Reflections

What a decade it has been! The most defining and action packed of our lives so far. A quick recap~

2001: Greg graduates from UPS and moves to San Diego
2002: Emily visits Julie in San Diego and meets Greg, then graduates from ASU
2003: Emily moves to San Diego, we both get jobs at TSRI, Greg begins applying to Medical School, we get engaged
2004: We get married, Greg is accepted into Medical School, we move to Kansas City, and travel to South Africa
2005: Greg studies, Emily works, we have a lot of fun
2006: We find out we're moving to Florida, we find out we're pregnant, and we move to Florida. Greg works hard in the hospitals, Emily relaxes at the beach and grows a baby. And sometimes works.
2007: Ella is born! Greg begins applying to residencies, does externships in Portland, Denver and Tucson, interviews for residency programs. Emily learns the value of earplugs.
2008: Greg matches St. Joe's in Phoenix, and OHSU in Portland. We move to Phoenix. We find out we're pregnant! Ella learns to walk and talk. Greg works really hard and long hours.
2009: Quinn is born! We move to Portland. Greg works really hard, but not as long hours. Ella starts school.

We truly live a charmed life, with so much to be thankful for, living in this unfair and unpredictable world. I think I speak for all four of us by saying I hope the next decade is as fulfilling, exciting and happy as the last (but with fewer bills from the moving company!).

Happy New Year, friends and family!

So much fun...

...I just can't resist a blog dump.

We also went sledding on Christmas in Denver on Greg's childhood sledding hill, but only took our video camera. Ella found her wild side and went down by herself on her tummy about 10 times in a row.

Breckenridge

For four days before Christmas, we were lucky enough to visit Breckenridge, CO. Greg got in a couple days of skiing with his Dad and Gill, and the girls and I played in the snow and walked around town with Granny. The highlight was sledding with Ellie in fresh snow on the 23rd. So much fun, I highly recommend it!

Crawling!

Psych! Maybe next month...

Slumber Party

We had a great visit with the Freises last weekend. The three girls missed the memo about actually slumbering, but we had so much fun opening Christmas presents, having birthday cupcakes and candles for a very special almost-2-year old, and play, play, playing. Amazing how good company makes a gloomy, gray weekend speed by! Miss you guys, thanks for making the trip!

8 for 8

My mom has we 3 girls, Sarah has 2 girls, I have 2 girls, and now Becky is expecting a...GIRL! Yes, we Beckman/Jeffries women are a rare, amazing-female-offspring-producing breed. Thank god, cause what the heck would we do with a boy at this point? I am so excited to have another niece and baby cousin for Ella, Quinn, Maggie and Zoe~ but mostly thrilled for Becky and Gavin to live in the light of their baby girl!

Christmas Party

Decorating her Christmas Tree frame.

I thought these figures and cards to recognize patterns were so cool...wonder if I could make something similar? Maybe after Christmas...

Clapping after caroling with Pastor Ben. She had so much fun singing and dancing, it was adorable. Actually, all the kids had a blast, as you can see in the video below.

Christmas Party Boogie

Remembering

I wanted to document her characters, in her own words:

(L to R): Happy Guy (Grumpy Guy (see below) made him very happy, so he's happy), Farmer Girl (grows carrots and corn and other delicious vegetables), Bike Girl, Shopping Girl (buys lollipops and teddy bears wearing diapers from the shops in the town), Candy Selling Girl (sells candy hearts), Grandpa (the old Grandpa made this guy into a new grandpa).

(L to R): Grumpy Guy (He has itchy arms), ? (I'll have to ask her in the morning who this girl is, although I know she says it is a boy), Pooper Guy (no direct quotes for him, but he was her first character, always sitting on a toilet...pooping), Money Girl (She buys money with her money), and Rain Girl (splashes in the puddles in her boots when it rains).

Griswold Christmas

"We're kicking off our fun old fashioned family Christmas by heading out into the country in the old front-wheel drive sleigh to embrace the frosty majesty of the winter landscape and select that most important of Christmas symbols."

Thanksgiving

It seems so fitting that the only photo I have from Thanksgiving dinner is of the two big girls~As the day was all about them, anyways! The baby sisters nursed and slept through most of the playing and eating. I guess they'll have to make their debuts next year. We had pretty much all of the Jeffries/Kammerzell greatest hits, and one Franklin and one Murrow dish to round out the collection. It was all so delicious and nostalgic. Thanksgiving is the best holiday, all about family and togetherness and celebrating all the good in our lives. It was so great to have some (almost) family here to share the day with us, on our first Thanksgiving away from the Jeffries and Franklins. Pretty impressive to not miss a family Thanksgiving in 30 years!

Hugfest

Season 40

Sesame Street is in its 40th Season, as of two weeks ago. The newest segment, Abby Cadaby's Flying Fairy School, has been a big hit at our house. Our hand-me-down wings got a make-over, the magic wand from Grandpa is in heavy rotation, and the blocks are the perfect launching pad for "fluttering and flittering."

Self-Feed

After looking back in Ella's baby book at her eating habits at 7-8 months the other night, I realized we've been neglecting an important part of Quinn's growing up. It is hard to believe she is 7 1/2 months already, and ready for things like feeding herself cheerios. Up until now, she has been lucky to get a few tablespoons of solids every other day. Now, I'm on a mission to get her eating more regularly (another task to add to my Google calendar~housework scheduling has been the best thing for my sanity), atleast a couple times a day, and more home-prepared foods. At 22 pounds, I think it is time for some supplemental calories.

Vitamin D

Dear Maple Tree,

Thank you for shading our deck during the summer.

Thank you for looking so pretty against the rare fall blue sky. Maybe next year you could drop your leaves (and prickery pods) over your own yard.

Quinn and I toured the yard for our dose of vitamin D while Ella slept the sun away. This is our shadow at 3:30 pm. That sun plays crazy tricks up here.

Hail-Snow

Last Wednesday afternoon we had a good hailstorm...

Ella woke up from her nap to a yard blanketed with "snow." I tried to tell her it was hail. "Hail-snow" was our compromise.

"It snowed!!! Now is it going to be Christmas?"

Seven months

Sitting very well now, rarely falls over. When she does topple, it is usually from reaching for toys.

We usually have some time in the afternoons together while Ella sleeps, and she has fallen in love with playing "catch" with the O ball. I bounce it to her, she eventually grabs it, then flails her arm around until it flings off her fingers. And I fetch. Repeat.

Ella's old favorite game, spinning balls on a mirror. We've only done it once so far because I kind of forgot about it, but she loved watching the balls spin around and reached out to try and catch them as the zoomed around. Definitely going to do more of this.

At seven months, Quinn:

Weighs >21 lbs. 6 oz. (her weight at 6 months plus 10 days)
Sleeps 3 times a day, and wakes usually once to eat in the night.
Is an early riser, usually between 5 and 6 am. On the plus side, we get to watch the sunrise together every morning.
Loves to play with Ella's pegs, especially if we make her a "spiky" ball by putting one peg in each hole of a wiffle ball. This keeps her busy for a while as she pulls one out at a time, sucks on it a while, then pulls out another.
Still trying to get the hang of eating solid food. She seems to like the flavor most nights, but spits alot out, and has some issues with digestion. She eats some kind of fruit maybe 4 nights a week at this point.
Has two teeth!
Is quite the talker, starting to make more consonant sounds, razzing, and squealing.
Pushing up onto all fours, hoping to be able to hold up her belly so she can crawl after Sister.
Is finally interested in the "bucket of toys," holds her attention for ten minutes or so.
Is an excitable, happy, and easy going little girl

Another Walk

G-Ma and Papa were here last week. We had a great time celebrating Halloween with them, eating at Pok Pok, and doing some more touristy things we missed during their visit in the summer. On Sunday, we went for a beautiful walk in the Arboretum. It was a foggy, foggy morning, but during our walk, it all burned off and became the most beautiful, sunny, fall day.