Katrina Henry

california - day 7

2012-02-16T17:04:00.000-08:00

On our last day in California, we didn't really have much planned. It was nice to have some jammy time in the morning & take things slow. The boys were excited to try these yummy breakfast sausages coated with pancake batter! Yum-O!

Squeezing in more cuddle time!

Finley sure misses Dominic! And Lincoln too, of course. :)

Cedar & Dominic, hiding behind the chair!

Fun times on the deflating air bed!

Silly boys!

Dance party!

We ran a few errands to pick up some road trip snacks. Then Melissa & I walked to Cake Mamas for a special treat with the kids, while Kenton napped in preparation for the long drive home.

The 2 (almost 3) year-olds!

Super Mamas! ;)

Wiped out from the walk.

We met up for our final meal at...where else? In-N-Out! :P

Visiting with Tate & the Ruddicks.

Daring Cedar!

We thought this would be the last time seeing the Ruddicks until we were back in Eugene, but we actually ended up stopped at the same gas station in the middle of the night!

My parents stayed for one more night, but the rest of us drove through the night, resting as needed, back to Eugene. What a wonderful trip we had. We feel so blessed that we were able to miss work & spend a whole week with our extended family in Southern California. We miss them all so much & it is such a treat to visit. But now, it's their turn! ;) See you all (in Oregon!) next time!

california - day 6

2012-02-16T16:50:00.000-08:00

On Thursday morning, Finley was excited to show Cedar his souvenir from Disneyland!

Cedar posed with his ears, then wanted very little to do with them. Oh well. I think they were more for me than for Cedar. ;)

We had a low key morning.

Happy Dominic!

Then, we drove to Sun City to have lunch with Oma at a park near her home.

The perfect place for 8 kids to visit with their great grandmother!

Sword fighting!

Tate, Uncle Aaron & Oma (my dad's mom).

Oma had celebrated her 90th birthday less than 3 weeks earlier, but only my parents were able to be there.

So we celebrated again & my parents gave her some of the family photos that Erik had taken after Christmas.

Becca, Katrina, Gretchen & Oma

Oma with 8 of her great grandchildren!

Papa brought some cool Styrofoam airplanes to play with!

Two planes, flying high!

Me & my love.

4 generations

Gretchen, Papa, Tate & Oma

4 generations.

Papa, Katrina, Cedar & Oma

The Henry family

The Chase family

The Ruddick family

After several hours of playing & eating lunch at the park, we drove back to Glendora & met up at the Barrett's house for a delicious pasta dinner! We even squeezed in a game that Kenton had brought with Emily, Kellie, Melissa, Shaheen & Steve! Super fun!

Matching second cousins!

Dominic & Tate both wore their "drink cup" onesies from In-N-Out!

Cute boys!

Dominic was much more willing to sit still, but then again, he hasn't quite learned to crawl yet. ;)

california: day 5 - disneyland

2012-02-16T15:31:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday, my sisters & our families spent the day at Disneyland! We were all disappointed that Erik had to go back to Seattle before then (even more bummed when his meetings got cancelled & we found out he could have extended his trip!). :\ We missed having him with us & it was not the same.

Erik wasn't the only one who missed out. My parents agreed to keep Cedar & Tate with them for the day so that we would be free to ride all the rides without our short children holding us back. ;) It was actually harder for me to leave Cedar than it was for him to be left. But I knew that he wouldn't really remember this trip in the long run & was able to put aside my guilt. :]

Okay, onto this photo heavy post! ;)

On the shuttle from the parking lot to the entrance!

Four of the excited kids!

(I took an after photo of these four kids, so you have something to look forward to!) ;)

We were hoping for a slower day, since it was a Wednesday in January, but when we saw a 5 minute wait for the updated Star Tours, we jumped in line!

It has a Star Wars theme now & when they flashed a picture of a rebel spy we had on board that we needed to protect, it was Cohen! Lucky kid! :)

Afterwards, the kids got hassled by some storm troopers. ;) One shot at Finn & our boy played along & fell to the ground!

Rolling the giant sphere on water.

Finn was super excited after going on Space Mountain. I was worried that he'd be scared, but when it was over he said, "That was awesome!" :)

Me & my driver on Autopia! :\ Lucky for me, he couldn't reach the pedal, so I had some control.

Cohen & Aunt Becca up ahead.

Another self portrait.

Kenton drove with Gretchen. :)

Nemo's submarine ride.

Josh, Griffin & me with crazy eyes!

Checking out all the plants & fish.

Our small family. We felt funny just being a family of three. But it was nice to only have one child to keep our eyes on. :)

Waiting for some of the others to ride the rockets!

Griffin, Finn & Uncle Josh

Ronan, Sadie & Gretchen

The three of us in front of Cinderella's castle

The Chase family

The Ruddicks (minus Tate)

More fun on the Jungle Cruise.

Gretchen, Sadie, Becca & Cohen

Josh, Ronan & Gretchen

Our captain thought he was pretty hilarious. We may have laughed...just a bit. :P

Finley, Kenton, Griffin & me

Katrina, Aaron & Tyler

There was no line at Splash Mountain. I suppose all the Californians were worried about getting wet in the middle of winter. Weird. :P

Griffin was so brave, riding in front! Finn had a blast & I hid behind Kenton to keep from getting too wet. :P Worked out pretty well, for me.

Storybook Land!

This was way cooler than I remembered.

I loved all the miniatures & hearing the history of the plants, etc. Very fun!

One of my favorite photos of the day. :)

Ronan & Sadie (& Griffin's head) going through Monstro's mouth.

We got Mickey ears for Cedar.

Griffin, Ronan, Gretchen, Becca & Sadie with Alice & the Mad Hatter.

Finn didn't know who these characters were until after our trip to Disneyland. We realized while we were there that there were plenty of Disney movies that we hadn't shown to our kids yet. We'll have to work on that! ;)

Kenton braved the teacups with Finn.

I'd had more motion sickness than ever before, so I sat this one out. :)

So happy!

Griffin & Gretchen!

It's a Small World was still decorated for Christmas & playing Jingle Bells. It sure looked pretty as the sun was setting!

Cohen, Sadie, Griffin, Finley & Ronan with Goofy!

Toon Town!

Finley requested to go on Space Mountain & Indiana Jones one more time before closing time. He convinced Tyler to ride next to him on Space Mountain, but Ty certainly looks nervous! What brave boys!

The parade!

I'd never seen the parade before. I remember fireworks on our last visit, so this was new & exciting for us!

Ariel

The Princesses!

Princess Tiana from The Princess & The Frog.

The after shot. What a fun day!

We SO wish we could've enjoyed it with the entire family...maybe next time! :)

california: day 4

2012-02-16T14:42:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, we gathered at Bolsa Chica to celebrate Aunt Carol's 50th birthday! The Hickman family loves the beach & it was the most perfect January day we could have asked for.

It was sunny & not too windy! Uncle Keith & Natasha did a great job decorating for the party!

Cedar & Lincoln played in the sand while we settled in & set up our chairs. :)

Cedar was excited to be near the water, but didn't actually want to get in the water.

Throwing sand at the waves.

Run away!

Finn was more interested in getting a little wet & went in up to his knees (sometimes higher when waves came in) with Griffin & Ronan.

I didn't end up taking too many photos, but we enjoyed a barbecue, party games, prizes, and even cake & ice cream by the bonfire after the sun set!

Digging with Tyler!

Sadie, Ronan & Griffin digging too!

Family self portrait at sunset. :P

Uncle Mike, Aunt Nancy & Lincoln

It definitely got chilly when the sun set & the wind picked up. Thankfully there were blankets & a bonfire! :)

The birthday girl!

Me (with a crazy expression) & Melissa

Happy birthday, Aunt Carol! We sure had fun. This might've been one of the first trips to the California beach that I didn't get too much sun! ;)

california: day 3

2012-02-15T16:41:00.000-08:00

On Monday, we met up with our Salisbury cousins at a nearby park. It was super chilly, especially for the Californians, but we made the best of it & even ate ice cream!

Tyler ate his in a tree. :P

Ronan, Finley, Cohen & Cedar

The whole group.

All of these people came from just 2 of my grandparents' children. My dad & his sister Connie each had 4 kids & between all of the spouses & grandchildren, we make a pretty huge group! But we're still missing Uncle Eugene & Uncle Tom's families. That would pretty amazing to see the entire group in one place. It's pretty unbelievable!

Girl cousins!

Adrienne, Heather, Becca, Gretchen & me

The eight of us!

Adrienne, Heather, Justin, Becca, Josh, Gretchen, Katrina & Erik

The third generation!

Sadie, Tate, McKenzie, Pauline, Alyssa, Chiara, Cedar, Jacob, Dante, Niko, Ronan, Luke, Griffin, Tyler, Finley, Jacob, & Cohen

(I think! Sheesh. I hope I didn't get anyone wrong. I almost didn't even try, but I did my best!) ;)

california: day 2 - the wedding

2012-02-15T16:28:00.000-08:00

Sunday, January 15th, we gathered at the Racho Cucamonga Community Center for Emily & Ryan's wedding.

Lincoln, Tyler & Finley, visiting before the ceremony.

Waiting for the ceremony to begin. It's hard to be patient when you are 2 & 5 years old. ;)

Under the palm trees.

Shaheen & Grandpa Stoerman

Shaheen & Aunt Nancy

Ryan, the groom!

Shaheen & Melissa

Ryan's cousin, escorting Kellie

Lincoln, the sign bearer.

Uncle Mike & Emily!

The kiss!

The whole family!

Steve, Kellie, Grandpa Stoerman, Ryan, Emily, Aunt Nancy, Uncle Mike, Grandma Barrett, Melissa, Lincoln, Shaheen & Dominic

The Ruddick family

The Chase family

The Henry family

The Hecht girls

At the Reception...

This picture cracks me up. Kenton looks quite concerned about the way Cedar is holding the butter knife. What a good dad. :P

Lovely centerpieces.

The first dance.

Cedar was totally committed to dancing the night away!

All the cousins got into dancing!

Especially when balloons were involved!

And check out the photo booth photos that Gretchen posted on her blog! We had a LOT of fun with the photo booth. :)

Cutting the cake.

The toast.

First born cousins, deep in conversation.

Cedar was so wiped out from dancing! But he made me hold him & "keep dancing!"

Finley was pretty worn out too!

It is rare that we have ALL of the Stoerman cousins together at one time. So we gathered, youngest to oldest, for a photo.

Eleanor, Hannah, Wyatt, Natasha, Emily, Kellie, Erik, Melissa, Katrina, Gretchen & Becca

Silly faces!

It looks like one of Gretchen's legs is my left leg. So funny! I love my family! :)

Congratulations to Emily & Ryan! Your wedding was lovely & we wish you a wonderful & happy marriage!

second cousins

2012-02-15T16:10:00.000-08:00

While in California, we stayed with my cousin, Melissa, & her husband, Shaheen. They have two boys: Lincoln (just 2 months older than Cedar) & Dominic (6 months).

Finley, cuddling Dominic & Shaheen. :P

Playing phone games with Lincoln!

Finley just loved playing with Dominic. He brought him toys to play with (more than he needed!), gave hugs & kisses; we nearly had to pry Finley off of little Dominic. It was very sweet. :)

But I certainly can't blame Finn. Dominic is such a cute & happy 6 month old! I could hardly stop myself from going nuts over him! ;)

Sweet cousins.

california: day 1

2012-02-15T16:00:00.001-08:00

On Friday, January 13th, our family drove through the night down to Southern California, for my cousin, Emily's, wedding! On Saturday, we met up with my sisters & their families, my parents, Erik & the Hickman family at In-N-Out for lunch!

Griffin, Finley & Ronan enjoying the warm (to us) California sun in front of the sign.

After lunch, the ladies spent the afternoon at the salon getting manicures & pedicures! :)

Aunt Nancy (mother of the bride) & Mom.

The Stoerman sisters.

Carol, Janice, Nancy & Robin

That evening, all the ladies got to go out to dinner & line dancing for Emily's bachelorette party!

Emily, the bride!

Gretchen & Natasha at dinner.

Me & Becca

The whole group.

(photo borrowed from Gretchen)

The group at Montana's, a country bar! :P This was definitely a first for me & my sisters, but it was super fun! I am very impressed with those that can remember which steps go with which songs. It is much more complicated than I expected! ;)

(photo borrowed from Gretchen)

welcome, baby matthew

2012-02-12T10:01:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday, January 11th, Matthew Harrison Gibson entered the world, weighing 8 lbs & measuring 20 inches long.

Matthew with his proud parents, Stephanie & Colin.

Such a sweet boy!

Amy & I drove to the hospital together to visit on the very day he was born!

Holding Matthew, just 4 hours old!

Malia met us too, along with Katie & Frank. Almost our whole Bible Study group, just missing the Dads; Jon, Justin & Kenton stayed home with the sleeping children so that Amy, Malia & I could visit. :) Thanks, Dads!

Waking up!

Katie & Matthew!

Katie is expecting her first child & is actually due any day now. :)

finley & alma

2012-02-12T09:52:00.000-08:00

My busy first born was very eager to hold Alma. He finally had the chance on this Sunday afternoon. I think she was just 5 days old...but I can't figure out when this photo was taken. Whoops!

Finley in Heaven. ;) He just loves babies. It's very sweet! And he was so happy to hold Alma & to get to cuddle into her. We love you, Alma!

alma at home

2012-01-07T10:16:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, my mom watched my boys so that I could hold Alma...& run some errands for the family. :)

This is my new favorite photo of this sweet little girl.

I suspect my new favorite photo will change with each visit, since she's changing so much every day.

I didn't get any awake time with her on this visit...

...but that is just fine by me! I'll take the cuddles of a sleepy newborn any day! :)

Love you, Alma dear!

welcome baby girl!

2012-01-06T18:40:00.000-08:00

After 50 hours of labor, baby girl, Alma West, was born! Carolyn was amazing & did everything she needed to do to bring this little girl into the world!

On January 3rd at 6:05 AM, she arrived, weighing 8 lbs even. I could hardly do anything to keep my mind off of her arrival once I learned that Carolyn was in labor. And I hardly slept at all the night before she was born, I was so excited & anxious to meet her! Plus, we didn't know if she was going to be a boy or a girl, so that was pretty exciting too!

Proud Dad!

We got him the shirt he's wearing; it says "#1 Dad"!

So sweet.

I went to the hospital as soon as I could & was able to hold her for at least an hour!

It was great! :)

She was pretty wiped out!

After Kenton got off work, we all went back to the hospital so that everyone could meet Alma.

Super Mom, Carolyn looked great! She's such a good mom already. Confident, comfortable, calm & patient. Nice work, Carolyn! :)

Stu & Jacque were there too! :)

Happy by her mama.

Finley loves babies! He had to be reminded more than a few time to give her some space & to stop touching her face! :P

Happy to meet Alma!

Sweet profile. :)

A little closer.

When I got to hold her, she woke up & gave me lots of sweet expressions to photograph!

Proud Auntie Katrina!

So awake!

More sweet faces.

Kenton had to ask for a turn...I wasn't giving her up for nothing! :P

I sometimes forget that Kenton likes babies too. Things definitely change after having a baby of your own. It's so fun to hold a tiny newborn again. :)

Hello there, sweet girl!

She definitely gave us some nice photo opportunities. :)

We love you so much, Alma West!

The boys were a bit busy, so we were finally able to relax after they got engaged in some phone games. :)

Thanks for letting us invade your room, Carolyn & Jesse! We just love your daughter! :)

new year's eve

2012-01-06T18:28:00.000-08:00

For New Year's Eve, we invited Carolyn, Jesse, Stu, Jacque & Brian over to play games.

Jesse & Carolyn get to be in black & white because the lighting was funky & I was sick of messing with the photo. But also because this was the last time we saw Carolyn pregnant! She happened to go into labor a few hours later!

Stu & Jacque's first New Year's Eve as a married couple!

Kenton & me!

Watching the ball drop on TV! Exciting stuff. :P

Cheers! Happy New Year!

We went out front to shoot off some fire works. We were not alone & our neighbors really showed us up. So much so that Finley woke up & wanted to see! He had such a hard time falling back to sleep that he was up until after 3 am! Yikes! Needless to say, we were tired the next day. But not as tired as Carolyn & Jesse...

hecht family portraits

2012-01-06T18:22:00.000-08:00

My parents' one request for Christmas was to get everyone together for a photo. We gathered together on December 26th at the church & had Erik & his girlfriend, Julia, take our portraits. :)

Papa & Memaw with their 8 grandchildren.

Tyler (11), Cedar (2), Finley (5), Tate (1), Ronan (7), Griffin (5), Sadie (8), & Cohen (6)

All 17 of us!

The Hecht siblings.

Becca, Gretchen, Erik & Katrina

The Chases

The Henrys

The Ruddicks

The men.

Aaron, Kenton, Roger (Papa), Erik, & Josh

Memaw & Papa

(Janice & Roger)

Tate is 12 months old!

The original 6 members of the Hecht family.

The photographers: Erik & Julia

(I took this photo!) :)

christmas afternoon

2012-01-06T11:48:00.000-08:00

We gathered at my parents' house just before noon for a brunch-type meal & gift giving.

We had way more food than we needed, but it was all so good!

The tree surrounded by mounds of gifts! We are such a big group when we're all together. 17?! :)

Memaw read the Christmas story to the grandkids while their parents dished up food.

Cuddles for Finley's oldest cousin, Tyler.

The Hecht girls.

The original Hecht family.

The grown ups have been drawing names for a few years now to limit how many people for whom we buy gifts. This year, I drew Gretchen's name.

Kenton drew Josh's name.

Josh drew my name.

And Becca drew Kenton's name! :)

Cedar got a cool knight outfit from Uncle Erik!

Rock & roll shirt for Ty to go with a Guitar Hero game we got for him. :)

Griffin opening the Dagedar's from us!

Awesome Star Wars toy from Ruddicks!

This year, I tried to make a few more gifts than years past. I made Griffin a set of felt fruit & a felt grocery bag to go with it. :)

Cute sweater for me from Ruddicks. :)

Gretchen helped the kids make a hand print tree for Memaw & Papa. :)

M&P opening a photo calendar from all of us!

Some of the kids showing off their cool stocking stuffers - wax lips! :P

christmas morning!

2012-01-06T09:57:00.000-08:00

This year, I decided to make fabric gift bags for our Christmas gifts.

They ended up making gift wrapping so much easier & the clean up was a breeze!

Not to mention, I think they're cute!

I had to quiz Kenton on what size gift bags he needed me to make for the gifts he was giving me.

Me: "Does it need to be bigger or smaller than a bread box?" Him: "What is a bread box anyway?!"

(Funny side note: I receive a bread box from my parents for Christmas!) :P

Cedar woke up first & was pretty ambivalent about the day.

Finn came running out of his room as soon as he woke up, so excited to see what Santa had brought! He was pretty fun to watch. :)

Ready for Christmas!

Cool remote control car for Finn!

I also made their jammie shirts using iron-on numbers that represent their ages. :)

New clothes for Mama.

Finn was a bit easier to photograph during gift opening. All of the photos I got of Cedar were a big blur. :P

Finn got a creepy bug maker from Santa!

When I asked him how Santa knew he wanted this gift, he responded "I told him on Papa's phone!" My Uncle Eugene plays Santa during the holidays & our kids got to tell him what they wanted for Christmas using FaceTime. Pretty lucky kids!

New game for Dad!

Finley was very excited to let Dad open his new games. He helped pick them out & is often the one begging to play games with Kenton. Two peas in a pod! :)

*****

Merry Christmas & happy birthday, Jesus!

We give Him thanks for all that we have & been given. Family, love, peace & most importantly, forgiveness.

merry christmas eve!

2012-01-06T09:36:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Christmas eve with Kenton's family. Out made a delicious ham dinner & we ate in the early afternoon.

After the meal, we opened gifts!

The best I could get from these excited boys!

Silly faces ended up being more successful!

Cedar totally got into opening gifts this year!

A new jacket from us to Uncle Brian. Looking good!

An early gift from me to my boys: homemade pajama pants!

Hot wheels!

Outi had some of our fall family portraits printed on a canvas for me.

Super excited Finley, opening his gift from Nanalee & Papa Lew! We love Blokus!

Mummi & Pappa's Santa got the memo that Finley wanted this lego set!

He couldn't stop staring longingly at his new legos!

Cedar was so thrilled to receive a new piano & microphone!

He loved hearing his voice amplified!

They look ready for the family band!

christmas eve morning

2012-01-06T09:27:00.000-08:00

Carolyn & Jesse visited on Christmas eve morning to deliver gifts & to take our annual tree hugging photo.

The boys each received super cool hats! Finn's is a monster.

Cedar's is an owl. We decided the owl hat was too small for Cedar, so we saved it for Carolyn & Jesse's baby-on-the-way. They traded it out for a cool lion hat a few days later. :)

Kenton & I received a homemade piece of art - the state of Oregon cut out of wood with "I <3 Eugene" painted where Eugene would be. We love it...just forgot to get a photo.

Thanks friends! You're the best!

Annual tradition.

Without flash.

It looks like the top of our tree is leaning. Maybe it is, at least from this angle. Oh, well. :P

With flash.

For more tree hugging related blog posts, see here, here, & here. The sad thing is that I was searching all over for the 2007 (the year I started blogging) tree hugging photo. It doesn't exist because Carolyn & Jesse were in Azerbaijan that year. Silly me. :P

This year, I came across the original (I believe) tree hugging photo. It isn't dated, but I think it's from Christmas of 1997! (Carolyn, correct me if I'm wrong.) :) I framed it & now have it displayed on our family room wall. It's amazing how meaningful a silly photo we took in high school has become. :)

a gingerbread house for santa

2012-01-06T09:02:00.000-08:00

One of my co-workers gave me a gingerbread house kit & Finley wanted to make it for Santa. I made the mistake of doing this without Kenton, which lead me to get frazzled a bit. But it turned out great & the kids only consumed about half of the candy! :P

I'm not too great with the frosting (hence the gingerbread man's toga), but the dripping frosting did made a cool icicle effect.

My favorite part is the already chewed gum on the right window. Cedar must have chewed on a gumball until it lost its flavor, the traded it out with some tastier candy. :P There's a partially consumed peppermint candy sliding down the door as well! Oh, how I would love to decorate a gingerbread house without the help of small children...but I know these are the days that I will miss the most! :P And besides, who cares about a gingerbread house when there are no small children around to enjoy them! ;)

bible study christmas party

2012-01-02T16:58:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, December 20th, our Bible Study group gathered at our house for a Chrismas party!

The kids decorated ice cream cones like Christmas trees. :)

Messy, but oh so tasty!

All done!

Finley bit the top right off! :P

While the kids watched the PeeWee Christmas special, the adults did a dollar store gift exchange!

Coolest gift of the night, by far! Stick on mustaches! Nothing says Merry Christmas better than a fake mustache. ;)

gcp christmas concert

2012-01-02T16:53:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, December 13th, Grace Community Preschool held their Christmas concert. Our friend, Ava, was in the first class. She's 2nd from the left. :) Great job, Ava!

Miss Janelle's class.

Hailey, Victoria, Gaby, Griffin, Macey, Bailey, Ethan, Xavier, Finley, Corey & Tayden

Finn's class did great & you could really tell that they're all getting ready for Kindergarten! Such big kids!

Jesse shared these photos that he captured with his fancy lens. :)

We could really hear Finley singing out!

Handsome boy. :)

His classmates, Corey & Tayden, aren't looking too bad, themselves! ;)

All of the grandkids were in one place, so Memaw & Papa requested a photo with them all!

christmas concert & gingerbread houses

2012-01-02T16:48:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, December 11th, the Green family watched out kids so that we could go to a Christmas concert with Kenton's family & my parents.

Members of the audience were invited to come up & sing the last song before intermission. My parents are up there near the top right! So brave! ;)

My mom, Outi, Brian & Kenton

After the concert, we ate dinner with the Greens before heading over to the church for the annual Family Gingerbread House Night!

Mouths full of candy!

Our gingerbread "lighthouse". :P

The Ruddicks planned their design very carefully & won first place in their category! :)

Justin with frosting hands & Genevieve in the front pack!

Macey, Amy & Emma

Helping Tate eat some graham crackers.

Awesome igloo!

The Ruddick's finished gingerbread house.

We won 2nd place for Most Creative! :)

stephanie's baby shower

2012-01-02T16:41:00.000-08:00

All the ladies in our Bible Study group teamed up to throw a Disney inspired baby shower for Stephanie on December 7th.

Amy made cute Mickey cupcakes.

Stephanie collects Disney snow globes & is decorating their baby's room in a Disney theme.

Two pregnant ladies in our Bible Study group right now. Stephanie is pregnant with a little boy & due January 6th & Katie is due in February.

The ladies!

Katrina, Amy, Stephanie, Katie & Malia

We had a lot of fun & there was a great turn out to celebrate this new little one!

merry christmas

2011-12-25T18:35:00.001-08:00

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

2011-12-24T09:20:00.000-08:00

We kicked off the morning of December 1st with opening the first box from our Playmobil Advent Calendar. I think next year, I would like to have two advent calendars so the boys don't fight over whose turn it is to open the box. This was the first year that it was a bit of a struggle. Plus, I like counting down the days & advent calendars are SUPER fun! ;)

On Saturday, December 3rd (after lovely pedicures & lunch with my friends, Carolyn & Jacque), Kenton & I took our boys to pick out our Christmas tree!

Finley wanted me to smell the needles.

That's the one!

Me & my boys.

At home, I put lights on the tree while Kenton strung lights on the house outside.

Two little elves helped me put the ornaments on the tree. We got a tiny tree to put in Finley's room & all the handmade ornaments were saved for that tree. :)

All done! Oh so lovely!

Out of focus. :)

Around the house...

This year, I displayed my pregnant Willow Tree figure as Mary & am waiting until Christmas morning to bring out Mary with baby Jesus. :)

Stockings.

The only Santa I have in my Christmas decorations. I'm not really into decorating with Santa, but I particularly like this one's style. ;)

Inspired by Pottery barn.

I pulled together some of our tree branches & our neighbor's holly tree branches to make a swag.

Artificial wreath for the door.

Kevin & Outi were getting rid of a couple of boxes of artificial greenery & lights. So I decorated our chickens' home! I should have decorated their cedar tree too. Oh well...next year! :P

Finley wanted me to take his picture one night, when I was playing around with the camera settings. I told him he had to stand VERY still & he did! Nice one, Finn!

Oh man, oh man! Christmas is tomorrow! I just can't wait! I'm so excited to celebrate the birth of Jesus with my loves. :)

fall family photos

2011-12-23T17:15:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, November 26th, we had my brother, Erik, take our family portraits. They turned out great! See for yourself!

I took some photos of the boys playing on the playground afterward, but they look so washed out & flat compared to Erik's photos. I couldn't stand to share them on the same blog post. :P Thanks for the great photos, Erik! We've received SO many compliments! :)

hecht family thanksgiving

2011-12-23T17:14:00.000-08:00

On Friday evening, we celebrated Thanksgiving at my parent's house.

Everyone contributes different parts of the meal & it's always so fun to taste the yummy food! :)

Memaw & her lovely turkey.

I made a pumpkin pie from scratch for the 3rd year in a row. I really like the recipe...I just wish I could keep it from cracking. Still tasted great!

Good food, wonderful company, great conversation.

Sleepy Grandpa & Uncle Truls, who had just arrived from Portland via train!

The boys & their games. ;)

griffin's 5th birthday

2011-12-23T11:56:00.000-08:00

On the day after Thanksgiving, we celebrated Griffin's birthday at our church. Griffin requested an Angry Birds party & his parents made it happen!

Josh built an enormous structure with targets to shoot for...

...with a home made slingshot! Incredible!

They also rented a bounce castle that was super fun. I tried it. I did a flip. I'm pretty proud of myself. ;)

Taking turns with the slingshot!

It was fun for kids of all ages! :P

Birthday boy with his awesome cake, decorated by Gretchen.

Silly Cedar & Sadie.

My Aunt Robin, cousin Elle, & Grandpa Stoerman were able to come to Griffin's party too! Grandpa was up from Southern California to celebrate Thanksgiving with Aunt Robin's family & they all ended up in Eugene to cheer on Hannah & Elle's football team's State Game against Sheldon (the school we all went to & that's across the street from my parent's house). Make sense?! ;) Also, Erik was in town too! So we were able to get a quick photo with most of our family members. :P

My boys with their Great Grandpa Stoerman!

Finally, the birthday looked a bit dazed while he opened his gifts...not too sure about having an audience?! But he got LOTS of cool gifts!

Happy Birthday, Griffin! What an amazing party! Thanks for inviting us. :)

thanksgiving day

2011-12-23T11:35:00.000-08:00

We celebrated on Thanksgiving day at Kenton's parent's house.

Silly faces!

Beautiful table!

Outi & Kenton

The boys had a blast because they had both sets of grandparents doting on them! ;) My dad was supposed to work that day, but ended up not being needed at the hospital. So they joined the Henry family celebration.

The spread.

I made Marylee's Sweet Potato Casserole...

...some Parker House Rolls from an Everyday Food magazine...

...& a green salad.

Happy Finley, with his own glass of sparkling cranberry cider!

Sneaky Cedar...probably trying to get something just out of reach. ;)

More silly faces!

Cedar was already in a pajama shirt after covering his nice shirt with cranberry sauce!

Kenton & me!

Such cute details.

After dinner, we played Wits & Wagers.

The boys played their own phone games on Mummi & Pappa's iPhones. :P

I think Kevin won the game, but everyone enjoyed playing! What a fun & delicious evening!

swimming lessons

2011-12-23T11:33:00.000-08:00

One of Finley's gifts from Mummi & Pappa was 5 weeks of swimming lessons. They picked him & took him to his lessons, twice a week. He was super nervous & not at all excited for his first lesson. But he had a blast & has enjoyed it ever since!

Mummi & Pappa had a busy evening on this particular day, so we got to take Finn & see him in action!

He sure loves playing with his teacher, Rachel. :)

There are usually 4 kids in his class, but on this day there was only one other little girl. So Finley got lots of attention! :)

Cedar was a good sport for the most part, but definitely required some extra distraction from the pool, via games on Dad's phone. :)

All done & shivering!

What a goof!

Thanks for the swimming lessons, Mummi & Pappa! Finley loved them!

ethan & macey's 5th birthday

2011-12-23T11:28:00.000-08:00

On November 13th, we celebrated Ethan & Macey's birthday at Chuck E Cheese! What a fun weekend! Macey requested this awesome castle cake & Ethan wanted cupcakes. Nice work, Amy!

My boys were so excited to go to Chuck E Cheese. They love to play the games & earn tickets!

Jon with Ethan, Macey & Finley.

Enjoying some Nerds that they bought with their tickets.

Birthday boy Ethan!

Happy Cedar!

Birthday girl Macey!

Cake/cupcake time!

Superman gift bag with a "Super Ethan" card. :)

Macey wasn't feeling very well by this point, so Dad & Gramma Charlotte helped her open her gifts.

Superhero dress up clothes, sword & shield from us. :)

Happy birthday, Ethan & Macey! We love you guys!

tate turns 1

2011-12-23T11:22:00.000-08:00

On November 12th, Tate turned 1 year old! Josh made a huge balloon arrangement that hung from the ceiling of their living room. Everyone was quite impressed!

The birthday boy with his family.

They also hooked up a bubble machine on their fireplace ledge & the kids loved playing in the bubbles!

Present time!

We got Tate a Nike track suit & a Moomintroll counting book (a Finnish series).

Tate cuddled his new Corduroy bear.

Gretchen did a great job with Tate's balloon cake & cake pops!

Sweet birthday boy.

I couldn't decide on which photo I liked better. ;)

autumn neighborhood

2011-12-23T11:13:00.001-08:00

Just wanted to share some photos of our home & neighborhood, while it was in full autumn color.

birthday #5: part 2

2011-11-20T20:58:00.001-08:00

Finley & Cohen chose a gymnastics birthday party at Gymnastics Northwest.

They started the party with an obstacle course.

Most of the activities ended in the kids having their own free-for-alls. :P

They played parachute games.

Cat & mouse.

Sharks & lifeguards. Lifeguard Sadie is saving Kenton from a shark.

Shark Tyler was trying to pull me under! :P

They birthday boys also got to be twisted up in the parachutes & then quickly spun around as everyone pulled it back in place. :)

Making balls float in the air!

Finley & Cohen had lots of family & friends at their party!

Biggest cousins with the littlest cousin.

Finley was excited that Casey, his old teacher, was one of the helpers at his party.

The birthday boys got a special surprise from Gymnastics Northwest. They each got to take a turn in the bungee harnesses.

Cohen on one side.

Finley on the other!

Finn had no idea what was about to happen & was pretty freaked out at first. He still tells us that it was too scary, but he was smiling & laughing the whole time. :)

They pulled the boys back & shot them at each other, like they were in a sling-shot!

It looked so crazy; I'm still shocked that they didn't even hit each other or the walls. :P

Great Phineas & Ferb ice cream cake, by Becca!

Thirsty boys.

Make a wish!

Happy Finn!

Griffin.

Sadie & Ethan.

Emma.

Cedar, Kenton, Stephanie & Prescott (our neighbor friends).

Cedar likes ice cream cake!

What a great turn out for two very special boys!

Time to open gifts!

Legos from us.

Giant Bakugan from the Ruddicks!

Finn had such a great time at his party & was so excited to play with all of his new toys! Thanks to all for helping making my son's birthday so wonderful! I think he's pretty great & I loved getting to watch him have a day filled with things that he loves with people that he loves. There's no greater joy! :)

birthday #5: part 1

2011-11-20T20:49:00.001-08:00

All decorated & ready for Finley's fifth birthday! How can he be 5 already?! So weird...

Kenton did his traditional hallway decorating, but went easy on me since I still had some loads of gifts to transfer from our room to the living room. I wasn't feeling up for crawling on my hands & knees with gifts. :P

It was all Finn could do to keep himself from opening gifts before we were ready! Isn't he handsome. :)

Cedar had a front & center seat so he could catch all the action!

Legos from Dad!

After church & a quick lunch at Memaw & Papa's house, all the kids took turns with a Perry the Platypus pinata (created by Memaw)!

The birthday boys!

Cohen turned 6 the very next day & we were all about to head to their joint birthday party (photos to come).

Cedar's turn.

Ronan.

Sadie.

Scrambling for candy! :)

two and a half

2011-11-12T20:24:00.001-08:00

November 1st was Cedar's half birthday!

I wanted to make something for Cedar so I followed a Slime recipe (found here).

Cedar also got a set of glow-in-the-dark dinosaur bones! Big stuff for a half-birthday! ;)

Finn was excited to play with Cedar's slime!

Cedar liked it too.

He had just gotten up from his nap, so he was still a bit sleepy.

Cedar's getting so big, but having a big brother around keeps him looking so little to us. Look at those pudgey cheeks!

And sweet toddler hands. :)

We love you, Cedar T!

halloween

2011-11-09T14:35:00.000-08:00

On Halloween, the teachers always dress up for class! This year, Jacque made an awesome "Corgi" skirt & Stu was Perry the Platypus. :)

We forgot to get a group shot before Stu left, so here we are without him.

Dorise, Jacque, Tamy, Angie M, Becca & me (I'm dressed as a preschooler) ;)

That evening, we took the kids trick or treating at our friends' & families' homes.

At Mummi & Pappa's house.

Sadie suggested I add a backpack to my costume to be an authentic preschooler. Good idea! :)

Next was Stu & Jacque's house.

Barney was dressed as a hot dog & was quite nervous about Finn's sword & shield. :P

We trick or treated at Carolyn & Jesse's home.

We took a break at Memaw & Papa's house & ate a quick hot dog dinner.

Sadie was dressed as Smurfette, Cohen was a vampire & Tyler was an Enderman from a game called Minecraft.

The almost birthday boys.

I wanted to take a picture for their party invitation. :P

Samurai Ronan & Dracula Griffin

Adorable Rooster Tate! :P

After dinner, we went out with the Ruddick family to trick or treat some more. We got WAY more candy than we needed & have been trying to share with anyone & everyone that comes over. :)

Happy Halloween!

a shower for carolyn

2011-11-08T15:44:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, October 29th, Jacque & I hosted a shower for Carolyn & her step-mom, Deena's house. We had a lot of fun making decorations for the special event & coming up with fun games!

Jacque made the wreath above & I made the "Welcome Baby" banner.

A mix of tie-dyed onesies for the baby & some of my boys' old baby clothes for the clothes line.

Jacque made ruffled streamers & a chart for guests to guess the birth-date & gender of the new baby.

Some dot garland (I got the idea from here) & more ruffled streamers.

We asked guests to write down their "wishes for baby" to give to Carolyn. You can find the free printable here.

The guest of honor & her husband:

Carolyn & Jesse.

Carolyn's mother-in-law, Maureen, & step-mom, Deena, setting up the food. Deena made all of the food, with help from Maureen & Carolyn's mom, Debbie. It was nice to share the jobs! :)

Guests.

Gifts.

Carolyn's college roomies, Mandy with baby Ava & Annie, traveled from Washington & California to be at the shower!

Opening gifts.

Jacque, Carolyn & me

I followed this tutorial to make fabric alphabet refrigerator magnets for baby Williams to play with (or drool on for awhile). ;)

Photo by Jesse

Close up.

Photo by Jesse

fall concert

2011-11-08T15:20:00.000-08:00

Finley did such a great job singing out at the Grace Community Preschool Fall Concert!

He is in the Pre-kindergarten class & I couldn't believe how much bigger they seemed than the younger classes. Except for the little girl next to Finn - she's tiny! ;)

Miss Janelle & Finley

A quick video for those who couldn't be there. :)

barn party

2011-11-08T14:37:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, October 22nd, we all got dressed up & went to our church's annual Barn Party!

Dracula-Griffin, Knight-Finley, Samurai-Ronan

One of the highlights of this event is to ride the school bus out to the party!

Superman-Cedar

He still talks about riding the school bus to the Barn Party. :)

James Bond-Josh, Astrid-Gretchen (from How to Train Your Dragon), Dragon-Tate

Our family

The Green kids

Playing darts - Finn hit two balloons with the darts!

Up in the hay loft.

Hermione-Stephanie :)

Face painting

Shooting star!

Cedar could hardly wait for his turn.

He chose a monster! :)

Such fun! We love the Barn Party! :)

papa's birthday

2011-11-07T20:07:00.000-08:00

We started Papa's birthday celebration at Oakshire Brewing, where he had teamed up with a band called Dirty Spoon to make some music.

The boys enjoyed checking out the band & Cedar really got into grooving to the music!

There's our Papa! On the harmonica! :)

Afterwards, we met at their house for dessert & presents.

A new harmonica from the Chases & us!

Making more music for Tate & Cedar.

Always plenty of helpers around when it comes to tricky things like opening gifts or blowing out candles. ;)

Happy birthday, Papa! And great job playing your harmonica! We love you. :)

apple daze

2011-11-07T19:02:00.000-08:00

We were so excited that we didn't miss Detering Orchard's Apple Daze celebration. We didn't have time on the first Saturday in October but, luckily, Apple Daze happens every weekend in October! So we made it on the second Saturday. :)

Our kids are always entertained by the hay maze!

They loved the free balloons too!

It has become a tradition to go to Apple Daze with Carolyn & Jesse! What's not to love about free apple cider, apple crisp, hay rides through the orchard, pumpkins for the kids & balloons too!

We were thankful for the cloudy, cool, DRY weather. :)

On the hay ride.

The ride was extra long this year! They drove through all the orchards & gardens. It was great!

Our family.

Silly boy!

Almost our whole family! Sorry Cedar. :P

oregon coast overnighter

2011-11-05T11:21:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, September 24th, we squeezed in one more "summer vacation", even though it was officially Autumn.

We drove to Newport for lunch at Mo's.

The blonde side of the table.

(Kenton counts cause he used to have blond hair) ;)

The brown haired side of the table. :P

After lunch, we went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium.

We had bought tickets for our families from Living Social & were running out of time to use them before the expiration date.

Apparently, we were not the only families that had waited until the second to last weekend to use our tickets because it was packed!

We still felt like we got to see everything we wanted to see & didn't let the crowds ruin our visit. :)

Passages of the Deep

Jesse took a photo of Finn doing this same thing at the same age.

(Photo by Jesse)

Finn's reflection kind of freaks me out. It looks like a 16-year-old version of himself. It actually looks like my brother, Erik. I'm not ready for my almost-5-year-old to look so grown up! :\

Everyone but me pictured here, in the reflection. :)

Deep sea diver Finn!

And Cedar, with shark teeth! :P

Shark family!

Our boys with Jesse, Carolyn & baby

The jelly fish always photograph beautifully at the aquarium!

Finley

Cedar & Kenton

Wing span of a two year old compared to that of the great horned owl. :)

Submarine Cedar

And Finn!

After the aquarium, we drove down to the beach.

It was beautifully sunny but oh, so windy!

I dumped out the sand toys & they all started blowing away in the wind.

We had to weigh down the buckets with sand, if we wanted to leave them on the ground.

The boys had a lot of fun digging & running from the water.

We all got worn out fast from the wind & we didn't all escape unharmed as we walked back to our cars. Finn got sand in his eyes when we were walking over the dry sand. :( He declared that he never wanted to go to the beach again. Hopefully he'll forget about that eventually. :\

After a napless day for Cedar & lots of activity, I thought these two would go right to sleep. But it was just a little too exciting for Cedar to be sleeping in a big boy bed with Finley. We had to put Cedar back to bed many times & were up in the middle of the night several times too to help our youngest. But I suppose they did pretty well, considering they were sleeping in the same bed for the first time. :)

Breakfast at the Green Salmon on Sunday morning.

Photo by Jesse

Finn looks pretty grown up to me.

Photo by Jesse

Jesse & Carolyn

Hungry boys!

Back at the beach house. It was super stormy the night before & the wind was still blowing strong this morning.

The wind-blown Henry family

Self portrait. :)

Our group photo.

We managed to fit in some board games after bed time & while the boys watched a movie.

Reading books with Carolyn.

Building Duplos with Cedar.

We feel pretty lucky that we got to visit this beach house two times this year! Last time was with Stu & Jacque, without our kids, which was pretty special. But this time, it was fun to share the experiences with our kids. Also, Stu & Jacque were on their honeymoon in Europe, so we knew they were having a great time without us! ;)

tot soccer

2011-11-05T10:07:00.000-07:00

For 4 weeks in September & October, Finn & Griffin got to participate in Tot Soccer!

Finn seemed to enjoy himself & really liked it when he noticed us watching him. :)

Finn & Griffin missed out on getting shirts on the first day, due to some confusion. But they got shirts the second day.

Diving for the ball.

Go Griffin go!

Kicking towards the goal!

Oops! Kind of over shot that one. ;)

At the end of each session, the parents make a tunnel for the kids to run through. Here's Griffin!

There's Finn!

(I was taking the photos without looking through the view finder & didn't realize my lens was zoomed in. Just glad I got their faces.) :P

jacque & stu's wedding

2011-11-04T18:10:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, September 17th, we attended Stu & Jacque's lovely wedding at the stunning Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.

Carolyn, Jesse & baby Pat

(They don't know the gender of their baby, so "it" has been nicknamed until we know for certain) :P

The ceremony was in the courtyard.

String quartet (or trio? I can't remember)

All dressed up!

Kenton & Brian

Quite the handsome fellow, if I do say so myself. ;)

Our view of the other side.

Mandatory self portrait. :)

Noah (the best man) escorting Jacque's mom.

Stu & his mom.

Megan, Stu's sister

Tyler, the maid of honor

Stu's parents

The beautiful bride!

Such a pretty dress.

Stu's parents are smiling SO big as Jacque walks down with her step-dad.

The cute couple!

Their vows were Dr. Seuss inspired. It was perfect.

The kiss!

Hooray!

Mr. & Mrs. Goss!

Dr. Seuss inspired seating chart.

We sat at The Cat In The Hat table.

Handsome Henry boys

Pretty centerpiece. We got to take it home! :)

The grand entrance!

Father/Daughter dance.

Mother/Son Dance

The toasts.

Our friends. :)

Their cake topper groom was sitting in front of a tv with a video game controller & a remote control in each hand. The bride doesn't look too happy either. :P

The courtyard after dark.

Lights in the bamboo

(Photo by Jesse)

Thanks for a great night Stu & Jacque! It was a beautiful wedding & we had tons of fun at the reception! :)