First Smiles

1/5/11 ~  Here are some of the first sweet smiles from baby Tate--and some of his other expressions. (:

7 weeks old

Cool shirt from his "rockin'" Aunt Katie

1/6/11 ~ Griffin and Tate get lots of bonding time throughout the day while Ronan & Daddy are at school/work.

Tate often tries to suck his thumb ( fingers & fist, too)

big yawn

the middle one & little one

A New Year

January 1st, 2011 ~ On New Year's Day we had a special visit from my good friend, Terra, and her family!  They live in Wisconsin and came to Eugene for the holidays to spend time with her family.  I wasn't sure if we would get to see them, but we managed to sneak in a quick visit.  I was so excited to get to talk with Terra and see our kids playing together so nicely.  I wish we lived closer!

Jim & Josh

Terra and I have been friends since middle school when my family moved to Eugene!

The Root & Ruddick kids (:

 Pictures of our house before we took our decorations down:

While the kids were still on winter break I made plans to meet up with Kelly and her boys at the Science Factory. 

Griffin telling Eli secrets (:

buddies

I included this so that I would remember how much Tate loves sleeping in his swing, especially at night (which I let him do so that I could get sleep!). (: After the holidays I started working on our nighttime routine, and started putting Tate in the cradle in his room.  Right away he started sleeping great and has already had a few 8-9 hour stretches of sleep!  It's not consistent yet, but I feel much more rested than I did at the beginning!

New Year's Eve

On New Year's Eve we had some of our family over for a mellow & very casual party at our house. Everyone brought food & drinks to share and we enjoyed just hanging out.

Cuddle time with Tate

Watch out for Ethan!

The Novemberists

Newest Novemberist

The kids took over the attic and had a cousin party!

Miss Emma had the most eventful New Years Eve out of all of us.  As the Greens were getting ready to come over to our house, Emma fell backwards and cut her head on their china hutch.  Amy took her to Urgent Care where she had to get 2 stitches.

Emma wanted me to take a picture of her owie so she could see it. (:

Tyler was excited that people wanted to play Jungle Speed!

Tate found his thumb (:

Macey didn't quite make it to midnight. (:

These two were SO excited for the big countdown!  Happy New Year!!

decorations by Sadie & Becca

December 26th

My Aunt Robin, Uncle Truls, and cousins, Hannah & Eleanor, came down from Portland the day after Christmas to spend time with all of us & meet the newest member of the family!  It's always fun spending time with the Neals!  Lately it's been so shocking to see how grown-up Hannah & Elle are getting!  They were just five & three years old as flower girls in our wedding. (:

The gave Tate the cutest little monkey outfit & teddy bear. (:

And they brought birthday gifts for the summer & fall birthday kids. (: It's always fun to extend the fun and celebrate in person!

Aunt Katie got some cuddle time with Tate

Memaw's turn:

The whole group

(including the Neals' exchange student)