Christmas Prep

I'm back...only temporarily away while having too much Christmas fun.  We've had my parents here, Valerie and now Brett's parents - we love a full house and what could be better during the holidays!

Just a couple of pictures here of prepping for Christmas with more to come.

So, the Air Swimmer...anyone else get one of these for xmas?  Or better question...anyone else give one of these and therefore have to assemble it?  Not easy.  But well worth it when Oli was SO excited to open a mysterious remote control and after playing with it for awhile, in swam a huge fish.

Brett and Grandad Mike with smiles on their faces...this is after a good 90 mins of frustration.

Grandad Mike, the engineer, inspecting the mechanics and the 'neutral boyancy' that the Air Swimmer demands.

My parents, the proud gifters of this item.

An afternoon outing to her favorite activity right now...the "weee". 

Grandma enjoying the fresh air and listening to Julia squeal in delight.

Daredevil...nearly upside down without holding on.

Christmas Eve movie...a bit too scary for Julia so Oli was protecting her. 

Organzing and reorganizing the ornaments.

 

Scared of Santa

Julie and Ben held their 2nd annual Santa party.  Santa comes to THEIR house and it provides a very easy way to see and interact with Santa.  The theme this year with all the 1 and 2 year olds was severe anxiety and fear of this jolly fellow.

A little timid...

A lot scared...

"Elmo dere"  (translation = "I want to go there!")

After Santa gave her a candy cane, she did manage a high five.  And as she could she scampered away as quickly as possible.

Skylar, the host of the party took it all in stride.  Nothing fazes this girl....

Look at that grip she has on daddy's shirt.

Luckily Santa is very well experienced and was indeed a very jolly fellow who will be coming again next year (at least that is what he said). 

A lasting tradition - for sure!

Cutting down our own xmas tree will most certainly be a family tradition.  And with our new house, our entryway is the perfect place for a BIG tree.  Infact, while viewing the house before we purchased it, Brett said, "Can't you see a BIG xmas tree here, right here?"

We had to go a bit further afield to find a tree lot that had trees taller than 8 ft.  We found a perfect one in Issaquah...we'll be visiting them again next year.

The official way to measure ... as long as it was taller than Oli on Brett's shoulder reaching as high as he could it was tall enough.  10ft was our goal.

Brett left the sawing to Oli this year. 

"Hey Big Brother...what are you doing?"

The confident smile of a people manager.  Bringing his skills and expertise at work home.  And best of all, the kids loved it and had no idea they were doing all the hard work. 

"Hey Mama, let's find a smaller tree!"

Looking....Looking...

"Tis one?"

"Oh, I see it, it is over here!"

"Perfect size!"

Job done!

Well, not quite.  If you want a big tree, it is through the woods, over the bridge and down the path, turn right..."

A lasting tradition?

Last Sunday we participated in an invitation only event at the Columbia Tower...some fancy member only club in downtown Seattle (in the tallest building in the city).  Brett (and family) was invited to their annual Gingerbread House Brunch.  We went last year....the question is will we go next year?

While fun...here were the reasons we let out a sigh of relief upon exiting. 

1. It is nearly impossible to keep the candy from being consumed at a lightning fast rate, making the rest of the day a potential train wreck.
2. We don't dress our kids up fancy enough for an event like this (luckily we got Oli out of his sweat pants for the 2nd day this year...1st day in jeans EVER can be seen on our xmas card)
3. While meant to be social event for Brett's 40 Under 40 club, it is hard to socialize and participate with the kids at the same time.  Brett socialized and missed out on the kid interaction.

Step #1: Stand by gaudy xmas tree and take family photo.

Step #2: Eat the yummy brunch or as Oli did...make a smiley face out of his food. 

Pristine house just waiting to be decorated. 

It didn't take Julia but a moment to realize that she could eat all the candy.  We tried to maintain one rule, "once on the house, stays on the house".  Didn't have the foresight to realize that that rule is working wonders while now at home and staring at our gingerbread house during breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

Julia had as much fun as moving all candy from one bowl to another over and over again.  Maybe Brett is right...she has a bit of OCD in her.

Finished product....of the people sitting next to me.  Organized, cute, creative...if I had my way, our house would have those characteristics but instead I let the kids have full creative liberty.  While envious of the house next door, I was proud when I looked over and his kids had left and he was still working on his house all alone and my kids were still fully engaged making sure santa wouldn't fall off the roof. 

Our finished product, it all it's glory!

Last Step: take family photo by your gingerbread house and dart toward the exit before the sugar infused temper tantrums begin. 

Sting Concert

Awesome date night last night....superb seats at the Sting concert at the Paramount.

Venue was great, as always and the music fantastic.  Loved that Sting gave a little intro to almost every song explaining what the story was or why he wrote it.  Made it so much more enjoyable for us!

Happy Thanksgiving Round Two

Maro had some great photosfrom the weekend that I wanted to share.  You can never have enough Thanksgiving Day posts!

A fun craft...trace someone's hands and feet and waalaa, a turkey!

I wonder who cleaned up the drool puddle after Scout watched the turkey cook...

Was it worth the wait, Scout and Tomato? 

Julia helping me cook breakfast.

Picking her first apple

She was so proud of it!

On the treasure hunt

Their property is perfect for these little kiddo's...so much to explore.