Briggen: 10 months

This was a rare occurrence where I laid Briggen on the blanket, snapped one photo, and it turned out alright! He wasn't lying still, but at least it didn't show up as a blur :)

Favorite foods: bananas, chicken, yogurt, and muffins 

What's new: "So Big", high five, blowing raspberries, drinking out of a straw, pointing at objects 

Likes: opening all drawers and cabinets, pulling DVDs off the shelf, eating paper, yelling into paper towel tubes 

Dislikes: being in the car seat at night, sitting in snow, sitting in sand

Firsts: Christmas, airplane ride trip to Hawaii, Christmas, swimming in the ocean

Briggen has been loving all types of food lately and will usually eat whatever we are eating. I am not sure how I ended up with a bib on (or how it fit around my neck), but it definitely adds to the picture! 

playing with glow sticks

his favorite activity of taking out game pieces and scattering them 

December - Christmas Season

One of my favorite months of the year! I love the Christmas festivities, time off work, and family gatherings. It made it even more fun having Briggen around to share it with us! 

We kicked off the month by baking lots of cookies to give to friends/neighbors. 

The First Friday event for December is always the Tree Lighting. We even stood in the long line to see get the free photo from Santa. Briggen didn't cry, but he was confused and slightly stunned. I was surprised when they asked if they could publish his photo for next year's advertising - he wasn't even smiling! But he looked pretty cute anyways. It was worth the free printed photo!

Tree Lighting

Briggen was very curious about the fireworks

A new event we attended this year was the Washougal Festival of Trees. We paid for the breakfast that went along with it - but it wasn't worth the money. Next year we will make our pancakes at home! The trees were amazing and made up for it though. Eah tree is decorated with a different theme and auctioned off for to raise money for charity.

Another tradition is to go to Zoo Lights at the Portland Zoo. Briggen's Great Grandma Fish joined in on the fun, which he absolutely loved.

I love these series of photos. 

Briggen loved all the lights, but he was not impressed with the tiger! 

We have had a lot of fun celebrating locally and are excited to head to Seattle soon! This year we decided not to do real tree because of the baby and because of space. So instead we have this little fake one on top of our coffee table. Next year we will hopefully be celebrating in our new house!

Christmas Tree Farm & Trans-Siberian Orchestra

On Thanksgiving weekend it's tradition to shop for a Christmas tree! Since we are spending a large portion of December in Seattle, we decided not to get a tree this year. But we didn't want to miss out on all the fun! So we went with the rest of the Fish Fam to tag along on their hunt for a tree. 

hay ride out to the tree farm

visiting the horses

love my little red-head! 

sippin' hot chocolate in the barn

After the tree hunt, we dropped off the kids at the Farm House and hired a babysitter. Then all of us went into downtown Portland for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert. It was an early Christmas gift from Mom & Dad Fish and it was amazing! Their music was even better live than on the radio. I was glad we left Briggen at home because it was very loud, lots of laser lights, and even some fire!

November

By November, life has usually slowed down a bit and we are able to enjoy more time as a family. We were lucky enough to have some nice weather at the beginning of the month. We took advantage of it by exploring a new park/waterfront by the Washougal River. We also had time for a weekend trip to Seattle. Then we ended the month with Thanksgiving dinner and some colder weather. 

We began house hunting in October, and are still searching! There have been two houses in particular that we have thought seriously about, but eventually decided against it. We know the right house is out there, we just have to find it! In the meantime, I am working on cleaning out and eliminating all of our extra "stuff". 

Sunday morning naps

Sunday matching 

exploring the Washougal River

beautiful fall colors at my parents' house

During my organizing, I came across a box of cards from over the years. The pictures below show many of the cards from my sweet grandparents. And this is definitely not all of them! I love that my grandparents (on both sides) are so thoughtful and send holiday/birthday cards. 

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving at Uncle Lance and Aunt Brandee's. We were responsible for bringing a dessert, so we made a double-tiered pumpkin cake. Brodie took on the job of frosting the cake and it turned out amazing! I can't believe this is the only picture I have from the whole Thanksgiving night!

And to end the month we visited a Christmas tree farm/attended a Christmas concert (more on that later) and snuggled up by the "fire".

Briggen: 9 months

Weight: 18 lbs 10 oz (28th %ile)

Height: 28" (26th %ile)

Head: 45cm (44th %ile)

Likes: eating food (esp applesauce and bread), playing with blocks, Where's the Ladybug?

What's new: feeding himself a bottle and pulling himself up onto furniture, picking up food with fingers

Firsts: visit to Santa, Zoo Lights, left with a teenage babysitter (!!)

As always, it required a few attempts before getting a good shot. I even put the frame on the wrong month before realizing he's only 9 months. Whoops!

The colder weather means lots of jackets, furry hats, and vests. Good thing Briggen doesn't mind, and I think he looks the cutest! 

already sporting his red and green Christmas clothes

attempting to get a good picture for Mom's yearly calendar

While we were out house hunting, we stopped at this park. It was beautiful but freezing!

at Camas Antiques

Oregon Zoo Lights