Getting in the Christmas spirit

On Saturday we had Ryan's work Christmas Party at the Lake Oswego Country club. It's very fancy. We enjoyed a delicious brunch, caught up with Ryan's old buddies from the Utah office, and even had a visit from Santa. Jack was petrified of Santa. He cried when he arrived and wouldn't go any where near him. Consequently, we don't have any pics of him with Father Christmas. Pete, on the other hand, was brilliant! He grabbed hold of his beard and grinned from ear to ear. It was so funny. We'll see how he acts next year.

Jack decorated a christmas cookie after the brunch, but only ate the MM's and then tossed it. What a surprise. Both boys got a present from Santa and now Jack is getting even more excited for Christmas day. I'm pretty excited too. It's so much more fun with wee children.
Here are Ryan and Jack decorating the Christmas Tree last week for Family Home Evening.

We took this one ourselves with the timer, so it ain't great. But we want to wish you all a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has been a happily adopted holiday for me. What's not to like really? I mean I always loved Christmas dinner and Thanksgiving is basically the same. I love that Ryan gets a couple of days off work to spend time some extra time with us and then, of course, it's a nice opportunity to think about the things we are grateful for.
We headed down to Salem to be with Ryan's family for the day and greatly enjoyed the yummy feast of really good food, followed by games and conversation. Ryan and the boys stayed the night down there, while I headed home. I had plans with my friends to go out shopping on Black Friday. It was so hard to get up at 3:30am when it was the first time in a while I had gotten a really good uninterrupted (by Pete) sleep. But it was worth while. I got all of my Christmas shopping done for Jack and Pete and just had a blast hanging out with the girls.

Pete has started sitting up really good now by himself and also had his first taste of rice cereal which he wasn't a big fan of at first.

Not impressed with the rice cereal at all!


Jack has discovered a new love: making art! It makes me proud. He still loves playing with his beloved cars, but for now he is spending a great deal of his day drawing, colouring, and painting.


The boys have been getting along so much better lately. Well, let me rephrase that. Jack has been getting along much better with his brother lately ( although on second glance at this picture here it looks like Jack is ready to take a punch at Pete..Haha). They roll around on the floor together and Pete is highly entertained by pretty much everything Jack does. I love having two boys. It makes me so happy to see them interacting and I can't wait till Pete is old enough to really play with Jack.

We went with some friends on Saturday and cut down our own Christmas tree. It was really fun and I hope that it will become a new family tradition...at least while we are living in Oregon. I mean seriously you can't live here and not get a nice real tree, ours is lovely and it was only $10! I am really looking forward to spending our first Christmas in our new home this year.

I'm Jack the Pumpkin King

I love the movie "The Nightmare Before Christmas"; it's a favourite of mine. I watch it at Halloween and Christmas. So, Jack and I sat down to watch it last week. He was utterly terrified. During the opening song he clung to my arm for dear life. Bless. Well, then he decided that he wanted to try and watch it again later in the week. He was still a little scared, but not nearly as much as he had been. He liked that the main character shared his name and walked around yelling "I'm Jack" while watching it.

This Halloween was the best Halloween I have EVER had. We had about a hundred or so trick or treaters come by our house. The streets were lined with kids. It was like I had always imagined Halloween should be. Like in E.T.
I took Jack out for about 20 mins just around our neighbourhood. Of course the house that was decked out (see pics below..that don't even do it justice!) was completely packed with people. They had added even more decorations and had the theme music from the movie "Halloween" blaring. It was insane. Jack started crying the second we got close to it.
When we got back Ryan and I traded roles and he took Jack back out and I stayed with Pete to answer the door. At one house the family were all sitting outside watching "Monsters Inc" that they had projected onto their garage door. They had extra chairs out for people to sit down and join them. It was fab.

The next day when we got back from Stake Conference at noon, every single decoration on that 'crazy house' had been taken down already! I couldn't believe it. Now I can't wait to see what they do next year.

October

Ok, first off...check out our neighbours house! They are dead serious about Halloween. At night it is pretty cool as it's all lit up. Every time we go by it on our walk Jack says "Yucky Mummy"...and I would have to agree. It's cool, but pretty scary.


I had never been to a pumpkin patch...ever. We celebrate Halloween in Scotland, but it ain't even close to the same as the way America celebrates...but that's kinda the case with everything. Things are a little more over the top here, but I love it. So, now that Jack is old enough to enjoy Halloween we've been to a couple of pumpkin patches. Jack, Pete, and I went to Sweet Berry Farms with our friends. It was a lot of fun and we kinda had the place to ourselves as we went during the week.
Then since it was such a beautiful warm, sunny day on Saturday we invited Ryan's parents to come along with us to Heiser Farm. It was great. Perfect for toddlers. Jack loved every second of it and we had a hard time dragging him down to the actual pumpkin patch as there were so many fun activities for him to do.





Here are the boys in their Halloween costumes. Jack is pretty excited about that cape of his and even when he's not wearing his costume he likes to "fly" around the house. Pete could care less of course, but I think he's a perfect pumpkin..he weighs more than most!

Cheers!

My parents left a week ago today. They came for two weeks and of course the time just flew in. I always have a really hard time dealing with my homesickness when family leaves or when I go back to Scotland. I expected the worst with my parents coming. I cried just thinking about them leaving when they had only been here for a day! Crazy, I know. Anyway, we had a fab time and thankfully when the time came for them to leave I held it together fairly well. I guess that's what happens when you have two children to take care of that could care less how you feel that day.

I'll start off with this cheeky pic. Jack is such a wee monkey. Constantly on the go. He sat still for a few minutes here to eat a delicious cake that Ryan's mum made. My mum taught Jack to say "cheers!" and clink his cup with hers whenever he got a drink. It was really cute. But of course Jack took it a little too far most of the time.

Here are my parents with the boys the night before they left. I took them to the airport at 5am. It was so sad to see Jack looking for them when he woke up in the morning...he had actually stopped coming into our bedroom first and would go straight to their room. (Notice Jack's bruise in these pics, he face-planted on a massive rock when we were at the zoo...I swear I wouldn't recognize that kid without some battle wound).


A nice picture of wee jack with my dad

Cute wee Pete on the train ride at Portland Zoo

Playing with the boys


My mum with the kids

We miss you mum and dad. I'm looking for flights...hopefully we'll come soon.

Photos of the Boys

Any Advice is VERY welcome

It's been a really long time since I last posted and to be perfectly honest it's simply because there really isn't anything of interest to post. All my friends have been taking all these fun trips places and going out of town to visit family. I feel like I haven't done a whole lot this summer. OK. I had a baby. Ha. So, I guess that counts as something. Both Ryan and I would like to go somewhere on a wee trip, but we also both agree that right now we feel like it would be a major headache trying to take the kids somewhere.

On to Jack. I had been a little concerned for a while that he hadn't been trying to talk "properly". I say "properly" because he talks a ton, but it's in his own wee language. He's finally starting to expand his vocabulary and put some words together, but I still wonder if I might need to seek some additional help. The pediatrician wants to give him more time as he's been going through a lot of changes lately, with the new house and brother. I'm pretty sure he'll get there soon enough though.

I love my Jack boy, but he is still very rough with Pete and has started to hit me a lot too. Every time I am nursing Pete he gets mad. In fact, the majority of the time I am holding Pete he is mad. I try really hard to give him as much one on one time as I can when Pete is sleeping or can be put down for a while in his bouncer, but I don't see any improvement in his behavior. He gets "time-outs" and he is NOT learning his lesson by being put there. I feel like I spend most of the day taking him to and from his "time-out" spot. It's pretty obvious he's still having a hard time accepting the fact that he isn't the only child anymore. I feel like I am at my wits end with him...any advice is very welcome.

Here are a few snap shots of Jack being nice to Pete...I cherish these brief moments!




We went to the coast for a few hours with some friends from the ward. Unfortunately, we didn't get the best weather, but Jack still had a fabulous time. He literally dived into the water! Then jumped up, shaking violently because of how cold it was. He wouldn't stay out though. I had to drag him out every once in a while because his lips were turning blue. Crazy kid.

Jack was much more of a "mummy's boy" when he was younger and I guess for the most part he still is, but lately he has really taken to his Daddy. Whenever he hears the garage door opening he yells "Dad!" and runs to the stairs to meet Ryan arriving home...it's very sweet. On the day this pic was taken Jack had to copy EVERY movement Ryan made. I like to see my boy think his Dad is pretty cool...coz he his.
(Side note - Ryan has a new blog....it's link is on my blog list...it's very interesting...you should read it.)

Last but not least, my parents arrive on Monday! I cany wait! I am so excited for them to meet wee Pete...he's my wee darling. I know Jack will have a great time seeing them again too.
Oh, and I almost forgot...I got a calling in our ward. I am the Beehive advisor! I am really excited...I have 11 girls just now and 10 moving in at the beginning of the year...I'm nervous too.