The Cat in the Hat

Saturday morning we dressed the girls up in their Thing 1 and Thing 2 t-shirts and took them down to Pottery Barn Kids to meet The Cat in the Hat.  At first the girls were a little unsure of the giant cat standing in front of them but after a while Emma warmed up.  Madi on the other hand was very content sitting in daddy's lap. 

*A note to Papa-these pictures would have been much better with my flash and light box system. Look at those horrible shadows. :)

Thing 1 and Thing 2 running around the house causing chaos.

 

Seattle Aquarium

On Thursday we had plans to meet Katie and Emerson at the aquarium.  Unfortunately Emerson was sick so they couldn't come, but the girls and I decided to go anyway.  The girls had a great time looking into all the fish tanks.  Emma had a great time running away as soon as I let her out of the stroller.  But overall, they did good and we had a nice time.

Looking at the jellyfish.

 

Looking at all the fish swimming around and above us in the fish dome. 

 

When we got home I put the girls down for a nap.  I took Madi up first and then came back down to get Emma.  As soon as I hit the bottom step I saw Emma showing off her new skill.

Climbing on the kitchen table and going through mommy's purse.

Playing at Nana and Papa's

On Tuesday I took the girls down to Gig Harbor to spend the day at Nana and Papa's and play with the cousins. The girls were in a great mood and had fun playing with Caroline, Nicholas and Molly.  It was also Nana and Papa's 41st wedding anniversary.  Happy Anniversary Nana and Papa! 

 

Emma and her pout.

 

Madi and her tongue.

And little miss Molly Moo.

What a weekend...

On Thursday and Friday poor little Emma had a runny nose.  I figured it was caused by teething because she is still missing a bunch of teeth and they have to come in sometime.  But I was wrong.  Saturday morning it was worse and she clearly wasn't feeling well.  We had to cancel our appearance at Jacob Morales' birthday party.  Nicholas was coming to stay the night with us while Kiersten spent a night with some girl friends.  The evening went well.  The girls had a lot of fun playing with Nicholas.  As we got closer and closer to bedtime it was clear Emma was still getting worse.  We put the girls to bed just after 6 and at 9 she was still up screaming and wanted nothing to do with sleep.  Finally, we had a moment of quite and she fell asleep.  At 11 Chad heard her coughing and went to check on her.  I could hear her barking from downstairs.  I ran up and she was breathing so hard and shallow so I grabbed her, my shoes and wallet and off to Children's ER we went.  Three hours later we were home with a diagnosis of croup.  I was very relieved and quite proud that with two premature babies it has taken us nearly 18 months to make our first trip to the ER.  I am sure it won't be our last.  She had her ups and downs all day but overall is doing much better.  She went to bed at 5:30.  And then... Round 4 of snow.  Madeline is thankfully feeling great and is in a fantastic mood so she and I went out to see the snow for a few minutes. 

Nicholas and Madi playing.

Poor Emma trying to eat her peaches and cream with a little snot.  (she is going to kill me for this pic later)

The three kids playing nicely in the tent this morning.  Emma already feeling better.

Chad, Madi and Nicholas taking Papi for a morning walk.

 

 

Madi playing in the snow tonight.

 

Time for a change again

With the new year, I thought I would update our blog title picture.  They sure are growing fast.  Here is the retired one

Happy New Year!

2008 is finally over and I am sure like most Americans we are hoping 2009 will be better.  Don't get me wrong, we had some great times in 2008.  2007 is still my favorite year though.  In 2008 we watched the girls turn from blobs into little people, mini Chad and mini Courtney to be exact.  It has been so much fun to watch them grow and learn everyday.  We have been very blessed with a happy, healthy family and wonderful friends.  We spent an amazing week on Martha's Vineyard with 4 other couples/families, we sent the girls to Nana and Papa's for 6 days so we could watch the most amazing golf tournament-the US Open with Tiger winning in a 19 hole playoff, we sent the girls to Nana and Papa's for a weekend so we could attend the Motley Crue concert and have an extra day to recover, Grandma BB came to visit a couple times, and Grampy Rick and Grammy Jeffie came to visit also.  The girls started co-op toddler preschool in September and have learned so much and have had such a great time.  They have spent many many days playing with all of their friends.  Despite the ugliness in the financial world, 2008 was still a good year. 

To celebrate the new year we had Katie, Ryan, Kendra, Austin, Katie H, and Emerson over to drink and play games.  It was pretty mellow but lots of fun.  The girls must have known something was going on because they woke up 5 minutes before midnight and were able to bring in the new year with us.  Then of course Daddy had to put on the video of Eddie Vedder singing “A Quick One While He’s Away” with My Morning Jacket. 

 

Another year down.  I hope everyone was blessed with a wonderful holiday season. 

Christmas Eve aka Christmas part 1

I know it is about time I got this updated.  We had such wonderful three days of Christmas with friends and family.  BB flew in on the 23rd, Sean came up from Portland on the 24th, and the Karhans finally arrived on the 26th.  We spent Christmas Eve here enjoying a fondue dinner with BB, Nana, Papa, Auntie Kendra, Auntie Katie, Uncle Ryan and our friend Sean.  It was so fun to see the girls start to get into it.  On Christmas Eve they were allowed to open a few gifts, one being PJ's and then one each from Sean.

 

Emma giving Mickey a kiss.

 

Playing with Sean, Mickey and Pooh.

The traditional reading of "Twas the Night Before Christmas"

  

Getting restless

 

Almost done and off to bed.

Christmas Day aka Christmas part 2

We woke up Christmas morning, brought the girls downstairs and watched the chaos begin.    After all the gifts were opened and naps were taken we had a wonderful dinner with the family again.

Christmas part 3

On the morning of the 26th the Karhan family flew up from San Antonio.  We went down to Nana and Papa's in Gig Harbor for another go around of family fun and gifts.  It was fun to watch the girls play with their cousins. 

Caroline and Nicholas having fun in the snow, quite different than the 70 degrees they had in Texas.

 

 

Three toddlers in the bathroom, never a good thing.