Anna at 7 weeks

Anna's little personality is coming out more and more. She is still such a sweet girl. She's a great sleeper and rarely ever cries. Here's some new videos:

All of the kids LOVED the baby gym - especially the music-playing star that hangs from the top. Ryan was a super fussy baby and this was the only thing that soothed him. Caitlin, well, I sadly don't really remember her as a baby, except that she was really happy and relatively easy, so I'm sure she enjoyed the star! And Anna stares and smiles at it, talks to it, and gets so excited every time the music plays.

Anna hanging out in the bouncy chair.

Smiley Anna

Anna first started giving us half smiles on Christmas Eve and they've continued to get bigger and more frequent. Here are some recent videos of her:

Her little personality is really starting to develop. She's an easy-going, flexible baby which I am SO thankful for. During my pregnancy, I prayed that she would be an easy baby that liked to sleep -- so far, that's what I have. Praise God!!

Merry Christmas!

Here's some of pictures from our Christmas festivities this year. We had three action-packed days of celebrating with most of our family and extended family.

Daddy's Toes

Anna not only looks the most like Mike, she shares his toes! Mike has "webbed" toes between his 2nd and 3rd toe. Here is Anna's left foot - notice how her toes are webbed. She doesn't have it on her right foot, but I think it's so sweet that she has toes just like her daddy!

Anna's big debut

Our sweet, angelic Anna did an excellent job at tonight's Christmas Eve service. Pastor Dan carried her out on stage and talked about her representation as baby Jesus. She slept through the entire thing! Here's a glimpse at her big moment on stage:

The service was incredible and I highly encourage you to go sometime tomorrow if you're available. There are four services on December 24: 1, 3, 5, and 7pm. For more information check out www.goldcreek.org.

Baby picture comparison

I've had a lot of fun comparing the kids' baby pictures in the past couple of weeks. Anna looks a lot like Ryan -- not so much like Caitlin -- and I'm still shocked by the amount of hair she has on her head. Here's a comparison of the kids:

Ryan

Caitlin

Anna

Hiccups

Christmas Program

The kids had their school Christmas concert this afternoon. Their individual classes each sang a song and said their name and, "Merry Christmas!" Here's video of each of the kids -- Caitlin was extremely shy and never got her name out. Anna slept through the whole thing -- thank goodness!

Professional pictures

On Sunday morning, I had a photographer come to the house to capture some images of the kids. We had a great time -- and I HIGHLY recommend Erin Coffey. She was wonderful with the kids - even though all three of them were uncooperative. Here's a few shots - I'll post more later.

For Mike

Here's some video of your baby girl!

Dance Party

Last night, Caitlin was dancing and getting really goofy. She said to me, "I have to remember these crazy dance moves so I can show Daddy when he gets home." Of course, after she said that, I had to pull out my camera and capture them so Mike doesn't have to wait until March to witness her moves!

Before long, Ryan came downstairs and brought his own style.

Lil' Dragons

Ryan is participating in a weekly karate class through the YMCA called, Lil Dragons. Yesterday marked the halfway point in the class and all the students demonstrated what they've learned so far. Ryan never wants to go to karate (he complains about going every week, although I can still get him there without too much hassle), but he always seems to have a good time once we're there. It was fun seeing how far he's come in just six weeks. He was thrilled to receive a ribbon for his efforts!

Stretching before class. I wish I could reach my toes!

Practicing his punchesDemonstrating knee drives with Sensei and Shihan.

Receiving his yellow ribbon from Sensei.

Newest obsession

Ryan tends to be a bit obsessive about things...Legos, baseball, puzzles and now: football. Once he discovers a new interest, he is completely consumed by it. This is how I found him yesterday morning when I came downstairs:

Here he is wearing Mike's football helmet and clutching his new UW football from his birthday. Later on in the morning, he headed outside with his new Jake Locker jersey and played football for a good hour.

I'm curious to see what it will be next. Perhaps basketball? I'm planning on signing him up to play through the YMCA beginning in December.

Ryan's 5th birthday party

We continued Ryan's birthday festivities with a party for some of his buddies this morning at our house. The kids played for awhile, then decorated pumpkins, had lunch, played outside, and then cake and gifts. It was really nice - and Ryan had a good time hanging out with his friends. Here's a video of Ryan blowing out the candles on his baseball cake (thanks for taking this, Paul!!).

Birthday in the Jungle Room

Ryan celebrated his birthday at school by bringing treats and show n' tell. He picked out Oreos to share with his classmates. For show n' tell, he brought his Build-a-Bear dog, Jack, that he built with Mike in August. Like Caitlin's panda bear, there is a special recording from Mike in the dog's leg that Ryan can play whenever he wants to hear Mike's voice. Jack is named after Jack Hannahan, the Mariner infielder, and has his own M's uniform, complete with cleats.

Here's Ryan's class singing Happy Birthday to him:

Today he's having a small party at home with some of his buddies. The birthday celebration continues...

Catching pop flies and more crazy Caits

Ryan spent a good hour outside this afternoon catching pop flies. He catches about one out of every ten. He is SO excited when he makes a catch!

And another video for Daddy...

Backyard baseball

Ryan is absolutely positively obsessed with baseball. We went to an Aquasox game in early July with Mike's mom and ever since then, he eats, sleeps, and breathes baseball. He plays outside in the backyard when it's sunny and inside the house when it's rainy (more of an intricate imaginary baseball game including a full line-up of stuffed animals!). The most amusing part of his games is the play-by-play he gives!

He LOVES the Mariners and can tell you all of the players, their position, whether they bat right or left, etc. He closely follows the games and can tell you the pitch count, what has happened in each inning, who has hit doubles, homeruns, etc.

Ryan got in a little baseball this afternoon because of the beautiful weather. Here's a little video...plus a special message for Daddy.

4th of July Festivities

I'm trying to catch up on summer blog posts before the kids start school on Wednesday. :)

Here are some pictures from our 4th of July celebrations! We spent half the day in Lacey at Mike's grandparents' house and then went to Fall City to our friends' house for more fun and the kids' first taste of fireworks. They have finally reached the age where they are no longer afraid of the big booms!

Another little fish in the making

Ryan and Caitlin started swimming lessons this evening at the Mountlake Terrace Pool. Swimming lessons are nothing new for Ryan, but this was Caitlin's first session. She has always been a little hesitant in the water when we've been swimming, so I wasn't sure how she would feel about it. She got in the water right away and did a great job! She had so much fun and I was so impressed by how the instructor got her to do things that she would normally never try - like put her face in the water. I'm excited to see the progress she'll make during the next several weeks. I'm thrilled that both kids enjoy the water. Some of my best summer memories revolve around swimming - I want them to have that too!

Rocket ship arms and blowing bubbles with her instructor.
Waiting for her turn doing back floats.

Caitlin's class of three.

I'm so proud of her! She looked like such a big girl and did such a good job of following directions. I know she is 3-year old, but I still think of her as my little baby girl!

I'll post pictures of Ryan another week - he was across the pool from Caitlin and I couldn't get any good shots of him.

Happy Birthday Caitlin!

Caitlin celebrated her 3rd birthday on June 19. Due to Mike's schedule, she got to celebrate for a week with a couple of family parties and one with her buddies. Here are some highlights from the week!