Video of biking in Champeog

Here's a video of our bike ride.  You can hear me have to speed up to catch up to Jacob!

Little Mozart

One of Liam's new favorite things to do is to pull himself up onto the piano bench (it's a little bit of a struggle!) and to play and sing.  And turn pages.

One of the surprising parts to me is that he uses his fingers, not his fists!  Check out the video.

Appreciating the Sunshine

We have felt like, while it hasn't been a majority of the days, we've had a whole lot of days like this recently.

Which means that we've been spending our days outside!  Kate and Liam LOVE being outside!  They like to play in the little house, play in the cars (which they're starting to be able to move a little), and just walk around the grass.  Liam does not like coming back into the house one bit!

Speaking of the grass, it's the 2nd week of March, and Jared's already mowed it twice! And there are buds on a number of the plants around.

Most of the time, the Cozy Coupe is Liam's car (or so he thinks), but every once in a while, Kate manages to get in.

We try to make the most of our nice, 50-60 degree sunny days that come in February and March!

Chub in the Tub

Dani spiked Liam's hair in the bath tub, and he thought it was really funny, so we grabbed a camera and got some great faces.

Yes, he is a bit chubby, but this last one makes him look even bigger than he really is!

Expressive Kate

From the time Kate was born, we have thought she had a very expressive face.  It was on display in full force last week at Claire and Jacob's swimming lesson.

She manages to keep up the act even when drinking from her sippy cup!

We get the hairy eyeball multiple times per day - watch out!

Harlem Globetrotters

We took the kids to see the Harlem Globetrotters, and it was such a fun experience!!!  Jared's friend, Nick, is the PA announcer for the Globetrotters.  He's not pictured below because he's behind the guy in red at center court, but we saw him after the show (more on that...)

The kids LOVED it!!!  We have since re-lived many of their favorite tricks.  Among the favorites:

•  "Cheese" sitting on the hoop, kicking the opponent's shot away, being told by the ref to "get down," and subsequently dancing to Jungle Boogy (the "get down, get down" portion)
• The Globetrotters replacing the game ball with a helium-filled ball for the opponent's free-throw shooter  
• Chasing each other (and the ref) with glasses of water and buckets of water, and last, a bucket of confetti
• Slow motion replay... first, they rewound everything (which was really funny), then they did it again in slow motion.

Claire was especially into the game - she was keeping close track of the score, giving frequent updates to anyone around her, and was bouncing on her seat as the Globetrotters pulled away.  I'm not sure she was nearly as impressed with the high-flying, acrobatic dunks as she was with the mere fact that they were winning.

What may have drawn the biggest laughs, aside from Cheese perched atop the basketball hoop, was "Super G," a bigger version of the Globetrotter's mascot.  Super G was HILARIOUS!  He danced around on 2 feet, 1 arm, and on his head.  And, hear the end, he started doing these high flying face-plants - the last one was to 'crack a pistachio,' (or crouton as Jacob kept calling them).

Kaci and Jared were little buddies during the game.

After the game, we were treated as VIP's (thanks to Nick) and got to go onto the center of the court and meet the players!  We got pictures with and signatures from the players, including Cheese and Titan (who is 7 feet tall!)

We also got a couple pictures with Globie (and Claire got a wristband from him!).

Jacob got to dribble his ball around a real NBA court - it was pretty cool to actually be on the court.

We made sure to get a picture with the World Champions trophy.  Claire was very happy that they won the "World Championship."  As we were leaving, she asked why they were leaving the court.  I told her so they could go get ready for their next game, to which she replied, "why do they need to play another game?  they just won the world championship!"

It was so much fun to watch the Globetrotters and to hear Nick's voice as the PA announcer and play by play announcer.

When we got home, Jacob and Claire were excited to show off what they had gotten at the Globetrotters game.

February Park Days

We've had some nice days this month, so we've taken advantage and gone out to Memorial Park.  One particularly nice day (60 and sunny!) that kiddos were out of school, Dani took everyone.  After playing on the playground for a while, they went into the tennis court and ran around.

The next weekend, after a day or two of some unusually heavy rain, we saw a break of sunshine and loaded everyone up for the park.  We packed the little bike, and Claire started riding it!  We were really excited for her!

We got almost and hour in before it started to drizzle.  Then it started to hail, so we headed home.

Gotta Stick with Auntie Amber

Amber came to visit.  I think it was the longest run without a visit to Portland from her since we've been here (about a year), so we were ready to have some Auntie time in Portland.

It was a 'nice' day (i.e. there were periods of dry weather mixed with periods of light drizzle), so we went to the riverfront park.  Kate plopped down on the grass and wanted to read.

We had a little game of frisbee.  Liam didn't end up in many pictures because he mainly wandered around between Jacob and Jared crying for the ball (which would be thrown to him, but not enough for his liking).

Kate wanted to play baseball, too.  Then she went wandering off with a mischievous look in here eyes.

 

As is custom for a daytime trip to Portland, we went food carting.  Dani got a waffle with all sorts of different stuff on it (brie, arugula, bacon).  Jacob tried Korean (bulgogi) and loved it - he was quite proud of his adventurous eating.  Claire got a grilled cheese from the grilled cheese food cart (not so adventurous, but very classic for her).

Dani and Amber took a couple shopping trips, though with a little less success than normal.

We don't have many pictures of Amber from the trip, but it was so fun to see her again!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Jacob and Claire wishing everyone Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Kate and Liam were enjoying their chocolate hearts.

Dani helped Jacob and Claire make cute Valentine's cards for their class.  Cute butterflies and Lego Star Wars characters - very appropriate!

 

We spent Valentine's Day night making a bacon-wrapped filet and some other yummy food for a nice candlelit dinner.  It was very peaceful!