Christmas 2009

We had such a wonderful Christmas this year! Christmas is just so much more fun and magical when you have your own kids! Keslin was totally in tune with Santa Clause coming to town this year...it was so fun to see the look on her face when she woke up Christmas morning and saw all of the goodies Santa had brought her:0) Her wish list included a doll house, a car, a camera, and a playhouse (the best we could do was a power wheels...i think she was asking for the "real deal", but she's going to have to wait about 13 more years!)
On Christmas Eve we went to my grandparents house as usual, along with all of the rest of my mom's side of the family. We had our traditional feast of Fondue and Lot's of other goodies. The girl's got all dressed up in their Christmas dresses and loved showing them off to everyone. Christmas morning the girls dug right in and opened up all of their presents with tons of excitement...it's amazing how quickly the presents get unwrapped in comparison to how long it takes to wrap them!
After opening gifts, we headed to my mom and dad's for a delicious Christmas breakfast, followed by more present opening with the girls. Man did they get spoiled, thanks mom and dad for all of the fun stuff for the kids! We then headed into Portland where we celebrated Christmas with the Thompson side of the family and at more food! We had an awesome holiday and can't wait to do it all over again next year!

Our little beauties on Christmas Eve.

Say Cheese!

"The Girls"

So excited that Santa came!

The girls playing with their new doll house:0)

Keslin playing in her new play house.

Getting ready to test drive the car.

Driving in action!

Hi Mom!

Cookie Decorating with the Cousins

Tonight we went over to Leo and Amy's to decorate Christmas cookies with all of the Stoddard cousins. Since there are now a total of 8 grandchildren...soon to be 9, we decided not to exchange gifts amongst the kiddo's seeing that it would be quite an overwhelming shopping experience for all of us parents! So instead, we got together as a family for some fun cookie decorating Christmas festivities! The kids had a great time decorating their cookies together, such a priceless gift in comparison to toys, and at no cost! We continued our evening by shuttling the kids to all of the grandparents houses to deliver cookies and sing some Christmas carol's, such a fun evening and wonderful memories! We finished off the night by going to Dennis and Julie's for an "oh so yummy" Christmas dinner and celebrated our Stoddard family Christmas with Leo, Amy, and the kids since they will be heading to Bend in the morning. Santa came early to all of the grand kids, and they got to open up their presents! Thanks Dennis and Julie for all of the wonderful gifts! We had a wonderful time...it's hard to believe another year has gone by, I am looking forward to all of the fun Christmas festivities we will get to experience next year. Happy Holidays Everyone!

Owen thoroughly enjoying some frosting.

Adi doing some finger licking:0)

Keslin and Bronwyn going overboard with the sprinkles!

Loving it!

Judah and Colin scoping out which one they want to eat!

The finished product.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! We hope you had a wonderful day filled with family and friends and lots of trick-or-treating fun! Keslin has been so excited for Halloween this year...we have been talking about going trick-or-treating for weeks, but decided not to do the full trick-or-treating around the entire neighborhood due to the swine flu going around. So we kept our Halloween festivities within a pretty tight circuit just going trick or treating to various families houses which turned out to be a lot of fun (much more relaxing and warm!). At the age of two, Keslin was a pro at ringing the doorbell, precisely placing her treat bag in front of her and saying "twick-or-tweet". It was so adorable! Halloween is just so much more fun when you have your own kids:0) Here are some pictures of our adorable little peacock and bumblebee!

Happy Birthday Bronwyn!

Happy Birthday Bronwyn! We can't believe one year ago today we welcomed you into the world, you have enriched our lives with so much love and happiness since the day we met you, we couldn't possibly love you more! Your sweet personality and calm demeanor is always such a pleasure to be in company with. We are so proud to have you as our daughter, and are enjoying every moment of watching you grow and develop into the little being that you are. We love you soooo much happy birthday baby girl!

Even though today is Bronwyn's actual birthday we celebrated it last weekend due to the fact that Aunti Katie is in Hawaii and would have missed the party had it occured today, and I am scheduled to work all weekend (booo!). Thank you family for celebrating a week early on such short notice, that was so sweet of everyone to come, I know that Bronwyn can sense the love.

Bronwyn all dressed up in her party attire!
The adorable birthday cake the sweet cakes lady made, thanks Brenda!

Bronwyn's personal cake..the one she got to dig into.

Mommy and Bronwyn getting ready for the party.

Bronwyn enjoying her birthday lunch, what a cutie!

Experiencing the first bite of her birthday cake.

Still digging in....

A picture while opening presents.

Riding her new horse on wheels.

Big Girl Bed

Last night was Keslin's first official night sleeping in her big girl bed! We have been awaiting the beds delivery for a couple of weeks now, and it finally came yesterday! There was much anticipation as to whether the transition from crib to bed would be smooth or utterly chaotic, and I am pleased to say that she slept wonderfully....a straight 10 hours to be exact! Good job Keslin, daddy and I are so thankful you have made this so easy for us, we love it that you love your new bed!

And better yet, it only took Bronwyn 3 days to transition into sleeping in the crib in her own room. She has now slept through the night for almost a week now...whooo hoooo! It's amazing how much more rested I feel, I am finally getting to experience some sleep serenity again. Great sleeping girls!

Keslin tucking herself in.
Keslin seeing what the view is like from the top bunk.

Bronwyn, Aaron and Keslin on the top bunk:0)

We are excited to announce....

Baby Stoddard number three is on it's way! Today marks the official 13 weeks of pregnancy, a sigh of relief I have been waiting for. On July 1st was when I found out I was pregnant and at that point I was already almost seven weeks along! We feel so blessed that our baby has made it to this point, the pregnancy started off with some uncertainties such as a very low progesterone level which my doctor was able to correct with medication and the gestational sac looked quite small for how far along I was, which is sometimes indicative of an impending miscarriage.

Because of the low progesterone level (which is the hormone that sustains a pregnancy), it was uncertain whether the pregnancy would continue to progress normally in order for the baby to survive. My doctor told me that if I made it to week 13 which is when the placenta is suppose to take over all hormonal function...the pregnancy would more than likely proceed normally. So here we are...finally past that mark of uncertainty and ready to announce our blessed news!

I have already had three ultrasounds, all of which the baby looked super healthy and active, thank you lord! There have been many prayers and sleepless nights thus far wondering if this little miracle was going to make it, and thus far there has been no further complications. Hopefully things will continue going well.

Oh, and the best part is that we already get to find out what the baby is on the 31st of this month. The ultrasound tech at my doctor's office is the sweetest lady ever, she remembered Aaron and I from doing our ultrasounds with the girls, and knowing that this is our third baby offered us an early "gender check" free of charge because she knows how curious we are if we are going to be welcoming a boy into the Stoddard household. It feels like the chances of that are slim, but I guess that's what the natural feeling would be when you are use to having two little princesses in the house. We are going to be excited with whatever we are blessed with...all we can hope and wish for is to have a healthy baby! We will keep you posted as to what we are having in a couple of weeks.

The official due date is February 19th! All three of our kiddos are going to be almost exactly 18 months apart which we are really excited about, Keslin and Bronwyn are becoming great little buddies...we can't wait to see the dynamics this baby is going to bless our family with. I am so excited to have a baby bump again, it's amazing how your uterus has a memory and just pops right back out! Being pregnant is such a magical time and i truly feel blessed that I get to experience it again.

Jamison Square

Yesterday Amy invited the girls and I to go to Jamison Square for a play date with all of the Stoddard cousins. All seven cousins were able to make it and we had such a fun time! Jamison Square is located right in the heart of the pearl district, it is a gigantic water fountain/play structure for kids to play on and there is an enormous wading pool at the base of it. I never knew of its existence until yesterday...thanks for the invite Amy, we had an awesome time!! It is a great place for a play date and its free! It was such a hit with the girls, Keslin has been asking to go back since we left! I'm sure we will be hitting up Jamison square a lot this summer, what a great find. I would love to have another play date with whomever would like to join us!

Colin, Adi, Judah, and Owen playing ring around the rosie.

Keslin going in for a dip in the wading pool.



Adi modeling her new minnie mouse swimsuit, what a doll!




Bronwyn enjoying some grapes on the lawn.


Judah showing off some of his stellar moves.

The kiddos taking a breather in the shade, thanks for pitching the tent Aunt Amy!

Colin Playing in the waterfall.
Amy and Max Lounging in the sun.

A picture of the water fountain at JamisonSquare.

Play Dates

A couple of weeks ago my cousin Jen and her daughter Allie flew into town for a visit. While they were here we tried to cram in as much time with them as we could...we are always missing them and are hoping they get to move back to Oregon some time in the near future:) Allie is only 4 months younger than Keslin so she is a great play buddy whenever she comes to town. One of the girls cousins "Makena" turned one over the weekend and so while they were here we took the girls to her princess themed birthday party. Here are some pictures of Keslin and Bronwyn decked out in their princess party attire getting ready to go to the party.

We also got the chance to go to the children's museum for the very first time! I was amazed at how much stuff there was for the kids to do, we had a blast! We liked it so much I ended up buying a 1 year pass on our way out. If anyone is interested in going with us just let me know... I think the pass permits one other adult and two other children besides mine:)

Keslin having a tea party prior to the princess party.

Bronwyn posing for a pre-princess party photo shoot.Bronwyn and Mema.

Allie hard at work.Keslin drenching herself with water.

Keslin thoroughly loving the "dig pit."
Allie and Grandma Rhonda playing doctor.

Bronwyn just chillin in the dig pit.

Keslin intently concentrating on the computer.