The Sears Catalog

Sears Family Vacation

2009-07-06T21:21:00.001-07:00

I love my boys! We just returned from a fabulous vacation and it was so fun to see family, play with the boys and get quality time with Kent...we are already planning our next adventure.

Luke loves pillows! I finally bought a bedding set for our bed and while Kent doesn't care for the seven decorative pillows that came with it, Luke loves them and likes to "hide" in the pillows. I think it is his own personal heaven!

This past week we went to Cherry Hill (a RV and water park)to join my family for a huge family reunion. Kent had not met most of my extended family yet so it was really fun to introduce my hunk of a husband to all the craziness that is my family. He was a good sport and we all had a great time. The kids did so well on the flight and the whole trip that Kent and I have decided we can start taking family vacations for real! YEAH! Kent is voting for Disneyland but I want to wait until the boys are a bit older. I bet we go within the next six months though.

The only bummer is that we were so busy playing the water and trying to keep the little ones happy we did not taking any pictures-we will just have to go back soon and make sure to take pictures!

Luke was very brave and went down the "Double Dragon" (a waterslide that had dips, dark tunnels, and fog) with Kent three times. He thought it was pretty great until he came out into the pool at the end and went under water for a second or two. He kept telling anyone who would listen all about it: "Luke fall down go boom under water".

And Jack is just an angel. He wakes up each morning with the biggest smile and keeps them coming throughout the day. He is the easiest little guy and absolutely huge! He makes friends everywhere we go and draws lots of comments from people about how he is going to be a football player when he grows up. Time will tell!

Kent and I were even able to leave the kids with Grandma and Grandpa and go down the waterslides for about an hour. We had such a blast!

Happy 2009!

2009-01-04T19:41:00.000-08:00

We woke up December 18th to SNOW and a lot of it! As much as we love the snow, we were afraid it was going to keep us from being with family for Christmas. But after being stuck in our apartment for four days, Kent dug out our car and we headed on the road to visit family!

We spent the next few days in Vancouver and Molalla celebrating Christmas with family and had so much fun! I hope this Christmas season was a blessed one for all.

2008 was a great year, but man did it fly by! 2009 is full of exciting plans for our family beginning with a cruise in February where I will be making a presentation and leaving the boys at home with Grandma. Kent and I are having mixed emotions about being away from our very young, adorable boys, but we are planning to have a blast!

Merry Christmas...and belated Thanksgiving and Halloween

2008-12-14T20:49:00.001-08:00

We have our Christmas tree up, there is snow outside...it is starting to feel like Christmas! I would love to cuddle up with a good book or movie and drink some hot chocolate, but Jack doesn't do well with dairy, so no hot chocolate for me. And when I get a chance to rest from the day, I run straight to bed, so no movies or books either. I will save that for another year. This year I am very grateful for my busy days and by wonderful little boys. Luke is growing up and saying new words everyday: today he learned "poop" (by accident). He had a great time at the tree lot, he wasn't very interested in the trees but there were a lot of different blow up Christmas displays that he thought were cool and he loved the reindeer!

All I can say about Jack is that he is wonderful and perfect...that pretty much sums it up. He is two months and already over 15 pounds! He is a good eater and a good sleeper: he slept seven hours straight two nights last week. I am hoping this becomes a regular thing.

He was a purple people eater for Halloween, but he slept right through the trick or treating, so he didn't get any candy.

Sorry that it has been a while since the last update, but my boys keep me very busy. Just this week, Luke has perfected climbing out of his crib. And as fun as it is to wake up to his cute, smiling face next to our bed in the morning, it is torture to get him to go to sleep. It looks like he will get an early Christmas present of a toddler bed.

Below are some pictures of a farm we visited to pick up a pumpkin for Halloween (we never got around to carving it though).

Luke was a bat for Halloween and went to Microsoft to trick-or-treat around the offices. He kept trying to put his candy into the Microsoft employee's baskets, he didn't realize that he was supposed to take the candy from them-what a sweet kid.

Since the weather has turned cold, Luke has taken up a new hobby to replace going to the park: cooking! Almost every day Luke will pull a chair from the dining table to the kitchen and pull out a pan from under the oven: signaling that he is ready to create a masterpience. He has perfected pumpkin bread, muffins, and peanut butter cookies, but his favorite thing to do is eat the chocolate chips while I do the rest of the work.

Introducing Jack Kenan Sears

2008-10-14T19:18:00.000-07:00

He is finally here and we are so estatic!!! He needed a little extra nudge (I was induced), but he arrived safely on October 6th at 3:10 p.m. Weighing in at a hefty 9 pounds, 11.4 ounces, there is no doubt he was ready to be born. The labor went really fast and was a totally different experience than Luke's birth, but since I have a healthy baby I can't complain. I was really afraid I was going to need a c-section, but I only pushed for about seven minutes!

Yes, I was huge! In fact, a hospital employee asked if I was having twins when we arrived for the induction. Lucky for her, I was in such a good mood since I was finally going to have this baby that I didn't kick her in the shin.

Luke has been great about sharing the spotlight. We video taped the first meeting of Luke and Jack; expecting Luke to throw a bit of a fuss when Mom and Dad were suddenly paying attention to another little one. Instead, Luke got a big smile on his face and now loves saying "Jack" which sounds more like "Quack" and pushing Jack in his baby swing. Life is good!

Grandpa and Grandma Sears and Grandma Puffer were all able to come up and hang out at the hospital until Jack was born. Grandma Puffer stayed and watched Luke which was a huge help and Grandpa Puffer came a few days later to play with Luke and Jack too. It is so nice to have family so close!

A few days earlier, we tried on Luke's Halloween costume. I had tried to save a few bucks by buying a costume after halloween last year to use this year. As the pictures show, that plan backfired. Luke now has a new bat costume that he will wear this year. Pictures of that are to come...

Really...he should be here any time!

2008-10-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

Jack are you listening? He has been an angel thus far giving me a very easy pregnancy, but now I am overdue and anxious to meet the newest man in my life I want to take away his allowance and ground him if he doesn't come soon!
If you haven't already, please sign up to our "Baby-Alert" group so you can hear all about the latest happenings in the pending arrival of little Jack Sears.
Just click on the link below.

He should be here anytime!!!

2008-09-29T19:33:00.000-07:00

So Kent and I, not to mention grandparents and extended family, have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of Jack. My doctor started telling me three weeks ago that he (Jack) was ready and could come at any time. My due date has pasted, my doctor is on vacation, and I am starting to wonder if Jack is ever going to join the outside world.

Kent and I got this awesome service called "Baby-Alert", so each of our friends can hear when little Jack makes his debut! Click on the link to check it out!

2008-09-16T22:12:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Finally...An Update

2008-08-17T13:40:00.000-07:00

We bought a new camera, so now I don't have any excuses about updating our blog. I finally downloaded all the pictures off our old camera, so here is an update:

In June, we went on an Alaskan cruise with my parents (Grandma and Grandpa Puffer) and had a great time! It was cold, but Luke still got in the pool a few times and even went down the waterslide with Kent.

Life is good here in Redmond. We are having a hot week and I am moaning about being pregnant without air conditioning, but it isn't too bad.

Only 5 more weeks left before little Jack Keenan Sears should be making his world debut! We are so excited! We just need to figure out how we are going to fit everything into our apartment.

Luke is into puzzles and flashcards right now. What kid loves flashcards? Luke sure does! He might just like that they make a huge mess that he gets to watch mom clean up.

Sears Family Expansion

2008-04-07T20:35:00.000-07:00

Sorry that three months have passed since we last added to the blog, but we have some exciting news: the Sears family will be expanding in September of 2008. I am pregnant! I am due around September 26th, but Kent is hoping that I can keep the bun in the oven until October 5th-his birthday. He thinks that it is only fair that since Luke and I share a birthday that he and the next one share the big day too. While I think that would be wonderful, I am telling him not to get his hopes up.

So even though it is Spring, the weather here has been ridiculously cold! Luke discovered the great outdoors during a warm week in February and now "asks" to go outside many times each day (meaning he walks over to the door and bangs on it and cries when we won't open it). While we give in occasionally, more often we take Luke to Gymboree, the Kid's Museum (Kidsquest), or the Seattle Aquarium. It is so fun to explore with Luke and see him learn and grow!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-11T20:50:00.000-08:00

Kent and I decided to set a few New Year resolutions. One of the top priorities is to get some new clothes! We were laughing as we looked at our pictures because I am always wearing my lime green coat (I promise I do have other clothes, and sometimes I even wear them) and Kent's jeans have a huge hole in the knee. I think we got used to living on a student budget - not necessarily a bad thing. So check back in a few weeks and see if we have kept this resolution.

I had to add this picture of Luke with Santa. So it is a little late, but oh well. Luke didn't even notice that he was sitting on Santa's lap at first. Santa was being really quiet and not calling any attention to himself. Once Luke caught a glimpse of Santa, he would not look back at the camera and his little lip started to quiver, but he did not cry!

The Sears Top 10 of 2007

2008-01-01T21:10:00.000-08:00

2007 Recap of the Sears Family

This year has been all about growing, changing, and fun for our family! As everyone reading this already knows, we welcomed little Luke Sears on December 21, 2006. He actually shares his birthday with me-I am pretty sure this means that I don't age any longer since he gets all the attention on the big day.

To focus on the highlights in 2007:

1. Go Tarheels! Luke attended his first UNC Tarheel basketball game when he was less than two months old. He may have been the smallest fan but he is all heart! Actually, he slept right through the whole game.

2. Snow in North Carolina! I woke up and started watching the news, totally confused as to why they were focusing on snow showers that, I assumed, were somewhere else in the country. We had been enjoying beautiful 60 degree days earlier in the week so I was shocked when I looked outside to find a winter wonderland! I woke up Kent, we bundled up Luke, and took him out for his first encounter with snow. He was not impressed; he fell asleep.

3. Kent Graduated! He did graduate, but chose to hightail it to Oregon/Washington rather than stick around to walk so that we could enjoy our second anniversary together (Luke and I had flown to Oregon a few days earlier). Kent drove from North Carolina to Oregon in three days-driving 19 hours the last day! A friend called us from the graduation to tell us that Kent was a Dean Scholar, meaning that he graduated in the top 5% of his class! Smart and sexy...I am one lucky girl.

4. Mooching Off Mom and Dad. That's right...we decided to start our adult life off right, by moving back in with our parents, sleeping in until 10:00 when possible, and raiding their fridges. It was awesome! Microsoft allowed Kent to choose his start date and we decided to have some family time before we joined the real world. If only we could take every summer off...

We went hiking at Multnomah Falls...

5. Greece Vacation. Definitely a highlight of 2007! We spent three weeks in Greece during which we toured Athens then visited the islands of Santorini, Naxos, Paros, Hydra, Poros, and Aegina. Luke was like a little celebrity everywhere we went-getting tons of attention from everyone. It was beautiful and fun but so hot! It was the hottest summer in their history, and while we loved our time there, it was nice to come home! Traveling with a baby makes it a little harder...having to convert Luke's weight into kilograms to figure out what size diapers to buy and searching all around the city for baby food made for quite an adventure.

6. Seattle and Microsoft. So Kent started working in July and Luke and I set about to make Seattle (well actually Redmond) home. Luke joined Gymboree, a little tikes' gym with play and music classes and quickly made a bunch of friends. He is so much fun; everyone loves him!

Luke went diving for balls at Gymboree

Luke had been quiet for a few minutes, so I went to check on him and found him "reading". The book was actually upside down, but it was so cute!

Luke had his first haircut. He thought it was pretty cool until they actually tried to cut his hair. He fussed, but put up with it and came out looking cuter than ever.

7. Orcas Island. As a birthday surprise for Kent, I made plans for us to go to Orcas Island. I had heard nothing but good things about the island and it was beautiful, but the weather was terrible. It was totally windy and rainy and so cold the entire weekend, but we managed to have a great time anyway. We are looking forward to returning when the weather is better. A highlight of the trip was that I came face to face (well within 10 feet) of a deer. He was pretty tame, just hanging out under some trees by our car one day. I grabbed Kent from the hotel room and he was able to see the deer also. Pretty amazing.

8. Luke's Birthday! Our little man turned one! Kent surprised Luke and I by taking the day off of work and making wonderful plans to celebrate the big day. The morning was all about relaxing and opening gifts. At first Luke didn't know what to do with the wrapped packages, but he quickly figured it out. Kent and I both agreed that Luke must have been thinking, "I have no idea what is going on, but today is a great day!"

The afternoon was spent ice skating (which Luke loved!), eating at Red Robin (where they sang 'Happy Birthday' to Luke and he tried ice cream for the first time), and going to Snowflake Lane (a Christmas event in Bellevue where they have a drumline and make it snow!). Luke had the best time and was so tired that he fell asleep in Kent's arms as we walked to the car. It was adorable and the perfect birthday. He was so happy that he didn't let out one cry or fuss the entire day!

Our family took a train ride around Redmond Town Center.

Kent played ice hockey for years, so he is an excellent skater. Luke looks like he might follow in his dad's footsteps, he loved skating and was pretty darn good!

The party continued in Vancouver on December 23rd with the entire Sears family. Luke tried cake for the first time. He was a little unsure at first, but then jumped right in.

Luke cuddles up with Uncle Shawn and plays with his birthday present.

9. Christmas! Always Kent and my favorite time of year, it was wonderful but passed by so quickly! Luke visited Santa and told him that he didn't need to worry...his Grandma and Grandpa were going to get him everything he could ever want. We were able to spend the holiday in Vancouver and Molalla with family, but couldn't fit all the presents into the car so we will have to make another trip soon (darn :)).

We attended the Christmas Eve service with Kent's family. It was wonderful but Luke and his cousin Caleb didn't want to hold still so they played together in the nursery.

It snowed in Molalla on Christmas Day and we have the picture to prove it! It didn't last long but was a wonderful suprise.

10. Luke's First Steps! After weeks of looking as though he could take his first steps at any time, Luke finally decided to do it! He took his first real steps in Molalla with a lot of coaxing by mom and dad. In Vancouver a few days later, he decided that this walking thing was pretty cool and walked back and forth between Kent and I a bunch of times. It was adorable! He still crawls most of the time, but he is gaining confidence everyday and I know it is just a matter of days until he will be running circles around me.