Christmas in Portland...a little late!

A few days after Christmas, we headed to Portland to celebrate with our family and friends down there. Hank definitely got the hang of opening presents - he was in heaven just surrounded by a bunch of paper (check out the video). Not to mention, more people loving him up! Tutu showing Hank his new warm hat!

Aunt Katie and Uncle Michael came over and brought...whadayaknow...more presents!

Okay, now remember how I said Hank has an issue with group pictures...here he is at his Great Grandma Mac's house with all his second-cousins on the Ewing side. Notice how many kids are piled in there, notice how there are plenty of kids around his age and they're all doing pretty good. Then, find little Hank. Full on SCREAM within .2 seconds of putting him near the group. I even kept him turned around and facing me until the last minute. Ah, Hank!

One of our favorite things to do in Portland is hang out with Cameron and Michelia. We hit the food carts on Mississippi and Hank had the best time running all over. He loves to sit on steps and kick his feet, so Cam joined him. Too cute :)

The boys...

This was about the fifth attempt at a picture of everyone. In every other picture he'd be hanging out, and as soon as I pulled up the camera, he'd turn and run! But, there was a little progress...NO TEARS! Michelia is headed off to Turkey for the next few months (well, more like 8 months!). We'll miss her and send her our best wishes!!!

Josie Turns 2!

The day after Christmas, we headed over to Eastern Washington (Endicott) to relax and made it with a sleeping baby most of the way - our quickest time yet (4 hours, instead of 6-7 with various meltdowns...you've probably heard some of the horror stories). While there, we got to celebrate Josie's 2nd birthday with family - cousins everywhere! It's so fun they're all growing up so close in age and that they get to see each other enough to know each other.
Below, cousin Leah entertains the little ones... Hank's cousin Kiefer (my cousin Joe's son) kept trying to feel Hank's eyeballs (squishy!):

This looks like Hank was striking back with a swift kick, but he was really just trying to get wrapping paper off his foot (I swear!).

Okay...so here's what to watch for in the coming posts (and to look for if you look at old posts)...Hank has a little issue with group pictures. He HATES them. He'll be happily playing and then all the sudden, BOOM, he is freaking out, red faced, screaming, and crawling to get away. It doesn't matter who it is...you'll see more when I post pictures from Portland. Ahh, quirky kids! Now anytime someone says, "Let's take a picture with everyone!" my pulse quickens and I know what's coming next...oh, the drama!

In the picture below: Hank (15 months), Maverick (3), Josie (almost 2), Macoy (5), and Kiefer (almost 14 months).

Vanessa and I had fun making this cake for Josie's birthday...love the cut-up cakes!

The Long Beach Hardys singing, "Happy Birthday!"

More presents to open (and stand on!):

Hank was thrilled to have a balloon in each hand - what a good life!

Christmas Day!

The best part of Christmas Day...playing with all your new presents! In this picture, Hank is in his Thomas the Tank Engine tent (with tunnel...wow!). He's playing with his recycling truck that we splurged on, so every time he plays with it, we feel validated for spending entirely too much on a one year old!The best part of the recycling truck is that the little man fits in your mouth very nicely...choking hazard? Nah...now, please knock on wood!Santa brought a whole tube of Puffs...we let him just dig in and he'd take handfuls and shove them in his mouth. I stopped him when he started tossing handfuls of them up in the air (such a killjoy!)

"Why can't I throw them everywhere?"That night, we headed to Coulon Park to see the "Clam Lights" - both kids loved the lights and it was nice and festive! A perfect way to spend Christmas night.

Auntie Dev and Uncle Asher headed off to New York and St. Lucia...lucky ducks!

Christmas Eve at the Loctor's...Part 2

Family Picture Time!

Fun with wigs! I mean, when you have an excuse to do this, you kind of have to! More presents!

Biggie got in on the fun and crawled in most boxes that got opened...like one of the kiddies (haha, get it...kiddies...kitties...ah, nevermind!).

Both grandbabies! Think they were happy?!

Hank's "Little People" Farm! Josie got the house :)

11:30 PM - Time to go home and sleep so Santa can come...poor kid!

Saying Goodbye

In early October, we headed to the beach to spread Bret's grandpa's ashes into the waves at Tierra Del Mar (on the Oregon coast). It was a beautiful thing and we're so glad that we got to be there with the whole family to say our goodbyes - it's such a special place to the Ruds and Ewings and it felt right that he should be among such beauty.

The view from Grandpa Bill's Bench:

Otto's hotdogs...of course!

Discovering that sand is FUN!

A view from the neighbor's porch of the family cabin...the US and Norwegian flags are always the first things out to mark our arrival!

Bubbles!

Aunt Katie and Uncle Michael: