Leaves, leaves, leaves!

The leaves fell in our front yard last week and oh, what fun we had!

Sweet sisters!

Aoife eventually couldn't contain herself, she had to take her shoes off and feel the leaves under her feet!

Action shots : )!

Wow, these are pretty cool, up close!

Aine discovered that the leaves made a fantastic noise when she extended her legs and bent her knees quickly. Sheer joy, she was so excited and she played and played and played! She was so pleased with herself.

This picture depicts so well where the girls are at in their various stages of discovery and expression. Aine is observing and learning so much about her world. The sights, sounds and smells were all fascinating to her. Aoife played and played and her exploration was more intense and taken to the next level (the two year old level ; ) ), she crunched and threw the leaves and had to feel them with more than just her hands and mouth. What a fun day!

We'll be posting more fall pictures soon. It's been a great season so far! : )

Besos,

The Stuhans

Aine Maeve = 1 year : )

This year went by way too quickly and now our baby is one!Some pre-party fun, the day before, balloons are always a big hit with our kids.
More pre-party fun. She still carries this balloon around the house with her over a week later.
So excited to open presents and to give each other some love!
Aoife was excited for some "half-birthday" presents.

Opening presents -- didn't have too much trouble with that. Aine knew more or less what to do, especially with big sister to show her the way.
Playing with presents and giving more love.
A friend and ex-student of James' (someone he met when he did the volunteer-English-teacher gig) made the cake for us. The cake was tres leches, Mexican style, too yummy -- dangerous yummy.

Should I just take a big bite? I'm really not sure what to do.
Oh NO! Cake overload!In the end I think she wore more cake than she ate.Aoife ate enough cake for both of them (although she moderates herself well, too).
Cleaning up all that frosting.
Post party fun...
...and more post party fun!


Happy birthday Aine Maeve! You are gorgeous! We love you!

Packages

A package arrived this week (more details after the pictures) and the girls each immediately homed in on a favorite item : ):

Streamer Girl -
Oh yeah, this is fun! Practicing.Getting some air.Ooh, air and arc. I just had to make big circles with my arm : )!

"I May Only Be 11 Months Old, but I'm Ready for My Own Shades" Girl:

I know what to do with these. Gettin' there...

How about now?Almost (we call this the Geordi La Forge)... Ha, success!Peeking out form under my shades ; )!

Such a girl!

I can hardly explain the intense excitment and sheer joy receiving packages elicits in our girls. Aoife gets absolutely giddy and Aine has really started getting in on the fun, bouncing up and down on her bottom in anticipation. They like getting the box, opening it up and the surprise of what's inside as much as what the contents actually are. We are super excited for the holiday season because we imagine these mail-ordered-delights will be arriving with greater frequency. In the meantime, though, grandmas and grandpas have been sending the occasional box full of goodies. The most recent arrived from Grandpa Sean and MaryHelen with some big hits inside. Thanks to everyone who thinks of our little girls, both during the holidays and at other times, we all really appreciate it!

...and summer hangs on...

We've been having quite the mix of summer and fall weather up here recently. As the title indicates, we are still enjoying some summer like weather -- YAY! So, a mix of pictures follows...enjoy : )!Somebody already looks up to her big sister. With good reason. (Oh, and aren't those curls awesome. Aine is starting to get little ones in the back, too!)

We had another great beach day. I love these pictures!

My cuties -- this one will be printed and put up on the wall somewhere : )!

Meet "Stan" the spider. Aoife and I have been doing little projects and activites after she wakes up in the afternoon while Aine is still napping. Just some special time for our big girl.

She insisted that "Stan" needed her own web. Yes, "Stan" is a girl.

Our first bug, "Caterpillar" the caterpillar : ). We also have a ladybug, a bee, and have yet to make our butterfly. During one of our more fall like weeks someone enjoyed her first cup of hot cocoa...

...very much! YUMMY!

Someone else totally dug her first plum : ). Can we get another: YUM!

We are healthy and happy! Working hard, still, but doing really well overall.

Thanks for keeping up with us!

We love you all!

Abrazos,

Los Stuhan

The Wonders of Summer

Our summer has been absolutely amazing -- here's a little of why:

Berry Picking:

Close to explanatory of all our berry picking trips this summer; she always eats more than she actually collects and she just loves it. These were Marionberries -- we have picked rasperries, strawberries and blueberries, too. Yummy, yummy!Not quite ready for berries, yet ; )!

Some of our indoor activites, painting, of course:

I am the Incredible Hulk -- okay, so I'm way prettier than the Incredible Hulk but this look suits me, don'cha think?Aine insisted on painting, too! Mommy wasn't ready to give her more than just water. She still had fun.

BEACH!!! -- Lots of trips this summer -- the kids love it and so do we! :
Snuggling in our beach tent, post picnic!Our girls love the sand. She really didn't eat most of it -- she played but couldn't resist putting a little bit in her mouth to discover what it felt and tasted like.So it looks cheesy and posed but we were having that much fun!Reviewing our ABCs on the beach -- we wrote them out and then ran and sang, ran and sang, again and again!Someone seems to be a little confused about where you are supposed to swim ; )!Fun playing!Windy!Windy, typical Oregon beach weather.Getting ready to head down to the water.

Parks:

We go at least 4-5 times per week! Again, the kids love it...and it's free : )!

Aoife has been testing out the "big girl" swing.

Gorgeous!

Action shot!

More (random) indoor:

Sporting her mowhawk, or "peahawk" as Aoife called it for a couple of days -- she must have been thinking about peacocks, too, we've been reading about them recently ; )!

Gardening:

We love visiting our garden, watering and checking progress, daily. These plants look so little compared to what it out in the backyard now. We have pulled in quite a few tomatoes already and expect quite the harvest this year.

Aoife loves her watering can!

We will be sorry to see summer go but are looking forward to many fall festivities. Other big things going on, Aine has been scooting around for over a month and now mixes her scoot/swim with crawling. She is pulling up and bouncing, she is so busy and loves to explore and manipulate anything and everything she can get her hands on. Aoife is quitting diapers, she had her first accident free day today! Yay! We are making progress quickly and I think things are going really well.

Hope summer has been great where you all are!

We love you!

The Stuhans xxoo