Happy Holidays 2012

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Dear Family and Friends,

     2012 started off with renovations to our new house. There are many more projects to do but I can happily say I have one room completely "done". The dining room received new trim, new paint, new flooring, drapes and wall hangings. Only 6 more rooms to go! Our house also received a new roof and better ventilation (not planned but apparently needed). Now it is time to save some money for our future projects!

     Jim and I are both at the same jobs, and despite the crazy hours and schedules, we are making it work. There continues to be some promise of more day hours for Jim, but we have learned not to hold our breaths. Some how Jim found time to exercise and participate in some local 5K races. I managed to squeeze in just enough training to compete in a sprint triathlon in August. We did get 2 nights away in June and took the train to Portland for some much needed relaxation.

     Will started preschool this year and goes 2 mornings a week. Josephine is now in pre-K and goes 4 mornings a week. Two mornings a week to myself, hallelujah! Both are doing great and love their teachers. Josephine's favorite things continue to be art projects and all things glitter. Will loves trucks and trains. Lucky for him we live in a growing area of Seattle so there are constructions sites on every corner. He could spent hours watching the backhoes, bulldozers and cranes. Jim and I are keeping our fingers crossed that he may actually be "handy".    
     We are looking forward to 2013 and all the excitement it holds for us. Here are some pictures of things we did in 2012. Happy new year to you all!

                                                                                        Love,

                                                                                               Browyn, Jim, Josephine & Will

Annual visit to Swanson's Nursery during the holidays to see the reindeer, camel and donkey.

On the holiday carousel in downtown Seattle.



Josephine turned 4 and

Will turned 2.

Our dining room before...

and after!

Sandpoint, ID, super heroes in the fort.

With Nennie in Missoula

In Missoula after "Out to Lunch"

At Cama Beach State Park with Grandzsa and Grandfather, Devin, Bridget, Graham & Wilson

First annual camping trip with the Robinsons's at Larabee State Park near Bellingham, WA

Beach life!

Will's first day of preschool.

Mother/daughter visit to Orinda, CA to see great grandparents, great aunts & uncles and cousins.

Fall visit to a pumpkin patch.

Halloween - dragon and Izzy the pirate

Josephine in her ballet class. First mini recital.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Dear Friends and Family,

Happy new year and belated merry Christmas! When I logged on to write this post I was highly disappointed to see that I did not post a single thing since last new year, so I apologize for the length, but I had to catch everyone up on a few things.

Jim has now been employed full time for an entire year. I think we were both wondering when his Christmas break was going to start since it has been 5 years since he has had to work during the holidays. Despite the night hours his job is going well and he is still very happy to have chosen the field of Nuclear Pharmacy. We have finally figured out a decent family schedule and luckily for Jim he can sleep through an earthquake, or at least play dates, tantrums and vacuums. He has traveled several times to Knoxville, TN (the home of PETnet Solutions) and during a two week training session I was able to join him for several days thanks to both sets of grandparents. There is still more training ahead and possibly some weeks of "normal hours" but we are all happy that he is employed and job security looks excellent!

My job continues to go well. I did in fact give up my weekend position and now work every Monday and either Friday or Saturday. 2 days a week if perfect! We have a fabulous nanny that cares for the kids on Mondays and every other Friday. Josephine has even requested that I go to work so that Tracy can come. This summer I was busy getting our townhouse ready to sell and searching for a new home. It all happened seamlessly and in a matter of 8 days we had sold our townhouse and found a new house still in the neighborhood of Ballard. In fact it is exactly 14 blocks north of where we lived before. Now my time is spent trying to make the new house ours, which looks like a 10 year project. Particularly when you are still trying to keep up with everyday living with 2 young kids. None the less, the new space is fantastic!

Josephine will be 4 at the end of this month. She continues to love preschool and is inseparable from her best friend, Nora, whose mother was a life saver when I was getting our townhouse ready to sell. She has an unbelievable imagination and her favorite thing is dress up. She is highly disappointed when Will is not eager to participate. She seems to have inherited her father's artistic talent and her pieces not only decorate our refrigerator but have been framed and are now decorating grandparent's walls.

Will is 20 months and no longer a baby. He follows everything Josephine does (except dress up) and his vocabulary is quickly expanding. His favorite things are balls and cars. Anything round is acceptable to throw in his eyes. It is fun to see Will and Josephine interact more and more, but they also know how to push each other's buttons. Will has learned, when in doubt, go for the hair!

Thank you for all of your Christmas cards and letters. We wish you all a happy and healthy 2012!

Sincerely,

Browyn & Jim,

Josephine,

and Will

Christmas morning. Making food for daddy from the new play kitchen.

Will finally has his own cars!

Christmas eve before going to look at Christmas lights. This is the outfit I picked for Josephine.

This is the outfit Josephine picked herself.

Our attempt at a family Christmas photo.

Riding the holiday carousel in downtown Seattle.

Here are photos to recap our 2011:

Will's first birthday on May 2nd!

Our visit to Orinda, CA to visit great grandparents in May.

Visting Grandzsa and Grandfather in Sandpoint, ID in July.

Then on to Missoula, MT to visit Nennie, Grandpa Tom and Uncle Mark.

In August we had a Coyne family camping trip at Beverly Beach State Park on the Oregon coast to celebrate Nennie's birthday. Unfortunately my camera died so we only have a few pictures.

Thanks, Aunt Kate, for being such a fun playmate for Josephine!

And the highlight of our year was moving into a new home. We now have to do yard work but it is well worth it!

Please ignore the video that wouldn't load, oh well!