Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers out there!  I know my children are very fortunate to have two wonderful grandmother's and two great-grandmother's!  Grandmom Ranalli is out here visiting in Portland and was able to spend Mother's Day with us this year. My mom and all of the mother figures in my life, including my mother in-law, grandmother's, aunts and friends certainly have shaped who I am as a person and I know that it will also shape the character of my children.

 

Spending a beautiful Mother's Day in Portland today!

We love you Mom-Mom!

We love you Mimi!

We love you GG (Great-Gram)

We love you Great-Grandmom DD!

As a mother now myself, the greatest gift of all is seeing my two boys love each other!  Being a mom is the greatest thing in the world!

                       

Oregon

It's been nearly three months since we moved to Portland and we have been having lots of fun discovering Oregon!  From the coast to the desert, we have been keeping busy in this beautiful state.  I went thru our cell phones today and weeded out the best pictures of our latest adventures.

 Today, at the Portland Japanese Gardens

"Look Christian, a koi fish."

 Construction zone in our backyard!

Construction zone in the garage!

Spring skiing with Daddy in Mt. Hood

Chris and I skiing/riding Mt. Bachelor near Bend, Oregon for his birthday weekend.

Chris and his good buddy Marc fishing on the Deschuttes River during Chris' birthday weekend in Bend, Oregon.  

Pop-Pop and boys at the World Forestry Center in Portland

Christian and his buddies at the Forestry Center

Nicholas learning what great hearing bats have! 

Climbing at the Portland Children's Museum

 One of Nicholas' favorite spots in Portland, Voodoo Doughnut.

Waiting to take the street car to the Farmers market.

On our way!

Special date day with Nicholas to sushi and a show at the Portland Children's Theater

What did we see?  One of Nicholas' favorite book's, Richard Scary's "Busytown."  Nicholas above pictured with Lowly worm.

Earth Day hike, right down the street from our house in Forest Park.

Fishing!

Like Daddy, like sons.  They have gone fishing two weekends in a row now.

Cannon Beach, Oregon at Haystack Rock.  Recognize it?  It was on the final scene of the movie Goonies as the ship sets sail.

Nicholas and Mimi

Best Friends

Sand dunes 

  Nature Boy!

 More adventures to come, I'm sure!  Hopefully, some with those of you who read this blog.  Greetings from cold, rainy, snowy, sunny, warm, beautiful Oregon!

Easter ~ 2012

Both boys enjoyed their visit with the Easter bunny this year.  Christian wanted to touch him and give him high fives, Nicholas wanted to put his arm around him!

We had a very fun Easter and enjoyed some beautiful weather too! This was the first Easter Christian actively participated in the Easter egg hunt.  I think he enjoyed opening and shutting the eggs as much as he enjoyed finding them!  We have graduated from eggs with cheerios and craisens to eggs with peanut m&m's, gummy fruit bunnies, and craisins.  Needless to say the boys favorites were not the craisin eggs this year!

Easter Egg dying with Mimi the day before Easter while Chris and I got to go skiing!

 Christian showing his dyed Easter egg to Mimi.

And Nicholas' egg.  Nicholas loved the experience and left the table with dyed fingers.  Christian on the other hand, cringed at the mere thought of touching the water to dip the egg.  He had no problem dumping it out though and when Mimi went to change his diaper his but was dyed orange from sitting in the cups he dumped out!

Easter Morning

 "The Easter Bunny came!  Can I have candy for breakfast?"  Yes, they did!

   

 "Look what the Easter bunny brought us!"

 Bunny cave!

 "What's inside?"

"More eggs! 

Our attempted family shot!

 And with Mimi!

"Look, more eggs!"

 Stuffing himself with fruit bunnies.

 Nicholas hoping for an m&m!

 The boys checking out their stash!

 The Easter bunny left side walk chalk too!

Nicholas practicing drawing his suns.

Hopscotch with Dad!

Last week was full of special treats! Another pineapple upside down on the 5th to celebrate Chris' birthday. While this happens to be Chris' favorite cake, the boys wished that it was chocolate!   They may not have liked the cake but the boys love their daddy, and who wouldn't?  He is simply the best! 

We hope everyone had an Easter full of joy!

My Baby is TWO!

 Christian has lit up our lives from the moment he came into the world two years ago.  I like to say he wears his heart on his sleeve. He is such a happy little lover and starts every morning kissing and hugging all of the animal friends he sleeps with (which is up to about 8!) and he knows if one is missing! He still loves trash trucks, trash cans and I would definitely say a "hobby" of his is helping me throw trash away-such a good helper!  He is also very into puzzles and legos.  He is a little dare devil and my little wild child, but also such a super sweet and kind little boy.  He spends much of his day laughing, but boy, when he is feeling off you will sure know it!  It's on these days I refer to my sweet boy as "Cranky Christian" We are so lucky our Seattle friends, along with Pop-pop and Mom-mom, were able to come help us celebrate Christian!

Christian is so FULL of life!

 His smile is contagious!

 We had a fun music celebration for Christian's birthday.  The kids really enjoyed it!

 The "bigger" kids making music together!

 The boys and I enjoying the music! 

 Pizza time!

 One of Christian's first words was "Brayden!" (Along with trash can!)  Here he is pictured with the infamous Brayden.

 Christian loved all of the attention at his party!

 And clearly loved the cupcakes too!

 Too cute, his "Sha-sha!" (Charlotte)

 Birthday morning, happy with all of his new toys!

 Sharing a laugh with Pop-pop

Out to dinner, sharing a birthday sundae with his brother.