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.


*******************************************************************

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.

******************************************************

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!

Winter Wonderland

Portland got some snow yesterday, but we only got to play in it for a little while because of the 35 mph wind gusts! Still, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to put Mia in her adorable snow suit. See the rest of the photos here if you like.

(On another note, my sister has just joined the Internet world, so I'll be blogging in Spanish a little more often.)

******
Ayer nevo en Portland, pero no pudimos jugar por mucho tiempo porque habia un viento de 35 mph. De todas maneras no pudimos perder la oportunidad de ponerle a Mia su trajesito de nieve. Ale - Tomamos estas fotos justo antes de hablar contigo ayer! Pueden ver el resto de las fotos aqui si quieren.