made a full Christmas dinner before we left and we microwaved it for Xmas dinner. It was delicious! We all had a really wonderful time.