Christmas!

Cookies for Santa!



Eating Mommy's Funyuns from her stocking. **grumble**




I had to laugh when I saw two of my friends' Christmas morning photos, featuring their 3 year old girls wearing Disney princess dresses over their jammies too. :)




Guido and Luigi were very popular. And tiny. And lost/broke parts almost immediately - another Christmas tradition.



Christmas morning would not be complete without a tantrum over being asked (HORRORS!) to open another present.



Markers from Grandma Mary - for drawing AND snacking on.


"I am cute and will actually WEAR my stylish Christmas present outfits."

Princesses in the City

We took Brooke and Hadley to downtown Portland to check out the tree in Pioneer Square and meet the cast of Beauty and the Beast at the Performing Arts Center. We did not actually see the play, though I am sure it was lovely. Maybe when she is four she will be able to sit through a 3 hour musical. We can't even get her sit through 15 minutes at Pizza Schmizza at this point. ANYHOO. The girls had fun running around the square (teetering on mile high steep brick steps, darting near traffic, laying on wet pavement, ignoring the tree!!) and hugging princesses. Success!

Due to technical difficulties, only camera phone photos were available to document this momentous occasion.




*note* This Christmas tree marooned amongst the red bricks of Pioneer Square does not look AT ALL this big from the window by my desk 7 stories up and across the square. But seeing photos of us standing next to it? Holy cow....they CUT DOWN trees this big still?! It seems....wrong?

Hello....is this thing on?

Well, we have been busy these past few weeks. We spent a night in downtown Portland so the girls could swim in the indoor pool. Brooke loves the pool like MAD. Hadley is a a little unsure of it right now, but she loves to watch Brooke swim around. We also tried to take the girls to dinner at Old Spaghetti Factory and there are not words enough to convey the horror that was - let's just leave it a Brooke swam twice and took no nap before dinner and Hadley stood up and attempted to take her sock off her foot while it was on the table. The other diners looked upon us with pity. Urgh.



Brooke enjoying a chocolate milk.



This is what happens when I try to eat while the children are awake. They end up in my lap eating all my food.



Brooke and Blake getting our tree from the nice Boy Scout stand nearby. Brooke wanted no part of the tree being tied to the top of our car so the nice Boy Scout dad drove the tree to our house in his truck. YAY BOY SCOUTS!



Brooke and Blake had some Jack in the Box before getting the tree. Brooke did not like the barbecue sauce but she approved of the curly fries.

Hadley's Words

Hadley's Words from morgan swanson on Vimeo.

Turkeys

Turkey day was a good one. Brooke helped me in the kitchen.



Hadley waited until Brooke was napping and then she swooped in on sister's seat, movie and popcorn. Hadley watches Brooke's spot out of the corner of her eye at all times and the minute Brooke moves, Hadley is RIGHT THERE.



Hadley was happy to celebrate Thanksgiving. She pleasantly waited for her plate to be served. Brooke, in contrast, was doing her best Thanksgiving Grinch impersonation and was upstairs sobbing in her room, desolate at our request to come enjoy the Thanksgiving dinner.



Eventually, The Grinch graced us with her presence.







Then we had dessert! Brownies, ice cream and whipped cream.





HUH?! Who is that beaming child??? Oh, The Grinch has gone missing and the Angel Child reappears in time for a brownie sundae.



Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Three!

Brooke turned THREE last Friday! Grandma Mary and Aunt Elizabeth came to town and made her day extra, extra special. We had a great party on Friday night complete with a Cars theme and chocolate cupcakes. Grandma and Auntie also SPOILED the birthday girl with TWO princess/fairy dress up outfits and even one Tinkerbelle one for Hadley. Brooke loved the cupcakes. We spent the rest of the weekend having fun with our guests. I will post the ofoto album later this week, along with a Year Three photo montage and the update from the girls' 18 month and 3 year check-ups.

Fall Beauties

For comparison - here are last year's.

Hadley Bits

Time for a round-up of what Miss Hadley is up to these days.

1. She is really interested in writing on a notepad with a pen. She holds the pen very well and scribbles away on the paper. She even held the notepad and scribbled with the pen while I was driving and while sitting in the Target shopping cart. I was impressed.

2. She says new words all the time. Just today I heard her say diaper, pencil and turtle. Other recent ones are Mo (Elmo), Neenee (Ernie), Nora (Dora), Manny (Manny of Handy Manny), Busssssss (Buzz) and Woooeeeeee (Woody) - Hmmmm, this is a rather TV-character-heavy list.....)

3. Books are her new love. She brings us book after book and says "Eeeee meee" (read to me). Her favorite books right now are this and this.

4. Dressing herself is a new interest. She tries to put her socks and shoes on.

5. She makes this kind of urgent whiny sound while waving her hands around while in her highchair. This is a signal that I am to wipe her hands, ASAP.

6. She answers "YEAH!" to questions all of a sudden and in the appropriate context, too. Long, involved questions that I had no idea she understood. It took me quite by surprise.

7. Brooke was under the weather and basically out of commission Sunday. Hadley WAS ON A ROLL. She was the queen bee and ran the show all day. She amused herself by taking Brooke's (sick day only!) binky and blanket multiple times and cackling away when Brooke pitifully whined for them back.

She is a delight!




Miss Brooke is pretty delightful too....

So, Two Chickens Walk Into A Pumpkin Patch...

Edgefield Locals

We spend so much time at this place, it feels like our own estate.






Teenage attitude already???

Gorillas in the mist.

It was rainy this weekend, but also kind of tropical. Really, just lovely weather, in my opinion!

On Saturday, Blake took Brooke to her first ever movie at the theater, a Toy Story 1 & 2 3D double feature. Brooke wouldn't wear the 3D glasses and wanted to walk around the theater every so often, but she and Blake had a good time.

Hadley has a few new words....sky, jacket and swing!

On Sunday, I took the little ladies to the zoo early in the morning. They have a new cheetah/lion area and it is just FANTASTIC. This is high praise coming from a former World Famous San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park volunteer. The cheetah was sleeping ONE INCH from Brooke and Hadley (though "sleeping" involved an eagle eye from the cheetah at times on the girls). The exhibit has an excellent design and layout and I see us visiting plenty in the winter, because it is covered and heated for the visitors.

Also, all around the zoo are these beautiful bronze statues for the kids to play on. Brooke and Hadley really love to check them out.


Waiting for the MAX, on our way back to "mommy's desk". I park in my office tower downtown and we take the MAX to the zoo. Brooke has now decided we must always get chocolate milk from the deli in my building, ride the elevators and go see mommy's desk on the 7th floor whenever we are "in the city".




Someone likes this chair.



Brooke decided to sleep under the big bears out in front of the gift shop. (My apologies to Grandma Mary and Grandpa regarding the Oregon Duck rain boots....uhhhhh...when in Rome, right????)



Driving the range rover at the cheetah exhibit..."Eh, no biggie...."




As close as we get to photos of them together these days. Check out those statues!




Someone has become a nighttime wanderer and I am not happy about it. I was shocked the other morning to go to wake her up and she was not in bed! I found her as below...she said she came downstairs to watch baseball (at 3:30 a.m.)!