Happy 32nd Birthday Cory and Tyson

Happy Birthday Guys!

Cory and Tyson at 6 months old! It's probably hard for their parents to believe that 32 years ago their twin boys were born and how quickly life that they knew was changed forever. Oh the stories that the family has on these two and the shenanigans that they got into and continue to do. Everyone is so very proud for both of your accomplishments. We love you guys!

This was Cory on his 1st birthday at his Grammys house.

I'm not sure what Cory is doing in this picture, either waving or blocking the sun, but we have this little outfit that he is wearing and it's hard to believe that this 6'3 man was ever this little! I guess we all have to grow up sometime but at least we can still be kids at heart!

Vacation Week

What a busy and fun week we have had so far. On Monday Cory and I went up to Vancouver B.C. to watch the Vancouver Canucks play. That is hockey for those of you who don't know. It was a blast. I had never been to an NHL game before so I was in for a treat. It was an incredible game. We saw a few fights and it went into OT. The Canucks and it was a blast! Before the game we checked out the team store and purchased some goodies. We got Alyssa a little sippy cup and a jersey. I love it up there! I can't wait to get Alyssa her passport and take her up there possibly this summer and go to some of our favorite places and the aquarium. They have beluga whales up there that are fabulous!
When we were gone Alyssa's Grandma Gail watched her and they had some good "girl time" together.

When we returned we had a busy time getting everything ready for Thanksgiving dinner. We had it at our house this year and had the family over. It was a good time although not everyone was able to be there that we wanted. We got to talk with Alyssa's Aunt Mandy that morning on the computer so they could see each other. I have enjoyed doing this a lot it makes it so nice for the two of us to be able to see the kids that way. Cory deep fried two turkeys and they were FABULOUS! They were the most moist turkeys that I think I can say I have ever had. Everyone had a great time of football and great food. Alyssa was also the life of the party. Since her 9 month checkup we have been pretty much giving her everything that we eat for meals. She got a turkey and sweet potato dinner, and for dessert she got my homemade pumpkin cheesecake. Which she LOVED!!!

On Friday my mom, Cory's mom and I put up the Christmas tree and decorations while the men put up the outside lights. It was great we listened to Christmas music had our coffee, chatted, and decorated. Yeah Cory and I are lame we have a fake tree. The both of us must be meant for each other, because we love having one and sitting by the fire around it but we hate the mess! Cory and I also were able to go out and get all of Alyssa's Christmas shopping done!

Saturday my parent's headed home after they took us all out for breakfast. Thank you mom and dad! We then headed to Woodinville to the Hanna Anderson Outlet. I needed to get Alyssa a snow outfit because we are going to be going to Leavenworth with some friends at Christmas for a few days. This was a huge mistake! We went there and the Oshkosh store and they had fantastic sales. We got her the snow outfit along with several others.

Alyssa still isn't crawling but she is trying her hardest. I really think it will be any day now. She's getting up on all fours and even moving a few steps but than falling back down frustrated. She has a fifth tooth coming in and has a very hard bite! She amazes me day after day and I am so blessed for such a wonderful little girl!

Here are some more pictures from our vacation week.

All I have to say is.....

9 month check up

Last night we went to one of our favorite Italian restaurants with some friends of ours. As always it was fabulous. If anyone lives up in the Lake Stevens area you have to try Luca's, it's the best. We have been trying for over a year to get together with these friends for dinner here. We wanted to go on a Tuesday because all of their wine is half off and all of us really enjoy vino! I was a little nervous because we didn't go until 7pm which is about Alyssa's bedtime. She had gone down for a late nap and she did fabulous! She was in the best of spirits, surprisingly enough since she cried during the long walk we took her on before dinner. She was loving Doug's watch and kept trying to pull it off of him. My little girl loves jewelry! The best part of the night though was when the waitress was pouring some wine or water across the table and Alyssa put her hand on the waitress's butt! It was hilarious, everyone was laughing.

Wednesday Alyssa had her 9 month check up. She is 21.15 lbs, Height 27.5 & HC is 18. She got another shot which she did pretty good through, and was just going crazy talking with the nurse. The doctor told me to start letting her feed herself which I am having a hard time doing. It makes such a mess!!! I am going to give it a try. I am also going to start feeding her more adult food. That sounds funny, but more food that Cory and I eat. We gave her some pizza which she loved, ham, chicken, avocado she pretty much isn't a picky eater so far. Hopefully it stays that way because our house is not a restaurant!!

I gave her one of her Christmas presents early the other day that I had got her. It's a little colorful bike that you scoot on and you can have the handle come up on it and push it to be able to practice walking. She can stand and push it but she slides to the side and falls over with it. So she will definitely need to practice with that one and she enjoys sitting on it but hasn't figured out how to push it yet. She really enjoys it when you push her around on it though, she gets laughing pretty hard. I have to tell her to breathe!

Cory and I are headed up to Vancouver B.C. on Monday to celebrate Cory's birthday. We are going to go to the Vancouver Canucks game. I am pretty excited because it is my first NHL game and it will be a night alone! Than we have a busy week with family arriving and getting ready for Thanksgiving.

My first Pho

Yesterday Cory and I took Harley in to get his bath and we decided to go out to lunch. We went to one of our favorite restaurants called "Pho." For those of you who do not know what Pho is, it is a Vietnamese soup. It is fabulous especially on a cold day or if you are coming down with a cold. They brought us a little bowl for Alyssa. At first I wasn't going to give her any but then I had second thoughts. I put a little broth into her bowl along with a piece of chicken and some bean sprouts. She loved it. She gobbled it all up! It was fun to watch her. Especially with the ice water. I think she enjoyed that just because it felt good on her mouth but she drank it anyways. I'm glad she enjoyed it because I am sure she will be going back a lot especially since it's one of our favorite restaurants and it's so family oriented.

Oh the funny sounds I make.....

Here is another video of Alyssa making her many sounds. She just loves to use that voice!!! I even think I got her saying "mama"
Well, Harley had to go to the vet today to get an update on his shots. We found some disappointing news. He is overweight, not by a lot I think Cory said it was 5lbs. So much to his disgust there will be no more boneless ribeyes for him and to think of all the goodies he would be getting since the holidays are just around the corner. I also need to exercise him more but with the weather so bad and neither one of us liking to be out in the rain I don't know what I will do. Maybe just take him to doggie daycare more so he can get some extra exercise.

Mama!

Well Little One has now started to say "mama." It makes me smile every time that she says it. She will get the biggest smile on her face and just start talking. She has somewhat stopped saying "dada." I think Cory is a little sad by this. She continues to LOVE her walker and goes crazy in it. She tries to chase Harley around but gets stuck once she hits the carpet.

We were able to go outside and play for a little while this weekend. The weather seemed to be on our side so we took advantage. Alyssa was able to walk all around on the patio and Harley got some fresh air as well. I'm so looking forward to her being able to walk. She sat in her walker tonight in the kitchen and watched me make dinner. She was so curious about everything. I actually can't wait until she is old enough to help me make it. Hopefully she will enjoy doing so.

Tomorrow we have an exciting day. We are going to our music class at Gymboree. I can't wait to see what it is all about and hopefully she really enjoys it. I don't know anyone who has actually attended these classes so it will be interesting.

Here I come!!!!

So after much thought I broke down and picked up a walker for Alyssa. It's not that I was against it but didn't really think it would be that big of an item. Boy was I wrong. From the moment I put her in it she has LOVED it. It has been the best thirty bucks I have spent in a very long time. I hate to say it and it kills me but for once and I say once my mom was right. Sorry mom! Alyssa didn't even need to be shown how to use it, she just took off!

You don't see it in this video but she gets so excited while walking in it. She even chased Harley but it all stopped when she hit the carpet. Just one more reason for us to get the hardwood floors that I want. She walked up to the sliding glass door and could see her reflection and started talking to herself in the door and waved. It was honestly the cutest thing ever. Although I think everything she does is absolutely adorable. I also realized that it's about time I started childproofing the cabinets and doors. She went up to one and tried to open it and although she couldn't it will happen with time. The other thing that she has found and is fascinated with is Harley's food. Ugh!!!

Seeing Great Great Uncle George

After taking my parents to the train station the other day we decided to head over to Cory's Great Uncle George's. He hadn't seen Alyssa for a long time and was wanting to see her. So we picked up some lunch and headed over. Here are some good pictures from our day there.

Alyssa loved that she was able to play with the remote. I never let her play with ours because with all the things we have hooked up I'm afraid she is going to push something and I'm never going to be able to get the t.v. back on! So she was enjoying pushing the buttons and turning off the football game. George is a HUGE Husky fan, but I don't hold that against him.

This one is probably my favorite picture of them. They look great together!

Halloween, Hockey and Dadada

For Halloween we decided it would be fun to take Alyssa to her first hockey game. So we had all the grandparents over for a pizza party and fun Halloween appetizers that Grandma Gail made. It was a lot of fun to get everyone together and catch up. We headed to the arena and got ready to enter and realized that the game didn't actually start until 7:30. We thought it was a 7pm game time. So we hung out out front enjoying the company and the fresh air. OK, really there wasn't anything else to do besides go get a drink and Alyssa isn't quite old enough yet. She did however enjoy dancing on the top of the wall.

I was excited to enter her in a costume contest or something. Mistake number 1 was assuming that someone would tell you that they would have one while entering the doors or at least announce it. So after the first period, gosh I hope that's what they are called, a bunch of people dressed up came out onto the ice for the contest. So now I'm annoyed. Not to be biased or anything but Alyssa was the cutest one there. I was happy that another baby who was dressed as a turtle got it. People in our section did say "give it to the bee" or maybe that was me. Hmm....Mistake number 2 was assuming that would be it as far as the contests go. We ended up leaving after the second period because it was a little after 9pm and Alyssa was starting to get fussy and wanted to go to bed. Especially since it was way past her bedtime. We talked with Cory's parent's, who stayed to finish watching the game, and they informed us that the camera panned the crowd and I guess did somewhat of another contest and the turtle baby won another prize! I guess we should have asked someone but I did assume that it would be announced or something but I guess that's what I get for assuming because we all know what happens when you do that! It was a great time even if we didn't get her entered into the contest there will be several more Halloween's to come.

So about a week or so ago Alyssa started saying "dadadada" and I just didn't pay too much attention to it I guess because it wasn't too clear and thought it was maybe my imagination. Now she is definitely saying it. My parents and Cory both heard it. I think Cory was very excited to hear this. They are very cute together. They kind of have their own language going on. I think I might be in trouble later down the road!

Although Alyssa and Nolan weren't able to spend Halloween together we still got some pictures of him in his outfit and he was/is the cutest Tigger I have seen.