More Snow and Portrait Pictures of the Boys

We woke up this morning to this again

All I can say is, seriously??? We don't live in Utah or back East!!!  Apparently we just have bad luck with the weather here...... my first winter in Oregon a record was set in Eugene for the most days of consecutive rain- it was like 40 something straight days of rain, no joke.  This is my first winter in Portland and already there have been new records by far for the most snow days they have ever had in one year and the most snow ever at one time (back in December when we almost weren't able to make it out of our place for Christmas and we had that horrible driving experience getting out of town).  When is spring coming?! It looks like we need to make a trip to So Cal cuz we are tired of freezing our buns off.  We will most definitely be staying in today to sit in front of the warm fire.

Besides that, we got back the portrait pictures we had taken of the boys yesterday!  And they actually turned out great because Jackson was in a great mood when we took them and decided that he would actually cooperate! Normally he hates taking pictures, but they photographer was great with him and Jackson was totally into it! So with that said, here are my favorites!

Baron's Blessing Pictures:

Jackson's 2 year old pictures:

Pictures of the Boys together:

Love these 2

Just thought I'd post some cute pictures I took the other night because I really like them, and I know my family always loves to see pictures of the boys.  I am looking forward to next Wednesday when I get back the professional pictures of them we had taken last week.... they turned out really good and I will post them when we get them! 

And while the boys and I have fun hanging out, poor John continues to study away for the CPA.... 2 sections left! 

Nike Campus

Here are some of the pictures we got from the Nike Campus when we walked around it with our family who was in town for the blessing.  It really is a neat place and much better and more exciting in person of course.  For some reason I couldn't get some of the pictures to post bigger, so sorry if you can't see them too well.  Thanks Dad for emailing me the pictures! 

Colby and Jackson with the Michael Johnson and his gold shoes statue

this sign was up on the outdoor basketball courts

can't see this one too well, but its a sign saying which direction all the centers are- they are all named after super famous athletes in all different sports

And here's a couple more pictures from the weekend that my dad had

For Uncle Colby

This one's for you Colby.  Jackson wanted to show you how much he loved your Valentine's Day present.  And if these videos are too crude for anyone...... you must not live with all boys :)

The Day of Love

This Valentine's Day, there are many things that I love, but mostly, I am in love with these 3:

Here are just a few of the things that I love about each one of my boys:

Baron

-I love his cute little smile and that he loves to smile all the time.

-I love that he is my cute little Tank, Baby Bear, and my little tub of chub.  Cute little arm and leg roles and chubby checks..... I love it all! 

-I love that even though he is sick and can't breath too well right now, he still slept 8 hours through the night! Him and I both just love our sleep.

-I love that he actually likes his car seat and usually goes right to sleep once we start driving.

-I love that he can fart louder than any of us.  Seriously, it's a crack up, especially since he is still little enough to get away with it.

-I love that he is starting to coo. Sometimes he starts cooing while he is crying (well more like just complaining so we know he wants to be held and paid attention to) and it is so cute.

-I love that his hair looks like it has a chance of being curly.

- I love his big blue eyes and long eyelashes, and that he looks like his brother with enough small differences to make him also look like his own self.

Jackson

-I love his endless amount of energy (most of the time at least).

-I love that he is a typical boy and therefore is in love with cars, trains, airplanes or "big jets!", balls, boats, the trash man, motorcycles, jumping on beds and couches and running fast and in circles.

-I love that when he gets a new toy car or train he has to sleep with it and literally won't let it out of his sight for at least a week.

-I love that he idolizes his Uncle Colby and Aunt Heather who are 12 and 13 years old. (and I love that they both love to play with and entertain him!)

-I love his genuine smile and laugh. It is way too cute.

-I love that he loves candy and mints just as much as I do.

-I love that when we leave to go somewhere, he says to his cars, "Bye cars! I love you!"

-I love that he already loves his brother and already looks out for him.

John

-I love his natural smile.  It was the first thing that attracted me to him the first time I ever saw him and it still makes my heart jump to this day.

-I love how patient he is with me and the boys.

-I love that he when he gets home from work, him and Jackson play football together while I make dinner.  They pretty much try to make the other one fumble to football and then tackle each other.  Jackson gets laughing so hard he can barely talk.  I love it.

-I love how handsome he looks all dressed up for work.  Tax guys are hott! (Lisa knows what I'm talkiing about :) ).

-I love that he loves the beach and dreams about surfing all day instead of being behind a desk all day. 

-I love that he loves sports and working out and does things like designing me a workout routine to help me get back into shape- it's kicking my butt and I am so sore right now, but I love it.

-I love that we have our shows we look forward to watching together every week.  Our favorites are Lost, The Biggest Loser, Psych, Monk and of course, The Office. 

-I love that he can fall asleep anywhere and can fall asleep within 30 seconds of closing his eyes and is out cold for the entire night.  I'm extremely jealous..... I have a hard time falling asleep, and can really only sleep on a bed and with like 3 pillows and a down comforter. I'm a little picky when it comes to sleep. 

-I love that he still loves me, even though I'm far from perfect.

Together as a family, we love all of our family and friends and feel very blessed to have them in our life!  Happy Valentine's Day!! 

2 Months and still our little Tank

Today, Baby Bear, as we have nicknamed him, is 2 months old!  Boy does the time fly by! It really does seem like just yesterday I was at home cleaning like crazy trying to decide if my contractions were the real thing or not.  But it has been 2 whole months since that exciting day, and we have enjoyed every minute of it! Bear is such a good baby too.  So far he is just totally relaxed all the time, loves to look at us and smile a lot, and he usually sleeps a good 6-7 hours in a row at night followed by another 3 hours after he gets a quick snack.  Life is definitely a lot more crazy with 2- it takes us forever just to get ready in the morning and to go anywhere- we are definitely always late to everything! But it is also lots of fun!  Jackson's been having some terrible 2 moments lately especially when it comes to sharing toys with other kids, but he still loves his brother and loves to help out.  At play group, a little boy crawled up to Baron's empty at the time carseat to play with it, and Jackson pulled it away saying, "No! That's baby's!" So he is already becoming the protective older brother...... we just gotta figure out how to chanel that love for his brother in a good way that doesn't involve being mean to other kids.  He really is a good kid with just a lot of energy- the other day he was just all over the place and couldn't sit still.  I said to him, "My goodness kid, what is up with you today?" To which he replied, "I goin' crazy!" as he continued to run around in circles.  It was pretty funny.  

Here are Bear's 2 month stats:

Head Circumference: 16" - 75 %

Height: 23 1/2" - 75%

Weight: 14 lb. 9 oz.!! - 97%

As you can see, he continues to be a little Tank.  A very cute little Tank though if I might say so. My mom kept all her kids stats and she said that her biggest baby was 14 1/2 pounds at 4 months old, not 2 months!  He's just a solid little boy.... but we like it b/c he is strong and not super fragile like most kids his age are.  Here's some current pictures of our big little guy:

Baron's Baby Blessing

This past weekend was very special and a ton of fun, and we are very sad it's all over and everyone is back home :(.  It was especially nice to have my parents and younger brother come up from Southern California and get to see some of the beautiful state of Oregon and where we live out here.  Here's the shortened timeline of events that went on:

*Friday:

-Steph's family flew in to Portland in the afternoon

-We hung out at our place getting to know Baby Baron and showed my family the ropes and played with Jackson

-Ate dinner out at Red Robin......yum! We celebrated Colby and Jackson's birthdays (just a couple of months late.... their b-days are in November) and had them sang to at the restaurant

-Walked around a nice outdoor mall and hung out at REI for awhile

-Nick (John's older brother) flew into town late that night

*Saturday:

-Ate a big pancake breakfast

-Walked around the Nike campus and checked out all the neat stuff there (pictures might come in a later post b/c my dad took those with his camera- waiting for him to e-mail them to me!)

-Jeff, Shalene and their little girl, Summer showed up that afternoon and we all hung out and played a fun, jeopardy like game called Buzz on the playstation

-John's parents and sister Heather drive up later that day

-All the boys and Heather take the max to the Rose Garden to watch the Blazers beat the Utah Jazz

-The girls, and kids, go to Washington Square mall to eat at Cheesecake Factory and shop around 

-Grandma Sue and Shalene take Jackson and Summer swimming back at their hotel

-Everyone meets back up after the game at our place to have some super yummy homemade (thanks mom!) French Apple Pie!  and we also tested Gale and Sue's knowledge by playing some more Buzz with them

*Sunday:

-Blessing day!! It was a very special day and John gave Baron a wonderful blessing at church.  We were so lucky to have the support of so many family members and friends that day! Thanks to everyone who came!

-After church we all went back to our place and ate a lot of yummy food thanks in big part to my mom who did most of the cooking and setting up! We also hung out and watched the Australian Open and the Super Bowl!

-Everyone except my family heads back home that night.  John and I dueled my parents in Buzz until late that night- it really is a fun game!

*Monday:

-My family flew back home early in the morning :(

-The boys and I, exhausted from such a fun and exciting weekend, took a nice long nap

and here's a bunch of pictures from the eventful weekend:

John and Baron

here's the whole group, minus The Jensens, our good friends who were also there that day, and Sean- Jennifer's husband who was nice enough to offer to take the picture! (Jennifer is John's cousin)

Steph's side of the family- well the ones who were able to make it all the way out for the weekend

John's side of the family

The Graham boys- Nick, John and Jeff

Our cute little family of 4!

Jackson as you can tell was exhausted by this point and refused to cooperate for any pictures

My parents with the big man of the hour (and he really is so big already even though he is only 8 weeks old!)

The Boys

He is already such a happy and smiley baby! 

Jackson has been saying, "Colby, where are you?" and "Where's Heather?" all week..... poor guy.  He really misses his buddies! Hopefully we will get to see everyone again sometime soon! It was a very fun weekend!