Adaline's 3rd Birthday

Of course Adaline chose to have a princess birthday and so a very princess birthday we had. 

We started off the day with a princess outfit and a fun trip to our corner Starbucks.

 We had the family over for an early dinner and cake (Adaline helped decorate it!)

I took a lot of pictures of Adaline opening her gifts, but this was my favorite because of Laura's photo bomb :)

I took these the next day. Spencer was just as excited about the workbench from Grandpa and Grandpa Walsh as Adaline was.

 Travis picked out this mini apron to match the apron he gave me for my birthday and Adaline really does love it. She runs and gets it all by herself every time we cook together. She glared at me for this picture because I had the gall to ask her to stop playing for the two seconds it took for her to stand up for the picture (that stinker!)

I know every mother says this, but I can't believe how fast time is passing. How is Adaline three years old already??? She has such an amazingly sweet personality. I love how polite and caring she is towards others- one of my favorite parts of the day is dinner, when she sits with us at the table and asks us how our day was. Makes me smile every single time. Within the last month, I have had three different mothers at pre-school stop me and tell me that their child comes home talking about their friend Adaline. Who could ask for more...she is a healthy, happy, friendly child. Happy Birthday, Big Girl!

Thirty-three

My birthday is in the end of the January and we're usually so worn out from the holidays that we don't do anything big to celebrate (thank goodness!) This time around I asked for a weekend of sleep for my birthday, so we headed out of town in pursuit of a stretch of sleep longer than four hours at a time.
We started off indulging in sushi and then headed out to a fantastic dive bar.

The next day, we had planned to do our own things in the morning, meet back up for a couples massage, have lunch, then head out for a leisurely afternoon of wine tasting. 

But, that didn't happen exactly. Either the sushi or the two drinks I had after the sushi sat wrong with me, so I spent the morning trying to settle my stomach by sleeping. It was funny, I've had food poisoning before and I've had a hangover (or two) before and this didn't match up with either of them. My only other guess is that my body let down because I was relaxed and knew the kids weren't depending on me (just like my first getaway after Spencer). So, I didn't get my long beachfront run in that day, but Travis did get a surf session in with a great friend. 

I pulled it together long enough to fully enjoy my massage, but I could only eat a few bites of lunch so I abstained from the wine tasting. Poor Travis was forced to drink all the wine and give me notes. I still thoroughly enjoyed sitting in the sun and just taking time to visit with friends and strangers. I ended up going to bed at 7 and sleeping hard all night. I woke up feeling much better and took my beachfront run (a little slower than anticipated, but still completed it!)

We also had a really nice birthday dinner with my family and lunch with Travis' parents. It is always nice celebrating with family, but it was also really nice taking time for myself (next time, I'll stay away from the sushi!!!)

Fall Photos

This fall we were blessed enough to have Liz Evans from LizEStudio take our family pictures again.

She has taken our photos numerous times and each time I'm surprised that she can get any pictures at all. She definitely has practice working with kids!

Thank you again, Liz! I love every single one of the photos!

New Year's Day

We were lucky enough to spend New Year's Eve/Day at the cabin with my parents, my sister and her kids. The weather was amazing and there was still plenty of snow for us to have fun on the backyard sled run and the BIG sled run in a neighboring township.

(Again, Spencer stayed warm by the fire- but next year, I think he'll be out there riding will us...)

Hayley and I have been riding this sled hill since we were little. It is so much fun to be able to take our kids there and see them enjoying it, too.

Travis and Adaline are standing about 20 yards from the bottom of the run, and the small black dots at the top of the run are other sledders. I'm guessing the run is at least 100 yards long. 

Adaline only went down once (and we started her from the halfway point), but it was a bit much for her, so she and Hayley spent the rest of the time cheering on the rest of us.

My dad, Trace and Laura had the best ride of the season. They started about 3/4 of the way up the hill and went all the way to the end into the snow-covered pile of trees that act as a road block and prevents you from skidding out onto the frozen pond. 

We didn't have that tree pile when I was growing up. You just had to learn the perfect time to bale out of your sled :) In some ways I feel like the pile of trees is worse than just jumping ship. I remember the snow always being icy which makes the sled really hard to control. There were always huge dents in the snow which makes you really launch in the air. I didn't like it so much as a kid, but now, it was really fun. This year, the snow was just getting icy, and it was just icy enough to draw a little blood from Trace on one of his crashes. It was a pretty good snow rash on his chin.

We had a great time and then topped it off with a stop at my great-aunt and uncle's cabin for some hot chocolate. Adaline's already talking about her next "trip to sledding."

After Christmas Fun

After Christmas we stayed at my parents' cabin for a few days and enjoyed the most beautiful snow fall. I absolutely love fresh snow (as long as I'm not driving in it!)

No trip to the cabin is complete unless we visit the best coffee shop around (seriously, I wish I could work here)

We were able to walk out the back door and enjoy a nice gently sloping sled run with Adaline, but truly, we only went sledding WITH her, once each. Then she refused to let us ride with her because she was going to do it herself...and she did, she even hiked back up the hill in knee-deep (to her) snow every time!

While we were playing in the snow, Spencer was enjoying the warm fire and attempting to crawl.

He did come outside to experience snow for the first time, and I think he liked it!

 On our drive home, I think we captured the look of pure content-ness (even if it is a little fuzzy!)