The Ladies Man...

On Friday Hannah and Emmett came down for a visit. We had hoped to have a mini-Hancock House reunion, but because we were so last minute about it, only Hannah (and Emmett), Shannon (and Sophia), Kristen, Stephanie and Marisa were able to make it. We had a blast watching the kiddos play together, eating delicious tacos and nachos, and playing some new games.

Here are just a few pictures (which I stole from Hannah and Shannon) that sum up our evening... funny how once there are kids involved we stop taking pictures of the adults. =)

Gracie, sensing the threat of another woman, grabs tightly to the arm of her boyfriend.

"Hey, get back here!"

Emmett and Sophia playing with Gracie's new fridge magnets... they were a hit!

Hannah, Shannon and I were cooking dinner and these two babies were playing in the kitchen. I looked down just in time to see them "swap" binks. It was hilarious.

Emmett and the girls - they loved his blocks, he loved their eyes.

Gracie could get lost among all these toys. This is what our living room looks like when three babies worth of toys are dumped on the floor. (Hannah and Shannon brought Emmett and Sophia's favorites to share.)

Gracie - if you can't tell - is not happy! I love this scowl!

Sophia is plotting her next move...

"Hey! That's my bunny slipper!"

Again, the scowl. I love that Sophie even looks a bit guilty in this pic.

One year ago today...

On December 29,2006 we walked through our home for the first time (and put an offer on it later that night).
We also had an unexpected visit to our ultrasound tech to visit our unborn baby...


Sometimes it is fun to look back and read old blogs. It helps me remember what we were up to and how much things have changed in the course of 365 days...


Man, I LOVE MY LIFE!

Holy guacamole...

Gracie's first non-rice cereal food was avocados!
The anticipation...
...the first taste...
...not too bad!
And if this wasn't messy enough...
...she stuck her hands in her mouth just to help spread the green mess to the rest of her face, head and arms.

This little piggy...

Gracie fell asleep on Merrick's chest while we were watching a movie. He transferred her to the couch, and from where I was sitting, her little toes were so adorable I just had to take a few pictures. (I added the binky to show how small her tiny toes still are).

Silly Gracie tricks...

As she is getting more and more mobile, she is developing some funny "tricks." Here is a quick sample of what she is able to do. It is funny to watch and see how proud of herself she is - even when she gets stuck somewhere she doesn't really want to be...

Now that she can roll over, she isn't content just sitting in her car seat. She used to love sitting here. We left the seat in our office and I would put her there while working on the computer. She would play with her toys, nap, or just watch me. Now, she immediately rolls over and slithers out. This time she flipped back onto her back. Usually she will just stay on her tummy and play with the straps.

She is so proud of herself!

She is also starting to sit up more. She isn't at all stable enough to leave in this position, but she does okay for a few seconds at a time. Again, she is looking at us and is very pleased as we praise her for being "such a big girl!"

This yoga position is a new trick in the past few days. She mostly does this when she is sleepy and in her crib, so I haven't had an opportunity to get a good picture until recently. She pulls her knees into her chest, then straightens her legs which causes her to end up in this "downward facing dog" pose.


Lastly... she hasn't played in her bouncer seat for a long time now, but I put her in it while ironing in the bonus room on Monday. She was all strapped in and secure one minute, and the next I looked up (after hearing a little grunting and fussing) just in time to watch her straighten her legs, wiggle out of the straps, roll on to her belly, and start bouncing the wrong way. I grabbed the camera while Merrick watched to make sure she didn't face plant off the toy. Again, you can see how pleased she is with herself.

On our third day of Christmas...

...we woke up to SNOW!!! For those of you non-Oregonians... that NEVER happens here. It was such a special beginning to our first Christmas with Gracie. She was mesmerized by the huge white flakes. It came down for quite a while, but didn't accumulate very much - maybe about 1/2 inch, t it was all gone by the middle of the afternoon when the rain started. It was fun while it lasted, and we will never forget this extra special white Christmas.

We had a busy morning at home, getting things packed up and ready to head to my parent's house. (It is amazing how much more we have to pack now that Gracie is eating real food.) I made yams and creamed corn to take to lunch, and once everything was cooked and packed, we headed out into the snow and headed to good ol' Lake O.

We had an enjoyable afternoon with my family - Bob, Nancy, Craig & Kristin. We spent quite a while opening gifts, eating, opening more gifts, and playing games. It was nice to have a lazy day with family, and feel like we didn't have a specific agenda we had to stick to.
Again, Gracie seemed to really enjoy herself and was fascinated with everything that was happening around her.

Merry Christmas...

We hope you all had a fabulous day with family and friends.

Love,
Merrick, Hannah & Gracie

On our second day of Christmas...

...we had a very slow and lazy morning - much needed after our late night.

Our plans for the day were a little up in the air, but we were able to be lazy at home for much of the time. We did have a few errands to run, and some chores around the house, but other than that we just got to be together at home.

Kelsie and Alex were in town for a whirl-wind Christmas trip, so we didn't get to spend much time with them, but they were able to come by for a bit on Christmas Eve to see our house, and hang out with Gracie. This is the first time ever that Kelsie and I have visited each other in our own houses. It was fun to have them here, and made us wish we lived closer and could spend more time with them.
When Kels and Alex took off, Merrick and I started cooking. We decided to stay in and cook Christmas dinner at home. We made seared Ahi tuna and caramelized eggplant. It was delicious. Gracie sat at the table with us, even though she had eaten earlier when Kels was here.
After dinner we opened the gifts we had gotten for each other. Gracie seemed to really enjoy herself. She is very observant and often sits back taking in the world. She would sit and watch Merrick and I unwrapping. She loved the bows and paper, but also liked her gifts. One of our funny traditions is that every year Merrick does some crazy wrapping job on at least one of my gifts. This year might have won for creativity... and in case you are wondering what in the world would be in a box like that, it was a lamp for Gracie's room.


Her favorites were a pack of bath squirt toys. She also loved her new bunny slippers. Merrick also got new slippers, so we took a "slipper" picture - what a big girl!
To wrap up the evening, we rented Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. We watched the first half and were exhausted, so we headed to bed.

On our first day of Christmas...

...we got together with some of my friends from high school. Kelsie was able to miraculously find a time (2 days before Christmas) that we could gather for lunch. We met Kelsie & Alex, Matt & Katie, and Jay, Michelle & baby Carter at the Old Spaghetti Factory. It was fun to see friends that I haven't seen in years and get caught up on what people are doing these days. Kyle and Betsy weren't able to join us, but Merrick and I were able to connect with them Saturday evening for dinner at Stanford's. It was fun to see them and meet beautiful little Brooklyn!

We left directly from lunch and headed south to Eugene to meet Merrick's family for dinner and Christmas celebrations. It is tradition to eat out at the Oregon Electric Station - a fabulous restaurant in an old train station. The meals are always fabulous! This year Merrick and I enjoyed prime rib - it was delicious.
After dinner we headed back to the house where we opened stockings and gifts. Every year this portion of the night gets more out of control, but it is fun to watch the kiddos and see how much fun they are having. The babies both did fairly well, considering it was way past bed time. The best part of the night (well, for me anyway) is getting to play with the new stuff! Merrick and I bought games for the four oldest kids, so we busted out a few of those and played for a few hours before packing up and heading out. We decided to head home that night, so when the kids headed to bed (around midnight), we loaded up the car and hit the road.
We made it home and crawled into bed around 2 a.m. We were exhausted from our full day, and both slept really well.

Flying by...

Half a year with Gracie has already passed... where did the time go? We are having so much fun watching her grow up and change daily.

Here is a comparison picture (I stole this idea from Shannon).

Gracie at 3 weeks.

Gracie at 6 months.

I also added a slide show to my blog - in the top right hand corner - of my 50 favorite pictures from her first 6 months. Enjoy!

Tis the season...

...to be busy!

To those of you who are new to our blog, welcome. I have been a little delinquent with my postings this month. It seems that every day there has been something happening that would make for an interesting blog update, but that also means that we have been busier than usual making it more difficult to keep up with regular postings. I am very much looking forward to the next few days of Christmas celebrations, but am also looking forward to the remainder of the week - with Merrick home on vacation, and us getting to spend time together as well as getting caught up on little projects around our home (blog updates being one of those "projects").

For now, here is a quick pictorial look at what this month has been like for us...

December 11 & 12:
We made back-to-back trips over the hill to Newberg to see Kyler and Ella's Christmas performances. Kyler is attending Veritas school, and his program was in Bauman Auditorium at GFU. It was a fun concert because the whole school (K-12) performed in various choir groupings... we got a taste of the little kids singing as well as the very good concert choir that wrapped up the evening with their performance. It was fun too because we met my grandparents at the manor and they joined us for the concert. Ella's performance was much different. She is attending Open Bible, and her class did a Christmas pageant. It was the typical, but extremely well done preschool pageant - a Mary & Joseph, lots of little angels, and stable animals... Ella was "sheep #1" and she had a very sweet speaking part: "We the sheep with our curly horns gave our wool to keep him warm." She did great, and in our opinions, stole the show!

This isn't the best picture, but Ella is in the middle of the shot, just above and slightly to the left of the man with the bald head

I saw daddy kissing Gracie-Claus... Grace dressed up for Ella's show... more Gracie-Claus pictures to come.

December 15:
We spent Saturday with the Diefs! They came out for a day of cookies, shopping, food and zoo lights. Fun, fun, fun... Well, the first part of the day went as planned. The cookies turned out great. The kids seemed to enjoy the rolling, cutting, baking, frosting, decorating, and EATING!

Scott and Brennan rolling & cutting

Brennan, Ella and Kyler decorating

The finished cookies - man were they tasty!

Cookies might have been a success, but the rest of the day's plans sort of fell apart on us. The Diefs left the kiddos here with us while they did a bit of Christmas shopping. Our neighbor kids came over to play for a while, which is perfect because those three kids are about the exact same ages as the three Diefs. When Megan and Scott came home we all packed up and headed to the Tanasbourne Spaghetti Factory. It was early - only 5 p.m., so we didn't think we would have any trouble getting in and eating. Wrong! We waited for almost 1 & 1/2 hours to be seated (they had estimated 45 minutes). Once seated, we ordered right away thinking it would help get us out quickly, and because we were starving from waiting for so long. Well, an hour later we still didn't have our food. The kids were grumpy, the grownups were grumpy, it was not a pretty site. Evidently there was a mix up in the kitchen and something happened with our ticket. The manager came and gave us three free meals for the next time we all come, and our food came quickly after that. By the time we ate, had the free ice cream, packed up and left, it was 8:30 p.m. - three and a half hours after we had gotten there. The zoo closed at 8, so we didn't make it to zoo lights, but by then I think we all just needed to go home and relax.

December 17
On Monday my friend Shellie came in to town from Eugene. In August she had a baby, and we haven't seen her since then, so it was fun to have her come up and get together. We had lunch at Rose's Deli with Kristen, Tori, Stephanie, Shannon & Sophia, Marisa & Sydney, Shellie & Landen and Kim & Baylie. It was 7 of the 13 Hancock St. House girls... and four babies. We were missing Mandy, Beth, Dee, Faith, Shara and Hannah, but half was pretty good! We went back to Shannon's to hang out for the afternoon. It was so fun to see everyone. Wish the other 6 could have been there too!

Shellie and Landen - he is such a little man. It is fun to have another little boy in the group since there are so many girls.

Landen & Sophia

December 18
This week has been pretty low-key for us. Merrick has been working a lot, trying to get things done before his "Christmas break" and I have been running around trying to finish up Christmas shopping. Our evenings have been packed with many episodes of the 5th season of "24" which we just borrowed from the library. We only have 7 days to finish all 24 episodes, so we have been watching 3 or 4 each night. Since Merrick doesn't spend all day with her, he loves this night time to snuggle on the couch. This is what it looked like tonight... I love that her little mouth is hanging open.

December 19

On Wednesday I had a hair cut! I was so tired of the old style, that I needed a change. I saw Rachelle (who has been cutting my hair for about 5 years - I would highly recommend her!) and she cut off about 8 inches. It is completely different and feels nice and healthy again. Since I can't take Gracie with me to those appointments, I left her with Marisa. It is so nice to have friends who live close and are willing to watch your baby. Merrick met me there after work, and we had dinner with them.

December 20

On Thursday Shannon and I headed over to Melissa's house for the afternoon. She had minor surgery on her foot, but was alone and all couped up, so we took our "play group" to her house.

The girls both did so great. They played together on the floor for most of the time.

"I am going to get that binky..."

I did it! (but mom gave it right back)

The reason I didn't really like this little dog... He just wouldn't leave me alone.

December 21

Gracie's 6-month check up was on Friday. Everything looks great. She is right on track developmentally. She dropped in the weight percentile again, but she is still growing and gaining, so the doctor isn't too worried.

Weight: 11 pounds 14 ounces (5th %)
Height: 24 1/4 inches (10th %)
Head circumference: 42 1/2 centimeters (50th %)

For most kids a rubber ducky is a bath toy, but since she mostly takes showers, she plays with her duckies on the living room floor.

December 22
On Saturday morning Gracie had her first taste of solid foods! She started with rice cereal and really seemed to enjoy it. Most dribbled down her face, but she kept opening her mouth and trying to eat it. She loved the spoon, and did grab that a few times. Eating will be a learning process for her, but I think she is going to like this new phase.

Oh, what's this?

Hmmmm... interesting

Let me help!

I just want to hold the spoon.

Nice and full!