The first few weeks in January: Back to a normal schedule and then the epic record snow storm hits...

Normally I cringe when I hear the word January…it’s my least favorite month of the year.  I am normally saddened that the holidays and the family time is over along with the bustle and the excitement of Christmas and then it does not help that the weather is normally so dreary in January: so much rain, dark days, and little sunshine.  It was nice to get back to our normal routine after the business of the holidays and the weeks leading up to the holidays.  The first week back at school Brandon found out that he got to take “Penny” the classroom’s stuffed Pussy cat home with him for the week.  He had the assignment to take various photos of Penny with him and the family for the week and then to scrapbook the photos.  Penny got to have a blast watching Brandon play the piano, eating dinner with the family, sleeping with Brandon, going with me to work, meeting Brandon’s grandmother CiCi, going to Brandon’s soccer practice, and then going to the classroom’s gingerbread house party.  Brandon’s class had a make-up gingerbread party the Friday after they came back from winter vacation as their original gingerbread party before Christmas had to be canceled as school was canceled.  Brandon was so happy that both Sean and I could make it to the party and enjoyed building his gingerbread house even though it was a bit after the holidays.

Playing the piano with Penny

Dinner time Penny!

Meeting Brandon's other stuffed animals

At the gingerbread house party with Penny

Meeting CiCi

Gingerbread house party fun

Family shot at the gingerbread party

Brandon having fun at the gingerbread house party

Penny watching Brandon play soccer

Olivia went back to gymnastics on Saturdays and got to do a few make up dance classes which she enjoyed.  Brandon started Westside Timbers soccer club, the week he went back to school.  Westside Timbers is a Developmental league for Brandon’s age group and offers just a bit more structure and some more playing opportunity for kids that like playing soccer.  Brandon is amongst the youngest in the league (there are 6 and 7 year olds that practice with him and he just turned 6).  His good friend from preschool Andrew is doing the league and introduced him to it and he so far is having a blast.  He has an outdoor soccer practice on Tuesday and indoor soccer practice on Fridays.  Brandon also started the MVP basketball league that have games on Sundays and practice right before the games.  His good buddy Andrew also is on his basketball team.  

Make up dance class with Addie

Indoor soccer practice on Fridays

Brandon and his bud Andrew

The first weekend in January, a really had ice storm hit the Portland area.  I was able to get Olivia to gymnastics and we were able to go grocery shopping before the storm hit, but we were stuck in the house for the entire weekend.  It started off as some snow and then turned to freezing rain in the late afternoon and overnight into Sunday.  There ended up being about a ½” of ice on the ground over the snow which made for it being very slippery.  We passed the weekend by making a yummy French onion soup (well Sean did), lining up Olivia’s My Little Ponies and matching to her My Little Pony cards, and building indoor forts. Brandon ended up not having school that Monday because it was too icy first thing in the morning although it melted and was fine by about 10:00 AM.  Brooke was super nice and let me drop Brandon off at her house for a few hours so I could go on a claim near her house.  I was worried about the bigger storm they were forecasting to come Tuesday night and was trying to get as many claims handled as I could.  

Ice storm

Snow from the first storm in January

Pony fun!

I got in several claims on Tuesday because I could see a really big snowstorm was coming in that night and I was not sure when I would be able to get out to inspect anything any time soon.  My mom was awesome and came up early on Tuesday evening ahead of the snowstorm to help out in case there was no school.  Brandon went to his first soccer practice outdoors in frigidly cold and snowy weather (it had just begun to do flurries) and practiced for about half an hour before they called it.  My mom got to our house safely and it was snowing lightly then.  About an hour later after she got to our house we already had 2” of snow.  It kept on snowing and I kept going outside to check on it.  I had never really seen anything like this in the Portland Metro area.  At one point in an hour it snowed 3”!  By the time I went to bed at around 11:30 PM it had already snowed about 5.5” and it was still snowing.  

Snow fall it was just coming down

Beautiful view of the snow coming down in the tree in front of our house

View of the snow coming down hard

Tape measure just before bed

Our backyard just before I went to bed 

You can se it was still coming down!

The next morning was beautiful and it was still lightly snowing but pretty much had stopped.  I measured that it hit 9” at our house.  Sean’s work was closed for the day and I was stuck working from home.  There was no way we were going anywhere!  Brandon’s school was of course closed and would end up being closed for the next 4.5 days due to the storm.  We bundled the kids up and went outside to play in the snow.  We had a blast going out to the field behind our house and playing in it.  Olivia did not last very long in the snow and went back with CiCi but Sean, Brandon, and I built a snowman.  The snow as very light and dry and a bit hard to make into snow balls.  

Our backyard the next morning

Snow angel in the field near our house

Not quite sure what to make of the snow

Snow ball watch out mom!

Throwing snow balls

CiCi and Liv and Brandon playing in the snow

Sean and Brandon building a snowman

Working on the ball

Brandon and his snowman

Later in the afternoon we took our sleds down the street to a hilly side street and had a blast going down it with our sleds with some of the other neighborhood kids.  The next day the snow had stopped and it was a clear and very cold day in the 20s so the snow was not going anywhere!   I had several claims in the area and I decided to try to make the attempt to get to them.  I had to hike to both of them after leaving my Subaru on side streets and worked really hard to get them completed only to come back home and find out that my work computer crashed and I lost all my work!  I was so frustrated!  Brandon ended up not having school on Friday and he and I went into my office for a while and then out on a claim (that did not require meeting a customer).  Brandon was a trooper and luckily he had a break and got to go to indoor soccer practice and have his buddy Logan over for a while.  We finished his snowman homework project.  

Walking to go sledding in our neighborhood 

View of the claim I hiked to on Thursday

Brandon's decorated snowman for his school project

That weekend we escaped and went south down to Corvallis for the long MLK day weekend and to see my parents and my sister Rachel and Jasper who were visiting for the week.  Brandon had a blast being reunited with his best bud Jasper and the kids enjoyed going to the park, playing at my parent’s house, and playing with Pumpkin.  It was so nice that there was little to no snow in Corvallis.  We had a fun tea party and then said goodbye to Jasper and Rachel and headed back to the snow in Portland which even 6 days after the epic snow storm the snow was still there from Wilsonville up into Portland.  It was still so bad that they ended up canceling school for Brandon on Tuesday and he even had a late start on Wednesday from the snow storm that was still lingering.  Final later in the day on Wednesday the temperatures warmed up into the 40s and the snow melted!  Never were we so happy to not see snow anymore!

CiCi, Jasper, and his bud Brandon

Snuggles with CiCi and Brandon

Jasper and Rachel

Pumpkin

Snuggling with Auntie Rachel and Jasper on the couch 

Brandon's best bud Jasper

Tea party on the ground

Olivia enjoying her carrot cake

Reflecting back on 2016

January: We rang in 2016 in our new house, just the two of us as we were getting over a stomach flu and were on the mend.  We had friends over to our house to watch the Ducks play in a bowl game on January 2^nd and unfortunately blow a huge lead and lose.  The next day on January 3^rd we got several inches of snow at our house and went sledding with friends.  We watched the Seahawks over perform in the play offs to eventually lose.  We converted Olivia’s crib to a toddler bed by taking off of the rail.  Olivia continued to do gymnastics with parent participation and loved it.  My parents came up and went to Brandon’s school’s Grandparents day with him, which was special for Brandon.  Brandon began doing swim lessons and had a blast.  The last day in January we went with good friends up to Government Camp to go sledding and had a blast.  It was the kids first time really experiencing a lot of snow and sledding.

February: Brandon and I made some fun dinosaur homemade Valentine’s Day cards for his teachers.  We discovered Elephant and Piggy books and had a blast reading them.  We had a fun super bowl party at our house and our house ended up being filled with kids!  Valentine’s Day was on a Sunday so it was celebrated the Friday before at school.  We went to Brandon’s school Valentine’s Day brunch and I got some cute pictures of the kids in their Valentine’s Day gear before school.  I also got to go to Olivia’s Valentine’s Day exchange at her school.  Brandon continued to have fun at swim lessons.  Cupid came on Valentine’s Day and left he kids some fun loot.  Sean made me a yummy steak Valentine’s Day dinner.  I went out to the Oregon coast for a day for work and we celebrated Valentine’s Day dinner a few days later kidless while my mom watched the kids at Urban Fondue.  I got super sick with strep throat that turned into a severe throat infection and missed a week of work and had to have a CAT scan of my throat. It was unfortunately a bad way to end the month and little did I know that my illness would plague me for months to come.

March: We welcomed baby Jasper, my sister Rachel’s first baby, on March 1^st.  This was a great way to start off the month!  We wore green a lot this month to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.  The weather improved and we went to the park a few times.  We went to Safari Sam’s and got our hair cut.  I continued to recuperate from my illness, including noticing that my right shoulder and arm had lost a lot of range of motion.  We had a fun family trip to Lincoln City in the middle of March for three nights and met up with my parents and Pumpkin for the day.  We also went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium the first time which the kids loved.  We celebrated St. Patrick’s Day by dressing up for school that day.  Brandon continued to take swim lessons and had fun doing so.  Olivia continued her gymnastics.  We celebrated an early Easter this year with Grammy and Papa and then my mom and sister Tory came up for breakfast.  We also had a lot of fun going to Olivia's school's Easter egg hunt.  

April: Little League T-ball started the first week of April and Brandon had fun going to games and practice.  Olivia continued to have fun doing gymnastics and getting ready for her Mini Olympics performance in June.  We took the kids to the Tulip Festival and while it was crowded, it was a fun day. I planted a bunch of various plants, flowers, and vegetables all throughout our backyard and in our new cedar planter.  I took the kids to the zoo on a very warm day in April where we got to wear shorts and a tee-shirt.  It was so warm the kids enjoyed playing in the sprinklers in our backyard afterward.  We borrowed our neighbor’s rototiller and built a garden bed in our backyard.  We added mulch throughout under our tree area.  It took over 50 bags!  I planted several roses and other plants around the front and side of our house.  We enjoyed more sunny weather and went to the park and ate outside.  My niece Sofia (my sister in law's Dawn's baby) was born at the end of the month.

May: We went down to Corvallis and celebrated my 35^th birthday early.  It was beautiful weather and the kids had a blast riding scooters and playing with Pumpkin.  Brandon's school had a very cute Mother's day dinner that I got to go. We enjoyed more good weather and went to the zoo after school.  We met Sean up for dinner at Old Market Pub and celebrated my birthday early with the family in the warm sunshine outside.  We celebrated Brandon's best friend Logan's 6th birthday at Safari Sam's and had a blast.  Sean made me a yummy breakfast omelet for Mother's day and I got to go out and have a pedicure, have a drink, and go shopping with Brooke.  On my birthday, my roses began to bloom and I got two cases of flowers from Sean and from Brandon.  I got to go to California for 4 days and see my newest nephew Jasper and my two sisters.  We had a blast in California with nice weather, wine tasting, and BBQing outside.  Brandon continued to have T-ball games and practice and had a lot of fun.  We enjoyed tons of nice weather and continued going to the park often.  At the end of the month for Memorial Day weekend we went up to Seattle to see Dawn's family and her new house and her newest addition Sofia.  We had a blast hanging out with the cousins and going swimming and enjoying their fire pit.  We also saw my Uncle Carl on our way back home and saw some of Lake Washington.

June: We all watched Brandon graduate from preschool.  Such a proud moment and so cute in his cap and gown.  We watched my flowers in my garden continue to grow and found a few raspberries growing.  Brandon continued to enjoy t-ball and it drew to an end in the middle of the month.  We continued to enjoy hot, dry, and nice weather.  We set up our backyard for hot weather with our pool.  We enjoyed our new fire pit on our backyard patio.  We did some naked neon pool night swimming even.  We got our the slip n slide and had a blast with that.  The strawberries began to bloom.  We had Olivia's mini Olympics and Grammy and Papa came to that.  Olivia had a blast performing to the crowd.  I took a Friday off for Father's day weekend in June and we went to the Strawberry festival and then headed down to Eugene for the weekend.  We went to a fun nearby farm and then went wine tasting with Grammy while the boys went fishing for Father's day.  Brandon had a fun crazy clothes day at school.  At the end of the month we celebrated Olivia's third birthday early and had a bunch of her friends over for a fun outdoor pool party.  Olivia had a fun My Little Pony themed birthday party and I have to admit I went a little crazy on Pinterest planning it.  We went to Brandon's good friend Gavin's birthday party the next day and had a blast.  Brandon continued to have fun field trips throughout most of June with his most favorite being the Build a Bear Field trip that his class went on.  

July:  The first weekend of July during the long holiday weekend we headed down to Corvallis for a quick trip to see my parents and Pumpkin.  We enjoyed warm weather and went to the park and went swimming at the outdoor Otter Beach pool that the kids love.  Brandon had been taking swim lessons so it was nice to see how he improved.  I went running in the trial and took my favorite running companion, Pumpkin.  We had a fun 4th of July celebration at our house with close friends and some yummy pulled pork.  We had a lot of really nice firecrackers.  Olivia got to start dance class at school now that she was 3.  We had a fun day celebrating Olivia's real birthday which was on a Wednesday.  Some of the highlights of Olivia's presents this year was a Princess bike, several My Little Pony sets, and an Elsa and Anna set.  Brandon continued to get to go on fun field trips.  Brandon lost his first tooth on July 8th and got to see his good friend Andrew that he has been friends with since he was 2 from Rocking Horse.  We headed off to Sun River for a fun and sun filled week and had a blast as always swimming at the SHARC pool, hot tubing at our house, bike riding, exploring the village, and hiking.  One of our highlights of the trip was hiking up to Lava Cast Forest.  We got back and then the next weekend we headed to Lincoln City to celebrate our 10 year anniversary for two nights.  My parents graciously watched the kids and we got to go shopping, go out to eat, and did an awesome hike up the Cascade Head at Hart's Cove.  On our actual anniversary we celebrated by going out to frozen yogurt with the kids and doing a happy hour at Ancestry brewing.  We ended the month by going to Olivia's good friend Addie's 3rd birthday party at Wilsonville Memorial Park and visiting Sean's Grandma who was about to have surgery.

August:  After X-rays, an MRI, and a visit to the neurologist it was determined that I had a nerve injury to due to my severe throat infection to my right shoulder/neck area and had to have physical therapy.  I started physical therapy that month going twice a week.  My mom and I snuck off to the Street of Dreams in West Linn.  Brandon got to go on more fun field trips with his school.  Sean's sisters' family came to visit us and we had a blast playing outside with the cousins.  We loved getting to see more of baby Sofia.  We headed to Enchanted Forest for a fun day and went on a Thursday so there were less crowds and ran into the Mowery family.  We went to the kids' first minor league baseball game and saw the Hillsboro Hops play on a very hot 100 degree day with my Dad and my Uncle Carl. We headed to Lincoln City for 3 nights and stayed at a beach house with Sean's parents.  The kids had a blast playing on the beach and searching for special rocks.  We ended the trip with a fun hike to Drift Creek Falls which ended up being a 3 mile hike for the kids.  

September: Labor day weekend we headed to Memaloose State Park for camping with the Mowery family for two nights.  The kids loved being so close to one another and being able to sleep near each other.  The weather was sunny but a bit chilly at night.  We had fun going to a nearby Apple orchard and Tory and Tom came and visited us at our campsite.  We did a quick trip down to Corvallis before school started to see CiCi and Baba and enjoyed a hike to Peavy Aborteum.  We also enjoyed playing at the park.  Then Brandon started kindergarten and Olivia started Jr. Kindergarten.  I had to have toe surgery shortly after and had to be off my feet for several weeks. Olivia started gymnastics (the 3 year old class at Westside Gymnastics without parents) and Brandon started Tigard Southside soccer.  Brandon lost his two front teeth and became known as the "toothless wonder."  We cheered on the Oregon Ducks football team and had several fire pits out in our backyard.  The end of September we went to the kids' friend Piper's birthday party.  

October: The kids had fun drawing a card for Sean's Grandma's birthday and making a cake.  We went to numerous soccer practices at Alberta Rider.  Brandon got to meet baby Jasper for the first time.  Olivia continued to do gymnastics.  I went with Olivia's class to the Lee Family Farm Pumpkin patch and also went to Brandon's kindergarten field trip to Baggenstos Family farm.  Olivia's school had their school pictures taken and we got Olivia a big girl bed and set.  After a wet and rainy October, we were able to sneak off to Lee Family farms with the Mowery family one somewhat dry weekend while Sean and his Dad were building shelving in our garage.  Brooke and I took the girls to Disney on Ice and they had a blast.  I voted, which was very important this year.  We had a very fun Halloween party and carved pumpkins and decorated cookies.  We celebrated Halloween on a Monday and went Trick-or-Treating with the Mowery family and had a blast in our new neighborhood.  Olivia went as Rapunzel and Brandon as Kylo Wren from the new Star Wars movie.  I got to go to both kids' classroom Halloween Parties and had a blast.  

November:  Olivia started swim lessons for the first time ever by herself and loved it.  We had a fun family photo shoot with Brandon's old teacher from Horizon Tiffany in Aurora.  The kids did great and we got some awesome photos.  I took off Veteran's day and spent the day with the kids going out to breakfast and then going to OMSI and doing a fun play date with the Mowery family.  We really liked the space exhibit at OMSI.  The tooth fairy came and left Brandon an awesome note and a Mega Charezard pokemon for doing such an awesome job quitting sucking his thumb.  Olivia and Brandon continued doing swim lessons and enjoying them.  We watched in awe as our favorite Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump and I literally felt sick to my stomach for days after the election from being so upset.  We went down to Corvallis for Thanksgiving and had a blast spending time with everyone.  Olivia got to try a fun tap/jazz/tumble class.  At the end of the month we geared up for Christmas and got all of our Christmas decorations out.  

December: Brandon turned 6 on a Friday and we celebrated by going out to dinner at Red Robin and by Brandon getting to open up his birthday presents.  Some of the highlights of his presents this year were Pokemon cards, Pokemon bed set, a Pokemon piggy bank, and a Star Wars lego set.  Brandon had his birthday party at Safari Sam's the next day on December 3rd.  We went to see Santa at Sleighbells in Sherwood and then went and cut our Christmas tree at a local Christmas tree farm right near our house.  It snowed for the first time on December 5th and then again on December 8th and school got cancelled.  We made gingerbread cookies and decorated them.  We went to baby Luke's 1st birthday party and then two of Brandon's good friends' birthdays John and Andrew.  Olivia and I had a fun time going to downtown Macy's Santaland and seeing Santa.  It snowed again on December 14th and 15th and school was cancelled for the rest of the week.  We headed to Sun River for a fun trip for four nights on December 16th.  Sean celebrated his birthday in Sun River and we had a blast inner tubing and hot tubing and eating good food.  We went down to Corvallis for a quick visit to see my parents before Christmas afterwards and then hosted Christmas with Sean's family at our house.  It was really fun having Christmas in our new house.  The kids had an awesome Christmas.  I finally finished my physical therapy treatment for my nerve injury.  We had a low key New Year's Eve surrounded by good friends and family.