Hi

Hi

Is everything okay?

Tommy's 1st Birthday! (Part 1)

Our sweet little Thomas turned one yesterday (January 26th)! We are planning to celebrate with family in Stockton this coming weekend, but we couldn't let the day go by without some festivities! Ellie Mae and I (Jen) made cupcakes for "Brother Bear," and the four of us had a mini-party with a couple of gifts, singing and cupcakes after dinner. Tommy was marginally interested in his presents, which Ellie (ever the helpful big sister) opened for him, and seemed curious, but relatively unexcited, about his cupcakes...until Daddy put a little taste in his mouth! It was all over after that -- our little one has discovered sugar!

Our birthday boy at lunch -- still clean!

He absolutely loves Ellie!

Hmmm...that looks strange...

Maybe I'll try touching it...

Ooh, it's kind of fun to squish this cupcake!

Oh, I can eat it, too -- the jury's still out...

This is FANTASTIC! I think I love cupcakes!

They're so delicious they make me laugh!

Back to business guys - there is a lot of the good stuff on my hands and I need to get it to my mouth...

Let's not waste the parts stuck to the wrapper!

That was so much fun! Being one is great!

Ellie Mae saying, "Cheese!"

And settling into a real smile! :)

Fall Update!

Wow! This is a long overdue update, which accounts for the length. If you are not related or an "Auntie," I apologize for posting so many pictures -- hard to choose! The first set is from our 2nd annual trip to a really fun pumpkin patch. The second set is from trick-or-treating night (yes, we do not trick-or-treat on Halloween - Hume's traditional night is the Wednesday of Halloween week to correspond with one of our conferences). The others are an assortment of fall events. The kids are growing so quickly (Ellie is already in preschool!) and are so much fun, individually and together! We are thoroughly enjoying the busy pace of life with little ones, which accounts for lots of pictures with little time to post to the blog! :) I still need to add photos from our September trip to Washington, but alas, another day and another post...

Pumpkin Patch

This one above is my new favorite of Thomas!

Ellie loves her baby brother!

Thomas playing with the flowers...

Thomas grabbing the flower (nothing gentle about this!) for a closer look...

Thomas eating the flower!

Our pretty girl! :)

Ellie and Ellie Mae having a blast on the suspension bridge!

Ellie Mae's favorite part of the pumpkin patch for two years running - the train!

Papa and Tommy

Love that baby laughter!

Ellie adored the miniature tractor!

Big stuff!

This year's kiddo crew: Thomas, Ellie Mae, Ellie, Jaron, Peter and Elyse

Chillin' in the pumpkins...

Trick-or-Treat Night!

Princess Ellie Mae (her costume is very similar to last year's, but she loves to dress up as a princess and dance to her Barbie ballet movies, so we figured she wouldn't want to be anything else for trick-or-treating!)

Our little lion!

Tommy loves to be with his Papa! He recently said his first word -- he looked right at Joel and said, "Papa"! Joel is pretty much his favorite these days! :)

Getting ready to trick-or-treat: Kai (as a butterfly princess -- her extremely talented parents actually made her entire costume!), Hannah (as a fairy princess), Ellie (as a kitty princess!) and Ellie Mae (as a princess). Definitely a theme...

The girls heading out with Ellie Mae in her princess heels (she switched to tennis shoes at the first house when she looked up the 17 stairs to the front door!).

For the second year in a row, we took the girls in the same car to the different neighborhoods and let them sit in the very back together...they *love* this tradition! They seem to feel so big!

Very intent knockers! They definitely got the hang of the whole trick-or-treating thing this year -- knock loudly on a door and someone magically appears to give you candy -- good deal!

The girls at one of our stops...

Tommy's version of trick-or-treating: stay in the warm car with Daddy and "drive" with gusto!

First Day of Preschool

The first day tradition for preschool is for the school bus to come to each neighborhood to pick up the kids. Ellie Mae, Ellie and Hannah were *so* excited when Mr. Jon pulled up to let them aboard!

The girls were giddy on the bus during the entire ride (we were the first stop, which meant that the girls got the longest ride and were able to welcome their friends as they boarded the bus)!

With completed papers and craft in hand, we officially have a preschooler...where did the time go?! Ellie Mae absolutely loves going to preschool (twice a week for two hours each day, and Sunday school with the same teacher in the same room) and seems to be learning quite a bit. Last week, she was so proud to report that she was the helper for the day -- I'm not sure what other duties she had, but the highlight was passing out napkins for snack time! :) She chats all about the comings and goings of classroom life when we pick her up...so fun to her narrate her days and articulate her thoughts, especially as her vocabulary continues to grow by leaps and bounds!

Crawling!

Tommy moves all around the house now with impressive speed! He loves to explore new things, but his very favorite target is shoes of any kind! I found him a couple weeks ago alone in Ellie's room -- without other shoes in site, he had zeroed in on her doll's shoe!

Our cuddly bath time boy!

Asuncion Family Vacation at Lake Tahoe

We had a fantastic time vacationing with my Mom, Rupert and two step-brothers' families (Rob, Lori & Morgan and Stew, Ree & Reese) at Tahoe in early October! It snowed immediately after we arrived, leaving a foot of the white stuff on the ground! By the end of the week, though, we were enjoying beautiful sunshine and nice fall temperatures. Fun extremes!

Ellie on a walk to the lake trailing Grandpa Rupert...

Grammy Gayle and Ellie Mae playing in the snow! They also played quite a bit on our balcony and made an adorable snowman that lasted for three or four days.

Grammy Gayle laughing at the kids! I love this picture!

Grandpa Rupert, Ellie Mae, Grammy Gayle and Thomas