Driving Cutie

Grace discovered the car attached to the front of the grocery shopping cart and is a HUGE fan. The horn was an added bonus.

Grandparents Rock

Since Samuel was born my parents and Scott's mom have come to visit and have helped out tremendously as we adjust to our new life and routine with two children under the age of 2! I know we don't tell them enough, but we have the best parents anyone could have and feel so blessed that they are such a part of our lives. As our family has grown it has become harder for us to live so far from them, but are so lucky that we all travel often to see each other. We hardly go longer than two months without seeing some family member.

The following pictures are from these recent visits and highlight all the help our parents were in occupying our nearly 20 month old daughter while we tended to Samuel or caught up on sleep! Whether it was helping Grandma cook in the kitchen, visits to the zoo with Grandpa, or checking out the new children's museum with Grandmuhie, Grace has had a great time and has only slightly noticed the change in the attention she gets from her parents now that her little brother has joined us.

 

Images From a Lazy Sunday

Just wanted to share a couple images from today. First is one of Grace in the tub...and yes, with her clothes on. Scott and I learned today we can no longer fill the tub and not keep an eye on her since she now has jumped in on her own. I was doing something and asked her to go into her room to take her clothes off and the next thing I knew she was standing in the tub with her clothes still on. It was pretty funny.

The second photo is of Samuel catching some z's on Dad. He likes to be held these days, and who wouldn't if you had a soft warm spot like Dad's chest, right!?

The Great Thaw

A day after getting 8 inches of snow, the ice storm arrived.  None of the weather guessers predicted the temperatures would stay so cold, and that the forecasted rain would actually be FREEZING rain, covering all of Puget Sound in about a 1/2 inch of ice. In the places where the snow had not been cleared, the ice created a protective shell over the snow.  In the places where the snow had been removed, like the places I spent so much time shoveling  (driveway & sidewalk) the ice made beautiful ice rink style conditions.  Oh boy.  Also, overnight, the car had been outfitted with a revolutionary anti-theft device called "Coating of ICE!" only defeated through the use of at least a half hour of chipping and scraping.

By day 3, even though I had made many ventures into the neighborhood, cabin fever was starting to set in. We needed to get out!  Luckly, overnight, the temperatures had risen and new rain had melted most of the ice on the roads.  If you could get to a main arterial, they had all been plowed and were clear.  Sarah and I ventured out.  First we drove to my Mom's house to rescue her, then we had a delicious breakfast at the Southern Kitchen.  Chicken Fried Steak and Gravy!  Sanity restored.  We spent some time roving the city seeing the sights covered in snow and observing all the trees that had fallen under the weight of the ice.

Now things are returning to normal.  Schools will be open on Monday and most of the tree damage will be cleared as well.

A frozen waterfall coming over the gutters.  

Sarah got some great photos with the Macro setting.

Poor Lavender - covered in Ice.

Looks like we won't be going anywhere soon... the car is encased in 1/2 inch of ice.  

Grace enjoyed a warm Apple Cider drink after her sledding adventure...mmm.

Snowmageddon 2012

Yesterday, I posted a video of Grace and I sledding down the hill just 1/2 a block from our house.  I wrote the blog post quickly and with limited production value.  I also apparently didn't check my facts before calling it "Snowzilla."  Apparently, the locals call it "Snowmageddon"; my bad.

Schools were closed and most people didn't go to work.  We, of course, slept in under the covers and kept warm - that is, until it was time to have some FUN!  Although the streets were mostly empty of cars driving  somewhere, they were filled with people out walking, skiing, snowshoeing, tromping, and generally enjoying the delightful eight inches of powder that had fallen overnight and that morning.  After shoveling the driveway (in case we did need to drive somewhere) and the sidewalk (the mailman still had to work) I got Sarah's help in prepping Grace to venture outside.

Since Grace didn't have long under ware, we just had her keep on her footie pajamas and dressed her warmly over top of them.  

Bundled and ready.  Porter reminds us to no eat the yellow snow.

This test ride on the disk lasted all of 30 seconds.  Grace much preferred being in my arms.  

We visited with neighbors and, of course, headed over to the 43rd St hill.  There was a constant flow of parents, children, and teenagers riding various sledding devices down the hill.  It was the most people I've seen in our neighborhood since the 4th of July.

As I already published the video of Grace and I riding down the hill, I thought I would treat you with a video of Jessie, the camerawoman of that video, giving us a POV shot going down the hill herself.  Porter greatly enjoyed all activities and plays a supporting role.  Enjoy

Snowzilla 2012

This is the most snow I've ever seen since moving here.  Grace and I took the opportunity to enjoy a ride down the hill 1/2 a block up from the house.  AWESOME!!

First Snow this Winter

I awoke this morning, looked outside, and was greeted by a thin blanket of snow covering the landscape.  This makes the kid inside of me go CRAZY!  I love playing in the snow.  I immediately got dressed in my snow pants, layered Grace in multiple sets of cloths and set outside determined to have fun until frostbite was on the horizon.  What I forgot is that Grace might not enjoy the snow as much as I.  It took less than 5 minutes for her to start begging to go back inside.  We held out just long enough to play with our Canadian neighbor, who helped us build a snowman larger than Grace while Porter and Gus tore up the place romping the snow.

 Just stepped outside... still enjoying the experience.

...three minutes later.  Such a red nose. 

I accidentally mentioned "hot chocolate" and immediately regretted it as "chocolate" was just about all she uttered until I let her finally go back inside.   

Success!!  A snowman larger than Grace.  Bonus points for anyone who can spot the second dog, Gus.

Sir Sleeps-a-lot

Sam is a dream baby.  He eats, he burps, he poops, and then for the next 2-3 hours he sleeps.  I don't remember infants being this easy to take care of.  Most of the time he's sleeping in someone's arms where we get photos of him with cell phones, but sometimes he takes a nap in the vibrating infant seat, where we also get photos of him with cell phones.  No matter where he decides to fall asleep, he's good at it - and cute.

Yesterday we used Sarah's Christmas present and had some "professional" photos of Samuel done where the photographer lady used a camera slightly better than our cell phones.  It was during the session that Sam decided he really didn't want to sleep.  That lady used every trick she knew ( and she knew a lot of them ) to try and get him back to sleep and posing cutely.  One of the tricks was to have the studio thermostat set around 90 degrees.  If you think I'm exaggerating, take it back and think again.  The heat wasn't so bad, if the shoot hadn't lasted over 2 hours - again, not a joke.  I think they have laws in Hollywood preventing infant photo shoots lasting that long.  Even so, I think they turned out well and when we get the finished products, we'll post them here for everyone to oooh and ahhh over.  Until then, here's another photo of Samuel sleeping:  Look at those hands!  So cute!

Birthday Celebration

My parents have been here this week helping out after the birth of Samuel last Wednesday and it's been wonderful! Grandpa celebrated his birthday on the 10th and got to spend it with 2 of his grandchildren, making it extra special!

Samuel Vincent

Born today at 10:34. Mom and baby are doing well, expecting to be home in time for supper.

Polar Bear Plunge

I have read about them, I've seen them on TV, but it wasn't until yesterday that I participated.  Myself and about 300 other swimmers jumped into the waters of Commencement Bay to bring in the new year with the first annual Tacoma Polar Bear Plunge.  That water was COLD!!  According to the NOAA National Data Buoy Center, the water was a crisp 45 degrees F yesterday.  Sadly, Sarah did not decide to join me, in the water anyway, however, a friend and a neighbor did.  Get more details from the Tacoma News Tribune article.  And in case you are still unsure, yes, that is a Tigger costume.  Also in attendance were Batman, Spiderman, the Green Lantern, Vikings, clowns, footie pajamas, and more.  Grace did not particularly take to daddy being dressed as Tigger so there are no photos of the two of us together.  There are plenty of other photos:

Travis jumped too... just not in a Tigger costume.

My neighbor showed up... also not in a Tigger costume.   

See the guy in the full suit pajamas on the left?  What a weirdo.

The Tacoma SONICS's guy!

For the uninitiated, the Sonics guy appears at most public gatherings in Tacoma wearing full Seattle Supersonic regalia and brandishing a sign that says "Save Our Sonics."  If you are thinking to yourself, "The Sonics left for Oklahoma  City years ago," then you would be correct, but this gentleman has become a local figure in his unwavering dedication to return the basketball team to the Pacific NW.  

On the docs, ready for the countdown...

...and now 300 people are officially COLD!