"33" weeks

My photo will be taken either this afternoon or tonight, but this is just a short note.

Guess who's 33 weeks and 1 day and measuring in at at LEAST 34 weeks but closer to 35?

Ugh.

I don't want to guess.

Photo later.

Christmas EVE!

Okay, well, as you can guess - we have a LOT of photos. I figured I'd start with Christmas Eve. :)

Enjoy!

Liv, after sampling the cookies Mommy deemed: Reindeer Chips.
(I was NOT happy with the outcome.
I used to be able to bake... then I moved to Utah. UGH.)

Merry Christmas!

Loving... and choking apparently, lol.

Our Christmas Tree

Anxiously awaiting Daddy to finish doing dishes so we can open a present. (Yes, I told him he didn't have to do them, it was Christmas Eve afterall but if you know him, you know how stubborn he is...)

Duncan's Christmas Eve Present:
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Puzzle!

Olivia's Christmas Eve Present:
My Friends Tigger & Pooh Puzzle!

Opening my gift.

(Weird belly shot...?)
Melissa's Christmas Eve Present:
Purple Post-Pregnancy Polo
(Haha, look at that alliteration... I'm a on a roll!)

Duncan, already having opened his puzzle,
going to town and building a "looooooooong puzzle".
They had a lot of fun with those that night, lol. :)

Cam blocking the camera on his turn to open his gift.

Cameron's Christmas Eve Present:
An ORANGE-ISH (not red, not normal orange, HA!) Polo!

A POLO! Yeah, our Christmas Eve presents we deemed to be the same (and ones we already knew we were getting - we picked them out together while in Lincoln City) and not terribly exciting. I think we both wanted to save the fun presents for Christmas morning. :) And the kids' gifts we had to make sure it was something low-key but able to be played with a little before bed. Oh the choices... :)

Hope you enjoyed the photos... Christmas tomorrow!

32 weeks and 1 day!

Yeah... so this is basically outdated, LOL, considering I'm 33 weeks tomorrow and hopefully will remember to take another photo. :)

Sorry for the late response. I actually uploaded these Christmas day, I think? But we were in and out of power for the night before Christmas, Christmas morning, I'm sure parts of the day, and a HUGE chunk of the day on the day after Christmas. Multiple reasons, all related to snow. The last related to someone slamming into a pole and turning out who-knows-how-many-people's lights and heat for half the day.

Anywho, here's the shot. :)

O53-54: Olivia - Christmas Photo Special

Well, due to my lack of ability to keep up with Newsletters, I'm carrying on nonetheless. And with the Christmas spirit! This is your mini Christmas Photo Special, Liv. :)

Christmas 2004

Your very first Christmas was at your Gma Bonnie's house. We lived there at the time and you were SO cute. :) You still are cute, but MAN you were cute when you were a baby. And you didn't fuss when I did you hair (the little I could do to it) that helped with the cute factor seeing as now you act as if I'm sawing off a limb each time I reach for the brush...

Regardless, you were cute. This was in front of the tree wearing your Christmas dress, you had just gotten your photo taken with Santa at Clackamas Town Center for the first time. You did very well for a baby, I've seen (and I was) much much worse. :) They even gave you a tiny tree when you were done!

Here's the Santa shot. No, you weren't smiling. But, hey - you weren't screaming! And for a baby, that's an accomplishment. I was very proud of you and you were SO cute. It was a great First Christmas shot. :)

On Christmas Eve the tradition has always been that we open one of our gifts. This was started partially because your Pa's (My mother's father, your great-grandfather) birthday IS on December 25th! Growing up they used to open all their Christmas presents on Christmas Eve, they'd wait for it to get dark and go to town! Christmas morning, Santa would have filled their stockings, and it was Pa's birthday!

So when I was growing up, we began opening just one gift on Christmas Eve night and when I had you, I passed it along as well.

Here we are in front of the fireplace at Gma Bonnie's house. This was on Christmas Eve as well after you had gotten in your Christmas PJs from Mimi (my mom). You gave a good smile and it ended up being a favorite from that year. :)

This was one of the shots that was taken while opening gifts, you were so funny and excited to see all the boxes and paper and bows, probably more excited than you were for the gifts. :)

Christmas 2005

Your Grandma Cole (my father's mother, your great-grandma) sent you this beautiful dress for Christmas and you looked so darling in it I had you stand on the coffee table for photos, lol. I wasn't as able to follow you around that year as I was about 8 months pregnant with Duncan but I couldn't resist. :)

This is the closest I got to a Christmas "Santa" photo for this year. Grammy (my mother's mother - your other great-grandma) made this dress for you in a beautiful blue. You looked wonderful in it. While we didn't get a Santa picture, having you next to the tree was just as sweet. :)

Christmas Day we went to both Gma Bonnie & Gpa Bill's house and Papa and Gma Tanya's house to celebrate. You were still so little and you loved running around amongst all the noise and busy Aunts and Uncles.

Here you are with Papa and Gma Tanya (my parents) during our Christmas dinner? lunch? I can't remember... I think it was a lunch.

And, of course, your favorite activity for almost anywhere you went. A calculator.

Christmas 2006

We spent Christmas 2006 with Daddy in Utah! It was your first real trip anywhere that you would remember and you had a lot of fun.

But - first, we had a lot to do before we left. The above photo was from visiting Papa and Gma Tanya to open some presents at their house. Here you are with your first one, smiling away. It's so weird to me how old you look here compared to the previous year. You had grown up a lot. :) (I also love your little white and pink Nikes in this shot, you loved wearing them and they were so cute on you. Gma Bonnie bought them for you and you came home wearing them, they were SO cute!)

We also stopped off at Grammy & Pa's house in McMinnville. This was your Christmas Dress that Grammy made for you this year. The only good shot I got of you in it was this one in front of Grammy & Pa's tree. You would dart out of the way... made it a little difficult. :) I regret not taking off the pink socks...

Here's a video of one of the days we were there and waiting for Daddy to get off of work:


The Aunties Taught Me This! from Melissa Wagner on Vimeo.

While in Utah we stayed with Grandma Cole in her apartment by Capitol Hill in Salt Lake City. She left to spend Christmas with my Aunt Laurie and Uncle Wes in Neola, UT before Christmas day. So we had a little more early gift opening so Grandma Cole could be there when you opened your gifts from her. You were so excited to get this Dolly and quilt that she had made for you. Though you didn't quite understand who had given it to you... check out this video:


From SANTA! from Melissa Wagner on Vimeo.

We were able to get a family shot this year of the four of us at Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake. It was so beautiful and lit up everywhere. Unfortunately, the person who we asked to take the photo ended up taking one with the camera focused on all the lights! It still turned out okay and we were happy to have a family shot. :)

You and Duncan always had so much fun with Daddy, especially at this age. I love this shot that I took of the three of you the morning that we were to fly back home to Oregon.

Christmas 2007

That year we went to see the lights again and Daddy took this cute shot of the three of us. I wish we would have been able to go this year, but, being 8 months pregnant with Rachael this year it didn't end up working out, too much walking without bringing on contractions. We will definitely go next year though. :)

You and Daddy made Jello shapes on Christmas Eve and had a GREAT time eating them up. While I didn't participate in the eating I took photos and you and Duncan "taste tested" enough to feed an entire country.

This is the first Christmas AFTER the big hair cut. Can you tell? (I mean apart from the fact that you look like a muppet...) Nonetheless, you were cute as a button and VERY excited to open your Christmas Eve gift. :)

And, of course, Christmas morning! Duncan was still asleep. You were stoked beyond belief to have found that Santa left you and Duncan a Dora and Boots table and chairs! And look! The milk is gone and the cookies were eaten! Such excitement!

Later that day we went over to Mimi & Papa's (daddy's parents) house for a Christmas meal and more presents opening. Mimi took this photo of the four of us.

You saw both the Macey's Santa and the RC Willey Santa for Christmas of 2007, but I can't find either scanned version on the computer. I'll have to find the hard copies and scan them in when I get a chance. Regardless, there are a lot of good ones here. :)

Good memories, good Christmases, and - most of the time - a good girl! ;) We're looking forward to this Christmas and the many Christmases to come. :)

Our Trip // November 29: Our Last Day

Saturday was our last day in Lincoln City with Dad and Tanya and the rest of the family. We had so much fun being in Oregon and adding the beach to it was even better. :) Not to mention the killer good turkey Tanya made for us for Thanksgiving on Thursday! Way to go Stom! ;)

That morning Dad made breakfast. I think he felt guilty for all the cereal eating going on. But we didn't mind, and breakfast was fantastic. :) Thanks, Dad!

The kids playing with the Aunties.

The normal gathering around the table for a Cole Card game.
(One of the two photos of me the whole trip.)

Grandma Cole brought a Gingerbread House Kit with her and we got to put it together. Here are some photos. :)

Yeah. So we're kind of anal when it comes to "fun holiday activities". We took over, lol.
(Oh WOW, the 2nd photo of me.)

All above photos and captions, directly on photos, done by Sherry! Thanks!
The kids "helping" with house decorating. (Note the full cheeks.)

Daddy's got the walls and roof up!

Look how far a little construction experience can get you! ;)

More icing.

The kids ready to help decorate with Gma Tanya. :)

Sweet boy doing some roof detail.

All the cups of candy! The kids were in heaven, lol.

Almost done!

We're done! Duncan offered Papa's plastic trains from
one of his dominoes games. How generous of him. :D

Then, of course, they begin the destroying process.

Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. :) And best of all - I didn't have to feel guilty about not buying and doing a house of our own! Wahoo! Thanks Gma Cole!

I would end by saying "More tomorrow!" but that's all my photos! I hope you've enjoyed trekking through our Portland visit in photos and that those of you who were in them enjoyed having us visit and share our Thanksgiving vacation with you. :)

More... next year? :)