Happy Winter Break & December

Okay, by the time you're reading this post, it won't be December (or 2017 anymore).  But, we had a lot of fun this December and I really wanted to share.  You can check out the photos here.

Ballet
For those that don't know, I love Ballet.  I mean, I really really love ballet.  I concentrate really hard, I practice at home and I have a lot of fun dancing.  Every December, my ballet school (Classical Ballet Academy) puts on several productions of the Nutcracker.  This year, I was a Spanish Chocolate.

Nutcracker - December 2017 Photos (these are this year's)
Nutcracker - December 2016 Photos
Nutcracker - December 2015 Photos















Visitors

Snuggle time with Nana

To add to the holiday fun, Nana & Papa came up for a visit.  It's always fun to have visitors - but it's more fun when it's family!
 Nana & Papa also wanted to go to Mt Hood.  I guess they don't see enough snow in Milwaukee.  Either way, it was super snowy at Mt Hood and you could not see the pretty scenery because the clouds were close into the mountain.  But, there was a lot of snow and we got to play in the snow after eating lunch at Timberline Lodge.  I love snow.

Visit Dad at Work
While Phin and I had 2 weeks off for winter break, Dad only had one.  So, we went to visit him at his new-ish office.  I knew he worked with printers, but they also make computers and had a lot of fun stuff like Ping Pong, Boccie ball, shuffleboard and virtual reality.  No wonder he likes going to the office.

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In the photo above, I'm wearing virtual reality (VR) glasses and going on a roller coaster ride through a gold mine.  It was really fun and then the ride jumped off the tracks and flew into the air.  AWESOME!

The first week of winter break was so much fun... for the 2nd week, we went on a road trip to California (more on that in the next blog).

Lots of Love,
Amelia

H Family Photo Shoot

When I was really little, we used to do a photo shoot starring me every month.  When Amelia was little, we did monthly photo shoots for her too.  Now that we're bigger, photo shoots happen less, but when they do the photos are always great (it helps that Cousin Lisa takes most of the photos).

Over Thanksgiving week, all of the H's gathered at Grandma & Grandpa's house.  There were A LOT of people in one house.

• Grandma & Grandpa (that's 2 people so far), 
• the 4 Portland H's (that's 6 people)
• Uncle David, Aunt Elizabeth & Lilliana (that's 9)
• and Aunt Mimi, Uncle Wes & Rhett (that's 12 people)

Yes, 12 people in one noisy house!  It was so much fun, although I had to worry that Rhett and Lilliana were going to eat my cars & legos.  Luckily no one did.

Anyway, back to photo shoots... one sunny day (they were all sunny, since we were in St Louis not Portland) Cousin Lisa took some great photos of us.  

Family shot

Gotta love baby Lilliana

Hi Rhett!  We love you too

Phin's Fabulous Foursome

You can check out all of our photos from our H Family photo shoot here.

Peace out.

Phin

School Photos - 2017

Dad says it's always fun to look back at old school photos to see how much we've grown.  I've been a big girl for a while, but it's still fun to look back and see how little of a big girl I was.

Here are the preview photos of our 2017 School photos.  I'm in Kindergarten at Childswork Learning Center (my preschool) and Phin's in First Grade at Duniway Elementary (where I'll go next year). 

After years of practice, Phin looks cute in his school photo & he's not hiding in the grass or under a bench (like in 2014).   

• 2017 - All of this year's school photos
• 2016 - Last Year's School Photos
• 2015 School Photos
• 2014 School Photos (just Phin) - aka "worst school photos ever"

Lots of Love,

Amelia

Happy Halloween 2017

Happy Halloween everyone!  While Dad is always busy telling the Apple Story on Halloween, I'm busy getting candy!  Plus, it is always fun to dress up in a costume and get together with some friends.

This year for Halloween, Dad & Mom let us pick our own costumes.  I chose BB-8, the droid from the new Star Wars movies; while, Amelia chose Batgirl (Batman's daughter, I guess). 

 Dad and Mom also wanted to dress up.  So, Mom made a jellyfish costume out of an umbrella, so she would get not wet in the Portland rain (only it's beautiful and sunny this year).  Dad wanted to compliment Amelia's super hero selection and decided to be Spiderman.  Amelia and I both decided that Dad just looks scary with his Spidey mask on.

 To pre-celebrate Halloween, we got to wear our costumes on Sunday and march around our neighborhood as part of a big parade that features 1000+ kiddos and parents.  So much fun.

At least twice, people said Dad looks like the real Spiderman.  Evidently, when Dad had more hair (who knew!), people used to stop him all the time because he looked similar to the actor who played Spiderman.  Mom made the following composite, so you can decide for your own.

You can see all of our pictures from the Halloween parade here.

Peace Out,
Phin

Phin's Belated 7th Birthday Party Photos

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday to meeeeee.  Happy birthday to me!

This year, I turned 7 and I had a lot of trouble deciding how I wanted to celebrate with my friends.  Someone at school's parents only let them invite 1 friend for each year old they are; for some reason, I thought that rule applied to me too (not sure why).  So I had a really, really hard time trying to decide what I wanted to do with only 7 friends.

Eventually Mom & Dad talked me out of that idea; but I still didn't know what I wanted to do - movie in the backyard, party at the nickel arcade, jumping at the trampoline park, lunch in a park...  The choices were so vast (now that I could invite 8 or more people). 

Finally, I decided on a movie in the backyard.  It's so much fun to stay up late, eat lots of popcorn, have cake, hang with my friends and entertain the neighborhood.  We watched the first Cars movie (because I love cars and the 3rd one was not out on video yet).  Some photos are below, the rest are accessible here.

Not pictured here: Nana, Papa, Grandma & Grandpa, who came in to celebrate with us (thank you for coming in).

Peace Out,
Phin

Amelia turns 5 (late picks)

Happy belated birthday to myself… 3 months ago (in July), I turned 5.  So exciting.  Now that I’m 5 there are a few new rules around the house – no crying (unless I’m hurt) and no tush squeezes (because I’m a big girl).  Also, I’ve started styling my hair a new way, the ‘side pony.’  The side pony is a mini pony tail towards the front of my head (on the side).  It’s like a braid, only you don’t braid it.

Anyway, for my birthday party, I wanted a celebration at Playdate PDX – it’s a soft playroom for big kids like me.  Mom and Dad liked to point out that when I was 3 & 4 years old I was scared and did not like going in Playdate PDX (too many big kids, getting lost…).  But, like I said, now I’m a Big Girl and I’m not afraid of anything, except spiders, bugs, dogs, cats, racoons, squirrels, the skunk that visits our backyard, and honestly anything that is living but not a person.

 

Blowing out the candles on my birthday cake

On the third floor of the Playdate PDX play space!  Happy Birthday to me!

For my birthday, Nana, Papa, Grandma & Grandpa all came in to help celebrate – I love having them come visit just for me and I love partying with my friends. 

You can check out the rest of my photos here.

Lots of Love,

Amelia

Our Favorite Movie (for now) #Moana

Okay, that's a bold title. We will always love Star Wars (especially the Ewoks, they're so cute), Totoro and the Cars movies.  But, We have a new favorite (or frarvite as I used to say) movie to add to the list... Moana.

It's a great story about a girl to takes to the ocean to save the world and in the process meets a guy with dancing tattoos.  Amelia loves that there is no scary part or bad guys; I love that it's so silly and not a mushy love story.  We both also love the songs and singing.

Our favorite song from the movie is call "How Far I'll Go" - where Moana sings about leaving her island to take to the seas. We've made mom play the music (via Youtube) all day for the past 2 weeks.  I think Mom really likes the music.

Since we've been listening to the music so much, we've started to learn the songs really well.  Dad recorded us singing in the car (Dad won't play the Moana music in car, so we had to sing it from memory).  You can check out the video he made below or via this link.



Peace Out,

Phin

Spring is Here Said the Bumblebee!

At school, my favorite part of the week is when Daniel my school's music guy comes to class.  He usually comes every other Tuesday or Wednesday; but I wish he came everyday. Sometimes Daniel brings instruments to play, sometimes we sing together and sometimes we learn new things (we've even sung songs about stories in books).

Last week, we had a Daniel day; as always, I sat in the front row.  It's tough to get a front row spot on a Daniel day because everyone in my class loves it too when he comes to class.  But last week was super special, I got to sing all by myself with Daniel.  I love this song and have been singing it at home to my mom and dad (and Phinny) for a while - so it was even more super exciting to sing it with Daniel (since he taught us the song). As you can see, I was nervous to stand up in front of the class and sing, but it was a lot of fun.

Or click here to view the video

Next time I see you, and I'm in the mood, if you ask I might sing for you.

Lots of Love,
Amelia

PS - I got to pick out my outfit that day all by myself... what do you think?

Michael Daddy's 38th Birthday Hike

When I asked Dad, "What do you want to do for your birthday?" He said "If it's nice, lets take a hike." I replied "It's rained for 64 of the past 65 days, I doubt it will be nice."
I was wrong (first time).  So we went for a hike at the Smith & Bybee Wetlands, up by the Columbia River.
Unfortunately, the river was flooded like a bathtub, so our hike was cut short.  But we still had enough time to film a Hiking with Amelia and Dad video (Click here to watch it).

 

We grabbed a few fun photos too.

Where the sidewalk ends.  Taking after his cousin Shel.

Look this log has a hole and I have a stick ... a happy marriage

Looking for more Bush Deer

Happy Birthday Dad!

Lots of Love,
Amelia Rose

President's day at the Beach

For the past bunch of President's Day holiday weekends, we have loaded up the car and driven from Virginia to the Poconos to meet a bunch of friends.   Since that drive is no longer possible in a weekend, Dad had the great idea that we should still make the weekend a fun mini-vacation with some friends.

Rather than fight snowy roads and sub-zero temperatures, we decided a beach trip sounds like more fun (even though the Oregon beaches are cold and rainy during the winter).  With our friend's the Nortons, we loaded up and hit the coast.

We knew we were in for a great weekend, when we arrived to a beautiful sunset.

That's me in the picture above, standing on a dead tree that has landed in the Bay right outside of the beach house.  That was high tide.
The photo below is almost at low tide, we're 60+ feet out into the bay playing on the sand.  I was really amazing to see how much the water receded during the tide shift.  The Dads made sure we had a good scientific understanding of why tides happen.  Meanwhile, I was just glad we brought buckets and diggers with us.

 If you notice our apparrel in the pic above, you'll see that we're wearing our raincoats, long sleeves and pants (well not Cameron, he wanted to wear his swimming suit).  It funny to think of it being cold at the beach - but it was.  And it was very rainy all weekend. 

On Sunday (the really rainy day), we drove down to Newport, Oregon to visit an aquarium.  It was pretty cool, we saw lots of sea creatures, watched sea otters eat crabs, walked through a shark tunnel (see below) and played on the ocean-themed climbing stuff.

 It was a great trip; but there was one thing Dad really wanted to do before we left.  So, after we packed everything up (except a change of clothes), Dad and I put on life jackets and took out the dingy (that's what he called it, I called it a boat).

Luckily, I did not need to test my swimming skills out.  Maybe my next aquatic class with be boating, because I did not know what to do with the oar.
You can check out all of my President's Day weekend photos here.

Peace out,
Phin

Can't Stop the Feeling In My Body

Sometimes you walk around the house and the floor will creek just the right way, someone starts tapping the wall at just the right beat, something sizzles on the stove top just right; next thing you know the music is blaring and our feet are shimmying across the floor as are arm raise up into the air.

With lots of snow days and near-record rainfall, we've spent an abnormally large amount of time inside this Winter. Thankfully, there is always plenty of dancing happening in our house.  Something special happens when we dance, it doesn't matter how dreary the weather, our moods just lift up and everyone has a great time!

To compliment our reinvigorated dancing, I've taken a liking to listening to the radio.  Mom and Dad enjoy sharing some of their favorites from their youth - Michael Jackson, Madonna and (my favorite, favorite, favorite) Survivor's Eye of the Tiger.

Anyway, you should check out our latest dancing music video based on Justin Timberlake's original (and one of Phinny's favorite songs).

(Email Followers, Click Here to Watch the Video)

#GetYourGrooveOn

Lots of Love,

Amelia

Phin's First Book

Mom and Dad say that I've been able to sight read a lot of words for a while now (at least a couple of years).  Sure, the first words I ever learned to recognize were 'car' 'truck' and 'no' - all for good reasons (I love cars and trucks).  But, until this past week I've never shown interest in reading.  Usually, I just say no (which, as discussed, I know how to read).

As part of her regular visits to the library, Mom picked up a couple of books about a little dog and a big dog.  With some initial assistance to reassure me, I have read them both - all of the words!  You can see me reading in the car to Mom, Dad & Amelia.

Mom and Dad (and Amelia) were very proud and I really enjoyed reading.
I must say that sometimes letters construct the weirdest words.  Example: Why is the word 'are' not just spelled 'r' - it would make reading so much easier!

But, don't make a big deal about reading to me - I don't love the attention (like when I wrote my name)

Peace out,
Phin

PIGGLESWORTH comes for a visit!

Every Thursday, one lucky friend in my classroom gets to bring home our class pet for the weekend.  Once at your home, you take him on fun adventures, snuggle with him, take pictures and then bring him back on Monday for a class presentation.

Every week since the start of the school year, someone elses name gets chosen.  Every week, I'm a little sad that he's not coming home with me - but I'm excited that I will one day get to bring him home.

Last Thursday (since I don't have school on Fridays), we were discussing our weekend plan.  My plan was to go to the Auto Show with Phin, Mom and Dad - something we look forward to all year.  Well, at the end of the day April (one of my teachers) held the hat with names above her head and picked out the lucky kid who would bring our class pet, Pigglesworth, home for the weekend.  She grabbed a piece of paper, and announced "Looks like Pigglesworth is going to the auto show with Amelia!"

I told Dad that I played it cool when they called my name, but I was SOOOOOO excited!  All Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday I got to take Pigglesworth (he's a lovable pig) with me!  Piggleworth was the first time a guest had come to our house just to see me!  The whole weekend was all about Pigglesworth and me. 
We took him to the car show, to the Lunar New Years Festival, we took him out to eat, dressed him up in tutu, and even made him pancakes (his favorite) and bacon (he does not like bacon).  I even let Phin snuggle and play with Pigglesworth.

You can see all of my Pigglesworth photos here!  Oh Pigglesworth, I miss you already - thank you for coming to visit!!!!!!

You can also see how much we've grown:

• At the Auto Show in 2015 in DC.
• At the Auto Show in 2014 in DC.

Lot of Love,
Amelia

A Special Visitor at School

Yesterday, a special visitor came to school with me.  He got me ready, drove me to school, walked me into my classroom and then stayed to play all day.  He even brought his own lunch and a snack for my class.

In case you could not figure it out, I got to bring Dad to school to be the Family Helper for the day.  It was a lot of fun to bring Dad with me.  We painted, made bead jewelry, made snack for all of my friends, made silly faces while reading a book, played "Police Cars" and other games on the playground, ate lunch together and snuggled during book reading time.

Painting using Rollers

Making Silly Faces while reading a book

You can see all of my photos from when Dad came to visit.
Lots of Love,
Amelia