Hello Mr. Fish

We got a last minute visit from Grandpa Jimmy on Saturday (he barely made it out of here before the latest snow storm hit!) who brought Rory an early Christmas present. Ever since we visited my friend lisa's house where they have a beta fish- rory has been into fish- so she now has her very own. She is really excited and at first named him "rory's fish" (no points for creativity) and has since started calling him Mr. Fish. my favorite is that she will be doing something else and pass by and randomly say something like "hi mr fish" or "mr. fish water" and then giggle. Not the most cuddly of pets, but at least fulfills the pet quota and honestly is about all we can handle at this point. So, welcome Mr. Fish and thanks Grandpa Jimmy!

The perfect weekend

For my 30th birthday present Pat's parents got me a gift certificate for a night in a downtown portland hotel and overnight babysitting for Rory. Since baby #2 is quickly approaching (8weeks and counting) we thought we better use it now. Plus, I have alway loved downtown at Christmas time. Soooo, we dropped Rory off and headed downtown. After getting checked into our really beautiful room at the Benson we walked around the pearl and downtown and did a little no-pressure shopping. We then had lunch and even had time to catch a movie. It was awesome. Enough stuff to keep us busy, but no so hectic that we weren't able to enjoy. We had a late dinner reservation so we met people for drinks prior. We then proceeded to have a FABULOUS meal at el gaucho. I enjoyed every uninterrupted bite and never once uttered "sit on your bottom" , "mommies turn with the spoon" or "what do you say when you toot?" It was heaven! We then went back to the Pearl to meet up with Brady, Shahnaz, Corey and Rebecca for dessert. It truly was just the perfect day. Our Sunday morning plans of a leisurely breakfast before getting rory were cut short by a nasty snow storm that blew in to PDX hard and fast. Instead we spent the morning trying to get to Pat's parents house in the west hills and testing out our snow tires. We eventually got Rory home (and even got to Aunt Madi's apartment to pick her up as well) and spent the rest of Sunday decorating Christmas cookies and watching/playing in the snow. It was a very fun snow day. It was actually too cold to be out for very long, but we did get a chance to get Rory in all her gear and prop her up outside. she can barely move in her snow gear- it is pretty funny. The best was the first thing pat did was make a snow ball and toss it at her, trying to show her how to play in the snow. He misjudged how short she is and tagged her directly in the neck- the ONLY exposed area on her body. she just stood there and looked at him as if to say "this is supposed to be fun?" One of my favorite parts of skiing has always been coming in from the cold and shedding layers and hanging out it in whatever comfy clothes were underneath the snow suit. Well I have opviously passed this down- as this is how Rory ended up playing yesterday afternoon. too funny. It is now Tuesday and we are on day three of being house bound. We have had apple cidar in santa mugs, gingerbread man shaped pancakes, built fires (lost power last night so fire was a necessity), read Christmas books, wrapped presents, done CHristmas themed art projects, walked/played in the snow/ice, got Christmas cards mailed out, the list goes on. I am officially out of things to do in the house to make "snow days" special. I had no idea how much I depended on Rory and I's daily outings to make the day go by. oh well, I guess I should enjoy it while it lasts. Amazon.com is getting a much bigger share of my holiday dollar then anticipated- so I will sign off, I am sure there is something I need to go buy online!

Downtown Portland

Last Friday my mom's school choir was singing in Pioneer Square so we thought it would be fun to take Rory on the Max (or Max the train as she calls it) downtown and hear them sing and have lunch etc. What we didn't count on was horrible windy weather! It was a little crazy at times but Rory loved the max and loved dancing with grandma to the music. Prego mommy loved her philly cheesesteak that you can only get at pioneer square- so we were all happy!

Newport Sea of Lights

We headed to Newport with the whole Sahnow clan for our 2nd annual Sea of Lights event. Basically the Newport Aquarium stays open late and puts up a bunch of lights and has santa and carolers and food etc. It is really pretty and the kids loved it. I was shocked that both Rory and Quincy sat still for getting their face painted. Rory was obsessed with the sharks and still talks about them. We had great weather one day and got some good (although cold) beach time in. The house we stay is attached to a hotel so we got to take the kids swimming twice which was really fun- definitely a bunch of water babies! We took turns cooking and did lots of eating and grandma Linda brought dough art for the kids to make ornaments- they were very busy. It was fun to hang out and just spend some time together.

Rory loves feeling the baby move and giving it hugs and kisses!

Thanks Grandma Linda and Grandpa Stan!

An early tree...

We have never gotten our tree this early, but the next few weekends are packed and the weather was too good to pass up on Sunday. We now have a tradition (2 years in a row!) of hitting the helvetia tree farm and then burgers at Helvetia tavern (voted best burger in the world by Brittany)! It is really fun and the tree farm has a little store, hot chocolate, 2 beautiful HUGE st. bernards running around and my personal fav a tree shaker and baler to get all the critters out and keep it contained until you get it in your house. After a painstaking process Rory made the final call and we (Pat) started cutting. Of course Rory was there to help supervise his progress. He kept complaining that it was a really thick trunk and the tree was too big- but eventually he got through it. Sure enough, when we got home it didn't fit in the tree stand and I had to do some whittling to cram it in the holder so as to not take the blame for that one for the rest of my life. We then got out the decorations and started introducing Rory to all the stuff that comes with "rory's tree" being in the house. As we explained that she couldn't grab the tree, only a "1-finger touch", she instantly went and got her baby doll to pass along the new rules. She painstakingly placed "her" ornaments in a very straight line across the bottom of the tree- we think she is a little OCD. It was a very fun day and one of my very favorite traditions. I am looking forward to sharing all those little things with Rory this year. Next weekend we are going to the sea of lights at the aquarium, we have a trip to zoo lights to fit in, watching the Christmas ships on the river, caroling, light seeting, and she already loves her advent calander. So much to do, so little time....

other then the game- civil war was great!

Other then the obvious disappointment in a completely crappy Beaver performance on Saturday, it was a really fun day. Rory was feeling better so we left her for the afternoon at my dad and Linda's house and she got to go to the park and have solo playtime with the grandparents- such a treat! Around noon Madi and I headed down to campus to catch up with the Brady and Pat who had organized and hosted a tailgater out of the back of our jeep. Now compared to tailgating out of RV's (which we have always done in the past) this seems pretty rustic (no TV, no bathrooms), but the guys did a great job. Brian and his family were right next to us so it turned into a pretty big group. Brianne made homemade treats and brady brought left over treats from the Turkish family that had joined them for thanksgiving. We had tons of food, lots sunshine and a variety of people came and went throughout the afternoon. It was really fun and only dampened by the actual game. Brady plugged in his ipod so we had tunes as well. my favorite was Owen dancing in the middle of the crowd to "I like to move it, move it!" as well as when O requested the star spangled banner so we all crossed our hearts and sang along- too funny. They did kill the jeep's battery so we had to jump it right before game time to make sure we could leave afterwards. Brian's brother, Corey gets a huge shout out for helping us jump it, even though it meant getting a late start to the stadium- thanks corey- you are my hero!! Anyway, no bragging rights, and no rosebowl, but a great day and a great end to a very fun season.

Thanksgiving celebrations

So I am going to skip a bunch of posts I have in the que and try to just keep up to date with all the holiday stuff. As usual we had a very fun and VERY busy holiday weekend. We spent actual turkey day at Pat's parents with the entire Maloney clan- it was great to see everyone and the food was amazing! Rory woke up that morning sick, so she was a bit fussier then normal- but still had a great time chasing her cousins around and showing off her twirling and acrobatics. I will add pics from that day when I get them off of Pat's dad's camera (it is a fabulous camera- so I take any opportunity to use it!) Friday morning we got up and headed south to my dad's house to spend the day with the fam. This included the 3 cousins running circles through the house, total chaos, aunt shahni horsey rides (and collapse) and a special showing of "albiquerque he's my turkey" by mr. Owen. We had a great meal with everyone and the hurried off the Corvallis light parade. It was a bit long- but the kids LOVED it. It was fun to see everyone including the klinkhammer/badger clan and the matzkes. There were lots of dogs (wrapped in christmas lights!), floats, lights, music and just plain sillyness. This parade also marks another first for Rory- she got a balloon. I am categorically against them (afraid of them?) so she hadn't had one up until this point. She loved it of course! It was really fun and a tradition we will join in anytime we Makes me very excited for the upcoming holiday season and all the business it brings!