Leavenworth

Jace wasn't so sure about this "Santa."

"You sit on a throne of lies!"

Waiting in the bitter cold for the Christmas lighting ceremony to start

We finally made it to Leavenworth! I've been wanting to go since we moved here last fall, but we wanted to wait for the holiday season, and I was too pregnant to go last year.  Leavenworth is a Bavarian-themed town nestled in the snowy mountains about two hours from our house. We were told Christmas is a great time to head out there, because the town goes all out. It definitely did not disappoint!

The drive was absolutely beautiful, with the fir trees covered in snow and icicles; a literal Winter Wonderland. I love all the seasons, especially when the leaves change in the fall, but snow-covered mountains are my happy place. I was in heaven once we hit the pass.

The town itself is pretty small and very German. Bratwursts are a big deal there, as is alcohol (we did not partake of either). But we still had so much fun exploring the snowy streets, looking through antique shops and European bakeries. We bought a loaf of cinnamon bread from The Danish Bakery, in honor of my people. Apparently, it's "World Famous." We'll see. And we also found the coolest little shop where we bought my parents' Christmas gift. That's all I can say for now, but Colt and I were both pretty impressed, and that's saying a lot because Colt is not an easily impressed sort of guy (luckily, I'm super impressive, which is why we are married).

We stopped for dinner at a tasty burger joint, where JJ ate more of my cheeseburger than I did. He did great all day; we carried him around and he just took it all in! He wants to be part of everything we do, and I love it. He's our little buddy.

 Afterwards, we headed to the main street gazebo to enjoy the town Christmas lighting ceremony. They do it every weekend in December, and the whole town is covered in Christmas lights. Jace was getting a little cranky at that point because he hadn't taken an afternoon nap (too much to see!), but once the lights came on, he was captivated. 

I'm thrilled we made it to the snow and to Leavenworth this year. I had such a good time with my boys. I couldn't stop taking pictures because my heart hurt a little when I looked at them together. I love them both so much. I'm so lucky I get to spend all of my time and all of my Christmases with these two. 

What Have I Become?

I used to be a nice girl. But, after giving my husband a purple nurple, snatching his glasses off his face, and twirling them above my head like a lasso as I danced gleefully around the living room, I realized it might be time for some introspective soul searching. What have I become? If you need me, I'll be taking a long hard look at myself in the mirror.

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10 Months on Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! Today also happens to be Jace's 10 month mark. We're waiting for him to wake up from his nap before we start dinner, so I thought I'd take the opportunity and post a bit about this juicy little turkey! At 10 months, Jace:

-Flew on an airplane for the first time. I went to the ASHA conference in Denver, where Colt's parents still live. So we made it a family adventure to visit Grammy and Grampy! Colt's sister Kristy also made the trip with her two little ones, so Jace got to meet his cousins, Ethan and Sydney, for the first time. He LOVED them, and they tolerated him. ;)

-Has two little teethers! His bottom fronts. The first one appeared while we were visiting Grammy. 

-Loves the Pixar lamp at the beginning of Nemo (and Nemo itself, of course).

-Is just coming off a hard week. In addition to teething, he spiked a 102.9 degree temperature and was feeling super crummy. We thought he had the flu, but it turned out to be roseola. He was really sick, and it was hard to see him so out of sorts. He's just now starting to get back to his normal, cheerful self. 

-Throws his ball with two hands overhead, crawls and stands like a maniac, and has developed the delightful habit of producing ear-splitting shrieks when he's unhappy, hungry, wants to be put down, or, you know, if he just feels like it. So screamy.

-You know how you can take your finger and move it up and down really fast over your lips while you're vocalizing and make funny sounds? I don't know what it's called, but Jace has started to do that. And he does the same same thing to his ears (minus the silly sound effects). It's quite cute.

We sure love our little buggy. We were going to head to Yakima for Thanksgiving, but then all the kids got sick, so the parents agreed it would be best to remain in our respective locales and not re-infect each other's children. So we are having our very first Thanksgiving at home! We watched the Macey's parade (which really is a gross display of consumerism run amok, but JJ liked the balloons), turned on the Blindside, cooked up a storm, and decided to buck tradition and get a ham instead of a turkey. We miss being with our family, but Thanksgiving at home is pretty awesome too.

Happy Halloween

 

From our little monster to yours!

He was a little afraid of the pumpkin.

9 Months

Holy Smokes, Batman! Where did my little baby go? I know I say the time is racing in literally every post, but honestly, this month was the fastest yet. I think it's because so many things have happened developmentally that make JJ seem so much older. This weekend, we hit up the pumpkin patch for a second time (because why not?) and snapped a couple of pictures before church, so I decided to use those photos instead of snapping a bunch of new ones today. Don't stress, Mimi and Grammy-he looks the same today as he did this weekend. ;) At nine months, our sweet, smiley, social butterfly of a JJ is...




-Clapping his hands! So cute
-Saying "mamama" when he cries, reaches for me, or pulls on my legs. He only says this to me, so I'm counting it as an intentional first word. I'm the Mama! -Crawling, standing (while holding onto something) and bear-walking like crazy. He follows us everywhere...even to the bathroom. A couple minutes of privacy? Not on JJ's watch!
-Feeding himself. He's been eating solids for awhile, but I spoon-feed him the soft stuff, like applesauce, and the foods we put in front of him never seemed to motivate him enough to feed himself. That is, until we cut up some cheese pizza from Costco and let him loose. He went to town and never looked back. He also loves brie cheese, naan, any Mexican food, eggs and potato hash, and green smoothies. And he loves drinking from the same cups Colt and I use.
-Working on his game-he loves to catch his little basketball when I toss it to him. He rolls and pushes it around the living room, chases after it, picks it up, and holds it above his head like a champ.
-A huge fan of the vacuum. Whenever we pull it out, he squeals with delight and stares at it until we turn it on. Then he follows us all over the apartment screaming joyfully at it. He does the same thing when we turn on the blender. Weirdo.
-Playing "hide-and-seek" and "tag." He loves to chase and be chased (although, when we're chasing him, he stops and turns around every couple of crawls forward to make sure we're still coming), and he loves to find me when I hide.
-Picking up quirky habits, like doing these short, barking, little laughs. He puts his entire body into it. Sometimes he stares at me while he does it, like he's trying to make me laugh, but other times, out of nowhere, I'll hear "HA! HA!" from the backseat while we're driving somewhere. Cracks me up.
-"Dancing." He grooves to LMFAO's Party Rock Anthem by shaking his head and shoulders from side to side. He's a bit of a Fleet Foxes fan. Also, he will sometimes sing (i.e. yell) along with me when I'm singing or have the music turned up loud.
-Very interested in his books. He loves to be read to, and he's started crawling over to where we keep his books, pulling a couple onto his lap, and trying to open them and turn the pages by himself. The bookworm inside me weeps happy tears whenever this happens.
-Making friends wherever he goes. He LOVES to smile at anyone and everyone, and he turns his whole body around in the grocery cart to watch for people coming from the other direction. He's just recently started to express interest in other babies. When he hears a baby cry or yell, he looks around and calls back to them. And at church yesterday, he spent the entire third hour following another little baby around, trying to touch her dress and pat her face. It's so fun to watch, but I honestly have no idea where this little extrovert came from. Colt and I have both always been more on the reserved side, since we were tiny things.  Jace is a bit of a hop-out-of kin, but I love it. 

Creepy-Crawly

Jace has been super close to crawling for a couple of weeks now, able to move his hands and knees forward once or twice before collapsing onto his tummy. But as of today, he's officially got it figured out. He won't really crawl to Colt or to me; if we hold out our arms and encourage him to "come to mama," he acts like he's forgotten how to crawl and just lays on his tummy and whines for us to pick him up. Ha! But if we slide our phones several feet in front of him...you better believe he'll scurry on over there quick as a cricket to pick it up and stick it in his mouth. He's also super motivated by the lap-top we use to stream Netflix onto our TV. That's where he's headed in this clip. Despite our best efforts, he's become a tech-baby. *sigh* But we've got ourselves a little creepy-crawly, just in time for Halloween!

The Plessmans Go Pumpkin Patchin'

'Tis the season! We met up with our friends Rusty, Jennica, and Henry at a fun little pumpkin farm today. We came at a great time: just after the early afternooners, and right before most people were home from work.  It wasn't overcrowded, and since we decided to go before October 25th this year, there were plenty of non-rotten pumpkins left in the patch! You know what they say: the early bird gets the gourd (or something to that effect). We caught the last hay-ride of the day, took a peek at the petting zoo, and scoured the fields in search of the perfect pumpkins. I love picking out pumpkins and Christmas trees; I'm very particular, and very weird. But eventually, we found a few worthy candidates to take home with us. Mission accomplished! It was kind of windy, so try to ignore my crazy hair and goobery bangs. 

I adore the fall. I always have, even before I owned a pair of Uggs. And I don't even drink pumpkin-spice lattes, so you know the love is real.