A Very Merry Christmas!

Ashley and I cannot stop talking about how absolutely perfect our Christmas was. Having two children to share this special day with has really made it fun!

Christmas Eve day... I worked a half day and rushed home just in time to braid Caitlyn's hair, spruce myself up from work, pack the car, and we then rushed to the Christmas Eve church service. Afterwards, we rushed to Aunt Cindy's... stayed long enough to say hello, feed Ashton, change two diapers, and say good bye. We then rushed to Ash's parent's house and said hello, had a drink, opened a few presents, and said good bye. Christmas Eve has gotten to be a lot of rushing around to squeeze in family time on both sides... but Ash and I talked about it and we really wouldn't have it anyother way.

Christmas Day was amazingly relaxful and fun... and full of memories that will never be forgotten.  Caitlyn and Ashton both slept in til 9:45!!!  When we all woke up and made it downstairs, there was a special gift from my Mom to Caitlyn under the tree...Cinnabon 'roll rolls' (Cinnamon Rolls). Caitlyn opened that present first and I have NEVER seen her so excited!!! We took a break after one gift and heated up some roll rolls and fed Ashton. Afterwards, we tried hard to pry Caitlyn away from her brandnew Kitchen... then we realized we had no where to rush to so we opened up one present and let her play and then made a huge brunch, opened another present and played... then we all napped (while Dad watched basketball), woke up and opened another present and then I made the best dinner ever, we ate and then opened our stockings and then watched a movie together as a family and then hit the sack.  You're probably thinking...that doesn't sound very eventful. 

Well, you're right... and that is exactly what we enjoyed!

The whole weekend was spent doing almost the same thing... except instead of opening more presents, we simply hung out

we went for walks...

...geocached, did a lot of playing with our children,

and took a lot of naps together. 

The best part of this holiday weekend was that Ash had 5 days off to spend with us... It was so so so much fun to be able to relax and play together as a family!

I hope that everyone's Christmas was spent with the people they love, just like ours was!

A special Merry Christmas to my Dad... cause even though he says he loves being up in Alaska working... we missed him so much and can't wait to spend the Rychlinski Christmas with him home!

Merry Christmas!!!

From our Family to Yours!!!

May Your Day be Merry and Bright!

Our children are fast asleep and I am almost headed that way, but I had to share two totally precious pictures of my totally precious children! When Santa asked Caitlyn what she wanted for Christmas... she said in her softest, sweetest voice, 'peace'... and Santa said, 'don't we all!' Ashee slept through the entire visit!

The entire night she loved on her brother...

I am so blessed!

I hope that everyone reading this truly takes time to enjoy the

Reason for the Season!

'Tis the Season

We finally made time to enjoy a Pacific Northwest Favorite...

Zoolights!

Caitlyn ABSOLUTELY loved all of the lights especially the ones shaped as animals.

We didn't take many pictures because we were so busy running 'fast' then 'slow'.

Ashton's eyes may be sleepy but he actually stayed awake the entire time as he took in all of the lights and excitement!

Caitlyn loves loves loves the carousel.

So, of course, we enjoyed a ride before we headed home.

Both of our children were fast asleep before we arrived home and stayed that way until right now... I can hear Ashton babbling quietly in his crib.

8 Months

This month has been a big one for learning. He can crawl and pull himself up to his knees. He'd rather eat, eat, and eat than nurse... I supplement with formula during the day and still nurse in the morning and night.  He absolutely loves our cat, Roger... we are lucky to have such a patient cat.  He loves to be with his sister.  When he wakes from his naps, Caitlyn is the first person in his room and usually in his crib where they play for a little.  He truly is an amazing boy and his giggle is so darn contagious!  This holiday season has been so much fun with my two darling children. Happy 8 months, A.J.!

Cookies!!!

It's that time of year again... annual cookie decorating time!  What made it especially fun is that Caitlyn and Avery actually helped this year!  Their cookies were definitely the most beautiful... and by beautiful... I mean... they had the most sprinkles!

Santa made an appearance again this year and Caitlyn was scared outta her mind... but of course all she can talk about now is how Santa came and said 'ho ho ho' and how he wants cookies for his reindeer.  All the other kiddos did surprisingly well with him.

Ashton and Jackson were also in attendance this year.

They played together and watched football with the boys. 

Last year, Tiffany and I made a comment to each other about how this year our children will have doubled... at that time I couldn't even imagine how much fun having our children all so close in age would be.  It sure has made our get togethers so memorable.

2009 Christmas Sweater Party

The 4th annual Sweater Party was an absolute blast... we are so blessed to have so many friends to celebrate this time of year with. We had two categories this year for the sweater contest...

'most creative' and 'ugliest'.

Most creative went to newcomers Joni and her husband Rand!

The ugliest sweater also went to a newcomer, our newest neighbor, Gary!

Thanks to everyone for making this party so memorable each year!

(click to enlarge)

O Christmas Tree

We went hunting for our perfect tree.

Found it fairly fast and Caitlyn assisted Dad as he cut it down.

I walked behind him and wondered which was heavier...

one perfect tree

or

two children, the saw, the camera, the shoes Caitlyn didn't want to wear, and a tape measure?!?

We had a wonderful time.

Our first tree as a family of four.

Thanksgiving Recap!

We have so much to be thankful for!

This year we did almost the same thing as every year... the day started off with the annual turkey trot.

While the girls (and Steve) completed the turkey trot...

the men competed in the annual mud bowl...

and it was muddy!

After we all got cleaned up we traveled to Aunt Cindy's house for dinner.

Where we watched the kids play and play and play.

and then we traveled to Ash's parent's house

where we ate again and watched a movie.

This year was especially fun to watch my children play and enjoy the company of all our extended family. We sure missed my dad though, but we are very thankful he is the 'working man'!

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was as fun and relaxing as ours.

7 Months

Yesterday he started crawling... he totally skipped the stage where he was supposed to just be able to sit up on his own and play contently... he went straight to crawling and I know my life just got a little busier.
Ashton's favorite things:

his jumper,

Caitlyn,

his Mom and Dad,

all his home made baby foods,

eating in general,

crawling for toys,

chewing on his toys,

the seahawks... and steelers,

all the funny noises his mom makes,

when Caitlyn throws any ball in the air,

sleeping by at 8pm and waking by 7am,

laughing, and

sleeping with his face snuggled in the covers.

He is still just as happy as can be... but now he's on the move!

I never knew my heart could carry so much love...
I love love love him!

Brian, This One's For You!

Our first get together for the Steelers since our cousin Brian left...

It just wasn't the same without him...

We miss you Brian!!!

Autumn Activities

Some of our Fall Fun has included...

...hunting for rocks...

...painting rocks...

...and arranging them in a pretty pumpkin patch!

(These little Rocks are by far Caitlyn's favorite thing to play with right now.)

Caitlyn has prepared a few meals for us!

Her absolute favorite to help with is a Rychlinski friday family favorite as well.. Mini Pizzas!

We've carved many pumpkins!

Vicki and Steve took Caitlyn 'Trunk or Treating'.

Caitlyn still won't stop talking about all the cars and candy and the big truck that made her scared so she cried and then held on to Pappy so it was ok!

We've enjoyed brisk fall walks.

We've posed in our costumes...

and last but not least...

We Trick or Treated!

We made a ton of stops to see our loved ones on the way to the Newgard's house.

This year was so so so much fun watching Caitlyn and Avery go house to house and listening to Caitlyn say 'trick or treat' (toot toot) and 'thank-you' (uncoo) and 'MORE' (MOOOOOORE) while running to the next house!!!

oh yeah... and we attempted to get a picture of all four of the kiddos who were all way too intersted in the candy they just brought home.

I laugh evertime I look at this collage cause about one minute after all these were taken Caitlyn and Avery went on Sugar Mode and nothing was gonna stop them.

Thanks Tiffany for letting us celebrate the holiday with you and your absolutely adorable children.

click on any of the above collages to enlarge the pictures...

Hope you all enjoy our Rocktober as much as we did!

Happy Halloween!

Stay tuned for a ton of pictures!!!

Trick or Treating was so much fun with the Newgard gang!

Yay... this is my 200th post!

Baptisms

Ash's Mom and Sister, Vicki and Scarlet, were baptized on Sunday.

Family and friends gathered at First Lutheran Church to celebrate the joyous occasion.

Congratulations, Vicki and Scar, let your light shine!

ROCKtober Continued...

Saturday was the 2nd Annual Johnson Halloween Party!  As usual, it was a rockin' time!  Ash and I went as Fred and Wilma Flintstone (Pebbles and Bam Bam had a babysitter).  We began the night with the wheel of death... somewhere in the middle was sumo wrestling, beer pong, the wheel of death again, pole dancing, costume prizes, dancing, and the night ended with us being tucked into Bedrock by Ash's parents (our DD/babysitter... thanks so much Vicki and Steve)!

The picture collage explains it all...

I LOVE ROCKTOBER!!!

Special thanks go out to the hosts with the most... Sandy and Ian!

and to my in-laws... Thanks Vicki and Steve!

Go SEAHAWKS!

We had a totally amazing adult day last Sunday... the ONLY thing that could have made it better was if the Seahawks wouldn't have gotten their butt kicked.

Hana, Scarlet, Ashley, and I got tickets to go to a game a while back and our buddy Matt and all his buddies taught us exactly what tailgating is all about! We had an absolute blast... We ran into so many friends, played a few games, chanted and cheered. We'll definitely have to go to another game!

Thanks so much to Matt for showing us a GREAT time!

Oh... the things I do to make Ashley happy! Go Seahawks ;-)

Pumpkin Patch Pics

Between rain and wind storms this Saturday, our family ventured to the local pumpkin patch. We enjoyed the pumpkins, squash, puddles, chickens, bunnies, turkeys, mud, ponies, more pumpkins, and more rain.  Ashton was awake the entire time in the baby front sac and Caitlyn jumped over pumpkins, though puddles and mud. We had an absolute blast. This has become such a fun tradition for our family... I already look forward to next year when Caitlyn can show Ashton the ropes. 

While we were pumpkining, we were also getting our hardwood floors installed. They are half way finished and I LOVE LOVE LOVE them already!  Also... We as a family, have totally renamed the month of October to ROCKtober... cause this month totally ROCKS!!! We have been so super busy and I'll try my hardest to keep up with the blog so yuns can see what we've been up to... stayed tuned!