December

For the last month we have spent pretty much every second of free time either working on our window project or getting ready for Christmas. We both decided that the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas is not a good time to take on home improvement projects as we feel we rushed through all of our favorite holiday traditions. 

We decided to replace the three big windows in our living room and one by the back door. David's dad offered to help us and we are so thankful for his carpentry skills. He ordered the windows for us and then David and Jon installed them with some help from David's brothers. After that day we or rather David has spent hours painting multiple coats on the trim pieces getting them ready to install this weekend. Our garage was filled to the brim with wood drying and it was a bit claustrophobic to even go in there.


Before:

 

After- here's the back window without trim

On another note here is a picture of my growing belly at 29 weeks. We are getting pretty excited about the upcoming arrival of Baby Reggie as we call him. Hopefully a good 2 months before he comes but still it feels very close.

Thanksgiving weekend

     This past weekend we also got to spend a lot of time with family. Thursday we had Thanksgiving dinner with David's family at Bekky & Juston's house. We had a lovely feast and everything turned out great. I think my favorite this year was the delicious yam dish that David and I made. It was quite a hit and even those who are not usually a fan were commenting on how good it was. After dinner Aidan was acting quite strange as in wanting to sit on my lap and not wanting to get down. He even said to me "night night" and "home." He had a little fever and was so adimant about leaving to go to bed that we left early. Luckily for David and I we were sent home with 3 kinds of delicious pie. 

     Friday we enjoyed a "North Pole Breakfast" which for us this year consisted of going out to get donuts and eating them while listening to Christmas music and drinking hot chocolate. We then worked to pack up the car to head out to my Dad's house in Winthrop. We drove the 2 1/2 hours to Leavenworth and stopped at my grandparents cabin to eat our lunch and take a break from the car. We packed up their stuff, my mom arrived and then we all (Mom, Casey, Mamaw and Papaw, David, Aidan and I) drove the 2+ hours to Winthrop to where my dad lives. Overall Aidan did great in the car and we were appreciative of such a patient kid.
My dad has a house that is in the middle of a winter wonderland. He has been working for the past 5 years to remodel his house and it was great to get to see all that he has done. Of course Aidan loved getting to spend time with his "bumpa bis" (Grandpa Chris) and his dog Layla. One of Aidan's favorite games, when he wasn't hitting Layla, was to pet her and have her give him kisses. He thought it was hilarious. It was really great for me to see him interact with my dad, Casey and my grandparents since he doesn't get to see them very often. I think they enjoyed it just as much as he did!

Dressed for the snow

Aidan playing with Mamaw and Papaw. I loved seeing them all together this weekend.

Papaw

We had a Salmon dinner Friday night and then a traditional Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday. We played in the snow, ate and ate, and sat around catching up. The real bummer was that Aidan was sick all weekend and had a fever and was not really himself. He had two terrible nights and David and I were definitely sleep deprived all weekend. We packed up the cars yesterday and drove back to Seattle.

Koenig Family Weekend

Two weekends ago we had the chance to spend time with almost all of David's immediate family at a lodge outside of Arlington. David's dad rented Jim Creek Lodge which is located at a Navy recreation facility about an hour north of where we live. The lodge had I think 14 bedrooms, a huge kitchen and dining area and a nice living room complete with a pool table and fireplace. We all enjoyed spending uninterrupted time together and ate way too much food. Aidan loved getting to spend so much time with his cousin Danagan. Except for Aidan's troubles sleeping in a new place I would say the weekend went very well. We hope to make this kind of a getaway an annual thing. Perhaps next year we'll rent a house on the Oregon or Washington coast.


I guess I was too busy relaxing to take pictures because as I was looking for pictures I took I realized these are the only ones I have.

Out on a walk. Obviously going the wrong way

Daniel's attempt to get Danagan and Aidan to keep up

Weekend Getaway

We have had a busy couple of weeks and have been gone for the past  3 weekends. Though we had great adventures we are glad to slow down for a little bit. Three weeks ago I surprised David with a romantic weekend getaway to Victoria, B.C. We had talked about going somewhere for a babymoon before this baby is born and seeing as Aidan was 6 weeks early we wanted to make sure to do it before the end of the year. With some secret planning and a lot of help from our families I was able to plan a surprise trip for just the two of us. Somehow I even managed to keep David out of the loop until the night before.


We left early Friday morning and took the Victoria Clipper over to Victoria. Seeing as we took a passenger ferry we then were planning on spending the weekend without a car. Unfortunately the weather didn't quite agree with our plans and we spent most of the weekend walking around in the rain (hence the lack of pictures). Thank goodness for nice restaurants, coffee shops and cute stores to give us a break from the weather. We loved not having to cart around toys, snacks and various other toddler gear and took advantage of not having to be on a schedule.


We stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast (another perk to traveling without a toddler) and enjoyed an ocean view from our room.  The breakfast each morning was delicious and we loved being able to just walk downstairs and be served a hot meal.

Dashwood Manor- our Bed & Breakfast. Such a cool old house with lots of character!

We had a great time exploring the Craigdarroch castle.

The Parliament building at night

Overall we had a fantastic weekend! We both agree that Victoria is a great place to visit but would recommend going when the weather is nice. The rain really got in the way of our plans to see Buchart Gardens and some of the other tourist sights. Sunday night after a long, rocky boat ride we were pretty excited to get back to see Aidan. However, I think he had such a good time with his Nana that he didn't really notice we were gone.

More Fall Fun

 Some other exciting things happened in October for our family. David's dad Jon returned home from his third deployment overseas. This time he was in Djibouti, Africa for 13 months. We are glad to have him home safe and it has been fun for Aidan to spend time with his Grandpa. Right when we got back from meeting him at the airport Aidan was taking his hand to show him the "tools" Grandma got for him to play with. I'm glad we will all be seeing more of Jon now.

Just after Jon got back, David's grandparents (Cheryl's side) and Uncle Keith came to visit. We had a nice visit with them and I know they were thrilled to spend time with Aidan. I guess they were glad to see us too.

We are loving Aidan at this age and it seems like each day he is saying something new or mastering a new skill. One day last week I realized that he can now climb up onto the stools in our kitchen. We are amazed each day at how his mind is developing and how he can remember things we do and repeat them.  He loves books and a new favorite thing to do is lay with us on the floor and read them together. 

 

It is also fun to see his sense of humor develop. He put this nursing pillow over his head and was running around with it knowing that he was being funny.

  

Halloween was fun this year since Aidan was able to do more. Aidan had many opportunites to wear his chicken costume. Daniel and Laura had a Halloween party the week before Halloween and then we had also had our PEPS Halloween party. The Saturday before Halloween we went to the "Trunk or Treat" at church and Aidan really got the hang of saying "Trick or Treat" and then taking a piece of candy. By the time it was actually Halloween I was pretty much done with festivities but we still made the most of it. We went to a Halloween themed toddler gym in the morning and then after a short nap Aidan and I took the bus downtown to David's work and Aidan once again got to strut his chicken stuff. That night we took him trick or treating to the neighbors in our cul de sac and I am sad to say that it was the first time we met many of the people that live on our street. One couple said "welcome to the neighborhood" when we mentioned that we live a couple houses down. I had to inform them that we've been there for over a year....sad. Aidan enjoyed the candy part and in fact started giving up the "trick or treat" part and just said "Candy?" Although he loved collecting it he didn't eat any of it. Lucky for his parents they now have quite a stash!

PEPS Fall 2011

Recently we have enjoyed some fun fall PEPS events with the moms and toddlers in my PEPS group. We took a trip up to The Farm at Swan's Trail on a beautiful fall day. The kids loved the animals, the 4 little pigs story (where they tell the story and have real pigs run around), a hay ride and playing in the pumpkins.

Pictures on the hayride. They lasted like this for about 2 seconds

What a good looking group!

One of my favorite moments of the day was watching Aidan and David playing on the grass. Aidan was putting grass on David's head and they were both just giggling away. They sat here together for a long time just having a great time. I am so glad Aidan enjoys time with his buddy David.












Another annual PEPS event is the Halloween Party. Meg does such a great job with this and even had creative Halloween themed food for the kids. She hosted the party at my house this year and I was thrilled to have her bring over decorations, goodies and games. We realized that as the kids get older they are harder to contain and harder to keep in costume. We didn't get a group shot of all the kids by themselves but here's a look at last year...

And now this year...notice most of them stayed in their costumes for about 3 minutes.

Sure looks like they are having fun

Thanks for a fun party Meg!

My little chicken

Bean bags are so much fun!

Pumpkins and Apples

Saturday we went up to Bellingham to join our friends Rachel & Phil for a fun fall day. We went to Stoney Ridge Farms and enjoyed looking at pumpkins, picking apples, eating apples, watching the goats, eating donuts and spending time in the sunshine. After Stoney Ridge we went to Bellewood Acres, an apple orchard nearby. We got to do some apple tasting and bought delicious apple cider and sparkling cider. It was a beautiful fall day!

Picking apples! We brought home over 20 lbs

Aidan loves goats. He may not look like he's having a good time but believe me he had been saying "goat, goat" over and over.

Aidan and Katheryn

Baby

In preparation for Aidan having a new sibling we decided to get him a baby doll. Keep in mind that despite my efforts to help him attach to something Aidan has never taken to a binkie, blanket or stuffed animal. Much to our surprise he loves his baby, asks for it and knows how to take care of it. Lately he has been obsessed with putting a new diaper on the baby. He and his baby go to sleep at the same time and we hear him reading in his crib. I like to think he's preparing for when he gets to be a big brother. I find it sweet to see him be so caring and gentle towards something when I feel like I spend a lot of time policing and trying to teach him not to hit or push other kids.

Feeding the baby

Another favorite new toy....a stroller!

 Speaking of babies....we find out on Thursday if baby #2 is a boy or a girl! Can't wait!

Aquarium

Yesterday surprisingly turned out to be a beautiful day! 

Great day for a bus adventure and to meet friends at the Seattle Aquarium. 

Aidan enjoyed the fish and seals and sea otters but might have gotten just as much enjoyment from running around pushing the stroller (or rather his buddy David's stroller) and keeping tabs on his friends. Just before we left we got to see the diver feeding the fish and he was pretty mesmerized by that. Overall a great day!

A picture post

A playdate with Aidan's best bud David. They both were confused why there was no water in the pool. Sorry boys, this mama was lazy (and it wasn't that warm outside)

Despite Aidan's desire to constantly tackle him, David seems to still like hanging out with us. Sorry buddy!

Aidan sitting with Papaw at our most recent Leavenworth visit.

Spending time in the Wenatchee river. It was not very deep. Perfect for a curious toddler!

Playing in the sand

Finally we took a picture of my growing belly. Despite what you think I am bigger than I was before, even if I don't look it. I am 18 weeks along now and can't wait for our 20 wk ultrasound when we get to find out the gender of our baby.

Have I mentioned that Aidan LOVES broccoli? Here he is shoveling it in with two hands.

Our tomatoes are producing so much right now! We have 2 Roma plants and 2 cherry tomato plants and they are providing us with plenty of fresh tomatoes.