Portlandia

One of the highlights of Perrie's week -- she happened upon her first book signing, the author behind the Frozen story.  Perrie would LOVE to be Elsa, the ice queen someday!

The next day we headed off to a weekend getaway in Portland.  What a fun adventure!  Catching up with friends and family, eating good food, exploring the science museum, Trailblazers game ... can't wait to do it again!

Kisses from Terry (the terrier)!

Can I PLEASE have some ice cream?  How can you resist that face?

Perrie practicing her babysitting skills with Declan.

Declan, Perrie, and Isaac sleepover!

We loved touring the Portland science museum - what a great place for kids to explore!

Learning skateboard tricks at the Tony Hawke exhibit...

Learning about friction and gravity

Practicing those 360 spins

Fun with water

and what's better than water ... a wet kid in sand!

Thanks to the Hubber's we were treated to an adults night out to the Trailblazers game -- fun!

Go Blazers!

with Jude 

and Felicia

One more stop on the way out of town - Slappy Cakes - where you cook your own tasty pancakes.  Of course, Isaac planted his hand on the griddle - stubborn little kid didn't believe us that it would be hot.  He doesn't get that trait from me!

President's Day in Montana

Valentine's Day/President's Day weekend found us back in eastern Montana visiting family.  The trip is always too short with too many people to see, but we enjoyed every second.  A bunch of snapshots from our trip ...

Isaac most looked forward to this part of the trip:  "play with iPad and have juice on the plane".  It's a 2-year-old's paradise.

We made it!

Perrie & Brandon visiting with Grandma Ausk

Great-grandma Ausk with 6 of her grandkids

and her big grandkids

Perrie is reading grandma a book

 

Hugs

Once we got to Wibaux, Perrie was put straight to work.  No rest on the farm, you know.

Perrie is driving the Gator -no wonder she likes to go to Montana.

Made it - in one piece!

Feeding the cows

Shoveling corn

And back home!

Breakfast time!

Perrie & Gigi - BFFs :)  They are going to be troublemakers in about ten years!

Playing 99

Playing with Kinley

True LOVE

While in Terry, I stumbled upon this video from 2.5 years ago.  Now that is true LOVE.  

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Tooth #2

The big news this week is visit #2 from the tooth fairy on Wednesday night.  That tooth has been wiggly for a long time, but I think she was afraid to pull it because she saw blood last time.  We eventually convinced her to give it a try.  Isaac & Perrie visited the dentist this month & they said that Perrie's "6-year-old molars" are growing in.  For a 5-year-old that is PRETTY exciting - she is telling everyone!

(PS - Perrie's swim teacher gives her a stamp on the nose each time - hence the red forehead & nose...)

Perrie asked Santa for a notebook so that she can write notes to friends.  I LOVE her notes!  "I love the world, it has pretty things"  "I love my family because they are nice & good"  :)

A beautiful sunny week in Seattle!  Out for a bike ride.

Perrie & her pa.

Perrie solely dresses herself these days - and has quite the fashion taste.  The more sparkles/glitter/shiny, the better!

Hugging bro.

They've somehow tricked Fabrina into making Friday "hot chocolate day" - smart kids.

 "That's uncle Kelly"  hahahahaha

 Actually uncle Kelly...

Christmas 2013

Christmas 2013 has come & gone.  It is a fun time of year with two little ones around ... they enjoy it more and more each year.  We had a pretty quiet Christmas this year.  We had a couple of parties that week, but otherwise spent some quiet time at home.  Grandma Jo & Grandpa Jim joined us after Christmas for extra fun.

All dressed up for party #1

All dressed up for party #2!

Perrie gave Despicable Me 2 to Isaac -- I think she has an ulterior motive.

Isaac gave Perrie a glitter art project -- you can never go wrong with something sparkly.

Opening presents w/dad

Isaac rocking his new ukelele

Christmas morning:  I asked Perrie if she heard Santa.  She said, "Yes, I heard a little 'ho, ho, ho' and went out to the living room and SAW him!  He was walking away from me out the door and through the yard".  What an imagination.

Santa knows we love peanut butter cups

and UNDERWEAR!

and MORE underwear!

I guess Santa likes me too!

Tee time!

Time to try out the new scooters from Gma E & Gpa T!

and the tent from the Crisafullis!

We are fortunate to have a warm house, good food, and a loving family to enjoy the holidays with.  Merry Christmas!