I am so bad...and lazy! I know there are many of you out there that follow our blog and I feel guilty for not keeping this better updated. So my New Year's Resolution is to at least try to blog once a week or so. I will try my hardest to keep this up, I promise! It's not for lack of things to talk about, believe me! It's just a motivation and will thing! (:
That being said, I will talk about what is going on currently and then provide some make-up posts after this. It is the beginning of March and we have been battling cold and flu season with a vengence. Alistair, myself and now Gillian have all been on antibiotics. Ear infections, sinus infections, pink eye and 24 hour bugs have taken one or more of us down. Somehow Seth managed to escape with "only" a 24 hour lower GI flu. I think we are on the tail end of this and will start swinging toward healthy again, I hope!
Alistair is well into his new school. He graduated out of Sorenson before Christmas and started at Bothell First Lutheran Preschool after the new year. He really likes it and they seem to do some fun stuff as well as great art projects in class. His newest exposure with this school is churchiness, more specifically Jesus. We are not church going people, per se, but we don't shy away from talking about religion or God or Jesus with him. In fact we learned about God and Heaven when Sadie died - although for the longest time it was Rob and Kevin. I was always confused when Alistair pointed out the vet when we went to the park and told me that's where Sadie is, with Kevin and Rob! I was envisioning some sort of domestic partner get away in the afterlife that took in pets! When we put up our nativity scene, that is when we started talking about Jesus. He saw the figures, I have the Willow Tree stuff, and he recognized it as similar to the figure of the mom holding the baby in our hutch my neighbors gave to me after Alistair was born (and I got to hold him finally!). I told him it was Jesus and Mary then told him who the other "players" were in the scene as well as why it was taking place. He was concerned they didn't have a hotel and what toys the baby had to play with! Thankfully he didn't question the whole Joseph/God paternity thing, I was waiting for him to pick-up on it!
So when school started, he was immersed in the world of religion and Jesus. He made the observation that many of the books are about Jesus and quipped, "Boy, you guys sure like Jesus!" He has prepared a lovely feast for Jesus with a classmate only to have to clean-up before Jesus arrived, apparently he was stuck in traffic! He has also talked up people in the drug store, asking them if they know Jesus. The woman he asked this to turned out to be the pastor's wife of Bothel First Lutheran, what are the odds?
Alistair is so chatty and sometimes shy, but once he warms up, watch out! He LOVES, LOVES, LOVES airplanes, and that is an understatement. Recently he has learned about the Spruce Goose and is now somewhat obsessed with it. Last night we realized we are about a 6 hour drive from the Spruce Goose, I believe a road trip is in our near future and it will make a good excuse to see my grandfather as well! We are very fortunate to live in the PNW with a son who loves all things aviation! We need to take him to Paine Field and Boeing up north, but otherwise he has been to the Museum of Flight (for 4 hours!) as well as had a tour of Airlift NW and their aircraft! He informed me the other day that he wants to be an Aeronautical Engineer Forest Fire Fighter who rescues people. I told him that sounded busy and he said that he would build the helicopters and then fly them to rescue people! When I was his age, I wanted to be a whale trainer at Sea World!
His health heart-wise has been great. He had his cardiology appointment at the beginning of the year and Dr. Lewin was pleased with his echo and EKG. His condition is not getting better, but it is not hindering his growth and development AT ALL and that is a really good thing! Of course we need to still be vigilant and keep an eye out for signs, but I think we won't truly have to worry about stuff until he is well into his late teen/early adult years.
Gillian is our busy little lady. She is into everything and doesn't miss anything. She is all about being with her brother and doing what her brother does. She constantly surprises us with her abilities as well as her speech and vocabulary. Of course we have Alistair's delays to compare her to, but I still feel like she is "wise beyond her years" in that she doesn't always act like an almost 2 year-old!
She is very opinionated and stubborn. She likes to choose her own socks and shoes, sometimes the rest of the wardrobe. If I want her to wear something specific, I have to just pull everything out and get her dressed without saying anything. Usually that works! She also challenges us to see if we are serious, much more than Alistair ever has. She pushes limits and buttons pretty easily sometimes! But she is so sweet and loving at the same time. She is about the cutest thing in our house, except for Alistair! She shows concern for anyone crying. Today we were at the mall and she turned herself around in her stroller and looked at me with a very concerned look and said, "Baby Crying" She will run up and hug someone crying. The other thing she will do is if I say, "Ow" really loud like after stubbing my toe and hitting my hip on the corner of the counter, she will come running from whereever in the house and kiss my leg.
She has been taking swimming at the YMCA and has taken to it very well. She's very brave and jumps into the pool or goes underwater without much thought. I have to watch her a bit more than I had to watch Alistair. She also does the Kid's Gym at the YMCA and has made a few friends in there. Gillian has a couple of friends who are little sisters of Alistairs from from the neighborhood or school. She had her first 2 birthday party invites last week and I think she enjoyed them, if nothing else but to play with someone else's toys! She is such a funny little girl!
This year we took break from our usual French Night as the Sandholms didn't come out here this winter so they weren't able to join us. Carolyn & Njord and Seth and I still wanted a reason to get away for a couple of days and decided to invite our friends Tim & Megan McDaniel to join us and get away without kids for a few nights. We headed up to Camano Island and used Njord's parent's house while they were away on a cruise. It was a beautiful weekend and was so nice to have a couple of nights without the kids. I was still getting over being sick, so being able to catch up on some sleep as well as just relax really helped my cold finally move along! 
The guys prior to the appetizer 
Us all fancied up
Our first Course: Smoked Salmon Stuffed Crab Cakes with Avocado Wasabi Tartar Sauce
Second Course: French Onion Soup
Third Course: Apricot Glazed Game Hen over Apricot and Fennel Wild Rice Stuffing with Roasted Butternut Squash
Fourth Course: Green Apple and Fennel Salad with a Light Vinaigrette
Fifth Course: Cheese (:
Sixth Course: Cranberry Obsession Snow Cake 
Seventh Course: Nuts!
Lots of Wine!
Third Course: Apricot Glazed Game Hen over Apricot and Fennel Wild Rice Stuffing with Roasted Butternut Squash
Fourth Course: Green Apple and Fennel Salad with a Light Vinaigrette
Fifth Course: Cheese (:
Sixth Course: Cranberry Obsession Snow Cake 
Lots of Wine!
