Hungry Hungry Hippo Love

For Christmas we got Ellie the game Hungry Hungry Hippos - little did we know how much she would immediately love it! We've played it all but one day since Christmas Eve. I love how she gets so excited once someone gets the yellow ball and completely stops playing to cheer.

Matt and Brittany came on Wednesday night to hang out with us for a day or so and we got some more good game time in!

Merry Christmas

Like every year, we had a great Christmas with family! I'd even say that each year becomes more and more special as Ellie discovers the magic of Christmas.

You'll remember from her letter to Santa that she requested a red toy vaccuum - and clearly she was excited to have gotten what she requested.



Our Christmas with the Haight fam was crazy this year, but we can already imagine what it will be like next year once Ryan and Jackson are both mobile! The kids had a great time playing dress up in all their fun gear!

Ellie got a WSU cheerleader outfit from Nana and Pop Pop and the boys got WSU warm ups, but also got some full Seahawk uniforms! They were just too cute together!

 

Ryan got this fun little motocycle walker that plays music when it moves. He's gotten lots of use out of it already! He's soo close to being mobile upright!

 

Carter looked so handsome in his western wear from Nick Nick.

 

Nick Nick wanted some union johns for Christmas - what a funny boy. He and Ryan looked like quite the pair in their red jammies!

 

Our Christmas at the Fisher fam was quite relaxing. The kids let us sleep in til 7:30 (yes that is sleeping in). We did stockings in the morning, got showered and dressed to do packages under the tree.

 

 

Auntie Jenn got the kids a bunch of books for Christmas - we found a clear winner for Ellie's new favorite! Minnie Seek and Find.

 

This little man loves his new rocking horse from Uncle John John. Note how cute my boys are in their coordinating shirts!

The kids love their new Power Wheel from Nana and Papa! At first Ellie was scared to drive in it - probably because it was a little bumpy in the gravel up front. But once daddy 'rode' with her she was all smiles!

 

On Christmas day we went to spend the afternoon with the Beierman clan! Great photos beforehand at Nana and Pop Pops!

 

 

Go Chiefs Go!

Just prior to Christmas the entire Haight clan, sans Nick, came to Spokane to watch the Chiefs play hockey. This was the first hockey game for a lot of people in the group - Kyle (Ashley's boyfriend, Jackson, Carter and Case! Everyone had a great time despite the slow game and that the Chiefs lost in the end. But it was fun to see the Teddy Bear Toss once they finally scored. And apparently Case and Carter had a blast because they have been playing "hockey" at home for the past two weeks, beating toys, balls, etc around the house with guns, empty wrapping paper rolls, etc. :)

Baby Shower for Baby Baker

One of my best friends, Jennifer and her husband Kirk are expecting a little boy in January! Thanksgiving weekend we got to shower Jenn and help them get ready for baby's arrival. They are doing the nursery in vintage airplanes so we kept the theme of the shower the same so she could use some of the props I bought.

 

Each guest got to take away a little gift - an airplan shot.

 

These are little clouds that each guest wrote something special for mama or baby on. I have these from each of my showers for the kids and I've kept them with their baby books.

 

 

This is Ryan and Jenn's niece Kenzlie! They were double trouble together!

 

This pic should look familiar - this is the third enstallment of photos like this! The other two were me preggo with each of the kids. In the first one each girl had a balloon up their shirt and in the second one Jess and Kristin were preggo too and only Jenn had a balloon up her shirt. She said it was finally her turn to not need a balloon!

Ryan is 9 months!

Getting bigger and bigger each month...I'm a bit late on this post, but I also wanted to include his 9 month stats from his doctors appointment which was today!

Weight: 20 lbs 11 oz (50%)
Height: 30 inches (92%)
Head Circumference: 18 inches (60%)

Since his 6 month check up he's gained about 2.5 lbs and grown 1.5 inches. His head has stayed close to the same size so his proportions are evening out.

He's a mover - he is mobile, but not crawling. He's decided to pull an "Ellie" and be a butt scooter...he's got his own style though. It's hilarious. He can also pull himself up on furniture, walls, just about anything. At daycare, he's attempting to climb stairs - yes that's right stairs people. WHERE IS MY BABY?! Doc says he'll be walking early.

He just got his first tooth yesterday! Bottom left one finally came in. Hopefully he'll get the rest real quick like - good for us, but maybe painful for him. This kid loves food and his lack of teeth has not stopped him from eating. He's eating some soft solids and does such a great job of gumming them until he can swallow them.

He also learned to sit up from his back/belly on his own. Thanks to Nana spending some time over Thanksgiving with him! Its almost impossible to change his diaper any more! :)

Someone was super fussy-buns when I took this picture, but at least we got it captured!

Advent Activity Calendar

For Christmas this year I decided to do an advent calendar for Ellie. I remember doing these as a kid, but usually they were filled with chocolate. This idea I found on Pinterest (of course)! Its an activity based advent calendar. Perfect for a toddler who doesn't need candy and loves to spend time doing stuff with her mommy and daddy.

Immediately she was pretty interested in it. But now, every night when we get home, she asks "Can we do this (pointing at the advent calendar since she can't remember what its called)?"

24 days: Cut a Christmas Tree - we went out to Greenbluff and cut our very own Christmas tree from Deitz Farm.

23 days: Decorate the Christmas Tree - Ellie had fun on this one, but didn't keep her interest the entire time.

22 days: Write a letter to Santa - This would have been pretty hard for a 3 year old who doesn't have a strong grasp on writing letters - but I found a super cute form letter from Martha Stewart on Pinterest. She answered all these questions herself (even knew where we lived - Spokane). I had to help her with the house part and provide her with the names of reindeer (she picked the last one I said). I think the sweetest thing of all is that when I originally asked her what she wanted for Christmas most of all, her response was "Ryan wants a puzzle because..."

21 days: Wrap Christmas presents - we pulled out the gifts for her cousins and she got to pick the wrapping paper for each boy and then helped us cut and tape the paper. She then placed them all under the tree.

More activities and pictures to come.

Apple Cup

We love our Cougs, even when the season has been.... well terrible. But a season like this can be saved by one victory - an Apple Cup victory! This year Apple Cup was the Friday after Thanksgiving, which was a bit weird. But we were excited none the less. Our trip started, sans kids, but with Jared's dad and brother and our friends Joel and Cailin, from Spokane on a charter bus courtsey of Jared's work. There was tons of breakfast and mimosas, beer, hard alcohol...you name it it was there for an 8 am bus ride. We got VIP passes to a lunch buffet with sausages, pulled pork, chili and all the booze you could think of. Then we watched the game from the seats that came with this setup - probably about the same as our season tickets, maybe a bit closer to the 50 yard line on the other side of the field. A victory and a bus ride home with pizzas and more booze (if you could handle any more). Then I drove us back to Moses Lake to pick up the kids and throw a baby shower the next day! What a crazy weekend - but well worth it!