Happy New Year!!!

The New Year ended with a bang and started much the same way...We went to Grandma and Papa's on New Years Day.

It was a fun day...Auntie Teresa was there and we had a great time!

Unfortunately Grandma and Papa had to leave on January 3rd just as Noelani was beginning to warm up to seeing them again.

I tried to tell them that if they were here all the time Noelani wouldn't be so emotional. :) We had a great time visiting with them while they were here and can't wait until they return in May!

I'm trying to convince them that they could have a great job 'under the table' watching Noelani when they get back in town...hopefully they'll consider it...I wasn't joking by the way. :) We miss you both already!!!

Noelani turned 7 months old last week and is now sitting up all by herself!! She's got both of her two front teeth now and two on the upper sides...for a grand total of 6!!

She loves to eat food and we've started doing 3 small meals a day. She also loves her cookies...something she can actually hold onto. As you can see in the picture below she's trying to feed herself already!

I'm so excited today because we start Noelani's first swim class tonight! It's our first of many Mommy/Daughter classes. I'll be sure to post lots of pictures.

Here is a picture of Noelani and Daddy posing in their 'Boondock Saints' shirts...Like Father Like Daughter...I heard it growing up and I know she's gonna hear it too. :)

Noelani's First Christmas!!! HO HO HO!!

So the day after we got back from Grandma and Grandpa's in Oregon my Dad and Mom came home from Arizona!!  Noelani and I picked them up from the airport and we were thrilled to see them!  Grandma and Papa couldn't believe how big she's gotten since they saw her last in August. 


We can't believe how big she's gotten either...we weighed the little lady last week and she's a whopping 25 lbs!!I do have to brag a bit in case you didn't see our Christmas card...We took some pictures of Noelani (you can see them in our previous blog) and got Christmas cards made at Costco...when I went to pick up the cards I gave the lady my last name and she immediately knew which cards were ours...She said we had the cutest baby in the world and that we had won the annual award for the cutest baby Christmas card!!  I had my first proud Mommy moment!!  The cards were beyond cute!!  We do have a beautiful little girl!!

We picked up a Christmas tree and the lot we went to actually had live reindeer so Noelani got to see reindeer for her first time...I think it was Comet and Prancer but I'm not 100%. :)


The big news for Noelani this month is she started eating solid food!!  We started with rice cereal but she didn't really dig on that too much...I understood as it didn't tast like anything so we quickly moved on to bigger and better. 

She's now had Applesauce, Pears, Bananas, Peaches, Sweet Potatoes, Carrots and Pears & Raspberries...sweet potatoes and bananas seem to be her favorite at this point.  She eats better than any baby I've ever seen...no choking or spitting...she just bangs on the table for more!! 

We're having fun experimenting with new flavors and she's yet to not like anything...I'm sure that will come sooner or later.

We've had snow for the past 2 weeks here which is pretty rare for Seattle...It kind of put a damper on us being able to see the parents as we couldn't get anywhere for a few days due to the insane amount of snow.  The highlight of the snow is Noelani's first Christmas was a white one!! 

I know Noelani is only 6 months old and won't remember much about her first Christmas but we sure will!! 

I think I had the best night I've had since she was born on Christmas Eve...We left cookies and milk out for Santa and of course some carrots for his reindeer! 

Santa even left a note for Noelani...I loved every minute of it and can't wait for her to get older and understand more of what's actually going on during Christmas. 

Kea got a new winter jacket for Christmas as you'll see below...despite her look of discontent she actually loves it only she can't see much when the hood is over her eyes.




We woke up early on Christmas morning and checked our stockings and then began the task of opening up all the presents that Santa left for Noelani...she is one spoiled little girl but then again she should be....she's the cutest baby ever!!!


Noelani had so many presents to open she even had to take a nap during the process...Truth be known she would have rather ate the wrapping paper instead of open the presents but I guess that's par for the course this year!




Noelani scored lots of great gifts...her first laptop, laugh and learn Puppy and lots of books and clothes.


As you can see in the picture below...she's one happy little girl!!!

After we opened up all our presents we battled the weather and headed down to my parents in Auburn for part 2 of the Christmas celebration!! Noelani wore her 'Santa's Sidekick' T-shirt...

All in all there were 16 of us at my Dad and Mom's...the family just keeps getting bigger!! We always have a blast when we get together and this was definitely the case today! My Brother Steve proposed to his girlfriend Holly which was the big exciting news of the day!! (Congrats Steve & Holly!)
In the picture below is Kavan (My niece Jenny's youngest (15 months) as you can see Noelani is almost as tall as he is...she's going to rule on the Basketball court! ;)

We had a great time spending the day with family and were so happy my parents came home to spend the Christmas holiday with us...it wouldn't have been the same without them!!



The picture below if our 1st Christmas family shot...I love our little family!!

Being a parent and seeing your child's eyes light up at Christmas is really what it's all about!! I never knew it would be this fun...we can hardly wait for next year!!!
Merry Christmas to our entire family and thank you for everything!!! We love you!!!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!

So as everyone has informed me...I really need to update our blog!! Here goes one of many updates.

The second week of December we decided to hit the road and head down to Redmond, OR to surprise Ray's Dad for his Birthday. We left on Thursday afternoon and returned (despite all the snow) on Sunday morning.

We sure did surprise Grandpa...we drove quietly into the driveway and then left Noe on the porch to greet him.

We had a great time with the parents as always.

We also got to see Auntie Crystal and Cousin Colby as you'll see in the pictures below. Noelani loves her cousin Colby...

I think it's the red hair...she just can't stop staring at him. :)

Noelani got to open up her first Christmas present ever...Elmo Live! She loves her Elmo but I think she loved eating the wrapping paper even more.


We got to decorate Mom and Dad's tree which was fun...Colby and I had a blast!!


Noelani loved to look at the Christmas tree and see all the sparkling lights!!