Josephine & Will: Happy Holidays 2009!

Dear Family and Friends!

Happy Holidays (slightly belated) to you all. We hope 2009 was as kind to you and your families as it was to ours. We can't believe Josephine will be 2 years old in less than a month. Wow, how time flies. She is now speaking in full sentences, starting to count and say her ABCs, throwing an occasional tantrum, and otherwise being a very sweat little girl. Since she has been so wonderful we decided it was time for a second, so sometime around May 10th we will have an addition to our family. Once again we have decided not to find out the gender but Josephine says she wants a sister.

Jim only has 5 months of school left. Yippee! The last 5 months will be spent at 5 different pharmacy locations around Seattle (they call them rotations). He has already done 4 rotations, two of which he really enjoyed and they both said to check back after graduation, so we will keep our fingers crossed. I think the best part of his last year has been the 2 months off. He was off all of September and all of December. That is something we will definitely miss once he joins the working world.

I continue to work weekends at Seattle Children's on the hematology/oncology unit. The schedule continues to workout perfectly for us and I plan to continue even after baby number two is born, as long as it works with Jim's new schedule, whatever that might be. I managed to do one triathlon this summer thanks to my friend Lauren. I may have to take this next summer off with the baby due in May but perhaps I will surprise myself.

Otherwise, we made 3 trips east to Idaho and Montana this last year and one trip to the Bay Area. I also managed to get away for a girl's weekend to Boulder, CO. We also took a camping trip and spent 5 days with aunt Ellen, uncle Eric and cousin Vincent on the Olympic Peninsula. Jim and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary and, thanks to Grandfather and Grandzsa, were able to escape for over 24 hours and take the train to Portland, OR.

There are lots of pictures for your viewing since once again it it has been several months since the last post. We hope everyone is well and thank you for all of your holiday greetings.

Happy New Year!

Love, Browyn, Jim and Josephine

Christmas Eve just prior to attempting Christmas Mass (she made it through about half).

Every little girl needs a tea set. Thank you to uncle Devin and aunt Bridget!

Playing with cousin Graham on Christmas. Look, no tears!

Every little girl from Seattle needs an REI vest and cozy hat. It is hard to keep up with that growing head.

Another favorite Christmas gift from aunt Ellen and uncle Eric.

Who doesn't love Big Bird? Thank you uncle Mark!

Another must for a northwest girl is a warm sleeping bag given to her from Grandfather and Grandzsa.

Before Christmas we made a trip downtown to see the Christmas festivities. We visited the Teddy Bear Suite at the Fairmount Olympic which raised money for Seattle Children's.

And the Gingerbread Village at the Sheraton.

The second week of December we spent 5 days with Ellen, Eric and Vincent near Port Townsend, WA.

We made a day trip to the Dungeness Spit. The sun was out but it was freezing!

Josephine and cousin Vincent (15 months) on the beach with red noses.

For Halloween this year Josephine was a butterfly. Luckily her costume matched her red raincoat since it was of course raining. Here she is with her buddies Luca and Axel.