Happy Easter

Okay, so, here's a confession, I don't have one picture of Simon framed on the walls yet...I swear I'm taking them, this proves it...actually, that is Micah's foot in the picture, so looks like he's actually taking this one. Nevertheless, I love le petit Simon, and I swear I will get a picture of you on my wall by the end of the weekend.

Lovely Lola on Easter Morning...It was pouring rain here in Portland, of course, so we had to make due with lame pictures with flashes. Also, I think the kids are in sugar zombie mode...

Jude and Lola love Simon too...

Belated Birthday Babies

Well, Lola is four now, but I'm in denial that she is not still my baby. She had a princess birthday party and was as lovely as ever. We made jewelry, went on an egg hunt, and of course had cake and ice cream. She painstakingly colored her own decorations (you might see some of them on the window behind her). Seven little princesses attended her party, it was what you'd expect with 7 little four year olds in costumes. Micah wrote and illustrated her the most darling book of ABC's and I put together a scrapbook of the year she was three. I really can't believe how big she is...

And in February, our baby baby turned 1. His first birthday was celebrated at the Northam's house. He had the exact same Costco cake that Jude did for his first birthday (except Jude's had vanilla frosting). Wow, how our lives have changes between the boys' first birthdays! We didn't write any books for Simon this birthday, but maybe in a few years when he can appreciate it more! Simon is a gem. We love him and all the crazy noise that comes with him. Happy Birthday littlest one! We love you!

My Christmas List

All I want for Christmas is this picture.

And this picture....

And this picture...Merry Christmas!

Christmas Letter 1

So, here is our "Christmas Letter" in 7 parts because I wanted to keep it simple, and I am no savvy blogger, so this was easiest. So, in case you haven't noticed, I have not been the best blogger as of late, or ever. I have been trying to keep things simple lately, and part of that right now, is to cut out blogging time. So please don't be offended if I never make comments on your darling blogs, it's nothing personal, but I'll try to be better. Anyway, in an effort to "catch up" quickly, I am just throwing a bunch of snapshots on our blog and calling it a Christmas letter. In my effort to keep it bare, these photos might not be in order, but they will give you a glance into our lives since my last post, which was basically the end of summer. Speaking of summer, by-the-way, we actually had a fabulous vacation at Lake Powell with Micah's family in July, which I didn't blog because Micah posted photos of Powell on our shutterfly blog (linked to this one).

Micah and I just had our 9th wedding anniversary. Because of this crazy snow we're experiencing, we have yet to go out to celebrate it with a night out, so we're looking forward to the roads thawing so we can! Micah enjoys his job at Laika, where he is slowly but surely working on their first all CG feature film. However, you can see Laika's first stop-motion film, Coraline, in February...it looks amazing! Check it out at http://www.coraline.com/. I am busy with three kids (cliche I know) and my calling in my church's Young Women's program. I also get to volunteer in both Jude(6) and Lola's(3) school, so it's fun to see the kids in action. Simon(10 months) gets to go to daycare on those days--he seems to like it. We have a Disneyland trip planned for January that we are excited about! The kids don't actually know about that yet, so don't spill the beans. We're giving the trip to them for Christmas. We are all doing very well and wish you the very best for the new year and a VERY MERRY, MAGICAL CHRISTMAS!! (ps. this picture of the family was taken at the Japanese Gardens in Portland, one of our favorite places. Lola ended up falling into the koi pond moments after this shot, so we're lucky to have gotten this photo! Lola was a brave girl, but I don't think she will be anxious to return to the Gardens any time soon!)

Jude's first day of 1st grade. He is in Ms. Berger's class and was voted the class senator...too bad that our country's senate could not have such a fine young man helping them out. Maybe one day...that would be dreamy! Jude loves school and is an AWESOME student, loved by all!

Our new darlings of the family, The Northam's twins, Tessa and Cohen. Born in August. This picture is so new that little Tessa still has her bruise. They are so delicious...Jealous?

Lola's first haircut...it took about 2 seconds, then she got sparkles and a new clip. She loved the experience and called it her "shortcut." Do you like my new "shortcut?"

Christmas Letter 2

With the snake charmer at a Cancer benefit downtown.

Lola's First day of school at Small Friends. She loves school and never had separation anxiety. She loves playing dress-up and painting and making letters and snack time!

At the beach...Simon is taking this picture in case you're wondering why he's not with us. Grammy and Papa were here too!

Simon loves his bath. In fact, he loves splashing so much that Lola often declines bathing with him because he's such a psycho!

Christmas Letter 3

Look at my boys! Micah was Jude's assistant soccer coach this season for the Firecrackers. They were so cute out there on the field together. I chose this picture to prove that, yes, Portland does indeed see sunshine some of the time!

One of our hikes...we found a fairy chair and table in the trees...I would post the picture we took of them, but I don't want to exploit the fairies.

Simon enjoying a snack after the hike.

At the Oregon Zoo with the cousins. Jude's into a rocker phase for some reason.

Christmas Letter 4

At the zoo...

At Sauvie Island with the Northams, Sean and Mason, and Grandma and Grandpa Henrie before Halloween. You might notice in the background of this picture, lovely Lola's brother Jude has a talent for flipping his eyelids inside-out. It's very charming, and I'm sad to admit, I think he got this talent from his mother.

Lola pushing the boys; Tate, Payton, Mason, Jude and Simon.

My little Jedi (Anikin and "Butterfly-Fairy-Princess"). we had such perfect weather for trick-or-treating. It was so fun!

Christmas Letter 5

Simon at the Church Halloween Party...probably eating his first chips or something.

Lola in the leaves...

Poor baby...I included this picture of Simon, because it is probably the only picture I have of him NOT smiling. He is the happiest baby, and SUCH a smiler at everybody he meets!

We are so thankful to live close to cousins, where a visit is less than an hour away! They are such buds!

Christmas Letter 6

We had Thanksgiving at our house this year...The Jason-Kathy Henrie family came down, as did the Northams! Micah cooks a mean turkey. It actually tasted "mean." Just kidding. It was good...all the food was! We had a lot of fun, and I loved busting out my china!

Simon's favorite spot in the house is Lola's room... He is doted on daily by his older sister and brother. Jude and Lola are such helpers. We are so lucky to have kids that love each other so much!

So, maybe there are more pictures of Lola that the boys, but really, she LOVES getting her picture taken. This one makes me want to cry...I love my babies when they sleep! Does she not look like an angel?

Simon on the move...he's a master "cruiser" and actually took his first real step this week. He's growing far to fast! I can't believe it's his first Christmas. I swear I was just pregnant!

Christmas Letter 7

It's snowing in Portland! I mean, really snowing. This photo was taken at the start of our snow snap. Jude and Lola's school was canceled a week straight (school districts are such wusses here), which means, they will have a 3 week Christmas Break, or "winter break." They even canceled church two weeks in a row!

Simon and I before I had my hair cut to almost my chin...I don't have a picture of that yet, maybe soon.

Lola at her dance class (this was actually during the summer). She is a natural! She loved it as much as I hoped she would.

Lola with her beautiful teacher Charlotte. Honestly, her teacher sounded like Snow White...she was beautiful and all the little girls were enchanted!

Our Sunday Hike

We decided to do a Portland thing, so we went hiking near Pittock Mansion. It was awesome. Too bad we have 3:00 Church and had to rush back in time to get ready. 3:00 church is truly my nightmare. I think the next time it's our turn to have this schedule, we'll move. At least we're almost half way through the year.

Look, here's Simon, asleep. Dreamy. As far as hiking goes, the kids did great. We walked over 2 miles, and most of it was an incline. Maybe we should try it more often! I feel like summer is escaping too fast...maah.

Can I tell you how many people stopped us to tell us how cute Lola is? Good thing there isn't another girl in the family to get jealous. But how can you deny a blond in leg warmers? You can't! I love it when she picks out her own outfits!

Indiana Jude

So, obviously Jude is into Indiana Jones, mostly because of our beloved Legos. So, Micah, being the cool geek that he is, created birthday cards for Jude with his face morphed into the Lego Indy. They were mostly funny, a little creepy, and wicked awesome. I cut these images up so there was just one photo of Indiana Jude, this is just the jpeg that we had printed before we cut them out and made the invites. Then we had the same image put on a cake for his party.

My baby is 6 = I am old.

We did a treasure hunt "Indy Style" for the Crystal Skull...which is really just Styrofoam covered with glitter and buttons...who knew? Micah had a good time burying things around the yard for the kids to dig up. The kids really did have fun. Also, who knew that you could actually have an great party despite the fact that it wasn't at Pump it Up? Kids are cool.

Guilty Pleasure...4th of July Parade

My little buttercup.

I couldn't decide between these two pics...they are quite different! I think my neighborhood's Fourth of July Parade is one of my favorite guilty pleasures...especially the hot dog and coke at the park afterwards! I love Royal Woodlands. And yes, we are super cheesy suburbians, and I don't care.

Lola, Lady Liberty!

But how many people in the "burbs" have a husband this hot? That's what I thought. (p.s. comments like that make me hate blogs...quelle dommage). Look, here's Simon's first Independence Day Parade. Maybe he can be the Grande Marshall in a few years. PS again, Cherry Avenue came out strong again this year with the winning float. Naturally!

Just Photos...

I swear we did not plan this...it just happened, and I love it!

Le bebe. He still smells like a baby.

This is my little Whoo getting ready for Church. We enjoy being girls. Tonight we had a girl party complete with sparkly toenails and fingernails.

Hugpoint Beach

Lola is a dirt lover.

Elisa was here too...actually she took all these pics. Thanks sis! This is Simon's first time at the beach. We loved this beach because it has crazy muscle-like stuff growing on the rocks and lots of tide pools. The creatures growing were so creepy though, I might never go back...they reminded me of the Dark Crystal bad guys...Skettis or something like that. Scary.

Aunt Elisa visits Portland in APRIL

I love my Zombie and Angel at the Japanese Gardens.

With Aunt Elisa. They LOVE Aunt Elisa. I miss you!!!!!!!!!! She came out for a visit, and to meet the newest Henrie boy, Simon.

Easter, minus Mommy

Well, this Easter I got really sick. We had a lot of family in town and inevitably, when the Henries get together, half of us get sick. So, Easter was a little different than we'd planned. Because I was hiding away in my bedroom, Jude and Papa got a hold of the cake I'd made prior to getting sick. I wanted to frost it all fancy, and have it be an Easter tradition, but you know, I think I like it better this way. I was told it was a vampire Easter bunny...lovely. I was too sick to try it, but I'm sure it was divine. Also, we were going to have Simon blessed on Easter at church, but because Dale and I were sick, we had him blessed at home. It was kind of a bummer, but it was still an amazing blessing. Simon is an amazing little boy and we all love him so much!

Here is our little bear with Grandma Marty the day before Easter.

Jude and Lola "catching" Easter eggs, as Lola says it, at the park down the street for our annual neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt! I still have to get a photo of Lola in her darling Easter dress...maybe later.

We had one fabulous day last Saturday. The sun was out and it was hot and dreamy--despite the fact that we did yard work all day...even Lola! It really made me miss California! Maah...because it's been freezing cold here since that day. It wouldn't be so bad, the gray and rain, if we didn't have that one nice teaser day to remind us how much we all really miss the sun. Maaahhhh!!!!!!!! For the record, Lola did eventually come clean...

Lola Turns Three

Lovely Lola turned three in March. We kept her party simple so as not to stress the new mommy and daddy of a new new newborn. We had a few friends over to the house, ate pizza, cake and ice cream, and had an Easter Egg Hunt. The kids mostly just ran around playing together.

On Lola's actual birthday, the family went to Red Robin. She really liked the Birthday Ice Cream treat! This is a hilarious picture of her and her Sundae...I swear she normally doesn't have 3 chins, but even if she did, she'd be cute!

Stuff I would have blogged....

Here are some pictures I would have blogged in the past few months if I'd been "blogging." Just some shots before Church.

Portland, when it snows, which is basically once a year, has great snow because you can actually make snowman, and then the snow melts a half hour later! Perfect! Growing up in Colorado was very frustrating, because although there was lots of snow, it was dry somehow, and you could never make a snowman like on TV or in storybooks. Micah helped out with this Frosty.

Jude lost his first tooth! You can't really tell in this picture, but it's gone, and it was an exciting first. It wasn't nearly as gross as I thought it was going to be.

Here is Jude with our niece Gaby at the end of January. He's so sweet with all his cousins.

Simon Grant

See...I do have a baby Simon. It's been a long time since I've blogged, so I hear, but now you know why--we're just having too much fun loving on le bebe. So, get ready for some random pictures because I don't have time to be orderly. Also, I no longer have a vocabulary or spelling skills, my brains fell out when I had Simon.

The Holiday Express

The Holiday Express along the River...it was a georgous, clear day.

When the steam went off...the kids freaked out. They liked it better inside the train...I think it's safe to say that we won't ride this train next year.

Here we are on the train...we had a visit from Santa, who delivered candy canes, but of course, my kids wanted nothing to do with him!