Just for fun!

We had a great Christmas at home just the five of us. Not our original plans, but the snow changed our "Christmas with Family" idea. We are heading out to the coast tomorrow morning for a few days to now celebrate the New Year with Family. No snow in the forecast. I do have pictures of Christmas that I'll post when I get back and have more time, but I thought I should leave something new for those who bother to log in and check the site. Pain, I know! So, here are a few pictures that I've been meaning to share. This was hilarious! Who we loving call, "Crazy Uncle Brian", sent a whole box of fruit roll ups for Eric's birthday. Once we opened one up, we were able to figure out why! So funny! And so delicious!

Our first visit to Voodoo Doughnuts. Have you seen them on TV? They have been on the Food Network, Travel Channel, and even the last Amazing Race. It's very Portland. This box includes Capt N Crunch doughnut, Mango Tango, Coco Puff, bacon maple bar and half of an apple fritter.

Did I just write Bacon Maple Bar? Yes, gross right? We got them warm from the oven and I have to admit one of the best doughnuts I've ever eaten. I was shocked and thinking I would hate it, but wow, it was the best one out of the bunch. The picture is pretty scary though, I admit. The others we had were just ok. A little too sweet and the cereal was on the stale side. The place tries a little too hard to be strange and unique, but that's Portland for you!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family!!!

Thoughts of Mom

Tonight was one of those nights that I had my mom on my mind the entire time. I was wrapping the last of the Christmas presents and trying to decide if they all really needed ribbon or if I could get away with just wrapping them and putting them under the tree. Would anyone really care, probably not, but I thought about my mom staying into the wee hours and making the most beautiful presents I've ever seen. She was incredible. Every present could have been in a shop window. I remember one year, she had pieces of real evergreen attached to some of the presents with a beautiful ribbon. She and my dad would wait until Christmas Eve to put out most of the gifts and we would come out to a dramatic display of presents. Eric was shocked by the sight of our tree at the first Middleton Christmas he experienced. She loved Christmas and loved going overboard. It was like that every year. So, although my kids are only 6, 3, and 8 months, I did put a ribbon on every gift. Not nearly as beautiful as she would have done them, but each are done nonetheless. I just couldn't help myself. What can I say, I am my mother's daughter.

Happy Happy Birthday Eric Dear...

My crazy month of birthday celebrations and Christmas continues. Today is Eric's 31st birthday! I've done my list of what I love about him before, and it's all still true. He is just as great one year later! So here are a few favorite pictures I have on my computer of him through the years! (I need to get more baby shots of him for next year!)

Halloween in the 80's. Can you guess what Eric was? Of course, a Chicago Bear!Looking hot in his tux a few days before we got married!
Looking even hotter in cap and gown, as Dr. Jacobsen!
Eric molding his girls into Bears fans.

Eric and his crew!

Happy Birthday Eric!!

Birthday Snow!

Ella has been asking when it was going to snow here in Oregon, which I've told her that it doesn't really snow here, not like NY. We just got back from out birthday trip and woke up to about 2 inches of snow and lots of snow falling. We ended up getting about four inches and so far two days off from school. There's suppose to be more tomorrow and another big storm on Sunday. We may have started our Christmas break a lot earlier than planned! I am really missing the East Coast snow plows and salt! Our street looks the same as it did on Sunday! I girls love it though and Ella got her wish for snow much sooner than I thought!

Eric was a trooper and let me stay warm while he pushed and pulled the girls around.

Tyler stayed warm and cozy inside, but loved watching his crazy sisters.

Birthday Time

What a weekend we had! Ella turned 6 on Friday! I did my best to convince her to do something other than a big birthday party, and was finding some success when I mentioned we could on a mini vacation as a family and stay at a hotel. Her interest was there, but still the party was winning, I then showed her the Great Wolf Lodge website and changed her mind! Hooray for me! So, after school on Friday we loaded up and picked up Eric from work and headed two hours north and had the best time. The girls loved sleeping on bunk beds and we all enjoyed the waterpark. Ella, who is not a big fan of water in her face, loved the park, but stayed off anything that would spray or splash. Chloe was our daredevil and loved the slides. We only stayed a short time the second day due to Eric's work Christmas party, but looking at the girls at lunch, they had nothing left. They were exhausted! We even had some cousins come down for Saturday to join us, which made the birthday weekend even better! We can't wait to go again, but maybe after Ella can finally pass her level 1 swim class!

What a little sleep can do...

So, with the threat of baby boot camp, Tyler has given me a few extra hours of sleep the last few nights. Not perfect, but I'll take it. With those few extra hours, I had enough energy to finally try out a project I wanted to do. I saw something like this in a magazine and thought it was so cute. They used tiny boxes that I didn't have, but the bigger ones worked, I think. Now I just need to wrap my actual Christmas presents!

Before and After

Now that her recital is over, it was time for Ella to get a hair cut! Her hair was the longest it had ever been, and she hated to have it done so it was time. It turned out so cute and she just loves it! She is officially looking like a six year old!

Gingerbread Time

We had a full day of gingerbread fun. We made cookies in the afternoon and decorated the house when Eric got home. The girls love to bake and sneak tastes of whatever is cooking up. I have realized making gingerbread cookies is great for me, the girls and Eric love them, but I don't. Finally a dessert I don't like! I'm just saving the calories for when the real holiday baking gets started!

The Nutcracker

Ella and Chloe have both been in ballet this fall and this weekend was the big recital of "The Nutcracker". Ella was Arabian Coffee, one of the sweets and Chloe was a wooden soldier. This was my first Nutcracker ever! Can you believe it? I never did dance and had no sisters. It was a cute production, nice and short, about 40 minutes for the whole thing. Ella did her dance, which wasn't really a dance, but slow walking, bowing, and head bobs. Chloe made it on stage with her group (Hooray!), but refused to salute to the Nutcracker. She did great at marching and was fascinated with the mice running around her so she just ended up marching the entire time. It was cute and the girls seemed to enjoy it. They especially liked the finale when they got their flowers!

Ella is the one on the left.

Chloe is the last one on the left, watching the mice.

December!

Can't believe it's December already! It only took about 8 months to finally go private with this blog. Remember the email a while back? My goal was to have it done before we moved. Hopefully those who read this got the email! If you hear of any upset friends of mine that feel shunned, let me know!! So why don't I post more often? One huge reason is because of him...

Yes, he is cute, too cute with those cheeks that I forget to be upset with when he wakes me up two, three, four, yes, sometimes five times at night! It's worse now than when he was a newborn. I am tired so tired and daydream about what it feels like to get more than three hours of uninterrupted sleep. Needless to say, my mind just doesn't work well enough to put words together to form sentences, let alone amusing posts. We are needing a baby bedtime boot camp program soon!

A second reason for the lack of posts, pictures. I forget to take them. Chalk it up to the lack of sleep and the craziness of having it at our house, but I completely failed to take a single picture of Thanksgiving! My brother and his wife even came up from California, but it still didn't register in my head to take a picture! Nice Chrissy!

So, December is here and I have lots on the calendar already, many a must for pictures. I will do my best to update often so you don't login and see the same picture! Have a happy December!!

I am totally relating to this...

The Costumes!

As promised, and quicker delivery than expected, here are the pictures of last night's fun. Ella was a fairy princess, Chloe was Cinderella, and Tyler was the cutest glow worm ever! So much fun!

Happy Halloween!

Costume pics will come later. Here are a few highlights of some pre Halloween fun.