Christmas and stuff

Orson hosted his first Christmas party at our house yesterday for his friends. It went very well and he had lots of fun, even though he refused to take his nap. For part of the party we had a gift exchange for the babies....basically we put the gifts in the middle of the floor and let them go at it. I wasn't sure if Orson would know what to do but he went straight for the presents in bags, ripped out the tissue paper and took out the present. And for once, the present was cooler in his eyes then the bag and paper! (Good pick Jessica).

Can you tell that Lucy also turned down her morning nap :)

Also, St Nick showed up at the party and Orson took his first pictures with Santa :)

He was very silly by the end of the day...

We have been pretty busy around here, I ran my last arts and crafts class at MSN. Everyone seemed to have fun and Lucy, Orson and Penny had a blast finger painting (well Orson thought it was finger eating).

We have been to a few Christmas parties both with Matt's work and with friends (it was so much fun to get together with adults and babies and just hang out and also lots of fun to go out on our own.) And some more 1st birthdays.

Matt and I also celebrated our 3rd anniversary....so hard to believe that it has only been 3 years! And of course, we put up the tree, cleaned the house and, well once I get them made, will hang the stockings with care :)

Thanksgiving, hiking, playdates and getting ready

The end of November and this first week of December went by in a flash. We packed up and headed to Portland and Matt's family for the holidays. It was a long, long drive (we left at Orson's 7pm bedtime and got in around 5:30 am) but well worth it. We all had fun and Matt got to meet his newest cousins, Jackson and Royce (the are now 14 months). I think Orson got more out of the meeting then Matt :) We also went hiking, Orson learned about bundling up for cold weather and the girls even enjoyed some well deserved playtime with us.

We went hiking at the girls favorite spot just outside of Portland...it was rainy and COLD...Orson ended up enjoying the hike but he was not too sure about the whole "lets get bundled up" thing at first.

I think we need to come up with better way to keep his head warm, he couldn't seem to hear anything we said to him.

We enjoyed Thanksgiving at Pat and Pat's greatly. We made some great gluten free foods, enjoyed time with family and all around had a good and relaxing time.

Orson drinks from his first crystal goblet:

Orson's first Thanksgiving feast:

The whole family (well actually there was another whole table around the corner):

Later in the evening, Orson discovered his love of an awesome chair in Pat and Pat's living room...apparently Chaquita did too!

A boy and his dog (I couldn't help doctoring up this one)

When we got back to Sacramento, Orson got sick and so he and I spent the first few days going stir crazy at home. On Wednesday we finally made it out to a play group. I was very happy to see other mamas but I'm not sure Orson was ready to play with his friends yet. Thankfully he was much better by today (Friday), tomorrow we are going to a birthday party and I want him to be excited for it.

Orson playing in the sand box:

Penny and Orson:

Lucy:

Maddox:

The whole gang:

Tonight we went to Costco and picked out the Christmas tree. We were going to go chop one down but we just couldn't find the time, I guess we will save that for when Orson is bigger and can get more out of it. Now we just have to put it up, decorate it and the house and start baking....then we will be ready for when all of my family comes in to celebrate with us.

Orson brings home his first Christmas Tree:

Remodel

Well we finally have the front room (well almost finally) put together, at least its together enough to get a picture! Along with the font room we also updated the family room area and made it more "baby proof." We still have some little projects to finish up but I think they will all be done by the time Christmas rolls around.

Here are the before shots:

Here we are working on it:

The fireplace is done and the flooring down!

And here is the finished room. It makes me feel like I have a whole new house :)
(thanks for the help Pat n Pat)

In family room we just made some small changes...we moved Orson's toys under the window and the piano into the China Hutch's place. Then we moved the computer onto the other wall.

This is how it was set up before:

And this is the new set up:

SNOW!!!

We took Orson up to see the snow and do a little hiking for the first time this weekend. He enjoyed the hiking immensely, as usual, but snow was not such a big hit. He thought it to be cold and unpleasant. Anyway, Matt and I had fun :) The pictures turned out well and next time we will bring a sled, I think Orson will like everything much more if it involves going fast!

These are pictures of our favorite hiking spot up in Cool. Stop number one for the day went great.

First steps

Take a closer look at Orson's face, it about sums up his feelings (as Matt's face does for him).

Not even flying made him happy

One good family shot

Orson kept losing his boots :)

Poor cold dogs :(

Oh boy its been a while!

Well things are pretty busy around here. We have been doing some renovations around the house and I will put up the before and after shots in the next post (things just seem to take longer with Orson around, shocking :) One things I do have pictures of...we put away the playpen and brought out Orson's desk and chair. He immediately decided that he could sit just like Daddy does at his desk (picture number two).

Orson has also had some first over the last few weeks.

He went to his first birthday party and had a blast with his friends...although he did get a little over tired and I got the best picture ever of him (can you guess which one).

We also went out for dinner last night and ordered Orson his first kids meal, he ate the entire grilled cheese sandwich! Even more entertaining was his subsequent food high...he giggled and laughed the entire way home.

Orson finally has enough hair for "bedhead," this was his new look after his morning nap.

In other news, some of the babies from my moms group have started coming over to our house on Wednesdays (they are getting too big for new moms group but aren't ready for toddler group yet) and Orson and I love having them over. I got an awesome blow-up tent on Free-cycle (yes that means it was free) and we all love climbing in and crawling around.

Even Chaquita got in on the act!

Gluten free update - the diet changes are going well, I am starting to feel much better (so I think its working) and I have started feeling really creative in the kitchen again (added bonus) so most days dinner cooking is really fun. I have also fallen back in love with my crock pot, so if anyone is looking for some yummy recipes, let me know.

I know there is more but it will have to wait until I can remember it....the brain is leaking all the important stuff out the side these days.