2010 so far... (and the tail end of 2009)

Here are a few highlights from our past few months...

Camden finished off his 2nd year of fall soccer with his team the Goldstrikers!

They won a couple of games this season! Matt loved coaching the team and his assistant coach was another Matt. They had a good time!!

We took a trip to Arizona. We visited Grandma Vicky and Aunt Jenny. We swam every day, Emerson napped by the pool every day and....

we got to check out a new restaurant (new to us) called Joe's Farm Grill. It was featured on "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" one of our favorite Food network shows. The food is almost all grown on a farm right there, what they don't grow, they buy locally. It was delicious!! If you're ever near Chandler, AZ, you should check it out!! We liked it so much that we had dinner there one night, and went back for lunch the next day!! My favorite was the Fontina Burger! they also had amazing onion rings!

The boys have gained a few new chores... including... bringing the garbage cans up from the cul-de-sac. They impress me...that's a long way to carry garbage cans, even if they're empty!

Matt took a friend on his first fly-fishing excursion on the Snohomish River on a 12 degree morning in December. It was so beautiful, but so cold that the rocks were freezing to the flies!!...and the rod!


We decorated for our house with hand cut snowflakes...Emerson loved them!
Emerson and Stu are getting to know each other. So far, they seem to like each other :)

Hudson got a camera for Christmas and took some amazing pictures! He took this one on a walk around the neighborhood the day after Christmas. He loves taking pictures!
We visited Bellevue's Snowflake Lane. What a fun production!! This was our third year, we love this new tradition.

We rooted the Cougars on to Victo....oops, not a victory this year, but we still root for the Crimson and Gray!
Emerson is getting her first experience with Legos. We figured we'd start her early. She gets to chew on the big pieces and can't quite get to the smaller ones yet. I know, soon...she'll be crawling and life for all of us will change drastically!
Emerson is enthralled with people's faces. If you can't pick your brother's nose, whose nose can you pick??

We got a little bit farther in decorating the nursery. We hung her initials on the wall and put up a couple of pics of Emerson with her adoring brothers.
Hudson loves to entertain Emerson. I loved walking in on this scene!
Emerson started eating solid foods. I've been told that when trying to feed a baby I tend to open my mouth... apparently the rumors are true! Emerson is enjoying yams and butternut squash so far. I love making her food for her!
This is one of Emerson's new poses. We call it "Covergirl" She cracks us up with her new moves every day!
Emerson is now 8 months old and can sit up all by herself!! She is trying and trying to crawl but thus far...has found herself scooching backwards much more efficiently than forwards and is able to get up on all fours, but can't quite crawl. I bet it will only be a few more days or weeks and she'll be mobil! YIKES!
Well, I think that's about it for now. from my irregular blogger world...goodbye 2009! Hello 2010! :)

Catching up...

Well, we've had a busy couple of months... I always think, "oh next time I'll update my blog weekly!" but...alas that may never happen.....

(written 3 weeks ago...)It is so hard to believe that Emerson is 4 months old! a third of her first year of life is over? I am enjoying her so much! I don't want her to grow up too fast! Here are a few pics of her in the past week. She is growing and changing so fast! She is smiling all of the time, she even has a little laugh (usually only if she's being tickled). She has so many rolls on her legs I've lost track... as you can see in the first picture, her cheeks aren't small either :)

She spends lots of time with a furrowed brow. If not smiling, this is the face I see most of the time. very contemplative. But as the days go by, she is smiling more and more.

Also, since my last post we "did the Puyallup" We had a great time riding rides, looking at animals, the adults thoroughly enjoyed people watching and eating fair food and lots of it!!

Here is Hudson coming down the "Giant Slide" all by himself!

Emerson tried out a few new seating options in the past month...

the johnny jump-up...which she seems to like a lot. She doesn't have a clue what she's doing, but she ends up spinning herself around so her environment keeps changing and she doesn't get bored :)
Matt gives her 'spa treatments' when he clips her fingernails or gives her a bath, he always says to her "are you enjoying your spa day?"
Hudson is enjoying school...a lot!! He wrote this up on the chalkboard one day, just because.

Here is Emerson in another new seat of hers... this is her 'bumbo' seat. She likes it, but it takes her some work to keep herself upright. Recently she is liking it better as her neck gets stronger and stronger.

We went to our favorite pumpkin patch, Craven Farms in Snohomish. The kids had a ball playing in the corn and we picked out a couple of pumpkins. It's always fun to run around and try to find the perfect pumpkin...and snap a few pumpkin photos along the way...

Then came the pumpkin carving... Emerson...well, Emerson...slept right through it.

But the boys had a fun time carving and pulling the guts out.

I meticulously separated all of the seeds and as I write this I realize they never got roasted. How sad!!

And for those of you who made it ALL the way to the end of this...

Here is a video of Emerson's first giggle. Not only was it caught on video, but she has only done it one other time!! We had so much fun listening to her!! Only caught a bit on video, but well worth it! and of all the things to make her laugh... it was a cough!