Becoming Buddies

Well...we have moved and are slowly unpacking the boxes. The process has been a little slow as we have had a lot of guests in town..but we would MUCH rather play with Grandpa Gordon, Grammy Kris, and Auntie KK than unpack boxes. Francie is a MAJOR talker (poor Mark - stuck with a verbose wife and now a chatty daughter). Her favorite thing is still Henry.

First Day of School!

A couple of weeks ago (was it really that long?) Henry had his first day of school. Mark and I both went to drop him off. The day before he got to go on an "adventure" to pick out his shirt for the first day. Believe it or not - thanks to my sisterclothes - he has never been clothes shopping. He picked out a green shirt (his favorite color) with stripes (like a race car). The first day went great...minus Mark having a VERY difficult time leaving (his cheeks turned bright red and he got a visible lump in his throat). I skipped off ready to get everything done in the 3 hours I had because we were moving the next day. Yeah....not so much....after 45 minutes I was called and asked to come back because Henry had fallen and was having a hard time pulling it together. Shucks. I am happy to report though that after a few rough starts (including a couple of days of me getting in the car and crying) all is well. Henry loves school. I love his school and the time alone with Francie and we couldn't be happier. Yahoo!

Francie Talks!

Well Sorta... This one is a few weeks old but as Colleen mentioned the cord was temporarily misplaced.

Never a Dull Moment

It has been a while since we have added to our blog, but not for lack of content! As is par for the course, I have lost the connector for the camera. So...... I have all these fun photos to post but no way to get them on the computer and haven't found the time nor mental energy to look. Seriously...I feel a bit out of control.

In the last three weeks we have been to the beach twice, the emergency room twice (once for Henry...cut to the head...once for Mark's dad who is now in the hospital with some heart problems - send your wishes for a speedy recovery), Henry went to the driving range for the first time and experienced heaven, we had our first pre-school picnic and met Henry's teachers (ACK!! it made it so real he is leaving the house and going to school), made an offer on a house, had it accepted, and we close on Friday. Yes..a bit busy...but great.

We are SO excited about the house.

From the moment we walked into this house, we loved it. It had all the right bones (four bedrooms upstairs and a guest room downstairs so we can officially have three kids and LOTS and LOTS of people can visit us!),amazing views of the coastal range, backs to a greenspace and has a big yard for the kiddos to play, is close to our favorite place to run and hike in Portland (Forest Park), only 4 miles from my parents (and here they thought they were getting rid of us!), 6 miles to downtown and 8 miles to my work. We feel so grown up (when did that happen?).

We can't wait to make it our home! Remember, all are welcome! We now have room! Attached are some pictures from their realtor's website. I will post ours as soon as I can find our camera connector in the pile of boxes.

Short Skirts and Piggy Banks

It was in the 90s here today so Francie decided to show off her long legs and sport a short skirt. As you will see in the picture, she pulled a Brittany and showed a little diaper.

Henry got his first piggy bank today (Francie was given one by Dan & Emily & Henry is enthralled). We explained that if he did chores like put away his plate, help clean up Riley poops (he LOVES to use the shovel) and clean up his cars then he gets a penny and can put it in his piggybank. In the middle of dinner, Henry said "you know mom, I think Riley might of pooped, I think we should clean it up" with a twinkle in his eye. He spent the rest of the night coming up with things he could do to earn "coins" like cleaning up, etc. We see how long this lasts.........

Summer Days

We are having a good summer.

Last weekend Brookie came down again (with Josh and his sister Brandy) and I went to the Brewers Festival, while Colleen held down the fort. Party on....to bad we left after two hours because we were hungry.

On Sunday we had a brunch with some friends and Kathe came over and jammed with Henry. By the end of the morning, he was holding her hand (a first non-cousin he let hold his hand....big doings). Francie is getting really strong. She rocks the tummy time...unlike Henry would would throw up everytime.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Henry seriously cracks himself up while doing his own rendition of Twinkle. He substitutes twinkle, twinkle little car, bush and window. The bubble machine was added for some stage effects. They will have to do until we can get the permits for the pyrotechnics display.

Getting to Know Each Other

Henry is warming up to Francie. The normal camera shy boy is all of a sudden eager to be in the picture if we are taking one of Francie. Daily he sings a song for her...the last one was about a frog named George. She seems to tolerate the loud banging of the drums and xylophone well. Today he told her about the"red sox and that he is going to Boston College".

One Month Old

Henry is on the right and Francie on the left. I can see some family resemblance....

Floating (all by himself)

Henry is now an expert floater. With his life vest he likes to "swim". He thinks this is very cool.
Francie turned 1 month old this weekend. In the next post we will have side by side 1 month photos of Henry and Francie.