Hagelblog

zach at 18 months

2011-03-05T21:40:00.000-08:00

My baby is already one and a half! We recently had his 18 month check-up and found that he is in the 90th percentile for height and about 60th for weight. His head, though... it is off the charts. Where did he get such a head? Some of his "new for him" clothes don't even fit him because we can't get them over his head. He's a pretty good sport about it though.

Zach is officially weaned now. There was no cutting back with this kid. He liked his mommy almost too much, so finally about a month ago, we shut down the dairy bar. It's made us all a lot happier. He loves to eat though so that wasn't a problem. =)

Zach's also starting to talk more. He's really got the "b" sound down so everything that starts with a "b" is called "Ba" - whether it be a bus, ball, book, block, etc. Everything sounds pretty much the same. He loves to play a talking game with me where I say "Zach, Zach" then he says "Ma Ma" back and forth. It's super fun. He's also infatuated with firetrucks. He calls them "Who-wa-wa" which I think is his version of it's siren.

He also LOVES to read books. We could spend a good hour sitting on our bean bag chair. He loves to run and get me a new book every time we finish one. He also loves to look at the back of the books and find books that match the other books in the series. I also find our reading time often interrupted as every time Zach sees a star in a book, he has to hum the tune of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". So cute!

Zach really enjoys his belly button. He's always rubbing it, and it really bothers him at times when it can't be found (like under zip-up pjs or a onsie). It's definitely his "lovey" although he really loves his dinosaur puppets as well. He likes to give them kisses and have the puppets kiss one another.

We've got almost all our baby teeth now. We are just waiting on the two bottom canines, but the teething for those has begun. I am so looking forward to when he's not so miserable all the time. It's difficult to watch my almost always happy child get so frustrated when he can't tell you what is wrong.

Another favorite toy is his Widgets. He can play with these forever, and it is always a good distraction. He loves putting them together AND knocking them down in a big crash.

We love you so much Zach! You are such an important part of our lives. Happy one and a half!!!

good times

2011-03-02T22:06:00.000-08:00

Last weekend (ok, has it really been a week and a half already?!), we had our dear friend, Lem, come up and visit us. We had seen him briefly on our California trip at Christmas, but as that was a whirlwind of a vacation, we didn't get a good chance to catch up. It was great to have him come up to Seattle to visit us.

Of course, the first thing we had to do was go to Vivace, our favorite coffee shop in Capitol Hill. Unfortunately, the "little" boys were too squirmy to stay in where it was nice and warm, so our coffee was "To Go". We walked over to Volunteer Park where we climbed the water tower, enjoyed the views, and played on the playground. I didn't get very many pictures though as my point-and-shoot was embarrassed to show it's face next to Lem's amazing SLR. So, I apologize to my readers (hi Mom and Dad) over at my other blog that you will be seeing the same pictures twice. To see better pictures, go to Lem's flickr page!

Zach in front of the gates leading up to the water tower.

Lem thinks my children look funny - especially when they have snotty noses! =D

That afternoon we hung out at home, and then had Grinders sandwiches for dinner. Once the kids were in bed, we played Armagetron and the "big" boys watched Tron. (I was sooo tired!)

Sunday was church, and we spent a fair bit of time at home. Noah was excited to see Lem's computer, and loved writing his name on it. As you can see, he learned another new word...

In the afternoon we went to Hamlin Park really near our home. The park has some awesome trails, and it also had some historical cannons that was fun to take pictures at. Lem took some great family photos that I'm super excited about!

That evening we played even more games, and the guys watched another movie. It almost felt like hanging out at college all over again.

Monday was our last fun day. We headed out to another one of our favorite coffee shops, Zoka. (After all, this is Seattle! You have to get your coffee in!) We attempted to walk around UW, but it was freezing cold and the boys would have none of it. We came home and played more games while the boys slept. In the afternoon we went over to the park next to our house to check out the ponds and look for the ducks.

The weekend was quite an accomplishment for our young family. Three parks, two coffee shops, two movies, and four games. Whew! No wonder we had such a great time. Thanks for coming, Lem!

christmas in california and beyond - week three

2011-01-14T20:23:00.000-08:00

Our final week of Christmas begins on New Years Day. Phil and I celebrated our SIX YEAR anniversary on December 31st, but we didn't get our date until the next day. Grandma and Papa very kindly watched our kids, and we got away to the beach to have some yummy seafood at the Oceanside Harbor. It was really nice and relaxing.

The next day was Sunday, and we made the trek back up to Orange County so we could go to our old church and see some more friends. We got together with even more of Phil's college accountability group which was fun. (Apparently, I stopped taking so many pictures at this point in our trip!)

Monday, we returned our rental car, and then we went to go see my grandparents. I hadn't been over to their house in a long while and it was nice to spend some quality time with them.

Tuesday, we said our good-byes to my parents and flew back to Seattle. It was a pretty uneventful trip which is always the way you want it!

On Wednesday, we got see another college buddy that was in the Pacific NW for Christmas. It was great to see Luke, and get caught up on his exciting life.

The next day, the kids and I took him back to his ferry and decided to make the roundtrip on the boat with him. The boys had so much fun being on a boat!

After the ferry ride, we found a beautiful park near the ferry dock that we explored for a bit. It was nestled between the Sound and a train track and there was some construction going on near it too. Boats, trains, and tractors - what more can a boy want?

On Friday, we were able to spend time with Phil's parents who are beginning their furlough. Phil had to work both Thursday and Friday, so we waited to do our Christmastime with them until Saturday. We did let Noah open his birthday present from them though. He was (and still is) enthralled by his duplo fire station!

Saturday we did get to do our Christmastime with Grandma and Papa ("the Hagelberg ones" as Noah says). We enjoyed being spoiled by gifts and good times.

And in conclusion, Phil left for a business trip on Sunday. He gets back tomorrow! Slowly life is getting back to normal. Maybe we can take down our Christmas lights and tree this weekend? We'll see! ;-)

our morning

2011-01-10T17:24:00.000-08:00

In a quick break from our Christmas antics, I bring you the first snow of 2011!

christmas in california - week two

2011-01-07T20:53:00.000-08:00

Week two in California started out with Christmas Day! We began the morning with cinnamon rolls before settling down to listen to the Christmas story. After letting the kids open their presents, we did a "White Elephant"-type gift exchange with our large family of 16, but instead we did two nice gifts each. It was an interesting twist on a classic.

Zach's Ready!

Opening Stockings

Javier can't wait for presents!

After gifts, we had a wonderful music time. Our family is gifted with "Very Fine Musicians." Here are a few of them:

We enjoyed a fantastic Christmas feast, and just enjoyed being together for the rest of the afternoon.

Of course, no Broach reunion is complete without at least one round of "Can You Pass Your Shoe."

On Sunday, we all went to church in the morning and just spent the day hanging around the house. The boys discovered the joys of rock climbing in the front yard which afforded a nice photo op.

On Monday, we went to a local park where we were able to meet up with one of Alisha's high school friends and her two kids. They enjoyed the rocket balloons we gave them. The park was also a whole lot of fun!

That afternoon, we also went back to the beach to walk along the harbor. We made sure to stay out of the water this time, but discovered the sand was just as fun.

My Dad looking so GQ

Phil wrote Noah's name in the sand

Throwing sand with a stick

A rare family photo - can you tell why?

On Tuesday, most of the Broach gang went to San Diego for the day. Phil had to work and the boys needed naps, so we stayed home. We were able to have our friends from the park come over for a while which was a lot of fun, and we were thankful for a little downtime. (I never realized before this trip just how introverted Noah is. He really just wanted to play up in his room most of the time, preferably with daddy.)

I didn't get any pictures on Wednesday. It was another work day for Phil, and it was rainy. It was also the last day that the Broach gang was going to be at the house so a lot of people were packing.

Thursday was similar to Wednesday. People left in the morning, and we just tried to get back into the swing of things before our trip to the Biola area the following day.

Friday was New Years Eve. We drove up to visit with my cousin's family. We had a nice time just chatting and watching the kids play. I didn't get any pictures of them, but I did manage to get this cute one of Zach asleep on Aubrey's bed.

That evening we went to Elijah's house again to hang out with some of our Biola friends. We managed to see four of the guys from Phil's old accountability group. However, when we took the following pictures one had already left and another hadn't come yet.

Noah really enjoyed playing with Elijah, and we even got to meet a new friend, Henrik!

It was a busy day, but a lot of fun. Thanks Dustin and Katie for hosting!

christmas in california - week one

2010-12-29T21:40:00.000-08:00

We're in California for the holidays! It's been a busy and exciting time here - so much so that I'm not going to be able to write it all in one blog post. So here goes week one!

We left sunny Seattle on Friday, December 17th en route to rainy SoCal. Noah loved hanging out in the airport and watching all the airplanes take off. We brought along one of his little toy airplanes which he had fun "flying" all over the terminal.

The actual flight itself was a little rough on Zach, but Noah did great. He loved reading all the flight info booklets and looking for all the letters. Thankfully, Zach fell asleep for part of the flight which made life a little easier.

We got to Long Beach where Papa graciously picked us up. We had a good time being reunited with Grandma and Papa while getting settled into our new "home" for three weeks.

On Saturday, we had our Christmas with Alisha's mom's family. We had Great-Grandma, Great-Grandpa, Cousins Kelly, Jason, and Heather, Auntie Lori, and second cousin Aubrey. Alisha's brothers also were there! Noah and Aubrey got along great. It's so nice to have family with kids the same age as Noah.

Zach fell asleep in Grandma's arms while Mom and Dad left to get the rental car.

Noah looking at his new preschool book from Great-Grandma

Aubrey enjoying her new microphone

Watching Dora

Being crazy with my brother

On Sunday, we went up to the Biola area. We loved being back at our church and seeing all the people there. We also had a wonderful lunch with some good friends. We spent the afternoon with them, and then went to Alisha's brothers' apartment for dinner. It was a long day, and unfortunately, we didn't get a lot of pictures. Here is Noah playing trains with Elijah.

Monday and Tuesday we just focused on getting back into routine as much as possible. Zach hadn't taken a regular nap yet, and was waking up sometime during the 5AM hour almost every day. (He usually wakes up around 6:30). Phil also had to work Tuesday-Thursday of this week. We enjoyed playing with toys inside, and when it wasn't raining, going out and playing on Grandma and Papa's fun playground.

On Thursday, we started having some of Alisha's dad's family arrive. His sister Rickie had arrived late the night before, and his brother's whole family arrived that night. Noah and Zach have really been enjoying Mikela and Javier as it's nice to have other kids around even if they are 5+ years older than them.

Christmas Eve was our busiest day yet. The whole crew took a trip to the beach to play in the sand. Noah decided that he wanted to go in the water and stripped down to his diaper to play in the waves. 65 degrees is about 30 degrees warmer than Seattle! The rest of his family thought he was loco en la cabeza though. The rest of us enjoyed the water from a distance. There was a lot of beach games played, conversations had, and children watching. It was a good time.

Playing in the water

Cousins (once removed!)

Hermanos

Javier and Loren

Mikela and Nate

Onilda and Rickie

Balance Game

Papa and Zach

That evening we had even more family arrive. Aunt Peggy, Karina and Ryan got there just in time to enjoy the Broach tradition of Ecuadorian ceviche and empanadas. They were heavenly.

Empanadas

Loren helping himself to ceviche

We decided also to do cupcakes for Noah's birthday this night. Noah wasn't too excited about everyone singing "Happy Birthday", but he's not one to refuse a cupcake!

Stay tuned for more on our Christmas festivities in week two!

secret friend

2010-11-30T21:33:00.000-08:00

We finally have discovered that Noah has an imaginary "friend." Every once in a while, he'd wake up in the middle of the night and come into our room telling us there is a "scary guy" in his room. Phil and I were really nervous about this for him because we don't want him waking up with night terrors all the time. When this first started happening, we'd take him back to his room, pray over him, and try to tell him that Jesus was there to take care of him. The funny thing about all this was that he never seemed all that scared of "Scary Guy." He just would state it as a matter of fact and then go back to sleep with no fuss.

One day, Phil started quizzing Noah about "Scary Guy." Supposedly, he has a red shirt and black hair. Sometimes if you ask Noah, you'll find that SG is a friend and sometimes he isn't. Apparently, there's nothing scary about "Scary Guy". He's just an imaginary "friend" that visits him on occasion, and Noah wants to tell as about it when he does. I'm glad that SG hasn't made his "appearance" during the day yet, but I'm still weirded out by his nighttime visits.

what zach's up to

2010-11-23T15:26:00.000-08:00

I feel like Noah's getting a lot of press over at my homeschool blog, and my poor 15 month old is getting neglected in the blogosphere. Ironically enough, I've actually taken more pictures of Zach than Noah in the last few months, they just haven't made it up here. Although if you ever need a Zach fix, you can always check out his photo website. Noah has his own as well here. We've definitely been tardy in our flickr upload, so I thought I'd post some pictures that I think capture Zach's personality now rather than later.

Zach is a climber. A couple of weeks ago, he decided to surprise us by climbing up onto Noah's top bunk. We've since had to tape two sections of the ladder so he can't make it up there (one wasn't enough!). He climbs on anything and everything.

He also LOVES loud noises. He's always been a fan of the vacuum cleaner (unlike his brother), and has finally decided to start taking part in the family chores.

I just like this picture of him. Baby Forcefield!

I think the same part of his personality that makes him a climber also makes him get into everything. He particularly likes to empty all the drawers in the kitchen. The linen drawer seems to be one of his favorites. This is him trying to put them all away after picking them all up around the kitchen floor. (I've since organized them into ziploc bags so this won't be a problem anymore!)

Finally, he just adores his big brother. He tries to copy what he says, do what he does, and misses him terribly when Noah is in his room playing and won't come out. I love this picture of the two of them playing.

kisses for daddy

2010-11-12T19:15:00.000-08:00

leaves and pumpkins

2010-10-25T20:52:00.000-07:00

my baby is growing up

2010-10-13T20:23:00.000-07:00

Zach is going to be 14 months next week. The time with him has blown by so fast. He is walking (ok, running!), climbing, talking, and even following directions. I can't believe that I have two little boys running around and not babies.

Since Zach has been walking since he was 10 months old, he decided to startle us by climbing ladders at 13 months. He now has no problem going up the ladder to the slide in our backyard, and the rungs are only about 2 inches wide! I also need to be careful about where I put things. He regularly will climb up on the kitchen table if I forget to push in the chairs. Then, I went into Noah's room the other day, and found him like this:

He's talking a lot too. He seems to have forgotten how to say "Mama", but has no problem pointing at Noah and stating "Bwo-ah". Sometimes mommy and daddy are "bwo-ah" too. He has been saying "bwa" for bird for a long time now, and has now been saying it for bus and other "B" related words. He also says "Go, go, go" when he wants to go outside. This is usually accompanied by bringing us either our shoes or his.

He also LOVES finding his belly. He will always look for his belly button if you ask him where it is. He also loves to pat his belly when you take off his shirt to change him into pajamas.

Some other things that I love about Zach right now...

how his cheeks jiggle when he runs
playing "Beep, beep" with our noses
his amazing grin
how if I crouch down and open my arms, he will run from anywhere to get a hug
that he can use a fork
that even though he gets into everything, he obeys me when I tell him to put something back
how he waves "bye bye" to every car that goes by or to Daddy when he goes to work
how Noah and him hug when they first see each other in the morning

just 'cuz

2010-09-28T13:41:00.000-07:00

I have the best husband and father to my children ever!

Thanks for being so cool!

new blog

2010-09-01T10:38:00.000-07:00

I started a new blog today! Check it out: http://lessonplanweekly.blogspot.com/

birthday weekend

2010-08-29T12:34:00.000-07:00

For Zach's birthday, we had the pleasure of having grandparents visit! It was so good to see them again.

They came up on Thursday, and we spent our first day just playing around the neighborhood. Of course, no summer day is complete without lots of sunshine and water.

On Friday, Zach's actual birthday, we went to Country Village in Bothell to play at the Village Bean, the awesome playground, and ride the train. There were also sightings of chickens and other birds that made Zach super excited.

Village Bean

Chickens!

Playground

Riding the train

On Saturday, Shoreline was having a parade so we packed up the fam and headed out. Noah loved watching all the different people come by. A lot of them gave him candy and goodies too. This is always a hit. Zach enjoyed it too, but eventually naptime gave in. We didn't even realize at first that he had fallen asleep in the stroller.

That evening we celebrated Zach's birthday with cake and ice cream with some of our neighbors. Noah couldn't wait to get his hands on the cupcakes.

Zach liked them too.

Those grandparents wore the kids out. They were sooo sleepy for the next couple of days.

Another thing we did was finally get our fence on the side yards completed. Yay!

Thanks for coming grandma and papa. We had a great time!

dear zach

2010-08-27T21:04:00.000-07:00

My dearest one-year old,

I can't believe that we have already celebrated the first anniversary of the day of your birth. You are such a joy and a delight. The perfect addition to this family. You just love life. There is always the cutest grin on your face as you learn a new skill, conquer a new obstacle, or chase your big brother around. You aren't afraid to try new things. It's no wonder you were scooting at 4 months, taking your first step at 9, and running by 10.

Your heart is kind too. You love your big brother so much. You love to see him first thing in the morning, follow him around, and of course, take all the toys he is playing with. You love to bring us our shoes that we stash by the door - probably hoping that we will take you outside. You love it there. So many rocks to put in your mouth!

Your laugh is contagious. The way your belly jiggles makes everyone want to tickle you all the more. You love people so much, but you can also spend a lot of time by yourself playing with toys. Putting toys in and out of boxes is one of your favorite activities. Not to mention playing with all the tupperware in the cabinet. You are definitely a distributer. We find your playthings all over the house.

We love you so much, and we can't wait to see how your personality grows. I'm already lamenting the loss of your babyhood, but know that you are going to be such a great toddler and big kid. I'm so glad I get to be part of your life.

Love,

Mom

twinkle, tinkle

2010-07-09T21:28:00.000-07:00

Noah is now officially 2 1/2 years old. His personality is really taking off. He always talks in complete sentences, although he is still confused by some concepts. It's fun to have a conversation with him. Every night he tells Daddy all about his "day". Sometimes the events of the day were something that happened long ago (like a trip to the zoo) or sometimes he makes them up completely (this usually has something to do with Thomas the Tank Engine). It's amazing to hear what goes on inside his head.

He's also become really interested in singing. He's learned "Jesus Loves Me," and sings it spontaneously - especially in public places like the park or outside the library. He loves an audience. We recently got some CDs from the library of Sunday School songs, and so he's picking up on some of those as well.

Noah is also being potty trained. We started last Saturday, and we've had mixed success. I'll spare you the details. I will say though that it is very difficult to keep things clean when you have a ten-month old who loves playing with the potty chair.

In closing, here are some recent photos of Noah from when we went to the zoo.

10 months

2010-07-08T21:25:00.000-07:00

Zach is now ten months old. The child is walking, expressing opinions, and generally jovial. He is one amazing kid. The walking is the most fun. He is just so proud of his newfound ability. He loves to be chased by Noah all over the house and scream out of sheer merriment. So fun!

Zach still eats everything in sight, and still wants to nurse! His favorite food right now is grapes. He also enjoys cheese, bread, and anything that anyone else is eating. He just got to try a smoothie today and couldn't get enough of it. Unfortunately, he reached up and found Noah's and proceeded to drip it all over the house. It's amazing how much ground the kid can cover in those few moments.

We've also had a few fun outings this last month. Here's a picture of him at Volunteer Park in Capitol Hill.

We've also recently renewed our membership to the Woodland Park Zoo, and Zach really enjoyed the Shake, Rattle, and Roll time at Zoomazium. We'll have to be going back there soon. Anyone want to join us?

9 months

2010-05-25T08:02:00.000-07:00

My baby is already 9 months old! I can't believe that he's been out of my tummy for just as long as he was inside. Zach is a happy, healthy, and heartily hungry boy! The kid eats a ton! He now has 3 adorable teeth that adds enchantment to his already captivating smile. He's loving mobility, and spends most of his time pulling up on whatever object is close at hand. He's super close to walking, but we hope that it will take him a few more days while we wait for his daddy to get back from his "business" trip to Hawaii. (He really is on business, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't have time for play!)

We just had Zach's well-baby check up today. He is 29 inches tall (75%ile), and 20lbs 13oz (60%ile). His head is really big at the 97%ile. Here are some pictures of him today at the indoor playground. He pulled up by himself on that unstable ball![gallery link="file"]

This is the last week the indoor playground is open until next year. Zach's a pretty different person than he was during it's first week of opening!

Happy 9 Months, Zach!

far too long

2010-04-25T01:32:00.000-07:00

It has been far too long since we've had any decent posts up on our blog. So, instead of writing a thousand words, I thought it would be best to give you a photo history of the last couple of months. Enjoy!

Playing at St. Edwards Park

Enjoying the nice weather

Visiting with Phil's family

Going to CA for Easter...

Daddy still had to work

Hanging out with Alisha's family

Zach meets Great-Grandma Broach for the first time

Hanging out with old friends

Zach's growing like crazy. He's crawling, pulling up, climbing stairs, and driving!

More to come...

baby zach is growing UP

2010-04-09T15:19:00.000-07:00

Zach is getting so big. He's already 7 months old, and he's a mover and a shaker. He's been scooting since before he was five months old, but as of the last few weeks he's both pulling up and crawling with his belly off the floor. He's going to be walking before long. He thinks that if he can get himself to a standing position that he doesn't need to hold on to anything. Of course, he falls down right away, but it always seems to shock him that he's not perfectly balanced. I can already tell he's going to be a climber.

He also just got his first tooth, and the second one will probably be in by next week. He seems to love any food that we will give him, and is currently enjoying the Gerber Puffs. He's definitely going to be our eater.

Besides pulling up, Zach also loves to blow raspberries on anything or anyone! It's super cute, but now that he has a tooth, it kinda hurts if he tries to do it on your arm. He also loves everything that his brother is doing. They are often trying to play with the same toys. Noah does pretty well with him - he loves to give his baby brother hugs and kisses. So cute!

In closing, here's a picture of our 7 month old playing at the kids area at Seatac airport:

first foods

2010-01-30T04:13:00.000-08:00

Winter Squash!

I wasn't thinking that I was going to start Zach on solids until he was at least 6 months old, but he seemed really ready. So, when Phil got back from his trip, and my parents were around to watch, we started him on squash.

Getting ready

Trying it out

Hmmmm....

He definitely wasn't sure what to think of it that first day, but he's really taken to it since. He eats a whole thing of baby food at a sitting, and would probably eat more meals if I was ambitious enough to try.

I can't believe he's getting so big already!

california trip

2010-01-28T04:03:00.000-08:00

Since Phil had a business trip that he was going out of town for, the boys and I decided to go down to San Diego to visit my family and see their new house. Noah loved Grandma and Papa's house. There were stairs, a lot of rooms to discover, a gazebo, and a playset outside. Not to mention all the attention from grandparents and Uncle Nate. He also got to see his second-cousin, Aubrey, which is always a big hit.

Playing with Nate and Aubrey

Calling Daddy on the phone

Outside

As for Zach, this was a big event for him. It was his first plane ride, and he discovered his toes while he was there. He also had just learned to scoot a couple of days before we left so he started mastering that skill as well.

Happy mobile boy

Yummy toes

Lots of love

We also got to meet Elijah (who is exactly 6 months older than Zach)!

The plane ride down was great with the two boys. Zach slept most of the way, and Noah was happy watching Monsters, Inc. on my laptop. Unfortunately, the trip back was a little more interesting. We were supposed to leave San Diego on a 10:30AM flight out. On the way to the airport, I came down with an intense abdominal pain. We stopped on the side of the road, but I still didn't feel any better. We decided to go to an urgent care facility, but it wasn't yet open. My pains were increasingly getting worse, so my dad called 911. The ambulance came and picked me up and took me to a local ER. They hooked me up to IV, gave me pain meds, took blood/urine samples, and did an ultrasound. Everything checked out good, and three hours later my pain was mostly gone. We finally got to the airport at 2ish, but all the flights were delayed because of the bad weather. We caught a plane via standby at 6PM and got home and transferred the sleeping boys to bed at 9:30PM. Thankfully, my parents were on the trip with me so I didn't have to do this alone.

It was a great trip overall, but I don't think I'll be taking the boys on a plane flight alone again anytime soon.

zach's name

2010-01-08T08:26:00.000-08:00

As you know, Phil likes self-referential names. Zach's name is Zach Aaron Christopher Hagelberg which gives him the initials of Zach. What you may not know is that for both our boy's names, we used an Old Testament Name (Noah/Aaron), a Saint Name (Augustine/Christopher), and a Prophet Name (Zach(ariah)/Obadiah). When trying to come up with Zach's name, we were pretty sure that we liked Zach Aaron. Christopher was pretty high on the list for the "C" name, but it wasn't until we discovered that St. Christopher's Feast Day is July 25th (Phil's Birthday) that we were totally sold on it.

But here's the cool part... I just found out this week that Aaron, besides being an Old Testament name, is ALSO a saint of the Coptic Church. And he has a feast day too! October 19 which is MY birthday. We didn't even know this until this week. So, now Zach's middle names have a part of both his mommy and daddy in them. (Noah is named after his daddy too as Noah is Phil's middle name.)

10 more weeks of cuteness

2010-01-04T10:06:00.000-08:00

holidays

2010-01-03T15:31:00.000-08:00

Since Noah's birthday party, it's been a flurry of activity here in the Hagelberg home. We've had guests, two Christmases, trips back and forth to Graham, and explorations of our beautiful city. Here are a few highlights...

12/21 - Green Lake
We love this gem of Seattle. It's about 3 miles to walk all the way around it, but we almost never do that. This time we spent most of our time just looking at the ducks, splashing in puddles, going on the piers, and (sorta) trying to escape the rain. On our way home, we made a detour to see Candy Cane Lane, a row of houses that are decked out for the season.

12/22 - Museum of Flight
Noah's infatuated with all things that go. Be it planes, trains or automobiles. Consequently, we've really wanted to take him to the Museum of Flight for a while now. We met up with Luke (a good friend from SoCal), and had a fabulous time exploring. We got to get into some of the cockpits and go inside a Concord and a retired Air Force One. Noah loved it!

12/24 - Christmas Eve in Shoreline
Phil's brother, Dan, arrived the day before so we had a Christmas time with just Phil's immediate family on Christmas Eve. Only his youngest brother, Peter, was missing since he's in Afghanistan serving our country. We had a great time opening gifts and having a feast on fondue.

Here's Dan with his newest nephew

Grandma and Papa enjoying their new calendar starring their favorite grandchildren

Zach likes his present

And so does Noah

Yummy Fondue

12/25 - Christmas Day in Graham
We traveled down about an hour south to spend Christmas Day with Phil's more extended family. His grandma, aunt, uncle, and cousins were all there. It was a lot of fun to see them again.

With "Aunt" Lindsey

With Grandma and Great-Grandma

Zach's First Christmas

12/26 - Experience Music Project
Phil had some free passes to EMP (thanks Aunt Shirley!), so he and Noah took his parents and Dan there the day after Christmas. Mommy and Zach enjoyed their quiet time at home!

12/31 - Our 5 year anniversary!
I can't believe it's been so long already. And yet, so much has happened since our wedding - after all, we do have two kids! Grandma and Papa kindly met us at Southcenter Mall to watch the boys while Phil and I had a nice, uninterrupted lunch at BJ's Restaurant. It was very nice to have that time, and we sure did enjoy our pizookie. It's been too long.

1/1 - Downtown Seattle
On the first of the year, we went downtown to go see the lights and all the Christmas decor in Westlake Center. The Holiday Carousal was still up, but unfortunately not running. It was really windy, but Noah loved it. So much fun!

We also moved Noah into a "Big Kid's Bed" by converting his crib into a toddler bed. He's doing pretty well with it!