Thanksgiving 2012

Boise to celebrate with Brian and Sam

We traveled to Boise, ID at the beginning of October to see Dave's cousin Brian get married to our new cousin-in-law, Sam.  Mae and Adi were very excited that they got to stay up late to participate in the dancing

and the cake cutting and eating.

Cousins Maayan, Kaitlin, Oli, Mae and Adi

Mae and Adi eventually pulled up chairs in order to view the cutting in comfort.

Vivian enjoyed it, too

Dave's parents, siblings, cousins (and their families) came out for the week so we had lots of fun with the extended family.

Uncle Mike swims the Boise River with Bear the dog.

Vivian and Cousin Cole discover the snack source

Uncle Yac does the work while fishing with cousins Paul, Adi, Mae and Colette

Cousin Oli, fishing for minnows

Everyone did well in the car for the 16 hour drive. Or rather, they did well for about 14 hours of the 16 hour drive.

At some rest stop (rather-- run-around-stop) in some state on the way home.

Reno

We took the family to Reno for a long weekend with the Colemans.  Vivian enjoyed the flights so much that she refused to sleep but she did manage to charm the other passengers. 

Much quality time was spent with the cousins:
 Picking blackberries on the banks of the Truckee River, 

Reading stories with all of the cousins (thanks, Aunt Jennifer!):

 And visiting Lake Tahoe, on a river boat cruise followed by a free concert on
the beach. 
 

Such a beautiful place, especially as viewed from the cold, silvery water of twilight, swimming to music with my daughters!

Birthday cakes

For months before their birthday, Adi and Mae were both asking for a 'Thomas [the tank engine] cake'. I figured I'd just draw a blue train on a sheet cake until their day-care provider, Gail, showed me a magazine with a picture of a train made out of a loaf cake. So with help from Grandma Coleman (see the charismatic faces) we made standing-up Thomas cakes!




Other than my first crafty-cakes, the biggest difference between the Cake Ceremony this year and last was the skill the girls have acquired for blowing out candles.

Happy birthday, Mae!


Happy birthday, Adi!


We also celebrated Grandma Coleman's birthday ( a week later and my original due date), although her cake was a little more subdued. Happy birthday, Pat!

Christmas in Nevada

We spent Christmas in a cabin at Lake Tahoe with Dave's family.

Grandma with lots of help.


The cousins had a great time playing together and we seemed to have more free time (or Kindle-reading time for me) than ever before.





Grandma and Dave read The Night Before Christmas, a family tradition, to three tired girls.


Santa came! Candy, oranges, a purple/blue car, purple/blue cup and purple/pink hair clips for our girls-- they must have been very good this year. Note: according to my sample size of two, letting your 2 year old eat an entire candy cane before breakfast is not good for her digestion.





Many fun presents (with variable uses).






Yes, we were dumb enough to buy a drum for our own children.


The sleds getting some outdoor use







Back at Grandma & Grandpa's house, the most people the hot tub has ever held. It wasn't very relaxing, as the kids delighted in leaping across the middle from person to person.



In all, it was a very nice trip-- the first time we've had seats for the girls on the plane (I read! A magazine! For a whole hour!)-- and the girls were quickly comfortable with the legions of people and dogs.

Happy holidays to everyone.

Ga-ga and Pah-po

Can you deal with phonetic titles for the next year or so? I just find it so cute to transcribe the words. Although they are getting more and more understandable- other people can even understand them now!

Anyway, the point of this post is that Dave parents came to visit for a week- Bill was at a conference in Denver while Pat helped out with the girls. And the girls had a great time. You might recall that Adi has historically been afraid of strangers and its been the worst when we were around a big group, which is basically how most of our visits with Dave's family have been. But something switched in her and she went straight to them, giving hugs and kisses the first night and never looking back. Mae also had a great time, although for the past few weeks she's been clingy, constantly begging to get 'up' and trying to stand on my feet. One morning I was doing email while the girls played in the nursery with Grandma; Mae came out to see what I was doing and normally she would come over and beg to get up and look at pictures of babies on blogs ('picky, baby') but she pretty much looked at me and then went racing back to Grandma.

Neither Adi nor Mae seemed confused to have other people called Grandma and Grandpa (we use the same words for my parents), although that's not surprising considering they call all men 'Dada' and women 'Mama.'

Here's Pat dusting off her read-two-books-at-the-same-time skills:


And Bill found out that the grapefruit doesn't go as far when you share:

Grandparents' visit

Dave's parents, Bill & Pat, stayed with us this week while Bill attended a conference in Denver. It was great for us to have help with the babies and the finishing touches to the deck (the warm weather cooperated, too!) but it was even better for the girls to get to know their grandparents a little better.

Mae was very smiley and easy-going, letting anyone hold her and showing off her rolling over ( a skill that has come and gone- mostly gone- for the past few months).
Adi is having trouble with new people; a few weeks ago she started screaming when put into the arms of someone whom she hasn't seen a lot of. So she was a bit more challenging this week, crying suddenly when she looked up and noticed who was holding her, or when a new voice spoke or laughed loudly. But she seemed to adjust to the "strangers" by the end of their visit.

Bath time

I just can't get over how cute the baby-in-a-towel is, especially with the duck (Adi) and lamb (Mae) towels that Dave's sister Jennifer made the girls for Christmas (while caring for her own newborn baby!)

A Coleman Christmas (part 3)

It's been 1.5 years of granddaughters for the Colemans...



(Pat and Bill with Adi, Kaitlyn, Mae & Colette)

A Coleman Christmas (part 2)

You'd think, with 10 extra people to help with baby care, I would have had time to update the blog. But somehow I kept myself busy. Today's my first day again on my own so I won't have much time but here are some more family pics.

Bill (Dave's dad) trying to keep Adi awake past her bedtime. She is wearing her new French clothes from her Aunt Henry and Bill is modeling his puppy slippers.
Mike (Dave's brother) and Megan with their 19-month old daughter Colette:

Jennifer (Dave's sister) and Wayne with their 4-week old daughter Kaitlyn:





Kaitlyn with Grandma Coleman: