victoria!

ahhh Victoria! Every time I think of you I hear the angels singing songs of praise! Matt and I had a wonderful 4 day trip (sans little girls) to this wonderful little place in Canada. (The girls had their own adventures with Grandma including 2 birthday parties and playgrounds and lots of fun! Thanks Grandma!)
We walked a lot, rented a scooter...twice, enjoyed a spa day, played darts, ate lots of good food, and drank some yummy local beers...but we mostly just enjoyed each other. no schedules. no timeline. no rushing around. it was so fun, and it was exactly what we needed at this time in our lives.
After four days we were ready to come home to our adorable little girls! We would skype with them every day for about 10-15 min. which was just enough time to see how much fun they were having with Grandma, but we were ready to come home and give hugs and kisses.

Scooters! So much fun...and even more funny after a bug hit Matt on the tooth! hehe!

In front of the Dutch Bakery...'nuf said.

Skyping with the girls :)

august/september roundup

wow! i have a lot of catching up to do! i can't believe its the end of september already...we have been a busy bunch of people over here. raven is slowly learning to go pee on the potty (and mommy has her fingers crossed that this will stick soon!), and hazel has started crawling all over the place and up the stairs!
In august we took a vacation with some of matt's family to the coast. raven always has so much fun with her cousins! on the last day when we had to leave she cried in the car for the first 20 minutes "my cousins!" We love making memories with family :) we also were able to spend some time with just our family, which was fun too!

The fall has also started the beginning of a Bible study for me (the girls are also in a little Bible class while I am in my class), at tot bop class for Raven (she likes to dance and sing the special tot bop songs!), and soon another mom group I'm in will start up. The sun is shining here, and we are busy and happy!

photo session

Here are a few faves from our latest photo session at my most favorite place in Seattle....

rainbows!

This is from a few weeks ago...it was one of those glorious Seattle days, and we had to hurry up and enjoy it before the weather turned! We live right by a park called Discovery, so we packed up the car and headed to the beach for lunch. It was so fun! The tide was low, and Raven just kept running farther and farther out...through tide pools and towards the little waves. We also made rainbows in the sand with our toes. Here is Raven showing with one of our creations!

bouncy house!

...let's just say Raven likes to jump

Cousins visit :)

Here's a shout out to my cousins who came to visit! Ok, they were here to visit their friends (and this was a month ago - time flies), but we were lucky enough to meet them for lunch. Ruth and Jennie, it was so great to see you two, and I love seeing how close you are to each other :) Also, I loved seeing you with my girls! You will both be good mommies someday. (no rush, Ruth, your time will come soon enough :))
Here are some photo I stole from Ruth's facebook! Love!

july round up

Raven LOVES to hold Hazel, and Hazel loves her big sister! Its amazing, though, how quickly the smiles and gentle hugs turn into a death grip and tears.

Lately the girls have loved watching Daddy go to work...it helps with their sad hearts and the tears that come when they know he is leaving. We have 2 Daddy's girls on our hands. They also love to see how he will be going to work. Is he riding his bike? or driving his motorcycle? or more frequently driving his car? Raven yells through the window "Bye! Bye Da Da! Have a day!"

Pool Party with friends! Always a ton of fun!

Sisters playing in the cool. Me: Raven, its a pool p-p-pool. Raven: Its a cool p-p-cool. *sigh* Oh yes, that is Raven drinking the pool. The girl loves to drink water. That can't be bad thing, right? I just try not to think about the gross stuff in that water.

Lovely post swim dinner :)She refused to take off the hat. Oh well. Pick your battles and enjoy these little moments that I will look back on and simply smile. At least she's eating her dinner ;)

...and yes, Hazel is following in Raven's footsteps! She has discovered how to carry a purse while she plays (and loving every minute of feeling like a big girl!).

more to come soon!