Winter Wonder

I'll be perfectly honest: I didn't miss the snow while we lived in Eugene. I was quite happy with the fact that I could wear a sweater and no coat in January and be warm enough. But we're back in the frozen North, and so I'm attempting to revive my love of the white stuff. 

Lucy, on the other hand, bolts out of her room in the morning and runs to the window to check the status of the snow outside, and gauge whether there's enough to build a snowman. So I've been doing my motherly duty of spending a good half an hour getting her and her sister bundled up to play outside for 5 minutes. Just kidding. But it really does seem like it takes an incredible amount of time and energy to wrangle children into snow clothing. But look at this face, it makes it all worth it:

And this face:

Okay those are actually tears of rage on Clara's cheeks. I dressed her in a snowsuit which, while quite warm, is not designed for mobility. She was none too pleased to be plopped on the ground and told to have fun. I got this face for about a minute:

And then a few minutes longer when she realized I was quite serious about her exploring this new world:

And then the shrieking began, and I had to hustle her back inside and spend 20 minutes removing the offending clothing. But once she could crawl again, she was quite happy inside.

We watched her sister make snow patties and sing to herself:

There is something about white snow and overcast skies that makes for lovely photographs, particularly of these cute girls' bright blue eyes:

It may be cold out there, but the three year old doesn't mind. Pretty soon that snow-excitement starts to wear off on you, too.

Dinnertime Conversations

It is becoming increasingly apparent to us that we have two very talkative children. It used to be just Lucy who chatted our ears off during dinner, but now Clara is stepping up to the plate and making her voice heard. She only has one volume level, though, and I'll give you a hint, it's not quiet:

Last night at dinner Lucy surprised us by singing The Lord's Army perfectly, complete with hand motions. 

It just doesn't get any cuter than these two!

And a Happy New Year!

I didn't get around to sending out Christmas cards this year, so this is my internet version, and as a bonus you get even more pictures than you would in a Christmas card. Everybody wins!

First off, here is the picture I WOULD have used had I sent cards out. Trust me, this was the best we were going to get with the children. It's a good thing they're cute even when they're not smiling (or fake smiling).

We have been so blessed this past year. Our second daughter, Clara, was born in March, Joel accepted a job and we moved back to Moscow in July/August, and our house in Eugene sold quickly after we moved. It has been wonderful to be back in Moscow near my parents and so many of our friends.

We have yet to get tired of these sunsets over the Palouse:

Lucy celebrated her third birthday in October, and sometimes Joel and I look at each other in amazement and wonder where the time went. We still remember clearly the days of carrying Lucy into church in her bucket car-seat, and now she is this beautiful, spunky, intelligent, dress-up-dress wearing three year old.

I wish I had written down more of the hilarious things she's told us. One of my favorites is every time we drive past a cemetery, Lucy launches into the same speech, which goes roughly like this: "This is where we put our bodies when they die. We just take them off and put them in the ground. Not everything lasts forever. But they won't stay there! Someday Jesus will come again and fight Satan one last time and defeat him, and then our bodies and our spirits will join back up together, but this time they'll be perfect! And there'll be no more tears, and no more sin in our hearts, just Jesus! That'll be nice." I love getting to hang out with her all day!

It's also so amazing to us that Clara went from this: 

To this, in the space of 10 months:

She has the most hilarious personality, her favorite voice level is screaming (in happiness or sadness, it doesn't matter). She loves to get in on the fun things that Lucy and Joel do, like basket rides (the only picture I had of Lucy in the basket turned out blurry, but she begs Joel to do this with her almost every day).  

And Lucy and Clara are starting to play together more too, which is so much fun for me to watch. Lucy is a great older sister, she tries hard to protect Clara (sometimes to Clara's hurt, but we won't go into that), and she loves telling Clara about all the fun things they will do together when Clara gets a little bigger.

Of course, not all of our days are sunshine and roses:

But even the hard ones are filled with grace and growth, and we're entering 2014 feeling overwhelmed with God's blessings and excited for what the new year brings! Happy New Year friends!

Clara Cute

Yesterday our sweet little Clara Beth turned 9 months old.

We are absolutely in love with this little girl and it has been so much fun watching her personality develop. 

She has two teeth, crawls like a champion, and likes to say mama, dada, baba, and "hi" (which sounds like "haaaaiiiiii"), although she doesn't use them in the correct context yet.

She makes some of the most hilarious faces:

And loves putting her fingers in anyone's mouth who will let her. 

Also she still has plenty of chub:

And beautiful blue eyes: 

We love you Clara Beth! We're so grateful you're our daughter. 

Santa Cruz 2013

A few weeks before Thanksgiving we headed down to Santa Cruz to celebrate Sunny's birthday and show off Clara to the relatives who hadn't met her yet. It was a warm, relaxing, wonderful time.

In preparation for the long, cold winter ahead of us in Moscow, we made sure to visit the ocean a few times and soak up the sun. 

There was an incredible gathering of birds down at the Santa Cruz pier.

As well as sea lions:

Lucy thought they were pretty incredible

We also visited a beach in Capitola:

My two beautiful nieces:

Lucy borrowed a wetsuit and bravely strode out to meet the ocean:

And then changed her mind and played in the sand the whole time instead.

Clara enjoyed bird watching with Grandma:

Really, she did. Don't let this face fool you.

Perle braved the waves:

As did a.... heron? He seemed a little lost:

Lucy did pose for me in her wetsuit though:

Photo op!

Does Clara look nervous to be so close to her energetic older sister? Perhaps:

This is more her cup of tea. Solitary digging in a backyard garden bed:

We also snagged some yummy local ice cream:

And a few shots from the birthday bash. It was a lovely party.

Howard narrating the story of the special birthday ring that we presented to Sunny:

Admiring the ring:

Silly cousin time:

 And the only picture I got of Daniel and his fiancee Ashley. It's an action shot, true. And it's from behind, sure. But at least I got something. In my defense, Clara was sick most of the trip and pretty needy, so my photo opportunities were limited. But it was really great to get to meet Ashley. Nicely done Daniel, nicely done.

Really the trip was just too short! We miss our California family a lot!

Three Years Sweet

Yesterday was our Lucy Rose's 3rd Birthday.

Please wait for a moment while I get weepy. THREE? Wasn't she a 6 month old yesterday? When did this happen? I know every parent says that time flies, but I'm really starting to believe it now. 

During the day, my mom watched Clara so I could take Lucy down to Bucer's for a birthday date. We had a blast eating our cookies and chatting. I learned that Lucy's favorite color right now is green, her favorite animal is a bunny rabbit, her favorite movie is Curious George, and when she grows up she wants to "own a baby." 

Back at home while the kids napped, mom and I decorated the downstairs for her birthday party. We didn't really have a "theme", but Lucy loves fall and halloween and pumpkins so we ran with that. 

My absolute favorite part were the owl cupcakes. Pretty straightforward to make and the kids loved them.

The spider might seem a little morbid, but that was actually Lucy's own choice. I told her she could pick out anything she wanted from the dollar store after our last trip there, and this is what she chose. Sketty the spider. I'd like to say he's growing on me, but he isn't.

As party favors for the kids (and place settings), we used stickers to spell out all of the children's names on mini-pumpkins. Those were also a huge hit.

Even the little babies got pumpkins, although I'm not sure they appreciated them fully.

So then at 4 we headed over to Bonkerz indoor play area, where all the children spent a blissful two hours playing. I only remembered to get my camera out twice, and neither picture is going to win any awards, but hey. At least the moment is captured.

At 6 we headed back to our place for pizza and cupcakes (and beer and salad for the adults).

This picture is not even of all of the children present there. It was a delightfully chaotic scene.

Afterwards Lucy opened her presents:

And thanked everyone with hugs:

This birthday was such a blast for Lucy and for Joel and I. It is so very fun to watch your child's look of delight when she realizes that the cake, decorations, and presents are for her, to celebrate her life. We reminded Lucy that all of this love we are showing to her is just a small bit of the love that God shows to her every single day. We are so grateful for our sweet, spunky little girl!