A wedding to remember

My dear childhood friend, Liz, got married this past weekend in Tarkio, MT. My two other childhood girlfriends were bridesmaids with me...it was so much fun!

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Diego grew an inch in 4 months!

I knew there was a reason his pants weren't fitting! We just measured him, and since August 1, 2009, Diego has grown a whole inch! Wow!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Diego Turns 5!

Diego really enjoyed his 5th birthday party. He chose the theme of "Superheros" and his guest came dressed as their favorite! His birthday cake was Spiderman!

And Aba came to visit (Uncle Erik, too!) for the special day! Here we are dressed as a SuperHero Family!

This is Diego with his special friends, Rowen (Left) and Dominic (Center).

Diego wanted a lot of legos, and he got a lot of legos!!!

Here is Spidey at the bottom of his Superhero Slide!

Diego and Charley had a great time at the birthday party! Here they are at home, resting from a full day of fun and activity!

Halloween 2009

Here are a few photos of our Halloween adventures! Christian returned home at noon, met us at the soccer game, and then threw together his African attire as a costume. Me? No pics, but I was "super mom." We are happy he is home (i.e. I am REALLY happy he is home). This afternoon we are venturing out for a celebration of Dia de Los Muertos!

Charley talking

Here are her words so far (she's nearly 16 months old!): mama, papa, aba, diego (or some version of that), agua, no-no, wow, baby, ball, night-night and her newest word....this morning....CAR! She still uses some sign language for more and milk and bath (which also means swim). And she barks to imitate dogs and growls at our neighbor's bear carving statues in the driveway.

I know I am due for an August update and to post some photos...will do soon, promise.

Life is CRAZY! Started school, found an internship, writing some articles for AVID, organizing the house, and having some fun weekend events for summer blowout. One thing is for sure with the Ramers, life is never dull.

Christian is loving his new job - though, he's nearly as busy as he always has been. I'm beginning to think it's a personality trait, not a function of the job. But, he is home most evenings (except for when he's in Mozambique) and he's loving every day of his clinical care (Snohomish Co, Harborview Hospital, Bremerton) and I-Tech work (HIV training in Mozambique). He's also scheduling some trainings here and there in various locations (Moses Lake, Wa; Billings, MT) so the variety keeps him on his toes.

Diego and Charlotte are very well. Diego loves being in school 5 days a week, and he'll be moving up to the "Explorers" room in two weeks (pre-K). Charlotte is a bundle of talkative, exuberant energy -- she only slows down when she sleeps (and she does that well!). She is home during the day with our wonderful nanny, Elizabeth, who has been with us for two years now. Hopefully next fall, if I get a job, Charlotte will move to Diego's school and be in the Rainbow Room (2.5 - 3 year olds). And we'll begin the kindergarten search for Diego this coming winter....hold onto your hats folks!

Love to all....new pics will go up soon.

Playing at the Park

Charley enjoys swinging!

and she loves to push her stroller around.

Diego is always the trickster at the park.

and today he enjoyed a Tweety popsicle from the "Good Humor Man."

Peek a Boo! I see you!

Today Charley discovered her shadow! She couldn't take her eyes off of this moving image of herself!

My beautiful baby girl....

Six more days until we see papa. He will have been gone 34 days in Mozambique, and we all miss him terribly. It has been a lonely, boring summer without our papa! But, today we ventured out to the park for some pre-quiet time fun. This afternoon a friend is coming over for a "pool date" and then we have to finish packing for our trip to Sacramento tomorrow. Aba - here we come! We are excited for another AVID Summer Institute - the second of this summer. Another week of hot hot weather will make us appreciate even more the gorgeous summer we've had here in Seattle in June and July. Lucky us!