Visitors from Ireland

Josh's cousin, Stacey, and her family came to visit for a few days back in January. They live in Ireland and try to come to the states every two years or so. They spent Christmas in eastern Washington, then made a special trip down to Eugene to see us all! We spent some time with them at the Green's house one day, then the next day everyone came to our house for some more visiting. It was fun watching all the kids play together... last time they were here Ethan, Macey, and Griffin were all newborns!

Fearghaill (pronounced Far-uhl)

Niamh (pronounced Neev)

Enjoying Jon and Amy's big backyard on this sunny January day!

The kids were all very interested in baby Emma.

Proud Big Cousin!

Fearghaill~ enjoying the playroom at our house (:

Grammie Lermo and Uncle Ron (he drove down from Vancouver, WA)

Second Cousins: Macey, Niamh, Ronan, Fearghaill, Griffin, Emma, and Ethan

Part of the Group

Niamh, Stacey, Diarmaid, and Fearghaill

Cousins~Stacey, Amy, and Josh

The Whole Group!

For more pics check out Amy's blog

January 3, 2009

For my friend Sydney's 40th Birthday, her husband went all out in planning a lobster feed dinner party at their house--and we were invited to it! This was my first time having lobster, let alone lobster flown in from Maine! Pretty fancy! Josh and I were so excited about this night and had been looking forward to it for weeks. (: It was a really fun party and we felt so honored to be included in such a special occasion!

The Birthday Girl! She got her lobster first and showed us how to do it. (:

Gotta love the bibs (:

I got to hold Sydney & Paul's baby (Jumi) and ended up rocking her to sleep. She is so precious! (:

They finished off the night with a cake from Sweet Life....so delicious!

Happy Birthday, Sydney!

New Year's Eve!

On New Year's Eve we decided to keep it low-key and have a little party at our house (kids and all). Becca and I made three different soups and other people brought salad, bread, and snacky foods to share. It all came together really well (without much planning!). Kenton brought some video games, and the cousins played upstairs and watched movies most of the night.

This picture reminds me so much of our high school days when we would do our hair and makeup in my Mom's hair salon. (: It's fun to get made up every once in awhile. (:
Ready to Party!

Katrina and Carolyn

Mom and Jaimi

Amy, Ethan, Jon, and Emma

Jaimi and I left the party for a bit and went to check out Uva, a wine bar at Oakway Mall owned by our friends Todd & Molly. It's such a neat little place!

We made it back home to play some games and ring in the New Year with everyone!

Aaron, Josh, and Papa

Kenton, Jon, and Jesse

Tyler, Ronan, and Macey taking a turn. Such a cute band! (:

Happy New Year, my Love!!

Here's to a Fabulous 2009!

Jaimi's Visit

Jaimi flew in late on the 30th of December and stayed with us until January 2nd. We had SO much fun together! We don't get to see each other very often because we live in different states, but when we do it's like no time has passed. We tried to fit in as much girl time as we could in those few days, but I had some competition from my boys! Ronan and Griffin loved all the extra attention they got from "Auntie Jaimers". She brought presents for them and spent a lot of time running around & being silly with them. (:
Books from Jaimi
Griffin wearing Jaimi's boots. (: He really wanted to wear them when we left the house, and ended up throwing a little fit when he had to take them off. (:
During the day on New Year's Eve we went to lunch at BJ's, and Jaimi got to see how much "fun" that can be with two busy boys! They did pretty well, but we definitely had our hands full and had to eat fast. (:

New Cousins!

December 30, 2008
While we were in Portland to pick up my friend (Jaimi) from the airport we made plans to get together with my cousin Dan and his wife Brooke. They recently had twin girls, and this was our first time meeting them! It was great to hang out and talk about life with kids. (: Summer and Kara were both so happy and pleasant, even as it got closer to bedtime. We were so glad it worked out to stop by that night!
Me holding Kara and Brooke holding Summer~Such sweet babies!!
Dan feeding Kara

Me with Summer

Ronan and Griffin had fun getting to know their newest second cousins. Ronan especially likes being around babies. (:

Final Christmas Celebration

The Saturday after Christmas the Neal family came down from Portland for lunch and a gift exchange. Every year we draw names with the Stoerman side of the family (my mom's sisters and their kids) and this year we had the gathering of all the Oregonians at our house. I cooked a ham and everyone brought side dishes and appetizers. We all had a really fun time hanging out and playing games. (; Lots of joking around and laughing!

Becca, Uncle Truls, Papa, Aaron, Hannah, and Eleanor
Katrina, Mom, Josh, Aunt Robin, and Kenton

The Big Kids: Ronan, Cohen, Tyler, and Sadie

The Little Guys: Griffin and Finn

Opening Gifts

Rockin' Batman

Uncle Batman