Brecken and Lola

Apologies for the delay. Between the nasty bug we caught late last week and a computer hiccup, our blog schedule was derailed a bit... but now we're back! Enjoy...

Mama's New Lens

Today my new 85mm f/1.8 lens arrived! I was so excited to try it that I snapped a few shots of Brecken as soon as it was out of the packaging. So far I love it, but can't wait until the weather clears up so that I have more natural light to work with. Just a warning, you can expect a lot more pix to come! :-)

Sitting Upright

 For about the past week, Brecken has been starting to sit upright! He's still a bit wobbly, but catching on quick. Yet another big and exciting milestone!

Is he handsome, or what??

Happy Hour With The Koellermeiers

While in the Tri-Cities for Christmas, we got together with our good friends, the Koellermeiers, whom the Schwenks have known for many years. It was so great to see them and catch up!

Judy and Brecken

Lar and Brecken

Jeff and Brian

Your Daily Dose...

One a side note, Brecken (officially) rolled over today! We've known he's had it in him for some time now, but today he actually took the plunge... three times in a row. We're so proud of our little bear!!!

Pears, Apples, Carrots... Oh My!

One of the fellow PEPS Mommy's had the best idea; to make a ton of homemade baby food together that we could take home and freeze now that most of us are starting our little ones on solids (Brecken = soon, but not quite yet). So we each went out and bought $20 worth of a specific organic fruit or veggie, and at our PEPS meeting we prepared them and distributed among the group. It was genius! The kiddos will be set with all the pureed organic butternut squash, apples, pears, lentils, zucchini, carrots, peas, and yams for many months to come. Did I mention this was genius??

Just look at all those COLORS!

And now for your much anticipated Brecken photo of the day...

New Years at the Cabin

This year we decided to celebrate New Years with some friends up at the cabin in rural Idaho. Little did we know what an adventure we were in for! As we headed closer and closer to the cabin, Brian was super bummed because it appeared that there wouldn't be enough snow for snowmobiling. Well that soon changed when we turned onto the main drive towards the cabin and we were faced with over two feet of fresh snow! Suddenly snowmobiling wasn't an issue, but getting to the cabin was. After driving the truck in as far as it could go, Brian unloaded his sled and started making his way towards the cabin, in the hopes of creating enough tracks for the truck. About 30 minutes later he returned with bad news- there were a bunch of down trees and there was no way we were going to get in with the truck. Five hours later (during which our friends, the Harsila's, showed up) there were finally enough tracks that we were comfortable sledding in without the risk of getting stuck, which was super important with the little guy on board- and not to mention our friend Brittany is preggers. Talk about lots of precious cargo! We never planned on putting Brecken on the back of a sled at such a young age, but with no other way to get him to the cabin, we suited him up in his snow clothes and strapped him on tightly to the front of me in his baby bjorn. To Brian's delight, Brecken enjoyed every minute of it as he looked around wide-eyed at everything passing by us. Boy were we relieved when we finally reached the cabin late that evening. What a night!

FINALLY arriving!

Christmas with G'Ma and G'Pa

The little bear was overheating in his bear suit!

Playing peek-a-boo with G'Pa

We're baaack!

Now that we're finally home from all of our holiday adventures, it's time for us to recap what we've been up to the past few weeks. This year Christmas was a little chaotic for us as we split the holiday with both sets of grandparents; we spent Christmas eve day with Papa and Nonni in Gig Harbor, and then drove to the Tri-cities later that evening to celebrate with G'Ma and G'Pa Schwenk and Uncle Andy and Aunt Stacey. It was quite the whirlwind, but SO worth it!! 

Let's start with pictures from Christmas at Papa and Nonni's, shall we?

Papa and Daddy showing Brecken this really COOL gift... a Mickey Mouse airplane. Anyone surprised? Didn't think so. 

Helping Papa open his gift. Yummy!

The guest of honor, my Grandma Underhill. What a wonderful treat it was to spend Christmas with her. She's truly one of the greatest (and funniest) women I know.

I love her to pieces!!

Nonni kicking our butts at Wii. Don't let the sweet face fool you!

Great Grandma Underhill and Nonni showing Brecken his bear (a gift from GGU)

Grandma U and Nonni's mom