Tidbits from the last few months

Well, I forgot my camera for Thanksgiving, had food poisoning over Christmas and no excuses for the last 3 months. I just do not have a lot of pictures which is my form of capturing memories - I don't do the journal thing and my memory is beyond its years in forgetfulness - so I will do my best to catalog our happenings these last several months.
Thanksgiving favorite moment was most definitely Abby and Lily skipping through the house hand-in-hand singing, "Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me".
Christmas in CA memories are a tie between Kristi following Abby all around the house, hands reached out saying, "Hug? Hug? Hug?" or possibly when Grandpa Glen modeled his new look:
We had a small, rather pathetic snowfall, but enough to enjoy.

Eugene and I left Abby at my parents and celebrated our 11th Anniversary in downtown Portland. We stayed at the RiverPlace Hotel which was right on the waterfront. This was our view one evening.
The place was great! They knew it was our anniversary and brought us a fancy desert and anniversary card to our room - how sweet!

Then, in February, we traveled back to CA to welcome this precious little fellow into the world
Is he not one of the cutest newborns ever?

Eugene has been buried in homework once again this semester. He is not teaching, but taking 3 classes on top of his job, so that keeps him busy. Abby and I have managed to keep busy as well with things like disc golf
and creating artwork (more on that later)
Oh, I almost forgot one huge thing - Abby is potty trained! We spent almost a year "encouraging" it with every possible trick. Eating and sleeping had been such power struggles I was trying to avoid that with the toilette. However, it got to the point where we knew it was time to push and the girl practically trained overnight. Who would have thought? She stays dry through naptime and sometimes even at night! I am loving the 3 less loads of laundry a week.

Oh, and another not-so-great thing. I cut Abby's bangs. I was just so sick of her hair always being in her eyes no matter how much I tried to keep it clipped back. And I butchered them. Which is probably one reason I have not taken many pictures lately :) I was immediately sad that I "ruined" her look for a while, but so relieved to have my daughter look like a little girl and not a shih tzu puppy.

Our most recent adventure was Cora's 10th birthday party - I cannot believe she is 10 already! It seems like I just held her in the hospital. My sister made this adorable disney castle cake.
And, one of the best parts is that Paul made it home in time! He has been on military duty for so many of the girls' birthdays and holidays and this time he got to come home just a couple days before - perfect timing! And, welcome home, Paul!

Eugene and I (along with half the campus) have both been quite sick with long lasting fevers. I am on day 2 of antibiotics for a bronchial and an ear infection. Thankfully we were not sick at the same time and Eugene was great at keeping Abby busy and then house clean. My mom also came down to help one day and another day I sent Abby down to the coffee shop with a student. Thank you all for the help! I just hope Abby continues to stay healthy. But, if she does get sick, that gives me an excuse not to post for a while again, right? Ha, ha. I really do want to keep up because this is our memories on paper (or cyberspace). Until the next post - good night.