Random pics from this week...

We had a delightful Christmas here in Seattle... and it was white with a LOT of snow! We have had Greg's sister Christy in town, and his mom, Judy. The kids love all of the extra attention, and we are grateful for the extra help, too! Robbie and Jenene have been over for a long time as well, so we have gotten great family time in.

A few random pics, taken all from Christy's new camera!

Hanging out with Aunt Christy:

Playing with our cool new wooden toy set from Aunt Christy:

Hailey models her new swanky hat and mitts from Grandma

"What? I need a bath after all of this partying?"

Hailey helps Christy make gingerbread cookies today:

Drew decided to help cook, and took over the apron... but found it very hard to cook while holding matchbox cars in each hand. Hmm!


Pushing the new Popper around wasn't easy either. The darn apron was just in the way!

Hailey gets tickle tortured by mama.

Hailey models her new sweatsuit, given to her by Nanny!

Drew and Hailey built their first "fort" this week (w/ daddy's help) and they loved it!! Here is Drew peeking out of the "door."

Drew in the bath.. and then right afterward..

The girl with a curl

Sweet Hailey was born over 18 months ago, and she is just NOW starting to grow some hair! She is often mistaken for a boy because of her short hairdo... but now, the little girl has a CURL! Maybe she will end up with curls like mama...




Also, in addition to her new hairstyle, Hailey is a budding concert pianist, as evidenced by the video below. We are practicing for her audition for American Idol, in which she will both sing (even though she can't talk yet) and play the ivories...

Day 5 of the Snow-In....

Today is the 5th day of being snowed-in at our house. This storm started last Thursday, when we got about 8 inches of snow. Friday was nice and sunny, and the a second storm came in on Saturday that lasted about 30 hours, and brought us about another 6 inches of snow.

So, we watched big flakes fall all day yesterday. Luckily, we didn't lose power, like some homes. But we are starting to get a tad restless being stuck in our house! We have been taking walks each day, playing games, reading books, etc. but that is about it - even the kids are ready for somethin' new!

SNOW DAY!!

We woke up this am to find 6 inches of fresh snow outside.... and lots more still falling! Of course, the Minnesota girl in me was delighted! So, we just bundled the kids up, put on the snowshoes, and took a nice long walk in the snow with our neighbor, Sue. We have had big huge flakes falling, and it is gorgeous! The kids love it, too!

One of the Lang Family traditions on the first big snow day of the year is to make french toast for breakfast... Not just your ordinary french toast though! It has a triangle roof, covered in powdered sugar! check out the oh-so-professional pic below!

Off to make Christmas cookies and finish my hot chocolate!

Aunt Jenene, Giggles, Jumping, and Cars

Greg's brother Robbie married Jenene last New Years' Eve. We LOVE her. She has been an amazing addition to our Lang family, and it is such a blessing that Robbie and Jenene only live 15 minutes from us. To top it off, they are fantastic with our kids!

Here is a hilarious video of Jenene playing with Andrew, in which he is giggling like crazy. Note that he also is doing two of his new favorite activities: a) jumping up and down non-stop, and b) clutching onto one of his matchbox cars. These days, he has a car in hand at all times. (Yesterday, he had a car in each hand, and wanted to drink his milk, and just couldn't figure out how he could do both things!)

When I remember being pregnant, dreaming of what it would be like to have a little boy, images like this were what went through my mind. Giggling, jumping, cars.... 100% boy!!

Shoes

One of the favorite activities around here is to play with SHOES. The kids just love them, especially Hailey. They raid our closet all of the time, and put on the "grown up" shoes. They have gotten so good at it - and sometimes we just walk in the room, and there they are with our shoes on!

Tonight I walked out of the kitchen and saw Hailey standing there in my hiking shoes, which I left at the top of the stairs (first pic below). Then after that, she went and got her favorite shoes out of her room, and insisted that I put them on her.... yes, right on top of the footie pajamas! (nice look, Hails!) She insisted!

They love the shoes with velcro laces; sometimes they both will sit together, each take a shoe, and just play with the velcro forever - it is hilarious.

Drew decided to play with daddy's shoes tonight, including his slippers. (I swear I didn't put them in these shoes or positions.) I sort of prefer that he play with dad's shoes, since he usually has an affinity for my blue heels with sparkles on them. (um, scary).

Cheers to Imelda Marcos!

New Chairs for Xmas

My mom (Nana) offered to buy these chairs I picked out as a Christmas gift for the kids. They arrived yesterday, and the kids LOVE THEM!! They climbed in and out of them all night long - they are a hit! They love their chairs!

Early Christmas

My dad Kirby and stepmom Katie were in town this last weekend to celebrate an early Christmas with us. We had a great weekend, and the kids enjoyed opening gifts for the first time! We also went to a tree farm to cut down our own tree, and then we had fun decorating that, too. And the kids didn't even break any of the delicate ornaments, like mom did!

Here are the kids in their adorable black velvet matching outfits, before church on Sunday. These are on loan from my friend Kristen, and they are so cute on the kids!

My family visits...

We just finished a fabulous Thanksgiving week with my whole family in town. It was delightful and we laughed so much! Here are pics below of my mom (Nana), my stepdad Charlie, my brother Christopher, his girlfriend Lei, and my nephew JJ.

They were all here for the last 5 days, and we ate lots of yummy food, played tons of games, celebrated JJ's 8th b-day, watched the twins play with their new matchbox cars, visited Pike Market, and even managed to decorate a gingerbread house. Drew is attached to his new cars, as evidenced in the pics below.

I am so thankful that I have such a fun and enjoyable family! It was a great T-giving week!

So many reasons to give Thanks

We have so many reasons to be thankful this Thanksgiving. For a good marriage, for wonderful precious children, and for fabulous support and love from our family and our friends. We love Drew and Hailey to pieces, and have had such a good year with them. We are blessed beyond belief!

We are also thankful for our jobs, and specifically, that my job is only part-time, which allows me to make a bit of money and have adult time, but also to spend a majority of my time as a stay-at-home mom. :) Happy Thanksgiving to you, our family and friends!

The Bumbo Chairs - Then and Now

We have had these pink and blue Bumbo Chairs in our living room for over a year now. The kids love them, and every day they climb in and out of them (as shown in the video below). They sit in them to read books, play toys, and just talk. It is so cute, and I am sad that they are growing out of them!

You can see pictures below from last October, when the kids just turned 4 months old, and we started putting them in the Bumbos. They could hardly hold their torsos up, so they kind of always looked like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Quite a comparison versus today!

It is amazing how much has changed in a year; I still can't believe how fast it has gone. We are blessed over and over by these two little ones!! Also, many thanks to Auntie Kimmie, who gave us these chairs as a gift when the kids were born!

Guilty as charged

Hmmm.... the kids have discovered how fun it is to unravel the toilet paper roll. They were caught in the act today, and I couldn't bear to stop them because they were in hysterics laughing. :) When the TP was all on the floor, they just kept spinning the cardboard roll, and they just got such a kick out of that. These kids are so funny!