Happy New Year's Eve 2013

We went to a Pow Wow, and then we came home and took a walk and ran into a neighbor who does bubble blowing street performance art, and Aurelien and I both took turns blowing bubbles.  Then we went home to just have a very quiet family new year's eve.  It was awesome!!!!!!

Merry Christmas 2013

And here's our handsome little man enjoying his second Christmas ever!  He LOVED it!  It's my favorite holiday too, can you tell?  I hope this year is just as special for our family, especially for William!!!

Christmas Eve 2013

This is always traditionally the biggest party of the year in my family, where I get to see everybody all at once, so I get really EXCITED!!!!!  William had fun but he did lose us in the crowd a couple of times and started bawling!!!!  As if we would ever leave our little darling!!!!

Christmas Play Dates

We started taking walks around the block around this time, which was great!  We also went to a couple of little people Christmas parties, which was also great fun!

And here were a couple more play dates, one with my cousin and her son, and another one with just William and I at Cafe au Play.  Very fun!!!

Last year's Christmas ornament

For the past 2 years I've been making these little dollar birdhouse ornaments from Michael's.  It is pretty fun to make them, and I love how they turn out.  This is last year's ornament.  Wonder what I'll come up with this year?

Celebrate Awesome Neighbors

This was our last BBQ with our neighbors in 2013 before we left for France.  It was bittersweet, since we were going to be gone for such a long time and we are VERY close to our neighbors.  Good memories!!!

I love you More than Ice Cream

Here's one of the first times William pulled himself up and starting walking around some furniture.  Very CUTE!!!!

Christmas Cuddles

Ah yes I remember those days, when William was still a cuddle bug.  Now he's Mr. Independent!  I will treasure all those cuddles always in my heart...so incredibly precious to me...more precious than gold or silver...Love is the most important thing in existence!

William turns 1! (The US Version)

So last year we went to France for 9 weeks at the beginning of July, so we had to have William's US party before we left.  It was an awesome party!  He had a Winnie the Pooh cake, and I was so excited I forgot to give out the ice cream!  LOL!  After the party we all had to decompress a little, especially William, who was a bit bewildered by the whole experience!

The guys in our family

Well, this is just about all the guys in our family, we were just missing a few.  It's so nice to see everyone when we get together as a family!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

William could definitely feel that there was something truly special about this time of year.  Hope we can make that same magic for him this year!!!  Hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa, Papa, and his cousin...good times!!!

William and the Birthday girls

This was such a fun day, we got to celebrate 4 different girl's birthdays, all on the same day!  Whew!  That was hard work!  And lots of fun and yummy cake!!!

2013 Winter Magic

Here's some more early December magic-the first snow of the season, and his first advent calendar, which I made for him.  He LOVED it SO much!  Can't wait to do it again this year!!!

Tis the Season to be Jolly

And here's my very favorite little elf!  Cuddles, playdates, learning to feed himself, getting more confident with his walking...early december magic with the little man!!!!

Fabulous Friday Flashback-More Pregnancy Photos from 2012

I had to go into the hospital Friday, July 13th, because my blood pressure was too high.  So they began giving me pitocin hoping that it would induce labor.  I had some appallingly painful contractions over the course of the few days I was there with no progress in the labor.  No epidural because I wasn't dilated enough or some garbage like that.  So yeah.  OUCH!!!  We decided that I would just go home and be on bedrest and see if labor would start naturally on it's own.  That didn't happen, and so after a couple more days we went into the hospital again to have William, for real this time.  And that is a whole other story.  Anyway, these scrapbook pages chronicle that time.

I know this may scandalize some people, but I absolutely love these pictures of enormously pregnant me, dancing naked.  I felt like such an earth mama, a fertility goddess.  I loved it!

Neighborhood BBQ

Here's our handsome boy, charming all the neighbors at one of our neighborhood BBQ's!!!

Flashback to 2010...why not?

This is a whole other story...2010, newly pregnant with the baby that didn't make it.  I was so happy, and then just weeks later...devastated...but I like these pictures.  I feel pretty in them...

November 27-29, 2013

And thus November ending, quietly, peacefully, with an intimate thanksgiving dinner at our house and then my annual day after thanksgiving tradition, putting up the Christmas tree!

Flashback Friday Fun-2012 Pregnancy Nesting Photos

When we got our baby chicks!

When they went out to the henhouse for the first time.  I had so much anxiety for their safety I couldn't sleep sometimes at night!!!

Growing into big, beautiful hens!

Aurelien doing lots of home improvement projects.

And a few more home improvement projects...

Lots of nourishing meals being cooked to feed me and the baby!

And then we actually nursed a baby bird who had fallen from the nest...we kept him alive for over 3 weeks, but then sadly he died a week after William was born.

Hope you enjoyed this Flashback!!!

Love you so much

I love my guys.  Can you tell?

November 24-26, 2013

After a few days to recover from our awesome houseguests, it was time to have a playdate with Shelly and the girls and to scrapbook with mama again!  And that's just what we did!!! 

Walking Begins

Oh no!  Here comes trouble!  William beginning to be mobile!  LOL!!!!

play dance love laugh

Yep, that's pretty much the prescription for a happy life!  Whether you're 1 or 100 or anywhere in between!!!  Try it and you'll see!

Lan Tzu Chinese Garden Date

This was a fun date on a beautiful, sunny late spring day.  My parents watched William for us while we went to Portland's Lan Tzu Chinese Garden, and the Museum of Contemporary Craft.  I was rocking the Chinook Book Coupons that day!   The garden is only a block square but it feels so much bigger when you're inside.  It's definitely one of the hidden gems of our city!  Very fun and romantic date!!!

darling cute precious sweet delight OURS

Here's my two beautiful guys!  Love them SOOOOOOOOOOO much!

An Awesome Ordinary Day

Here we are, just lovin' on our little man, treasuring every precious, ordinary second we have with him!  Love love love!!!

The Last Day!

Goodbye Mutti!  We love you! Bon Voyage et a Bientot!!!!!

No bubbles for this baby!

William had a pretty good time at his cousin's second birthday party, except for the bubble machine!  He was not a big fan of it AT ALL!!!!!  I'm happy to say that he loves it now!

November 16-18, 2013

The very last few days of Mutti's visit we just quietly stayed at home and cooked and hung out together, just enjoying spending quality time with each other.

Our Adventures in St. Palais

This is such a lovely town on the Atlantic coast of France.  Unfortunately for me I was deathly ill while we were there!  LOL!  Sooooooo I don't remember much besides that.  We did get to spend some time with Claude, Aurelien's aunt, which is good because shortly afterwards she found out she had cancer and she just passed away a few weeks ago.  So it was sooooo good that she got to meet William and spend a little time with him.  He looks very much like her, in fact, so it was quite sweet.

November 13-16, 2013

Still enjoying Mutti during the last few days of her visit, family dinners at home and out...good times!

Forever Love

Here she is, the happiest, most grateful mommy in the world!  I never thought it would actually happen, after over 10 years of trying, and 15 years of wanting to be a mama!!!  My miracle baby loves!

William's French First Birthday Party

This was such a fun party, even though William had pinkeye and wasn't feeling well.  It was very sophisticated and French.  I felt like I was in some awesome movie set in France!

Cousins Love

William has A LOT of cousins.  I haven't even tried counting yet, but it's gotta be approaching 20, especially if you count his 2 second cousins and one on the way...so here he is a year and a half ago with 3 of the bigger kiddos...what a span in ages!!!!  He is definitely the baby of that generation!

In the Kiddy Pool

First time in the Kiddy pool, and it was a success!!!

November 9-11, 2013

So for some reason when I was scrapbooking the month of November, 2013 I decided to take a sort of Project Life approach with the titles...no idea why.  I don't remember...so we continued to enjoy our visit with Mutti, and my niece Audrey came to visit, and we took some pretty walks...good times!