The Adventures of Dave, Lindsay, Cora and Edie

A big, healthy 7-month old!  We don't make them petite in this family....

After a quiet Christmas at home, we headed to Utah for New Years to visit Papa and Grandma and do a little skiing.  Cora and Edie got to kick around with their cousins, which they loved.  In the hours before heading to the airport, we convinced Cora to try on the mini ski boots we had borrowed and take a few runs down the free beginner slope at Park City.  Once we got the skis on her, she was hooked.  When I told her we had to leave she said "I want to go three more times," and held up three figured just to reiterate how many more times.  She even skied a few feet by herself and was very proud of that.  We may just have a ski bunny on our hands and needless to say, that makes us VERY excited!  In other news, our 2 1/2 year old is officially potty trained thanks to Dad so we are left with only one child in diapers.  Hallelujah!

It feels as though we've been on a dead sprint the last few months....my busy season at work; Dave taking his toughest A&P class yet; an incredibly busy, independent and sassy toddler; and a baby who is coming into her own.  Oh and did I mention neither child is sleeping these days!  We are getting quite used to sleep deprivation... But we have had a lot of fun in the last few months as well.  We were spoiled and got to spend a week in Maui with family.  It was wonderfully relaxing and our routine consisted of the following: up at 5am, early morning trip to the beach, late morning trip to the pool, nap time, more fun (possibly another trip to the pool), eat dinner, do it all over again....PERFECTION.  Both girls loved the beach and had a blast swimming, as you can see from the pictures.  The trip ended up with my first solo flight with both girls.  6 hours on a plane crammed in two small seats with two small children = true exhaustion.  The g...

There have been too many reminders this week of just how precious life is.  It makes me just want to snuggle up with my sweet little girls every chance I get and really spend time with them.  There will always be things that need to get done but they are only this age once and time truly does fly by. Who cares if we eat Trader Joes pre-made meals several nights in a row.  Who cares if we have piles of clean clothes upstairs or floors covered with crumbs.  Out of respect for those who have lost people they love this week, I am really going to work on this moving forward.  It puts things in perspective. 

Today was a perfect Fall day in Portland so we headed out to the pumpkin patch less than five minutes from our house and enjoyed a variety of Fall activities - tractor rides, hay maze, staring at farm animals and, of course, pumpkin hunting!  We came home with two nice, large pumpkins. This past weekend, we also did a quick overnight with our friends at McMenamins in Forest Grove and enjoyed the Fall colors as we drove through Oregon wine country.  Edie joined us on the trip and Cora spent the night with the grandparents! And the highlight of our Fall so far....Dave completed the Portland Marathon last weekend and we were all there to cheer him on at mile 20 and again at the finish line.  Go, Dave, Go!

Cora started at Sprout Academy this week.  She'll be at the local community center two mornings a week for fun, crafts and social time with other 2-year olds.  Our little social butterfly is already loving it there and doesn't even notice when Dad leaves.  Surprise, surprise!