A Spates' Odyssey

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Xmas 2012 letter

December 2012
Dear Friends and Family,
The girls turned two this January and they have changed greatly. They are providing creative conversations, actively playing and living the terrific two’s life. Kaylee loves painting and Makenna has a vivid imagination. Both love animals and have fun playing together outside. They started co-op preschool two days a week for hour and a half period. They are enjoying experiencing new things and making friends.
We had a couple of great vacations this year. In July we flew to Minnesota to see Stephen's family for a reunion. We enjoyed going to the zoo, Mall of America and playing in the lake. We also got to meet some of Heather's extended family. She also got to learn about the early history of the family in the Luck WI area and meet some great cousins.
In Aug we celebrated our 10 year anniversary. We stayed a couple of days in a treehouse in the Cascade mountains without the girls. We had a relaxing time picking blueberries, exploring Snoqualmie Falls and hiking. It was our first multi day trip away from the girls and they had fun hanging out with the grandmas.
In November we went up to Lynden, WA near the Canadian border and hung out for a couple of days. We got to spend time seeing our college alma mater Western Washington University, visiting playgrounds and college friends.
Stephen is still working for Wizards of the Coast. Heather is home with the girls. We are active with swimming lessons at the YMCA, gymnastics class and having playdates with our Multiples group. We also are very active with the church.
Our dear dog Lacey passed away in July. She was a great dog and we had some fun times with her. She will be missed. Backster our cat is still enjoying life and loves being #1 pet again. He lets the girls pet him more and more if they are quiet when doing it.
Check us out on Facebook for the latest pictures and information.
Hoping for a great new year!

Thursday, December 29, 2011

2011 Christmas Letter

Dear Friends and Family,

December 2011

Welcome to 2011 in the Spates household.

This year has been very busy. The girls turned one in January. They started walking, talking, eating and throwing solid foods. We are both happy that they are also both communicating with 2-3 word sentences and are able to get their points across most of the time. It has seemed that the terrible twos are starting a bit early so the next year should be even more fun. Kaylee is into kitty cats and we have nicknamed her "bug" while Makenna likes babies, climbing and exploring so we call her "monkey". They recently got a train set and are both into the "choo choo".

This year the girls have enjoyed going to our local YMCA. We do swimming on the weekends or evenings so that we both can be there and the girls are fish in the water. They also love going to infant gymnastics as they can play in the ball pit, swing on the giant swing and jump on the trampoline. Sometimes we can't get Kaylee away from the swing the entire time.

In June, Heather and her mom took the girls to a family reunion in Ontario Oregon. The trip was about a 6 hours long by car and took around 10 hours to get down from her mom's house in Wenatchee WA. Many stops and diaper changes later we finally made it down. It was great to see Mom's side of the family and introduce them to the girls. We also got to see areas that mom grew up in and reminisced about days gone by.

In July, Heather helped out with our church's Vacation Bible School program. She helped co-lead a 1st & 2nd grade class. The theme was a tropical Luau. At the end of the week the church held a Luau dinner for all the attendees. We finally got to wear our matching outfits that we purchased for us and the (yet to be born) girls when we went to Hawaii in 2009.

In October, we took the girls and did a week long trip to Victoria BC. We drove over the border and took a British Columbia ferry to Vancouver Island. While there, we went to the BC provincial museum, strolled along the shops, and visited the Butterfly Gardens near Victoria. The girls loved seeing the butterflies and other animals in the Gardens and we spent hours there. We spent time at our timeshare and had fun maneuvering the double stroller around the old small buildings. We drove up to Surrey BC and took the WA State ferry back home through the San Juan Islands.

Stephen is still working in Renton at Wizards of the Coast and loves working on game development. He also continues working with the youth group at our church.

We both enjoyed acting for our church's murder mystery dinner theater fundraiser this last year. Stephen played a version of Donald Trump and Heather played a hippie gal. We are also practicing for this year's play that will be presented in March.

We still have Lacey the dog and Backster the cat. Lacey doesn't like being around the girls much as she is getting older and Backster, if he feels like it, will let the girls pet him now and then.

Please check out our blog periodically as we will continue to post updates http://spatesfamily.blogspot.com/. Also friend us on Facebook as we post pictures and video there often. Have a great new year!

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Time to blog again

Things are changing in our lives and I want to try and document them more. Time to start blogging again!
-heather

Friday, December 24, 2010

Christmas Letter 2010

Dear Friends and Family,

December 2010

Welcome to 2010 in the Spates household. Life has definitely changed for us this year.

On January 20th, we welcomed two new additions to our family, Kaylee Marie and Makenna Jean. Kaylee entered the world first at 1:09pm. Makenna didn't want to wait too long and came at 1:15pm. The girls came at 36 weeks and 4 days. They did not have to spend any time in the neonatal unit and got to come home after three days.

Kaylee Marie
1:09pm
6lb 6 oz
length 18in
head 33.5 cm
chest 32.5 cm

Makenna Jean
1:15pm
5lb 3oz
length 17 in
head 33 cm
chest 32 cm

The girls have grown tremendously since January and are both crawling and standing. Kaylee has had 8 teeth since she was 5 1/2 months old and has 4 more in the works Makenna, not to be outdone, may try to take her first steps before the ends of the year. They are both also eating solids three times a day.

In April, Heather decided to leave her job and stay home with the girls. She has been keeping busy by going to infant/parenting classes at a local college and having playdates with other kids the girl's age. We also traveled to Wenatchee to celebrate her grandfather's 90th birthday. It was great to see the girls with grandpa as unfortunately he passed away in October.

In November, we traveled with the girls to New Mexico and for Stephen's grandmother's memorial service. She passed away after a battle with cancer. The girls did really well on the plane trips and had fun adventures in the car. They also got to hang out with their cousins and Stephen's family.

We have done many events with the girls this year. They got to meet the Easter bunny. They were baptized in July and attended their uncle's wedding the same weekend. We took them tent camping with our church in September and went to our first fair. For Halloween they were a puppy and a leopard. They were in a Santa Parade, and their first Jingle Bell run/walk 5k in December.

Our dog Lacey and our cat Backster have adapted well to the girls. Lacey sits and lets the girls pet her while Backster will go to them when he wants attention.

Sincerely,

Heather and Stephen Spates

8606 146th St Ct E
Puyallup, WA 98375

(253) 845-0686 Home

(360) 790-8490 Heather Cell

(360) 701-9696 Stephen Cell

E-mail

skits1995@gmail.com - Heather

dalmuti509@gmail.com - Stephen

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Easter

The girls had fun with the Easter bunny. We attended an Easter brunch after church services in Olympia. This was their first experience eating out and did very well.