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!

Messy Messy Messy

Step 1... Dump out all the toys out of their bins

Step 2... stand on the carpet and throw the toys into the hallway

Step 3... Scatter the thrown toys down the hallway

Step 4... enjoy mama's reaction

Miscellaneous Baby Pictures

Kate is VERY into babies!  I think sometimes she is preparing to have twins herself because she is often carrying around or caring for multiple babies.  Perhaps she does this because it is the world she knows.

While Dani was out of town, I found some goggles I've worn for racquetball, and thought they'd look awesome on Liam.  They did (though he wouldn't leave them on long enough to get a good picture).

We're still waiting for Kate's hair to grow a little more... her pigtails are pretty short and stand straight up!

Kate and Liam were sent chocolate hearts - they used different eating techniques to finish them off.  I call Liam's the "two-handed cram."

Kate and Liam really like sitting on the kitchen chairs...

but that also means they can get up on top of the table!  We are not used to having climbers (Jacob and Claire were not)

Sledding on Mt. Hood

It was a beautiful day on Saturday, so we decided to go to Mt Hood.  Driving there, we got more and more excited about how beautiful it was!

 

Once we found a parking spot and got all the kids dressed in their snow clothes (it was warm enough that the babies had snow pants, boots, a sweatshirt, and a rain coat).  

 

We began sledding down a hill toward a small river, but after a ride or two toward the river (and Jared having to stop Claire on the tube from going into the river), we decided it would be better to go up a bit further and we packed everyone up and tracked a little further up toward the hill.  Carrying babies is tiring!!!  So we decided to try bringing Kate on the sled.

We liked putting both Kate and Liam in the tube, running them 15-20 yards up the hill, letting them go and catching them at the bottom.  They though it was hilarious!  Also, after a little while on the hill, they began to refuse to wear their gloves.  Given it was 45 degrees, we didn't push it too much.

Claire and Jacob had their own unique ways of going down the hill on the sled.  Claire LOVED the sled, though we couldn't get a picture of Claire upright on her sled - she loved to wipe out!  Once, though, we couldn't find her, only to look downhill a little ways where she was waiting quietly for us to find out how far she went.  Jacob liked to get started on the sled, and then lay down.  It looked really funny to watch!

When Claire wasn't going on her sled, she found other ways to go down the hill.

We took turns going with various groups on the tube.  The tube was really slick and went fast.  Even though we really didn't have much vertical or slope in our hill (which was preferred for our 18 month olds), we got up to a fun speed with the babies.

The last time Kate and Liam were around snow, they were 4 months old, so Kate and Liam did a little discovering in the snow.  Liam liked picking it up with his bare hands and throwing it.  Kate discovered a little snowman (which she called, excitedly, "bear!").

 

It was a great day, topped off with some Dairy Queen on the way home!