"Snow" Day

Blake woke up yesterday and came running down the hall, snow bibs in hand, saying "Mommy, it SNOWED". Lauren, Blake and I bundled up to go out and enjoy the three flakes of snow that fell overnight. Blake loves eating snow, he talks about eating Montana snow all the time. Here he is trying to lick the snow off of a leaf....I wish he'd wait till we went back to Montana.

"I love snow THIS much"

Chairs

Now that Lauren has a chair like Blake's I thought I'd try to get a picture of them sitting together. No such luck. So far the chairs are more fun to crawl over, jump on, or play tackle with. When I see Blake rolling over his sister while they are playing, I start to say "Blake, you need to be more gentle with your sister". Right then Lauren always starts laughing hysterically. So far, she is one tough cookie.

Merry Christmas 2010

All of the Pittmans were at our house for Christmas this year. We had a house full and it was a blast. We had lots of food, wine, Christmas cookies, lots of presents and lots of fun together.

Grandma & Grandad

Chad getting ready for a reading of 'Twas the night before Christmas'

Everyone must have been very good this year, Santa really delivered!

Lauren, who always sleeps later than her brother, was the first one up! Maybe she knew Daddy got her something that comes in a little blue bag?
Blake testing out his new wheels.

Santa brought Gage an iPad. You're setting the bar pretty high Santa!

Grammy and Grandpa stopped by with some goodies too. We don't get to see them much these days and we were so happy they could join us for a bit.

"I'm finally a girly girl! I have a dolly, pink chair and new bow for my hair!" Truth be told, all she really wants to play with is her brother's pirate hat. I'll keep working on her :)

Auntie Alison got Blake a Snoopy snocone machine...which is already getting LOTS of use.

Todd, Lisa, Lauren, Jean & Vern

Now all he says is "yo ho ho".

The count down is on...

Blake is BEYOND excited for Christmas this year and each evening he wants us all to hang out in the "Christmas tree room" (which is what we call our living room year round now). Tonight I got a couple of pictures of Lauren checking out our tree. No pics of Blake, he was too busy bouncing off the walls.

The Nutcracker

When I was three my mom took me to the Nutcracker for the first time. I remember her telling me I sat perfectly still through the whole thing. When I was pregnant with Blake I told Chad I would do the same with our baby, boy or girl. I can't believe Blake is grown up enough to go! I wasn't sure how he'd do, but if he can sit through an entire Husky football game surely he would enjoy the Nutcracker :) We had a GREAT time. Blake couldn't wait to get out the door this morning (he got himself dressed and "spiked" his hair on his own). When we arrived at our seats Blake couldn't wait for things to get started. He too sat perfectly still through the whole performance, although he had questions and comments and pretty much a running commentary the entire time. "Is that the Nutcracker?" "Where is the Mouse King?" And when the Nutcracker lifted the ballerina into the air, Blake exclaimed "wow, he is strong!". During intermission we went to get a cupcake. Just as I was about to pay they sounded the chimes to let everyone know we had seven minutes to get back to our seats. Blake said "hurry, let's go". I assured him he still had time to eat his cupcake, so he took ONE bite and said he wanted to go back to our seats. I was pleasantly surprised at how much he liked the show. We had a great time together and on the way home he said the best part was when the Nutcracker hurt the Mouse King with his sword. See, the Nutcracker is for boys too.

Blake with his candy cane.

He was perfectly happy looking through them backward.

Third time IS the charm

I've been trying to talk Blake into getting his picture taken with Santa all month. This morning Blake and I were talking about how today would be his last opportunity to see Santa if he wanted to. He said he WOULD like to see Santa today, but that he would need to wear his slippers to the mall. Hmmm, was I being suckered or was he really going to see Santa? I was willing to see what happened, so I let Blake wear his slippers to Bellevue Square and it worked! Maybe Blake just wanted to go in his own good time, maybe he prefers Nordstrom to Macy's or maybe he just wanted to see if I'd really let him wear slippers to the mall. I now have two pictures of Lauren with Santa and one of Blake...not one of them together. Maybe next year. The picture won't be mailed to our house until January, but I am really hoping his slippers made it in the shot!

Slight change...

For those of you interested in signing up for the "meal baby" calendar to help out the Handsakers while they are in the hospital, there has been a slight change in plans. The Handsakers will now be checking in on 1/9 and G's transplant is set for 1/18. There was a scheduling conflict with her European bone marrow donor. It sounds like the twentysomething, male, perfect 10 out of 10 donor is completely on board. He just needed to adjust the schedule a little. The Handsakers don't know if they will ever be able to know who this donor is, as the laws differ a bit in each country. But maybe someday Georgia's love of French pastries, German beer or Italian wine will give us a little clue :)
I am counting the days until transplant. When someone tells you a child has leukemia, you think, oh that's awful. All I can tell you is you have no clue, I had no clue. The rigorous testing of Georgia's little body this week has been over the top, and there is still much more to do...before she starts chemotherapy again. Alison and Brian remain amazing parents, taking each new hurdle in stride.

www.mealbaby/viewregistry/337275

The Handsakers

Alison, Brian and Georgia will be checking back into Children's Hospital on 1/1/2011. They would love some home cooked meals during their 6 - 8 week stay. If you have any interest in signing up for their "meal calendar", please go to: www.mealbaby.com/viewregistry/337275.
Georgia is schedule to have her bone marrow transplant on January 10th. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. She is an amazing little girl and we can't wait to have her well again!

Winter Celebration

Sunday was the "Winter Celebration" for Blake's school. His class learned a dance to perform for everyone. Blake did a great job, he was pretty in to it and he took a bow at the end.

Debby and Bonnie - so surprised when Father Christmas made his entrance.

There was an explanation of the nativity and menorah. Once the girls were done lighting the candles, one of the kids yelled from the crowd "is it some one's birthday?" :)

My little dancer

She's up

Lauren is wasting no time. She's been crawling for less than a month, but she's evidently ready to up the ante! Saturday morning she pulled herself up and Chad, Blake and I were all there to witness it :) She got herself back down pretty gracefully (unlike the face plant she took yesterday) and then pulled up again. This is all going so fast, I just can't believe it.

7 Months Old Today

I think months 6 and 7 are some of my favorites out of a baby's first year. Lauren is so interactive, she smiles, laughs, holds her arms up when she wants to be held. Lauren is still very sweet, but showing some independence too. She is also one tough little cookie! Blake likes to pick her up when I am not looking, roll over her when they are playing and then there is the flat out pushing her over (usually when he is ticked at me). Nine times out of ten Lauren just laughs. Any attention from her big brother is good attention I guess...at least for now. Lauren also realized she doesn't like it when her big brother takes things away from her and she makes it known! She continues to be a good eater, sleep has been a little rough with the new teeth, but I am hoping she'll get back on track shortly. Happy seven months baby girl!

Maybe Santa will bring me some girly toys for Christmas??

Santa Visit

Blake has always loved Santa, the Mariner Moose and pretty much any character for kids. I'm used to him running toward these creatures with open arms...no longer. Blake really didn't want to see Santa this year, he was clinging to Chad. It's one thing to have a crying baby on Santa's lap, I decided a crying three year old would be a little much. So, here's Lauren's picture with Santa, she loved him. Grandma Jean sent a special dress for the occasion, Blake really enjoyed the headband that came with the dress. Tonight Blake mentioned that Santa could come down our chimney with his chair and he could sit on his lap at home, or maybe we could go back to Macy's. There are still 16 days till Christmas, we'll see what happens.

My Big Girl

Lauren has TWO teeth! She cut her first tooth on 11/30 and her second tooth came through last night. They are almost impossible to see in person, more or less get a picture. You'll have to wait until they are showing a bit more :)

Decorations

After a very busy week, we finally got our tree and our house decorated this past weekend. Next year I will make sure we decorate the same day we get the tree. Blake is the most patient three year old boy. The poor guy spent all of last week saying "hey mom, could we get some lights for the tree at QFC?" or "do you think they have Christmas tree lights at Costco?" I didn't tell him the lights were just sitting outside in the garage. He was very eager to help and he took his ornament hanging job very seriously.