Sophia's 4th Birthday!

Princess Sophia decided she wanted to have a princess party this year and who better to invite than Cinderella herself. She is a very talented princess who can do magic tricks, face painting and make balloon animals. She was definitely a hit with all the kids...and parents too. We were glad that Sophia's friends from school and the neighborhood could make it along with the gang from Yakima and grandparents. Now we can start getting ready for Christmas :-)

www.flickr.com stewhill6's Sophia 4th Birthday photoset

Family Room Remodel

We finally got our family room remodel under way. We took out the pellet stove and are adding in a gas fireplace surrounded by shelves/cabinets. Also are hanging the TV above the fireplace. As of today (Dec 8) the fireplace has been installed along with the tile. Also new lights have been put in. Cabinets should be done in mid January so the project should be done by end of January at the latest. Can't wait for it to be done. Will post updated pictures as we progress.

www.flickr.com stewhill6's Family Room Remodel photoset

Gotta have a sense of humor, right?

Yeah, the Huskies choked away another Apple Cup last week. Normally I'd be extremely bitter and angry but this year has been so painful and Ty is on the way out I'm trying to keep it from getting me down. This video is too funny and just proves that I'm taking it all in stride. Enjoy!

Summer 2008

I've been really lax on updating the blog over the summer. Just lots of things happening and trouble to avert. I pulled together a video of some of the highlights from the summer. Thanks for a great summer.

Austin 1st Birthday

Wow, not sure it's hit me yet that he's one already. Seems just like yesterday that he was born. Now he's one and what a great age it is. Learning to walk, curious about everything, trying to keep up with his older siblings and his first words. At the same time, it's somewhat of a bittersweet feeling. As much fun as it is to seem him grow and do new things, you know it will be the last time that you get to experience them (at least with our own children). We just try to enjoy every day with all the kiddos.

We had a small gathering to celebrate...didn't want to do anything too big and overwhelm him. He enjoyed his first piece of cake, although he didn't really know what to do with it at first. Lots of icing smeared in the hair and in the ears...a bit in the mouth too.

Happy Birthday Austin!

Go Dawgs!

As if I'm not excited enough about Husky football starting tomorrow I ran across this video today. I'm not ashamed about admitting my man-crush on Jake Locker :-)

Austin 9 months

Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'...into the future. I can't believe he's 9 months already. He's just started crawling in the last week...he crawls a lot like Niclas did, kind of sideways pushing off on the back leg and stepping with the front knee. He's eating lots of different solids and we're introducing new things as we are able.

June was a crazy month. Austin was baptized, Niclas and Sophia finished up school, we had a visit from Britney who stayed with us for a few days, we had Little Gym graduations (dance for Sophia, karate for Niclas), Niclas started t-ball and we had a soccer tournament (where for once I managed to make it thru without injury).

Hope everyone had a good 4th of July.

Niclas' 6th Birthday Party

I know, I know...I have been slackin' on keeping up the blog. Not sure where the time is going these days. Niclas turned six on 5/13 which was a Tuesday so we had a nice family pizza dinner...something mellow for a school night. For the real party, Niclas decided he wanted to go race cars at the indoor go-kart track. It worked out great as his cousins Jacob and Tyler were up from California that weekend so they were able to go to. Quentin and Carlin came over from Yakima plus Niclas' friends Miles and Brady rounded out the group of boys. Unfortunatly, another friend Anthony got pink eye the day before so he wasn't able to go. Of course Sophia and Austin were there along with Miles' sister Ava. All together, a fun bunch of kids. I found an indoor go-kart track close by that had a kids track that younger kids could drive on. They all put on their race suits and helmets and hit the track. The hit lots of other things too, mainly the walls and each other. It was fun to watch them figure out their way around the track. The first few laps they struggled with controlling the cars and mostly crashed into the walls. But after a few laps, you could seem them dial it in. There was a lot of rubbin' but as they say...rubbin's racin'! They all got two track sessions and then we had cake and ice cream in the party room. All in all, a pretty successful party. Even the adults had a chance to race on the big track after the party was over. We just might have to go back next year, if not sooner.

www.flickr.com stewhill6's Niclas 6th Birthday Party photoset

Sophia's New Bike

Sophia has been riding on Niclas' old Spider Man bike but it had gotten too small for her so it was time for her own bike. Check out the Dora bike...complete with backpack and the map so you can find your way to the troll bridge :-) She's taken to it really well and does her best to keep up with Niclas.

Skiing!

Niclas went skiing for the first time in February and we've been up again since then. He took to it pretty quickly and I think is ready to graduate from the learning slope. The ski resort has this cool new thing called the Magic Carpet that you use to go back up the hill instead of a rope tow. Wish we had these when we were learning. I think next year we'll sign up for lessons. Sophia will be four by then and hopefully she will be ready too. Would be great if we can get back into skiing again. It's been a long time.

www.flickr.com stewhill6's First Time Skiing photoset

Austin 5 Months

OK, this one is a bit late but still had to share. Check out the rockin' Bruce Lee shirt that he got from Uncle Shane and Aunt Chris! He's doing a lot of playing with his toes and rolling from side to side but still hasn't made it all the way over yet. Hopefully that will come soon.

Little Gym Ceremonies

Niclas and Sophia finished up their latest session at the Little Gym this week. They always do a show for all the parents at the end of the session to show off what they have learned. So all the kids do a set of routines showing what they have learned. If only I had the amount of energy that they do. I took some fun videos and also captured some pictures which you can see below. Next session Sophia is taking dance (tap and ballet) and Niclas is starting Karate. Ki-ya!!!

www.flickr.com stewhill6's Little Gym Ceremonies photoset

Austin 4 Months

Another month has flown by...hard to believe. He's getting to be quite the big boy. He's already in the 6-9 month clothes. He's such a happy guy and we are truly blessed. Here's some pictures of the kiddo's at 4 months old.

The Tooth Fairy

Meant to post this a couple of weeks ago but finally finding some time to do so. As I mentioned in my prior post Niclas lost his first tooth a while back. About a week and a half later he lost his 2nd tooth so we've had a couple of visits from the Tooth Fairy recently. The Tooth Fairy left a shiny $1 coin each time. Here's a picture of Niclas with the gap in his bottom teeth. Two new teeth are already coming in.

Nursemaid Elbow and a visit from the Tooth Fairy

Huh? What is Nursemaid Elbow you ask? And what does it have to do with the Tooth Fairy? Nothing other than they both happened to occur on the same day...yet another crazy day in the Hill household. To make a long story short, Niclas and Sophia were playing yesterday and somehow Sophia fell down and hurt her arm. I wasn't there but it sounded like she was in a lot of pain. Enough pain to cause Linda to call the doctor's office who feared she might have broken it (again). So Linda packed up the kids, took Niclas to a friends house and took Sophia in to get an X-Ray. On the way to the X-Ray clinic, she was much better. The pain had gone away. The technician at the clinic suspected Nursemaid Elbow which was confirmed by the doctor who Linda went to see next. Sounds like it's pretty common and really just has to do with the muscles around the elbow not being strong enough yet so the elbow can dislocate easily (no wonder she was in a lot of pain). Our speculation is that when Linda was putting her into the carseat to go get an x-ray, the elbow set back to how it should be which is why her pain went away. You can find more about it here. The doctor said it could happen again so we'll just need to be prepared for that.

As it turns out, while at his friends house, Niclas lost his first tooth. It's been loose for a while and yesterday it finally came out. The new tooth is already coming in so this is just the start. The Tooth Fairy came last night and left Niclas a shiny $1 coin under his pillow. The price of teeth has gone up a lot since the last time the Tooth Fairy visited me. I guess the Tooth Fairy understands inflation too.

Austin 3 Months

Our happy little boy is now 3 months old. His personality is really starting to come out. He's got a great smile and he's very talkative. His little coos just make you smile.

Here's the comparison pictures of the kids at 3 months.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. It was our first as a family of six (gotta include Riley) and it was very special. Austin was really our gift this year and we are thankful everyday for the happiness Niclas, Sophia and Austin give us. I took some time off before the holiday to help get things done which worked out great. We didn't feel rushed to get things done at the last minute so it was a nice two weeks off. Christmas morning was spent at our house with Mom, Claude, Janet, Jerry and Grandpa. Santa Clause brought nice gifts for everyone including a pair of Light Sabers for Niclas and a doll house for Sophia. We had an excellent breakfast before we tackled the presents under the tree. Thanks to everyone for all the gifts. Later we went to dinner at Mom & Claude's house and everyone came over again plus Summer and Mike joined. We stuffed ourselves to the brim again and enjoyed a nice evening. Our holiday wishes go out especially to Dad & Bette and Shane & Chris who weren't able to join us this year but we hope to see you all soon.

New Years was pretty quiet in the Hill house. We made homemade pizza and then stayed up for the New York New Year celebration. We also had to stay up to watch the record breaking motorcycle jump from Las Vegas and I'm thankful that Niclas hasn't asked me to buy him one yet.

Best Wishes to all for a happy 2008.

www.flickr.com stewhill6's Christmas 2008 photoset