The Holidays 2011

We had a quiet Christmas and New Years at home this year.  We feel so blessed to have Oliver in our lives now and to share this special time of year with him.  It also feels a bit bittersweet for me since my maternity leave is coming to an end and I am gearing up to go back to work.  I have cherished the time I have spent with Oliver, he has enriched my life in so many ways.  When people ask me how I have adapted to motherhood it doesn't really feel like I have had to adapt - it just feels so natural and I feel like I have been a mom for a long time already.  But Oliver makes it easy, he is such a sweet and easy going baby.  Rhett and I feel so very lucky and are so happy to have Oliver in our family!  Here are some photos from our festive December:

Spending some quality time with the girls at The Nutcracker

We think we're still hot stuff

Yay - first night with our little Christmas tree

I decided to get this photo with Santa on a whim since there was no line at Northgate mall.  Not surprised since this Santa seems to be a bit "B or C list" (lol) Doesn't he look like Vizzini from The Princess Bride?

Presents!

Oliver's favorite thing was playing with the wrapping paper

New activity center from Grandma and Grandpa!

We had some friends over for Christmas dinner and I decided to make Beef Wellington.  It was so yummy!!

Rhett and I on New Year's Eve

I made a smaller version of Beef Wellington for our New Year's Eve dinner - I am addicted to this dish!



Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday as I love being with my family and gorging on delicious food!  This year was extra special since it was our first Thanksgiving with Oliver and we also got to spend it with my brother and his family who made the long trek to Portland.  It was so fun hanging out with everyone - playing with the boys' Dance Central game, playing music, going on walks, giggling at the awful but entertaining acting at the latest Twilight movie and eating lots of food!  Thanks to my mom for hosting all of us and working so hard to always make everyone so comfortable and happy.  Thanks also to John and Iris for hosting a delicious Thanksgiving dinner!  Can't wait for next year!

My dad trying out Dance Central - I love those moments when you laugh so hard it hurts!

John and Iris the Thanksgiving hosts with the mosts

Ollie's first Thanksgiving!

The lovely table

The Han/Godino/Bickford clan

Entertainment

Solo time!

Blessed to hear Hyeonju's angelic voice

Date Night!

Rhett and I had a wonderful date night in Portland this weekend.  We decided to live it up and booked a hotel downtown.  Iris was kind enough to volunteer to take Ollie for the night with lots of help from Lia.  While it was hard to leave our little guy we knew we could not have left him in better hands.  We had a lovely dinner at the City Grill and really enjoyed getting a full night's sleep - the first time since Ollie was born!  Oliver had a wonderful time with his Auntie, Uncle and cousins!

Here are a few pics that Iris took for us:

Fall 2011

Fall is our favorite time of year and always seems to come and go in a blink of an eye.  We also love Halloween and typically get all dressed up to go out but this year we enjoyed staying home for the first time to hand out candy.  Since this was the first year in our house I wasn't sure how many trick-or-treaters to expect.  We only had about 15 kids show up most of whom were tween boys.  Note for next year that kit kats were definitely the favorite. 

 We loved the Fall colors in the trees in our yard and thought it would be a good backdrop for some family pics for our holiday card.  Here are a few of our favorites:

Mini Trips 2011

In early September Oliver and I went down to Portland for a week to visit with my parents and my sister and her family.  Unfortunately the week we visited was the hottest week of the year so we stayed indoors in the nice air conditioning for the majority of our stay.  Since I was a bit of a nervous Nellie driving long distances with Oliver, my parents were kind enough to pick us up and Rhett drove down to take us back home.  We had a great time hanging out with the family but Rhett missed Ollie so much!

Happy to be hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa's

Happy cousins!

Daddy missed Ollie so much!

Uncle John and Cousin Lia!

Grandpa and Grandma!

Ollie and Grandpa

A few weeks later Rhett and I decided to take a short trip to Port Townsend which is a cute little seaport town about 40 miles Northwest of Seattle.  I have been wanting to visit it for a long time so I was excited to finally get to check it out.  The trip there was relatively easy and fast - we drove up to Edmonds and hopped onto the Kingston Ferry and drove less than an hour up to Port Townsend.  We particularly loved driving through Port Gamble and felt as though we had been transported to the East Coast.  The photos below don't do it justice at all.  Overall the trip was nice and relaxing - we rented a cute little cottage close to the water.  The day was quite chilly though so we walked quickly through the downtown area and then took turns having massages in the evening.  We also loved a cute little breakfast place called the Courtyard Cafe - best breakfast we've had in a long time!  We will definitely go back!

Downtown Port Townsend

Port Gamble

Entering the cute little downtown area of Port Gamble

Breakfast at the Courtyard Cafe - Ollie still needs his zzzz's

Sleepy monkey