Let it Snow

The winter weather has hit and we've been having fun getting Luna acquainted with the white stuff. These pictures are from a walk we took on Sunday (there's A LOT more snow now) enjoying the crisp, sunny weather.

Luna all bundled up and ready to go
Everything looks so pretty in white

Luna has a little peek-hole in the BOB stroller

Gus tired out after a romp in the snow

One happy dog

A Christmas Tradition

Much to Brian's chagrin, Luna, my mom and I made our first trip to visit Santa this week. Not that Luna had any clue as to what was going on, it was really just for me to get a picture. When I was growing up, it was a yearly tradition for my sister and I to get our picture taken with the Fredrick & Nelson's Santa Clause. Even after the department store went out of buisness, and we were really much to old to sit on his lap, my sister and I continued to make the yearly visit to Santa until she was in college (it really wasn't a choice we had, my mother insisted). And although there were several times I felt much too cool to be going through with such a silly tradition, it is actually kind of fun now to look back at the collection of over 20 pictures. Each year we pull out the photos and compare the different years. Of course there are the couple where it's just me before Emily comes along. Then the years where we are dressed alike (what is it that compels parents to dress their kids up the same?). My sister loves to point out the year where she surpasses me in height and I have to sit on Santa's lap while she gets to stand behind (I think this happened when she was in 3rd grade). And of course there are the "awkward years". Anyway, a tradition it was and Christmas wouldn't have been the same without the obligatory Santa photo. Sorry Luna. I know how it's going to feel, but I'm the Mom.

Plethera of Photos

December has been busy so far! I haven't done a great job of keeping photos posted, so here are several from the last couple of weeks. Luna just turned 3 months old and is growing like crazy! She has started laughing (what a beautiful sound!) and reaching for objects, which promptly end up in her mouth. We are continually amazed by her increasing skills and love to see her personality shining through.

We got a chance to visit Erin on a recent trip back to the NW from Boulder

Uncle Bob came over for dinner and helped put Luna to bed

Luna can keep her head up now when she has "tummy time"

Rachael and Annika came to visit Luna

Annika was a great helper with Luna

Lots of laughs and smiles!

Luna hanging out with Dad as he chops veggies for pizza - YUM!

More tummy time!

Hanging out with Dad after a busy day

Luna enjoys time in her swing

Maya and Luna hanging out after a great walk

Luna and Great-Grandma Larson

Luna & Oma

Fun in Fairhaven

After a wet walk outdoors in Fairhaven, we ended up in Village Books. To our surprise, we weren't the only ones with the same idea!

Rowan & Carter reading about back hoesMarcus was getting comfy before reading
Luna decided to sleep through the excitement

Fun in the kid's corner at Village!

Turkey Day 08

It was our year to head east of the mountains to celebrate Thanksgiving. Every other year we make the trek to eastern Washington to celebrate the holiday with family. This year we had our largest crowd yet: my parents, Uncle Ron, Auntie Jacquie, Emily, Patrick and cousins Colby and Garrett joined Brian and I in celebrating Luna's first Thanksgiving. It is always a wonderful get away filled with great food, thoughtful conversations, hot tubbing, hiking and games (we are just a tad competitive). Here are a few pics from our memorable weekend.

Luna was wide-eyed at all the foodHanging out with MomLuna loves laying on Oma's lapSpending quality time with Aunt EmilyLook at all that food!Stop, Uncle Pat, your embarrassing meMonkey Bread for breakfast on ThanksgivingLuna still gets play time on vacationDay-after-Thanksgiving trip into Leavenworth"Life is good" on Grandpas' lapThe Fam

My Homies

Luna has been hanging out with lots of other mini-people this week. She is becoming more aware of her surroundings and seems to enjoy seeing other babies and watch their actions. Here are some of the peeps Luna's been hangin' with lately.

This week we had a wonderful visit at Oma's house with Lynnelle's Auntie Nancy, Cousin Kristen and her two kids, Nolan & Kenedee.

Cousin Kenedee loved patting Luna's head

Kenedee & Luna were practicing their push-ups

Luna loved watching her older cousin sitting up on her own

Luna got to hang out with her buddy Marcus twice! Once at our monthly Belling-hamster dinner and then again when Marcus had Luna over to babysit.

Marcus & Luna hanging out during dinner

Luna also got to meet a new friend this week, Maya. Maya lives right around the corner which will be great fun! While the parents ate pumpkin loaf and chatted, Maya and Luna had a little play time. If leg kicking is an indication of enjoyment, the girls seemed to have a really good time hanging out.

Luna's newest friend: Maya!

The ladies humored their parents during a photo-op

Bow Down to Washington?

It's been a tough year to be a Husky football fan. Despite the team's 0-9 record entering yesterday's game, Luna decided to sport her Husky colors with pride (thanks to Auntie Steph for knitting the purple & gold hat and booties!). What slim hopes we had that the Dawgs could pull out a win against their former coach and the UCLA Bruins was dashed by the early 3rd quarter. Nonetheless, Luna is optimistic about next week's Apple Cup. She's convinced the Coug's are going down - sorry Uncle Pat & Aunt Emily.

Spirits were still high as the game was getting started

Luna began to take a more serious tone as the Dawgs began to fall behindBy the 4th Quarter it was getting to ugly to watch