Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Merry Christmas to our dear friends and family near and far. We are thinking of you tonight.

Flavor Country

Just a quick post to share photos from our non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner: Seafood Paella followed by delicious desserts (dark chocolate torte and coconut cake). It was truly a team effort! For the full "play-by-play" (and an introduction to The Welshes adorable new puppy, Penny), you can view Christie's slideshow here.

Hello Christmas

We never get our Christmas tree Thanksgiving weekend, but this year our tree came to us! A neighbor of ours who is a Boy Scout came knocking at our front door last night saying that he and his dad went to a Christmas tree farm this weekend and brought back some trees. He offered to sell us one for $10. It was a Christmas miracle! ;-) Keenan walked three houses down and brought us back a six-foot tree. Needless to say, Mia was very excited to help decorate it! The first ornament? Hello Kitty, of course!

Welcome Baby Boy Douglass

Congratulations to our friends Troy and Sarah, who today welcomed a beautiful baby boy! He was two weeks past his due date, and it shows: 9 lbs. 3 oz! They haven't settled on a name just yet, but Mia can't wait to meet her new little friend (and neither can we). Best wishes to the new family!

Mia in MIA

It's 49F and raining in Portland today, but just a couple weeks ago we were in sunny, hot Miami. It was Mia's first time in the "pantano," and  she got to visit with her grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and close family friends. She also got to taste a lot of yummy Cuban food. She was very excited to meet everyone (and to go swimming!). Tia Ale even flew all the way from Spain for the occasion! Of course, we took tons of photos :-) The full slideshow is posted here.

Los extranamos muchisimo!

Un abrazo fuerte!

Two Years Old Already

*Open Letter to Our Baby Girl*

Dear Mia,
A few weeks ago you turned two years old! You are your own little person now. You are very funny and make us laugh all the time with your funny faces. When you look back at your childhood someday, we thought you might want to know what you were like at two, so here are 10 facts about Mia:

1. You say your Ls like Ys (as in "yittle" and "vioyin").
   
2. Your favorite characters are Hello Kitty, Dora and Elmo.
   
3. You get the hiccups when you laugh too hard.
   
4. You can dress yourself pretty well and very often get the shoes on the correct foot. (If we'd let you, you'd change your outfit 10 times a day.)
   
5. You love to sing and dance. Your favorite song is Fibber Island by They Might Be Giants.
6. Your favorite books are "The Big Red Barn," "Buenas Noches, Luna," "Dora's Book of Words" and "Si Le Das Una Galletita a Un Raton."
7. Your bedtime friends (stuffed animals) are Pink Teddy, Cookie Monster, Easter Bunny and Hello Kitty (recently arrived from Japan and immediately inducted into the club).
   
8. You are VERY independent. You like doing everything yourself including fastening your seat belt, getting in and out of your high chair, going potty, washing your hands, dressing/undressing, eating, etc.
   
9. You talked mommy into using one of those ridiculously huge grocery carts with the little toy car attached to the front. (Now we have to use one even if we're just running in for milk and bread. ;-)
   
10. You love your dog Mona very much. You help us feed her every day and tell her goodnight every night before you go to bed.
    

We are so proud of you, Mia! Thank you for making our lives brighter.

With Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Ladies' Night

A few nights ago, something unusual happened: Christy, Christie and I got to go out just the three of us... and on a weeknight! (Scandalous!) We went to celebrate our friend Beth who is the featured artist at a cute new local hotel. Congrats, Beth!

Random Summer Fun

Sorry for the unintended hiatus! We've been out and about trying to take advantage of the lovely summer weather. Picnics, birthday parties, trips to the park and the pool... Mia has been busy! I've just posted a little slideshow of random photos from our activities lately (here), as well as photos of Adam's awesome baseball birthday party (here). Enjoy!

Aloha Cutie

We're baaaaack! Our week in Maui was amazing and great family quality time. It was Mia's first official trip to the beach. And what a beach! At first she was a little apprehensive, but after a couple days she started saying "Mia beach, Mia playa." We lucked out with the weather and the picture-postcard view from our room. What a magical place! More photos here. Enjoy!

Catching Up With the Mia

There's been a lot of excitement around here lately, and it's not just because of the awesome weather. This spring we "ate, breathed and slept" Kempo (helping Keenan and Sean prepare for their third-degree black belt test). We also had a visit from Mimi! We went to the zoo, the Children's Museum and the pool. In May the farmer's market opened up (yay!). Needless to say Mia's been quite busy, and you know what that means: It's photo montage time again! (Or "mashup," as the kids these days like to say.) Enjoy Mia's adventures. Next up: Hawaii!

Lo hemos pasado muy chevere esta primavera, y no nadamas por el tiempo lindo. Mia ha estado muy "ocupada." Ayudo a su papa a prepararse para su examen de kempo. Tambien nos vino a visitar la abuela Mimi. Recientemente fuimos al zoologico, al museo de ninos y a la pisina (o "pileta," para mis Campanelis). Aqui les envio un montaje de fotos de los ultimos tres meses. Abrazos a todos!

Bring It, Yao

We just want to give a special shout out to our Portland Trailblazers who've come a long way this season! Go Blazers! Beat Houston!

Spring Color, Part 1: Awesome Blossoms

A couple weeks ago we went down to Waterfront Park downtown to check out the gorgeous cherry blossom trees on the riverside promenade. There were lots of people and families (and their dogs) enjoying the sun and waving at the boats on the Willamette River. The trees are not in bloom for very long, but while they're here they're quite a sight, like cotton candy with branches ;-) Click here for the rest of the photos. (And, yes, that is a harness on Mia. She is too fast for us on foot right now. Without it we would likely have to fish her out of the river.)




Hace dos semanas fuimos a un parque en el centro que esta al lado del Rio Willamette donde hay muchos cerezos. Durante esta epoca son espectaculares. Fue el primer fin de semana lindo de la primavera y habian muchas familias gozando el dia. Haz "click" aqui para el resto de las fotos.

Sunny Days

It's 70 degrees today! Spring is finally here. Our camellia bushes are in full bloom and the tulips and daffodils are coming up all around our neighborhood. (I'll post photos of that soon.) Yesterday was pretty, too (though a little chilier), and Mia had a blast kicking around the soccer ball in the back yard and chasing Mona. Today she "helped" Keenan with some yard work. Next week it's back to cooler weather, but in the meantime we're taking advantage of the sun.


Hoy la temperatura subio a los 70(F) grados! La primavera a llegado finalmente. Nuestros arboles de camelia ya estan llenos de flores y tambien hay tulipanes en nuestro vecindario (fotos de eso pronto). Ayer tambien fue un dia muy bonito, un poquito mas frio. Mia se divirtio pateando la pelota de futbol y jugando con Mona en el patio. Hoy le "ayudo" a Keenan con la jardineria. La semana que viene vuelve el frio pero por ahora vamos a disfrutar el sol!

B-ball Fever

Team Bartscher was sidelined with a cold this past week, but the week before we all went out to watch Adam play basketball with his little league, The Lay-ups. Mia was especially excited; she kept pointing and yelling his name as he ran up and down the court.


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El equipo Bartscher estuvo "lesionado" esta semana (los tres con el mismo catarro), pero la semana pasada fuimos a ver a Adam jugar baloncesto con su pequena liga. A Mia le encanto y se la paso gritando su nombre mientras el corria en frente de nosotros.






Great basket! Way to go Adam!

Dee-fense! Dee-fense! (The kids wear matching colored wristbands so they can remember who to cover on defense.)

What a Big Girl

This week Mia will be 18 months old. (It's her "half-birthday," as her cousin Adam likes to call it.) She had her checkup at the doctor yesterday, and everything looks great. We're all getting used to our new schedule (with me working full-time again), and she seems to really be enjoying her extra day at Nana Cindy's house. She is a full-fledged toddler now, and really has a mind of her own. She KNOWS what she WANTS. She's talking a lot, repeating much of what we say, and is going to the potty more often now. She likes to touch her sippy cup to your glass and say "Cheers!" She's learning new words every day such as "thank you," "I love you," "excuse me," "Obama," "eating," (as in "Mona is eating, so let's leave her alone") "night-night," and "I don't know." She also has a great sense of humor and makes us laugh all the time.

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Esta semana Mia cumple 18 meses. Tuvo su chequeo medico ayer y todo se ve muy bien. Nos estamos acostumbrando a nuestra nueva rutina ahora que estoy trabajando "full-time" otra vez. Mia parece que esta disfrutando su dia adicional en casa de "Nana" Cindy. (Ya nunca llora cuando la dejamos por la manana.) Cada dia esta mas nina que bebe, hablando mucho y repitiendo lo que oye como una cotorrita. Tambien esta usando su "potty" mas a menudo. Le gusta brindar con nosotros con su tasita. En Espanol ha aprendido unas cuantas palabras nuevas recientemente como: "cuna," "arroz," "media," "pollo," "caja," "agua," "bano" y "nino/a." Le encanta bailar y tiene un buen sentido de humor. Nos hace reir todo el tiempo.


Here is Mia testing out the potty.

"Hey, Mona, check out my new potty!"

Mommy got out the power tools and finally hung up the crocodile mirror that Santa brought.

End of Year Wrap-Up (Looks Like We Made It)

Hi everybody: Long time, no blog. We had some craziness since my last update which included an ice storm, then a foot of snow on top of that, a black eye for Mia (and one for Adam), a brother-in-law stranded in the Midwest (so glad we got you back safe, Sean!)... and oh yeah, Christmas!

The city was more or less paralyzed because of the snow and ice, but it was nice to see a lot of neighbors helping each other. And, to help us get over the cabin fever, we closed out the year with a bang at Christie and Sean's New Year's Eve party. (More photos here.) Needless to say, we are so glad 2009 is finally here!