Grace's 3 Year Pictures

**Not sure why there is a blue tint to some of these!**

Twinkle Twinkle

"Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"
Lead Vocalist: Grace
Dance/Choreography: Ella


*My camera died before all of the ABC's were recorded. For a performance of the ABC's see a few posts prior.

Wow, does time fly!

So it is now mid-August and I'm sitting here wondering where the summer has gone! I guess time does fly when you're having fun, and as a family we've had plenty of it over the past few months. In June Nate and I took a week long trip to the Florida Keys for our anniversary. Nana and Papa came down to watch the girls, and though this was the longest time we've ever been away from them, it honestly wasn't that hard leaving knowing they were in good hands! We had an amazing time escaping from the realities of work and parenthood together. I really think Nate figured out how to relax on this trip-we returned feeling refreshed and reconnected!

Once we came back the girls and I drove up to CT with my parents so that I could attend my 10 year hs reunion. I had a blast reconnecting with old friends and catching up with everyone.

After we returned from CT we flew out to OR for Geoff and Michelle's wedding. The girls and Nate were both in the bridal party. The girls were absolutely adorable in their orange dresses. It was a beautiful outdoor wedding in Ellensburg, WA. We stayed for 12 days so in addition to the wedding we were able to spend a few days at John and Anna's house. It was great to be able to reconnect with them, and we met cousin Bryant for the first time-what an amazing bundle of joy! Grace and Ella appreciated cousin Aubrey and all her neat toys. It was really cool to see all of them play and interact together.

From J&A's we went to Grandma Gladys'beach house. The girls loved being on the beach and we've finally reached the age, where eating sand isn't a constant temptation! We thoroughly enjoyed our time at Cannon Beach-what a beautiful place! And once back in Portland, thanks to our friend Dan, I even got to wake board for the first time! I loved it...now Nate's idea of getting a boat at some point doesn't sound like such a bad idea! Overall we had a great time with family and friends in Oregon, and look forward to our next visit.

And finally just last week we celebrated Grace's 3rd birthday! We kept it pretty low key compared to the party we had last year, and just had a family party at home. Nana was in town so that made it all the more special. Grace got lots of great gifts from family and friends and enjoyed every minute of the celebration! On Grace's actual birthday, instead of going to a studio to have her 3 yr pictures taken, we met our very talented photographer friend Amaree at the park. She captured some great photos of Grace! I'll post some of those soon.

Whewww...So here we are, enjoying some down time at home and getting back into somewhat of a routine. As of right now, no more traveling for a little bit-except for a possible family camping trip to the mts. this fall. Enjoy the captured moments from our blur of activity over the past few months!

Pretty Girls

Getting dressed this morning was a bit of a process. When I went upstairs to get the girl's clothes Grace had gotten ahold of the camera and had taken this first picture of herself! Amazing she got Ella in the background too! The last two are ones I ended up taking of the girls being silly.

ABC's

Spring '09

I can't believe Easter has already come and gone! We've had a busy couple months. The girls and I flew up to CT to surprise my dad for his birthday. He had no idea we were coming, so it truly was a great surprise. We had a great time with family, but mostly with nana and papa-the girls just can't get enough of them! (Which is great for me, because I always get a nice break when they're around)

Once back from CT we headed to the beach for our friend Lilly's 1st birthday. Becky put on a great party, so great we ended up deciding to spend the night, even though we didn't plan to! The toddler bounce house was a hit with the girls-especially Ella, she loved it! That Sunday we all went to the aquarium, which was a great experience for all! According to Grace her favorite things were the turtles and the fish.

Easter weekend was nice. Nate was able to take Saturday off from work, so we spent the whole weekend together as a family.
I read Grace the story of Jesus in the garden, on the cross, and his ressurection from her children's Bible-kind of a lot for a two year old to take in, but she sat and listened. When Gavin came over Saturday night to babysit, she got her Bible out, climbed up on his lap, and proceeded to tell him the whole story-at least from her perspective! Amazing.
On Sunday the four of us and Gav went to our good friends the Pease's for dinner and an Easter egg hunt! It was nice to have a big dinner and relax with friends.

Ella Joy

I realized in my last post that the only picture of Ella was of her crying...which is actually a really rare occasion! She is so spunking and happy all the time that its infectious-we really just want to kiss and hug her all the time (too bad she doesn't ever sit still long enough for that to happen much)!

January/February

Hi everyone....just wanted to fill you in on what we've been up to the past few months. Here's a look through some pictures:





We've had two different snow storms (rare for down here). The girls, and Nate have had fun playing out in the snow-except for Ella who refused to keep her mittens on, and consequently got very cold hands!



Aunt Shana came to visit! The girls loved having an extra playmate and I really enjoyed catching up on all our "girl talk"...unfortunately she got the 24 hour stomach bug that we (and pretty much everyone else we know) had two weeks prior. Sorry Shana! :(


My parent's were down here for Valentines weekend, so Nate and I were able to go away for a night-a first since Ella's been born!

Catching Up....

With Thanksgiving, Ella's 1st birthday, Christmas, and New Years already come and gone I guess I have a bit of catching up to do!

I hosted my first Thanksgiving this year and though it was a small crowd (our good friends Reed and Kelsey came over) we made enough food for about 10 people! Aside from the oven getting accidently turned off, pushing our turkey time back a few hours, everything was great and I must say (thanks to Kelsey and myself) the food was delicious!

Our baby girl, Ella (who is now walking around everywhere!)turned 1 on December 8th. The week of her birthday both girls were on antibiotics for ear infections. So with everyone feeling a bit under the weather we decided to just celebrate with the four of us. It seemed a bit uneventful, but was still fun watching her (and Grace)with the cake and presents!

We had a great time in CT for Christmas this year! For the first time in a while all of the Coombs kids were home. Ryan, Rhonda, Maddox, and Jacobi were all there from CA, so with a house full of four toddler girls there was never a dull moment! (for great pictures check out coombsinanutshell.blogspot.com)It's holidays like this that make me wish we all lived closer to one another. Thankfully, we do have Gav around and are anxiously waiting for him to get back into town!

Since our vacation we've had a few relaxing days (aside from some car maintance-see picture)around the house together to re-group. Just being able to ease our way back into the craziness of life has been huge for us. We've been able to reflect on the year past and are excited about what the year ahead has in store for our family, church body, and business. We serve such an awesome God and are constantly in awe of what he has blessed us with! Happy New Year everyone! Enjoy the video and pictures!


(apologies in advance for the annoying Barney music in the background and yes, our dining room has indeed transformed itself into a very short term storage space for Gavin's stuff)


Ella and Grace trying out the cake


Opening presents


Sledding in Connecticut


One of our Christmas pictures


Should I be concerned about this? My husband never ceases to amaze me...thanks for getting the heat working again!