Today is Sophie’s 5 month birthday! It’s unbelievable how fast time has gone by…seems like it’s gone even faster than it did with Addison.
Her personality is really starting to show and she loves to spend her days babbling away and rolling all around the family room. Last month she started eating solids and is a huge fan of vegetables (hopefully that trend continues!)
Here’s a look at the past 5 months :)
As I update our blog I always wonder who’s reading along (aside from our parents and siblings!) I’d love it for people to take a minute to leave a comment and let me know how you found us…and also if you have a blog we can follow!!
Hope everyone is getting ready for Halloween! I’m sure I’ll have lots of trick-or-treating pictures to share next week!
Until then…here’s one of my little pumpkins this morning :)
After seeing a promising weather report for Saturday we decided to take advantage of our zoo membership again! I’m afraid it might be our last trip for a while but we had a blast!
Addison was still in her PJs when we asked her if she wanted to go…and then we asked her if she wanted to invite grandma & grandpa and she took off running for the closet saying “I need a coat, I need my shoes!” What a crack up :)
Grandma & Sophie before we left…we thought animal print was appropriate for the zoo :)
Loving the kids play area
For Addison…and grandma too!
Little drama queen :) 
After checking out the walrus tank we were able to catch a little talk about the walruses (there are 3 at Pt. Defiance). It was amazing to see all the things they were trained to do. Addison really loved it!
Janie the walrus
Next we were off to the Asian Forest Sanctuary to see Bali, the new Sumatran tiger, make his debut! Bali came to Pt. Defiance from San Francisco, and was joining his brother Java, and his future mate Jaya. The huge crowd made it tough to get a good shot!
Enjoying his ‘meat-sicle’ (a raw meat popsicle…yum yum!)
Our last stop of the day was to one of Addison’s favorite places…the carousel! This time she was *very* excited to ride the polar bear, which she kept referring to as a teddy bear :)
Before I knew it she had talked me into hopping on the horse next to her! Thankfully there are no pictures of that!
We had a great time at the zoo and we’re so glad that my parents (who Addison refers to as ‘Gaza & Kerpa’) could join us for the day!! We’re looking forward to lots of fun trips there next summer when Sophie will be able to enjoy all the animals too.
At the beginning of October we decided to get a membership to Pt. Defiance Zoo & Aquarium. Since Erik is at Microsoft now we’re able to visit Woodland Park for only $5/person so we thought we’d try out Pt. Defiance too.
Our first trip was on October 3rd with our good friends, The Westendorfs. It was a beautiful (but chilly) day so we had a great time checking everything out. First stop was a visit to the goats at the petting zoo!
Then we were off to check out the polar bears!
Addison & Oliver
Cutest.thing.ever!
LOVING the carousel
I just had to share something that I read this week on my friend Jennifer's blog. She copied it from another friends blog because it was just too funny not to share it! It’s a must read for parents of little ones…especially if you plan on having more (like we do!)
It’s long but worth the read! Enjoy :)
Just You Wait....You'll See! You'll ALL See!
It's inevitable. It will happen one day and then you will know. You will find yourself with three small creatures that you created by your own free will and choice. These creatures will start out tiny and helpless and cute. This is their way of tricking you. You will feed them. They will get bigger. And then the creatures will begin to argue with you. They will talk back. They will demand things. They will draw with sharpie on your favorite living room chair. You will make threats. They will throw their heads back in laughter at your threats. You will do something you promised the universe you would never do. You will say things your mother used to say. These phrases might include: "You are suffering the consequences of your own actions" and "I brought you into this world, I can take you out!" They will jump on you and pull your hair in response. They will tell people at church that you didn't answer the door when the doorbell rang yesterday because you were naked. They will scream at the grocery store at the top of their lungs "Help! This is not my mommy!" There will be many more antics, but I will not go into that now because I wouldn't want to depress or frighten you.
One day you will walk through your once quiet and calm home. There will be globs of toothpaste on the bathroom counter. There will be red crayon on the walls of your hallway. There will be clothes that were freshly folded only two hours before scattered all over the laundry room floor and the basket they were in will have turned into a "boat" somewhere else in the house. There will be dried juice on the kitchen floor that makes your shoes stick. There will be tiny hair bows of every shape and size tucked in the sofa crevices. There will be a Dora doll wearing your husband's garment top and your $80 glasses sitting on the sharpie chair mocking you with her permanent smile. And then you will make your way to the creatures' head quarters where you may or may not still be able to see a bed. You will wander into the creatures' lair, but this is a mistake because you will step on a tiny black Lego that with jab so far into the bottom of your foot that it pierces your sole. You will want to scream naughty words at the top of your lungs but you will stifle your scream because of all the "little ears" that are surely lurking nearby. Instead you will bite your fist and squeak out a small cry. It is a cry for help but no one will hear you. At this point you will turn around and see your husband standing in the doorway. He will have a look of despair and confusion on his face that mirrors yours. You will stand side by side taking it in in total silence (aside from the screaming and complete chaos taking place in the living room as the creatures dance to the music of "The Wiggles" who you vow to strangle should you ever meet in person). You will look into each others eyes and there will be no need for words. Your minds will communicate with one other. First his brain will say, "What have we done?" and then yours will say, "I don't know, but it's too late now." and then his brain will say, "It's never too late! I've heard of gypsies who come through town and buy children. It's worth looking into." Suddenly a wave of motivation mixed with the devil's rage will surge through both your veins and you will summon the creatures in your most intimidating voice. You will stand in the doorway with your hands on your hips and shout out commands pointing wildly at the mess. The creatures will put up a fight. There will be stomping of feet and gnashing of teeth. The air will be thick with defiance, but this is a fight you MUST win. They will sulk in the tub after losing "The Cleaning of the Room Battle of '09". They will pout begrudgingly as you scrub them clean of all the filth. You will silently attempt to scrub off some of the naughtiness in the process. This attempt will be in vain. You will help the creatures say their prayers by having them say things like, "Please help us to be gentle and loving and to obey Mommy and Daddy." This attempt will also be in vain. The creatures will eventually fall asleep but not before goofing around for half an hour, falling off the bed, and demanding a Hello Kitty band aid be applied to a patch of perfectly healthy skin. You and your husband will collapse on the sofa. You will lay there limp and expressionless for an hour. And then the unexplainable will happen. It always does. You will actually begin to MISS the creatures! Why would you do it? So you will stealthfully sneak into each one of their freshly tidied bedrooms and hover over their beds. You will watch the newly bathed peaceful creatures as they sleep. You will say words like "angels" and "sweet". You will ooh and aah and pat one another on the back at your perfect little masterpieces. Then the little fat one will stir, threatening to awaken and you will tear out of there so fast your head will spin. Your heart will be pounding with fear and terror. This serves you right.
I wish you all the best of luck with this very special and obnoxious rite of passage. Later you can ask me who stole my brain straight out of my head when the decision is inevitably made to expand the creatures' numbers to four.
As we were heading out to dinner on Saturday, Erik and I had another déjà vu moment as we looked at Sophie in her brown Baby Gap coat…we remembered Addison in that very same coat during her first trip to Ireland in August of 2007 (she was about 4 1/2 months old - as Sophie is now).
Since the last ‘look-a-like’ post was a big hit I thought I’d post these pictures too. Can you tell who is who??
The top picture is Sophie and the bottom is Addison :) I can’t wait to see if they continue to look alike as they get older!!
Last night we went to a fabulous Halloween party hosted by our friends, The Beyersdorfs. Sarah, Kenny, Joey & Stella were kind enough to welcome lots of family and friends into their home to celebrate Halloween a couple weeks early. It was *so* fun to see all the kiddos dressed up!
Sophie the little ladybug
Bridget, Addison & Chase
Sarah & Stella, Me & Sophie, Jamie & Reese
Addison and mommy
We had such a fun night and now I’m even more excited for the girls to dress up on Halloween and for Addison to really experience trick-or-treating since she was a little too young last year.
It’s hard to believe that 6 years ago today Erik and I went on our first (blind!) date. We were set up by my good friend Amanda and her (then boyfriend) Tracey, who was one of Erik's fraternity brothers. Our first date included dinner at Bahama Breeze and then drinks and darts at The Spot in Renton. We hit it off right away and, well, the rest is history.
Little did we know back then…
December 2003
…that 6 years later we’d be where we are today :)
Happy ‘dating’ Anniversary to us…here’s to many more years of happiness.
Sunday morning we headed out for our 2nd annual pumpkin patch trip to Maris Farms in Buckley. It was a beautiful day but it was *freezing* so we bundled up the girls and got ready for a fun day.
In case you were wondering…it takes a ridiculous amount of time to get 4 adults, 2 toddlers and 2 infants out of the car and moving! Luckily Addison and Chase were very patient :) 
Once we were inside we made our way to the animals. Chase is a HUGE animal fan so it’s always fun to watch him run around naming all the animals.
Next up…pony rides! We assumed that Addison would enjoy this because she’s a huge fan of Nana’s horse Chloe in Camp Sherman, but with toddlers you never know how they’ll react to a new situation. In typical Addison fashion…she was THRILLED! She loved every minute of it and begged to go again once she was done.
The infamous “yee-haw!”
After the pony rides the kids (and dads!) made a beeline for the bouncy pillow.
Then we all took a little break since the dads were out of breath after all that bouncing :)
Once everyone caught their breath they were off to try out the mine shaft slide! I’m not sure who had the most fun on this one …
After the slide, Erik and Pete took Addison and Chase through the corn maze while Jamie and I sat down to rest with the babies :)
Then we figured we should actually pick out some pumpkins!!
Before heading out the kids got to ride on the ‘cow train’. Addison conveniently ended up in the cow named Bossy!
After 3 hours at the farm we were ready to head home for naps!! We all had a blast and we’re already looking forward to going back next year.
