Liam's Birthday

Liam is loves airplanes so there was no question about what to get him and how to celebrate his second birthday. I strung several (like 35) airplanes from the ceiling the night before and I won't forget his eyes when he saw them when he woke up. He definitely wore out his pointer finger saying "plane! plane!"

 My Sweet Birthday Boy, the above photo is when he was only a couple weeks old, and now he is 2 as you can see above that. It's been some of the hardest years, and well worth it. I love my little boys.

Birthday Presents! Ethan was very jealous.

Lovin the Airplane, that's all he care about.

Birthday Cake, made by Jodi. Looks amazing. 

Two dear sweet friends! Ethan misses her so very much. He asks to see her, and draws pictures for her all the time. True friends.  

Thanksgiving

We made the trip back to Portland to see many of our dearly missed friends! It was great to see neighbors and friends again! I shopped my heart out on Black Friday, and we also Celebrated Liam's Birthday too.

 The dinner setting

 The company (and great company!!!)

Halloween

 Ethan had this elaborate idea of being Curious George, and he wanted daddy to be the man with the yellow hat, mom professor wiseman, and Liam was to be Hunnley. (I know I'm not spelling names right here. ) Since we moved a week prior to Halloween I opted to go a little more simple. Ethan was  Buzz lightyear and Liam was the dinosaur from Toy Story, which is actually a dragon-dinosaur thing that was recycled from when Ethan was 2. Easy! I made a pumpkin pizza and for dessert we had chocolate dipped oreos that looked like bats. 

We also made it to a pumpkin patch in the area. Kids loved the tractors to play on and diggers to dig in the sand!

KGW News Tour

So yes, I tagged along with a dear friend to get a tour of the news studio from another friend from church who is a producer there. We got to meet the news anchors, watch them live (in the studio while airing the 5:00 news live) and sit in their chairs. Ethan was going through an identity crisis at this time. You'll know what I mean when you see him. This was also during the time John was living at our new location and I was still in Portland. Also another reason I decided to allow myself to be embarrassed by my child.

Buzz and Liam doing the weather.

Beach photos from August

Here are a few photos I took at the beach when My brother and his family were out. The last couple are my favorite. Looking back at these photos reminds me how tired we were every night. It was a fun trip!

 This photo is on a sand bar at fort Steven's Park. The water would come up very gently over the bar. as you can see.

This last photo is at Fort Steven's park. This is a really old shipwreck there. On this rather rare day there was a sand bare that appeared during the low tide, and you only had to wade through a little bit of water to get to it.

Orchestra on the River Front

We have gone several years in the past to the traditional Portland Orchestra concert on the river downtown. This year was was a lot of fun as always! We loved the company of our friends, and enjoying the classical music. Including the 1812 overture with real canons and fireworks at the end.