.*. our sweet madeline .*.

she's getting so big! shelby needed me to send her a pic of madeline for a school project on PKU. i sent her this first pic but liked the other two also. :)

noel playing @ the mall, part 2 (video)

i uploaded this quite a bit ago and am just now realizing that i didn't post it. so. . . here's noel & maddie playing at the mall (again). same day, same play. :)

noel playing @ the mall (video)

i hope this plays properly. . . we'll see.

multnomah falls

here we all are at multnomah falls in the columbia river gorge. it was so cold! and it actually started snowing while we were there. at first we couldn't tell if it was mist from the waterfall freezing or snow, but it turned out to be snow. it was beautiful to see the frozen waterfalls, although multnomah falls wasn't completely frozen, the area around it was.

here's damian, maddie, and samson outside the lodge. it was nice and cozy in there, even though we only used the bathrooms --they were warm!

here i am with our noel. snug as a bug.

dame in front of the falls. you can't see the top of the upper falls or the bottom of the lower falls, but it's really tall -- 620 feet from top to bottom.

this picture is shows a bit more, although the bottom part is cut off. oh well. all the white around it are icicles.

we took the historic columbia river highway back, stopping by many other waterfalls and the vista house which overlooks the gorge. it was so freezing and windy up there. i only got out of the car long enough to snap a couple pics. thankfully one can enjoy the view without getting out of the car.this is the view facing east, up river.

this is the view west, looking back toward portland and vancouver.

here are a bunch of icicles along the side of the highway. it was pretty impressive to see in person. some of those icicles were as tall as i am.

it was nice to get out of the house and go for a drive. living so close to the gorge is great. we left after breakfast and made it back in time for lunch. which is perfect with two small kids. i'm looking forward to summer so we can get out and hike around a bit without freezing our tushes off.

moments with mad

right now i'm updating this blog and watching tv at the same time, bouncing back and forth between "lost" and "american idol." i put the kids to bed, but maddie just came out to use the potty. before heading to the bathroom, she glanced at the tv where a girl just finished her american idol tryout. maddie then told me, "i'm going to do that."

me: "you're going to do what? try out for american idol?"

mad: "yes. i'm going to be on tv. and you and daddy and baby noel and sammy can see me."

me: "you are?"

mad: "yes, i sure am."

Christmas 2008

here are some pictures from this past christmas. we had shelby & raylee out here with us so it was really special. i just love this picture of the two of them. . . we had a record breaking amount of snow that week. it actually snowed the week before also, but the big storm came the day after we flew in. i say "we" since i was the one who flew out to pick up the girls. it was a lot of traveling, but they're worth it! here's a picture of raylee with her nana (dame's mom). . .

maddie didn't know what to do with herself, she was so excited about all the snow. first thing in the morning (notice she's wearing her pj's under her coat) she wanted to make a snow angel. at this point we only had an inch or two, but that didn't stop her!

here are the girls decorating cookies on christmas eve. maddie was helping but her enthusiasm ran out after the second cookie. the girls lasted longer, although i was the one to finish the project in the end. and, of course, i had to sample a couple.

here's raylee showing us one of maddie's cookies. it was a very interesting cookie with LOTS of frosting and decorations on it. very. . . sweet.

some of shelby's finished cookies. . .

raylee and noel have so much fun together. they're two peas in a pod.

all in all, it was a great week. we were snowed in for the most part. not because we got THAT much snow, but because the roads were pretty dicey and we didn't always have a car to borrow. but we live walking distance from nana's house, a grocery store, a pet store (for our little sammy-poos), a blockbuster, a cinema, and. . . a STARBUCKS! (and there was much rejoicing) ;)

catching up

well it's been some time since i posted anything so i have a lot of catching up to do. here are a couple posts of the kid's birthdays (i forgot to share the pics from maddie's party back in october --oops!). and also a few pics from our afternoon up in the mountains. stay tuned. i'll be adding pictures from christmas and new years once i sort out the trouble i'm having with my slide show thingies. they seem to pick and choose when they upload properly so sorry about that. anyway, happy new year from us!

Noel's 1st Birthday

here are some pics from noel's birthday bash. he didn't know what to think of all the attention. but he sure loved his spongebob cake.

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maddie's 3rd birthday

i can't believe i overlooked posting this back in october. . . but here are the pictures from maddie's 3rd birthday party. i hope they load properly. i'm having trouble so we'll see.

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my thinking spot

these pictures are from last month, when dame took me up to "my spot" up in the mountains. he even remembered the way! the kids were good sports considering the hike up. only dame went to the top since (as you'll see) maddie lost her enthusiasm quickly. we were up in the clouds, but on a sunny day we'd have an incredible 360 degree view of the mountain range including mt. rainer, mt. st. helen's, mt. adams, mt. hood, and mt. jefferson. i'm glad we got up there before the snow came!