Holiday Hoopla!

It was a super super fun year this holiday season! I don't know who was more excited about Christmas, mom, dad, or Liam? Either way, we really enjoyed our first real Portland Christmas and all the great NW activities! We went to the zoo lights and rode the train, went Christmas light gazing down Peacock Lane, very much enjoyed taking Liam to his first ballet (The Nutcracker), baked a ton of holiday treats, built gingerbread houses, and so much more! Liam was very excited Christmas morning to see Santa had brought him a new bed, and the one thing he had asked Santa for; a 'white dog', which he named 'pup on pop' (he is very fond of Dr. Seuss these days and yes...stuffed, not real)! And of course he was so thankful and thrilled to receive the number of great books, puzzles, games, and toys from mom and dad and all his family far away! A truly blessed holiday season and a very nice and relaxing break for all three of us!

But we are back to the daily grind again, and have now immersed ourselves in the birthday season! Whoo hoo! The parties never stop! (and that's the way we like it!) ;)

Baby is growing nice and big and with 12 weeks left to 'D' day, we have begun the countdown to spring break!

We missed all our non-Portland family and friends this year, but perhaps will make a 2012 holiday appearance in your neck of the woods. But for now, (and probably the summer) we highly encourage, love, and welcome all visitors to the NW region!

Happy New year and best wishes to all!

Love,

The Gregor Family

Trick-Or-Treat!

Happy Halloween! Hope everyone had a great day! Liam especially enjoyed trick-or treating this year with his best buddies, Aida, Luella, and Grammy! We went to an apple orchard and picked yummy apples and had a great visit with Grammy Magnuson all weekend! Liam was Woody from Toy Story this year and cracked us up every time he'd stop and say,"There's a snake in my boot!" :) We are looking forward to our next family visit at Thanksgiving from Aunt Lacy in a couple weeks and have been having a fun fall season so far! The babies ultrasound (and Halfway through momma's pregnancy!) is this coming week and we are still not finding out the sex, but looking forward to those first profile pics! Whoo Hoo! :)

Our family and friends near and far continue to be in our daily thoughts and prayers!

With love to all,

The Gregor Family

Annual P-patch visit

Well...we have had a great kick-off into fall. The busy scramble of the first weeks of school has finally subsided, as we now enter the busy scramble of the fall/holiday season. We had our annual visit to the pumpkin patch and had a great time getting muddy, riding the cow train, eating kettle corn and taking the hayride out to the pumpkin patch and back. Liam got a chance to break in his new cowboy boots which he was very excited about. We are almost all set for his woody costume this year, mom just needs to add a few more finishing touches on the vest and belt and we are all set! :)

As for the past couple months, Liam recovered very well from his tonsillectomy and has loved being full time in the Toddler room. In fact, we picked him up from school on Friday to find him in his home-made robot costume he spent all day making! It looked great, and he was so excited to come home and play robots with mom and dad that night! He continues to learn something new every hour it seems! He is excellent at knowing his colors and shapes, counting to 30, and reciting his abc's! He'll even proudly read you one of his favorite books, "freight train" if you ask nicely ;)

Dad has a very nice class this year, and is is thrilled to come home 90% less frustrated this year, as compared to last :) He continues to work hard in his master's program and has 7 weeks left of class and is still on track to graduate in March when his Thesis presentation is complete. Mom has a very lovely class this year as well, and has enjoyed the new challenge of third grade. She has been busy with leading staff development around Equity and 'Courageous Conversations', and continues to run the school garden/green commitee. She is feeling great these days and has begun to sprout a nice looking baby-bump. She is officially due on April 4, and NO...is not finding out the sex again :) So get your poll responses read for spring!

Overall, we are looking forward to bustling, baby-filled fall in Portland, and as always, encourage many fabulous Portland visits from all of our distant family and friends. We hope you are all well and safe and know we keep you in our daily thoughts and prayers!

With Love-The Gregor Family :)

What a vacation!!

Wow! What a great month it has been, traveling all over the southwest and visiting with copious amounts of family and friends! :) We started our vacation in Yuma, AZ celebrating the very cute baby Lucy (and her amazing parents) :) and had a great time visiting, 'floating', and playing games all week. Then we traveled east to Tucson and were spoiled beyond belief by the Gregor/ Magnuson clans :) A beautiful wedding, fabulous reception, great family times, and of course poolside margaritas! What could have been any better? :) After our short but awesome time in Tucson, we headed North to Flagstaff and had a great time visiting the ol' stomping ground! We had a stormy monsoon hike at the Grand Canyon, cliff jumped in Sedona, made homemade ice cream with the Sollars' and spent many laugh-filled hours with family and friends :) Next, we headed back north and had a great visit with P'pa! We played golf and went to Liam's second Rawhide game ever! Then to Berkley, to live through our first family earthquake and a fun city adventure with Lacy! Finally, we headed to the Oregon coast with the Darling family and spent a glorious week on the beach! Complete with hermit crab races, tide pool searches, and many fun family games :)

Well, while we had an amazing time, we are glad to be back home in Portland. Liam will go under the knife next week to remove his tonsils. Keep Liam (and mom and dad) in your thoughts and prayers and we will send a post-surgery update :)

But, to all our family and friends we visited with... Thank you! Thank you! for a most memorable month! And to all those we missed this trip, we love you too and hope to see you soon :)

Spring Fever!

We are having a fabulous spring and are getting very anxious for summer time fun! In the mean time, we are enjoying our lovely little family and having loads of fun. We have had fun play dates, BBQ's and even mini-trips to Seattle! We also had a great Easter weekend of going to the Tulip festival and egg hunting. Liam enjoyed the festival and really had fun riding a pony for the first time! It was a beautiful day and with fields of millions of tulips everywhere, we soaked up the sun and laughed all the way home to dye Easter eggs with some friends! In the morning, Liam was so excited to see that the Easter bunny had come and hid loads of sticker and goody filled eggs! We even had our Portland family over for some lasagna and good times. In daily news, Liam continues to do excellent in school and has even begun transitioning into the 3-4 Toddler classroom! He continues to learn new skills every day and is currently really working hard on growing his last 4 teeth! Mom and dad are still working hard in their own classrooms and are busy trying to squeeze every last drop of curriculum in for the next 6 weeks. But, with the warmer weather here, we can't help but get the summertime itch and get really really excited for our AZ trip. We are very much looking forward to seeing all our AZ family and friends and hope all are ready to P-A-R-T-YYYYY! :)

Happy Birthday!!

Officially two and not so terrible (so far anyways) :). We can't believe it's already come and gone, but Liam's second birthday was an absolute blast! Bammy and Rodge came to help celebrate, along with 30 plus friends and 'family' in the area!! We went to Oaks Park and ate pizza (Liam's favorite), took a train ride around the park, and then had yummy cupcakes to sing and open presents with. We were so thrilled to have partly sunshine and no rain that morning, but were not expecting the very chilly breeze that tagged along. But despite the cold weather, everyone was in good spirits and we were so thankful for those who shared the special day with us, and for those who sent thoughtful cards and messages as well. :)

In addition to his birthday party, he also got a clean bill of health from the Dr. yesterday! He is 35 1/2 inches tall and weighs 32 pounds. A nice and healthy young man. He is officially 'off the bottle' :) and continues to do very well with his potty training.

Right now we are enjoying a week off for spring break and have been having loads of fun, hiking, museum walking, playground running, and new bike riding!

Again, thanks to everyone who helped make Liam's second birthday a special one, near and far! We love you all very much, and if you're in the AZ area, get your 'fun-having shenanigans' ready for our AZ summer visit! (Exact dates to follow, but tentatively June 24ish - July 13ish) :)

Winter Time Fun

We have had a really fun winter season so far. We have been hiking and playing and singing and having all sorts of fun-having! Liam is getting so smart! He is learning his colors and numbers through 10 and has been doing good to recognize these things in spanish as well! He has moved into his new big boy bed and has really enjoyed his new kids size reading chair in his room as well! He is doing great on his potty training and now uses the potty at school as well as at home! On our weekends, we have really enjoyed our library story times, play dates and even an excited hockey game with a private photo opp. with the Winterhawk Mascot or "duckie" as Liam named him.

Mommy and daddy have been busy this winter in their classrooms as well. Matt is now halfway through his Masters program and Becky has successfully ran a school Post office out of her classroom this past month as well as turned her school into a certified Oregon 'Green School'!

We have really enjoyed our Sunday Skype time with Pepa "Grandpa" and Grammy and even both sets of aunts and uncles! We encourage all friends and family members to 'call' us Sunday mornings as well! Love, love, love to all our friends and family near and far. You are all in our daily thoughts and prayers :)