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Birthday Party number 1

The only decent picture we got of all 4 of them.

Because Luca's birthday falls right in between Christmas and New years weekends we decided to do a few low key parties with the family. Today was with the Shimmin/Ford clan and the next one will be with the Bellenghis. Luca wanted a Buzz Lightyear party and in honor of keeping things simple this year I just picked up some decorations at Target. Traci also made some cute cupcake toppers. It was totally simple and I am SOOO happy I did it that way, we just got to relax and let the 4 little ones entertain us.

Later in the day we celebrated my dad's birthday (from the 13th) with dinner. It was a great day with the family and we left extremely exhausted and full of love. Here are my favorite pictures from the day. We tried SOOO hard to get a cute picture of all 4 little ones and as you can see we never really got the perfect one.....but they are all adorable!

Thanksgiving

We spent thanksgiving this year down in Lebanon, we had a very nice day with the family. I tried really hard to get a family shot but it just didn't happen, here are some a few of the sweet pictures from the day.

Christmas Cards (For free:)

I have been having a hard time lately deciding whether to do Christmas cards or not. I like to get them from other people, see how their kids have grown and what not but whenever I find myself going online and picking out the ones I like I end up with a bill for $100 or so. Last year I made my own Christmas cards and they served their purpose but I didn't LOVE them. This year however I will be getting them from Shutterfly for FREE (by writing this post.) Jill from Barnes Yard posted about Shutterfly's deal to get 50 free holiday cards this year! If you want to get yours free as well click here.

There are so many options I like. Problem is our family pictures were taken in July and don't exactly shout winter/holidays/cozy etc. I will probably just take some candids at Thanksgiving and call it a day. Here are some I like! See what you like!

Here is one I am seriously considering....


What are your thoughts....is it bad to only have pictures of your kids on your Christmas cards or should it always be the whole family????

Which do you like?

Gift Ideas?

Halloween

I am a little late posting but I only used my phone to take pictures on halloween so I am just not getting around to posting them. Halloween was fun, we spent it in Lebanon with the fam. Luca and Jack both wanted to be buzz so trace and I took the easy route and just made the girls the martians. Gia refused to wear her head piece (and i don't blame her) it was a fun/exhausting day :)

Pumpkin Patch

Girls Weekend

My girlfriend Erin came to Portland last week to run the Portland Marathon (2nd time) we decided to surprise her with our Vegas Roomie Miranda. Erin was beyond shocked and we had an amazing weekend! We went wine tasting with our friends Nichole and Jennifer (who was in town for her baby shower) we had a some great places in town and spent a lot of time catching up! Erin rocked her marathon while Miranda and I cheered her on in the rain. It was so wonderful to relax and catch up, it had been years since we all hung out. It is funny how much we have "grown up" we often found ourselves pushing to stay out and thinking about going dancing but we opted to go home and get a good nights sleep :) So funny, pretty much the opposite of our time together in Vegas :) I already miss these two.......

Swim Lessons

Trying to sneak up for a picture

Having fun (he looks so old these days)

following the teacher

One of the times Luca was doing what he was suppose to do

Enjoying time AWAY from the rest of the class

Gigi and daddy

After she had spotted me

We finally got the kids into swim lessons. This would be Luca's 3rd time, Gia's first. Rob had Gia in the infant class and I watched Luca in his first class sans parents. Gia did ok but every time she saw me she screamed for me so I had to watch from a distance. Luca didn't really want to participate with the class so he did his own thing most of the time, which was frustrating for me. We had to have a long talk about listening to the teacher and doing what she says. I forgot how exhausting it is getting them in the pool, out showered and redressed. I remember Luca's first swimming lessons it took both Rob and I to get him in and out and now with two kids it is equally exhausting but I feel silly for it taking both of us when it was just Luca :)